Chapter 12 #2
Mila placed the seed on a plate. “He escaped in the helicopter which came to the island, the one Ali saw.”
“You were seen leaving Desa Agung with a special ops soldier. Where is he? What was he doing here?”
She closed her eyes. “They were here for Vance. They approached me in Batara after the earthquake asking where he was. I told them he was staying with you.” She shrugged. “I was too busy helping villagers to worry what kind of mess Vance had got himself into.”
“He’s a foolish man.”
Mila raised her bottle. “I’ll drink to that.”
“What happened after the tsunami hit?” Agus asked.
The strength of a good lie was to tell the truth whenever possible.
“I saw the special ops men escaping in a black car just before the wave hit, but one of their men fell out of the car. He and I were swept up by the wave.” She shuddered and rubbed at her hot skin.
“When the wave subsided, I found him in the jungle and his team came to pick him up. He was injured badly, and they needed my knowledge of the island. They promised to take me with them when they left.”
“It was you at the medical centre.” Each comment was calm and measured with an almost knowing edge to it.
“Yes. We took a stretcher and some meds.”
“Why not leave immediately?”
If she mentioned the Zodiac would he get his men to search for it? “Their evacuation was supposed to be on the beach. With the tsunami waves it was too dangerous so they had to wait for the all-clear.”
“Why did you go to Desa Agung?”
“With their injured soldier, they needed the helicopter to land and the only place was your cliff.”
Agus scowled. “So you were the distraction?”
She nodded. Here she had to be careful with what she said.
He hadn’t mentioned her mother yet. “They thought you would be interested in me for some reason.” She shrugged.
“I told them you only wanted me to help Vance and if Vance was gone, you wouldn’t be interested any longer.
They didn’t agree.” She laughed as if it was ridiculous.
“What about the soldier with you?”
She frowned. “He said he was there to protect me and would take me to the extraction point.” She ate another rambutan. “I figured they were paid to see threats everywhere, but then Patar was acting weird and I was scared maybe they were right, so I went with the soldier.”
“So how are you still here?”
Mila pouted. “Your men chased us and he forced me through the jungle. When the helicopter arrived, the soldier climbed up the rope saying he’d send down a ladder, but then they flew away.”
“So they left you here?” Agus said.
She nodded.
“Why were you hiding in the jungle?”
“I wasn’t. I was trying to make my way to the village but I got lost.”
“Why did you run?”
“Because Ali had a gun and was talking about me. It scared me.” She hugged herself and rocked a little. “It’s been a hell of a day.”
Agus studied her. “Will the soldiers be back for you?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t their mission.
They used me just like Vance had.” She paused, taking a breath, not finding it difficult to bring tears to her eyes.
Fatigue had her emotions close to the surface.
“It seems I can’t trust anyone’s word these days.
” She exhaled and forced a smile. “Besides, there’s far too much work here for me to leave.
People need my help.” She glanced out the window.
“I can’t believe how much stuff is floating in the water. ”
“You need rest and to have your ankle examined by a doctor. You will come to my house.” The engines went into neutral and the boat stopped. “Ali will help you back to the tender.”
This benevolent Agus gave her goosebumps but she played along. “Thank you.”
He still hadn’t mentioned her mother. Maybe he hoped she’d forgotten he knew her and wanted her nice and compliant until they got to his house.
Could she come up with an excuse to stay in Batara? She couldn’t help much with a twisted ankle, and if she truly trusted him, she wouldn’t make up an excuse.
Hopefully Damien would get to her on the transfer between the boat and house.
And if he didn’t, he’d already proven he could rescue someone from the house.
Though he didn’t have his full team, and Agus might be more vigilant if he didn’t believe her.
Maybe Mila would have to rescue herself.
***
Damien found a place on the rocky point where he could watch Batara.
In the bright light of day the destruction looked even worse.
People were hard at work clearing rubble and several boats were searching the water for things to salvage.
About five hundred metres from the shore was the small islet they’d rowed past last night.
This side had a cliff face, but the other side might have a beach.
That would at least get them off the island.
Across the other side of the bay stood Agus’s house in all its glory. From here it appeared as if the tsunami hadn’t damaged it.
The luxury cruiser anchored offshore where the rubbish wasn’t so thick and Mila and four men boarded the tender and headed into town.
Mila wore a clean, blue dress and her arms and legs were free of dirt. They must have let her shower. She didn’t look scared, but she scanned the shore. He didn’t dare signal her in case someone else saw the flash of light.
When the tender pulled up on the shore, one man helped Mila off and then supported her as she limped towards the medical centre which had a line of people out the door.
At least they were getting her help.
As he watched, the well-dressed man with Mila walked to the head of the queue and inside and the rest of them followed. Definitely Agus.
Four men against him and Mila. He had to wait until they were out of the village, away from the Indonesian military who were handing out supplies to people.
Any gunshot would attract their attention and bring them running.
Less than half an hour later, Mila walked out of the medical centre with her ankle strapped and a pair of crutches under her arms.
She wore sandals.
From the medical centre they moved over to another black four-wheel drive and got in. Agus went over to the military men as they were packing up and shook a man’s hand.
Perhaps Mila had been right not to go to them for help.
As Dobby suspected, they drove up to the clifftop house, but he couldn’t see anything else from here.
He shifted back and considered his options, while the military helicopter took off.
With Mila unable to run, he needed transport. He didn’t have Axle’s car key decoder and Agus probably wouldn’t leave his car out like he had before.
A moped was too slow, but if one of the dirt bikes was there, it might come in handy.
Though he still needed to get from a road to the zod.
He eyed the cliffs.
They’d brought equipment for scaling the cliff in case it was needed and he had the extra harness in his pack which they would have used with Vance.
If he could get the boat to the bottom of the cliff, find somewhere safe to tie it, scale the cliff, find Mila and abseil back down, all without being spotted in the bright light of the day, they had a chance.
He shook his head. That was a lot of ifs.
The zod’s engine would attract attention and there were too many boats in the waters for him to escape notice.
Taking the zod the long way around the island would waste fuel he might need, and he still might run into one of Agus’s men.
What had Mila told Agus? Did he know Dobby was still on the island?
No. His gut told him she’d have made some kind of excuse, which meant Agus wouldn’t be expecting an immediate rescue.
That could work to his advantage.
He moved back into the jungle, making his way around the village towards Agus’s house. He needed to get eyes on Mila and search for other transport options. On his way there, he made sure he had more jerky for the dogs.
He made his way up the hill, spotting a few cut vines and debris being shifted to form a path where his team must have come through. The jungle grew to the edge of the cliff top, which was a huge flat rocky area. He stood behind a tree on the edge and scanned the house from bottom to top.
The man who had helped Mila into the clinic was in the ground floor office and the two other men who’d been with the group were patrolling the grounds, each with a dog. In this light he saw how skinny both animals were.
Shame he couldn’t rescue them as well.
On the second floor he spotted children playing in a room and on the third floor Agus appeared at a window and looked down at the garden.
Dobby shifted further behind the tree so he wasn’t seen. Was Mila in the room with him?
Agus moved away from the window and Dobby couldn’t see anyone else in the room, but he had a shitty angle on it.
Quickly he got the grappling hook from his pack and used it to hook over the lowest branch and haul himself up. From there he could see straight into the room where Mila was tied to a chair.
As he watched, Agus backhanded her and her head snapped back. Dobby swung his rifle up and aimed, but didn’t take the shot yet.
The bang would bring all the guards running and he wanted to avoid a firefight, particularly as there were more innocents in the house this time around.
He hadn’t brought a sniper rifle because they’d been packing light and Axle was the team’s main sniper.
But even if he hit Agus, he still needed to get into the house, cut Mila’s ties and get them out without raising an alarm.
All in the middle of the day when anyone glancing out the window would see him dash across the open clifftop to the gardens.
He needed a plan, fast.
***
Just as Mila had suspected, all traces of kindness had evaporated the moment Agus showed her into the guest bedroom. He shoved her into a chair. “Tie her up,” he ordered Ali.
Ali hesitated.
“I can easily find a new bodyguard if you’re not up for the job,” Agus said.
Ali winced and was almost apologetic as he cable-tied her hands behind her and her feet together. She winced at the pull on her muscles, still sore from the tsunami.
She gave silent thanks to Jared who’d insisted on teaching her how to get out of cable tie restraints and hand cuffs one day when he was showing off what he’d learnt at training.
She just had to wait for the right moment.
“Leave us,” Agus said.
In seconds, she was alone with Agus. The room was luxurious with a king-sized bed covered in lush pillows, a set of bedside drawers as well as a tallboy on the other side of the room by the door.
It would be a lovely place to stay under different circumstances, but nothing stood out as a potential weapon if she managed to get free.
She turned her attention back to Agus. Others might think him calm, but Mila knew better. The slow walk to the window and back was more of a prowl, his hands twitched minutely as if wanting to punch something, and his eyes were full of malice.
She exhaled, watching him carefully. This was a man she’d never seen before. This was a man who had done things that required guard dogs and bodyguards.
“You were wise not to tell me who your mother was,” Agus said.
She didn’t respond.
“Do you know what she did to me?”
Mila shook her head, wanting to hear his version of events. Then maybe she could build an argument that wouldn’t end with her being killed.
“She arrested me for theft,” Agus said, coming to a stop in front of her chair. “I took food for my siblings. My parents died in the tsunami and we had nothing, not even a roof over our heads. We needed to eat.”
She didn’t ask why it was that her mother had caught him selling the food back to desperate villagers who were starving.
“My arrest left my siblings with no one to look after them. Two died when I was in prison. My engagement was called off and I lost the woman I loved.” He smiled.
“But in prison I learned how to take control of my life. I came out a better man, one who could take care of his family.” He watched her, waiting for a response.
“I’m glad you benefited from it.”
His backhand took her by surprise and her head snapped back. She closed her eyes at the pain and let herself go limp, faking unconsciousness.
“Mila.” He slapped her cheek roughly, but she didn’t respond.
He swore. “Weak woman.”
She waited, head hanging, feeling incredibly vulnerable not being able to see where he was. Would he leave, or wait until she came around?
His footsteps moved to the door and then the door slammed closed. Mila waited another minute before she cautiously opened one eye. Slowly she looked around. The room was empty.
Quickly she stood and shuffled away from the chair, glad Ali hadn’t actually tied her to it.
She squatted fast with her heels out as far as they would go to break the tie around her feet and then slammed her wrists against her back in a downward motion which snapped the ties around them.
She rubbed the pain in her wrists as she limped across to the door.
Her sprained ankle would make it difficult to run fast enough to outrun Agus, and he had a gun.
She tried the door handle.
Locked.
What were her options?
She went across to the window and peered down three storeys.
The multi-tool between her breasts dug into her and she grinned.
Quickly she checked the bed had sheets on it and then turned her attention to the heavy wooden tallboy.
It took all her effort to push it across the doorway to stop Agus from entering easily.
Next she took her singlet from her bag and hung it over the window sill so Damien would know which room she was in when he arrived.
Then she dragged the sheets from the bed, got her multi-tool out and started cutting strips of fabric.