Under Vanishing Skies (28 page)

There was more laughter followed by a payout to the guy with the pistol. I looked over in the direction where Kamish had run, but he wasn’t there. I pulled on Michio’s sleeve. He pointed to the three men. They were now passing around a bottle and taking turns drinking from it.

I wondered if Michio meant for me to charge the pirates. But then, out of nowhere, Kamish popped up behind the first guy and slit his throat. The guy collapsed on the deck. The second guy took too long to figure out what had happened. Kamish was on him. As Kamish buried his knife into the guy’s chest, Michio sprinted out of the bushes and sprang into the air, landing a flying kick into the face of the third pirate. They both fell. I heard the bottle smash. Then I watched as Michio bent over him and punched him twice in the throat.

I ran to the pile of rubble to see if the child was still alive. As I began climbing, I was overcome by the putrid smell of death. I looked down and saw that I wasn’t climbing on a pile of rubble. It was bones and decaying flesh. I tried to reach the child, but I began to throw up and I couldn’t stop.

Michio reached me and helped me off the pile. He held my shoulders as I continued to puke. When I finally stopped, I looked up. Kamish threw the last of the pirates onto the pile.

“
Is the child...?” I asked.

Michio looked down and shook his head.

Those bastards! Those goddammed fucking bastards! I reeled as something occurred to me.

“
What if Shannon’s there?” I asked.

“
She isn’t,” Kamish said.

“
How do you know?”

He didn’t answer, but the look on his face told me what I knew in my gut. They wouldn’t have killed a woman like Shannon, not right away. They would get as much use out of her as possible first.

Kamish looked at me and then Michio. “I heard more laughter coming from there.” He pointed towards the center of the island.

Michio nodded. “Okay, but this time nobody takes off by themselves.” He looked at Kamish, who held his stare. “If we are to save my son and Shannon, we must work as a team.”

Kamish nodded, and we moved toward the center of the island.

We followed the sound of laughter and the occasional scream. It led us to what must have once been the main reception hut. A large bonfire on the brick patio beside the hut cast plenty of light for us to see what was happening. We hunkered down watched as about three dozen pirates, dressed in ragged T-shirts and long, colorful, wrap-around sarongs, sat around the bonfire. Most of them wore embroidered hats called Koofiyads, the metallic threads reflecting the firelight like a disco ball. 

A few of them danced. Some sat in small groups.  The rest were passed out on the ground. 

I saw four young women mixed in with the pirates. My heart skipped a beat when I mistook one of them for Shannon. But it wasn’t her.

 
The women looked terrified. They screamed every time a pirate grabbed them. They fought to get away only to find themselves caught by another pirate. I watched a young woman, maybe sixteen or seventeen, slap an exceptionally ugly guy who tried to kiss her. He rewarded her with a punch that sent her flying. She landed next to the bonfire. When she got up I saw blood streaming from her mouth.

I clenched my jaw as I watched another girl stand motionless while two pirates ripped off her clothes. One of them held her breasts like trophies.  It seemed to amuse his friends.She just stared out into the darkness.

“
What do we do?” I asked.

Michio said, “We look for my son and Shannon. They must be held somewhere nearby. Let’s go.”

I looked at Kamish and he followed Michio. I took up the rear.

We stopped and peeked into a few huts. Most were empty or filled with sleeping pirates.

I could tell we were getting closer to the ocean from the sound of the waves. A small shack stood next to the ruins of a dock. A single torch cast a wavering puddle of light on a pirate who sat watch in front of the door. His head hung down and I could hear his snores above the surf.

Michio locked eyes with Kamish and motioned for him to go ahead. Kamish took off. He worked his way around to the right and up along the water’s edge until I lost him behind the hut. The pirate snored one last time before Kamish cut his throat. Then Kamish waved us over.

By the time we got to the shack, Kamish had opened the door. Michio pushed him aside and went in. A few seconds later, Michio emerged with a skinny Japanese kid. From the way Michio wrapped his arms around him, I knew that it was his son. The boy looked confused. He stared at his father and then at me and then back at his father. He seemed to be afraid to say anything.

A minute later, three other boys emerged from the shack like zombies, wide eyed and moving slow. I tried not to think about the hell they must have gone through, but I couldn’t stop myself. I’d heard the stories of how Jamal tortured boys and brainwashed them to become soldiers in his holy crusade. The more I thought about it, the madder I got.

“
You must all keep absolutely quiet,” Michio said to the boys. “We are here to take you home. So do as I say.”

The boys looked like they were in pretty bad shape. Michio’s kid had only been held captive for a couple weeks and even he looked bad. The other boys looked like they had been there a lot longer. What clothes they wore were ripped and full of holes. Two of them were shirtless. Their skin was pulled taut over their rib cages. I flinched when I saw the scars that covered their bodies like some kind of sick roadmap.

I hoped that none of these boys was too far gone. I didn’t know what I’d do if they started to call to the pirates for help. But they stayed quiet and seemed to understand Michio’s directions.

Michio looked at me. “I will take them to Yoshirou. You two continue in this direction.” He pointed along the coastline. “I will meet you at the rendezvous point.”

Kamish and I both nodded.

“
Don’t worry, Aron,” Michio said. “We will find Shannon.”

I nodded. But after what I saw back by the bonfire, I wan't sure that I could handle finding Shannon in this condition. 

Kamish and I zigzagged back and forth along the coastline. We slowly worked our way towards the rally point. Another patrol walked down the beach. We took cover behind some rocks. Kamish kept his eyes glued on the patrol. I kept my eyes glued to Kamish. The last thing I needed now was him taking off on another pirate killing spree.

There were two of them, a man and a woman. They stopped about twenty-five yards from our position. The man looked towards the tree line and waived. Then they continued down the beach.

When they were out of sight, I looked up ahead and could make out some light. It was the main pier. A half dozen pirates wandered in and out of the circles of light created by the torches that lined the pier. The red smoldering glow of their cigarettes gave away their positions.

Kamish put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to look. He had his finger up to his lips and he nodded in the direction of the tree line. He must have seen something else.

He motioned for me to stay where I was. I nodded. He turned and went back in the direction we had come from. I waited. At least ten minutes passed. I didn’t see or hear anything. The waves crashed on the shore and the jungle canopy swayed wildly with the wind. I was getting worried. Kamish was taking a long time.

I heard something up ahead. It was the sound of branches breaking. I crouched down, but kept my eyes focused on the tree line. My heart began to race. I pulled the knife from my belt and almost dropped it.

Then, just as quickly as the noise began, it stopped. My heart beat faster. I felt like I had to do something. I took off towards the trees. The knife felt light in my hand. Just as I was about to enter the brush, Kamish stepped out. I almost stabbed him.

We both crouched down in the bushes.

"Where'd you go."

"I saw a sniper,” he whispered. “But he is no longer a problem.”

I noticed fresh bloodstains on his shirt. One of the stains appeared to be growing bigger.

“
Are you okay?”

“
I am fine.” He nodded towards the jungle. “I heard a woman cry out over there.”

He took off. I followed. We worked our way through the thick mash of branches. Kamish stopped at the edge of another clearing. I came up beside him and saw a single hut with a light coming from a window. We waited. I strained to hear whatever it was that Kamish had heard, but I didn’t hear anything.

“
Are you sure—” The subdued cries of a woman cut me off. It sounded like Shannon, but I didn’t trust my own ears. My nerves were shot.

Two pirates walked around from the back and stood on the front deck. They smiled and joked with one another.

I heard it again. This time, it sounded like she was in pain. The guards chuckled. My anger boiled inside of me. I had to help her.

Kamish must have sensed that I was about to charge, because he placed his big hand on my shoulder and held me firmly in place. I glared at him, but he shook his head and then calmly motioned towards the hut. It only took me a second to understand what he wanted me to do. I pulled out Senil’s knife and nodded.

Kamish moved to the right and I took off towards the left. We each circled around to opposite sides of the hut. I listened to the pirates talking. The talking stopped. I heard a scuffle. Kamish must have struck. I ran around the corner.

Kamish knelt next to a dead pirate. The other pirate brought his rifle up. He aimed it at Kamish who smiled and nodded. The pirate turned. I lunged and thrust my knife up into in his gut. He started to step back, but I reached around with my free arm and pulled him in close. Eyes wide, he tried to speak. I twisted the knife and lifted the blade. I felt a gush of warm liquid soak through my t-shirt and run down my legs. His eyes rolled up into his head. Then I felt his full weight. I let go of him and pulled the knife out. His body slumped on to the deck.

Kamish got up and motioned toward the door. 

I nodded.

A scream from inside the hut triggered something in me, something that I’d been trying to keep in check. It was a dark and mindless hatred. I went to the window and looked inside. It was Shannon. She was pinned on the bed under a naked, dark skinned man. He bucked her like a wild beast. Her head moved from side to side and she cried out over and over again.

The man had a tattoo on his back. It was a circle inscribed with a crescent moon and a single star. He flung his head back in a primal display of ecstasy. I saw the scar on his cheek. It was Jamal and he was raping Shannon!

Chapter 18

Everything moved in slow motion. I felt like I was watching the horrific scene unfold from a distance.

I don’t remember barging through the door, but I remembered burying my knife into Jamal’s back. I don’t remember skinning the tattoo from him, but I remembered the look on Kamish’s face as I held the bloody swath of skin in my hand. He proud, like a father who had just witnessed his son take down his first deer.

Suddenly I was back in my body. I looked at Shannon. She was trapped under the bloody corpse. She screamed and cried out as she fought to get out from under him.

I dropped the skin on the floor and ran to her side. I flipped Jamal off of her.  His body fell to floor with a loud thud.

“
Shannon, it’s okay,” I said. “I’m here. I’m going to get you out.”

Eyes wide and panting, she looked back and forth from me to Kamish. She kept repeating, “No! No! No!” I tried to hold her, but she whimpered and pushed herself back until she sat up against the backboard. Her knees were up against her chest and she cradled herself with her arms. “No! No! No!”

I knelt down on the floor next to her. I placed my hands on her shoulders. She pulled away and buried her head in between her arms. Then she let out a primal groan.

“
Shannon, it’s me, Aron. Look at me.”

She looked up. I saw recognition in her eyes.

“
What are you...how did you find...?” Her mouth quivered as she spoke.

“
I’ll explain everything, but right now we need to go.”

She looked at Jamal and began to cry. Her tears washed lines through the blood that was smeared on her face. She looked at me and nodded. I grabbed a sheet from the floor and draped it around her.

Kamish said, “Come on.”

I looked over and nodded. Kamish went out first. He waived us on and we followed. I kept one arm around Shannon’s shoulders as we worked our way back to the shore. On the far side of the pier, I saw a row of huts along a boardwalk that stretched out over the water. It was the rendezvous point. Michio would be waiting for us underneath the boardwalk.

We stopped and made sure the coast was clear before crossing the wide path that led to the pier. Once on the other side, we moved fast. It wasn’t much farther now, just a few hundred feet. All we had to do was get to the far side of the huts and work our way under the boardwalk. But as we approached the huts, Shannon suddenly stopped.