The kids’ division led off the competition. Arena found herself forgetting about the mission as she watched them compete. One little girl was amazing and looked to be several years younger than the rest in her division. She seemed totally fearless and Arena wished she had the fearlessness she had as a child.

  Even in the wetsuit, the cold and the damp were starting to get to her, and her face was chilled. She had a blue fleece blanket printed with fluffy white clouds wrapped around her, and decided to wander up to the snack bar for something hot to drink. Sophia followed her, examining her camera and trying to wipe some of the wet from it. She passed a group of older surfers, and overheard one say something about “the package”. She froze. Sophia faltered, but then grabbed her arm and dragged her around the group to the snack bar.

  “Coffee, please,” Sophia said, rather loudly.

  “Me too,” said Arena, and she put money on the counter for both of them. Sophia turned and began snapping photos of Arena at the snack bar, but it was obvious she was looking at the group behind Arena.

  “My editor is not going to like these much,” she said. “Such a nasty day today.” The man at the bar seemed sympathetic, said he was an amateur photographer, and started rattling off the best time of year for weather at the beach.

  Arena strained her ears, but she couldn’t hear much over the chatter. She inched back a little bit from the snack bar and pretended to let the person behind her go ahead while she drank her coffee.

  “Keep an eye out for anybody trying to intercept it…” she barely heard one man say. “The agent for the buyer is supposed to be in the men’s advanced amateur division, wearing a--” Arena couldn’t hear that part, and tried not to inch closer or make them aware she was listening. She looked at Sophia, smiled, and blew on her coffee. Sophia continued to engage the man at the snack bar in photography talk.

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  “What about the person waiting in the van?” said another man.

  “He’ll be okay until we finish this. She said we were supposed to keep an eye on him, but I dunno why he’s so important anyway,” said the first man. Arena tried not to choke on her coffee.

  “Maybe we should go check on ‘im, jus’ to make sure?” said another one. “I wanna go get some real coffee anyway. You all have the other van.”

  “Fine,” the first man said, “Just make sure you get to the drop point, but give me your board. I don’t want you walkin’ off with it.”

  Arena’s eyes widened. She saw two of the men stalk off in one direction.

  “I heard it,” Sterling suddenly said in her ear, and she flinched, forgetting she had the earphone. “Cyclone, you and Willow and Centurion need to get that board, and you should stay by the wa…”

  Sophia lunged past Arena, launching herself at the three remaining men. They yelped in surprise, and as Arena spun around, she realized that Yates was on the other side. Yates used his surfboard to knock one of the men to the ground. His board tumbled onto the ground a few feet away. Arena ran over and snatched it up. She pulled it behind the snack bar, out of the way of the fight. It wasn’t as large as a surfboard. This is it!

  She scanned the parking lot and saw Bertha laying on the ground, with the two men standing over her. Sterling was creeping toward them. They turned away from Bertha and walked toward a dirty maroon van. Without thinking, Arena dropped the board on the ground and jumped on it. Immediately it rose about five feet. She crouched, pressed her foot down on the side, and the board took off. She stood and slowed, so she wouldn’t overtake the men too fast.

  “Cyclone, NO!” she heard Sophia behind her.

  “Cyclone, wait for the others!” said Sterling. “You can’t take them alone!”