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Gray nodded. “While the ambush could’ve been her attempt at exacting her long-delayed revenge—for us taking down the Guild, for the death of her brother—I doubt it. She’s more calculating than that. The attack felt hasty, a kneejerk attempt to use the quake as a cover. Something else is going on.”
When Sigma Force had first encountered the former Guild assassin, she had been gathering forces, filling the power vacuum left behind after the terrorist group’s destruction. In the fierce encounter that followed, her twin brother, Anton, had been killed. Though he had died protecting a Sigma asset, Valya continued to harbor a vendetta, especially against one of them.
Gray stared across the bay toward Seichan and Jack. The Zodiac had finally reached the stern of Guan-yin’s catamaran. The group gathered to board with the children.
Thank God, they’re all—
The pier jolted under Gray, then again even harder. He and the others were all thrown to the planks. Gray fell to his hands and knees. Across the bay, the waters rippled into a huge chop. Off in the distance, the catamaran bobbled and rocked, but it was moored in deep water, where the quake’s effect was muted. Zhuang had managed to secure a line and got everyone climbing aboard the larger boat.
Relieved, Gray concentrated on his own situation. The pier continued to buck and roll under him. Behind him, the town of Deep Water Bay rattled and shook. As he watched, a bayside building collapsed, spilling bricks and sections of wall across the neighboring beach. A fiery explosion blew deeper in the town as a gas main burst.
Gray and the others kept low, not even attempting to get to shore. It took all their effort just to hold their place as the writhing pier tried to throw them off. They had no choice but to wait it out.
A loud splintering cut through the quake’s low rumble. Ten feet away, the end of the pier ripped off its stone pilings and toppled sideways into the sea.
The teenager, Bolin, panicked and burst to his feet.
Kowalski yanked the kid back down. “Stay put!”
After another five minutes, the fierce jolting tempered into quieter trembling. Gray risked sitting up, making sure the catamaran had fared all right. By now, the Zodiac was already on its way back. It sped and bounced over the quake-driven ripples.
“Look!” Monk called over.
His friend drew his attention to the water on either side of the pier.The levels were rapidly receding down the pilings, exposing more and more of the beach.
Despite the continued tremoring, Gray stood up. He recognized what was happening and pointed toward shore. “Run! Get to higher ground!”
The others gained their feet.
Gray continued to face the bay as a massive tide pulled the waters out from under the pier. He lifted both arms and crossed them over his head, trying to warn Zhuang. But the Zodiac continued toward him.
Gray cursed and snatched the SIG from its holster. He fired two shots into the air.
Finally, the Zodiac slowed, the bow dipping as it did. Zhuang finally recognized the danger—either from Gray’s warning shots or the sight of the widening stretch of starlit beach. The Zodiac made a hard turn and swung away from shore, then raced off toward the catamaran, chased by the receding waters.
With nothing more he could do, Gray turned and pounded down the planks after the others. As he did, the water piled higher and higher out in the bay, building toward a tidal wave, a tsunami that would crash through town in a couple of minutes.
The only blessing was that Seichan, Jack, and the others were safely aboard the catamaran and out in the deep water. Gray had only one mission from here.
Stay alive for them.
12:38A.M.
From the stern of the catamaran, Seichan watched the shadowy shapes of the men fleeing down the pier toward shore. The quake had subsided, but the new danger was evident as the waters retreated from the shoreline. Tsunami sirens echoed over the bay, rising into a wail of warning.
Closer at hand, Zhuang fought the Zodiac across the water as the tide rose under its pontoons. Seichan felt the catamaran lifting, too. It floated higher and higher. The bow—still tied to the mooring ball andits anchor—dipped. The chain down to the seabed must have reached its limit. The deck continued to tilt under her.
Not good.
Fearing the worst, she headed forward. She passed along the narrow promenade that ran alongside the main salon. Kat had taken the children inside there, retreating to a cabin to try to calm them.
As Seichan headed for the bow, Guan-yin called down from the flybridge. Her mother had gotten the engines started, but she had also recognized the danger as the boat continued to tip steeply forward.
“Get us off the mooring!” her mother called down.
Seichan reached the foredeck and skidded across its fiberglass surface. By now, the boat had tilted to nearly thirty degrees. Once near the bow rail, she dove on her stomach to the starboard cleat. The catamaran had been tied down on the portside, too, forming a secure bridle at the bow. She hit the rail with her shoulder and tugged at the nylon line wrapped around the cleat. The tension jammed it in place. She couldn’t loosen it.
“Seichan!” Guan-yin yelled to her. “Cut us free!”
