Minutes to Burn Page 35

  "What did you do to it?"

  Cameron did not answer. His eyes closed and it felt so good that he almost dozed off right there on his feet. He swayed a touch, then forced his eyes open. The larva had inched its way around a tree trunk, its pro-legs clinging to the bark. "It's beautiful, Cam," he said. "We need to get it to safety."

  "It's packing a deadly virus," she said, the words coming in a rush. "It needs to die." They both reeled a bit with the bluntness of her statement.

  "I never would have guessed you'd betray me," he said slowly. "That you'd violate orders, violate my trust."

  "It's about more than that," she said.

  "Sounds like Savage got to you through osmosis," he said. "There are no rules anymore, huh?"

  "New rules."

  "Well, while you're enjoying your new rules, remember that you're all in violation of direct orders from a superior-orders that still stand. Whether you like them or not, my orders are my orders. I haven't cleared any of you to kill these animals. They need to be protected."

  Cameron took a moment, trying to place her thoughts in words. "This isn't going to solve anything, you know. About what happened to you… your family."

  His laugh was tight and nasty. "What the fuck do you know about my family?"

  Cameron let out an agonized sigh, clenching her teeth. "There's more going on with you than you're admitting."

  "With me? You're light-headed, distracted, and barfing in the mornings. It doesn't take Dr. Spock to figure out-"

  "You're at the end of the line," Cameron said. "Get your ass back to base, or there's nothing I can do."

  "Is that a threat? That you're planning to use force against me?"

  "If we have to, yes." She was quiet as the grass waved across her pants. "I've been responsible for your life more times than I can count," she said softly.

  Derek froze.

  When she spoke again, her voice had little emotion. "When you die, I'm gonna feel like I failed you," she said. "But I'm also gonna be wrong."

  The others took note of her expression as she headed back into camp. "I think we're gonna have another mantid on our hands," she said.

  It took a few moments for her meaning to settle over them. Justin tapped his forehead with his curled knuckles.

  "We should probably rinse off," Rex said. "More thoroughly."

  "But there are two more out there," Cameron said. "We need a Plan B."

  "I'm with Doc for once." Savage ran a finger across the back of his neck, pulling away grime and a strip of sunburnt skin. "My Plan B is to wash the fuck off."

  Chapter 58

  The water in Bahia Avispa was as clear as glass, showing off the exotic fish and curls of coral beneath. It slid up onto shore, hissing across the sand. The ocean was a brilliant aqua, magnificently bright.

  The body of the sea lion pup that Cameron had touched lay near a cluster of rocks, collecting swirls of flies. They filed past it toward the water, Cameron pausing for a moment to look at its creamy brown fur. No one commented.

  Justin waded out into the water, shattering the smooth surface with a dive and moving like a black dart through the waves.

  The others waded into the ocean, rinsing off their faces. Tank's mouth stretched tight when the cool water hit his sunburnt cheeks. Even Rex's neck sported a red stripe, visible when he removed his Panama hat. Diego sat on the sand, poking his finger into the ghost crab holes.

  To the west, the waves rolled in, hitting the blowholes off Punta Berlanga and spraying up in the air. Cameron watched the water spread and dissipate, and thought about the virus she might be taking into her lungs this very minute. Her thoughts moved to her pregnancy, and she quickly redirected them.

  Watching her husband's shadow fade into the waves, she absentmind-edly walked along the wet sand. She was barefoot; one of the lessons she had learned in her first weeks of training was to get out of her boots at any opportunity-the longer she could avoid the combination of heat and humidity, the better her feet would fare through the course of a mis-sion. She walked along the ocean's edge, then stepped into the water. It was cool at first touch but quickly felt neutral, even warm.

  The water rose above her calves, dropping to her ankles when the swell ebbed. Her line of sight was undistorted when she looked through the water. She saw the bottom with astonishing clarity-the schools of little fish with yellow streaks turning in perfect unison, sleek rocks half submerged in the sand, the lines of her own broad feet and toes.

  As she waded out, the water moved in minute ripples, hairline fissures in the glass surface. The waves had again ceased suddenly, as if stilled by a magic hand. The water darkened her pants to the thighs, and then she dipped her hips under, unbuttoning her worn shirt and pulling it off. She dragged it through the water on the end of her fist like a mop.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned, expecting Justin. It was Szabla.

  "Hey, girl," Szabla said.

  "Hey." Cameron lowered herself beneath the surface up to her neck, feeling her nipples harden beneath her bra.

  Szabla's black tank top was tight across her chest, as all her shirts were. "I've been a bit much here, I know." She sniffed hard, wrinkling her nose. "It's just, with Derek being a little loose around the edges… "

  "No need to explain," Cameron said. "You've actually been right about things all along."

  Szabla traced her fingertips along the surface of the water. "I know, but that doesn't sound as gracious."

  Cameron laughed, dipping her head back and feeling the water in her hair.

  "Your husband was worried about you, but he was afraid to bother you, so I came out to check."

  "What's he worried about?"

  Szabla shrugged. "He didn't say anything actually. I could just tell. You guys have always had a closeness that's not too hard to sense." She splashed some water over her face, rubbing her eyes, then squared and faced Cameron, studying her. "I thought you might be pregnant," she said. "But Justin said you weren't."

  Cameron slicked back her wet hair. "He did, huh?"

  She didn't meet Szabla's eyes, and Szabla didn't press the point. The water caressed their waists. They let it calm them.

  Szabla skimmed the water with her hand. "You know something? All these years, I still don't know how you met."

  "It's not so romantic."

  "I figured."

  "We overlapped for observation point training. A lot of deprivation crap to teach us to sit tight for long periods of time on lookouts. They starved us, dehydrated us, kept us up-you know the game. The final drill was we had to sit still in this room for thirty-six straight hours. No food, no standing up, no using the bathroom. If you had to go, you shit yourself right there. Anyone loses it, you start over. So we had to look out for everyone on the squad. You know, the teamwork bullshit. Around hour twenty, Justin starts to get edgy. Now, I knew him a little bit from around, thought he was decently good-looking and stuff. He is good-looking," she added, as if Szabla had disagreed with her.

  "We were sitting there wet with shit and piss and he started shaking and I thought he was gonna stand up and start pounding on the door and fuck it up for all of us. So I leaned over and I said, 'Kates, look at me. When you think you're gonna lose it, just look over here into my eyes.' And he did.

  "We sat there like that for the last sixteen hours, staring into each other's eyes. That's when I first fell in love with him. You can tell a lot about a person from looking into their eyes for sixteen hours. Not much you can hide." She smiled at the memory. "I don't think we even blinked."

  "Wow. I'm speechless."

  "Let me savor that," Cameron said.

  Szabla shoved her and she stumbled, laughing and splashing.

  "I apologized, you bitch. Besides, I'm your senior officer."

  "Yes, 'cause we're known for our formality on the teams." Cameron bent her legs, drifting with the water up around her neck. "Sir."

  "Navy SEALs. Golden bad boys. That's what my highly cerebral broth
er calls us. He's a Marine."

  "A Marine. Jesus, I'm sorry."

  "Yeah, so am I." Szabla raised some water in her cupped hands and moistened her face. "Marines. Fuckin' bullet sponges."

  Cameron leaned back into the water again. The world went quiet and the setting sun was on her face and she wanted to stay like this, out here, half-dipped in water so pure she could watch the fish swimming around her ankles.

  Cameron stood back up and faced Szabla. With the sun behind her, her face was shadowed, and Szabla couldn't see her mouth move when she talked. "I was so sure I was ready to walk away when Justin and I went reserves," she said. "But the teams always filled a big place in me. Bigger than I knew. It's weird, but I never thought how much I'd miss it. Humping gear. Plugging wounds. Spaghetti and meatballs from a pouch. Blisters. Wearing pantyhose to keep the leeches out." She worked her bottom lip between her teeth. "I wasn't ready, though. I was relieved to get called back for this mission. Only it's not fitting right now, being a soldier. Not like it used to." She shoveled her hands in the water and brought them up over her head, feeling it wash down across her face.

  Szabla stared out across the shimmering water. "Maybe it's time to move on for real. Hang up your M-4. Make your own schedule. Choose your own responsibilities."

  Cameron turned to the side and the glare of the sun broke across her silhouette. Szabla squinted into the light as Cameron spoke. "I've para-chuted from thirty thousand feet with oxygen and a forty-three-pound, one-kiloton-yield special atomic demolition munition strapped to my body." When she spoke again, her voice was flat. "But I'm not sure I'm up to that challenge."

  Justin watched his wife bathing, Szabla at her side. Someone moved behind him, and cigarette smoke wafted over his shoulder.

  "Must be nice," Savage said. "Having a wife like that."

  "Yeah," Justin said cautiously. "It is."

  They watched the women in the water for a few moments, Justin shifting his weight uncomfortably. "Looks like you lent Szabla your touch, huh?" Justin said, his eyes still on Cameron.

  "You liked that?" Savage laughed. "How she took that little thing? She kills with the mercilessness of the rich."

  "How'd you know she's from money? She tell you?"

  Savage shook his head, though Justin still hadn't turned to face him. "In all my years of combat, I've only seen two types of people kill that well, with that much ease-the rich and the poor."

  "Of course, you're the latter."

  A chuckle came over Justin's shoulder, thick with smoke. "Of course."

  The women started in toward shore, Cameron pulling her shirt back on. When Justin turned around, Savage was gone.

  When Cameron stepped from the water, the sun felt like a lightbulb pressed to the back of her neck. The men were sitting atop a sand dune, their faces taking on a deep red hue. The long swishing tracks of a marine iguana textured the sand at their feet-the deep groove of the tail, the parallel brush marks of the feet on either side. Behind them, sea porcelain colored the white sand, a patchwork of red stems and purple flowers.

  They all stood, their skin tingling from saltwater meeting sunburn. Szabla nodded and they fell out, heading for the small trail cut into the cliffs of Punta Berlanga. Diego froze, Tank knocking into him from behind. Diego touched a hand to his ear, tilting his head.

  "What?" Szabla said to Diego. "Speak, boy."

  A Zodiac burst from around one of the tuff cones in the distance, rocketing toward shore. Diego ran to the beach, jumping and waving his arms, but the speedboat was already heading toward them. As it drew nearer, Cameron recognized the small figure in the boat. Ramoncito. His large head seemed loose on his neck, bouncing with the impact from the waves. His shoulders were slumped, his hands loose on the throttle han-dle. He looked drugged.

  The boat hit shore hard and skidded up onto the beach. Diego ran toward it. Ramoncito tried to step over the side but collapsed, falling face first onto the sand. Diego turned him over just as the others arrived. A deep maroon had taken hold beneath the smooth dark surface of his face. He was sun-scorched-lips cracked and bleeding, eyes swollen, hands blistered. He mouthed Diego's name, but no sound issued from his lips.

  Cameron tipped her canteen to his face, spilling fresh water through his mouth. His tongue worked slowly in the water, lapping it.

  Justin leaned against the Zodiac's bow, his shoulder brushing the Dar-win Station decal. He gazed into the boat. It was stocked with twenty-four six-gallon fuel cans, many of them empty. Squeezed in the back near the rudder were two wooden crates, TNT written on their sides in red.

  "Holy shit," he said. "Kid motored this thing all the way from Santa Cruz."

  Chapter 59

  They headed back for base camp, Cameron taking a long detour through the field where they'd burned the mantid. She returned to the others, who had assembled in Derek's old tent. It felt divine to be out of the sun in the soothing shade of the tent. Ramoncito was lying on his back on a sleeping pad. Diego and he spoke softly as the others looked on.

  "I got the SOS," Ramoncito said. "And I understood it." He tried to smile, but the movement cracked his lips even more, and he winced from the pain.

  Justin leaned over, examining the blistering on Ramoncito's back. He winked at Cameron. The burns weren't too bad.

  "Single thirty-five-horsepower engine bringing you one seventy-some nautical miles at ten knots." Diego pushed Ramoncito's hair off his fore-head and rubbed more lotion onto his sunburnt face. "You must've been on the open water for seventeen hours."

  Ramoncito tried to smile. "Sixteen."

  "Glass sea state," Cameron murmured.

  Diego said, "You never should have come."

  "You asked me to."

  "Not you. If you received the message, I thought you'd get help."

  "From who? I know my way home better than anyone. Besides, who would have listened to me?"

  "The Captain of the Port."

  "Yeah right. I had to steal the TNT from him. Fresh in from the army."

  "You stole the-" Diego cut himself off, shaking his head. "Puta madre."

  Szabla was on her knees in the corner, looking through one of the TNT boxes Ramoncito had brought along. Row after row of two-pound blocks lined the bottom beneath coils of wire and a scattering of blasting caps. Szabla picked up an olive-drab Clacker detonator and examined it with a smile. The two sides of the Clacker could be pushed together like a stapler to detonate a charge.

  "Why'd you bring so much?" Diego asked. "There must be two, three hundred pounds here."

  "I thought there might have been a slide, and we'd have to blast some-thing out from under tons of rock. Like we did with that generator up by Media Luna. That was fun." He propped himself on an elbow and drank some more from the canteen.

  "Not too much too quickly," Diego cautioned.

  "You sound like papa." Ramoncito lowered the canteen. "Where are my parents?"

  Diego turned to the soldiers. "You'd better give us a moment alone," he said to the others in English. Cameron nodded and led the other soldiers out. It was clear from Ramoncito's face that he was anticipating bad news.

  Savage stopped at the flap. "Kid," he said. "You're one brave little motherfucker."

  They all walked a few paces from the tent, leaving Diego to tell Ramoncito that his parents had died. Rex shook his head. "What a thing," he said.

  "What're we gonna do?" Szabla said. "Our extraction's not till tomor-row night, but there's no way that boat can pull the weight of all of us, not on limited gas like that."

  "Plus there's a space issue," Justin said. "Even once we toss the emp-ties, there's at least thirteen full fuel cans, and it'll take all of them to get back to Santa Cruz." He glanced at the others. "I don't know who the hell's gonna want to wait behind, though."

  Cameron was watching a hawk hover above a knotted patch of shrubs just beyond the watchtower. It folded its wings, accelerating toward the ground. It dipped and then rose, and Cameron made out the silhouette of a r
at struggling in its talons as it flew toward the sun. "We're the only thing that'll hold them on the island," Cameron said.

  Szabla looked at her, head cocked. "Excuse me?"

  "The creatures. You heard what Donald said-we're the only 'sizable and appropriate food source.' If those larvae metamorphose into adults, they're gonna be hungry. If there's no food here, they could very well fly elsewhere in search of it." Her face hardened. "I don't want that virus leaving the island."

  "You want to stay here?" Justin asked. "As bait?"

  "Yes," Cameron said. "I do."

  "It's not likely that the adults can fly," Rex said. "Even though they have wings."

  "But we know that the larvae are amphibious. Diego even said that the first one we found could very well have been heading down to the ocean. They could drift with the currents, wind up God knows where. If we're not here to track them down…"

  Diego stepped out of the tent, his face heavy, and approached the others. "He wanted to see the bodies, but I told him…" He scratched his cheek, letting the sentence trail off. "He's too upset to even argue with me about staying."

  Cameron nodded. "I'm sorry," she said.

  "Yes," Diego replied. "So am I."

  "You and Rex collected lots of water samples yesterday, didn't you?" she asked.

  Diego scratched his forehead at the hairline. "Yes. From various points on the island and all along the coast, especially from the dino-rich waters flowing in from the deep-sea core holes."

  "If you don't want this island bombed, I'd suggest you get back to the Darwin Station, run virus tests, and pray to God none of the samples are infected," Cameron said. "Contact Donald and Dr. Everett at Fort Det-rick, where the decision's being made." She pulled her hand from her pocket and opened it to reveal a small silver disk, Tucker's transmitter that she'd pulled from the ashes of the mantid's belly. "Heat-resistant to two thousand degrees," she said. "Picked it from the bones. I already tested it. Just activate it and ask the operator to patch you through. Med-ical Division Wing, Slammer Two."