Devil's Island Read online

  Dahl gave him the finger. “But this is quicker.”

  They made their way to the edge of the river, conscious that the slopes led back to the Scavenger site and overlooked their position. Wild, rushing water crashed past to the left, smoothing away the banks and taking debris with it. Branches, bits of rotten wood, and even a tree trunk flowed along its undulating middle.

  “According to the map, that river leads away from Scavenger territory and past the base of the mountain,” Dallas said. “If we follow it . . .”

  Molokai and Kenzie were studying something in the distance. “You said we were in a hurry,” the Israeli said. “There’s your answer.”

  Drake squinted. Four black shapes, alien to the landscape, were just visible near the banks of the river. When he realized what they were he nodded. “Four dinghies,” he said. “Stacked high.”

  Hayden was already walking toward them. The rest followed, studying every inch of landscape. They made it without incident. As they approached, Drake saw they were military issue Zodiacs, the best the Army used. Alicia and Kinimaka stepped forward, untying ropes and heaving the boats to the ground.

  “That’s enough,” Hayden said when two had been untied. “Let’s get them onto the river.”

  Drake watched their backs, using the rifle’s sights to check faraway hills and his eyes to check the nearer ones. A hot mid-morning breeze sent beads of sweat popping along his forehead. The soil here was loamy, soft underfoot. The rushing waters of the river overwhelmed everything, dulling the senses. Dahl was at his side, checking the other bank, watching the trees that lined its route over there.

  “We have a problem,” Drake said.

  “Yep, looks like there was a guard watching the Zodiacs.” Dahl looked over. “Or they were left as a deliberate trap.”

  Kinimaka jumped into the river, trying to hold fast as the water tore at his legs. Molokai waded in alongside him. Together, they dragged two boats into the river as Alicia and Kenzie pushed. When they gained some momentum, the women jumped in.

  “Hurry!”

  Drake saw the Scavengers coming. Bare chested and screaming, they surged down one slope and then over the top of the next hill. All carried automatic weapons as well as axes. Two carried human heads that dripped blood. Together, he and Dahl opened fire. Their bullets passed among the running men without any acknowledgement.

  Kenzie and Dallas jumped into a boat with Alicia. Hayden, Kinimaka and Molokai took the second. Dahl turned and ran to Hayden’s, whilst Drake leapt to the right of Alicia’s gun.

  “Jump!” The dinghy was drifting, starting to gain momentum.

  Drake grabbed hold of the webbing that covered the boat’s exterior and hauled his body up. Cold water made him gasp. Dallas helped pull him inside. Alicia’s shots were loud in his right ear.

  “You tag any yet?”

  “Nah. Too much movement.”

  It wasn’t just the chaotic pace of their enemy, it was now also the bobbing boat that affected her aim. As it drifted more to the center of the river the boat picked up speed. Drake used a paddle to push off an overhanging tree. The Scavengers were nearing the shore but threw themselves to the ground as the whole SPEAR team opened fire.

  Bullets slammed into the earth and the grassy banks, even into the mud at the sides of the river. Men rolled for cover, some firing back. The men carrying the severed heads hung on to them despite the danger.

  Drake turned his attention ahead. The river had whipped them into a headlong rush. The center was fast, an unstoppable current. To his right, Alicia shouted that the Scavengers were untying the other boats.

  “Crap,” Hayden said. “We can do without that.”

  “You reckon?” Alicia tried to sight in on an enemy, but the momentum of the boat made her body shift to the right. She rolled right into Kenzie.

  “Are you kidding, Myles? Here? Now?”

  “You really think you’re my type, bitch?”

  Dahl, from the other boat, shouted: “What? Crazy, deranged, disorganized and daft as a brush? Yeah, that’s you.”

  “Hey!” Drake shouted. “I’m not deranged.”

  Alicia rolled away from Kenzie. “Yeah, Dahl, talk about hitting several people with one shot.”

  Dahl bowed. “I know, but I really am that good.”

  Kenzie glared over at the Swede. Drake stared at the Scavengers. Already, they’d dragged their boats into the water and were climbing in. He counted six men per boat. It would slow them down, but not enough.

  “Dallas,” he said. “Watch where we’re going. Everyone else, fancy some target practice?”

  They lay across the back of the boat, taking aim. To the right and twenty feet behind, the second boat skimmed the surging waters. White froth flew between them. Spray dampened them. Drake heard Dallas start the boat and felt the steering take hold. Hayden did the same.

  “Y’know something,” Drake heard Dallas say to Kenzie. “When I queued up to join your mercenary team I knew your reputation. I knew there’d be wild times. But never in my craziest dreams could I have imagined everything that’s happened.”

  “Hey,” Kenzie leaned over. “What can I say? I give good . . . um, value.”

  Alicia cackled. Drake fired a quick burst, worrying now what might happen if Alicia and Kenzie ever became friends. His attention was thankfully diverted when the Scavengers returned fire.

  Bullets flew between the boats. Most flew past, but Drake heard several smash into the Zodiac’s hull. The river started to turn, a long sweeping bend, which upset everyone’s aim once more. Drake guessed they were only a hundred feet ahead of their pursuers, which meant one mistake would bring them alongside.

  On a brighter note, they were now rushing across the island at great speed.

  The Zodiacs navigated the wide, rushing flow, engines roaring, taking the broad bend at a pace that raised the right bottom lips of their boats. Men lay on their stomachs inside, raising their heads occasionally to take potshots or use their weapons on full auto, raking the splashing waters, the tree-lined banks and the rolling hills beyond. Drake tried targeting an enemy, but it was no use. The chase was too frantic.

  Dallas yelled, “That’s not good, hang on!”

  Drake cringed, unable to see and not knowing what to expect. The nose of the Zodiac dipped and then the entire craft shot down. Foaming water appeared at both sides. They skidded left and right, and he understood.

  They had hit a rough section of river rapids. Fountains of spray splashed over them, soaking his hair and face. He wiped his eyes dry pointlessly as the boat skimmed over several rocks to the right and fell again, soaking the entire boat as it plummeted down into crashing waves. Dahl’s boat came after, turning dangerously, but glanced off their bows. Dallas lurched to the side but held on as everyone slammed into each other. Dallas opened the throttle.

  The boat surged ahead, away from the set of rapids and a surging whirlpool of water, but straight into another. Drake saw the Scavengers coming down the rapids now, much more calmly, still firing their weapons.

  Of course, they’d know about the rapids and used them to close the gap.

  There was no time to think. They hit the second set of rapids and this one was much more severe. The Zodiac tipped to the right. Dallas would have fallen out, dashed against the underwater rocks if Kenzie hadn’t snagged his jacket with her arm and pulled him back. Even then, she cried out with the pain of a pulled muscle. Dallas fell over her. The boat slammed down onto its base. It was pulled sideways until its stern faced forward and then, suddenly, fell through thin air.

  Alicia cried out in shock. Drake grabbed some webbing and hung on, yelling, reminded of years of rollercoaster rides. The free-fall seemed to last forever, but it was only seconds. They hit water hard, spinning again. Dallas scrambled up to the front. Drake received knocks to the head and the ribs, but was able to raise his head just in time to see Dahl’s boat fall down the short drop.

  Part of him wanted to see the Swede hanging on
for his life, face tight with fear, screaming his throat raw. What he got was Dahl calmly firing at their pursuers and ignoring the drop.

  Drake shook his head. “Show off thinks he’s in a bloody movie.”

  Dahl’s boat hit the bottom of the steep drop. Both Scavengers’ boats slid over just seconds later. Drake aimed, seeing an opportunity. As both boats dropped, its occupants slid into clearer view. Alicia fired at his side. Together they shot two Scavengers and saw them reel back in pain and shock. Blood splashed the inside of their Zodiac. By the time they hit the bottom they were flopping, falling about. Within seconds their comrades had unceremoniously dumped their bodies over the side.

  More shots were exchanged. It took Dallas a little while but soon he coaxed the Zodiac away from the rocks and was directing her back out into the middle of the river. They gained speed.

  Dahl’s craft followed, still commanded by Hayden with Molokai, Dahl and Kinimaka taking shots at the enemy. Drake watched, anxious until they attained some momentum again. The Scavengers drifted close to them but weren’t firing.

  Instead, they were climbing onto the rim of their boat, ready to pounce. They had axes and knives in their hands.

  Drake opened fire, wounding one man, but it wasn’t enough. Hayden opened the throttle fully, sending her Zodiac lurching forward. Dahl was thrown out into the water and onto the nearest bank, slamming his head against the ground. The Scavengers leapt into Hayden’s boat. Molokai and Kinimaka rose to meet them.

  “Stop!” Drake cried. “Turn around.”

  But Dallas struggled. He could cut the engine, possibly turn the boat, but he couldn’t fight the flow of the surging river. The current grabbed them. Drake saw the second Scavenger boat slam into Hayden’s craft, its occupants already jumping across to join the fight. He made ready to dive overboard.

  “Don’t.” Kenzie laid a hand on his arm. “You’ll be swept downstream.”

  It was true, but what the hell else could he do? There were ten Scavengers against Hayden, Kinimaka and Molokai. He saw men hurled into the air, into the river and against submerged rocks. He saw more tossed overboard.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  The Scavengers had the numbers. They had guns too, which they trained on Hayden and then on the others. It didn’t work at first.

  Molokai launched his bulk at the enemy, sending five overboard, but the others battered him with their guns and knife-hilts, keeping him down. Those in the water raised weapons and fired. Hayden ducked. Kinimaka took a shot to the vest, which sent him to his knees. The enemy piled on.

  Hayden moved to help but fell as a man rolled into her. More Scavengers climbed into their boat, rocking it dangerously. Dahl, upstream a little, still hadn’t moved. Dallas fought the river’s momentum, finally managing to point their craft at the bank. It still bounced downstream with the river but edged sideways.

  Drake kept up constant fire, unable to hit bodies at this distance. He saw Kinimaka rising up, bloodied, fighting hard, but then three men jumped onto his back. Molokai had a similar problem, with four men hanging onto him.

  Behind, easily visible because of the plumb-straight river, they saw Hayden, Kinimaka and Molokai dragged at gunpoint across the rapids and into the trees that covered the eastern bank. The one that led back to their camp. Knives were aimed at their faces. The Scavengers’ Zodiacs were abandoned, as were their dead. It took less than forty seconds for the enemy to escape with Drake’s friends. It was several more minutes before Dallas managed to land them on the closest, western, bank.

  No one spoke as they left the Zodiac behind and returned to the rapids.

  They were in a hurry to find Mai, but leaving their friends in Scavenger hands wasn’t an option.

  They raced to Dahl and patted his face, shouting at the big Swede, trying to wake him up. Drake saw a bruise at his right temple. Finally, as the minutes stretched by, he allowed himself to drag the unconscious man to the river and dunk his head underwater.

  Dahl woke spluttering.

  Drake kept a straight face. “Nice nap?”

  “What happened?”

  “Get up. We’ll explain as we walk.”

  They picked up the pace.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Mai waited for Luther to adjust another trap before moving on. This was the fourth in as many minutes and every time they stopped it cost them time. Luther had managed to rejig just one. They had also been forced to cross another gap, this one only three feet in width. An easy jump, but the way Dino and Karin did it showed they were flagging.

  Mai asked Luther to wait behind at the entrance to a small cave to determine how far behind their pursuers were, and pressed on. Ten minutes later, Luther returned. The news wasn’t good.

  “Eight minutes max,” he said.

  Mai waited until everyone took on water, and ate chocolate and energy bars. It wasn’t lasting nutrition, but it was all they had. They rested for less than a minute. More traps presented themselves ahead—all basic, makeshift snares and tricks designed to maim or break bones. Mai narrowly missed stepping in an ankle loop, which would have pulled her up and dashed her against the side of the tunnel. Luther noticed a jumble of rocks that covered a primed grenade. He wasted no time rescuing the grenade from its rocky nest and clipping it to his belt.

  Ahead, Mai saw the biggest problem yet.

  “Help me,” she said and sprang forward. They’d encountered a rockslide just around a sharp corner where the passage widened a few feet. Large boulders blocked the way forward.

  “This isn’t random,” Dino said as he rolled stone after stone to the side.

  Mai agreed and again asked Luther to watch their backs. She worked fast, handing each rock off to Karin, but soon Luther was back.

  “They’re coming,” he whispered. “Just behind me.”

  Mai didn’t hesitate, just spun away from the rock she was working on, pulled out her knife and stalked to the blind corner.

  “Keep working,” she hissed when Karin and Dino turned to her. “It’s our only way out of here.”

  The enemy came. She confronted them at the narrowest point. When the first man darted into sight, she grabbed his wrist and forced his gun barrel upward. He fired reflexively. Bullets strafed the roof. Mai leaned in and rammed the knife into his chest, cursing when it hit a stab vest. The man reeled, grunting in pain. She slipped through a small gap, now behind him, using the semi-dark to her advantage. Now she faced another man who looked shocked to see her face. She slashed his bicep and kicked out at his rifle, sending it clattering to the floor.

  Quickly then, she stabbed the first where his vest didn’t reach.

  It was intense, close-quarter battle. The passage was only wide enough to accommodate one and a half people. The man whose bicep she’d slashed turned, fists smashing down at her. She ducked under, let him hit the rock wall, came up and flicked her blade at another merc. Blood splashed across his face. She could see Valance three rows distant, and behind him, the four civilians.

  Maybe if she could take the trophy hunters out, the mercs might realize they had nothing to fight for and leave.

  The man at her back tried to encircle her throat with a tattooed arm. She spun lightly and broke it, forcing him into his own men. Upsetting the entire group’s balance, she found some space, ran and kicked out with both feet, breaking one man’s ribs and sending two others tumbling.

  Then, Luther was close. “My turn,” he breathed. “You can’t do it all.”

  She nodded and spun away. Luther charged into battle, giving their enemy a new challenge. Far from the deft, precise killing machine that was Mai Kitano, they now faced the blunt, old-fashioned warrior. Luther hit them like a landslide.

  Mai ran back to Karin and Dino. They glanced once at the blood spattered across her face and chest and nodded.

  “Good work.”

  The rock pile had thinned nicely during the minute or so she’d been fighting. A three-foot gap was evident. Mai got to work, helping and res
ting at the same time. When she’d ticked another minute off in her head she returned to Luther.

  “Shout out when you’re done,” she told Karin.

  Luther was in the thick of it. A man lay crushed against the left rock wall, another was being trampled underfoot. Luther lifted a third by the collar of his jacket and threw him back amongst his comrades.

  “I’ll take over,” Mai said.

  They fought in hard, brutal silence, first Mai and then Luther, as Karin and Dino cleared the way. It was bloody and mean. It was sheer hell. The claustrophobic nearness of it all. The surrounding rock below and above as well as to the side. The dancing, flame-lit shadows. The bodies at their feet hampered all movement. Mai figured there were ten mercs left alive, plus Valance. Several others were bruised or carrying injuries including broken bones. If they survived this battle Mai knew they’d vastly improved their chances of leaving the cave network alive.

  Twice, Mai tried to reach down and collect a gun. Both times the risk wasn’t worth it, as she took major blows and almost passed out. After that, she concentrated on debilitating her enemy, keeping hold of the knife, and listening out for Karin’s shout.

  Finally, it came. Luther was at her side a second later. This would be the toughest part.

  “Time to get the hell outta here,” he said.

  She focused on keeping their enemy at bay, making sure they couldn’t fire shots in the enclosed space. “Plan?”

  “Yeah, we definitely need one.”

  Then Valance shouted from further down the tunnel: “You think you won? Think again. You have no idea what’s up ahead.”

  Mai ignored him, still struggling.

  “I almost hope you escape the caves,” Valance sneered. “To see what awaits on the mountain.”

  Luther attacked, smashing into the lead merc and sending him flying back among his colleagues. Mai skipped to the side as he passed by, then turned and ran. The gap had been widened to about five feet ahead. Dino and Karin were already through.

  “Ready?” she cried.

  “We got it.”