CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

They had kept up a rotating watch from the ridge, down into the lagoon, ever since early that morning, taking it in turns for someone to sit out, just inside the protection of the sparse vegetation, and look at what was happening on the water and beach. Paulo had unearthed a battered pair of binoculars from his fossicking in the huts, and occasionally someone would raise them to their eyes and focus on the remaining boat for a couple of minutes- however, so far, hours and hours had passed, almost the entire day, with absolutely no sign of life on board.

It was Alex's turn to take over the watch. He quietly approached Hex, who he was relieving, and sat down next to the hacker for a status update. "Nothing," Hex said flatly. "Not so much as a flicker of movement. It's like they're not even there."

"Let's not make that assumption," Alex warned. "Prefer to err on the side of over caution, with that lot. They're a bit trigger happy for my liking."

Hex didn't respond, just stretched and rolled his shoulders; he had been sitting in the one spot for a couple of hours, and although that was not unusual, given he spent so many of his spare hours in front of a computer, this time he was on hard, rocky ground and not nestled into an ergonomic computer chair. "What was the scream?" he asked, almost sounding like it was an afterthought.

"Huh?"

"The scream? Like five minutes ago? I was gonna come and see what was happening, but then it was only one, and no one came running, so I figured it wasn't important."

Alex frowned, then realised. "Oh. Stella," he said. "She may have stumbled across a python. Just a small one. Behind the huts."

Hex rolled his eyes. "Glad I didn't come back then. I thought Australians were used to their wildlife."

"She spends most of her time in a boarding school in the city; she'd be no more used to it than we are."

"Yeah but we don't scream every time we see something slithering. Or crawling. Like that spider in the hut last night." He rolled his eyes again. "Oh the drama."

"Leave it alone, Hex," Alex warned. "She's pretty upset, don't make it any worse. She's had a rough couple of days."

Hex held his hands up in surrender, and got to his feet, staying in a crouch to keep his profile lower until he got further back from the edge, into more cover. "Over to you. Enjoy your watch. Hopefully it stays boring."

With that, Alex was left alone on the ridge. He listened to the sounds of Hex's footsteps fading until there was nothing except the sounds of waves gently crashing against the shore far below him to hear any more. Lifting the binoculars, Alex peered through them, studying the boat as it bobbed gently in the lagoon. Not a flicker indeed. Silent, still, perfectly harmless- as far as outside appearances went anyway. But what was happening on the inside, out of the reaches of their sight?

It wasn't more than five minutes later, when Alex was actually starting to indulge the madcap idea suggested by the others earlier, that he spotted someone on the aft deck. Binoculars back up to his eyes, he studied the figure and realised it was Ty. Francis appeared not a moment later, the men talking and laughing to each other, casual as you like. Alex watched through the binoculars for several minutes, but there was no sign of Pete; the group of three may have dwindled down to two. Perhaps Pete had left on the Grim Reefer. It did bear the question of why the other two had stayed behind.

"Good thing we didn't try and get on that boat," Alex muttered to himself, feeling slightly triumphant that he had made the right call there. He set the binoculars to one side, not feeling the need to closely watch what seemed like a very casual interaction between the two men, still on the deck.

Another couple of minutes passed; he could just make out the occasional gesture from one of the men, mostly towards the island. The casual conversation did seem to be picking up a bit, and when Ty disappeared back into the cabin, Alex retrieved the binoculars for a closer look once more. He focused on the deck, watching Francis until he too disappeared out of sight. Frowning, Alex set the binoculars down again. He was feeling a bit wary, a bit anxious, an uneasy feeling rising in the pit of his stomach, but he didn't really know why. It was just something about the men were gesturing, how they seemed to be talking to each other, that had his senses tingling. Something wasn't quite right.

Both men now back on deck, Alex studied them through the binoculars once more, the breath catching in his throat as he realised that their return from the cabin saw them both armed; they each had a rifle casually held in one hand, seeming very much at ease and at home handling the weapons. Alex watched as they checked and loaded both rifles, then stowed them in the tender. The uneasy feeling in Alex's stomach had now risen to his chest, constricting the muscles and making it hard to breath.

Feeling a bit shaky, Alex set the binoculars down, took a couple of deep breaths, told himself he was being silly and jumping to conclusions, and then turned his attention back to watching the boat. Even without the binoculars, he could clearly see both men had now turned and were facing in his direction. The unease now full-fledged horror, Alex watched as Ty and Francis each raised a hand, and gave a slow wave right in his direction. Lifting the binoculars again, Alex focused closely on Ty's face, just in time to see his lips move and spell out something that had Alex ready to turn and run.

See you soon.

Alex's sudden rushed arrival into camp got the attention of everyone.

Li sprang to her feet, ready to do something even though she didn't know what. "What's happened?" she asked in alarm.

"We need to go." Alex's voice was quite low and calm, although his tone was urgent. "Right now."

"Hang on. What's going on?" Amber demanded. "You can't just come crashing back into camp like that without telling us what's happened."

"Ty and Francis. On the boat. They're coming back ashore. They have guns. We need to pack up and get moving."

Amber snorted, gesturing around them. "To where, Alex? This is not a very large island. It's going to be dark soon. We-"

"Did you miss what I said about them being armed?" He lowered his voice, shuffling over to the others to stay out of earshot of Stella, perched on one of the logs and still recovering from her snake encounter, who didn't need to be made any more upset than she already was. "They look like they're going hunting tonight," he said flatly. "And I think I know what they're targeting."

The gravity of the situation sunk in then and there, and around him Alex could see the faces of the other four teens change. They glanced around at each other, like they were checking that they had all heard and understood the implications of what Alex was telling them and then, almost to Alex's horror, they all looked at him.

"What is the plan, amigo?" Paulo asked, in a voice that said he had no doubt that Alex would have one.

The problem there was Alex didn't have one. Not even part of one. His plan extended to them leaving and trying to stay ahead of the hunters and then… He didn't have a clue. He didn't know how to end this favourably for them. They could stay one step ahead, maybe, but for how long? Amber was right: it was a small island, and he was sure that Ty and Francis would know it a whole lot better than they did. He suspected now that the huts they were staying in were kept stocked up by them with the more recent supplies. They had brought them to their hunting grounds, and there was only one reason for that.

A loud sob from Stella behind their huddled group grabbed their attention, and the five teenagers snapped their focus around, thinking she had seen something. She hadn't, but she caught their eyes and sobbed again. "I don't want to die," she gasped through ragged breaths, clearly having overheard despite Alex's best efforts. "I want to go home. Please can we go home."

Li's heart ached for the poor girl. They had all been through the ringer, but Stella had no doubt spent her entire captivity thinking she was taking her last breath at any moment; at least for the rest of them, they had had the reprieve of thinking they were safe, thinking they were rescued. Just for a little bit. She moved across and gave the girl a tight hug, but she had no words of comfort that she could say without them being a baldfaced lie.

"We're not just going to sit here and wait for them to come to us," Hex said. "Right? We might have a very outside chance, but I'm not just sitting here for them to find and shoot us."

Li shot him a frown as Stella's sobs got louder again. "Maybe we can just be mindful of our words," she said gently.

Hex snorted. He had zero time for tap-dancing around feelings. "Doesn't change the fact that we're sitting ducks. Doesn't change the fact that those meatheads are coming ashore with one thing on their minds."

Amber proved an unlikely ally when she added, "Stella, I'm sorry, but you need to pull yourself together. Time for tears is over, we need to get a plan together." She turned and found the Northumberland teen. "Alex? This is where you tell us the plan."

Alex blinked. "Um…" He was well aware that all eyes were on him, now. Even Stella had, as Amber had so delicately put it, pulled herself together for a moment and was looking at him with so much expectation he felt that no matter what he said next, he was going to disappoint her. "I…" All he could manage was a tired shrug.

"That's okay," Li piped up. "Alex, we aren't expecting you to have all the answers," she said, and her sentiment was echoed by nods around the group. "We just ask first in case you do- and if you don't, that's fine, we can figure it out. Together."

"Oh."

"So…" Li prompted with a kind smile.

Alex sighed. "I don't know. I wish I did, but I don't."

"Okay," Li said, unbothered by his admission. "So we need to come up with a plan."

"Putting distance between us and the weapon-wielding drug couriers is pretty top on my list," Hex said.

Alex nodded. "That's the goal, yeah," he said, "but we need to figure out how we can do that." He gestured around them and grimaced. "This is a pretty small island, and I get the feeling they're pretty familiar with it."

"So we need sneaky," Amber said. "Not necessarily speed, but cunning, right?"

"Right up your alley," Hex cut in.

Amber ignored him. She was getting much better at letting some go through without even giving them a frown. "Are we going to stay together, or split up?" She was looking back to Alex again for input.

Considering the two options, Alex eventually said, "Split up."

"What about safety in numbers?" Paulo did not look keen on the idea of the group being divided.

"Not solo," Alex said. "But if we split into two groups of three, then we've got half a chance. If they come after one group together, either by choice or because they haven't realised we've split up, we still out number them." He glossed over the fact that outnumbering them at least two to zero would be weapon count, and continued, "And if they split up, because they realise we did and there's two groups, then we increase the odds in our favour even further."

"Okay. So who goes with who?"

"Let's figure out the rest of the plan first."

There was a pause while Alex went to retrieve the map, spreading it out on the sawn off log they had been using as a table, and they all gathered around it. Stella had, by now, either run out of tears or calmed down, and she shuffled over with Li to consider the map with the others. In silence, they all looked over the island, not quite sure what they were searching for but each hoping that someone would find it.

Hex was not quite studying the map as much as the others. He looked thoughtful and then said, "Why don't we use this to our advantage?"

Five pairs of eyes looked at him. Advantage? How they could possibly be the people with any sort of advantage in this situation was beyond anyone else's comprehension.

"They come on land," Hex continued, when all he received in response to his suggestion was the blank looks, "and we sneak down and get on the boat. Amber can use her one useful skill-"

There was a pointed cough of indignation from beside him, that Hex chose to ignore.

"-and we can just sail off into the horizon."

A pause followed, as they all digested the idea, considered it.

"But what if they are not here because they want to be?" Paulo said. "What if the boat is broken and they cannot leave?"

"Then their friends aren't very nice," Li said. "Well… Not very nice to them either. We already know they aren't nice as general point."

Alex looked thoughtful. "No, it's a good thought, Paulo- something we need to consider. We don't know if they stayed behind by choice or not. We can't put all our eggs in that basket. If they came back, if they hit that beach before we got off the boat and back into cover…" He trailed off, not needing to finish painting the mental picture.

Hex was not quite ready to totally dismiss his idea, though. "Okay, fine. But what about some of our eggs in that basket? What about Paulo and Amber going to check the boat out?"

Amber folded her arms. "I don't remember volunteering for sitting duck duty," she said tersely.

"Then I'll come and be lookout on shore." Hex's plan was shaping up in his head, and he wasn't letting it go. "You and Paulo are best placed to figure out how we can use that boat to our advantage- Paulo knows engines, you know boats." He shrugged, like it was obvious.

"I preferred it when you were quiet," Amber muttered.

Alex was at least looking like he was considering it. Paulo seemed happy to just go where he was needed, Li didn't seem to care either way. Stella just looked terrified, but her face didn't seem to be capable of arranging into any other emotion any more so there wasn't much to read into there.

"That then leaves us," Alex said, gesturing at his side of the circle to Li beside him, Stella beside her, "to act as decoys." He frowned for a moment. "It might work," he continued slowly, but didn't look entirely convinced. His eyes flicked back sideways, over to Stella, and he seemed a bit worried, but it wasn't entirely obvious why. Whatever the reason, he clearly didn't want to bring it up right at that second because a moment later, he had agreed. "Let's work on that for now. One team at the boat, one team heading in the opposite direction to the far end of the island."

"And then what?" Li asked. "How do we then get away from the weapons and back to the boat?"

All eyes turned to Hex, given it was his original idea, but he shrugged. "Hey, I didn't say I had planned every detail. It was just a thought."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Typical male," she said. "There's the tender still; they'll use it to get to shore, so it will be on the beach and just waiting for us to steal it. We could come and get you."

"From?"

In answer, Amber dropped a finger onto the lagoon and then traced a line around the headland, around the rocky ridge that they had been using as a lookout post, and to a second, smaller bay. "We agree on a time, we meet you there, pick you up, cut back around- it will take them a few hours at least to get back to the lagoon cutting through the island, so we could have a head start."

"If the boat works," Li reminded her.

"If the boat works. Or if we can get it working." Amber nodded to Paulo beside her. "But," she added, "even if not, we can still come and get you. It still gives us a head start."

"To keep running and hiding?" Li said it lightly, but the concern was still evident in her voice. She sighed, though, realising there wasn't really anything else they could do, given the circumstances. "Sounds like a plan. Of sorts."

"We need supplies," Alex said. "Hey, Stella. Would you mind rifling through that storage hut and seeing what sort of portable options we have to work with?"

Stella shot him a frown, but didn't argue. Wiping her eyes once more, she headed off in that direction, looking over her shoulder when the others didn't seem to be getting given chores immediately.

"I'm not so sure Stella in the decoy team is a good idea," Alex said in a low voice after glancing over his shoulder to see if she was out of earshot. "She's really fragile, she's upset, she just wants to go home."

"Understandably," Li reminded him. "She's not exactly had the best few days."

"I know, Li. I'm not criticising her, I'm just…" He gestured between them. "We are going to have hustle. We're going to have be quiet, think on our feet. We are going to be in a bit of danger." Alex paused, studying Li to get her reaction, but she just looked back at him calmly; no ruffling of feathers, not so much as a twitch, she just accepted it and was already primed and ready to go. The realisation made Alex feel instantly calmer himself, instantly better about the plan- but not about Stella's part. "I don't know if Stella is up to it."

"So send her with that lot." Li waved to indicate the other three. "She can help Hex keep watch."

Hex grimaced. "I'm not babysitting," he said flatly. "I need to keep a watch- and be very quiet. Which, if she's still sniffling, isn't going to be possible."

"Can we stop picking on her for crying?" Li snapped. "She's thought she was going to die about a hundred times since we were out on that reef snorkelling."

"And we haven't?" Amber said. She gestured between them. "We're just getting on with it."

"Maybe we're the abnormal ones, then," Li countered. "What won't make her feel better, won't help her, is having the people she is being forced to depend on and stick with judging her for being emotional when she's been put through the ringer. Okay?" Li shot them all a look, except for Paulo who had stayed out of the slinging match, and focusing it mainly on Amber and Hex; Alex was worried about everyone's safety, but Amber and Hex were just being mean, as far as Li was concerned.

"Li is right," Paulo said, and she shot him a grateful look for backing her up. "She can come on the boat with us." He ignored Amber's quiet groan of annoyance beside him.

"Do I get a say in this?" Amber asked.

"No," Li, Paulo and Alex all answered in unison.

The plan as formed as it could be, given all of the unknowns, they moved off to start gathering the few supplies they would need, keen to get moving as quickly as possible given that looked like the same sentiment down on the boat. Alex went into the storage hut to check on Stella's progress, however she was nowhere to be found.

Frowning, he checked the other huts, checked around behind them, but quickly realised there wasn't really any other place she could be hiding. Back in the storage hut, he counted the moth-eaten backpacks and realised with horror that one was missing.

"What's up?" Amber called as he came rushing back out of the storage hut, guilt written all over his face.

"It's Stella," Alex said. "I think she's gone."