Damn.He pushed the boat deeper, so it blended with the rest of the debris and crouched down.
A luxury cruiser motored around the point coming from the main village.He spotted a man on board who he would almost guarantee was Agus.
Going to pick up Mila.
He kept low in the water until the boat passed the bay and then moved fast, dragging the boat up the shore and pulling the bung from it to drain the water.While it drained, he moved debris around the boat to hide it.It was far too heavy for him to pull it up the crowded beach.He tucked the bung in his pocket and ran into the jungle, heading for the other bay.
Thankfully only a couple of hundred metres separated them and as he reached the other side he spotted the luxury cruiser anchored, while a tender made its way to the shore.Mila still sat on the trunk.
Dobby took his bearings to figure out where he’d left her.His backpack would have to be close along with his rifle.Cautiously he moved through the edge of the forest until he noticed broken branches.
He spotted a compressed area and grinned, shifting away the leaves to expose his equipment.
The inflatable reached the shore.There were only three men; the captain, Agus’s man, and the younger man.He could shoot them all, but the Indonesian military might have left people on the ground here and he didn’t want to enter a firefight.
It was unclear what Agus would do to Mila.He might be satisfied with money which he wouldn’t get if Mila was dead.
But would he punish her for running or for what her mother had done all those years ago?
Dobby kept his gun trained on them as she limped down to the water.If she could put weight on her ankle, it wasn’t broken, but it would make escape more difficult.
He shifted his pack on his back as the tender made its way back to the luxury cruiser.
His muscles tightened when Mila boarded the cruiser and the man on board greeted her.They moved below deck.
Dobby waited only long enough to make sure the cruiser was heading back towards the main village before he returned to the bay where he’d left the zod.
He replaced the bung now the water was well drained but didn’t remove the camouflage yet.
As the cruiser moved into view, he crouched down behind the boat and pulled out his scope.One man on the bow giving directions through the debris, one at the helm, and another two at the back of the boat.No sign of Mila or Agus.
His options depended on where they took Mila.They could keep her on the boat, or take her back to Agus’s place.
With no team to back him up, he had to rely on stealth tactics.
But one advantage was the debris forced the cruiser to crawl through the water.When it went around the point, Dobby risked testing one engine.It coughed on his first attempt, but purred to life on the second one.
He grinned, revving it lightly and then pushed the zod off the shore.He wanted to get as close to the main village as possible.He motored slowly across the bay, still keeping low against the pontoons.
More search boats would be coming into the area and he couldn’t be spotted.As he reached the point, Agus’s cruiser was heading past the next bay.He waited until it was gone and then moved around the point.He recognised the rock formations.This was the bay they’d landed in less than twelve hours ago.
Batara was the next bay around.He’d have to go by foot to avoid being seen.
He drove onto the shore avoiding the sharper looking rubbish and tied the zod to a large trunk.
He could only hope the villagers had enough to do in Batara and wouldn’t start searching the other beaches for things they could salvage.
He covered the zod and then headed towards Batara.
To rescue Mila.
Chapter 12
Mila’s ankle was definitely sprained.It hurt when she stepped, but at least she didn’t need to lean on anyone to walk.She gratefully sank onto a large tree trunk on the shore to wait, with Ali and the young man standing guard.Not that they needed to.She wouldn’t be able to run from them now.
“Where is the soldier?”Ali demanded.
Mila sighed.He’d asked her the question multiple times on the walk here.“I told you.He escaped in the helicopter.”
