“You’re insane,” the pilot countered. “Do you have any idea how far out we are?”
“Maybe you hit him?”
He laughed. “Maybe I hit him? I think we would have heard something if that happened. Look around – there’s no one here!”
As the pilot gestured around the boat, Eric slipped underwater and swam up to the hull at the front of the boat before surfacing. He was curious about their business here, but wasn’t about to reveal himself. In the open water he could be visible, but hiding practically under the boat he was completely hidden. It wasn’t that he was suspicious of them, but he had a recognizable face, and he and Abby enjoyed their anonymity. The last thing he wanted was to get recognized by two guys from a big city and have their island hideout splashed across the tabloids. Their current life would be ruined.
Eventually, the engine started and the boat pulled away. As it did, Eric dove under the water and stayed there for as long as he could, waiting for the engine noise to die out. He surfaced a minute later, facing the direction of the boat. The passenger who had saved his life by grabbing the wheel and veering off – a beefy man with a big beard and shaggy, curly hair pulled back in a crude ponytail – was still looking around from a football field away. The man did a double-take as Eric slipped back under the water.
3
ABBY AND ERIC lay in bed, their bodies covered by thin silk sheets. The ocean breeze gently drifted through the French doors that opened onto the beach and the water in the distance. Her eyes were closed, though she was not asleep. She was simply as relaxed and as comfortable as she had ever imagined she could be. Her head lay on his bare chest, his right hand stroking her hair. Their afternoon nap had become an almost daily routine, though Abby rarely slept.
Her nights were often interrupted by haunting images from her past, however during her afternoons lying in the gentle sun, safe in Eric’s arms, she found more rest than she ever did at night. But just as Abby felt herself finally drifting off, she felt Eric sit up a bit.
“No, I’m not ready,” she whispered without opening her eyes. “Just a few more minutes.”
Eric tapped her on the shoulder, and she opened her eyes.
Standing at the end of their bed was Ben, his pin-straight black hair a mess, his dark skin soaked with sweat, and his black eyes panicked. He was scared and out of breath. He held up a piece of paper with their photos on it. “A man in the village, a white man,” he said in English, “he is looking for you.”
The words had barely escaped his mouth before Abby and Eric sprang into action. It was an unspoken fear that they lived with every day. Though they hadn’t discussed it in months, they had each gone through their actions a thousand times in their heads. Abby wrapped the bed sheet around herself and took off for the changing room, Ben’s curious eyes following her.
Eric quickly pulled on his shorts and leaned down in front of the boy to speak. “It’s OK, Ben,” Eric said, trying to calm their frightened friend.
Ben looked at him wide-eyed. “Does this mean you are leaving?”
Eric was caught off-guard. “What are you talking about?”
Ben shook his head. “I overheard you speaking to my father when we were building your house. You told him you might not be here forever. You said if someone ever came looking for you, you might have to go. Is this he?”
Eric remembered the conversation well. He trusted Jay, Ben’s father. They were about the same age, and Jay and his family had welcomed Eric and Abby with open arms. They were nearing the end of construction on the house and were enjoying a beer together around the beach fire late one night after a particularly grueling day of work.
Jay, as he was known to do, began waxing on about the future and how their families would be great friends for generations. Eric smiled and confided that he and Abby were somewhat on the run. “We never did anything wrong. We didn’t break the law or anything like that, but there are men after us,” he told Jay. Of course, Jay was gravely concerned about this. To ease his mind, Eric assured him they were safe on this island and would likely never have to leave. Eric thought Ben had been sleeping on Jay’s lap during the conversation, but apparently not.
Looking into young Ben’s eyes now, Eric could see how much he and Abby meant to his family. He decided to be honest with him. “I don’t know. What did this man look like?”
Ben thought hard. “He is very tall. He’s dark, but not like me. He is a white man. He is just very tan.”
Eric thought about it, but that didn’t really help. Every white man is tall to a twelve-year-old boy in the South Pacific. “Do you remember anything else?”
“He had curly hair, dark brown,” Ben said, proud to have remembered something more.
Eric sighed. It wasn’t Bryce, or at least doesn’t sound like him. “Did you talk to him or tell him where we are?”
Ben vigorously shook his head no.
Eric thought another beat. “Did anyone?”
“I don’t know. My father sent me running to warn you. I saw him walking up to the man to talk to him when I left.”
Abby quickly reappeared. In barely a minute, she had fully dressed, strapped on her knife, stuffed her feet into her hiking boots, slung a small satchel across her shoulders and jogged back from the room tossing Eric an identical satchel. “Let’s go.”
Ben’s eyes went wide and were drawn to the large leather sheath on her right thigh. He asked, “Miss Abby, what’s that for?”
Abby followed his eyes, then looked back at him. “Just in case, Ben, just in case.”
Eric quickly finished getting dressed and stuffed the small satchel into one of the large pockets of his cargo shorts. In less than four minutes they were running out the door with Ben in tow. Their world had been flipped upside down.
Abby led the charge to the beach and through the forest toward the village center, while Eric continued to quiz Ben along the way.
Eric fired questions at him as they sped along. “Where did he come from? When did he get here? Was there anyone with him?”
Ben was upset that he didn’t know the answers to any of his questions.
The route from their beach to the village was a fairly straight shot. It was about a mile all told. The first quarter was a footpath that had been beaten into the jungle floor by Abby and Eric’s many trips back and forth from their villa. After that, it met up with an exceedingly narrow dirt road that curved through the trees until it reached the village. While this route had been a lovely twenty-minute saunter through the forest for Abby that morning, it would take her barely seven minutes running at a breakneck pace to reach her destination.
Abby left Eric and Ben in the dust as she followed the dirt road, staying very close to the edge so she could duck into the trees at a moment’s notice should she have to. Fortunately, the trip was uneventful. Questions about who this man was and what he was looking for churned through her mind. It was obvious that whoever he was, he was working for Bryce. She had always worried this might happen, but they were so careful not to leave a trail – and were in such a remote place – she kept telling herself it was impossible. Apparently the impossible has become possible after all, she thought.
She arrived on the outskirts of the village, but didn’t dare step from the cover of the trees without knowing what was out there. The dirt road continued from the forest and ran through the center of the village. From ten feet back in the trees, safely under cover, she surveyed the village in front of her.
After the dirt road left the trees, it continued across a small grassy open area for fifty feet or so before it met the first building. A small wooden structure with a thatched roof stood on the right side of the road, which Abby was convinced only continued to stand out of habit. It had been abandoned and in disrepair for many years before Eric and Abby had come along.
Just past that was one of the more popular buildings in the village – the bar. It was a large wooden building with a thatched roof. There was no door; the front of the building w
as just open. There were a handful of mismatched tables, and the bar and barstools were behind them. There was a small twenty-inch color television on a shelf on the far wall above the bar, though it was rarely on. On a cloudless day, with the wind blowing in the right direction, and a little bit of luck, it was able to get fuzzy reception on one channel.
Next to the bar was an even larger building, the largest on the island. It was the church which was also used as a function area for any large gathering, such as weddings and village meetings.
Across the street from the church was a very large open-air market that ran the length of the street until the road curved and disappeared from view. Everything was sold at this market. There was a section of tables in the area across the street from the bar where an ancient wiry man and his equally ancient but chubby wife sold coffee, tea, and homemade pastries. Next to that were many carts where merchants hocked dry goods. Beyond that were rows upon rows of fresh produce. In the center of these rows was a very neat and small hut where Ben’s father, Jay, oversaw his goods.
Behind the open-air market there were many boat docks and the boat master’s building. Many sorry looking sailboats populated the harbor, with several dozen or so decent powerboats mixed in amongst them. There was nothing but open blue sea beyond that.
It was later in the afternoon, and while the market was not bustling, there were many people walking around. The locals were easy enough to pick out and for the most part they seemed to be simply going about their daily business. Abby couldn’t put her eyes on anyone who didn’t look like they belonged and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary going on. She scanned the area impatiently for a full five minutes before Eric, and the exhausted Ben, caught up. Eric was sweating and eager to continue moving. Ben, however, was bent at the waist, panting, and staring at the ground.
Abby felt bad and rubbed his back. “Are you OK, buddy?”
Without looking up, he nodded his head yes.
Abby squatted down next to him so they would be at the same level. “Ben, I need you to look up and tell me if you see him.”
He nodded his head again as he stood, looking skyward and taking a few deep breaths, before his eyes settled straight ahead and scanned the crowd. Abby and Eric also searched the area, but saw no one.
“I don’t see him,” Ben said.
Eric’s eyes drifted toward the water and the docks, looking for the boat he had seen that morning. He had not mentioned the incident to Abby. She hated his swimming habits enough as it was – he didn’t need to give her any more reasons to hate his swimming. The long dock next to the boat master’s building housed ten powerboats, but there was one he hadn’t seen before, or at least he didn’t think he had. It could have been the boat from this morning. He made a mental note to check it out if he got the chance.
The village was just a bit too far away for them to get a good read on everyone there. Ben had said that, as he left, his father was going to talk to the man. Given this, Abby figured that perhaps they were together somewhere, though Jay was not to be seen at his normal post in the middle of the produce market.
Ben piped up, very excited, “There! There he is!” He was pointing in the distance. “On the far side of the market. See?”
Abby and Eric stood, their eyes following his arm. There they saw Ben’s father and the stranger facing them as they walked toward the market. They watched as the pair stopped and spoke with a couple of people along the way. While Jay acted as an interpreter, the man showed a set of papers to anyone who would look. Each person walked away, shaking his or her head.
Eric spoke first. “What do you think?”
“He’s got to be one of Bryce’s guys,” Abby said. “Who else could it be?”
“I wonder how many others he has with him,” Eric thought out loud.
Abby turned to Ben. “Have you seen anyone else with him?”
“No. He walked up from the docks and into the market alone.”
Eric had pretty much settled on the fact that this was the man on the boat with whom he had the near-disaster this morning. It was too much of a coincidence. He also knew that there had been two men on the boat, at least.
Abby thought through the scenario. “There have to be more men. He wouldn’t be here alone.”
“I don’t know what Jay is doing,” Eric said, “but it’s only a matter of time before this guy finds someone who tells him where to find us. I’d rather control the situation and confront him on our terms.”
“We can’t just walk out there, Eric. Who knows how many guys are with him.”
“I don’t see anyone else out there, but there could be another guy or two.” Eric thought a moment, trying to convince Abby to take action without telling her there was definitely another guy. “If they came on one of those boats,” he said, gesturing toward the dock by the boat master’s building, “there can only be a couple at best. We can handle that if it’s on our terms, right?”
Abby knew they had to confront this man, or men, in a situation they controlled. They were going to meet up eventually, that much was obvious. So they might as well arrange it to happen the way they wanted it to.
“Here’s what we do,” Abby said. “Ben, we’ll need your help. Can we count on you?” He enthusiastically nodded his head. “Wait here and give us a five-minute head start, then walk up to the village. Tell the man that you know where to find us and lead him back to our house. Can you do that?”
“You want me to lead him to you? That is crazy. Why would you want that?”
“Trust me, it will be OK. Try to make sure he comes alone. If there are two of us and one of him, we can talk to him and get more information. Does that make sense?”
Ben thought about that. “I suppose yes. How do I make sure he comes alone?”
Eric spoke up. “Tell him he has to hurry. If he doesn’t follow you right away, if he says he wants to get his friend or something, just start running to the forest. He’ll have no choice. He will either have to follow you, or lose you. My guess is he’s going to follow you.”
Ben was taking it all in and nodding away like a bobblehead. “Yes. Yes, I can do that.”
Abby hadn’t entirely worked out the plan of attack back at the villa, but she knew that whatever happened, it would not be for Ben’s young eyes to see. It would certainly be a side of their lives he did not need to experience. She looked at him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Ben, when you get to the beach, show him where our house is and send him to us, but don’t come into the house with him. Understand?” She watched his face as he nodded and gave him a smile and quick peck on the cheek. “You got this, right, Ben?”
Had it not been for his darker complexion, she would have seen him blushing. “I do,” he smiled and turned to leave.
Eric called from behind, “Hey, tiger, give us a head start, OK? Wait here five minutes.”
Ben stopped. “Sorry, I forgot.” He was clearly nervous.
“That’s OK,” Abby said. “I know you can do this. We’ll try again, alright?”
“Five minutes,” Ben stated, then smiled. “All set. Go ahead.”
Abby and Eric turned and jogged down the road back toward the beach. Eric turned to Abby, “He’ll be OK, right?”
Abby gave an unconvincing, “Absolutely.”
“He’s fine,” Eric assured her. “He’s fine. He’s a smart kid.”
4
AN HOUR EARLIER, Jay had seen the tall man walking around the market with a stack of papers, trying to speak to the locals. At this time of day, the customers at the market consisted primarily of older women picking up items to make dinner. It was crowded enough, but the man obviously was having no luck finding anyone who spoke English. Not many on the island did.
The man showed his papers to a group of three women who were picking through some vegetables. Two of them ignored him, but the other took a second look at the paper and rattled off something in her native tongue and gestured absentmindedly over her shoulder in the general
direction of the jungle. The man was clearly frustrated.
Always inquisitive, Ben walked by the man, who handed him one of the papers. Ben stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the paper. Jay observed this from his post in the middle of the market. His son looked panicked and angry. Jay could not hear what the man said to his son, nor could he hear his son’s reply.
Jay called to Ben across the market. When Ben looked up and saw him, he went to him at a half jog, holding out the paper. Jay took it from his hand and felt the same panic that his son had moments ago.
He looked at Ben. “What did you say to this man?”
“Nothing,” Ben said, shaking his head. “Well, nothing he could understand. I didn’t speak English.”
Jay allowed himself a smile before addressing his son in their native tongue, “Good job, son,” He held up the paper, “I know you do not know what this means, but it is very important that we tell Abby and Eric right away”.
“What should we do?” Ben asked.
Jay folded the paper and handed it back to Ben. “I’m going to speak with this man before anyone else does. Can you go to them and tell them of this?”
Ben nodded his head. “Yes, I can. I will run to them.”
“Good, but wait until you get into the trees to run. We do not know who this man is, but I know that it is important that we do not lead him to them. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
“Alright, go then.” Jay watched as Ben walked back down the dirt road, past the man and toward the trees beyond the village.
The man was looking at Jay. Jay caught his eye and immediately offered a smile and called to him with a wave, “Hello, friend!”
The tall man smiled, revealing a perfect set of teeth that gleamed bright white against his tanned complexion, a very rare sight in this part of the world. “Someone who speaks English! Hello, friend, indeed!”
Escape, the Complete Trilogy Page 25