Chapter 6
The click and slide of the bolt being put into place was full of menace. Instant blackness surrounded Zoe as she lay on top of the pallets, heart pounding. What the hell just happened?
It had been too fast for Zoe to process. All she’d known was that when Heath said something, she had to act.
So she had.
But now she was in the pitch black, surrounded by metal and squeezed in the tiny gap between the pallets and the roof.
She hadn’t had a chance to mention her real fear of small, dark spaces to Heath.
Her heart beat even faster and her breath quickened, sweat breaking out over her skin. She was alone, stuck in this hot metal container, and there was no way she could get out by herself. What if Heath didn’t come back for her? What if the container tipped over? What if the boat sank?
Her chest tightened and her fingers clenched. A scream tickled her throat just wanting to be released. She couldn’t stay here. She had to get out. Zoe scrabbled backwards and her feet hit the door, the clang resonating throughout the container.
“Help!” The cry was faint, but Zoe clung to it as she wrestled the panic back.
She wasn’t in a mine shaft. She hadn’t defied her parents.
Heath knew where she was. He would come back to let her out.
She squeezed her eyes closed and imagined being in a meadow full of flowers.
She inhaled deeply and then exhaled, counting to ten.
There was still a hint of dust in the air, but not as thick as it had been that day in Coober Pedy.
She shoved aside the memory with another inhalation and slow exhalation as she tried to get her brain to override her body. It wasn’t her poor decision that had got her here, it was Heath boosting her in.
Though they wouldn’t have been here if she hadn’t been late to the rendezvous. So it was another poor decision, thinking she knew better. Would she ever learn?
“Is someone there?” The faint words were in Arabic, but they were enough for Zoe to be sure someone was in here.
Her decision would protect several children, and that cry for help had to be from one of them. Zoe cracked open one eye and was met with darkness. She had to go with what she had seen in the split second the door had been opened and Heath had helped her inside.
Two pallets high, two pallets wide, and who knew how many pallets deep. Her head brushed the metal ceiling. Would she get stuck if she shuffled further?
She gritted her teeth and inhaled again, slowly exhaling and willing her body to relax.
Heath would come back for her.
She was not stuck in here. She would not suffocate. She would not be crushed.
Each thought helped to calm her, and though her skin felt tight and her heart still raced, she reached out a hand and brushed her backpack. She shifted it to the side and pulled herself forward.
Heath will come for me.
She stretched her other hand out and grabbed some of the plastic covering the pallet and gripped it.
Heath will come for me.
She pulled herself forward, sliding across, the plastic screeching in protest.
Heath will come for me.
She stretched out her other hand and pulled herself along the top of the pallets. Repeating the mantra over and over, she slowly slid her way across until her hand met open air. She wasn’t at the end of the container, but there was definitely not another pallet below her. She needed light.
Her phone. Heath had passed it to her before he locked her in.
She slid her hand awkwardly down the side of her body, hampered by the lack of room, and fumbled for her pocket, finally finding the opening.
Her fingers brushed the warm phone and she gripped it, bringing it around to the front and turning on the torch.
Light filled the space, making her blink at its brightness.
When her vision adjusted, she discovered a gap only a metre wide before the wall of the container.
An empty gap.
Her stomach dropped.
They weren’t here.
So where were they? She was sure she’d heard a voice.
But had that been a product of her panic?
Had she brought Heath on this mission for nothing?
She closed her eyes as the enormity of the situation smothered her.
They were no longer rescuers, they were stowaways who would have to steal a lifeboat in order to get off the ship and home.
A lifeboat which might save someone’s life if the ship sank.
How was she supposed to face Heath now?
A slight movement, enough that her body felt it, reminded her she was on a ship getting further and further out to sea. And she was locked in a container with very little space.
As the claustrophobia threatened to take over again, something banged against the side of the container.
She flinched as another clang sounded.
What the hell?
Understanding hit her.
The crew had found the lashings undone and were retying them. She was really stuck in here.
She flicked off the torch and squeezed her eyes closed. She was fine. Heath would come. He would let her out. And she’d definitely heard a voice. That was not a hallucination of her panic. Which meant she had to find the kids before Heath returned.
Exhaling a shaky breath, she shone the torch around the space.
A smear of something dark—paint, or maybe blood—was in the far corner. It was probably left there from when the container was built.
“Hello?” she called. There’d be another twenty-foot container behind this one, so she didn’t have to worry about being heard. She reached across the gap and tapped on the wall.
It sounded kind of hollow, not like solid metal. To compare, she tapped the side of the container and it was more of a clunk.
“Help us,” a young child called in Arabic. The call was faint, but it was coming from the other side of the back panel.
Elation filled her. She’d found them. “I will,” she promised. “How did you get in there?” She searched the wall looking for a latch or a gap she could get her fingers behind to pry open the panel.
“They forced us in.”
Zoe shuffled to the other corner and couldn’t see anything that indicated a door or any kind of entry. “How many of you are there?” she asked as she continued to search.
“Twelve.”
She paused. That was far more than she’d expected. They must be crammed in there like sardines. Would they all fit in the lifeboat?
“But the others are not awake.”
Zoe bit her lip as she tried not to think the worst. “Can you wake them?”
“No.” His voice held tears.
“Did the people who took you give them anything?”
“They gave us dates to eat, but I’m allergic, so I didn’t eat any.”
“Did the others go to sleep after eating them?”
“Yeah.”
OK, so maybe they were just drugged and not dead. But that would make it a hell of a lot more difficult to get them to the lifeboat.
One problem at a time.
First she had to get them out.
There weren’t any gaps between the walls she could get her fingers into.
She glanced at the door. Where was Heath? Surely he had evaded the sailors by now.
She turned her attention back to the wall. There had to be a hinge somewhere. “Where is the door?”
“They moved a whole wall.”
Oh shit.
Zoe examined it. Could she peel it open from the top or sides? She highly doubted Heath would have something that would cut metal in his arsenal of tools. The bottom of the wall was flush with the floor, but a shadow appeared at the top when she shone her light on it.
“Are you still there?”
“Yes,” Zoe called. “I’m trying to work out how to let you out.” She reached out for the small, shadowy area. Her fingers curled around the edge of the wall.
Yes.
She tugged down, the metal biting into her fingers, but it barely shifted.
“I can see some light!” the boy cried, his voice full of hope.
Would she be able to get him out? She tugged again on the metal and it shifted a little, but there was no way she was going to be able to peel it back like opening a tin of tuna. She slid her fingers along the top to the corner and felt around for some kind of latch. “What’s your name?”
“Mohammad.”
“Nice to meet you. My name’s Zoe. I’ve got a friend who will come to help soon and we’ll get you out.” Somehow.
Her fingers found a metal lump, and she ran her fingers over it. Was it a lever? Stretching her fingers, she felt and heard the release. Tugging hard, the wall shifted towards her and then hit the pallet.
“You did it!” Mohammad yelled.
Except there wasn’t a gap to squeeze past. All she’d done was give the children more room. And most of them were unconscious.
She glanced back towards the doors, but they were still closed tight. How long before Heath was back?
“Mohammad, could you try to wake the others again? Maybe shake them gently and call to them.”
More people to put pressure on the door would be useful.
Mohammad called, and Zoe heard rustling, which indicated he was shaking them. Someone moaned.
“Wake up, wake up,” Mohammad shouted.
Another groan.
“Mohammad, is there any water in there?” She held the torch up to the gap to illuminate the space.
“No. There’s just a bucket.”
Perhaps the container was getting off at the first stop. At least they’d provided a toilet. “OK.”
She checked the battery on her phone. Fifty percent. The torch was running it down fast.
“Is it just one person waking up?”
“Two,” Mohammad replied. “The rest won’t wake.”
She hoped they weren’t dead. The smugglers would want them alive, but what if they’d miscalculated the drug dose.?
“Do you know any of the other children?”
“Iman’s my cousin. She’s waking. That’s all I know.”
“Great. Keep trying. I’m going to pry the door open.” What she needed was a crowbar or some kind of lever. Something like the lashing bar spanner. Heath must have taken it with him. She yanked on the corner of the door again, but it didn’t move.
There was nothing she could do.
They were stuck.
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