answer, Evan jabbed him on the shoulder.
“Well …? Don’t you?”
“Yeah, but …” He took a breath. “It’s too risky.” But even as he said it, he knew there was no way around it. Evan’s idea seemed like their best plan.
Hell, it was their only plan.
He had to believe it would work out. But as he prepared to spring into action, he asked himself—Yeah … ask Mike and Fred how it’s working out for them …
* * *
“Ready … Set … Go!”
With that whispered command, Evan broke cover and started running toward the beach. Staying in the shadows, Jeff watched, his heart racing and his stomach churning with anticipation.
Evan was just a small, black shape moving against the night and then he was lost in the mist blowing in off the water. Jeff was left feeling as though Evan—like Fred and Mike—had been swallowed by the darkness never to return.
For what seemed like much too long a time, there was no sign of activity from within the dining hall. No shadows cast by the firelight shifted across the windows. No one exited the doorway.
Nothing.
“Damn,” Jeff muttered, clenching his fists in frustration.
If Ben was watching from the dining hall … if he knew they were out there … he would have responded by now.
Wouldn’t he?
Unless he was still in the woods, searching for Evan around the infirmary. Or maybe he was waiting for them at the boat, hiding in the shadows, ready to pounce when they showed up.
The boat was their only possibility of escape, so that seemed most likely. Just wait them out …
And meanwhile, where was Tyler?
If he was helping Ben because he still believed Ben was really Evan or because of some promise Ben had made not to be hurt, he must be around here somewhere, too.
As far as Jeff knew, Ben might already have found Evan and silently killed him. He didn’t need a gun. He could have gotten a knife or some other weapon from the dining hall. This very second, Evan might be lying face down on the water-soaked sand, leaking blood that washed away in the runoff rainwater.
Tension and frustration coiled inside Jeff until he could no longer stand it. He broke cover and moved toward the dining hall. No matter what was going on, he had to act fast. One way or another, Ben and probably Tyler were going to be coming for him.
His feet made loud slopping sounds on the muddy ground as he approached the side of the building. Water gurgled as it ran off the roof, overflowing the gutters and pounding the ground into a muddy mess. Jeff went to one of the windows and, easing himself up cautiously, looked inside.
The glow of firelight seemed to mock him. The piles of clothing and bedding, all spread out in an arc around the blaze, looked so comfortable and innocent Jeff found it all but impossible to believe he was engaged in a fight for his life. Seeing what had been so normal until a short time ago filled him with an odd sense of unreality.
Come on … Just do what you gotta do, he told himself.
Still, he didn’t dare move. Narrowing his eyes, he stretched out his senses, trying to feel where Ben was, but the heightened perceptions were dulled again, if not gone. All he felt now was fear—fear that he and Evan weren’t going to survive … fear that Ben was going to outsmart him and kill them both … if Evan wasn’t already dead back on the beach.
Fighting a dark wave of despair, Jeff sneaked around to the side porch, keeping his back to the building. His heart was racing so fast it felt like the cold hands were wrapped around his throat and squeezing.
He hesitated at the foot of the porch when he looked up and saw the still, silent form of Mike, sprawled on his back next to the railing. Jeff was almost too afraid to walk past his dead friend, but he couldn’t waste any more time. Something—he had no idea what—was happening down on the beach. Either Evan had the boat and was preparing to launch, or else he was dead, and Ben was coming for him.
Sucking in his breath and holding it, Jeff stepped up onto the porch. The rotting wood sagged beneath his weight. Rusty nails made dull squeaking sounds as they pulled out of the wood. Jeff couldn’t stop glancing at Mike’s body, unable to believe his friend was really dead. And