Stealing Asia (18 page)

The outside of
the vessel was much more brightly lit than it had been when I pushed Clay into
the water. Searchlights scanned the black waters for the missing man and there
was much frantic shouting going on between the crew. It did not take me long to
spot Barrett. Having such a bulky physique made him hard to miss. His body was
like a burlap sack stuffed with bowling balls. With over-developed muscles, it
made him look clumsy and stupid, but I knew that they contained real power. If
Ben tried to take on this brute in a fight he would not stand a chance.

My lover was
creeping closer to the guards and I was unsure as to what he planned to do. The
minute he attacked one of them, the rest would be alerted to his presence. I
looked again to Barrett and saw that his attention was still on the water. I
then turned back to Ben and could see that he now had a machine gun in his
hands. It must have been left by one of the guards during the panic and he had
picked it up. This time he really was putting himself in danger.

A violent rattle
brought the search and rescue operation to a close. As Ben lowered his weapon
back level with the pirates, smoke drifted upwards from the barrel like the tip
of a freshly smoked cigarette.

‘Drop your
weapons,’ he ordered.

The guards
quickly complied, but Barrett kept something in his hand. Amid the glare of the
searchlights, I struggled to make out what the object was. I also noticed that
he wrapped his free hand around the rope lining the edge of the barrier running
around the outside of the boat.

‘I said drop
it,’ repeated Ben.

This time he
sounded less sure of himself. He could see, as I now could, that it was a
walkie-talkie Barrett was holding. I knew Ben would be reluctant to fire under
any circumstance and to shoot an unarmed foe was simply out of the question. If
the roles were reversed, Barrett would not hesitate in opening fire on Ben. Why
did he have to be so damn chivalrous?

‘Just shoot the
bastard!’ I shouted.

My outburst gave
my position away, but it did not matter. There was nothing I could have done
anyway. Barrett sneered at me before saying one word into the walkie-talkie. It
was incomprehensible in the wind, but I had a feeling he was speaking Thai
anyway. Either way, it had an instant effect. The boats engines roared into life
and sent vibrations shuddering across the water drenched deck. I was knocked
off my feet instantly and landed painfully on my arse. Back at college I had
considered getting a tattoo on my butt and now it had been done for me. I had
of course hoped for something more sensual than a big blue bruise. The guards
were as taken aback as I was and they clamoured for something to hold onto. One
or maybe even two of them were swept overboard to face the same fate as Clay.
Barrett remained anchored to the deck.

The ship
continued to accelerate and in doing so it began tilting to one side. Ben had
fared no better than anyone else and struggled to hold onto his gun, whilst
barely keeping his footing. I wanted to get closer to him, but the slippery
conditions prevented me. Instead, I could only watch on helplessly as I clung
to a beam for support. Barrett, meanwhile, was using the guardrail to make his
way toward Ben. He was still holding the walkie-talkie and when he was just
metres away he called for the engines to stop. The cessation of motion created
just as violent a jolt as when we had started moving and this time Ben did lose
his balance.

Barrett was onto
him straight away. The gun had slipped out of reach and Ben was unable to offer
any resistance as the brute lifted him up with one arm, before tossing him
against the side of a cabin. I scrambled onto my feet and ran towards Barrett.
He had his muscles and I had my finger nails. I intended to use them to claw
his face off. He was still focusing on his current victim and did not see me
coming.

I scratched him
hard across the face. I could feel his flesh peel away under my fingernails as
I tore into his skin. He recoiled away from me, but I did not know how to
capitalise on my unlikely advantage. I searched all around for a weapon to use
and my eyes eventually settled on the gun dropped by Ben. The rocking motion of
the boat combined with the slippery deck had brought it to within my reach.

Barrett had
turned his back on me and I thought that I could safely make it past him to
pick up the gun. I was wrong. As my fingertips came within inches of the
weapon, I felt a sudden tightness around my throat. I tried to stretch my arms
the extra inches needed to reach the gun, but doing so squeezed the air more
rapidly from my lungs. His fingers began to crush harder as he lifted me off
the ground. He brought my face close to his and though I could see that I had
inflicted some damage, it was not enough. He grinned as he licked at the blood
dripping down his face.

‘You are going
to pay for that,’ he said.

For a moment I
feared he may actually kill me, but the remaining guards had regrouped and
began to gather around us. Reluctantly, the brute passed me over to two of his
subordinates, whilst he walked over to collect Ben. My lover had suffered badly
from being thrown the way he had and was unable to offer further resistance. He
was dragged over to the side of the boat where I was being held.

‘I had intended
to keep your boyfriend here as additional leverage should things go wrong,’ said
Barrett. ‘Thanks to your pitiful attempt at insurrection, I have had a change
of heart.’

I did not look
at him or Ben. I cast my gaze downward, determined not to show fear or regret.
The ape continued undeterred. Some men just do not know when to shut up.

‘In a way,’ he
continued, ‘you have decided his fate for him. I will offer him the same chance
of survival as you gave to Clay.’

Up until then I
had thought of piracy as a generic term to cover any type of seaborne crime. He
may not have sported an eye-patch or a cutlass, but I realised that Barrett
subscribed to the more classical definition of the term. He was actually going
to make Ben walk the plank.

‘Any last
words?’ asked Barrett.

Ben said
nothing. It pained me to admit it, but I think that he had finally given up
hope.

‘How about you?’
the brute said, as he turned to me.

I shrugged free
of the guards hold and ran to Ben. I knew Barrett would not allow us to share
the moment for long, so I had to make what little time I had count. I tore the
locket from my neck and placed it into Ben’s pocket as we embraced. As before,
I had faith that he would return it to me. I also knew that it would save his
life.

‘I love you,’ I
said.

‘I’m sorry,’
replied Ben.

Barrett pulled
me back and with Ben’s words still echoing in my ears, I watched as he was
pushed into the black waters below. My earlier confidence in his salvation
vanished as all I could think of was how poor a swimmer he was. Seeing a life
ring close by, I grabbed a hold of it and flung it out into the water for him
to catch hold of.

‘You’re going to
regret that, bitch,’ said a voice from behind.

With no less
ferocity than he had shown Ben earlier, Barrett hoisted me up from the deck
with one arm and flung me into the air. I waited for the pain of the impact as
I came crashing back down onto solid ground, but the pain did not come. In its
place, there was only darkness.

Chapter 4

Where am I?

Darkness
remained, but the temperature was rising fast.

What am I
doing here?

I knew there was
something I was supposed to do. Just moments ago, I was searching for
something. Wait, no, I was not searching, I was chasing. Or was I being chased?
Nothing made sense and I could now feel a burning sensation on my back. I
rolled over and the world exploded into brightness. At least I knew what had
been causing the heat. The sun shone down relentlessly. How long had I been
lying directly under it? I looked around hoping to find a familiar sight or
face that would jog my memory.

The beach was
not instantly recognisable. The bar and the shape of the bay were how I
remembered them, but everything else had gone. All of the foliage that
encroached onto the sand and even the forest were nowhere to be seen. It was
now a mere sandbank cast adrift in the ocean. Two girls were sat at the bar,
which was the only construction remaining. I walked over and joined them.

‘How was your
swim?’ one of them asked.

‘I was not
swimming,’ I replied. ‘I think I fell asleep on the sand.’

‘Do not tell
lies!’ interrupted the second girl. ‘I saw you just now. You were in the
ocean.’

I brushed my
hand through my hair. It was bone dry; all of me was. I had not been near the
water for some time.

‘I am not
lying,’ I told her. ‘Look at me; I am totally dry. How could I possibly have
been swimming and still be this dry.’

‘She is such a
liar,’ said the second girl, who had now turned to her friend in an effort to
block me from the conversation.

‘Why do you not
believe me?’ I asked.

‘Stay away from
us!’ the girls screamed in unison. ‘You’re a liar and if you don’t stop, you
are going to get us all killed.’

I staggered
backwards under the weight of their outburst. It felt as if I was staying in
the same spot, but pushing them and their cruel taunts away from me. As they
shrunk into the distance, I could hear the sound of a phone ring. Since I was
wearing nothing more than a bikini and carried no bag, it took me a while to
locate the source of the ringing. There was a shell by my feet that seemed to
vibrate in time with the sound. I picked it up and placed it to my ear.

‘Hi, Katie; it’s
Syd. Why haven’t you called me? I’ve been dying to hear all about your big
day.’

‘Big day?’ I
queried.

‘Cut that out,’
she replied. ‘I know that you haven’t forgotten. I bought a new dress
especially. I cannot wait to show you; it is totally bitchin’.’

The line went
dead. Actually, I should say that the shell went dead. I tossed it back onto
the sand, where it sprouted legs like a hermit crab and then waddled off
towards the ocean. As it disappeared into the surf, the weather took on a
noticeable change for the worse. An ever strengthening breeze indicated that a
storm was on its way. The bar was nowhere to be seen and in its place was a
large wooden door. As I approached, I found it no less intimidating than the
other hundred or so times that I had walked towards it. Normally, Andrew would
let me in, but I could not see him anywhere, so I gave it a knock myself.

Nothing.

I tried again
and this time it slowly opened with a creek. It must have been the saltwater
affecting the hinges, as it had never made that sound before. The senator had
dismissed staff for much more minor offences than forgetting to oil a stiff
hinge.

When I passed to
the other side, it slammed behind me and I found Esteban standing by my side.
He offered me his arm and I took it without thinking. The room had vastly
increased in size since the last time I was there and the senator’s desk was so
far away, that it looked no bigger than a piece of toy furniture in a dolls
house. As we got closer, I could see that there was somebody standing in front
of the desk.

‘What is
happening?’ I asked Esteban. ‘Why are you taking me to
him
?’

‘I am doing what
I was paid to do,’ he replied. ‘Your father has your best interest at heart or
else he would never have hired me.’

That man is not
my father. He never was and he never will be.

‘We have to turn
around,’ I said. ‘He wants to kill me.’

‘Nonsense,’
Esteban replied. ‘He only wants for you to be happy. That is why he asked me to
give you away for him.’

As we got closer
to the desk, I could see the person standing before it more closely. It was my
Ben. He had his back to me, but I knew it was him. That is what Esteban had
meant when he said that he was giving me away. I was getting married. I no
longer felt nervous or afraid and I pulled my arm free of Esteban and ran
toward my lover. Throwing my arms open to embrace him, he turned around as I
got close, which caused me to stop and freeze with terror.

‘No!’ I
screamed. ‘That’s impossible. It cannot be you.’

The figure now
standing before me was not my Ben at all. It was Clay. He was still soaking wet
from when I had pushed him into the ocean. The lapel of his coat had two legs
of a starfish poking out of it. The senator was sat behind his desk. He stood
and walked around to face Clay and me. When I looked behind me, Esteban had
vanished. I turned back to the senator who was now dressed in priestly robes.

‘What have you
done with Ben?’ I demanded.

‘Calm down,
child,’ he replied. ‘Ben is perfectly safe. He is at the bottom of the ocean
where nobody can harm him.’

I shook my head
more in resignation than defiance. My legs felt weak and I no longer had the
strength to run away. The senator placed one of his hands on my wrist and his other
on that of Clay.

‘Til death do
you part,’ he said.’

My whole world
imploded. Everything was sucked inwards until nothing remained and I was left
teetering precariously on the edge of an ever shrinking platform. Then I fell.
I landed sat bolt upright on a strange bed. The sun shone in through a small
port hole and by the time I was able to take in the change of surrounds, I was
already starting to forget everything that had just happened. My head felt numb
and there was soreness in my back. Then I realised that I was not alone.

‘Good morning,
honey,’ said a voice. ‘Now that you’re awake, you and me have a lot to talk
about.’

This time I was
not dreaming. A nightmare could never be so cruel. The night before, I had
pushed one of my captors overboard and in doing so might ultimately have cost
Ben his life. I now knew that his sacrifice was for nothing. Leaning casually
against the door of the cabin was Clay and he looked pleased to see me. Too
pleased.