Emma's Cartier bracelet trembled in the firelight. "I had diarrhea too! Went to the rocks and..."
I gripped the SCAR-H's forend until polymer creaked. Her Oscar-winning tears evaporated under thermal imaging scrutiny - no elevated body heat, no genuine panic.
"Next time," I ground out, "you become crab bait."
Daisy emerged from mangroves dragging the Kevlar net. Six yellowfin tuna glistened like torpedo casings. My combat knife sawed through iridescent scales with CQC precision, the blade's serrated edge catching moonlight.
"Disgusting." Kate wrinkled her nose at my raw feast. Her IV line swayed with cadaverous rhythm - 36 hours since last plasma bag.
Daisy's tactical light swept the shallows.
Jack's prison-tattooed arm snaked around Emma's throat from behind a fuel drum. "Miss me, princess?" His glass shiv pressed Van Cleef pearls into her carotid.
"Rules of engagement!" I barked. Daisy's NVG laser danced across his orbital bone.
The standoff lasted 17 seconds - I counted each wave crash. Jack vanished into steel jungle, leaving Emma gasping against the C-130's landing gear.
Dawn revealed our salvation. Daisy had transformed the cargo hold into saltworks - aviation aluminum sheets angled toward the sun, seawater evaporating into crystalline lattices.
"Brilliant." Kate traced the hexagonal patterns with antibiotic-stained fingers. "Himalayan structure."
Emma's Rolex GMT tracked evaporation rates. "We need 35% humidity for optimal yield." Her sudden technical competence reeked of method acting.
The fishing traps were pure black ops ingenuity. Daisy weighted Samsonite cases with turbine fragments, creating tidal surge chambers that captured snapper at high water.
"Special Forces survival manual," I muttered, watching her adjust pressure valves from a 787's oxygen system. "Page 89."
Night brought confession. Emma found me calibrating the emergency beacon's encryption module. "David...there's something..."
Her Margiela trench fell open revealing Jack's handprint bruise. "He said you'd trade me for fuel cells."
Daisy's forensic light exposed the truth - salt crystals forming fractal patterns matching the GPS coordinates on her branded forearm. The Coast Guard ETA counter glowed: 12:00:00...