Aftermath

which followed did not. Firing the second flare had again eased the tensiowas ut there was still no sign of the helicopter.
    “Show me again where you think we are,” Michael said, looking at the wet map over Driver’s shoulder, peeling it off the boat’s instrument panel and managing to tear it in the process.
    “Careful! Anyway, what’s the point?” he said, rolling with the swell and holding onto the side of the boat for support. “It won’t make any difference.”
    “Please.”
    Driver reluctantly showed him. He drew a line with his finger between Chadwick and Cormansey. “That’s the bearing I’ve been following, but like I’ve already told you, I don’t have any way of accurately measuring how far we’ve traveled. We could be a couple of miles from the island, we might not even be halfway.”
    “I know, I know…” he mumbled, staring hopefully at the map as if he hoped to somehow find a missing clue, something he hadn’t noticed before. Any kind of marker would do. Anything .
    “Rocks,” Lorna yelled from the stern of the boat. The entire group forced themselves around in the enclosed space, feet splashing through several inches of water. Christ , Michael thought, she’s right . Out on the horizon was a small rocky outcrop. He turned to face Driver, who was already poring over what was left of the map, trying to match up what he could see. He circled an area south of Cormansey.
    “Look at this. Lots of little islands. It’s got to be one of them, hasn’t it?”
    In the complete absence of anything else on the map, Michael thought he had to be right.
    “Head for them?”
    “Safest option. We can use them to navigate. Even moor up for a while if it looks like we’re going to run dry.”
    There was no more discussion. Suddenly revitalized, the others held onto anything they could as Driver turned the boat and began to sail for the rocks, praying that more of them would come into view as they got closer. Michael said nothing, but he glanced around at the other faces here with him, and then at the ocean which seemed to stretch away forever. The vastness of the water brought home his individual insignificance. It didn’t matter a damn how smart or how lucky he’d been to get this far, how brave or how strong, his fate and everyone else’s now rested on this increasingly unsteady boat and the rolling waves through which they sailed. Even Driver was of little use now. He remained at the controls, valiantly doing all he could to keep the boat on course, but his actions seemed to be having little effect.
    Jagged spears of rock began to spring up on either side of them. The water swirled and splashed the boat around with renewed vigour, dragging the hull down then forcing it back up again, at one point sending it spinning through almost a complete turn before seeming to change direction, then sweeping them back the other way. The bottom of the boat scraped along a rock.
    “Is this the part where the boat gets smashed to pieces and we all drift off in different directions, hanging onto bits of wood?” Caron said unhelpfully.
    “Shut up!” Lorna snapped at her, beginning to think she might be right. The hull scraped again, a loud, sickening noise, then the boat lurched as a tall wave crashed against the nearest rock and broke over them.
    “There!” Michael yelled before ducking down as another wall of ice-cold spray crashed down over them. He’d been pointing at something, but the violent rolling motion made it impossible to see what he’d seen. More as a result of the movement of the water than anything Driver had or hadn’t done, the little boat was pushed away slightly, then sucked in toward the rocks again. But that brief moment was enough, and Driver saw it: a small outcrop with a narrow strip of shingle beach.
    “Just aim for that,” Michael said, holding onto Driver’s shoulder and trying desperately to keep them both standing upright as the boat rolled. “Just get us ashore.”
    The water level inside the boat was increasing, and not just as a result of the waves now. Harte saw that they’d sprung a slight leak, but he kept his mouth shut and covered it with his foot, knowing there was no point adding to the panic now. Kieran leaned over the side and looked down into the swirling waters, trying to gauge how deep it was and how strong the currents were. He was so desperate to stand on dry land again that, for just a second, he seriously considered jumping.
    “Don’t do