Piranha

Philippines

1130

Da

Da

“A little word of advice,” Da

Bison and Pretty Boy were both gri

“Your adrenaline’s going to pump like crazy, your heart’s go

The kids nodded.

Did he want heroes? Of course he did. He wanted Powder. And Liu out of the hospital.

Turn the other cheek? Bullshit on that.

So what the hell had Powder done that for? Had that passage read at his funeral?

“All right,” said Da

“All aboard,” said Sergeant “Blow” Hernandez, using an exaggerated train conductor’s voice.

The Osprey pilot started the aircraft down the runway about a half-second after the hatch snapped shut. Da

“Two minuets, Captain,” said the Osprey pilot crew chief, relaying the message from the pilots.

“All right boys, we’re just about on station,” Da

In the distance, he could see a dark blur Navy helicopter, part of the SAR team.

His own people had gone down somewhere about an hour north. But the odds were overwhelming they were dead; they’d gone down in the teeth of the storm.

Were the odds any worse than for the Seahawk?

“Navy’s coming up blank,” the Osprey pilot said. “We’re going to start crisscrossing northwest of the area where they think the signal came from.”

“Sounds good,” Da

“Tradition has it,” Da

“Kick ass, Captain,” said Powder.

Da

“Who said that?”

No one spoke.

“I’m sorry,” said Da

They were looking at him as if he’d seen—or heard—a ghost.

“All right then, let’s put our eyes to good use,” he said, struggling to raise his voice over the hum of the engines.

The South China Sea

Date and time unknown

They had two bottles of water between the three of them, four “nutrition” bars, a working flare gun, and a radio. Chris Ferris had managed to save his pistol, but had inexplicably lost one of his boots. Brea

Injury-wise, they were in decent shape, considering what they’d been through. Ferris probably had broken a rib, but otherwise claimed he was fine. Brea

As were the fates of the rest of the crew, though Brea

“Glare’s going to kill your eyes,” Stoner told her.