The Other Side of Nowhere (26 page)

As it grew darker, Amira began complaining in a whiny voice. We couldn’t really understand her, but it was obvious she was too tired to walk. Nick leant down and lifted her onto his shoulders. Almost without breaking stride, he started off up the hill again.

So many times I thought we’d reached the top, but each time the flat stretch ended the same, with more steps and a steady rise up to another false peak, and then another and another.

Daylight was fading as we climbed and Nick pulled out the torch to light our way. After we’d been walking for the best part of three hours, Matt said he needed a leak and dashed off the track into the undergrowth. The rest of us sat down to take a break. Amira slumped against George, her eyes struggling to stay open. Nick was kneading his shoulders and I wanted to say to him that I could take a turn carrying Amira but I seriously doubted that I could. I could barely make it up on my own.

There was a rustle in the bushes nearby and Matt reappeared. ‘Hey guys, you might want to check this out.’

George stayed with Amira as Nick and I followed Matt through the bush to the edge of the ridge we’d been walking up. The forest canopy opened up and, with the light of the moon, we could see all the way out to the ocean.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘Lights,’ Matt said, pointing.

Sure enough, there were two pinpricks of light bouncing around in a jerky pattern, disappearing for a moment then reappearing shortly afterwards.

‘Looks like we’ve got company,’ said Nick.

‘How far off d’you reckon?’ I asked.

‘Hard to say … But wherever they are, they’re moving a heap faster than us. Let’s go.’

We pushed our way back through the bush to find George playing some kind of game with Amira.

‘What is it?’ George asked.

‘We’re being followed,’ said Nick grimly. ‘They’re still a way off, but they’ll soon catch up.’

He looked down at Amira sitting innocently next to George. We all knew there was no way we could go much faster. The inevitability that Zaffar and Baldy and whoever else was down there would soon catch up to us made me feel sick.

Then Nick turned to me. ‘You guys go ahead, I’m going to see if I can slow them down.’

‘No way!’ cried George rising to her feet. She reached for his hand and held on tight as if there was no way she was going to let him go.

‘George, at the pace we’re going they’ll catch us before we get to the top.’

‘Well, why don’t we get off the track and just hide? They’ll never find us in the dark,’ she suggested.

‘It’s a jungle – if we get lost in there we might never get out. And besides, hiding is not going to help Ali and the others,’ I said, raising my eyebrows at Nick. ‘Isn’t that right, Nick?’

‘Yep,’ Nick replied.

George looked mad at me and even madder with Nick. ‘What are you going to do anyway? Throw more rocks at them?’

‘George, it’ll be okay. I’ll be careful,’ he said, grabbing her hand.

But she pulled it away. ‘You don’t even know what careful means.’

Amira started to cry. George brushed past Nick and knelt down beside her, cupping her face and gently stroking her hair. ‘It’s okay, sweetie,’ she whispered.

I looked at Nick, still so determined and full of fight even after everything we’d been through. Part of me didn’t want him to go because he would be putting himself right in the path of danger, again. But I knew he was right. Even if we could hide from Zaffar and Baldy for a bit, time was against us now. We had to take them on.

Nick grabbed my elbow and pulled me out of earshot from the others.

‘When you reach the top, it’s going to take you a good few hours to get down, but it’s the tourist side of the island. When you do, there should be some tourist boats moored in the bay. Get to one and call the police as soon as you can … You got me?’

‘Okay, yep. Find a boat and call the cops. We’ll wait for you.’

‘Don’t worry about waiting, just do what you have to do to get help,’ he said.

I was struck by a sudden, uneasy feeling that we couldn’t part like this with so much left unsaid between us. ‘Nick, I know we’ve been kind of bitching at each other a bit lately …’

Nick cut me off. ‘Not now, mate. We’ll speak about it later, all right?’

I guessed he was right. This wasn’t the best time … But there was just one thing I had to say to him right then and there.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t hold onto you in the water … You know, in the storm.’ It just blurted out, with no context.

Nick tilted his head and frowned, like he had no idea what I was talking about. But then he gave a weary smile as if the memory was slowly coming back. ‘Dude, I freaked in the water. Totally panicked. An army couldn’t have held me down.’

He slid his hand down my arm and clasped my hand in a kind of monkey grip. ‘Johnno, it was me who got us into this mess in the first place and you’ve been trying to get us out of it ever since. Thanks to you, we got Matt back. And you know what I think is really cool? You want to help the rest of them. I’m not sure I would do it without you, but you are right. So let’s do it.’

We shook hands and, as unsure as I was about what we still had to do, I felt buoyed by his unexpected confidence in me. There was no way I was going to let him down – not this time.

Nick caught George’s eye and gave her a sheepish grin. ‘I’ll be good … I promise. Take care of these two, won’t you?’

George looked away.

He gave me an
oh well
kind of shrug, then surprised me again by leaning in for a quick hug. It might have been just because it made my ribs ache, but I felt tears spring into my eyes. Then, without a word, he passed me the torch and began to jog back down the dark track. In an instant he was swallowed up by the night.

‘Let’s get moving,’ I said, and Amira reached up and grabbed my hand.

‘Baba,’ she whimpered. She looked up at me, her big almond-shaped eyes shiny with tears. I guessed Baba was her word for father. More than ever I felt the weight of responsibility we had taken on.

‘Hey, what’s your favourite colour?’

She tilted her head with a confused look on her face. I pointed to a small flower printed on her dress. ‘Is it pink?’

She still looked confused, but I went with it anyway. ‘Well what do you know … That’s Matt’s favourite colour, too!’

I clapped Matt on the shoulder and reached back down for the little girl’s hand. ‘C’mon Matty, let’s see if we can find a pink rescue boat for you and Amira.’

It was after midnight when we finally reached the top. Neither Matt, George nor I could carry the dead weight of a sleeping six year old for more than a couple of hundred metres at a time before needing a break. After we must have passed Amira between us for the hundredth time, when we were all aching, sweating and dog tired, suddenly a star-filled sky appeared through the thinning canopy of trees. We fell to the ground, totally wrecked, and lay on our backs under a distant crescent moon. A cool sea breeze rustled the leaves and provided a welcome relief from the sticky trapped heat of the forest.

‘Look there,’ George said, pointing to a cluster of lights twinkling way across the water. ‘That must be Shell Harbour.’

Far below us was the sheltered bay, night lights marking the spots where a handful of boats were moored.

‘Not far now. There’ll be someone down there that can help us,’ I said, feeling hopeful.

‘I sure hope so …’ started George, but she was cut short by a distant crack that pierced the night from the forest below us. Then another shot rang out and another and then a short volley, too many to count. Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the last echo died away and the forest fell quiet again.

George’s hand went to cover her mouth, like she was trying to stifle a scream.

‘It’s okay, George. He’ll be okay.’ It was an attempt to be encouraging but instead it sounded like fear masked by wishful thinking. It was impossible not to imagine Nick lying in the bush somewhere below, bleeding to death.

‘That sounded pretty close,’ said Matt.

‘C’mon then, let’s move,’ I barked. ‘It’s all downhill now.’

The walk took hours and no-one spoke the entire way down. I felt we were all near breaking point, exhausted and full of anxiety for Nick.

At last the sky began to lighten and we could start to see where we were going without the torch. As we neared the bottom of the final hill, I saw an orange tinge appear on the horizon and when we finally took our first step on the sand, half the sun was visible, appearing to sit perfectly balanced on the rocky ridge of Shell Harbour.

I placed the sleeping Amira onto the sand and lay down beside her, stretching out from fingertips to toes until the pain in my side became too much and I had to sit back up. There was a kind of gurgling in my gut and even though there was bugger all food in me, a frothy white stream spewed from my mouth onto the sand.

Matt screwed up his nose and moved away.

‘Are you okay?’ asked George placing a steadying hand in the small of my back.

‘Yeah,’ I said weakly. ‘It’s just … I don’t know … Everything’

She smiled and snuggled in close, rubbing my back until the nausea passed.

The beach on this side of the island was exactly as Nick had described it. A long, wide expanse of white sand melding into crystal clear water of the most amazing blue I’d ever seen.

‘Nice spot, this – don’t know why we didn’t come here in the first place,’ said George, as if she was reading my mind.

I felt her leaning on me more heavily and noticed out of the corner of my eye that her eyes had closed. I longed for the chance to lie back on the sand, but knew at the same time that we couldn’t rest until we’d found help. As I watched her, I realised I was thinking of Nick and, curiously, I had the strong feeling that it was important that they should be together. She hadn’t mentioned him since we had heard the gun shots.

‘He’s going to be all right, George,’ I whispered gently.

She didn’t open her eyes, just snuggled in closer. ‘I bet he brings all his girlfriends here,’ she said offhandedly.

‘Only the best for Nick’s girls …’

George smiled and opened her eyes. She clasped my hand and squeezed it tight, then let her head drop back onto my shoulder.

I counted three boats anchored off the beach: two yachts and a motor boat. The motor boat would probably be best, but it was the furthest away and my first thought was that I’d rather not walk any more than I really had to. The nearest yacht was maybe a third of the way along the beach and not far offshore. It was a huge one, with a dark blue ribbon around a gleaming white hull. I noticed the American flag hanging limply at the stern. On the beach, almost in line with the yacht, was a small dinghy, pulled up high above the water line. I pointed it out to George.

‘Well it’s not pink, but I guess it’ll have to do,’ she said, struggling to her feet. She extended both arms towards me and pulled me up.

I picked up the sleeping Amira, ignoring my screaming muscles, and gave Matt a prod with my foot. Together we shuffled down the beach to the water’s edge. As soon as we reached the dinghy, I knew it had to belong to the big white yacht. Not only was it beached directly in line with the moored yacht, but it had the same sparkly new look about it, as if this was the first time it had been in water. There were two sets of footprints in the sand, leading from the dinghy away from the shore and up over a small sand dune.

I looked around for anyone on the beach. It was deserted aside from us.

‘Wanna take it for a spin?’ said Matt with a cheeky grin.

‘Sounds like a plan,’ I agreed. But when we looked closer we realised there was no motor, only a couple of wooden oars.

‘Major fail,’ groaned Matt.

‘Come on, Matty, the exercise will do us good,’ I teased, putting Amira gently down in the bottom of the dinghy. I gave the boat a shove into the water. The others climbed in while I held it steady and then I stepped in and picked up the oars.

The yacht wasn’t far from shore and as we drew closer Matt cupped his hands around his mouth and went to call out.

‘Don’t,’ I hissed. ‘Keep quiet.’

‘What? We want help, don’t we?’

Maybe I’d become used to worrying about what lay ahead, but at that moment I felt it was better not to declare ourselves too early. ‘Just wait … Keep it down.’