Dark Moon Walking by R. J. McMillen Page B

and rice-root lilies in the clearings between the trees, as well as ripe berries on the wild lily of the valley that grew in the shadows. They wouldn’t go hungry.
    â€œWalker!” Her voice was low. “There’s another boat coming!”
    The urgency in her voice jarred him. He had been so busy thinking about starting to collect food for their meal that he had not heard her approach. Earlier, they had decided to split up, each finding a spot with a good view of the black ship but on opposite sides of the island. That way, if either of them spotted one of the dinghies returning, or anything else, for that matter, he or she could alert the other. It was a good plan, but it required patience, and he had allowed himself to be diverted while he got caught up in planning their meal.
    â€œA boat or a dinghy?” He pulled himself to his feet.
    â€œA boat. Looks like a crew boat or a water taxi or something. It’s fast. I think it’s going to the black ship.”
    He sent her back ahead of him, knowing he would slow her down. “Keep your head down.”
    She gave him a quick smile. He knew she hated being in sight of the black ship, but when he had suggested staying there, she had immediately understood the reason. Now perhaps it was paying off.
    By the time Walker caught up with her, he could see that it did look like a crew boat with its aluminum hull and narrow decks. The new boat was throttling back, the bow wave moving forward as the hull settled deeper into the water. The roar of big diesels dropped to a rich purr as it slid easily up to the side of the black ship. Two men came out of the cabin and reached out to grab the bumpers that were already hanging from the railings. The newcomer had obviously been expected.
    Walker and Claire lay and watched as a steady stream of men emerged from the new arrival and stepped onto the deck of the black ship. They clustered together for a few minutes and then there was a brief flash of movement in the cockpit as someone came out and called them in and they all moved aft and disappeared. The black ship lay quiet yet again. After watching for a few minutes, Walker pulled out the tiny radio once more. He needed to let Dan know that something was going on.

TEN
    Javier Fernandez checked his men again. He had to admit, Harry’s idea to dress them as loggers and put them in a crew boat was brilliant. It provided the perfect cover. Who would question seven loggers heading back from camp?
    Gunter and Trip had been searching for three days and had come up empty. Likely the girl had drowned or was holed up somewhere. Either way, they were not going to find her in time. So far it appeared no one was checking on her absence. That could change at any time, but at least with the crew boat, the danger of discovery was not so high.
    He glanced up at the wheelhouse, where Harry stood watch. Fernandez had told him to call Gunter and Trip and the other two back an hour ago, and they should be arriving anytime now. They were already a day behind schedule. They had lost hours of daylight and the few left would not give them enough time to retrieve all the canisters safely. With the girl still missing, he could not risk Snow Queen being seen in Shoal Bay. It would raise too many questions and put the whole operation at risk. They would have to rely on the crew boat, and it did not have winches and lights. That meant they could not work at night. They would have to haul the last of the canisters in the morning and it would take the rest of the day to assemble and test the equipment. That left less than two days to rehearse the attack. It was tight, but it was doable.
    Almost two hours after it arrived, Claire and Walker watched the crew boat leave again. They were too far away to see any of the men who had gone aboard it in detail, but there had been a lot of them. They had also seen the two dinghies return, and the four men in them had joined the others. The dinghies were