Page 51 of Touchdown

What did they even want me for? I still didn't understand that. Noah was the valuable one.

And not even Noah. Somebody else, somebody I didn't even know. That is, if Noah was telling the truth about somebody else being the brains behind some of his more dazzling computer intrusions...

Was he telling the truth?

My eyes kept closing against the sparkle of sunlight on sea. I may have micro-napped again. Not because I needed more sleep but simply to rest my eyes.

“Slate,” Noah whispered. “You awake?”

“Are you a real super-hacker or do you just play one on TV?” I didn't bother to open my eyes. I just floated.

“I'm pretty good.” Noah spoke softly, as if afraid of being overheard. Who cared if he was? I was so thirsty I didn't much care anymore who found us as long as they had water. “But it doesn't take a genius to break things. Anybody with a basic skill set could have done what I just did.”

“Anybody with a basic skill set could have reprogrammed that helicopter to drop us off and then take off? I could have done it?” Sleep was healing indeed if I had the energy for sarcasm.

“Well, all right, maybe I was being too modest,” Noah said. “But an intermediate-level hacker wouldn't have had much trouble doing what I just did.”

“You're still being too modest.”

“No, I'm not.” He sounded troubled. “I am good, I'm not denying I'm good. But I'm nowhere near as good as the guy they think I am. They should know that by now. They must have had days of questioning me under the influence of the drug.”

“Weeks.” When I blinked to steal a look, his eyes were closed too. “You've been gone weeks.”

“Weeks. It doesn't seem real. When you lose so much time, you forget how much you're lost.”

These drugs are seriously bad. We can never let ourselves be darted again.

“There's something wrong about all this,” he said. “Street criminals do irrational things, but guys on this level?”

Of course, I'd thought of that. Hadn't wanted to say it. But since he already had...

“If they've questioned you, and they still decided to abduct me to put more pressure on you, then they still believe you're the guy.” I swallowed hard in hopes of moistening my dry mouth. “You know that, don't you? You are the target. The man everybody wants. Is there something you need to tell me?”

Chapter 36

The sunset was bright on the water but less spectacular than you might expect thanks to the lack of clouds. We'd been facing away from the sun, but now we could comfortably spin around to face west. Would they call off the search at dark? I hadn't heard the sound of helicopters for some time.

My mouth worked to find moisture inside itself. I was about ready to be found. If the opponent waited too long to bring the fight to us, we wouldn't have any fight left.

Hunger chewed my stomach from the inside out but I could almost ignore that. Even with the sun no longer pounding down on our heads, thirst was the greater enemy.

“What if they think we drowned?” Noah asked softly.

Trust a brainiac to think of a new way for us to die. The enemy shrugs and stops looking for us.

“Why would they think that?” I asked.

“That's the logical conclusion, isn't it? Especially if the helicopter's inflatable didn't inflate.”

“Why wouldn't the helicopter's inflatables inflate?” Too late, the obvious answer sprung into my mind. Of course. Noah had fixed it. And by fix, I mean broke.

“We didn't want them coming after us.” He could barely speak—and only partly because his mouth was so dry.

“I know. I know. Of course, we didn't want them coming after us. If we wanted to be caught, we could've just landed on their helipad.” I exhaled noisily. “None of this is your fault, Noah. I helped think of this...” I swallowed the unhelpful adjective. “We both agreed on this plan. It seemed like a good idea to send them in one direction while we go off in another. It still seems like a pretty good idea to me. I'm sure the Coast Guard is going to swoop in and pick us up at any moment.”

I should probably stop talking. We could be in a completely different hemisphere from the Coast Guard. And Noah was too smart not to know it.

We needed to start thinking about basic survival. Food and water. Protection from the sun which would rise again right on time tomorrow morning.

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