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In a few h to make out the ruins of the fisherreen-slimed bommies into the smoother harbor water The smell of se As the trawler neared the co islanders and shouted to theines he had juh the knot of men toward the shanties

Cheyne came out on deck, "Moore!" he roared "There&039;s no ti within hi across the harbor and it sickened hi pulled from the ruins, and lay on the street, charred black; it was hard to tell thathu to see if he knew any of the with another crew ofFront Street cried out, "Here&039;s one!" and a woman wailed

Moore walked forward, dazed; the faces around hinized, some he did not, but in all he saw a pain, a numbness, a horror A woman rocked the corpse of a child while abut was unable to think "Go sleep," the woo sleep" A wailing pierced the diht; he saw the burned hulks of the bars, the sain now that the rain had al feverishly The Indigo Inn stood unscathed, at the top of the hill, too far away to be touched by the fire but ee "Moore!" he heard Cheyne shout fro in rows on Front Street covered with sheets; he caught a glimpse of Dr Maxwell and one of the nurses fro the injured With his next step he almost tripped over a body curled before him; he made himself look down, and saas the old man who&039;d spoken reverentially of julazed, sunken

He shook his head, forcing his breath out between his teeth God, no no no History repeating itself, he thought; the Nazis have co and merciless Horror upon horror, death upon death And on the seas now the Night Boat,lanes to carry out a timeless mission of destruction

And then Moore saw Reynard The ashed, his clothes smeared with ashes One of his hands was badly burned, the flesh puffing up in yellow blisters He stepped forward, rasped at Moore&039;s collar "You did this" he rasped hoarsely "Look what you&039;ve brought upon us LOOK AT IT, DAMN YOU!"

Moore blinked, unable to move or push the ht that Hell&039;s boat up," Reynard hissed "You brought that thing from the Abyss!"

"No," Moore said "I didn&039;t know"

"Open your eyes and look at the dead!" Reynard shrieked, tears strea down his cheeks "YOU BROUGHT IT TO THE ISLAND!"

"It was the white man did this!" someone else, a thin, wild-eyed black shouted "He killedthat boat up fro it up!"

Moore felt the electricity closing in; he shook away from Reynard and the man sprawled face forward into the sand Another came forward, the hatred palpable: "FILTHY BROTHER TO THEM THINGS!" it shrieked "YOU KILLED HER!"

A hand appeared, holding an extra finger of sli Moore, nowhere to go Their breath hot on hione roup of ainst a stone, and held out the glittering weapon Moore backed away from it, tripped over charred timbers, and fell onto his injured shoulder He cried out in pain, and then they were upon hi for hi in a broken voice He was pulled forward, through a cloud of ashes, and he tried to fight them but there were too ht a glied eyes, a flash of metal The knife arm went back in a short, brutal arc, poised for an instant, and started to drive hoe

There was a blur of motion and bodies, an abrupt cry of pain; a piece of ti down across the head of the ony as he toppled forward, the knife spinning froht another man in the chest, and drove hi heavily

Cheyne held the jagged piece of wood ready to strike again His gaze flickered across the maddened faces; then he said quietly to Moore, "Step away fro shoulder, littered around them

"Come on," Cheyne muttered defiantly "Let&039;s er than the others, stepped froripped in a hamlike hand; another followed close behind But a sharp click! froze them in their tracks

"I swear before God I&039;ll shoot the first one of you who lays a hand on those twoa rifle into their midst There were sunken hollows beneath his eyes and he blinked sluggishly, fighting exhaustion Behind hie wrapped around one arlazed in shock "Do any of you think this is going to bring back a wife, a child, or a husband? If we start killing each other we&039;ll be finishing the job those things began!"

The e

"There&039;s nothing you can do now," he told theone"

"AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?" It was Reynard, struggling through the knot ofon his face "You&039;re the law here, thereyou can do, some way you can"

"When the weather clears we can use the radio to get help," Kip said calmly "Until then, no"

Reynard shook his head "That&039;s not enough! Look at these people,to do if they coht?"

"Here are your friends," Cheyne said to Moore "See them as they are" He raised his voice "I&039;ll tell you hoe&039;ll fight, oldto try to run it across Jacob&039;s Teeth" He glanced at Moore and said with grudging respect, "And thiswith me"

Kip looked over his shoulder at the Carib, then at Moore "Jacob&039;s Teeth? Then you think it&039;stoward Jamaica?"

"Maybe," Cheyne answered "It&039;s the fastest route into the heart of the sea lanes If we&039;ve guessed wrong, or if we&039;re too late, on&039;t have another chance to find it"

"You won&039;t make it, Cheyne," Kip said "There&039;s no way you can"

"And what else are we to do?" The Carib glowered at hi slip away, ain? They know our weaknesses now, and they knohere to find diesel fuel for their boat They&039;ll get into the sea lanes and if they do no I won&039;t have that on my conscience This tio I re through ashes No! I won&039;t let thelanced at Moore "I&039;ve waited long enough If you don&039;t coan walking back to the harbor

Moore paused for a ot to help him," he said "There&039;s no other way"

"Just you two alone?"

"And Jana Thornton"

Kip stared at him, shook his head, looked back at the islanders The fear and sickness had overtaken theered back through the group ofwildly "I can&039;t think anymore," he said in a strained voice "I don&039;t knohat I should do" He stood there for a ed; he drew a hand across his face and stared down as if he ht find an answer in the ashes

Kip&039;s eyes flickered He looked around until he saw a face he knew "JR, you&039;ll be in charge until we return Here The keys to uns up there if you need them Clear away as et them up to the clinic David, can we use your hotel as shelter?"

Moore nodded

"Then that&039;s settled" He turned back to JR "Get as many as you can up there The storet them in out of the wind" Kip turned to his wife and clutched her hand "Go on You&039;ll be all right Hurry"

She hesitated, clinging to him; he called another woman&039;s name and she came over to lead Myra away fro hiet in so Front Street; they could hear the racket of the trawler&039;s engines, and Cheyne shouting at some boys to help hi to raise someone on the radio for the past two hours," Kip explained "I&039;ve just been getting frag out there somewhere"

"You don&039;t have to come with us Coquina&039;s your responsibility and that&039;s all"

Kip shook his head "I know that boat is still out there, David And I won&039;t be able to live with myself if I don&039;t try - at least try - to stop it before it takes its evil elsewhere There&039;ll be , and more innocent people will die If I turnI&039;ve ever believed in"

They reached the boat where Cheyne was already hauling in the lines, Jana working right beside hi

Moore climbed aboard and helped the Carib and Jana with the bow lines; Cheyne then disappeared into the wheelhouse and the trawler began to

The ocean beca plain of blacks and whites around the trawler The waves lifted thelassine pits that shimmered like a thousand eyes Foa the deck and through the scuppers Moore, at the boatching for bo, featurelessin a northeasterly course, black, thick clouds loo it a vast, ereen against the gray Then a cresting wave, streaked eed, rose up and blocked his view They were through the passage,up underneath the hull

And with a cold shudder he realized what that horizon was

A doorway, yawning wide

A doorway into the realunwale, past Kip and into the wheelhouse