by Chris Ryan
‘Or got the detonators the wrong way round,’ said Li.
Alex cursed himself. How could he have made a mistake like that? He’d done all the others correctly.
‘Where are our bergens?’ said Amber.
Paulo swore. ‘And the chainsaws?’ He scrambled to his feet.
Hex’s voice came out as a strangled scream. ‘The night vision goggles!’ He rushed forward after Paulo, lashing out with his arms at the branches in his way. Behind him, the others followed, cursing.
Hex’s bergen was nestling between two heavy branches, unscathed. One of the chainsaws was next to it, along with the fuel cans and an orange chain-mail suit.
Alex found his bergen. The main trunk had missed it by centimetres. Paulo was dragging his away from the tree, pulling at it angrily as the straps snagged on branches. Alex didn’t often see the laid-back Argentinian looking so annoyed. But if Paulo’s bergen was OK that meant they’d still got the medical kit. Maybe everything would be unharmed. Thank goodness they were all unhurt. Alex yanked his bergen out, taking it back to where they’d left the stretcher – their new ‘camp’. How had he made that mistake? Maybe he should have added P for plenty.
Behind him he heard Amber saying, ‘Oh lovely. That’s just swell.’
Alex reached the stretcher and looked back. Amber was surveying her bergen, her hands on her hips. She glared at Alex. ‘It’s squashed.’
‘So’s mine,’ said Li. ‘Flat as a pancake.’
‘One of the chainsaws is under there too,’ said Amber. She gave a tight smile. ‘But that doesn’t matter because the other chain-mail suit is there as well.’
Hex propped his bergen up next to the stretcher. He saw the robber looking at it rapaciously and realized he knew it had the mask in it. ‘Oh no you don’t,’ said Hex, and moved it well out of his reach. Then he had a vision of the priceless mask with a big dent in it. Just to be sure, he checked. It was fine: it was well protected.
‘So, Alex,’ said Li, ‘what happens now?’
Alex winced. He took a breath as though he was about to say something, and winced again.
Amber, staring at him from the wreckage of the tree, spotted his hesitation. ‘Spit it out, Alex. What else could possibly have gone wrong?’
‘We’ll have to spend the night here. The heli won’t stop if it can’t land and it certainly won’t come after dark.’
‘But it’s not going to be dark for another three hours,’ said Amber. She could feel her wait-a-while scratches flaring up again in protest. And the bite wasn’t feeling too good either.
‘It’s going to take a lot longer than that,’ said Paulo. ‘On the ranch we couldn’t shift a tree like this in three hours.’
Alex tried to make himself think positively. ‘We’ve got enough rations to go round for tonight and I’m sure we can double up on hammocks. Or you can have mine.’
‘Lovely,’ said Li frostily. ‘Who are you going to share with?’
‘I’ll sleep on the ground,’ said Alex.
Paulo began to feel sorry for him. He looked more and more miserable by the minute. ‘Don’t be silly. You can’t sleep on the ground in the jungle. Something will eat you.’ He heard Amber mutter something but thought he’d better ignore it.
‘All my dry kit’s in that bergen,’ said Li.
‘Mine too,’ said Amber.
‘You can have my dry kit,’ said Paulo. ‘I don’t mind.’
‘Yeah, you can have mine too,’ said Alex. He patted his waistband absent-mindedly. It was second nature to check he still had his knife.
It wasn’t there.
He looked at the hulk of fallen tree. Was his knife under there?
Li watched him as he crashed through the branches, panic written all over his face. ‘Alex?’ she called. ‘Here it is.’
Alex turned round and saw his precious knife. He crunched back to her. Her face was saying, All my stuff’s gone but at least you’ve got your knife. He was going to be apologizing for this catastrophe for quite some time.
Hex went first with the chainsaw. The protective clothing was zip-on orange over-trousers and a top – two layers of fabric with chain mail sandwiched in the middle. They felt heavy, the kind of garments you’d wear in cold weather. As soon as he fastened them he felt his sweat glands gush into overdrive. He put on the goggles and gauntlets and pulled the starting cable on the saw. First time it didn’t start. Second time it did, with a roar like a motorbike, and settled to a steady chugging. He pulled the trigger that activated the cutters and the chain with its vicious teeth became a blur. He put it against the spindly topmost branches of the tree and the blade sank through.
Alex took the collapsible water containers and went to fill them. Li, Amber and Paulo rigged a shelter over the stretcher with a poncho from one of the surviving bergens. The sun was beating down viciously on the area they’d cleared and although the robber’s dark skin could probably stand it, he’d get dehydrated quickly.
As Paulo unfolded the poncho the robber berated him – as usual. But Paulo reckoned this time he did have a point. ‘Don’t blame me,’ he said. ‘Blame the blond guy.’
Li hacked wood into stakes with the machete and passed them to Amber. ‘Anyone any idea what language he’s speaking?’
Amber drove the stakes into the ground. ‘Nothing I’ve ever come across.’ She was the linguist of the group. ‘But the ancient languages are still used in remote areas. Even Mayan – which was used by the people who built the tomb.’
Alex came back and set down two water containers the size of large beach balls, then picked up another two.
Paulo grinned at him. ‘Our patient’s just put an ancient Maya curse on you.’
Once Hex had cut up part of the tree, they started to clear wood. They used the remaining two ponchos, sweeping the smaller pieces of wood onto them and carrying them like a stretcher. They took load after load.
After a couple of hours Hex was exhausted. His arms ached. Whenever he pulled the saw away after severing a branch his shoulders quivered as though he’d received an electric shock. His mouth was dry with the taste of wood; sweat dripped down the inside of his chain-mail protection and sawdust stuck to him like feathers on tar.
The others were flagging too. They’d got to thicker branches, and the wood didn’t fit on the ponchos so easily. Amber and Alex tried to load one piece but it was such an awkward shape they couldn’t manoeuvre it. Amber threw down the poncho, hooked the branch over her shoulder and tried to drag it away. It was unbelievably heavy. Alex got under the other end and together they staggered away with it. Who would have thought wood could weigh so much?
Li and Paulo weren’t faring much better. Li’s hands were slippery with sweat and raw from the rough bark of the tree.
Finally Hex turned off the chainsaw and threw off the goggles. His arms and ears felt like the saw was still going. ‘Anyone else want a go?’
Amber stopped where she was, breathing hard. ‘What is that noise? Oh I know. It’s silence.’ She swallowed to take away the dryness in her mouth. ‘Is doing that more fun than doing this?’
Hex peeled open the zips of the chain-mail jumper and trousers and let them fall off him while he stood. He savoured the sensation of cool air on his sweaty camouflage gear. ‘Yes, terrific,’ he said. ‘I’m loving every minute.’
‘Actually, guys,’ said Paulo, ‘we’ve got about forty-five minutes before sundown. We’d better get our camp sorted.’
Alex looked down at the tree. The topmost branches had gone but they barely seemed to have made an impression on the massive trunk and sturdy lower branches.
Amber peered into the tangle of wood. ‘No sign of my stuff, I suppose?’
‘I didn’t see it,’ said Hex.
‘Rats.’
‘I think our lost luggage is staying lost,’ said Li. ‘We’ll have to file a complaint.’ She glugged back her entire water bottle in one go.
‘Alex, can’t you just wrap a piece of that plastic explosi
ve around the trunk and give it a good blast?’ Paulo suggested.
Alex shook his head. ‘It’s not like felling the tree where you can tell which way it’ll go. God knows what would happen.’ He expected another ratty remark in return, but they all looked too tired to muster the energy.
Hex picked up the chain mail and spread it out on some branches. He wouldn’t be surprised if it had rusted by morning.
They dug into the three bergens for stoves, rations, hammocks and dry kit, and began to prepare the camp.
Night in the open came a little later than it came in the tree canopy. Without the covering of leaves they saw the sun set in an orange glow, the shadows of trees all around. Once the sun had gone down, the sky was filled with stars.
Amber and Li lay head to foot in one of the hammocks. Li wore Paulo’s dry kit and Amber wore Alex’s.
Li peered out from under the poncho. ‘Hey, look at those stars.’
Amber, at her feet, looked out the other side. ‘At last. The great outdoors.’ She felt a fierce stabbing pain in her leg. ‘Ow,’ she shrieked. ‘Li, did you bite me?’
‘No, I did not bite you,’ retorted Li from the other end of the hammock.
‘Is there an insect on me?’
‘No,’ said Li. ‘You’ve put on so much repellent and antiseptic you’re asphyxiating me.’
Paulo checked on the injured man for the last time and climbed into a hammock with Alex, moving so that he was lying head to foot like the girls. ‘Alex, move over, you’re taking up the whole thing.’
‘Sorry,’ said Alex. He was shivering in his wet kit. When Paulo got in his body warmth was like a radiator.
‘Hex,’ called Paulo, ‘how did you manage to get a hammock to yourself?’
‘I’ll swap with you at half time,’ called Hex sleepily. He hoped they wouldn’t bother. ‘Anyway, I’ve got a partner,’ he said. ‘I’ve got the mask.’
‘You can swap with me, mask or not,’ growled Li. ‘Amber’s driving me mad with her scratching.’
But within seconds they were all asleep.
10 MR UNPOPULAR
The next morning the light woke them, just as the dawn chorus began like a shrill alarm clock. The first thing Alex saw was the big tree. It looked like there were acres of it. And they had ten hours to clear it all before the helicopter came or they’d be stuck there for another night. He tipped out of the hammock, cold to the bone, his clothes still soaking wet. Paulo got up and hobbled like an old crone to check the patient. The robber was still asleep, snoring happily. He seemed to be having the most comfortable time of all of them in his hammock-stretcher.
Amber took the first shift with the chainsaw. Now they were working on thicker wood she discovered it was a hideous job. If you didn’t keep it cutting straight it would glance off a log and dive into the mud, blunting the blades. Either that or it would land on your chain-mailed leg and gnaw it like a piranha. It spat sawdust and sharp chips of wood the whole time. It vibrated until your eyeballs rattled. Wearing the protective gear was like being swaddled in chains.
This trip just got better and better. Amber had missed the sun while they were under the tree canopy, but now the heat beat down mercilessly, wringing even more sweat from her pores. The chain-mail clothes were like torture, but at least she was covered. The others were shrivelling before her eyes. They were tanned but it was completely inadequate for this level of sun exposure.
Alex stopped what he was doing and smeared mud on his face, the back of his neck and his arms. Hex, Paulo and Li followed suit. Without sunscreen, that was the best they could do. But it wasn’t ideal.
On and on it went. There seemed no end to it. They rotated duties after an hour. Amber surrendered the chainsaw and Li took over. Then Amber had to fetch water for everyone, filling their water bottles, taking empty containers down a steep slope to a stream, bringing them back full and dropping sterilizing tablets in. If they didn’t drink continuously they would get disorientated, make dangerous mistakes – not a good idea with a chainsaw. Fetching water was heavy work but it was blissful after the chainsaw. Then it was Li’s turn for water duty and Amber moved on to shifting debris.
They broke for cold rations at midday. By then they had been shifting wood for nearly six hours.
Paulo gave out more rations packs. They were running low. Sweat had washed away most of his muddy attempt at sunscreen. ‘We’ve got three,’ he said. ‘One between two.’
Paulo ate half his share and gave the rest to the robber. Alex shared with Li. Hex went to share with Amber. He saw her mouth had an unhealthy grey tinge – she was getting low on blood sugar. He made her eat first, then insisted she finished the entire thing. She hated accepting help but knew he was right, and they couldn’t afford to have her go into a coma. She gave him a pack of glucose tablets from her insulin kit.
By early afternoon they had reached the main sections of the trunk. They were super fit, but the relentless heat, the constant heavy lifting, were taking their toll. Now Hex had the chainsaw again. It was harder to keep it steady; Amber, Li, Paulo and Alex were finding it more difficult to drag the logs away too. Sawdust clung to the sweat on their faces, coated their clothes, inched down their throats with every breath. But they had to be finished by the time the heli flew over.
Hex cut another piece of wood. It was the first of the slices through the thickest part of the trunk. Alex rolled it away like a giant wheel. It wobbled and fell over. Alex looked at it, fed up. For a moment he couldn’t face picking it up. Li came to help. She got her fingers under it and heaved it upright again. Alex caught the other side. Together they wheeled it away like a giant hoop.
It caught on a hummock and capsized again. Alex tried to catch it. His fingers scrabbled on the splintery sides. It crashed to the ground, pulling him down.
Alex stayed still for a moment on his hands and knees. His right hand was exquisitely painful. A few metres away, the chainsaw droned on.
‘Are you OK?’ said Li.
‘Yes,’ gasped Alex. His face was white.
‘No you’re not,’ said Li. She went round to his side and heaved the great disc of wood off his hand.
As soon as the pressure was released, Alex pulled away, grasping his hand. It throbbed so hard it felt as if it was exploding.
‘Medic,’ yelled Li above the wail of the chainsaw. ‘We’ve got a man down.’
Paulo came over. Alex stood up and offered him the hand. He expected it to be huge and red, like in a cartoon. But it looked squashed and boneless, like a pack of sausages.
‘Can you move the fingers?’
Alex tried to move them. The pain flashed as though he’d burned them.
Paulo looked at the hand. The index and second fingers were pointing gruesomely upwards as though they had been put on back to front. Possibly broken, possibly just dislocated. Normally he’d talk a bit to a patient, but the chainsaw was wailing in the background and he felt too knackered to shout over it. He took hold of Alex’s right arm at the elbow, grabbed his fingers and pulled hard. The crack drowned out even the chainsaw. Alex’s yell matched it in volume. Paulo let go.
Alex snatched the hand towards his chest and bent over it, protecting it from further assault.
‘Sorry,’ said Paulo. ‘But now they’re straight I can splint them.’
He used Alex’s knife to cut a splint from the debris of wood and bound it with strips of Alex’s dry T-shirt. Then he cut a sling.
‘I can’t wear that,’ said Alex. It seemed like a final badge of uselessness. The bandage and the splint he could hide under his sleeve while he got on with things, but not a great big sling.
‘You should,’ said Paulo.
‘But I won’t be able to do anything. It’ll get in the way.’
Paulo tied the sling on. ‘You won’t be able to do anything anyway. You can’t pick anything up with those fingers.’
Alex grabbed the water container in his left hand. ‘I’ll do water duty, then,’ he said angrily. He stumped
off towards the stream. This was all he needed. They had only three or four hours before the helicopter was due. Now it would be down to the others to clear all the wood. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was very, very unpopular by now.
Even fetching the water was a challenge. When he struggled back up the hill with the full container he could only use his left arm and the muscles felt like they were on fire. He dunked a couple of Puritabs in and looked for the row of empty water bottles lined up beside the bergens. But he realized he couldn’t fill them – it took two hands to lift the container and tilt it.
Amber came up to deposit her other bottle, also empty. ‘So what is this? Self service?’
Alex nodded. ‘’Fraid so.’
She didn’t look amused.
Paulo came up to refill his water. ‘Alex, you could take over looking after the patient.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ said Alex. He was glad there was something he could do.
Alex noticed that as they got more tired, they had more bumps and scrapes. When they came for water they had more and more rips in their clothes, bleeding knuckles, grazed arms. Li cut away a section and the lost bergens came to light, like archaeological remains. The metal frames were squashed and twisted.
Amber, clearing wood, picked them up and tossed them to Alex. ‘See if there’s anything in there that isn’t as flat as a pancake.’
Alex opened a bergen and caught a strong whiff of camping gas. The stoves had been crushed and the gas cylinders had burst. He remembered how they’d considered using explosives on the tree remains. He’d been very tempted. Thank goodness he hadn’t – he’d have blown them sky high. He carried the bergens off to dump them.
Paulo and Amber came towards him, wheeling another circle of tree between them. Paulo saw the bergens. ‘Alex, are there any rations in there? I’m starving.’
Amber’s face lit up. ‘Rations!’
‘Contaminated,’ said Alex. ‘I wouldn’t touch them if I were you. I’m just getting them out of the way.’
They looked so disappointed that for a moment Alex thought they might run him down and snatch them.