Survival (16 page)

TWENTY-FOUR

Amber hauled herself onto the platform at the stern of the yacht and lay there, shaking all over. In the water behind her, the two surviving sharks fought over the body of the third, tearing great chunks of flesh away with their serrated teeth. Amber realized how close she had come to being torn to pieces like that. With a groan, she rolled onto her belly and vomited onto the polished wood of the platform.

She had felt a strange calmness come over her when the shark had moved in for the attack. Freeing the sharpened bamboo spear from the lace on her thigh, she had waited, treading water as the shark approached. She knew she only had one chance.

The shark had homed in on her, then turned sideways, opening its jaws as it prepared to attack. Amber had waited until the last possible second then she had rammed her bamboo spear into the dead, black eye with all her strength. The sharpened point had punctured the eye and kept going into the brain until nearly the whole length of the bamboo spear was buried in the head of the shark.

Blood had plumed out into the water and the shark immediately started thrashing erratically, cockscrewing away from her. Its lashing tail had caught her in the small of the back, knocking her out of the way as the other two sharks closed in to feed upon their former hunting partner. She had surfaced on the far side of the platform, coughing up seawater and not quite believing she was still alive.

Amber waited until she felt strong enough to stand, then climbed shakily to her feet and headed for the ladder. She tried not to think about how she was going to get back to shore. One step at a time, she told herself as she cautiously raised her head above deck level. The yacht was deserted. Amber padded across the deck, being careful to keep out of sight of the shore. She reached the glass doors leading to the main saloon, slid them open and stepped inside.

The skin rose up in goosebumps all over her body as the cool, air-conditioned atmosphere touched her. Thick carpeting deadened her footsteps as she moved further into the room, staring about her in wonder. Watercolours in gold frames hung on the walls of the saloon. Squashy white leather sofas and chairs were arranged around a large, glass coffee table. A huge bowl of fruit stood on the table and Amber felt her stomach growl as she gazed at the clusters of purple grapes and the soft, pink skin of the peaches. Less than a week ago, she would have moved carelessly through this elegant room, hardly noticing the luxury which surrounded her. Now she felt as though she had stepped into a different world.

She shook herself and tore her gaze away from the fruit, scanning the room. There was the satellite phone, on another low table in front of a wall of mirrors, and there was the expensive, leather medical bag, perched on top of the bar in the corner, just where Philippe had said it would be. Amber hesitated briefly, then headed for the medical bag first. She clicked open the locks and lifted the lid, then grabbed a plastic bag full of disposable syringes. Next she selected a box full of antibiotic vials and another box containing ampoules of sterile water and popped them into the plastic bag with the syringes. She knotted the top of the bag, then took the shoelace from her thigh and tied the bag securely around her neck.

Amber snatched a handful of cashew nuts from a bowl on the bar and shoved them into her mouth. Then she padded over to the phone, chewing as she went. She stopped in mid-stride with a look of shock on her face as she saw the tall, black girl reflected in the mirror wall. The girl was wearing nothing but her stained, grubby underwear. She was covered in cuts, grazes, bruises and mosquito bites. Her ribs and hip-bones poked out under her skin and her bedraggled hair dripped water onto her skinny shoulders.

Swallowing the nuts, Amber stared at her reflection in astonishment. How could she have got into such a state so quickly? She bit her lip and tried hard not to cry as, suddenly, the whole dreadful situation nearly overwhelmed her. Turning her eyes away from her reflection, Amber picked up the handset of the satellite phone and stopped again, staring at the illuminated keypad.

Who should she call?

Her mind was a complete blank. Nine One One was no good. That number would connect her to the US emergency services and they might have a bit of trouble getting to Indonesia within their guaranteed call-out time. Amber tried and failed to remember the number of the satellite phone aboard the
Phoenix.
Frantically she scanned the phone base and the table, looking for a list of useful numbers. The local coastguard, maybe, or air-sea rescue? There was nothing. Amber groaned in frustration. This was ridiculous!

She racked her brains and suddenly her uncle's home phone number popped into her head. Amber gasped with relief as she punched the numbers into the keypad with a trembling finger. She pressed the 'send' button and waited, imagining the signal heading up into space, hitting the satellite then bouncing down again to connect with the US public telephone system half a world away.

The phone began to ring in her uncle's house in New York and she hugged herself with excitement. She could not wait to hear his voice. There was a click as the phone was picked up.

'Hello?' she said eagerly. 'Hello?'

It was not her uncle on the other end. Instead she heard the warm, southern accent of his live-in housekeeper. Of course, thought Amber. Her uncle would not be at home. He would have flown out to Indonesia as soon as he heard she was missing.

'Roseanne,' she said, breathlessly. 'It's me, Amber!'

The housekeeper continued to talk.'. . . leave your name and number and we will get back to you.'

It was the answer-machine.

'Roseanne,' tried Amber again. 'Pick up if you're there, will you? It's me. It's Amber.'

There was silence from the other end. Amber stared down at the digital display on the phone base. The time flashed back at her in green numbers. 14:05. Her eyes widened as an awful realization hit her. If it was two in the afternoon here, that meant it was still the middle of the night in New York. Roseanne was not picking up the phone because she was fast asleep in bed.

The answer-machine clicked off. Amber swore and hit the re-dial button. She had to try again. She had to leave a clear message with as much information as she could. Impatiently, she glanced up at the mirror wall as she waited for the satellite to connect her. 'Come on! Come--'

She froze, staring into the mirror. A head with tousled, black hair was slowly rising above the back of the leather sofa in the room behind her. A hand, clutching a half-empty bottle of brandy, flopped into view. Then a second hand appeared, holding a knife with a wickedly curved blade. With horror, Amber realized that the boat was not deserted after all. The pirates had left a guard on board.

Slowly she lowered the handset and placed it gently on the table. Silently she began to edge towards the glass doors that led to the deck. The guard's drunken, flushed face appeared above the back of the sofa, his eyes squeezed shut against the sunlight. He groaned, belched, and was about to sink back down into the cushions, when a tinny but clear ringing tone began to sound from the earpiece of the handset.

The guard's eyes snapped open as Roseanne's southern drawl filled the quiet saloon. 'This is the Middleton Residence. Please leave your name and number . . .'

Amber ran for the glass doors as the pirate launched himself over the back of the sofa at her. The bottle flew from his hand and twisted through the air, spraying brandy everywhere. He thudded to the carpet and grabbed her by the ankle, still clutching the knife in his other hand. Amber stamped on his arm, grinding her heel into the crook of his elbow. The pirate grunted in pain and let go of her ankle, but his knife arm was swinging towards her legs.

Amber jumped high in the air, lifting her heels up behind her, and the knife swished by. She landed, staggered, then righted herself and once again ran for the door. The pirate guard was clambering to his feet behind her as she struggled with the sliding door. She could see him in the glass as he focused on her back and raised his knife above his head.

'Please, please, please. . .' she begged as her sweaty fingers slipped from the door handle yet again. 'Please open.'

The guard charged just as Amber finally got a grip on the handle and pulled. The vacuum seal held for a second longer, then the door slid open and she was out onto the deck. She ran for the ladder but the man was close on her heels. He raised the knife above his head and, instinctively, she ducked down onto the deck.

The man could not stop himself in time. He crashed into Amber, crushing her against the deck rail. His feet flew out from under him and he soared into the air above her crouching back, then carried on over the deck rail and down into the water on the seaward side of the yacht.

It took Amber a while to clamber to her feet and pull some breath into her winded lungs. She looked over the rail as the man surfaced. His face was full of fear as he stared up into her eyes. He looked over his shoulder as a grey dorsal fin rose out of the sea behind him, then he turned back and gazed up into Amber's face, pleading silently for help.

With a sob, Amber grabbed the lifebelt from the deck rail and threw it into the sea. The man reached out and hooked his arm over it just as the great white slammed into his back with its mouth wide open. The jaws closed over his head and chest and bit down. The water turned red as the shark shook back and forth. When it pulled away, the man's head and chest were gone. His arm remained, still hooked over the lifebelt as it bobbed on the surface.

As Amber stood frozen on the deck, the second shark appeared, grabbed the arm and the lifebelt together and swallowed them down. Then both sharks dived, going after the rest of the body. The whole dreadful scene had been acted out in virtual silence.

Amber choked back her sobs as she realized that she had to swim for it - now, while the sharks were still occupied with the remains of the pirate. She shinned down the ladder to the boarding platform and glanced quickly at the beach, half expecting to see two loaded rifles pointing at her. The other pirates were still lounging casually on the side of the motor launch. They had seen and heard nothing. Silently Amber slid into the water and headed for the shore.

Behind her in the quiet, air-conditioned saloon, the light on the satellite phone blinked as it kept following the redial instruction, connecting again and again to an answer-machine in New York.

TWENTY-FIVE

In the rainforest base. Paulo sat with Li, one arm cupped around her shoulders. Alex knelt beside the stretcher, dipping a corner of the bunk blanket into a water-filled coconut shell and sponging Hex's face and chest with it. Around them, the rainforest engine hummed, but they were silent, apart from Li's soft sobbing and the occasional fever-fuelled murmur from Hex. Nobody looked up to see what rustled in the undergrowth between the forest and the beach. Amber's shirt, shorts and belt pouch had been folded neatly and placed on top of her boots in the middle of the clearing and that sad little pile was taking all their attention.

'Omega,' said Paulo, staring at the little twist of gold lying on top of Amber's shirt. 'The end.'

'Hey,' said a familiar voice behind them. 'What does a girl have to do to get some food around here?'

Three heads jerked up in unison and three faces turned towards Amber, each filled with incredulous joy. A second later, she was squashed in the middle of a three-sided bear hug.

'Whoa! Back off!' she hissed. 'Mind the drugs! Don't squash the drugs!'

'You got them?' said Alex, grabbing her by the shoulders, holding her at arm's-length to look into her eyes.

Amber patted the dripping plastic bag which hung at her neck and Alex took her face between his hands and kissed her full on the mouth.

'Wow!' said Amber. 'I must swim in shark-infested waters more often.'

'We thought you were dead,' said Paulo, grinning hugely. 'We thought the sharks had eaten you.'

'Sheesh,' sneered Amber. 'It'd take more than three sharks to get rid of me. Now, let me through to Hex. I need to get these antibiotics into him. And I meant what I said earlier. I have to eat. Now.'

Paulo looked more closely at Amber, noting the sweaty face and the greyness around the mouth. 'Me and Li will go and find you something,' he said.

Paulo and Li disappeared into the forest together, grinning back at Amber as they went, still not quite believing she had come back to them. Amber knelt down beside Hex. 'Jeez, he looks nearly as bad as I do,' she murmured, staring down at his pale face.

Alex put a blanket around Amber's shoulders and brought a couple of glucose tablets from her pouch, which she chewed as she prepared the injection. First, she ripped open the wrapping on a disposable syringe. Then she lined up four of the little rubber topped vials which held the antibiotic powder, together with the ampoules of sterile water.

'Is that the right dosage?' asked Alex, watching her work.

'Philippe said to give a double dose to start with. That's four vials,' said Amber. 'Here, break these open for me, one at a time.'

Alex took the four glass ampoules. He snapped the top off the first one and Amber drew the liquid up into the syringe, then injected it through the top of one of the vials. She shook the vial to dissolve the drug into the water, then they did the same for the other three vials. Finally, Amber turned each vial upside down and slowly drew the liquid from each one into the body of the syringe.

'OK,' she said. 'Here we go.' Alex held the syringe while Amber tied the plastic bag around Hex's arm above the elbow to act as a tourniquet. She tapped her fingers against the crook of his elbow until the vein stood out, then she broke open an antiseptic wipe from her own pouch and cleaned the area.

'You sure you can do this?' asked Alex as Amber took the syringe and tapped it to get rid of any air bubbles. Amber gave him her best withering look then bent over Hex's arm. She stretched the skin with her other hand then carefully found a vein with the needle. She pulled back the plunger slightly and gave a satisfied grunt when a swirl of blood clouded the clear liquid.

'Untie the tourniquet,' she instructed. Alex loosened the bag around Hex's arm and, slowly, Amber pressed down the plunger of the syringe. They both watched in silence as the antibiotics flowed into Hex's bloodstream.

'Let's hope that's not too late,' said Amber as she slumped back against the trunk of a tree and pulled the blanket more tightly around her. 'I had a real job picking up the prescription.'

Li reappeared first, carrying a small collection of figs and mangoes which Alex opened up with his knife and fed to Amber. Paulo arrived not long after Li. In one hand he carried a whole branch heavily laden with clusters of yellow, apple-sized fruits. In his other hand, he held a carefully folded leaf.

'I thought these looked good,' he said, dropping the branch at Amber's feet. Hungrily, she reached for a fruit, but Li grabbed her by the wrist.

'Wait a minute,' she said. She snapped one of the fruits from the branch, then picked up a stone and smashed it open. Three large seeds nestled inside. 'Yep. I thought so,' Li continued. 'These are physic nuts. Their seeds are poisonous.'

Amber tutted and pushed the branch to one side with her bare foot. 'What's in the leaf, Paulo?' she asked.

Paulo laid the leaf on the ground and opened it up to reveal nine or ten plump, squirming beetle grubs. 'I found them under the bark of a rotting tree trunk,' he said proudly.

'You don't expect me to eat them, do you?' whispered Amber, staring in horror at the grubs. They were each a good four inches long. Their stubby legs waved in the air as they bent their bodies back and forth. Their white skin gleamed in the dim green light under the trees.

Paulo hurried to explain. 'I ate them on my rainforest trek back home. Our instructor told us they were the best source of fat, carbohydrates and protein in the jungle.'

'And you believed him?' said Amber, swallowing as she watched the squirming grubs.

'But you must eat, Amber,' said Paulo. 'For your diabetes, yes? You wait, once they are roasted--'

'We can't have a fire,' interrupted Alex. 'The pirates might see the smoke.'

'Ah,' said Paulo. 'Well, you can eat them raw--'

'Forget it!' hissed Amber.

Paulo frowned down at the squirming grubs, then his face brightened again as he had an idea. 'Leave it to me,' he said. He emptied the grubs onto a flat stone, then picked up a second stone and pressed it down on top of them. They popped with a loud squishing sound.

'Oh, gross,' said Amber, turning away as Paulo enthusiastically ground the grubs into a thick, white paste. Alex was watching her from his place beside the stretcher.

'What?' said Amber.

Alex hesitated. 'Amber, I need to ask you. Did you manage to get to the satellite phone?'

Amber felt a flush spread across her face. She looked down. Her knees were poking through the blanket and she occupied herself with picking at a scabbed mosquito bite. Alex waited. Finally, she lifted her head again and looked him straight in the eye.

'I goofed,' she said.

Alex, Li and Paulo listened quietly as she explained what had happened.

'Right,' said Alex, briskly, when she had finished. 'Amber, you did brilliantly out there. You've probably saved Hex's life. But, the fact is, nobody knows we're here. We're still on our own. Whatever happens next has to be up to us. So, what are we going to do about Philippe and his family?'

'I have been thinking about that,' said Paulo. 'It would be easy enough to distract the pirates in some way while we let the family out of the cage. But then, where do we go? There's no way we can all get out to the yacht. The water is full of sharks and the pirates have rifles. Even if we managed to escape into the rainforest, we would be moving so slowly that the pirates would track us down in no time.'

'We have to do something,' said Li. 'When the other pirates come back, they're probably going to kill them. Even the children. We can't let that happen.'

'If we could only disable the pirates in some way . . .' muttered Alex, gazing around him. He stopped as he spotted the branch of physic nuts and a thoughtful look came over his face.

Paulo hurried across to Amber, carrying a leaf piled with what looked like balls of pink ice cream. 'What's that?' asked Amber, glaring at him suspiciously.

'This is mashed grubs mixed with mango.'

'No!'

'But it is delicious. Watch!' Paulo picked up one of the pink balls and popped it into his mouth.

'No,' said Amber. 'N - O. No.'

'I think you'd better try,' said Alex, quietly. 'You're going to need the energy.'

'Why?' asked Amber.

'Eat up and I'll tell you.'

Amber sighed loudly, then grabbed the leaf from Paulo. 'Water,' she demanded. Li poured some into the coconut shell and handed it over. Amber took a deep breath, then grabbed a ball, shoved it into her mouth and swallowed it down with a gulp of water. Doggedly she carried on until the leaf was clear, then she flung the leaf away from her and swallowed the rest of the water in big gulps. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glared fiercely at the others.

'Do not ever,
ever,
mention this to me again. Ever!'

'Well done,' said Alex, quietly. 'Now, here's what we're going to do.'