The Siege Of Apuao Grande

by John Muir

CHAPTER 39

  CANTON ISLAND

  Helmut knew exactly where he was. He and Heidi had visited Canton three times on their reconnaissance trips. On the first visit she called it Monk's Head Island because it was bald on top. After the third visit they decided against manning the island for defence.

  The island topography was like the top quarter of a ball with slightly gentler slopes at the sea edge. A band of rain forest, 40-80 metres wide ran right round the circumference of the island. For some strange reason a path was worn in the centre of the forest also around the whole circumference. On the inner and higher side of the island, the rain forest stopped abruptly to open out on to a pasture of long grass. Yet in all the time Helmut had been on Apuao Grande and looking at Canton, he had never seen an animal grazing.

  Once between the rocks, he opened the water-proof packages and un-wrapped the essential items he would take with him.

  Already in dark shadow, he knew he had about 20 minutes before the sun set at 5:30P.M. He wanted to be away from the rocks and at the high side of the forest edge where it cleared before he lost all natural light. He would then have a few minutes to look for silhouettes against the clear peak.

  Once into the forest, he re-checked his silenced pistol and two spare pre-loaded magazines. He checked the strap adjustment for his night glasses and, satisfied, put them back in his pouch. The outline of the hill was surrounded in a gradually darkening orange glow.

  Nothing looked out of place from the way he remembered this side of the hill. He watched and waited until all the sunlight had gone. Then, to make his unaided night vision better, he closed his eyes for ten minutes and listened while he waited for the sun to fully set. He did not hear any unusual sounds in that time. The cicadas gave off their expected farewell to the day.

  The path within the rain forest was well overgrown. Progress was easier walking on the cleared area of the high interior.

  Unless the girl was dead, Helmut was sure she would make some sound that would give their position away. He knew the Libyan would not be stupid enough to let her scream, but the sounds of struggling would still be heard over a reasonable distance at night. He just had to be alert and able to distinguish the night noises of any moving animals from those of a human presence. That would not be easy. But as far as he knew there were no animals on Canton, apart from the Libyan.

  Helmut tried to think what the Libyan would be thinking. It was unlikely he would take the girl out to the cleared area. He would know night scopes and night glasses would be sweeping the area looking for him. It would also be unlikely that he would venture onto the cleared area on his own. A good sniper with a night scope would take out such an easy target even from the barrio on Apuao Grande. Helmut knew that meant he could not venture on to the pasture either for the same reason.

  He was sure the Libyan would remain in the forest area, near to the seldom used path. In addition he would be likely to remain close to where he had hidden his banca, just in case he needed to get away quickly.

  His careful examination of the eastern coast, while he was coming in under the log, showed no likely area where a banca could be hidden. It was too rocky to beach one, and then drag it into hiding as the scrub was too high and too far from the sea. If the Libyan had tried to hide it on the north he would have been spotted by the villagers at the barrio across the channel. That left the west and the south of the island.

  He thought about the sandy beaches on the west. They were fairly wide, like those on western Apuao Grande. The Libyan would not want to have to drag a heavy banca far before he could disguise it in the forest. Therefore it had to be the south where they were located. The lack of any response to the earlier abortive action on the west would seem to confirm that thought. The Libyan simply would not have seen the second group of bancas with their motorised ski escorts. That was the reason he did not react to their presence.

  Helmut knew he could not simply walk the path until he stumbled over them. The Libyan would be off the path and hidden. He would see Helmut coming. If he could locate the banca it would be a starting point.

  Searching along the southern shoreline for beaching points would be noisy if he stumbled on rocks, and he would also be silhouetted by moonlight on the sea. That, he decided, was too risky.

  Following the trail looking for clues of recent footfalls and overturned leaf litter might be better. He knew he would have to be silent and pick up on the first clue presented. The Libyan, if alerted, would be at an advantage. Helmut was the hunter, while the Libyan merely had to stay hidden until he heard Helmut approach into his killing zone.

  Helmut decided that the Libyan would be on the seaward side of the path. Then, he could escape without having to cross the path, reducing the possibility of being seen by searchers.

  If Helmut made deliberate noise he knew he might flush out the Libyan, but he knew the Libyan would consider the girl disposable and would kill her immediately. Helmut knew his job was to recover the radio, then try and rescue the girl, irrespective of her physical condition. Thirdly; kill the Libyan.

  He walked carefully along the path, starting near where he had left his floating log and headed south. Stopping for a minute every ten metres, he listened to the nearest noises from the forest. When he reached the southern quarter of the island he moved even slower and listened for five minutes at each stop.

  After his seventh stop on the southern side he felt sure he had located them. Firstly he heard a slapping sound. He moved a few metres on and a few metres into the forest. He heard the slapping sound again and sounds of a gagged cry or sobbing.

  Helmut checked his pistol and his knife. He was unsure whether to use his night glasses as he still trusted his instincts more at this early stage. If he used the night glasses he could be more careful with his foot placements. His rubber diving boots still gave him some sense of feeling through the soles. He knew one clumsy mistake could cost the girl her life, maybe his life too.

  If he crawled he could feel his way with his hands, but to do that he would have to holster his pistol. That was risking his life too much.

  He tested each footfall two or three times before he transferred the weight onto it, then repeated the process again and again. The noises were getting louder. He knew he was heading in the right direction. He found he was back on the open path. In case the Libyan could view the path from his hide-a-way, he carefully lowered himself to his stomach and slid to the downhill, seaward side of the path to be half hidden by overhanging scrub. He waited for more noise to get an exact location of his prey. They had gone silent for a few minutes. Helmut wondered if the Libyan had heard him and was waiting for more movement to ensure an accurate shot at an unclear target.

  Helmut did not have long to wait. He could hear the Libyan grunting quite clearly over the gagged and muffled screams of pain from the girl. He estimated he was as close as fifteen metres to where they were. Rising to his knees he quietly reached for the pouch containing the night glasses. Slipping the straps over his head he centred the viewer comfortably over his nose. The forest to his front now reflected various shades of green. Slowly he scanned the area to his front and then into the forest on the down-side of the path. He could still hear the noises but could see nothing. Gently he widened the gap in the downhill bushes to his left, before standing, and moved back inside the forest. He was standing so he could see above the undergrowth. He paused again to look in the direction of the sound.

  He saw movement before he identified it as human in shape. It was a body on all fours rocking backwards and forwards. The grunting reached a peak before stopping, as did the rocking movement he was watching. Helmut grasped the handle of his long bladed knife with his left hand and pulled it from the sheath on his left hip. He kept the pistol steady aiming in the direction of where he had seen the moving body. It had now dropped out of his sight.

  Helmut looked at the ground for five metres in front of him to check for obstacles in his path, then looking up again, began to move forward.
As soon as he had covered the ground he had checked, he stopped again, and checked the next five metres. He knew that at the end of these next few steps he would almost be on top of the Libyan who might see him silhouetted above the scrub and against the semi-moonlit trees.

  If he still could not see them at the end of these next measured steps he might have to charge blindly on and hope that he could get to the Libyan before he drew a weapon. He could not shoot without a clear sight of the girl. Any shot could go through the Libyan and into the girl. Perhaps he would have to use his knife. He knew his knife strike with his left hand would not be as powerful as his right, but he had to keep the pistol there for better accuracy, if he could shoot.

  The slow silent progress over the next five metres heightened all his senses. He could hear the exhausted breathing of the Libyan over the muffled sobs of the girl, but he still could not see them. On the last of his measured steps, Helmut realised there was a small clearing only a metre further on. He could see the naked body of the Libyan, eyes closed, lying with his back on the ground next to the girl.

  Helmut raised his pistol slowly. He wanted his first shot to hit the Libyan right in the groin. He would not die immediately from that shot, but the pain would be huge and immobilise him. He saw the Libyan open his eyes and realised that he had been seen. The Libyan quickly rolled away from the girl and Helmut had not completed his aim when he squeezed the trigger. The bullet threw up leaves where the Libyan's groin had been a split second before.

  The Libyan was not making any effort to grab a weapon, instead using all his speed to dive for the forest cover. Helmut's second silenced shot must have missed the Libyan's back as he charged through the low undergrowth without any sign of being hit. His third shot was only aimed in the general direction of the crashing form.

  Helmut cursed his own stupid attempt at revenge by trying for a groin shot. If he had properly gone for a chest shot it would all now be over. Instead the Libyan was rapidly crashing downhill through the forest with Helmut trying to follow wondering whether to remove the night binoculars which were not designed for running people. While he had them on he could catch glimpses of the Libyan who was rapidly out-distancing him. The glasses bouncing around his face meant that he was only able to see when they bounced back over his eyes. Most of the time he was running blind.

  He snatched at the straps using his knife hand. At the same time the glasses came free he lost his grip on the knife which fell to the forest floor. Helmut stopped immediately. He might need the knife again. Holding the glasses to his face he searched the surrounding area. Because he found the knife quickly by using the glasses, he decided he would keep them. He pushed them into the pouch. He closed his eyes for a full minute to allow his eyes to adjust to being without the night aid, while he listened for sounds which might tell him where the Libyan had gone. There were none. The Libyan had gone to ground. Now he knew he was being hunted.

  Helmut wondered if the Libyan had an emergency supply of weapons as he himself would have prepared. If so, the Libyan would be armed and waiting. This was now a different game.