Without comment Paolo rose and headed for the shelter. When the others rose and headed the same direction
, Anna asked Gray to take her up to the peak to look at the stars but he said it was too difficult in the dark. “How about a walk on the beach?” he offered.
In the dim light she took his hand and tugged him to his feet. Barefoot, they walked hand in hand down to the surf and turned south.
The stars of the Milky Way were so thick in places they appeared as swirling milky cloud, making it easy to understand why it was named so. They walked slowly and did not speak until past the trail that went up to the saddle.
“I am not too young for you,” Anna stated.
Gray grinned. “On the cusp, though. I should not mention that the subject might be premature.”
“What is the expression,
ah contraire?”
Gray paused before he replied. If she was alluding to what he thought she was, it meant she was an insightful and pragmatic young woman. “Are you saying we should determine if our ages are not too disparate before falling in love,
unlike what Alyson and I did?”
“No, I wish I was so…
”
“Insightful?”
“That is the word, yes, insightful. No, I was saying it is too late for me.”
Gray did not know how to reply to what she had admitted.
His strong feelings for the young woman would make it so easy to tell her he was falling in love with her. When the silence had gone for too long she said, “I am six years older than Alyson.”
“Still, on the cusp.
As I told Alyson, I will be a shriveled old man when she is still a beautiful woman. She wants to start having children in about seven years. That would put me at fifty three, close to sixty if we had two children. I would be more like a grandfather, two generations out of touch with them. And worse, maybe dead by their teens.”
Now Anna did not reply and they walked in silence.
A brilliant shooting star flared across the sky and Gray stopped and asked, “Did you see that?”
When Anna did not speak he moved close
r until they were face to face. He caught the glint of a tear streak on her cheek. “Oh, Anna,” he said and pulled her into an embrace.
“Oh,
meine Liebe,” she cried.
“Yes, meine Liebe. I am sorry, Anna. This is breaking my heart too.”
“You should not be sorry. I have been the one coming on to you.”
“I could have pushed you away
… but I found you too… you are too gorgeous but I have resisted attractive women before. You have so many qualities I like. But you have just been too endearing.”
She tightened her embrace and made a tiny moan.
Gray asked, “What is it about you golfers? Did you know my ex was an avid golfer?”
Anna giggled
. “I did know that, Alyson again. And I know why you divorced. My ex was on the European tour and an unfaithful shit.”
“Oh, Anna
, I am sorry. I wondered how such a fine and attractive woman could be single. I know what pain you went through.”
“
I know. Oh, Gray, I should have talked to you first. I took the things Alyson told me and made too many assumptions.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She told me how you felt about the age difference. And that you wanted her to date other men, younger men. She said she told you she would.”
“Did she tell you she was going to do it?”
“She said her heart was not in it.”
“But she will?”
Gray felt Anna tense up in his arms after his question. She took a while to reply.
“I
cannot say. We have become very good friends since I started playing LPGA events a couple of years ago. She confided in me after introducing us at the Evian.”
Gray said,
“Some of the U.S. ladies ribbed her about fraternizing with the enemy.”
“
They had to have been joking. They knew she always played her heart out for the U.S. Look at the Solheim.”
“That
is about the time I was coming to the realization that our affair had to end.”
“You do not want to let her go, yet you must push her away.”
“You understand it, Anna.”
“
I understand and I care for you,” she whispered.
“And I you.”
“That must be enough for us then.”
They stood in the dark, entwined in the other’s arms
, the surf barely a ripple and the breeze a soft caress. Without another word they walked back to the shelter with an arm around the other’s waist.
It was still dark when Lex shook Gray awake. “Gray, we need your light.”
The sound of urgent groans came from where Malik
and Lleyton lay. Gray fumbled around and found his shoes and pulled the flashlight from one of them and handed it to Lex. Lex crawled over to where Melanie knelt over Lleyton.
When Gray
squat on the other side of the young man, Melanie said, “He is delirious and burning up with fever. Somebody get me some water.”
Lleyton was panting and thrashing weakly and moaning.
Melanie bathed the young man’s face and forehead with a wet rag and said soothing things to him but he never responded rationally. Finally he settled and his breathing slowed and became more regular.
Chapter V
I Day Three, Day of Sorrow
Gray sat up and scratched his
four day old beard wishing he could retrieve his carry on luggage containing his electric razor which had enough juice for a couple of shaves at least, and a battery powered charger for his phone. His favorite pocket knife and shorts were in his checked luggage somewhere in the belly of the aircraft. At least there were plenty of tooth brushes and paste from the gift baskets.
After breakfast and
after Lleyton’s bandages were changed and Malik adjusted, Gray suggested everyone but Keegan climb to the peak with him. Keegan said his head felt much better and would like to give it a try. After a short discussion they agreed to leave the two severally injured men alone for the amount of time needed to climb the peak and take a look around. All eight started east up the slope, all but Keegan and Dayah carrying a Claymore mine, and Gray and Lex also carrying spools of wire. It took about fifteen minutes to make the climb. Melanie, Lex, Paolo and Keegan stayed only a few minutes and then descended, Melanie saying they would stay at the shelter until someone else came down and then they were going to the other side of the island to check the traps and bathe.
Gray set up three of the Claymore mines about a hundred feet apart near the
tree line facing east. Anna helped him run the three wires down to them from the peak. On the peak he hooked up the triggers, which he called clackers, and showed Anna, Dayah and Shinobu how to test them and how to fire them when needed. If they spotted a ship, the plan was to watch it long enough to determine if it might come closer. Gray believed they needed a ship to be well within a fifteen mile range before their signal could be effective although he would leave that judgment to the lookout on duty. Anna volunteered to go down the slope and into the jungle a ways so they could work out how to use the signal mirror. They each flashed the mirror at her a number of times and she held up fingers equal to the number of flashes. She came back up the slope and Gray took her place.
It appeared to Gray they could use
the mirror to signal someone at the hut from early morning to mid afternoon. If they could find another reflective surface, signaling from the hut would be possible from late morning to late afternoon.
When the
Claymore instructions and mirror testing were finished, Shinobu asked to take the first watch and Anna and Dayah left for the shelter so Lex, Melanie, Paolo and Keegan could leave for the other side. Shinobu had woven himself a kind of hat from long, flat blades of grass and had water and some crackers and said he would be fine. Gray sat with him awhile and the old man told him of some of the places he had lived in South Asia. Gray was about to start down when Shinobu pointed to the saddle.
Gray took the binoculars and saw that Lex
, Melanie, Paolo and Keegan had just reached the saddle. “Shinobu, give them a flash with the mirror.”
T
he four were almost across the saddle and about to start down the other side but suddenly glanced toward the peak. They all raised their arms and waved in Gray and Shinobu’s direction. After a moment they made a final wave and went down the trail. Gray slapped the old man on the back and said he had done well.
Gray said,
“Okay, Anna, Dayah or I will be back up here to relieve you in a couple of hours.” He started down to the shelter but before he was to the tree line, Shinobu hollered.
Gray looked up and the old man was
urgently motioning him to return. Gray scrambled back up the rocks to the peak and looked where Shinobu was pointing. To the southeast, on a horizon hazy from distance, lay a dark speck. Almost a straight line could be drawn from the peak to the hut to the speck.
Through
the binoculars the speck became a ship, its bow or stern to the island, the distance too great to tell which. Since the ship had not been there fifteen or twenty minutes ago, Gray was sure it was bow on and coming toward the island. They waited fifteen minutes and using the binoculars could clearly see it was bow on. Gray guessed it was about ten to twelve miles from the island. If the ship moved at ten knots it could reach the island in about an hour. He waited ten more minutes and the heading had not changed. The ship was painted dark, not the usual light blue or grey of a naval ship. It might be a cargo ship or even a rescue ship but his money was on it being the owners of the hut returning. Whatever the ship was, there was no need to signal it with the mines. There was little doubt it was heading to the island. Gray wondered if any of the four on the other side had seen it yet. They had probably reached the hut twenty minutes ago.
“I’m going to
alert those on the other side,” Gray said to Shinobu. “If the ship looks okay and it starts to pass by the island, signal it. Stay low so you do not make a silhouette. If is stops do not signal it.”
Gray started down the rocks toward the shelter. He wanted to let Anna know
about the ship and he also believed he could make better time down the beach and over the trail to the other side than cutting through the dense jungle to the saddle.
If the owners of the hut were pirates, Gray did not think there was a moment
to waste. At the shelter he grabbed a bottle of water and told Anna and Dayah to run along beside him while he told them what he and Shinobu had seen. As they slogged down the beach Gray told them about the sighting and what he thought it might mean. When they reached the notch where the trail started, Anna said she was going with him. Wearing a fearful expression on her face, Dayah turned back for the shelter.
Gray
planned to set a pace that he could maintain to the saddle and then speed up slightly going down the other side. Anna’s strides appeared effortless and for a bit he considered just having her run ahead but when they reached the top and he was breathing laboriously, she said she needed to walk a bit to catch her breath.
He did not argue but he thought Anna might have slowed just for him
. They walked a ways down from the saddle and then Gray went into a jog. Anna kept up easily. When they reached the clearing the ship was visible occasionally through breaks in the foliage and was still two or three miles away. It was now turned slightly off bow and looked to be at least a 180 foot long trawler. Lex, Melanie, Paolo and Keegan were in the pool. They were surprised to see Anna and Gray jogging across the clearing.
“What?” Lex said,
arms out stretched in mock bewilderment.
“I think the owners of
the hut are returning!” Gray hollered.
All
four waded to the edge of the pool. “A ship?” Melanie asked, her face brightening.
“Yes, a ship.” He pointed across the pool in the direction of the ship
but it was obscured by the foliage. “Out this way, you can see it. But I don’t’ think we should be here when they return.”
Paolo stepped out of the water and moved to where he could see the ship.
Melanie gazed at Gray with disgust on her face.
Lex said, “Dude, you don’t really think they’re pirates do you?”
“I am not one hundred percent sure. But it will do no harm to make ourselves scarce until we can check them out.”
“Seriously, Gray
!” Melanie said.
“Have you seen any sign of women or children on this island?”
Gray asked.
Melanie ignored his question.
“They may have a ship to shore radio, or a sat phone. We could offer them a lot of money to help us.”
Paolo was scowling at Melanie. He glanced at Gray as if to be relieved of the deal he had made with him to not tell the others what he thought of them.
Gray ignored him and said to Melanie, “They likely do have a sat phone. Or radio, but we don’t have time to argue. It won’t hurt to check them out first, please.”
The
three stepped out of the pool, toweled off and slipped on their shoes and clothes. Paolo came back and did the same.
Keegan’s pale skin was glowing, unused to so much direct sun. Lex
, Paolo and Melanie were simply getting browner.
Gray wanted to get to the trail before the ship got within
the range that someone aboard could see them scurrying across the clearing. “Just come up the trail with us a ways until they stop. I’ve told Shinobu to signal with the Claymores if the ship looks like it’s passing by the island.”
Gray turned and
started off at a jog with Anna, Paolo and Keegan close behind. Lex and Melanie followed at a normal walking pace, arguing. Gray, Keegan, Paolo and Anna stopped at dense cover about 75 yards up the trail where they could see the bay and the dock through the foliage. The breeze was carrying the thrum of the ship’s engine.
Lex and Melanie
came up the trail to where the four were waiting. Melanie’s face was contorted with anger. “If you make us miss this chance at rescue I swear to god I will destroy you.”
“I trust Shinobu to signal the
ship if it looks like it’s going to pass. He has the mirror and the Claymores. Please, just let us check them out. It will only make a few minutes difference.”
“And what
? If they are Asians you will say they are pirates? They will be Asian because we are in Asia!”
“Melanie
lassie, I believe Gray knows what he’s speaking about. The Malays talk about the pirates. They air real,” Keegan said. “It will be no harm ter wait.”
“Oh, for god
’s sake, you’ve convinced another convert!” Melanie said to Gray.
Gray did not
retort, thinking it was of little use to argue anymore. Her mind was set.
“You are a sick paranoid
!” she said, spitting out the words.
Paolo moved close to Gray and said in a low voice, “It does not become you arguing with an idiot.”
Gray put an arm around the man’s shoulder and said, “Thanks, Paolo. You have shown great restraint and I am not patronizing when I say that. But I see her differently than you do.”
Paolo
shrugged and moved away. Anna tried to step closer to Melanie but she glared at her. “Please, Melanie. Gray is trying to protect us all. If you go down there and they are pirates, you are giving away the fact there may be others on the island.”
“They will know that anyway because
we stole from them!” she said with venom.
“
That will not tell them we are on the island,” Gray said. “How could we have gotten here without a boat? If they see no boat they will think that we have already left. They may not be pirates, Melanie, and I will be absolutely ecstatic if it turns out that you can tell me you told me so.”
Anna
raised a hand to Lex’s shoulder. “Please, Lex. You don’t think we are so wrong do you?”
He shrugged and swung his head in an arc like he was being pulled from side to side.
He put his hands up shaking his head, refusing to answer.
“Listen
!” Gray said, raising his hand for silence. The thrum of the engine had stopped. A moment later the clank of anchor chains came across the water. The view of the ship was broken up by foliage at the edge of the bay so they did not see the smaller craft lowered into the water but they heard another engine note and soon saw a long, inboard engine motorboat heading toward the dock.
Melanie said, “Even if they are pirates, we can
negotiate with them, offer them a lot of money. It will help if we go down there and show we have no fear. Come on Lex, I’m going down to greet them.”
Gray s
tepped as close to Melanie as he thought she would tolerate. “Melanie, you have nothing tangible with which to negotiate. If they are pirates they may kill Lex and rape you.”
She just shook her head.
“Melanie, I care about you. I truly believe that you believe you are doing the best thing. I understand how badly you want to get help for Lleyton and Malik.”
“You don’t understand anything.”
“Melanie, I don’t know why two people can look at the same thing and see two different things. It just happens. Brothers can be on opposite sides of issues.” He went silent for a minute, frustrated that he could not think of a way to sway her. He held his arms out, offering an embrace. She did not smile but gave a grudging nod and moved into his arms and hugged him tightly.
Gray hugged her close, trying to will her to feel how much he cared for her.
“Melanie, if you get into trouble down there, don’t give up. We will not give up on you.”
She gave Gray a
surprised look and slowly broke from his embrace. Lex stepped over to Gray and embraced him, saying, “Dude, you are something else. I really do love you.”
“I am flattered
, Lex. I have come to think a lot of you too.”
Melanie started down the trail but turned
around and said. “We won’t tell them there is anyone else on the island unless they really look like they will help us.”
Lex caught up with her and
they went down the trail hand in hand.