Page 148 of Kai
She broke her silence with a question, of course. “What happened to Levine?”
As I kept paddling, I told her what I’d done and where Levine was. She must’ve cursed the man a million times as we went. It took us a while to get back to the catamaran, but my Tak guided us true. As the first sunrays of a new day peeked over the horizon,Serenity’slights beamed bright ahead.
“Almost there,” I announced, feasting my eyes on my catamaran.
“I love that boat,” Cece put in cheerfully.
The waves had robbed my vessel of its usual elegance. Sails snapping, rigging dangling, she bobbed on the calm seas, discombobulated but anchored, as if waiting for us like a loyal friend.
Cece turned her head and smiled at me. “She is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”
I grinned. “She’s a sight for sore eyes, for sure.” And sore arms, pecs, wounds, the works.
She started to say something else, but my Tak beeped with urgency. I stopped paddling. Balancing on the board, I pulled up a series of images on the small screen. After magnifying the radar, I focused on the moving blimp. It was the speed of the threat that gave it away.
My blood turned to ice.
Chapter Forty-eight
Kai
“What’s happening?” Cece asked as I backpaddled with every ounce of strength I had left. “Why are we moving away fromSerenity?”
I didn’t have time to answer her question. We were well within the blast radius of any missile a helicopter carried. Instead, the distant noise clued her in. The rhythmic, blood-chillingwhup-whup-whupof a low-flying helicopter alerted her to the threat.
“Is it…?”
“It can’t be anything else, given its speed.”
“The devil’s killing machine.” Her face was already pale, but now she blanched. “Oh, shit.”
Oh, shit indeed.
I had to get us out of here, and fast. A glance at my Tak reinforced my decision. Flying at low altitude, the lethal helicopter devoured the clicks that stood between it and us in a straight course towardSerenity.
My Tak flashed. The helo was twenty clicks out.
I didn’t want to attract attention with movement that might show on a radar or a thermal imaging system, but if I didn’t put a lot of distance betweenSerenityand us, we were toast.
“Levine is on the boat,” Cece reminded me.
“I don’t fucking care,” I snapped. “Youare on my surfboard.”
A surfboard that would offer zero protection to her as long as we were in the blast zone.
“But…” She blinked tears from her eyes. “What aboutSerenity?”
The catamaran had been my pride and joy, my dream come true, but that was before I’d fallen in love with Cece. Paddling away fromSerenity, away from the fight, I felt like a traitor. It hurt like hell that my beautiful catamaran was going to become floating splinters in a few seconds, but if Cece survived, I would cope.
My Tak alerted again. Ten clicks.
The infernal helicopter was within striking distance now. I paddled even faster, if that was possible. The mechanical ruckus grew as the helo approached. Without its dampers on, the damned thing roared like a fire-spitting dragon. Dawn’s early light gave me a chilling visual of the deadly predator—black, slick, and approaching.
Five clicks.
If the pilots were getting this close, Li must’ve required them to provide close-up footage and visual confirmation of our end. I stabbed the paddle in the water and rode the current with all I had, tracking the helo as it swooped down. A pair of flashes flared on each side of the helicopter, marking the moment the stealth beast fired. The missiles ignited and streaked through the night, leaving behind a trail that looked like frozen lightning.
I caught a glimpse ofSerenity’s mast standing proudly, outlined against an indigo background where the incipient dawn challenged the night.
