by Vanessa Kier
Down below, the rear guard stood up and shouted a question. The driver lowered his window and answered, gesturing to the road in front of him.
The guard hopped out and strode toward Seth, rifle raised. He barked a question at Seth. When he didn’t answer, the guard repeated his question, only louder. Seth still didn’t answer, so the man kicked him hard in the ribs.
Kirra winced, but Seth didn’t so much as twitch.
Heart in her throat, she wished for a rifle or a grenade launcher as the guard kicked Seth several more times. Finally, the guard motioned for the others to get out of the vehicle. The driver and the passenger picked Seth up and threw him into the bed of the bakkie. The guard turned toward the cliff, raised his rifle, and fired several bursts toward Kirra’s position.
But the angle was wrong and while the bullets shredded branches and chipped bark off of trees, she wasn’t hit.
Keeping perfectly still, she breathed shallowly until the guard climbed back into the bed of the bakkie. He fired one more round toward the top of the cliff, then banged his fist on the cab’s roof. The driver drove forward and turned onto the bridge. The noise from the metal floor shaking nearly drowned out the sound of the engine.
Kirra raised the binoculars to her eyes and slipped into thief mode. Each detail she catalogued would help her formulate a plan to rescue Seth.
The guards at the other end of the bridge flanked the bakkie when it reached them. One of them got into a heated discussion with the guard watching over Seth. He pulled handcuffs off his belt and tossed them at the guard, then jerked his head toward Seth. It was hard to be certain in the failing light, but Kirra thought Seth’s body tensed before the handcuffs went on.
Relief flooded her. He was alive.
Once Seth was secured, the guards inspected the cargo. One of them even looked underneath the vehicle before waving it on.
Forget hiding on the next vehicle that passed by.
The guards turned to study the bridge. One of them gestured at the cliff. The other one shook his head and pointed toward the guard riding in the bakkie. He mimicked shooting toward the cliff, laughed, then shrugged as if saying that the other guard had already taken care of any additional intruders.
His companion frowned, but neither one moved from their positions.
Right, then. Her first challenge would be getting to the other side without being spotted by the guards.
Next she turned the binoculars on the guard house at the gate. Those guards also stopped the bakkie and gave it another thorough inspection. They both scowled at Seth. One of them poked him with the tip of his rifle before his companion slid open the gate.
The bakkie drove into the compound, turned left, and parked at the side of the main building. A team of four armed guards exited the building, pulled Seth out of the vehicle, and dragged him inside.
The bakkie started up again and drove over to a building emitting a thin plume of smoke. Probably the processing plant, if Seth was correct about the facility’s purpose. The driver and his passenger hopped out and began unloading the baskets. Two men from inside the building soon joined them. The guard watched the proceedings from his spot in the bed of the bakkie.
Kirra kept a mental tally of the men she’d seen and their locations. She wished she had some of the tools she’d used when setting up a heist. And more time to determine how many people occupied each building.
A shiver of excitement with an edge of fear slid through her. She’d never worked a job where she had to bring another person out of a building.
Her wild side relished the challenge.
Ten minutes later, all of the baskets had been carried into the building. The guard hopped to the ground, nodded good-bye, and headed toward the main building. The driver and his passenger climbed into the cab and drove to the front gate. Once outside, they turned away from the bridge and disappeared to Kirra’s right, down the road that ran along the other side of the canyon.
Since the sun had just sunk below the horizon, Kirra expected they were heading home for the night.
For five minutes, nothing else happened. Then a black four-by-four drove into sight, coming round the back right corner of the main building. It exited the main gate and barreled across the bridge.
Kirra hurriedly backed up. She didn’t think there was any way to climb the cliff, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Their backpacks were well-hidden in the bushes, so she climbed a sturdy tree.
Sure enough, the four-by-four stopped at the base of the cliff. The guards jumped out of the vehicle and fired into the trees, but Kirra had anticipated that and chosen a hiding place well down from where Seth had fallen. After several minutes of shooting, the men switched to searching. They peered over the edge into the canyon, shone their torches along the underside of the bridge, and stomped back and forth along the lane, poking their rifles into the bushes. Then the leader gestured toward the top of the embankment. One man attempted to climb up, but the ground crumbled beneath his feet and he fell back. Two more men chose different starting places, but they also failed to gain solid handholds.
Finally, the men piled back into the four-by-four and returned across the bridge. They stopped at the gate. One of the men exited, placed a few objects on the ground, then motioned for the bridge guards to join him in the vehicle.
Holding her breath, barely believing that the guards would truly leave their posts, she watched as the four-by-four returned to the compound and disappeared behind the main building. After five minutes passed without the appearance of a relief team, she accepted that the bridge post had been abandoned for the night.
Which only left the guards up at the main gate.
Brilliant.
She studied the line of sight from the bridge to the guard house at the main gate. If she stuck to the middle of the underside of the bridge, the guards wouldn’t be able to see her cross.
Then what?
She moved the binoculars to the left of the compound. Her best best was to aim for the left front corner of the compound where the distance between the canyon and the fence was the narrowest. She should be able to work her way through the thin bushes along the edge of the canyon without being spotted. Then she’d wait until full dark before sneaking onto the compound.
Assuming that the fence wasn’t electrified or dogs weren’t let loose after dark.
Since the light was failing, she needed to cross the bridge now. She climbed down from the tree, then grabbed both backpacks. Seth’s was the heavier, so she put that on her back and slipped her pack onto her front.
She walked left until she found a spot where the bluff dropped down to the dirt lane at less than a ninety degree angle and a line of trees along the canyon’s edge hid the area from the main gate. Lowering the packs to the ground, she pulled out the small reel of para cord Thabo had insisted she carry as part of her emergency supplies. She quickly tied one end of the cord to the packs, wrapped the other end around a tree trunk, and lowered the packs to the road below. Since she might need the cord again, she untied the end and let the cord drop on top of the packs.
Then, flat on her belly, with her head facing away from the drop, she grabbed a sturdy bush for an anchor and eased over the edge.
One. Two. Three.
She released her hold and let herself slide down. She landed in a crouch at the bottom and held still as dirt and stones tumbled past her.
After listening for any indication that the guards had spotted her or heard the noise of her descent, she dumped out both backpacks. She might have a chance to return this way, but in case not, she needed to put together the most essential items. Pulling out her large, pouch-shaped carryall, she packed quickly, adding her emergency kit, a few MREs, the phone, the torch, and her water bottle. To stop the items from shifting while she moved, she stuffed in one change of clothing each for herself and for Seth.
Satisfied that the bag wasn’t any heavier than the knee-high wooden statue she’d once stolen and had to carry out on her back, sh
e closed up the bag. Then, using the para cord, she quickly made a harness to secure the carryall to her back so that it wouldn’t bounce.
After repacking the backpacks, she hid them deep inside a thicket of bushes at the very edge of the canyon.
All right. Let’s do this thing.
She slipped through the trees at the edge of the canyon until the trees gave way to bushes. Dropping to her belly, she crawled through the bushes toward the bridge. The familiar anticipation buzzed in her veins as she slithered over the edge of the canyon and stepped onto a protruding rock. Standing up slowly, she tested the rock’s stability. Okay, it should hold her.
This first bit was dangerous, as she had to breach the distance between where her feet were and the base of the first support. She spared a glance down. The river rushed past far below. If she fell onto the bank, the impact would likely kill her. She might survive if she landed in the water, assuming sufficient depth.
She shook out her hands and feet, took a deep breath, and felt her mind click into that special state where every detail became crystal clear and her body was simply another tool to be used. Ignoring everything except where she needed to put her hands and feet, she successfully transferred her weight onto the bridge. Elation shot through her. She hadn’t lost her touch.
So much for not wanting to keep your reputation as a thief.
Well, in this instance she had to admit that the hours she’d spent moving along rooftops and climbing in and out of high-rises came in handy. She could justify using her skills by saying she was going to rescue Seth. But nothing justified the thrill of knowing that she risked her life by crossing underneath the bridge like this.
Moving through the supports turned out not to be as easy as she’d told Seth. While she kept in shape by exercising, including spending time on the gym’s rock wall, her body had been through a lot in the past several days. Aches, pains, and exhaustion slowed her down. The bag on her back altered her center of gravity enough that she felt slightly off balance. Fear hovered at the edge of her consciousness, but she couldn’t afford to acknowledge it or she’d lose focus and make a mistake.
Kirra, when are you going to stop pulling these stunts?
How many times had her mother asked that question?
Right now, Kirra pitied anyone who’d never felt this rush, this intoxicating thrill of pitting your wits and your body against lethal odds. She grinned as she moved through the supports. Just watch me now.
She’d almost reached the other side when her right calf cramped as she attempted to transfer weigh to it. The pain momentarily blinded her. Her foot slipped. She threw herself forward and grabbed the vertical beam with both arms while her left foot swung in mid-air, searching for a foothold.
Heart in her throat, she sighed in relief when her toes finally met metal. Kirra transferred her weight, then quickly shifted over to the wider foothold offered by the concrete base.
Pain continued to shoot up her calf, and Kirra bit her lip so she wouldn’t cry out. Breathing slowly and deeply, she pressed her cheek against the concrete and rode the wave of pain until it finally subsided. Moving gingerly, she made it the rest of the way to the other side. Then she crawled up the small rise to the edge of the canyon.
Resting on her belly, she studied the scene before her. A few vehicles drove toward the gate. The lead car exited, then turned down the road in the same direction as the bakkie had gone.
Good. End of the day meant fewer chances of someone spotting her. Now, if only she could figure out how to get inside the building and free Seth.
With the deepening dusk hiding her, she eased her way along the edge of the canyon, careful not to jostle the bushes. She stopped when she reached a point that she judged to be too far for the guards to see clearly. Taking out the binoculars, she surveyed the facility. A moment later, the outside lights went on, temporarily blinding her. Cursing under her breath, she waited for the spots to vanish from her eyes, then examined the line of cars exiting the facility.
They all appeared to contain workers leaving for the day.
Wait. Motion at the left corner of the main building caught her attention. She swung the binoculars over in time to see a black four-by-four stop in front of the main door. The same four guards as before walked out. Kirra’s breath caught. Seth walked in the middle of them. Her fingers trembled on the binoculars as she studied him. He no longer wore handcuffs. His face showed no sign of a beating. She didn’t see any weapons poking into his sides or back.
What the heck?
The man on his right said something to Seth. Seth grinned and shrugged modestly.
Kirra’s stomach dropped. Had she been wrong about him? Had she been naïve to ignore his protestations that he wasn’t a good man? That she couldn’t rely on him?
Had the story about not knowing his team had killed innocents been a lie?
Bitterness drew the edges of her mouth down as she watched Seth climb into the passenger seat of the four-by-four of his own volition.
She held her breath as the vehicle headed toward the main gate. Please don’t let Seth have betrayed me. Please don’t let him lead them to me.
The four-by-four turned away from the bridge and followed the rest of the vehicles down the road.
She let out her breath in a long sigh.
Then the impact of what she’d seen hit her. Regardless of whether Seth was working with these men or not, she was now completely on her own.
“Kirra’s too flighty to be left on her own!” Dev shouted at their parents. “Why didn’t you watch over her?”
The weight of everything she needed to do to find her way safely out of here suddenly seemed too much. She desperately wished Dev were here, even if it meant that he’d lecture her about thinking before she acted.
Stop that. No matter what Dev thought, she was smart and resourceful. She could do this on her own. She would find her way up to the concert and warn them about the additional threat from the rebels.
Then Dev would finally be forced to admit that she was a responsible, mature adult.
She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and watched the car park empty of vehicles. The exodus of employees meant fewer people to spot her, but she hoped at least a few vehicles remained, because she needed transportation. Once she’d stolen a car, she’d head in the opposite direction from the way the men took Seth. Wherever he’d ended up, Seth was tough. If he was a prisoner, she had to trust that he could get himself free.
And if he wasn’t a prisoner…
Chapter Nineteen
Seth sat wedged between two of Sankoh’s guards, gritting his teeth against the pain in his head and from his bruised ribs every time the SUV hit a bump. The fact that the guards refused to shut up didn’t help his mood.
“Man, I still cannot believe that you are the same pilot who managed that escape from the New Malian Air Force.” The guard to his right had a serious case of hero worship which Seth would have gladly exploited if not for the three other guards, who seemed far less impressed with Seth’s exploits. The one to his left shifted, pressing his pistol tighter against Seth’s side.
Yeah, there’d be no easy escape for him.
So he just grunted acknowledgment of the man’s comment. What else could he say? Back at the compound, the guards had dumped Seth in the director’s office. Once the man spotted the name Michael Hughes on his ID, he’d ordered his men to release Seth. Then it had been one question after another.
If he’d known that his stunt all those months ago would be caught on video and broadcast across the region, he wouldn’t have done it. But at the time he’d been carrying a cargo valued at over a million dollars and a passenger who’d been wanted by the New Malian government. Seth had needed to collect his fifty-thousand dollar fee in order to pay for long-overdue upgrades to his plane, so he’d tried a risky maneuver and it had worked. Barely. He’d scraped the paint off his port side wing and nearly had his eardrum shattered by the screams of his passenger, but he’d evad
ed the Malian fighter jets.
It was a maneuver he’d read about, but never actually tried before. He bit back a grin. Damn, but the rush had been amazing. Almost as good as some of the stunts he used to pull back in his Black Hawk days.
The thought of his beloved helicopters chased away his smile. God, he missed flying Black Hawks. With a helicopter, you knew you were flying by the grace of engineering and your own skill. Every bump and eddy in the air was yours to own or discard. No other aircraft, certainly not some damn fixed wing, matched the sheer violent power of holding the controls of a Black Hawk.
His super fan boy slapped Seth on the back. “I have watched that video more times than I can count. What you did was amazing. And those government jets. You made them look like fools.”
Seth forced a chuckle. “Yeah, I did.” It wouldn’t have been possible with American pilots, but the Malian government only had a couple of jets that rarely saw action. The pilots hadn’t been the skilled dog fighters that Seth had occasionally played chicken with when everyone got bored on base.
For a man in hiding, the video would have been a problem except for two things. Seth’s face was never seen, and none of the initial broadcasts had included his name.
Once Seth had safely delivered his passenger—receiving an extra ten grand as a reward for his extraordinary actions—the passenger, despite being warned not to, had told everyone how Michael Hughes had saved him. Thus permanently tying Seth’s alias to the episode.
But this was the first time he’d run into men who were so intimately familiar with the event.
The guard continued to pepper him with questions on the ride to wherever they were going. Seth ignored the urge to glance back down the road. He worried about Kirra. Would the guards at the compound conduct a thorough search and find her? If not, what would she do? What if she tried to cross the bridge, slipped, and fell into the river?
Worry sat like a cold stone in the pit of his stomach. Had she seen him get into this vehicle? Or did she think he was a prisoner?