soon, in a month at the latest. They’ve killed most or all of the people here already. But…’ He squints up at the sun. It stands clear and bright in a blue sky, yet he doesn’t seem to see it. His mind is racing. ‘Why would they want to…’ He takes a step back, his hand shielding his eyes. ‘This is not good.’
‘I know,’ I say, nodding towards the sun and the shadows cast sharply onto the white ground before our feet. Our own shadows would give us away in no time.
Runner’s jaws are working, his eyes taking in all details of our surroundings.
‘That cloud might give us two minutes to rappel.’ I point my chin to the largest of the few white blobs in the sky. ‘Tell me what you are thinking.’
‘It seems… There are indications…’ He exhales and looks at me. ‘I’m not sure. I have to think about it more. But it seems as if the BSA is setting up headquarters here, if one can call it that. If they ever… I’ll explain in a bit. Now, let me think.’
‘Okay. I’ll find a way to get us out of here within two minutes.’
We watch the cloud drifting closer to the sun. My mind is full of the rappelling procedure: undo the line, re-tie it so we can take it with us once we are on the ground, clip both clips to the line, set both to rappel mode, grab and jump.
‘Thirty seconds,’ I tell Runner. ‘I fix the line. You make sure we don’t jump on the booby traps.’
He nods.
‘Ten seconds.’ We are standing at the very edge of the shadow — black against white. Then the contrast blurs, softens some more, and is gone entirely. ‘Move,’ I say and rush to the rope. My fingers fly over the knot and I curse myself for not having untied it when we came up here. I use my teeth and nails, but the knot doesn’t budge.
‘Let me,’ Runner hisses. His strong fingers extract the loops from each other and I begin pulling in the line while he keeps an eye on the cloud.
‘Less than a minute,’ he says while I re-tie the line.
‘Go!’ I slap his shoulders, and he fastens his clips to the line and jumps from view. I grab my clips and position myself at the roof’s edge. My knees clack against each other. I turn to face the wall and push myself off, then drop. My hasty and incorrect grip on the clips becomes evident instantly. The friction of the line sears my palms, biting my skin until I think I can’t take it any longer. Then my feet hit the ground and Runner’s hands grab the line, yank at one end, and pull the length of it down to the ground.
I can see the light rushing in from the jungle. The cloud is moving away from the sun. Our leaf-hats are far out of reach and we are two extremely white humans on a lush green surface.
‘Run!’ he growls and my legs obey while my mind is still in line-wrapping mode. Runner is right behind me. The rustling tells me that he’s dragging the length of line behind him.
We race to the forest’s edge and press against a thick tree, breathing heavily. Runner pulls in the rope. There’s a satisfied grin on his face.
My feet hit the forest floor. Cypress needles poke my soles. High above us, tied to the very top of the tree, the amplifier swings in the wind, its antennae tucked into a thick cloud cover that now begins to spit down on us. Even in clear weather, you wouldn’t be able to see the small amplifier if you weren’t looking for it. This part of our mission went well; I only wish the weather had changed before we started climbing the observatory walls.
‘Four earbuds left. Until we are off the island, or until Kat tells us she’s picked up the signal, one of us will always wear one of these,’ Runner says and sticks the button into his ear. ‘We’ll switch every four to six hours.’
Once Kat receives the signals from the observatory, she should hear us, too. I don’t like her eavesdropping. ‘The clay’s itching. I want to get rid of it,’ I tell Runner.
He nods and we head back to our camp, then onwards to the
‘I know,’ I say, nodding towards the sun and the shadows cast sharply onto the white ground before our feet. Our own shadows would give us away in no time.
Runner’s jaws are working, his eyes taking in all details of our surroundings.
‘That cloud might give us two minutes to rappel.’ I point my chin to the largest of the few white blobs in the sky. ‘Tell me what you are thinking.’
‘It seems… There are indications…’ He exhales and looks at me. ‘I’m not sure. I have to think about it more. But it seems as if the BSA is setting up headquarters here, if one can call it that. If they ever… I’ll explain in a bit. Now, let me think.’
‘Okay. I’ll find a way to get us out of here within two minutes.’
We watch the cloud drifting closer to the sun. My mind is full of the rappelling procedure: undo the line, re-tie it so we can take it with us once we are on the ground, clip both clips to the line, set both to rappel mode, grab and jump.
‘Thirty seconds,’ I tell Runner. ‘I fix the line. You make sure we don’t jump on the booby traps.’
He nods.
‘Ten seconds.’ We are standing at the very edge of the shadow — black against white. Then the contrast blurs, softens some more, and is gone entirely. ‘Move,’ I say and rush to the rope. My fingers fly over the knot and I curse myself for not having untied it when we came up here. I use my teeth and nails, but the knot doesn’t budge.
‘Let me,’ Runner hisses. His strong fingers extract the loops from each other and I begin pulling in the line while he keeps an eye on the cloud.
‘Less than a minute,’ he says while I re-tie the line.
‘Go!’ I slap his shoulders, and he fastens his clips to the line and jumps from view. I grab my clips and position myself at the roof’s edge. My knees clack against each other. I turn to face the wall and push myself off, then drop. My hasty and incorrect grip on the clips becomes evident instantly. The friction of the line sears my palms, biting my skin until I think I can’t take it any longer. Then my feet hit the ground and Runner’s hands grab the line, yank at one end, and pull the length of it down to the ground.
I can see the light rushing in from the jungle. The cloud is moving away from the sun. Our leaf-hats are far out of reach and we are two extremely white humans on a lush green surface.
‘Run!’ he growls and my legs obey while my mind is still in line-wrapping mode. Runner is right behind me. The rustling tells me that he’s dragging the length of line behind him.
We race to the forest’s edge and press against a thick tree, breathing heavily. Runner pulls in the rope. There’s a satisfied grin on his face.
My feet hit the forest floor. Cypress needles poke my soles. High above us, tied to the very top of the tree, the amplifier swings in the wind, its antennae tucked into a thick cloud cover that now begins to spit down on us. Even in clear weather, you wouldn’t be able to see the small amplifier if you weren’t looking for it. This part of our mission went well; I only wish the weather had changed before we started climbing the observatory walls.
‘Four earbuds left. Until we are off the island, or until Kat tells us she’s picked up the signal, one of us will always wear one of these,’ Runner says and sticks the button into his ear. ‘We’ll switch every four to six hours.’
Once Kat receives the signals from the observatory, she should hear us, too. I don’t like her eavesdropping. ‘The clay’s itching. I want to get rid of it,’ I tell Runner.
He nods and we head back to our camp, then onwards to the
Similar Books
