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infringement intended.

Part 10-c 

Gene immediately took charge.  "Does anyone know how the 
currents run where Peter went in the water?"

The steersman nodded.  "We've been traveling back and forth 
for a week now, charting every current.  They go counter-
clockwise.  We were due West of Mark's island when it 
happened.  The current could have taken him there, but it 
would be more likely he ended up on Paul's or his own, 
possibly even as far up as Bruce's.  He'd hit that one reef 
before he reached Vinnie's."

"So we only have four islands and the reef we have to 
search," Gene said.  "And he may show up at the camp on 
whatever island he lands on.  He knows where all the camps 
are.  He's been island hopping all week, letting others do 
his work instead of handling it himself.  I'll go to his 
island and help organize the search there."  And this would 
give him a chance to meet this Beth who had evidently been 
the one actually in charge on Peter's island.  "Paul, Mark, 
Bruce; you go do the same on yours.  He may be injured, so 
make sure you spread the search groups out well and have 
them search everywhere."  He was not going to consider the 
grislier possibilities.  He and Peter had their differences 
and disagreements, but he refused to even consider the 
possibility that the drummer might be dead.
 
"What if he's not on any island?" Paul asked.  "What if 
he's still in the water?"  Paul tried not to think of 
sharks, or the mental image of Peter drowning far from land 
and alone.

"We can take two rafts out under motor power and check the 
current and reef," the steersman assured them.  "We'll cut 
our fuel reserve in half doing it though."

"Do it," Paul said firmly.

"You want the rest of us to do anything?" Ace asked, 
anxious to help in the search.  He felt numb.  Peter 
missing?  It could not be happening.

Gene looked at Shandi.  "You have no memory of how you got 
here, nothing about the other islands?"

Shandi shyly answered, "Long swim to others so I not go 
often.  Had everything on my island.  All islands seem 
same."

Gene motioned Ace and Shandi away, shelving the minor 
puzzle in the face of a real crisis.  "Go back to your 
island.  We'll let you know when we find Peter."

"I could help search," Ace offered.  How could he sit safe 
on his island when Peter was missing?

Gene pictured Ace stumbling through the jungle.  "Go take 
care of your people."  He saw the look in Ace's eyes and in 
a slightly softer tone said, "And keep an eye on mine so I 
can be free to go help search.  I'll tell Shannon and Misha 
to signal you if they need help.  I can't abandon all these 
people for an indefinite period of time." 

Ace smiled, grateful to be able to do SOMETHING to help in 
the effort.

"Tell your people to signal me too," Eric Singer said.  
"Ace might be in the middle of something himself.  And with 
the way the fog keeps moving around they may have trouble 
getting a signal through to him." 

"I won't be much good searching," Eric Carr admitted.  "But 
Tiger's pretty good at this stuff.  I'll help Ace keep an 
eye on your place, Gene.  Between the three of us we can 
handle our own islands and yours too.  You concentrate on 
finding Peter."

Tiger nodded.  "Paul's got the largest of the islands to be 
searched.  He probably needs extra help the most."  She 
looked at Paul.

"Any help is appreciated," Paul answered.

Gene looked at Vinnie.  "We need to borrow some of those 
musclemen you have."

"I need them to keep the troublemakers you all dump on me 
in line."  Vinnie gave Eric Carr a pointed look.

"You can spare a few," Gene said firmly.  "Pick three and 
send them down as soon as you get back to your island.  One 
each to Bruce, Paul, and Mark."  He saw the anger flare in 
Vinnie's eyes and braced himself for argument.

A shout warned of an approaching runner.  A young man 
skidded to a halt in front of Gene, gasping for breath.  
"Beth on Peter's island just signaled.  They found someone 
on the beach."

A collective sigh of relief went out.

"But its not Peter," the runner added, trying to catch his 
breath.  "Young man, about twenty, no ID on him.  His 
clothes were wet with seawater.  He had blood on his throat 
but there's no sign of a wound.  He's unconscious.  One of 
the spare rafts from Paul's island is taking the nurse from 
there over to examine him."

"Did Beth recognize him?" Paul asked.

"No one knows who he is or can remember him from the 
cruise," the runner reported.

"Might just be someone no one noticed," Gene said.  
"Probably from Paul or Mark's island, got out in the ocean 
and caught in the current.  The nurse may recognize him as 
soon as she sees him.  He's not bad hurt?"

"No obvious injury, just unconscious."

Gene dismissed the news.  "It's not important.  Let's get 
this search going.  The nurse can take care of any young 
man foolish enough to almost drown himself."

*	*	*	*	*	*	*

"What's bothering you?"  Vinnie asked as he and Angel 
headed for their own raft.  He was already scheming on how 
to use Gene's order to cover sending some of his loyal 
henchmen onto the other islands to spy on things the hidden 
cameras could not provide information about. 

"This was a total waste of time," Angel complained.  "We 
could have stayed home and worked on our special project."  
She glared at the mist drifting through the trees.  "I 
could have been monitoring the other camps instead of 
watching Simmons make an ass of himself again.  'Special 
meeting'.  Yeah right."

"It might have been interesting if Criss hadn't gone 
missing."

"He's not missing," Angel snarled.  "He's probably on his 
island doing some groupie right this minute."  She thought, 
'Probably Beth.'  "He just decided he wasn't going to 
bother taking orders from high-and-mighty Demon and had his 
raftsman make up a story to cover him.  He'll say he fell 
out and washed back up on his own island and no one will be 
able to prove otherwise."  Pity they had not been able to 
rig a way to power the recording equipment or they would 
have the proof on Peter and could blackmail him.  She 
should have left orders for someone to monitor the cameras 
in their absence.  The remote cameras all ran on batteries 
but the recording equipment required more power than 
batteries or the weak generators could provide.  This lost 
time would not be so bad if she could go back and review 
tapes of all the islands, but she was stuck with the 
feeling that while she was catering to Simmons' ego 
something important had happened and she would never know 
about it.  And to top it all, the cameras were on their 
last set of batteries and would go dead in two days.  She 
had to have the plan in place by then.

"I'm glad they didn't decide to search our island," Vinnie 
said.  "It'd be hard to keep the prisoners hidden.  And if 
they find that body..."

Angel exploded.  "Stop worrying about the body.  I killed 
him where no one will find him.  Some stupid clearing with 
this big rock in the middle of it covered with vines.  He 
tried to run and I nailed him as he scrambled over it.  
There was a hole under it with a bunch of bones already 
there so I stuck the body in with them and sealed it with 
stuff so no one will notice it.  Even if they did search 
for Peter on our island they won't find the body.  Now stop 
bothering me about that body!"
*	*	*	*	*	*	*

"This is one of my favorite spots."  Lorie looked at the 
waterfall and felt her cheeks warm slightly.  She quickly 
turned away and motioned vaguely at the pool.  "It's a 
great place to come swimming."

"This hasn't been that bad, despite being stranded," 
Desiree said.  "I got Eric, you got Bruce.  He as good as 
we always wrote?"

Lorie blushed bright red.  "I'll let you decide for 
yourself."

Desiree laughed.  "I appreciate you not clawing my eyes out 
when I stepped off the boat on your beach."

"We're Kissisters," Lorie said.  "We can share.  Just don't 
let some of those stuck-up pains get near him."

"I had my run-ins with them over on Eric's island."  
Desiree picked a flower and stuck it in her hair.

Lorie gazed into the forest.  "That fog is still here."

"The stuff followed us all the way here," Desiree 
complained.  "Thickest stuff I've ever seen.  Think we can 
find our way back to camp?"

"I could find my way blindfolded," Lorie promised.  She 
knew every step on the path to her special rendezvous spot 
with Bruce.

They stepped into the forest and the fog closed around 
them.  A cold silence crept over them, smothering 
conversation.  They walked through a world whose colors 
were faded and songs silenced.

Stepping around a protruding branch, Desiree slipped in 
something and would have fallen if Lorie had not caught 
her.  "Careful," Lorie said, her voice hushed as if she was 
afraid to break the silence.  They both glanced down.

Blood covered the ground.  A tiny hand lay palm up as if 
begging for help that never came.  The monkey's head lay 
several feet away, viciously torn from the body and tossed 
aside to roll until it stopped against a tree trunk with 
the small face gazing back at the carnage.  Entrails were 
looped over bushes.

A soft sound of movement made them look towards the side.  
Red eyes burned through the mist.

Both women fled, running as fast as they could back towards 
the pool.  They could hear something crashing through the 
brush behind them.  They ran silent, saving their breath 
for the task of getting away.

"Behind the waterfall," Lorie whispered as they burst from 
the jungle.  They dove into the pool and swam across to the 
cascade and the cave hidden behind it.  After they made 
their way through the pounding water, they found a soft 
patch of moss to collapse on.  The sound of the falling 
water blocked out all outside and enclosed them in their 
little world.  The light was subdued by water and mist, 
seeping through to dimly illuminate the two figures and the 
rock wall behind them with its odd dark drawings.

Desiree hugged Lorie close and placed her mouth next to her 
friend's ear. "Now what?" she whispered softly.

Lorie shook her head, eyes on the curtain of water.  
Please, let whatever that was go away.  Please let them be 
safe.