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

by Julie Moffett

  “Now what?” I asked. “How do we ask her for help?”

  Basia picked up a stick. “If we want to talk to her, we should draw a picture. Pictures are a universal language.”

  It made sense, so I cleared away some brush while Basia started drawing. After drawing three figures, she looked at Sari and said, “Lexi, Basia, Finn.” She pointed to each figure as she said our names.

  When Sari seemed to understand those figures represented us, Basia drew some tall buildings and then drew a line from our stick figures to the structures. “Can you take us here? To a city or town?”

  Sari studied the drawing intently and then looked at Basia. I had no idea if she had the foggiest idea what Basia was trying to say.

  Sari took the stick and started drawing. Huts and fires appeared.

  “She’s drawing a picture of a village,” I said excitedly. “Maybe her village.” As we watched, she drew a picture of a hut that was located away from the others.

  She circled it. “Sari.”

  I looked at Basia.” Why did she draw a picture of her hut away from the others?”

  “I don’t know.”

  I took the stick and drew a male figure and a baby next to the hut, trying to figure out if she had a family. I pointed at her and then the pictures.

  Using her hand, Sari firmly wiped out the picture of the male figure and the baby. She pointed to the hut and then herself. “Sari.”

  “I think she lives there alone,” Basia said.

  Sari pointed at her birthmark and softly said a word. I didn’t understand it, but I got the meaning. She was alone.

  “I think she’s an outcast, a recluse in her own village, probably because of her birthmark,” Basia said.

  “Why would a birthmark make her an outcast?” Finn asked.

  “In some societies birthmarks are signs of evil.” Basia tapped the stick in the dirt. “They are too afraid to kill babies with such birthmarks, but they are typically abandoned by their families and kept on the outskirts of the village.”

  I studied the birthmark. “She has no friends or family?”

  “Possibly. It might also explain why she’s so good at hunting. That’s traditionally a male role in native societies. If she has to feed herself, it makes sense.

  I looked at Sari thoughtfully. “Wow. An outcast. I totally know the feeling. I might get along with her just fine.”

  “How’s that?” Basia asked.

  “Well, apparently she’s been alone most of her life and has to hunt for her own food. So do I. I just hunt a different kind of snake. Either way, we have to convince her to help us or we’re doomed.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “My vote is to start by telling her we’re starving,” Basia said. “Maybe she can get us some food.”

  “She just offered us food in the form of that snake,” Finn said. “And we turned her down.”

  “That’s because I’m not eating snake,” Basia said emphatically.

  Finn frowned at her. “You will if you’re starving.”

  “That’s extremely doubtful.”

  I held up a hand. “Look. I know we’re hungry, cranky and exhausted, but we’re still far too close to the helicopter crash. We need to put some more distance between the Chinese and us. Then we can argue about food. That’s my vote.”

  Finn nodded and after a moment, Basia reluctantly acquiesced. Pointing into the jungle, I motioned to Sari that Basia, Finn and I had to go.

  Sari considered and then motioned for us to follow her.

  We gathered up our supplies and followed her. She wound through the jungle, following barely detectable paths until I was completely disoriented. Then she pointed to a spot near the stream and sat down.

  We all stared at her. “Why did she stop here?” Finn asked, puzzled.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe she wasn’t sure if it was safe to take us to her village yet.”

  “Or maybe she’s not sure the village is safe from us,” Finn mused.

  Basia, collapsed to the ground next to Sari. “I don’t care what she’s thinking. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Do you think we’ve gone far enough?” Finn asked.

  I shrugged. “Hard to say, but it’s better than where we were.”

  “I don’t care where we are as long as we can eat.” Basia pretended to eat out of the palm of her hand.

  Sari nodded and reached into her pouch, pulling out the snake again. Basia was so startled she stumbled backwards. Sari, clearly in an attempt to help us understand what she was saying, took a bite of the snake raw and chewed on it.

  Basia gasped. “Oh, my God. Did she just eat that raw?

  I swallowed hard. “If eating raw snake is what we have to do to survive, then we do it.”

  “Are you going to eat it raw?”

  “I ate sushi once and I’m still alive to talk about it.”

  “We’ll all eat it,” Finn said firmly. “I’ve had snake before. It won’t kill us, and in this case, it may well save us.”

  Sari observed us talking among ourselves and knelt down and started digging. We watched her for a minute. Then she disappeared into the jungle coming back a few minutes later with some small pieces of dry kindling. She dropped it in the hole.

  “She’s making a fire,” Finn observed. “Can we risk it?”

  I shrugged. “We have to eat. Unless we’re all onboard eating raw snake, I say we risk it. But at some point we have to figure out how to tell her we’re being chased by a bunch of bad guys.”

  Sari pulled out a flint, and after a few strikes, she had a spark. Soon we had a little fire. Since the kindling was so dry, there was hardly any smoke.

  As we watched in fascination, Sari took a stick and meticulously cleaned it, leaving the forked tip. When she pulled out the snake from her bag, Basia gagged. Sari cut off a piece of the snake’s body with a sharp stone, stuck it on the stick and started cooking it.

  I patted Basia’s arm. “Don’t worry. It probably tastes like chicken.”

  After a few minutes, Sari brought Finn a piece of meat. She bowed her head as she offered it to him.

  He grinned. “Sorry to eat first, ladies. But when in Rome...”

  I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha. Just eat it. But I’m warning you, don’t enjoy this male-centric crap too much.”

  Finn blew on the meat and then took a bite. He closed his eyes as he chewed. “No kidding, it’s the best damn snake I ever ate.”

  “It’s only because you’re starving,” I said.

  “Don’t bloody care. I’m enjoying every bite.” He smiled broadly at Sari and she seemed pleased with his acknowledgment. She cooked another piece for him, but he declined, pointing at Basia. As instructed, Sari gave Basia the piece.

  To her credit, Basia took it and after a few minutes, ate it without complaint. Sari made one for me next and then made a piece for herself. We all, including Basia, had seconds until the snake was gone. I’d been ravenous.

  “It does taste like chicken,” I said, licking my fingers. It seemed absurd that I had once balked at sushi. I promised I’d be better at taking risks with food if I made it out of here alive.

  Basia stood and did a downward sweeping motion with her arms. Sari smiled and pressed her hand to her chest.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m saying thank you. I saw her do it to Finn when you guys weren’t paying attention. Pressing your hand splayed out on your chest means you’re welcome.”

  I tried it and Sari responded by pressing her hand to her chest just as Basia had said.

  It was getting dark by the time we finished eating. Sari and I sat by the fire while Basia and Finn crawled onto the tarp. We were all exhausted, but I felt reinvigorated by the food and
interesting company.

  Sari had the stick in her hand and she drew a male and two female figures. Then she drew a baby. She pointed to the figures. “Fwyin. Wexi. Ba-sha.”

  It occurred to me that she might think Basia and I were Finn’s wives. I was amused in spite of myself.

  “No. no. Finn is just a friend. “No Finn and Lexi. No Finn and Basia. We’re all just friends...and that made absolutely no sense to you.”

  I drew a male figure and pointed to it. “Slash. Lexi and Slash.” In a moment of inspiration, I drew a heart.

  “Swash?”

  I chuckled. “Yes. What about you?” I asked. I pointed to the female figure and then drew a line to the male. She’d said she was alone, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love someone. I, perhaps better than most, understood what that meant.

  Sari made a circle around the male figure with her finger and sighed. “Tooh.”

  “Tooh? You love someone named Tooh?”

  This time when she looked at me, tears shimmered in her eyes. Oh, jeez. Not again. My first instinct was to bolt, but that’s what had most likely happened to her all of her life. I bet she’d never had a girlfriend to talk to. Although I was not an expert on girl talk by any stretch of the imagination, I had the feeling that was exactly what she needed.

  Sucking it up, I handed her the stick and motioned she should draw some more. “I don’t know how long it will take and I don’t know how much I’ll understand, Sari, but go ahead. Tell me about Tooh. I’m willing to listen.”

  She took the stick and smiled. Somehow, even with the language barrier, I’d made a friend.

  Chapter Forty

  I awoke to the sound of a helicopter. I bolted upright on the tarp and saw Sari kneeling next to me, her eyes worried. She motioned for me to hurry.

  Finn and Basia woke, too, and looked up. We couldn’t see anything through the canopy of the trees, but it was close.

  “We’ve got to move,” I said to them.

  Without questioning me further, they quickly began gathering our supplies.

  “Does she know about the Chinese?” Finn asked, sliding the bag over his shoulder.

  “I tried my best to explain it. I’m not sure she understands exactly, but I think she got the gist of the idea. Bad people are following us.”

  Basia was struggling to get her pack on, so I snatched it from her and stuffed it in my bag.

  “We follow Sari,” I ordered. “Now.”

  “Are you sure we can trust her?” Finn asked.

  “I don’t think we have a choice. Let’s go.”

  Sari slipped into the jungle and I followed first. I tried to step everywhere she stepped. How she managed to move so quickly in bare feet with all the rocks, sticks and snakes mystified me, but I did my best to keep up.

  Suddenly she stopped and held up a hand. I froze as Basia and Finn bumped into the back of me. After a moment, she stepped out onto a path. She motioned for us to follow.

  The helicopter was louder now. Searching I thought.

  Basia shot me a worried glance. “How do we know she won’t turn us in?”

  “We don’t. But I trust her.”

  We moved quickly down the path. It began to alarm me that Sari was leading us toward, not away, from the helicopter sound.

  Sari turned around and held up a hand, stopping us. She said something and then turned and disappeared into the jungle along an almost invisible side path.

  “Where’s she going?” Basia asked.

  “I don’t know. Let’s wait for her.”

  We waited for at least twenty minutes but Sari didn’t return. We hadn’t heard the helicopter in that period, so it looked like we had evaded their search once again. But where was Sari? I wished I knew her better.

  Basia shifted nervously on her feet. “This isn’t good.”

  “Maybe she went to get help,” I offered hopefully.

  Finn looked undecided as well. “I think it’s too dangerous to remain here any longer. What if someone comes along? We need to move.”

  “Where?” I asked. “And what if she comes back and doesn’t find us?”

  Finn waved a hand impatiently. “We should go anywhere but here, where we’re exposed. Maybe we can find a spot farther along the path where we can see who’s coming. If she comes back, we can decide if she’s bringing the good or the bad guys.”

  Finn looked back down the path the way we had come and then turned and strode ahead. Basia followed. After a last scan down the side path for Sari, I followed.

  We were walking as stealthily as we could, moving slowly so that we could get off the path if we heard anyone coming. I imagined us moving invisibly and quietly like the breeze. The reality was, to the locals we probably sounded like a freight train sounding its horn as it passed through a busy town.

  We hadn’t gone more than a few minutes down the path when a native man suddenly appeared in front of us holding a bow with a nocked arrow. He spoke to us. When it was clear we didn’t understand, he pointed the bow at Finn, motioning for us to turn around and head back down the path we’d just come.

  “Do what he says,” I advised. “We don’t want to spook him into shooting us.”

  Basia threw up her hands. “I am so over people pointing guns, rifles, arrows, knives and helicopters in my direction. The next time I travel, I’m going someplace a city girl goes on vacations, like Paris.”

  Slowly and carefully we walked back up the path. As we proceeded down it a slight movement in the trees caught my eye. To my astonishment I realized it was Sari. She pressed a finger to her lips and then disappeared again.

  Suddenly I heard a noise and Sari stepped onto the path behind our captor, aiming an arrow at his back. She spoke a quick command. There was a fast and furious exchange of words between the two of them before the guy set down his bow and arrow.

  Finn scooped up the bow and arrow and pulled the guy’s arms behind his back. “Girls, get me a couple of vines or something I can use to restrain him.”

  I yanked a couple of vines down and tested them for strength. They didn’t even budge when I pulled hard on them. I handed them over to Finn. Sari gave him her knife and he cut them to length.

  Finn tied him up and then tossed the bow and arrow in the bushes. He saw me watching and shrugged. “It’s not like I can use it. No time to figure it out.”

  Sari motioned for us to follow and we plunged into the jungle after her. It was clear that time was of the essence. I tried to move as quietly as she did, but I found myself pushing aside the heavy vegetation to move forward while she seemed to somehow slip past it. Rushing to keep up, I stumbled forward when she abruptly stopped. Finn managed to avoid crashing into me and helped hold me up by grabbing my shoulder and pulling me back against him. Basia stood next to us, trembling. I didn’t know what we were doing or why we had stopped. But since talking was out of the question, we simply stayed motionless and waited for a sign from Sari.

  I heard a sound not a minute later. Someone was crashing through the jungle. Whoever was coming our way wasn’t making any effort to move quietly. Men were talking and the static sound of a walkie-talkie floated on the air. The words were indistinct, but I could tell they weren’t speaking in English.

  Basia looked at me and mouthed, “Chinese.”

  I exchanged a worried glance with Finn. When the sound moved away from our path, Sari started moving again, motioning us to be as quiet as possible. We picked up the pace significantly. I had no idea where we were going, but Sari had kept us alive and safe so far, so there was no reason to doubt her yet.

  At some point, Sari had seemed to decide that speed was more important than stealth, so we were practically running. We unexpectedly emerged at the edge of a river. It might have been the same stream that we had followed, but it was much wider
here and appeared to be deeper, too, though it was hard to tell with the dirty water. Sari motioned to me and I followed her to some heavy brush near the water.

  My mouth fell open. “Canoes.”

  “I’ll be damned,” Finn said.

  I shook my head. “Oh, for crying out loud. Not the water again. Do I have to?”

  “You have to.” Finn was adamant. “Come on, Lexi. Let’s help Sari get them into the water.”

  The canoes were river canoes similar in style, but without the outriggers typically seen on the big Polynesian canoes for ocean racing. They looked about as stable as Windows 98 to me. But seeing how it was either get in the boat or get left behind, I helped drag the first canoe to the edge of the water. Sari held the canoe and motioned for Basia and Finn to get in.

  “Now what?” Basia said.

  “Get the oars,” I instructed.

  “There aren’t any. Just these long poles.”

  “Paddle, push or poke. Whatever works.”

  Before I could say anything else, Sari pushed them into the water with a big shove and ran back to the other canoe. I watched them head down the river with a sinking feeling.

  I was running back to help Sari when I saw Basia had lost her pack again in the scramble. I snatched it and stuffed in in my bag, zipping it shut. Quickly, I pulled the other canoe into the water with Sari. She motioned for me to get in. After a moment of hesitation, I steeled my nerves and got into the front, grabbing a pole. Sari hopped in shortly after me and for a horrifying moment I thought the canoe would capsize. But it straightened and we headed down the water at a faster speed than I expected. Basia and Finn were not too far ahead of us. Sari began to stab the pole in the water determinedly. Although unsure of the mechanics of the effort, I tried to help her so we could catch up to the others. My help mostly consisted of spearing the water, flailing with the pole and nearly knocking Sari from the canoe.

  After just a few minutes, my arms ached with the effort. It seemed clear I needed to include canoeing in my Pilates program. We were abreast of the other canoe when I heard yelling behind me. I peered over my shoulder and saw four men dressed in black about one hundred yards up the river. They were shouting at us.