Page 121 of Blue Arrow Island
“Fucking hell.” Marcus skids to a stop.
I put my hand on his arm to help stop my own trajectory. When I follow his gaze, I find a very lean man with sun-weathered skin sitting on a flat rock that’s part of a big rock formation at the shoreline. He’s holding on to a fishing pole made from a stripped tree branch.
Flavius sits beside the rocks, his mission accomplished.
Marcus stalks over to the man, shaking his head as he studies him.
“Hello, Marcus.”
“Dr. McClain.”
My pulse pounds with nervousness, though I don’t know why. This man is maybe five feet, ten inches, and he can’t weigh more than a hundred and twenty-five pounds. He has no weapons and his expression is placid.
“You really fucked me,” Marcus says, his tone harsh.
McClain pushes the nosepiece on his dark-rimmed glasses up higher on his nose, staring out at the watercolor sunset. “I didn’t expect you to understand.”
Marcus crosses his arms over his chest. “Here’s a little somethingyouneed to understand. I’m fighting a losing battle. Virginia has more numbers than I do. She has the microclimate controls back online.”
“You turned your aromium back on.”
Marcus shifts, tension tightening his muscles. “Didn’t have much choice. The Tiders are picking off my people. I need your help.”
McClain meets Marcus’s gaze. “I have to live with what I’ve done. All I can do now is not add anything else to the list.”
Rubbing his jaw, Marcus laughs bitterly. “The fire you started is raging out of control, and there’s a hose in reach. Not helping innocent people is a choice, and it’s the wrong one.”
“I can’t, Marcus.”
Marcus’s expression darkens, a storm raging in his eyes. He’s restraining himself, but I wonder if, after all the work it took to find McClain, his refusal to help will spark Marcus’s temper into action.
“You have to. It’s not too late to land on the right side of this.”
McClain’s face is lined with regret. He’s shirtless, the lines of his ribs visible. It’s hard to look at a person who seems to be straddling the lands of the living and the dead the way he is.
“I searched this island every day for nine months for the flower,” he says, his voice flat and hopeless. “That’s all I did, from sunrise to dusk. I combed every inch I could get to.”
“Don’t you know where it is from the first time you found it?”
McClain shakes his head. “A team of scientists came here to survey the island. Those flowers were dug up by a woman who filled her bags with them and was attacked by a lion on her way back to camp. We found the bags when we found her body.”
Marcus’s shoulders sink, a little more hope dying inside him. It pains me to see his resolve cracked by this man who gave up when things got hard.
“As long as we’re alive, there’s hope,” I say, moving to stand beside Marcus. “We’re not giving up.”
Marcus nods. “Briar, meet the elusive Dr. Randall McClain. And we’re not giving up. I brought rope in case we needed it. He’s coming back with us, one way or another.”
McClain smiles sadly. “I’m an empty vessel, Marcus. Tie my hands. Push me off a cliff. I no longer care what happens to me.”
Marcus roots around in his pack. “That may be true, but you’re going to witness the destruction you caused. You’re not watching peaceful sunsets while my people get hunted.”
McClain braces his hand on a rock and climbs down, his arms and legs sticklike. “I knew you’d find me. I’ve been moving for days. You’ve got people huntingme.”
“Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy,” Marcus says stiffly as he pulls out a rope. “If I didn’t need you, I’d shoot you in the head right now.”
McClain sighs, looking defeated. “I won’t work in the lab. I won’t analyze or create anything. Even if you torture me. Finding the flowers was the only hope, but there are none.”
Marcus shakes his head. “You’re a piece of work. Are you going to walk, or do I need to carry you?”
