No Room for Error: A Lexi Carmichael Mystery, Book Seven

by Julie Moffett

  Exhausted, we slipped into the trees and hoped the cover and approaching darkness would provide sanctuary.

  Over the ridge and out of sight, we could hear the helicopter approaching. I kept my voice even. “It’s just checking the entire length of the road in the immediate vicinity of the crash. Stay calm.”

  We pressed farther back into the trees so that we could barely see the road at the top of the hill. I sincerely doubted anyone on the helicopter could have seen us from their vantage, but better safe than sorry. I still felt chills as the copter crested the ridge and passed directly over us. Suddenly it turned and came back to our direction. To my horror, I heard the whine of the rotors slowing.

  Damn! I wondered for a fleeting second if they had somehow spotted us. “It’s landing.”

  “Bloody hell.” Finn gripped the axe. “Better be ready.”

  I put a hand on his arm. “Wait.”

  We watched as the helicopter passed over us, then began its decent. It landed on the road less than a hundred yards from our hiding place at the top of the ridge. Two figures dressed in black holding automatic weapons jumped out of the helicopter. Basia stiffened beside me, but to my enormous relief they turned away from us, walking deliberately up and over the ridge, heading down the road toward the crash.

  As soon as they disappeared from sight, I let out a sigh of relief. “Those don’t look like the good guys.”

  “Agreed,” Finn said.

  “We barely made it outside their perimeter,” I observed. “They’re setting a bigger search area than I expected and aren’t taking any chances. But fortunately for us, that means it will take them a lot longer to confirm we aren’t there. So we have more time to escape.”

  “The real question is escape to where?” Finn got a bottle of water out of the sports bag, drank, then passed it to Basia and me.

  We all took big swallows, preparing ourselves for what came next. Until now, our path had been relatively easy and on a road. Now we were headed into the trees on the slopes of the mountain, down toward lowlands teeming with thick jungle. It was clear from the lay of the land and the rain that the centers of each valley would contain streams that would head downhill, hopefully toward civilization. We just needed to follow one, while avoiding well-armed men who were hunting us, and the swarms of insects who wanted to eat us.

  I started to calculate our chance for success and then stopped. For once I didn’t want to know.

  Finn stood first and whispered quietly, although the sounds of the birds and the insects had picked up as twilight approached, masking most sounds. “First priority is to find a place away from the road to make camp for the night before it gets dark. They’re going to be busy checking the crash site and immediate area for the next little bit. I presume they’ll stay there for the night. But everyone will be on the move in the morning.”

  I nodded. I understood his wisdom, but the thought of sleeping in the open with wild animals, snakes and hordes of insects held absolutely no appeal. Basia’s eyes widened and I knew she was more worried about it than I was. But it wasn’t like we had a choice.

  I stood and held out a hand to help Basia up. “Finn’s right. Let’s see if we can find a four-star resort. I’m even willing to sleep three in a queen bed, if necessary.”

  Basia rolled her eyes. “Ha ha.”

  We walked downhill, away from the road and the ridgeline, but the going was rough in the growing gloom. Going farther would be dangerous and we were all way past our limits.

  “Let’s stop there,” I said pointing between two trees. “We need to take inventory and plan for the night.”

  Basia found a soft spot and sank to the ground. “Thank God.”

  Finn was already opening his bag. “I’ll spread the tarp out. Due to the altitude it will get colder here than we might expect. We’ll need to huddle together tonight in order to conserve energy and heat. We’ll share the blankets.

  As soon as he mentioned the cooler temperature Basia’s teeth started to chatter.

  I nodded. “Let’s eat some crackers and drink a bit more water before taking another round of painkillers. The food will help cushion our stomachs from the medicine. Hopefully the meds will get us through most of the night.”

  After Finn spread out the tarp, I emptied all of our supplies on it and sorted them out.

  “What are you doing?” Basia asked me.

  “Dividing our supplies based upon the Rule of Three.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The Rule of Three says you can live three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food.”

  “No way. There is no way I could live without food for three weeks.”

  “Fine, we’ll make it two weeks for you, Basia.”

  I resumed surveying our supplies. “Alright, team, my best estimate is that we have two days of food and water.”

  “Two days?” Basia repeated. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  Finn tossed me a water bottle and the acetaminophen. “Actually, make it a day and a half. We have to drink, eat and take some medicine now so we can make it through the night.”

  “Okay. So revised. Our limit is really going to be water. We can drink some of the juices as replacements, but once we run out of our supplies, we are going to need to drink stream water to survive. But we want to put off the risks of that as long as possible until we have no choice.”

  After we had eaten and taken our painkillers, we lay on the tarp, huddled beneath the blankets, staring up at the twilight sky. The buzz of mosquitoes and other insects was a constant in our face and ears. It surprised me that I was getting used to it. Clearly, I was not in my right mind.

  “Shouldn’t one of us stay awake to stand guard?” Basia asked.

  “No,” Finn said. “Our only weapon is the axe and we are so exhausted, we couldn’t fight them off even if we wanted to. The odds of them coming across us tonight is remote. They’re hunkering down at the crash site.”

  “I agree,” I said. “Better for all of us to just get some sleep and regain our strength.”

  We fell silent for a while before Finn sighed. “You know, it’s been a bloody dream of mine to sleep between two amazing women under the stars of the great outdoors, but honestly, this wasn’t quite the way I pictured it.”

  Basia snorted. “Leave it to a guy to think about sex after surviving a plane crash and being chased through the jungle by Chinese hit men.”

  He chuckled. “If you’ve got a bloody better topic—I’m all ears.”

  I threaded my hands behind my neck. “Well, since we are on the topic...Finn, I checked out your buns.”

  “Likewise.”

  I could feel myself blushing. “No, I mean seriously. I did it after the plane crash. That’s what I was doing when you came to.”

  “I can’t see how it would have been too difficult seeing as how my pants were split open all the way to the crotch.”

  “That’s the thing. They weren’t split. I cut your pants to the crotch. Deliberately.”

  It was quiet for a moment and then he spoke. “Okay. This conversation is moving in an increasingly interesting direction.”

  “Well, when you woke up for a brief moment after the crash, I thought you said ‘check my buns’ not ‘get the gun.’ I didn’t want to roll you over in case you had hurt your back, so, I cut your pant leg to the crotch checking for an injury. The pants were collateral damage. I never did find Wendy’s gun.”

  It was silent and then Finn laughed. He stopped, caught his breath and then laughed some more. I thought he might choke he started laughing so hard.

  Basia started laughing, too, and after a moment I joined in. Now that I thought about it, it seemed pretty absurd. I laughed so hard I had to wipe my eyes. Exhaustion had made us
silly.

  “I’m really sorry about the pants, Finn. I’ll buy you a new pair when we get home.”

  “That story is worth a hundred pairs of pants. Forget it. I feel better already. Besides, it will make a good story to tell my grandkids someday.”

  Thinking about grandkids made me think of my parents. I wondered if they’d been informed that our plane was missing. Holy cow, I’d never hear the end of it from my mother or father if we ever got out of here alive. Thinking of my mom made me think of Slash. He’d know by now we were missing. He’d be marshaling resources, arranging security and God knew what else. If only he or ComQuest’s security could pinpoint us from the GPS locator on the briefcase before the bad guys, we had a fighting chance.

  It suddenly occurred to me that as the head of ComQuest security, Oliver had also likely known about the GPS locator. If he had told the Chinese, they might be able to use it to track us, too. Guess I should have thought about that part.

  Wearily I pressed my hand to my head. We didn’t have a choice. We had to take the risk and keep the briefcase with us. Without the GPS locator, the good guys wouldn’t have a prayer of finding us.

  I touched the locket around my neck and I thought of Elvis, Xavier and their invention. They were working to better mankind with their technology, but so far it had resulted in only death and destruction. Had it been worth it?

  I considered. It would be. I understood, perhaps better than most, that technology could be a double-edged sword. You got the internet, instantaneous worldwide information communication and knowledge sharing. But you also got spam and criminal hackers. The microchip and microfluid were so revolutionary we needed the good guys to get a head start with them. That’s why our effort was so important.

  Sighing, I ran my fingertip against one of the earrings Slash had given me for Christmas. Knowing he was nearby made me feel safe, even in the middle of nowhere. So when I finally fell asleep, I dreamed of him...and the world’s biggest mosquito.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I woke with a start, completely disoriented with a pounding headache, a dull ache in my nose and a gnawing hunger in my belly. My mouth was dry, which meant I must have been breathing through it. A weird chattering filled my ears. For a moment I had no idea where I was, why there was an elbow pressing uncomfortably against my ribcage, and who was snoring softly in my ear.

  I sat up and blinked a few times to get my bearings. With the sight of the trees and Finn’s muddy face right next to mine, everything came flooding back. The crash, the Chinese and the helicopters. I looked around. It was well after dawn, but the ridge we had climbed still shadowed much of the valley. I could now see the tree trunks and bushes. Looking up, the sky was a clear blue through the leaves. The chatter got louder. Even as I watched, the light began filtering in through the trees.

  My neck was stiff. Whether that was from the crash or the night on the tarp without a pillow, I didn’t know. Finn was asleep, breathing heavily from his nose. Basia lay with her head on his chest, cradling her damaged arm in the sling against her stomach. Their faces were still caked with dry mud although most of the dirt had come off of Finn’s lower jaw, most likely due to the beard that was growing in beneath it. He looked like a zombie and I couldn’t begin to imagine what I looked like with two black eyes, a knot on my forehead and a smashed nose and cheek. I groaned. We needed to get going soon but it was warm and cozy under the blankets and I didn’t want to get up quite yet.

  “Lexi?” Basia’s voice was barely a whisper.

  I turned my head. “Yes?”

  “What’s that screeching?”

  “I don’t know. Animals, I guess.”

  “I have to go to the bathroom.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “Me, too. It’s probably time for us to get moving anyway.”

  Finn yawned. “Is it time to get up?”

  “How are you feeling?”

  He touched his head. “Like I was run over by a lorry. Or an airplane. Take your pick. How did you girls sleep? Was it as good for you as it was for me?”

  I stood up, pain thrumming through my nose. “I suspect I inhaled a few bugs. Basia, how’s your arm?”

  “It hurts pretty badly. I think we can all use some more painkillers this morning.”

  I stood and every muscle screamed in pain. “Ouch.” I rolled my neck from side to side and that hurt, too. We weren’t going to be moving with great speed and agility today.

  Basia had managed to sit up with some help from Finn. I reached out and pulled her to her feet.

  “Don’t go far to go to the bathroom,” I warned.

  She took two steps and stopped. “Lexi, our supplies. They’re gone.”

  “What?” I rushed over next to her. Our supplies had been rifled and most of the cans of juice and bottles of water were missing.

  The screeching sound got louder until seemed to come from all sides of me in surround sound.

  “What’s going on?” Basia said, covering her ears.

  I looked up, spotting a water bottle in the tree.

  “Monkeys,” I shouted. “Hey, give our stuff back.”

  A water bottle whizzed past my ear. I tried to grab it and missed. Another monkey swooped down and caught it, chattering at me as if my inability to get it was the most hilarious thing ever.

  I put my hands on my hips and frowned. “Okay, the fact that I’m the monkey in the middle is not lost on me.”

  Basia and Fin also tried to get the monkeys to return our supplies, but to no avail. After five minutes of trying to get our stuff back, we faced defeat.

  “What are we going to do?” Basia looked panicked. “This isn’t a game. We’re going to die if we don’t get that water and food.

  She was right, but I had no idea what to do. Outsmarting international hackers and criminals I could handle. Outwitting monkeys in the trees seemed beyond my capabilities at this point.

  Frustrated Basia picked up a rock and threw it at one of the monkeys. “You rotten little thief.”

  Something flew from the tree, hitting her on the back of her shoulder. A water bottle ricocheted off and rolled to my feet.

  “That’s it, Basia,” I shouted. “Throw something at them and they’ll throw back. They want to play, so let’s make it a game.”

  For the next few minutes we threw sticks, stones and whatever we could find. Projectiles were flying everywhere through the air. When it was all said and done, we’d retrieved most of our supplies and I’d tucked them safely away in our bags.

  Basia rubbed her shoulder. “That will teach them to steal from us again.” She marched off to go to the bathroom. When she came back, she opened her pack and pulled out a tube of lipstick.

  I stared at her. “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?”

  Our faces were caked with mud, so I wondered if it were a trick question. “You’re going to put on lipstick?”

  “My lips are chapped.” She smeared it on and then clicked it shut.

  Her commitment to normality reminded me of my mother saying that you should always wear clean underwear in the morning, because you never knew if you were going to be in an accident. Of course that reminded me of my mother, and that made my head hurt more.

  I helped Basia get her pack on and we started out, leaning heavily on our walking sticks. Basia was having a hard time walking in her heels, despite her protestations to the contrary.

  “Are you sure you’re going to be okay walking in those?” I asked.

  “I’m fine. Seriously.”

  “Okay, just asking.”

  We moved diagonally down across the ridge toward the stream at the bottom. In occasional breaks in the foliage, we could see a sliver of water at the valley floor. By the midday, we were panting and sweating and our knees were getting wobb
ly from the stress of continually walking on downhill slopes. The slopes were covered in scrub grass, large volcanic boulders and rock formations too steep to be climbed. In the distance, we could see the start of the jungle. We were finally leaving the mountain area and entering completely unfamiliar terrain.

  Crossing this region, we would be exposed to view from the air. We would need to travel carefully and be prepared to hide at a moment’s notice. I scanned ahead, trying to plot a path that offered the least exposure.

  “Oh, my God,” Basia said, fanning herself. “Could it get any hotter?”

  “It’s the humidity,” I said. “It’s hard to breathe the air when it’s wet.”

  Finn glanced at Basia’s shoes. “You do know it’s going to be even tougher walking from here on, especially when we get to the jungle.”

  “Bring it on.”

  Finn shrugged. “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let’s move. I don’t like being in the open.”

  We picked our way, weaving among the boulders and rocks as much as possible. Some of them had razor-sharp edges of volcanic glass and we had to be careful we didn’t trip and fall. We weren’t in a position to deal with another serious injury.

  We were nearly halfway across the boulder field when we heard a helicopter.

  “Damn it,” Finn cursed. “We aren’t going to make it. We need to hide.”

  “Where?” Basia asked, looking around.

  “Find a hole to crawl in or a big enough boulder and get under it if you can.” I pointed to some boulders. “It’s our only option. The key is to break up the outline of your body and make it hard to distinguish you from the terrain. Once you’re settled, stay there. Motion is easy to detect from the air. Now move!”

  I’d just hunkered down underneath the overhang of a big black rock when the helicopter came over the rise behinds us. I managed to refrain from peeking out and trying to see the helicopter, and instead hunched up and pressed my shoulders against the boulder. Basia was several boulders over. She had wiggled under a gap between the boulder and the ground. That had to be painful on her sore arm, but we all did what we had to.