Fifteen minutes before she had to leave.
“Fajar told me about the men but I didn’t tell Patar,” Fajar’s mother whispered.
Mila stared at her in shock.
“Neither did Ibu Sari.Fajar told me Ali took your laptop after class yesterday.”
What could she say?
“If you need help, you tell me.”
Mila squeezed her hand.“Thank you.”
“Come,” Patar called.“The phone is in my house.”
Mila hesitated.She was almost certain there were no landlines on the island.Everything she’d seen since she’d been here had been satellite or Wi-Fi.Which meant he wanted to keep her confined until Agus arrived.
“Hurry, hurry.Agus will be here soon.”
That was hopefully also a lie.It should take him at least twenty minutes to get here.“I’m not going inside,” she said.“There might be aftershocks.”
He waved his hand.“No, no.Earthquake is finished.”He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards his house.
Fear prickled her skin.Time to go.Mila jerked her arm away.“It’s fine.I’ll call when Agus arrives.It’s too early at home.”
She spotted Dewi across the square.“Dewi!”She hurried over, hearing the man swear behind her.Another ten minutes until she definitely had to leave.But somehow she had to do it without being spotted.
The girl looked up.“Miss Mila!”She wrapped her arms around Mila’s waist.“I thought you were dead.”The girl burst into tears.
Mila patted her back while searching for some sign of Damien.
She pulled the girl away.“I’m fine, Dewi.You were so brave.I need to speak to someone.You stay here with your family.”
Mila moved back over to Ibu Minar and noticed her moped was gone.Damn it.She hesitated.What if Damien had taken it?Maybe she shouldn’t point out it was missing.
Two women approached them, one who was perhaps in her mid-forties and the other in her twenties.They shared similar facial features.“Are you the person who saved Ibu?”the older one asked.
Mila nodded.
“Thank you.”The woman hugged her.“We were so worried about her.”
“I couldn’t leave her behind.”She glanced behind her.Patar stood at the edge of the square with a smirk on his face.
Mila forced a smile, her stomach in knots.She had less than ten minutes to get away.
She turned around, searching for a solution, hoping Damien would realise it was her version of the bat signal.
She spotted the little child whom she’d put on the back of her moped before the tsunami had hit.She was being rocked by a woman, perhaps her mother.Mila hurried over.“I’m pleased she is safe.”
The woman looked at her in question.
“I put her on the back of the moped with Ibu Minar.”
The woman burst into tears.“You saved my baby.”
Mila hugged them both and continued to scan the area.She glanced towards the jungle, trying to spot Damien.No luck.If she made a run for it, how far would she get?
“I couldn’t find her after the earthquake,” the woman sobbed.“My husband forced me to leave because of the tsunami.”
