Under Vanishing Skies (24 page)

I rolled over and looked up in time to see flames and a billowing black cloud of smoke in the sky as pieces of helojumper splashed into the ocean.

Chapter 15

I felt like a hundred-pound coconut had fallen on my head. I could barely hear the screams and shouts of people over the high-pitched ringing in my ears.

I struggled to make sense of what had just happened. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and looked back out to the water. The boats that were tied up at the pier were now coming back from the area where I spotted wreckage floating on the water. How did they get underway so quickly? Maybe I had blacked out. The part of my brain that kept track of time wasn’t back online yet.

The ringing in my ears began to go away, but the pain in my head was at full throttle. I stood up, holding my arms straight out to keep my balance. When I felt like I wouldn’t fall, I dropped my arms and surveyed the scene.

A few people ran to the safety of the jungle. Most of the others had moved onto the pier, awaiting the return of the boats. Some, like me, just stood there transfixed by whole fiasco.

I still couldn’t wrap my brain around it. A helojumper had just exploded. Electric turbine engines just don't explode like that. If it twisted itself inside out and fell apart, I could understand it. Hell, I’d always expected that to happen.

The first boat reached the pier. I watched as the crew handed pieces of helojumper to the people on the pier. Suddenly a woman on the pier screamed and dropped whatever she was holding. A man came over and picked it up. I squinted and saw that it was an arm.

It was hard to make out everything that was unloaded. But occasionally, I saw things that made my skin crawl, things like an upper torso without arms, legs, or a head.

Viyaja ran to where they were unloading the boats. He started yelling at the men and women on the dock. A middle-aged woman took off running into the jungle. The others frantically  created two smaller piles from the one big pile they had started…body parts in one, everything else in the other.

A few minutes later, the woman who had taken off had returned with a bloodstained sheet. She must have borrowed it from one of the corpses up by the hut. I was sure that the corpse didn’t mind, but it seemed to really bother Viyaja. He threw the sheet into the harbor, slapped the woman, and continued screaming. He was out of control.

I don’t know why I walked over there, but I did. Others from the beach followed me. When I got within a few feet of Viyaja, I said, “Settle down. They’re doing the best they can.”

Wild eyed and visibly shaking, he turned on me and yelled, “Don’t you tell me to settle down! They killed the leader of the Maldives!”

“
What are you talking about? Nobody here killed anybody.”

“
Yes they did, yes they did. They did it!” He pointed at the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle. “One of them must have planted a bomb on the helojumper. How else do you explain what happened?”

“
Look, you’re upset and you’re not thinking straight.”

“
Don’t you tell me I am not thinking straight!” he yelled. He looked out at the crowd and asked, “Which one of you did this? Tell me!”

Everyone began to back away. I wanted to slap him. I didn’t think that it would calm him down, but it’d make me feel better. Just as I was about to try, the high-pitched whine of twin electric engines filled the air.

Everyone turned and watched an MDF patrol boat made a high-speed entrance into the harbor. I recognized the hull number. It was the same one that I saw on the satellite photo that Jin took. The engines slammed into reverse and the boat skidded sideways up to the pier.

Uniformed men with their guns drawn jumped onto the dock. I turned and saw Michio and Mohamed in the crowd. I worked my way over.

“
We’ve gotta get out of here,” I said as I reached them.

“
What is the matter, Aron?” Mohamed asked.

I pointed at the boat without looking, “That’s the boat, the one in the satellite photo.”

Michio looked at me and said, “There is no place to go. They can chase down any boat here. Besides, if we flee it will look like we are guilty.”

I looked back over my shoulder and saw an MDF officer talking with Viyaja. Two other men stood behind him.

 “
Aron,” Michio said. “If they came here to harm us, wouldn’t they have done it by now?”

“
I don’t know. I guess. But there are dozens of MDF patrol boats in the fleet. What are the odds that the one in that photo would arrive here first?”

“
Pirates!” Mohamed said. “You think they are—”

“
Shhh.” I put my hand up to Mohamed’s face. “Keep your voice down. I didn’t say they were pirates. Just give me a minute to think.”

Michio was probably right. If they were here to kill us, they would have opened up the heavy machine guns that were mounted on their boat. From this distance and with the aid of their auto targeting system, they could wipe out ninety-nine percent of the crowd in a few seconds. But I didn’t think they were here to kill everyone...just me.

I looked back and saw Viyaja pointing at me. Yup, I was right. The MDF officer nodded, called for a couple of his men, and they headed straight towards me. The two smaller guards held their rifles across their chests at the ready. The officer kept his pistol in his holster, but hand hovered next to it. He didn’t look like he needed a weapon.

The officer was as big as a sumo wrestler, only with less of a gut. At first I thought he might be Samoan, but his facial features weren’t right. 

Hanging from his wide black belt was a short, curved sword with a silver ornamental handle. It was a Khukuri. I’d seen them in India. Son of a bitch…he was a Gurkha!

I’d heard way too many stories about Gurkha exploits, how they went berserk in battle and how they could kill twenty men at a time. I’m sure some of it was overblown hype, legends, myths. But standing there in front of him, I suddenly believed every story I’d ever heard. This wasn’t going to be a fair fight. He had a Khukuri. I had a data mat.

I stepped out in front of Michio and Mohamed and faced them. My legs shook. I tried to convince myself that it was the adrenaline pouring into my bloodstream. Of course, that wouldn’t explain why I needed to piss…fear would.

They stopped in front of me. He was even bigger than I had thought. He stared down at me through his large, dark eyes.

Holding his stare as best I could, I waited for him to pull out his sword and disembowel me. But he didn’t move. The sound of Viyaja’s voice broke the trance.

“
I know that you had something to do with the helojumper. Save us all the trouble of a trial and confess.”

“
You have got to be kidding me,” I said, looking over a Viyaja, who now stood next to the Gurkha. “I was right there with you and Ahmed from the time you landed to the time that thing took off. I never stepped near it. Do you think I made a bomb out of thin air and magically put it on the helojumper?”

If I could do that, I’d have a grenade in my hand right now.

“
You may not have done it yourself,” Viyaja said, “Perhaps you had one of your friends here do it while you distracted me.”

I glared at him. Gurkha or no Gurkha, I was ready to slug that son of a bitch. I took a deep breath to calm down. “If you want to come after me for something I didn’t do…fine.” I took a step towards him and said, “But keep my friends out of this.”

The Gurkha stepped in front of Viyaja and pulled his sword out of his belt. I took two steps back.

“
So what are you going to do, Viyaja?” I asked “Huh? Have your bodyguard execute me right here in front of all these people without a trial?”

I pointed at the sword and addressed the Gurkha whose expression was still a steely mask. “Well…what are you waiting for? Go ahead, tough guy.” I’d heard that every time a Gurkha draws his sword that he must feed it with blood. I figured it was just a fairytale to scare young children. I was wrong. Young children weren’t the only ones scared by the tale.

I looked around and raised my voice so everyone who had gathered around could hear me. “When word of this gets to the captain of the Mars ship, he might have second thoughts about this being the last civilized human settlement on the planet. He might have to make his own list.”

I saw the conflict in Viyaja’s face, but it was short lived. He smiled and said, “You will get your fair trial, but it will be after the ship departs.”

Then, addressing the Gurkha he said, “Escort Mr. Atherton and his friends to Lohifushi. Stay with him…as his guest.” His smile widened and he continued. “And be sure to inform the MDF patrols that Mr. Atherton is not to step foot on Male until after the last shuttle for the Mars ship leaves. Do you understand?”

The Gurkha nodded. Viyaja turned to leave but stopped, looked back at the Gurkha and said, “Feed your Khukuri.”

The Gurkha raised his sword, the morning sun reflected off of it and blinded me. I tensed in for the blow. But I wasn’t on the sword’s menu. The Gurkha held out his other hand and sliced the palm wide open. Blood oozed from the wound onto the sand, forming small red craters.

*** 

The MDF patrol boat followed us back. I couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like we could go anywhere, not with the goddammed Gurkha onboard. Mohamed, Kamish, and I didn’t say a word on the way back. The Gurkha just stared at us. I avoided looking at him by staring out at the ocean, and soon my thoughts drifted to Shannon.

I wondered if she were alive or dead. The pain of not knowing brought back memories of the days after the storm when I had wondered the same thing about Kelly and the girls. Part of me hoped that she had died, because the thought of what those bastards would do to her if they took her was almost too much to bear.

Just before twelve o’clock, we reached Lohifushi. As we entered the harbor, I turned in my seat and faced the Gurkha. His eyes were glued to me.

“
So…what do I call you?”

Nothing. Just the stare.

“
Come on. Viyaja said that you are my guest. What kind of host would I be if I didn’t know the name of my guests?”

“
Captain Pun Narbahadur, Maldivian Defense Force,” he said.

“
Alright if I call you Pun?"

No response. Just the stare.

“
Pun it is,” I said. “So look, my place is a bit crowded. I’m sharing my hut with a kid. His name is William. So the first of the guest rules that we should talk about is that you don’t look at, talk to, or in any way upset him. His father died a few weeks back and a few days ago his mother passed away. So leave him out of this. Got it?”

Silence. But this time I saw an almost imperceptible nod. It could have been from the rocking of the boat, but I decided to take it as an agreement to the rule.

“
Good. The second rule is that you have to figure out where you will stay. There are plenty of open huts. I’ll have Helen help you find one if you’d like.”

And we’re back to staring. Great.

We pulled up along the pier and for once, William wasn’t there to meet me. I felt relief. I didn’t want to explain what was going on, not out here.

As I stepped off the boat, I felt a few raindrops on my arm. I looked up; the partly cloudy skies that had covered us during most of the trip back had turned into black rainclouds.

By the time I reached my hut, the rain was coming down in sheets. Dripping wet, I pushed open the door and turned to face Pun.

“
Sorry. As you can see, the inn is full. Give me a few minutes and I’ll send Helen a message so we can find you some place to dry off.

Water cascaded down his granite face. He looked at me and didn’t say a word.

I shrugged and closed the door.

Dropping my bag to the floor, I shook the water from my hair and clothes. If only I could shake off the feeling of doom about tonight’s raid this easily.

“
Hey, quit it!” William said. “You’re getting water all over my screen.”

I looked over to find William in his familiar position, cross-legged on the bed and huddled over his data mat.

“
So what? They’re waterproof.”

“
It makes the screen look all weird.” He wiped his data mat against his t-shirt, examined it, and repeated the process until it seemed to meet his approval. “Who’s that?” he asked.

“
He’s going to be with us for a few days.”

“
Why?”

“
It’s a long story. But in a nutshell, somebody thinks that I blew up a helojumper.”

William looked up, eyes wide. “Did you?”

“
Come on,” I said. “You know me well enough to know I wouldn’t do something like that. I don’t know what happened to that helojumper.”

He seemed to relax a little.

“
But until I can clear it up, our friend out there will hanging around.”