It had started normally, like all their drop-off missions. No problem: we'll swing by nearly deserted island XYZ and drop off medical supplies, bottled water, building materials, etc.
And, just as normally for the crew of the Hammersley, things had gone sideways fast.
Dutchy and 2 Dads had been taken captive by a small but heavily armed gang of men who had been stealing medical supplies from the village's clinic for months.
They had their hands bound behind them with zip ties and had been tied to opposite sides of a tree trunk on the edge of a hidden encampment deep in the jungle.
Dutchy watched the shadows lighten around them as dawn broke. He could feel 2 Dads stirring against the shared rope that bound them against the trunk.
"It's been about twelve hours. They must have contacted the ship and made their demands by now," Dutchy whispered.
"Good morning to you, too," Muttered 2 Dads. "Jesus, my ass has gone numb. What are we sitting on, a pile of rocks?"
"Shh, keep your voice down," Dutchy hissed at him. "Tree roots if it's that important to you. We're sitting on a bunch of roots."
2 Dads momentarily strained against the ropes and then settled back against the tree. "So you think they've got demands? That's good, right? They won't kill us if we can be useful."
"That's the hope, anyway." Dutchy slowly and methodically flexed all his joints and muscles that the restraints allowed. He knew from previous experience it was best to try and stay limber in these situations.
2 Dads struggled against the rope again, causing it to pull tighter across Dutchy's chest. "You need to chill out and stop moving so much." He warned 2 Dads. "If they see you squirming around, they're more likely to come over here and check on us."
"I think I can get my hands free."
"Don't fuck with me, 2 Dads. This is a serious situation and I need you to do what I say and just stay calm for a bit." Dutchy glanced up at the lightening sky through the dense jungle canopy. He was trying to judge how many more hours until the boss and the XO would be able to rescue them. If they could only stay alive long enough.
"I'm not kidding, Dutchy. I'm—" 2 Dads grunted with apparent pain before he continued speaking, "I'm double jointed and I think—" his sentence ended as he let out a slow whispered string of profanities.
"Are you ok over there?" Dutchy whispered to him, growing concerned. There was no answer. Dutchy glanced slowly around at the camp. There were four men that he could see, two currently armed but no doubt the others had their guns nearby. "2 Dads! Answer me." He hissed a command at the junior sailor.
"You're gonna want to kiss me," 2 Dads whispered gleefully.
"Have you…?" Dutchy didn't dare let himself hope that 2 Dads had actually freed himself.
"Oh, yes. I have. I very much have. I can pop my thumb out of joint and slide my pinky finger into my palm and—"
"I don't want to know the details." Dutchy cut him off mid-sentence. He thought quickly. It would be relatively easy for 2 Dads to free them from the rope tying them to the tree, but next to impossible to get the zip ties off his own wrists since their kidnappers had thoroughly emptied the pockets of their DPNUs and there were no cutting implements nearby. The problem now was how to get untied and sneak away without anyone noticing them. "If we can get to the beach then we can get our bearings and figure out which direction the ship is." Dutchy mused aloud.
"Dutchy, I don't want you to tell anyone I'm saying this, but you're the brains of this operation. Tell me what to do and I'll do it."
"Ok, for starters, stop talking so much. How many guys can you see? I've got visual on four of them, two armed."
"Yeah, that's all I can see. But the rest of the guns are on a table at the far side of their tent. I don't think you can see it from the angle you're at. Are you thinking we can take them? Sneak attack? Steal their guns?"
"No. Didn't you just tell me I was in charge? We're going off into the woods as quietly as possible and running like hell to the shoreline. Then we can figure out which direction we need to go and stick to the woods as we circumnavigate the island. The boss should have a RHIB waiting on the sand for the rescue party he's sent to find us. We rendezvous with them, they radio the rescue party, we all return to the ship."
"Got it." 2 Dads confirmed. "Tell me when."
"On my signal," Dutchy whispered and kept his eyes on the men, trying to figure out their next actions. Agonizingly slow minutes ticked by. "Get ready," He warned 2 Dads when he saw one of the men fill up a percolator and place it over the fire. If they were making coffee, then they would all converge around the fire when it was done to get a cup. At least, he hoped that was what was going to happen. They didn't seem highly organized. He had stayed awake all night and hadn't noticed any of them bothered to keep watch. More minutes dragged passed. As he had hoped, the four men all briefly paused around the fire, taking their eyes off the perimeter of the camp and off their captives, for long enough to grab a brew. "Go, go, go." Dutchy frantically hissed at 2 Dads.
To his credit, 2 Dads didn't waste time with a reply and Dutchy instantly felt the ropes tighten around his chest. He could feel the bruises forming already and he hissed in as his ribs were further constricted. He tried his best to breath shallowly and plastered himself against the tree, trying to create as much slack in the rope as possible for 2 Dads to work with.
It was quick work and suddenly 2 Dads was on one knee next to him, throwing the slack rope onto the ground and grabbing his arm to help him to his feet. Dutchy stepped away from the pile of rope around his feet and took a glance at the men. They were about five seconds away from finding out their hostages had just done a runner. He felt the zip ties cutting into his wrists and grimaced as he nodded at 2 Dads.
The two of them raced headlong into the jungle, trying their best to be quiet but Dutchy soon started stumbling without his arms to help him balance. Branches whipped him in the face and sweat blurred his vision. It became clear 2 Dads could outrun him easily. Despite this, they made good time and were farther away from the camp than Dutchy had originally planned on by the time gunfire erupted after them they both slid onto the ground, taking shelter behind a fallen tree.
"We're going to split up. You head that way." Dutchy nodded in the direction he wanted 2 Dads to run.
"Yeah, ok. I'll see you at the RHIB." 2 Dads voice was on the edge of panic and his brow was knit together with fear.
Dutchy gave a silent thanks that it was 2 Dads he was in this mess with. The guy had guts and followed orders when it mattered. "Now!" Dutchy gave the order and they both leapt up and raced off into the jungle. The fact that his hands were still tied behind him meant he was focusing on keeping his balance and not getting blinded by a tree branch. It meant he was distracted. He was looking up instead of down and suddenly he was down on the ground. He screamed out in pain before he was able to stop himself.
He had fallen on his side and he twisted his head up to get a look at himself, what the fuck had just happened? He had tripped on a coil of barbed wire and was now fully entangled in great big loops of it. He was able to turn his head and noted that it ran parallel to the edge of the camp they had left behind. Fucking idiot, how had he not considered perimeter security. This is probably why they hadn't bothered with a night watchman. He began trying to extricate himself without making noise. Almost impossible as every movement caused him pain and he still didn't have use of his arms.
He heard footsteps approaching and stopped struggling. The escape attempt was over. He could only hope now that he was still worth something as a hostage and wouldn't be shot on sight. An image of his bones, picked over by detritovores and still tangled in the barbed wire, flashed through his mind.
"Fuck, Dutchy…" It was 2 Dads voice. "I heard you yell."
"It's bad, isn't it?" Dutchy's head was clear of the barbed wire but his arm, side, hip, and leg were embedded with the tiny barbs.
"It's…yeah. It really is. We need wire cutters and about three more guys to get you out of here." 2 Dads took care where he stepped so that he didn't get trapped as well as he worked to find a way to free Dutchy. Dutchy focused on his breathing. Every barb that 2 Dads tried to rip out of his skin made him want to scream.
Voices filtered through the jungle, moving towards them. 2 Dads stopped moving and listened. Dutchy heard it first.
"That's not our guys." Dutchy squeezed his eyes shut. Think, Mulholland, think! There was only one option. He opened his eyes and watched 2 Dads grimacing with pain as his own hands got cut over and over as he worked to free Dutchy. The younger man was dirty and sweaty and sported a black eye and a split lip from their initial encounter with the gang yesterday.
"We've got to get you out of here." 2 Dads was hyper-focused on the task at hand: pulling at the barbed wire stuck in Dutchy's clothing and skin.
"No. We've got to get you out of here. You're going to have to keep running and go find the others. I'll be a good distraction here. You'll have a head start on them." It was the only way either of them would survive.
"I can't leave you, Dutchy." 2 Dads used his boots to step on the barbed wire and his hands to rip at the bits of Dutchy's clothing that was caught.
"You have to go. You have to get back up!"
The hostage takers fired a gun into the canopy to intimidate their escaped prisoners and 2 Dads and Dutchy both winced at the sound.
"Go, 2 Dads! Run!" Dutchy hoped his command didn't betray any of the panic he felt.
"Ok, but we're coming back for you. Hang in there, yeah?" 2 Dads quickly but carefully stepped over the rest of the coils of fencing and turned back to kneel by Dutchy's head. "You'll see me and Charge, guns blazing, coming through the jungle to get you in no time." He tried to reassure his buffer, awkwardly resting his hand on Dutchy's shoulder.
"Just get the fuck out of here!" Dutchy yelled at him. He listened as 2 Dads took flight, his footsteps eventually fading into the distance as those of his captors neared. He tried to maneuver himself to see them coming but he was trapped at an impossible angle, head resting on the ground and all but one leg trapped against the barbed wire. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.