Chapter 7
Zoe fought the urge to cringe as her feet touched the floor in the hidden room.
She was even deeper in the container, and it would be more difficult to get out.
The walls radiated heat still, and the smell of sweat was strong.
Breathing through the anxiety, she glanced around.
The torchlight illuminated ten children lying on the ground, some of them on top of each other, with barely any room to stand.
Her fear vanished, replaced by heartache. She needed to get these children out of here.
A young girl, about twelve years old, blinked at her.
Zoe crouched down and smiled. “Hi. I’m Zoe. I’m going to get you out of here. Can you stand for me?”
The girl frowned but didn’t move.
Heath said something in another language, and the girl looked up and then shifted.
“What did you say?” Zoe asked as she pulled the girl to her feet.
“The same thing you did, but in Urdu.”
Of course. Some of these kids might not have had time to learn Arabic. The girl moved slowly as if not in control of her body and leaned against Zoe. Luckily she hardly weighed anything.
Heath called something, and the girl lifted her hands above her head. “I’m going to ask her to jump. Put your hands on her waist and help hoist her when she does.”
Zoe did as he asked, noting another girl was moving, prodding Maryam next to her.
At another command from Heath, the girl jumped. Zoe lifted her, and when Heath clasped the girl’s hands, she let go and used her back as a bench so the girl’s knees would rest on them and Zoe could help lift.
Once the girl was out of the compartment and while Heath spoke to her, Zoe turned and helped the next girl to her feet.
“Just a sip.” She passed the water bottle to Maryam and checked the boys.
None of them had stirred, but they were much smaller than the girls.
The drugs might take longer to wear off.
“Mohammad, there’s some food in my backpack. Share it with the girls, but just small bites,” Heath called.
Together they lifted the remaining four girls out of the space. Maryam frowned at her in vague recollection, but Zoe didn’t push it. She’d introduce herself when the girl was more alert.
The boys hadn’t stirred, and Zoe bent to check their pulses. Slow, but there.
She glanced up at Heath. “How do you want to do this?”
“Can you lift them?”
She studied the boys, choosing the smallest one, and bent her knees and lifted him under the knees and back. She stumbled into the wall and steadied herself. “Now what?”
“How good’s your deadlift?”
She laughed. “Non-existent.” But there had to be some way to get the boys out of here. She jiggled him. “Come on, wake up.” She tapped his thigh, trying to get a reaction.
The boy groaned.
“That’s it. Wake up.” She jiggled him again, and his eyes opened. Confusion crossed his face. “Hey. My name is Zoe. I’m trying to help you, but I need you to reach your arms up above your head.”
A frown.
“Mohammad, do you know the names of the boys?” Heath called.
“Faizan,” a girl called back.
The boy looked up towards the voice. “Imam?”
“She’s on the other side of this wall,” Zoe told him. “I need your help to get you to her. Hold your hands up high.”
Faizan did as she asked and she jiggled him about until she could get him into a position where she could jump and Heath could grab him.
By the time his feet cleared the edge of the wall, Zoe was panting. She couldn’t do that for four more boys. She crouched down and moved them all so they weren’t lying on top of each other. Then she tapped and sprinkled water on their faces, hoping to get some kind of reaction.
Heath slid into the compartment behind her. “Swap places with me. I can lift them so they’re over the wall. Then you just need to pull them over into the gap. When they’re all out, we can lift them onto the pallet.”
She stood; the tight spacing meant she was pressed against him. She took a moment to draw comfort from him. They were in this together.
He ran a hand down her arm in support and then cupped his hands. “Quickly. I don’t want to be in here if someone comes.”
Of course. Fear gripped her, and she let him boost her up. By the time she’d turned around on top of the pallet, Heath had the next boy in his arms. He practically threw the boy over the wall, his upper body strength incredible.
The boy was alert enough to reach out his arms, and she caught him, pulling him towards the pallets.
He half-slammed into a pallet with a cry.
“Sorry!” Zoe said.
The boy scrambled for purchase and he climbed up the rest of the way, his gaze clearer.
“The others are at the end.” Zoe pointed. “Wait with them.”
He moved without speaking, and Zoe turned her attention back to the remaining boys. It didn’t take too long to get them all out, though the last two were barely conscious and had to be dragged across the pallet to the entrance.
Heath positioned them into a recovery pose and left them lying on top of the pallet. “In case someone comes and we need to hide again.”
Not everyone would fit in the small gap between the pallets and the doors, but hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
Zoe stepped out of the container and took deep breaths, relief filling her. The light was duskier now, and there was less dust in the air.
Heath did a quick headcount, assessing each child.
They all sat or slouched at the edge of the container, unable to sit upright, though Imam and one of the other girls seemed more alert.
“We’re not all going to make it in one trip,” Heath said in English. “Too many of them will need to be supported or carried.”
Zoe nodded. “What’s the plan?”
“I’ll take Mohammad, these two girls, and carry a boy. I’ll get the lifeboat open, and hopefully by the time I return, the rest of the girls will be alert enough to walk. I’ll take them and another boy, and on the final trip, I’ll carry two and you can carry one.”
“I stay here with them?” It made sense.
“Yeah. I’m not leaving without you, Zoe.”
She smiled. “I know. Go.” The longer they stayed, the greater the chance they’d be caught.
Heath turned and explained the situation to the children.
“I’m not leaving without Faizan,” Imam said, her expression fierce.
Faizan was the only other boy who might walk by himself if he had a bit more time to recover.
Heath picked up one boy who hadn’t stirred yet in a fireman’s lift. “Faizan can walk on the next trip.”
Iman shook her head. “I can carry him.” She pulled Faizan to his feet and turned around, saying something to him that Zoe couldn’t hear. Faizan hopped on her back in a piggyback.
Heath smiled. “All right. Let’s go.”
Zoe watched them go for a second and then turned her attention to the remaining children. She handed around the water for those who could drink.
“What happened to us?” one girl asked, her speech still a little slurred.
“You were told you were going to Riyadh to work, but the men who promised that lied,” Zoe told her gently. “Someone saw you being put into the container and I was contacted.”
“Who are you?”
“A friend of Nisha Khan.”
Maryam stirred. “My aunt?” She blinked. “Zoe?”
Zoe smiled. “Yes. She asked me to help you.” She checked the row to make sure no one was coming.
“I’m Zoe,” she told the others. Four girls and three boys still to move. One was conscious but not responding to anything. She moved over to him. “Hi. Will you drink some water for me?” She held a bottle up to his lips.
He pushed it away.
Maybe he was worried about being drugged again. “Do any of you know him?” she asked the girls.
They shook their heads.
“I’m trying to help you. We’re getting you off this ship and back home. I need you to hold on so I can carry you.”
He stared back at her uncomprehendingly.
Damn it.
She continued her rounds, making sure the last boy who was still unconscious was breathing.
One girl started crying. “I want to go home.”
Zoe knelt next to her. “It won’t be long. We’ll get you there.”
She checked each way and froze when she spotted two crew walking past at the end of the row.
She held her breath as they spoke to each other and continued walking, not looking down the row. When they disappeared without spotting her, Zoe exhaled.
They were on the side of the ship that Heath had gone to. What if they caught him with the kids?
Had there been enough time to make it to the lifeboat yet? Would the crew notice something amiss?
Her chest tightened, and she checked the other direction. Should she move everyone in the opposite direction or inside the container?
As her hands twitched and clenched, she took a deep breath. Calm down. Heath was an expert at evasion. He could deal with two crew members.
There was nothing to worry about.
***
Heath reached the lifeboat and unclipped the safety chains blocking the entrance. With the door open, he stepped back to let Mohammad and the others in first, before he handed the unconscious boy through to Imam.
He got in after them, closing the hatch and assessing the situation.
There were windows all the way around, but the centre steering column would block them from sight.
He took the boy back from Imam and placed him in the middle seat where he wouldn’t be seen and strapped him in.
Then he turned to the others. “Keep low. Don’t move around, don’t talk unless you have to.
Stay hidden. I’ll be back with the others as soon as I can. ”
The kids nodded.
Heath went back to the entrance, peering out the window to ensure no one was coming, and then lifted himself out.
He redid the chains so nothing looked out of place and then jogged back towards the container. Halfway there he spotted a crew member climbing down from a row.
Shit. He ducked behind a thick pillar and confirmed the sailor was coming this way before crouching low, monitoring him.
He got closer and closer, and ten metres before he reached Heath, he climbed the ladder into a container corridor.