The RX Factor Read Online Free

the spot where the dinghy was tied down. He put her shopping bags in the boat and held out his hand for hers. As Jordan stepped aboard, the dinghy lurched suddenly to starboard, but Ryan's firm grip and unwavering balance saved her from a cool night swim.
    He started the outboard after a couple of drunkenly overzealous pulls, unmoored the vessel and guided the dinghy out of the docking area. He set a course for the ostentatious yacht rocking slowly on the harbor swells. The full moon hovered over her main mast. Ryan was just thinking how elegant she was when a violent blast shattered the still night, filling the sky with eye-searing light. With mouths agape, Ryan and Jordan watched as the blinding flash of flame and smoke sent the beautiful yacht skyward in thousands of pieces.
    Ryan stopped the dinghy dead in the water just before the outer ring of falling debris. Jordan stared in horror at the carnage. She began swaying from side to side, emitting sounds of disbelief, tears coursing down her cheeks. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Auntie! Uncle! This isn't happening."
    At that moment, deja vu struck Ryan hard as he relived his own words five years before.
"No, no! This isn't right, can't be. My god, Cindy, Jake, Karly! No!"
He gazed thunderstruck at the roaring, ravenous flames, hypnotized by their beautiful and horrendous power. Yet Ryan did not see the yacht's devastation before his eyes. Instead, the image of a raging, fiery plane wreck was superimposed over what was left of the boat's burning hull.
    He was experiencing his nightmare again, but this time he was awake. Horribly awake and abruptly sober. An uncontrollable shuddering overcame him, filling him with a foreboding that his life's course had once again been forever altered.

Chapter 2
    Ryan and Jordan sat in the bobbing dinghy, mesmerized by the inferno. The bright, leaping tongues of fire lit up the night, casting an array of dancing shadows over the harbor. Jordan's lamentations had subsided into soundless sobs, her body shaking with grief. The distant crackling of flames was all that could be heard in the otherwise eerie silence.
    Speechless, Ryan turned the dinghy back to shore. Jordan protested. "We can't leave them here!" Oblivious to their own safety, she lurched up and reached out her hand as if to grab Ryan, nearly capsizing the launch.
    Ryan forced his voice to remain calm. "If they were on the boat, there's nothing anybody can do for them now. We've got to get away from the boat. There could be more explosions."
    Jordan sank back to her seat, her grief giving way to anger. "Damn this island," she snarled. "God knows how long it will take for help to get here. Get this thing moving!"
    A small crowd had gathered by the time they reached the dock. Stepping off the dinghy with the stern line in hand, Ryan shouted, "Has anybody called BASRA?!"
    An onlooker told them that BASRA had been called and within a few minutes, Franklin and two of his Bahamian colleagues arrived in time to see the smoldering hull slip beneath the dark waters. All that remained was a smattering of floating debris and a pall of black smoke rising into the moon-lit sky.
    With a tone that implied he knew the answer, Franklin asked the growing crowd, "Did anyone here see what happened?"
    The crowd muttered and shook their heads. Ryan motioned to Franklin to come over to where he and Jordan were standing on the dock. Jordan was frozen, staring like a zombie out into the harbor, so Ryan decided to skip the introductions. He put his arm around Franklin's shoulder and led him down the pier away from Jordan.
    "Jesus Christ, Franklin, I'm shaking like a leaf on a tree. It was an unbelievably horrible sight."
    "What exactly happened and who is dat women you were with? She looks horrified."
    "Her name is Jordan Carver. We met tonight at Rosey's. I was giving her a ride on the dinghy back to her uncle's yacht when the damn thing exploded into a million pieces."
    "Dat's terrible. Was dere anyone on board at