Chapter 11
Mila tucked herself low amongst the thick ground cover, hidden behind a palm tree. Damien’s pack was within easy reach. She ignored the insects crawling over her and the itch from a leaf rubbing against her leg. Her eyes were glued to Damien as he made his way down to the shore.
As he hit the ocean, she glanced towards the village but people were too busy to notice one man rush across the shore and into the filthy water.
Her breath caught in her throat as he breast-stroked towards the flooded inflatable. It seemed much further away now that he was in the ocean and she had some reference of sizes.
She couldn’t tear her gaze from him to scan the rest of the bay. Her gut told her if she wasn’t watching him, something bad would happen.
A ridiculous superstition, but one she couldn’t shake.
His strokes were confident and he seemed unencumbered by his clothes and boots as he made his way closer and closer to the boat. Finally he reached it, ducked around the bow and disappeared from view.
A minute later he reappeared and pulled the boat towards the point.
Mila exhaled and she took a second to scan the village. A man stood on the shore scanning the ocean. He was too far away for her to see clearly, but he was looking towards the boat.
She put the scope to her eye and the young man came into sharp focus. Dressed in a navy-blue T-shirt and black pants, he had once picked up a student from her class. He gestured someone else over and pointed.
Agus’s bodyguard, Ali. He must have been on one of the motorbikes.
Which meant the two men with guns were still nearby. Her skin prickled.
Damn. Had they seen the boat?
The fishing boat was hauling a table onboard. The young man on the beach waved and yelled at the captain, pointing towards Damien and the Zodiac.
She glanced back at Damien who was checking the village now and then. Could he see what was happening?
There was no way to warn him. What would he do in this situation? She needed to be calm and wait to see what happened next. Damien was an experienced soldier, and no matter what happened, he would work out what to do.
The fishing boat was slowly making its way back to shore with its hull full and the young man was waiting for it. Damien had some time.
Mila continued scanning, taking in the utter devastation of the village and her heart ached.
Where the village had once stood was a rubbish heap of wood, clothes and plastics.
They’d lost everything, though women and children were already combing through for items to salvage.
Men were clearing building materials, piling up things that were damaged, and those that could be repaired.
Damien wasn’t making much progress. He was far enough out that if he swam in her direction, he would make it around the point, but the water was dragging him the other way.
Her heart raced and she impatiently swatted an insect from her neck and pulled up the collar of Damien’s shirt. Her scan shifted back to the men on shore where the fishing boat had just arrived. People were unloading a table and other bits of furniture and the men were talking to the captain.
The young man pointed to where the inflatable had been, not where Damien now was. Mila scanned the water where they were pointing and spotted a cupboard floating doors up.
She exhaled. Hopefully that was what they were after.
But Damien was getting further and further out to sea.
Her muscles tightened. What if the boat engine didn’t work, and the oars were missing? He might not be able to fight the pull of the ocean and she’d be stuck here, by herself.
She brushed the sweat from her brow and exhaled.
No matter what happened, he would come back for her.
He’d promised.
As she watched, he swam to the ocean side of the craft and pulled off a large piece of wood that was inside the Zodiac. Then he pulled himself into the boat.
It barely moved and stayed low in the water. No one from the shore should have seen him. He kept his body low and pulled the casing from the engine.
Wouldn’t the noise attract attention?
Suddenly she spotted movement in her periphery.
She scanned her surroundings and spotted Ali and the young man who had been talking to the captain walking along the shore searching the water.
Shit. They were a hundred metres away from her, but if she made any movement, she’d attract their attention.
The next nearest tree she could hide behind was three metres behind her, but the ground cover wasn’t high. Still, if she was fast, she should make it.
She packed the scope away and lifted the pack, grunting with the effort.
Holy crap what did Damien have in there? It had to be twenty kilos or more.
Carefully she hefted it onto her back and checked where the men were. They were moving fast down the shore but had to watch where they were treading because of all the rubbish, and they were scanning the water more than the forest.
She glanced at the boat but Damien wasn’t inside. Her heart clenched. Maybe he’d seen the men and slid into the water.
The murmur of voices switched her attention to her own safety. She checked the men were looking out to sea and shifted from tree to tree, confirming their location before moving to the next one. It wasn’t until she moved about ten metres into the jungle that she breathed a little easier.
But not knowing what was happening with Damien made her chest tighten.
And what if the men spotted the boat from here? They might send the fishing boat out to him. Or simply open fire.
If the fishing boat towed the boat to shore, they’d be screwed.
Too many options.
Too many unknowns.
“Maybe it’s just the current,” a man said in Indonesian.
She froze. They were close.
“It’s moving too fast to be the current,” Ali said. “We should call Agus.”
“And if you’re wrong? He’ll punish us for making him come here.”
Mila crouched down and tucked herself and the pack close to the tree trunk. They’d spotted the Zodiac. She had to do something.
“If I’m right, he’ll reward us.”
Their voices drew closer. “Didn’t you say the English teacher escaped in the helicopter?”
Both men stepped into view through the trees. Ali only had to turn around and he’d spot her. “The boat is proof the men were here.”
Her heart raced, and she focused on long, slow, quiet breaths.
She couldn’t lift the pack without making a noise, so she left it next to the trunk, covering it with leaves, before inching her way around the other side of the tree. The younger man turned and spotted her, his eyes wide.
Indecision crossed his face.
Hell. Could she outrun them? Not if Ali pulled a gun on her.
So she needed a head start. But if they were busy chasing her…
This was her way to enable Damien to get the boat. Before she considered the implications she gasped and moved, stepping on a twig as she did so.
Ali whirled around and caught her gaze. He smiled.
Yeah, all he was interested in was Agus’s good favour. She turned and ran deeper into the jungle, away from the village and the shore, making as much noise as she could.
Where should she run to? She couldn’t lead them back to the bay where Damien was headed.
Focus on evasion first. Then she’d figure out how to get back to Damien.
Ali’s cry was loud, hopefully loud enough for Damien to hear and realise something was wrong.
Branches and vines scraped her legs and feet, but she didn’t slow. She had to get far enough ahead to hide.
Footsteps pounded behind her and she risked a glance back. Ali was gaining on her.
Lungs burning, she pushed herself faster, scanning the forest ahead for a path.
She stepped on a rock, the uneven surface causing her ankle to roll and she stumbled, trying to catch herself before she fell.
Her foot landed hard and pain shot through her ankle. She shrieked and fell to the ground, narrowly missing a plant covered with thorns.
She twisted, trying to get up, but the pain in her ankle was too much.
Ali came to a stop in front of her and smiled. “Mila, Agus will be happy to see you’re all right.”
Her pulse raced. At least they had stopped looking for Damien.
She had to delay their return to the village for as long as possible.
“I think I broke my ankle.”
***
Damien glanced up at the shout in time to see the two men who had been walking along the shore dash into the forest.
Shit. Mila.
Which meant he had to get back to shore.
He’d finished cleaning out one engine casing and reassembling it when he noticed the men on the shore. Three of the oars were still strapped to the inside of the pontoons and the bow was full of fronds and debris, but he didn’t clear it yet. It camouflaged the boat and kept it low in the water.
Instead he slipped back into the dirty water and pulled the boat towards the point. The swirl of the water wasn’t as strong this far out and it was easier to move.
Dobby kept his eye on the shore and a few minutes after the men had disappeared, they reappeared pulling a limping Mila with them. She didn’t have the backpack with her, and she was injured.
The older man, who was one of Agus’s men, spoke into a radio, but Dobby couldn’t hear anything.
Mila glanced towards him and he lifted a hand to show he’d seen her. She averted her gaze with a slight nod.
Good. She understood he would come for her.
Now he needed to know what they would do with her—take her back to Agus’s house, or keep her here.
He wished he had his scope with him. He would have to find it before going after her.
Agus’s man sat Mila down on a tree trunk at the edge of the village.
Dobby kicked harder, making it around the point and into the next bay. He brought the boat closer to the shore until his feet touched and then he dragged it through the water until he found a spot to hide it.
As he was about to empty all the rubbish from the inside, he heard an engine out to sea.
Damn. He pushed the boat deeper, so it blended with the rest of the debris and crouched down.
A luxury cruiser motored around the point coming from the main village. He spotted a man on board who he would almost guarantee was Agus.
Going to pick up Mila.
He kept low in the water until the boat passed the bay and then moved fast, dragging the boat up the shore and pulling the bung from it to drain the water.
While it drained, he moved debris around the boat to hide it.
It was far too heavy for him to pull it up the crowded beach.
He tucked the bung in his pocket and ran into the jungle, heading for the other bay.
Thankfully only a couple of hundred metres separated them and as he reached the other side he spotted the luxury cruiser anchored, while a tender made its way to the shore. Mila still sat on the trunk.
Dobby took his bearings to figure out where he’d left her. His backpack would have to be close along with his rifle. Cautiously he moved through the edge of the forest until he noticed broken branches.
He spotted a compressed area and grinned, shifting away the leaves to expose his equipment.
The inflatable reached the shore. There were only three men; the captain, Agus’s man, and the younger man. He could shoot them all, but the Indonesian military might have left people on the ground here and he didn’t want to enter a firefight.
It was unclear what Agus would do to Mila. He might be satisfied with money which he wouldn’t get if Mila was dead.
But would he punish her for running or for what her mother had done all those years ago?
Dobby kept his gun trained on them as she limped down to the water. If she could put weight on her ankle, it wasn’t broken, but it would make escape more difficult.
He shifted his pack on his back as the tender made its way back to the luxury cruiser.
His muscles tightened when Mila boarded the cruiser and the man on board greeted her. They moved below deck.
Dobby waited only long enough to make sure the cruiser was heading back towards the main village before he returned to the bay where he’d left the zod.
He replaced the bung now the water was well drained but didn’t remove the camouflage yet.
As the cruiser moved into view, he crouched down behind the boat and pulled out his scope. One man on the bow giving directions through the debris, one at the helm, and another two at the back of the boat. No sign of Mila or Agus.
His options depended on where they took Mila. They could keep her on the boat, or take her back to Agus’s place.
With no team to back him up, he had to rely on stealth tactics.
But one advantage was the debris forced the cruiser to crawl through the water. When it went around the point, Dobby risked testing one engine. It coughed on his first attempt, but purred to life on the second one.
He grinned, revving it lightly and then pushed the zod off the shore. He wanted to get as close to the main village as possible. He motored slowly across the bay, still keeping low against the pontoons.
More search boats would be coming into the area and he couldn’t be spotted.
As he reached the point, Agus’s cruiser was heading past the next bay.
He waited until it was gone and then moved around the point.
He recognised the rock formations. This was the bay they’d landed in less than twelve hours ago.
Batara was the next bay around. He’d have to go by foot to avoid being seen.
He drove onto the shore avoiding the sharper looking rubbish and tied the zod to a large trunk.
He could only hope the villagers had enough to do in Batara and wouldn’t start searching the other beaches for things they could salvage.
He covered the zod and then headed towards Batara.
To rescue Mila.