“When the hell were you going to tell me?”

“I thought I had. Sorry. That’s why I asked about the centerboard. Good eyes. Nice work.”

“Is that the cutter out there?”

“Two points on the starboard bow. Red light to port, green light to starboard.”

Two points? The boat was sailing across the current, rising and falling five or six feet from the crest to trough. As the tail rode up she found the lights at what her father called one o’clock. “It looks a long way off. Shouldn’t we be running lights, too?”

“They have the equipment to see us. By the time we get there, you’ll be able to read the newspaper.”

“Can’t they come to get us?”

“The Captain isn’t going to risk his ship or his men, given that he knows now about a nuclear device in the earth is about to detonate.”

“Nuc — what else aren’t you telling me?”

“I thought you knew. You’re the one who told me about the radioactivity.”

“I figured that out for myself. I didn’t know about he nuc — under us? Check your leg. Lifting heavy centerboards is a contra-indicated for bullet wounds. If you’re bleeding again, pull that belt tighter.”

“They’re watching the other side of the island for us.”

The horizon suddenly shined as if sunrise had been fast-forwarded. The boat lit up as if by a long, slow flashbulb. Sam’s mouth was caught open. Then the world went dark again. “Hang on, Amy!”

Her own mouth was open when the shock wave hit with a roaring blast that felt like being the boat was being run over by a city bus. The boat went up in the air and slapped down on the surface of the water with a whack. Sam yelled. The tiller swung loose in Amy’s hands. The outboard was gone.

“Sam!”

“I’m here.”

But hurting, she could tell from the sound of his voice. The boat swirled out of control. She had to see about him. He was half out of the hatch, his right arm bent at the elbow — and below. Broken. Two bones in the forearm, two breaks. “I tried to keep from landing on my knee, then I decided to worry about the shoulder. Ah, shit. This is as dumb as it gets.”

“No, it’s exactly how bones get broken.” She was getting another chance to play nurse; she saw at once that it gave her an opportunity to forget her own fears. “Let me get you into the cabin. The tiller is broken, too. The outboard is on the bottom.” She got him on a bunk and cradled his broken arm in the other. “It isn’t six o’clock, is it?”

“No, that came from the east. It must have been the boat with all those guys on it. It figured. Chino didn’t want any survivors.”