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Vera spotted three survivors huddled at the very highest point in the back of the small cave. One broken arm. One head wound. One walking on an ankle that twisted sideways, but clearly hadn’t realized it yet. The fourth one and the two parts of kayaks reported by the helo crew must have been washed out to sea.
The second wave slashed into the boat on the swimmer’s heels as he jumped forward into the cave. Thankfully, the cave’s bottom had been carved so that it rose toward the back. But green water flowed over the rear transom and partially swamped their twenty-three-foot boat.
Vera managed to loop the bow line over a barnacle-covered boulder and calculated desperately as she held on.
They already had water aboard: six feet wide, half a foot deep, twenty-three feet long. Sixty cubic
