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his losses and regain some of his solidarity, he stomped to his storage trunk, turned the dial on the lock in the correct order until it opened, and reached for his sat-phone. Powering it up, he opened the cabin door and walked outside, every ounce of his resolve draining away into the sea at what he saw in Thalia’s eyes as she hobbled toward him.

Chapter Six
     
     
     
    “What is it? What’s wrong?” Grant strode to the edge of the woods as she stumbled out, her eyes focused behind him.
    “A boat,” she whispered as she picked her way across the ground, any pain or mistrust she’d felt taking a back seat to her survival instincts.
    Her thoughts echoed the curse Grant grunted when he’d turned to see the small speck on the horizon. Judging by how quickly the speck grew, it was headed straight for them. And fast. “I need to get inside.” She pushed past Grant, praying he wouldn’t hand her over to whoever was on that boat just to get rid of her.
    Grant caught her arm and pulled her to the side, blocking her body from any binocular view their visitors may have. “No. It’ s too obvious. If they beach, and if there’s more of them than I can stop, it’s the first place they’ll search.”
    Thank you. She couldn’t make herself say it, but hoped he could read it in her eyes. Thalia shrugged out of his hold, casting an assessing glance behind him. With the sudden rush of adrenaline, her mind worked hastily to process her options. “There’s no time. I’m not going to hide in the shithole.”
    “Wait over here.” Her leg throbbed with the pulse of her racing heartbeat as he picked her up, moving her so the cabin was between them and the approaching vessel. He sat her on her feet before he quickly retrieved her crutches and handed them to her. “I’ll be right back.”
    Thalia watched as he retreated to the cabin and crept along the side until he disappeared around the front corner. What is he doing? Every second he was gone was time she lost to get herself hidden away inside. He was right. It wasn’t the best solution, but given her lack of firepower and a glaring deficiency in mobility, it was her only option.
    The sound of the boat’ s motor came into range and Thalia decided she was out of time. She’d taken her first step towards the cabin when Grant rolled around the corner and ran towards her, a resilient confidence flashing in his eyes. A familiar calm washed over her rioting nerves as he pressed the cold steel into her palm. She looked down at the .45 in her hand, everything else disappearing around her. He was giving her a gun?
    “Can you make it to that t hicket?” She looked over her shoulder at the clumps of palms and sea brush about fifty feet into the woods. Speechless, she nodded and tucked the gun into her hand-made belt. “Good. Get there and don’t move. No matter what you hear or see, don’t give away your position. If the shit hits the fan, stay there until you can safely back away and get to the other side of the island. My boat is anchored there in a small cove. The keys are hooked to one of the life jackets stashed under the driver’s seat.”
    “But…” She didn’t have time to ask about what he was going to do before he turned and sprinted back to the cabin. Casting off the thousands of questions screaming through her mind, she pushed her way towards her target. Her pain disappeared under the rush of fresh adrenaline-laced blood flowing through her veins. The vegetation grew thin as she neared the halfway point, and she dropped to her knees, crawling the last fifteen feet so she wouldn’t be spotted before reaching the thicket.
    When she was sure she was hidden from view , she turned and reached for her makeshift crutches, dragging them behind the brush. She hoped like hell she wouldn’t have to flee to the other side of the island, but if she did, she wouldn’t be able to make it another ten feet without them.
    Aware of the boat approaching the shore, Thalia spit