Priscilla Sum

Part 25--Epicenter

Jordyn pursed her lips and twitched them back and forth, surveying the scene. Her eyes slid to Derrick.

"Can you fix it?" she asked.

Derrick crouched down and began grouping certain implements together. "I mean, I know how engines work so yeah, in theory..." He stood up quickly. "But no."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Derrick beckoned us in closer, and his eyes shifted to the men mumbling into their comms above us. "There are some important components missing. Small ones: a piston or two, the fuel pump, stuff like that. Nothing huge, but things we definitely couldn't jury-rig, or be able to move without."

I could feel the panic building in my chest. "What does that mean? Did somebody overhear us and take this all apart to trap us here?"

Tony nudged my shoulder.

"Hey!" a deep voice barked. We heard the click of a gun being chambered.

We all froze and very slowly looked up to see Herrin glaring at us from the top of the trail. He held his gun lightly across his body, but ready for any sudden moves.

"What are you kids doing here?" he barked. "Shouldn't you be eating lunch with the rest of them?"

Kayce held up a bag full of turkey sandwiches. "We brought it with us," he hollered back.

Herrin's hand went to his side, to the switch on the radio strapped to his hip.

"Do you know why the boat's all taken apart like that?" I asked, hoping to distract him before he could alert anybody.

It worked. Herrin let his hand dropped as he answered, "Kaity came down earlier and did that. Said there was a problem with the motor. She's still working on fixing it." His suspicious squint returned. "Why do you need the boat, anyway?"

Kayce gave him the biggest grin I'd ever seen on the surly teen's face. "Swimming!" he declared. He twisted to show his backpack. "That's why we brought the extra clothes."

Herrin rolled his eyes and waved to his men.

I felt a surge of relief wash over me--that was some quick thinking on Kayce's part, and the great thing was, the grumpy soldier actually bought it!

Behind us, Derrick had boarded the boat and started pulling stuff out of the cubbies and hatches.

"Hey guys," he said evenly, "I think I can use some of this stuff to rig up replacement parts for the components we need."

"Brilliant!" cheered Jordyn, tossing her bag onboard before stepping onto the boat. "Here, everybody toss me your stuff."

Derrick set about reassembling the motor, all the while I watched the edge of the trees. Somewhere just over the ridge, Professor Silver was probably just reaching the beginning of the lunch buffet, wondering where all of his students went. We probably had twenty minutes before he would reach the tents and find out that we were actually gone, and another ten or so to figure out where we went--

A scream split the air over our heads.

"You there! Blakas! Ti nomízeis óti káneis? Stop right there!"

Athanasios came stumbling down the steep, narrow path, waving his arms and shouting so hard we could see the spit flying under his mustache. He spoke in broken English phrases peppered with Greek epithets as he thundered down the dock and grabbed the nearest student: Tony.

"You do not touch!" He shoved my friend back by his collar, rocking the dock as he stared in horror at the pieces of motor strewn about us. He jabbed a finger at Derrick. "You come out right now! You have done this! It is sampotáz! Get out! All of you, get off, get out--ágrioi ilíthioi! Go! Go now!" He just about dragged Derrick and Jordyn off the boat himself, and herded us all back onto land.