Page 44 of Honor Code

“So what?” What use was a flare gun against automatic firepower? When the Coast Guard got here, they could use it to signal their position, if they were still alive.

Phoenix seemed to be having trouble focusing, his eyes squinting as he tried to position himself in a lying position facing the pursuing vessel.

Two hundred yards.

"They’re gaining on us." She was unable to keep her voice from shaking. "Oh, God. Phoenix, they're going to catch us."

"Don't worry. You just focus on keeping the inflatable moving forward. Leave them up to me," he said, his words slightly slurred.

She stared at him, concerned by his unsteady movements and labored breathing. Gone was the confident private security operative, replaced by a man clearly struggling with the effects of his concussion. How on earth was he going to take care of them with a flare gun when the bad guys were raining bullets on their heads?

"Steady..." he urged, his voice strained. "I've only got one shot at this."

His body swayed, his hands shaking as he tried to grip the flare gun and point it at the pursuers.

This wasn’t looking good. Still, he was right. This was their one shot.

Ellie held her breath, her hands tightening on the tiller. Phoenix pulled the trigger. The canister shot out of the muzzle, flew across the water like a wobbly torpedo, and hit the vessel pursuing them just off-center of the windshield. It exploded into a Catherine wheel of sparks, causing both men to hit the deck and the boat to veer off course. Because it was going so fast, it lurched dangerously before the engine faltered, and it drifted to a halt.

"Yes!" Ellie stared at him. "You did it!"

"It'll buy us some time," he said, his voice weak. "Those guys will be suffering from burns and possibly blunt force trauma from the impact. They won't be going anywhere but to the hospital."

"I had no idea flares were so dangerous," Ellie mused. She felt like hugging Phoenix, she was so relieved, but he was clearly in no shape for any kind of physical contact. How he'd managed to aim well enough to hit the boat, she had no idea. But he had, and they were safe—for now.

“We've got to put some distance between us and them. Where's the nearest island?"

Ellie retrieved her GPS. "Here, let me look," she said, not even bothering to pass it to him. Right now, she didn't even know which direction they were heading in. The only thing on her mind had been to get away from their attackers as fast as possible. She squinted into the distance. Nothing. Not a hazy mountain, a ship, or even a palm tree. The smoke from the oil rig had made everything hazy, so it was difficult to see what was out there.

Ellie took her time with the GPS, studying their location and the surrounding area. "There is a small island about four miles north of our current location. It looks like a protected nature reserve."

"Perfect, we'll head there," Phoenix said.

She glanced doubtfully at the fuel tank. "I don't know if we're going to make it."

He gave her a thin smile. "We don't have much choice."

There was a silence, then Phoenix said quietly, "Did you see Boomer's body?"

A lump formed in her throat. "No, I didn't. Do you think he could have survived the blast?"

Phoenix shook his head, then winced. "No, he was disarming the IED when it went off. He would have gotten the brunt of it."

"God, I'm so sorry," Ellie whispered.

"Yeah, I spotted it climbing back onto the rig. It was strapped underneath the platform." He paused, his eyes drifting shut for a moment before he forced them open again. "It was triggered remotely, Ellie, by someone onboard that rig or within Wi-Fi distance."

"But who could it have been?" she whispered. "Most of the staff took the chopper back to the mainland."

"I don't know. They could have come back to the rig—" he petered off with a shrug, then grimaced, reaching for his head.

Ellie gasped. "I saw a speedboat when I was coming back from the Discoverer.”

"You did?" Phoenix asked, his words coming slowly as if he was having trouble processing the information.

She nodded, her eyes wide. “That must have been the bomber.”

Phoenix confirmed it, his voice strained. "That would have been our perp, all right. The timing fits. Did you see who it was?"

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