Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

asked calmly.
    “Let him drink before you grill him,” Honor said curtly.
    She unscrewed the cap from a two-liter bottle of water and held it awkwardly to Kyle’s lips. At first more dribbled down his beard-stubbled chin than went into his mouth. But after a few swallows, he got the hang of it and began drinking greedily.
    “Slow down,” Jake said, pushing the bottle away. “If you keep gulping like that, you’ll get sick all over your loving little sister.”
    Sighing, Kyle closed his eyes and settled back against Jake’s arm, only to flinch when something touched his sore lips.
    “Easy,” Jake said. “Honor is just putting some goo on so you don’t bleed every time you smile.”
    “What is it?” Kyle asked.
    “Chicken manure,” she replied. “That way you won’t lick it right off.”
    He laughed, then hissed when his ribs caught him.
    “What happened to your arm?” Honor asked.
    Kyle looked at her as though wondering how little he could get away with telling her.
    “Forget protecting her,” Jake said. “She’s a lot tougher than you think.”
    “I got too close to a bullet,” Kyle admitted, “but the ribs hurt more now.”
    Honor made a low sound and bit her lip.
    “Hold still,” Jake said to Kyle. “I’m going to open up this sleeve for a better look.”
    He took his dive knife from its sheath and gently sliced fabric away from Kyle’s left shoulder. Honor took a steadying breath and leaned closer. Just below the shoulder, his arm and dive suit were crusted with a mixture of grit and blood. A finger’s width of skin was gone from the outer arm. Puffy flesh oozed where it wasn’t scabbed over.
    Very gently Honor touched the unbroken skin around the wound. It was hot. “It’s infected,” she said unhappily.
    “Not dangerously,” Jake said.
    “How do you know?”
    “No red streaks on his arm,” he said, looking at Kyle. “How does your stomach feel?”
    “Fine,” Honor said.
    “Not you. Kyle.”
    “Thirsty.”
    Jake looked at the sea and saw only what he had seen before-water, rock, islands. Yet he couldn’t shake the memory of the elusive blip on the radar and the Olympic that Conroy had talked about and Jake had never seen.
    “You can drink all you want once we get you aboard the boat,” Jake said. “We’re getting out of here.”
    “The amber,” Kyle said. “I have to-”
    “Tell me where it is,” Jake interrupted impatiently. “I’ll come back for it as soon as you and Honor are safe.”
    Kyle started to speak, then shook his head.
    “What is it?” Honor asked.
    “Can’t risk it,” her brother said.
    “What do you mean?”
    Kyle just shook his head. Underneath a month’s growth of bronze beard stubble, his face was set in the same unyielding lines Jake had come to recognize in Honor. Donovans were stubborn to the soles of their feet.
    “Kyle?” Honor asked. “What can’t you risk?”
    “Leaving the amber alone with me,” Jake said savagely. “But that shouldn’t surprise you, buttercup. You don’t trust me either.”
    “That’s not-hell,” Kyle said roughly. It took too much trouble to explain, especially with a dry mouth and a fuzzy mind. “Do you have an air tank along? Mine is about done.”
    “I have a tank,” Jake said.
    “GPS unit?”
    “Yes.”
    Kyle sighed and almost smiled. “No wonder you have your own business. Not much gets by you.”
    “Where is your GPS?” Jake asked.
    “It sank with my Zodiac.”
    Honor’s breath came in audibly. “What happened?”
    “Bullets,” Kyle said, his voice as worn out as he felt. “Jay, I want your word that you’ll bring the amber up before you take me off the island.”
    “No!” Honor said. “You need a doctor more than we need any amber, no matter how fabulous.”
    Though red and gritty, Kyle’s eyes hadn’t lost their penetrating clarity. He looked at Jake and waited.
    “Your sister is right,” Jake said. “You need a doctor.”
    “I’ll keep.”
    “So will the amber.”
    “That’s just it. I was in a hurry when I sank it. It could tear loose and float away at any moment.”
    “Let it,” Honor said curtly.
    “You don’t mean that,” Kyle protested.
    “The hell I don’t.”
    “Explain it to her,” Kyle said wearily to Jake. “I’m not up to the job.”
    As Kyle lifted the water bottle back to his lips, Honor turned on Jake, fixing him with gold-green eyes that were as determined as her brother’s.
    “There’s nothing you can say that would make me