The boat fell, hit the water, and Drake’s boat smashed into it at full speed.
Both boats shattered, flaming wood splinters flew, bits of metal railing and big pieces of the engine spiraled and landed like shrapnel all around them.
Toto cried out in pain. His hip had been hit and he was bleeding and screaming and not pumping any longer.
“Jack! Pump! Dekka, get Toto.”
Sam dropped back into his boat and began snatching up and tossing out bits of flaming debris.
“Be dead, be dead,” Sam muttered under his breath.
A sudden sound and Sam felt a burning pain. A red lash mark appeared on his arm.
Drake was holding the dock with his real arm, whip hand drawn back to strike again.
Sam fired. Missed. Bought two seconds as Drake sank beneath the disturbed water.
He shot a look up the shore. The racing creatures pelted through the parking lot, swarmed over and around the cars, would be on them in seconds. Now or never.
“Enough! Back in the boat!”
No one needed to be told twice. Toto and Jack were first in. Dekka stumbled as she ran, slapped her belly, and for a moment Sam thought something had hit her.
Drake was up and his whip hand found Jack. Jack howled and grabbed at the tentacle but missed.
Sam gunned the engine. But he had forgotten the rope. The boat roared, shot forward, and snapped the cleat off the dock. The resistance was enough to yank the boat around.
It smashed into another parked boat and sent everyone tumbling.
By the time Sam cleared his head, Drake had his hand on the gunwale and his whip hand was flailing madly into the boat, striking Jack again and Toto.
Sam threw the boat into reverse, pushed the throttle, twisted the wheel, and ground Drake between boat and dock.
Then he changed gears and roared off, leaving Drake cursing in the water as the bugs raced down the dock, their mandibles slashing at the air.
Sam drove to the middle of the lake and killed the engine. The gas gauge showed a hair over a quarter tank. Enough for now. But at the cost of Toto screaming in pain.
“It’s bad,” Dekka reported. “But he’ll live.”
She lifted Toto’s shirt to show Sam a nasty gash. “Jack, see if there’s a first aid kit aboard.”
Sam sagged, very tired now. “You okay?” he asked Dekka.
She didn’t answer.
He looked more closely at her. “Dekka?”
She looked sick. She bit her lip. “I am sorry to add to your problems, boss,” she said. Then she raised her own shirt and Sam saw the tiny mouthparts poking through her flesh.
The light died and night fell as the boat rocked on the gentle waves.
Chapter Thirty-Three
3 HOURS, 47 MINUTES
DIANA ROLLED OUT of the bed, accidentally pulling the covers off Caine as she did.
“Hey!” he protested.