Firebomb (The Jewel Project #2)

06.2|| Rapid swirl

"Happy Birthday!" Kyle, Sam and Tom yelled.

Tom dumped a bucket of water unceremoniously right on Jerry. With a yelp, he jumped out of his sleeping bag.

"What's wrong with you?" He shook his head like a wet dog.

"Just wanted to surprise you," Kyle said, handing Jerry a small rapper.

Jerry stared from the parcel to Kyle as though expecting it to be a bomb, then took it carefully and opened it. "A chocolate bar?"

"It's not just a chocolate bar. It's a chocolate bar and all our love," Sam said. He had to admit that this was the most fun he'd ever had on Jerry's birthday.

A fond smile spread on Jerry's face. "Thanks."

"I can't believe Jimmy is such a log!" Tom said refilling the bucket and heading for Jimmy's sleeping bag.

Sam stepped back in case Jimmy would jump up and start throwing punches left and right. Tom dumped the water and Billy came screaming from under the covers.

"Are you mad?" he yelled brushing his clothes as if that would dry them.

Kyle and Tom started laughing, but Sam looked around for Jimmy and finally spotted him striding over as if he didn't have a care in the world. He took in Jerry's wet hair and Billy who was still mumbling under his breath and smirked.

"Do you think that you can fool me twice with the same trick? Tom did this to me last year. I guessed he liked the idea enough to try it again."

"Guilty as charged," Tom said, dropping the bucket on the ground. "Happy birthday," he added giving him a rapper too.

"Wow, a cookie, thanks." Jimmy gobbled it up and started gathering up his wet sleeping bag.

Sam looked at him. His brother seemed a little off, but he couldn't tell exactly what was wrong.

"Wait, you knew about this and kept quiet?" Jerry asked outraged. "I'm declaring you guilty of giving me pneumonia!"

"Relax, Jerry, you're not going to get pneumonia from a little water," Jimmy laughed, extracting two packed rafts from another few bags. "Let's get to it." He took out the pump, pulled a screw driver out of his cargo pocket and started messing with it.

"Jimmy, we should inflate the rafts, not destroy the pump," Sam said alarmed.

"I know, but it would be much faster to inflate them both at the same time. All this thing needs is a little more power..." He took out some batteries and wires.

"Trust Jimmy on this one. Let's pack everything up," Kyle said.

Sam watched as everyone gathered their things. Jimmy managed to inflate both rafts in record time while Jerry took care of the luggage, Kyle of the safety equipment and Billy kept an eye on William and Jim Rogers who was still watching them as though trying to determine if they were human or not.

And Sam couldn't help but swell with pride. His team was like a perfectly oiled clockwork machine. He didn't even have to say anything, they already knew what they had to do.

"I think we're done," Jerry said, throwing the last of the luggage in one of the boats.

"Great." Sam turned to the other boat, but froze seeing it full of luggage too. "Where did these things come from?" He asked Jerry menacingly, his arms folded across his chest.

"I packed some survival kits for each of us. In case the luggage boat sinks or something," Jerry said, strapping on his life vest.

"Wow, that's really smart, Jerry," Tom said tightening his lifejacket. "But we're not going to let anything happen to the luggage boat. We need everything in it. Some of us are going to be in it anyway."