She squeezed water from her wet clothes and folded them small, placing them with Dobby’s shirt and then wrapping the lot in a large hand towel which she placed into her damp bag.She threw the sodden tissues out and used the comb to remove the knots from her hair and tie it back into a ponytail and then checked the drawers and cupboards for anything useful.
A brand new toothbrush and toothpaste, plus some tissues.
“You’ve got one minute,” Ali called.
“Just brushing my teeth.”She gave into the temptation and cleaned her teeth and then studied herself in the mirror.
Dark circles under her eyes and myriad cuts over her arms.Her hand went to the waterproof bandage on her arm where Axle had stitched her gash.If Agus asked about the injury, she’d say she’d got it the evening before the earthquake.
Her legs were worse than her arms from all the running through the jungle, but nothing looked red and inflamed yet.
Another bang on the door had her jumping.She exhaled and looped her bag over her head before limping over to the door and pulling it open.She smiled at Ali.“Sorry.There was a lot of dirt to scrub off.”
He held out his arm to help her walk.
“How did your family fare.Did they escape the tsunami?”
He grunted.“Most were in the mountains for a wedding.”
Mila’s eyes widened.“Are you related to Dewi?”
He nodded.
“She was pretty scared when her grandmother was stuck.”
He squeezed her arm.“Did you save them?”
“Yes.Fajar’s family and Ibu Minar needed help as well.They got away.”She needed his goodwill even if she knew he wouldn’t betray Agus.
His lips pressed together, and he pulled her into the living room where Agus waited.
“Ah, don’t you look nice now.”He gestured to a seat across from him.“Please help yourself to refreshments.”
On the coffee table was a bottle of water and fresh fruit.Mila glanced out the window to see they were coming into the bay at Batara and then lowered herself to the seat.“Thank you.”She cracked the seal on the bottled water and drank half of it.
Then she ate an already peeled rambutan.
“Tell me what happened to Vance,” Agus said.
Mila placed the seed on a plate.“He escaped in the helicopter which came to the island, the one Ali saw.”
“You were seen leaving Desa Agung with a special ops soldier.Where is he?What was he doing here?”
She closed her eyes.“They were here for Vance.They approached me in Batara after the earthquake asking where he was.I told them he was staying with you.”She shrugged.“I was too busy helping villagers to worry what kind of mess Vance had got himself into.”
“He’s a foolish man.”
Mila raised her bottle.“I’ll drink to that.”
“What happened after the tsunami hit?”Agus asked.
The strength of a good lie was to tell the truth whenever possible.“I saw the special ops men escaping in a black car just before the wave hit, but one of their men fell out of the car.He and I were swept up by the wave.”She shuddered and rubbed at her hot skin.“When the wave subsided, I found him in the jungle and his team came to pick him up.He was injured badly, and they needed my knowledge of the island.They promised to take me with them when they left.”
“It was you at the medical centre.”Each comment was calm and measured with an almost knowing edge to it.
“Yes.We took a stretcher and some meds.”
“Why not leave immediately?”
