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I strike the top of the flare across the rough surface of the cap. It takes three attempts before it lights.
It sparks orange and red. I nearly take my eyebrows off before I can pull it away from my face. I spit out the cap, feeling the heat coming off the flare. A cloud of red smoke streams out behind me, the smell of sulphur mixing with petrol fumes.
I wait . . . I wait . . . I toss it onto the deck. It rolls in the petrol. It catches. A blue and orange flame shooting from stern to bow.
I jump and hit the water like a bouncing bomb. I spin in a ball beneath the surface. Amazing how similar it feels to jumping from a moving car.
I bob up in time to see the boat ablaze, torpedoing into the side of the ship. There's a huge explosion. The boat breaks in two and rips a hole in the hul
