Survival

'I do not know how to thank you,' he said in accented but perfect English. 'I thought our lives were over. Then you appeared like – like a miracle! I wonder, where did you come from?'

'That's a long story,' began Amber.

'We fell asleep in a ship's tender. It came adrift. We washed up here,' said Alex simply.

'Yeah, OK,' laughed Amber. 'Not such a long story.'

'And what are your names?' asked Philippe.

'Right,' said Amber. 'The guy on the stretcher, that's Hex.'

'Ah, the boy with the blood poisoning. He is recovering now?'

'He's doing fine,' said Alex, looking down at Hex and swatting a fly away from his face.

'That's Alex,' said Amber. 'He's our survival expert. He showed us how to build our camp.' She turned to Emilie, speaking in French. 'Wait till you see our camp, Emilie! We have beds and shelters and even running water!' The little girl nodded seriously.

'OK,' continued Amber. 'That's Li over there. She fought a komodo dragon and won. And that's Paulo. He can build or fix anything. Back at the camp, he built us a bamboo aqueduct.'

Emilie tugged at Amber's fingers. 'He is very handsome,' she whispered in French.

'What did she say?' asked Paulo.

'She said you're ugly and you smell,' said Amber.

'No she didn't,' said Paulo, smugly. He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Emilie and, for the first time, they saw her smile.

'And I'm Amber. Amber Middleton.'

'Middleton?' Philippe leaned forward, looking more closely at Amber. 'The software Middletons? I thought you looked familiar. I knew your mother and father.'

'You did? How?'

'I spend a month every year as a volunteer, working in refugee camps or in Third-World countries. Plastic surgery is not just about face-lifts, you know. I can help with burns, for instance, or injuries from land mines. A few years ago I was working in Africa. There had been another ethnic "cleansing" and I was working with children who had been scarred by machetes. That is where I met your parents.'

'They were – in Africa?'

'Yes. I admired what they did after they sold the company. They were very brave.'

'Were they?' said Amber.

'Yes. In their fight, they stood up against powerful business cartels and corrupt governments – that was brave.'

'Their fight?' said Amber, struggling to understand.

'They fought for all the little people. Exposing child labour in sweat shops, fighting for human rights. They knew they were putting themselves into danger. I was so sorry to hear of their deaths. Tell me, Amber, have they tracked down the people who did it?'

Amber's eyes grew big and a hand went up to her mouth as she stared at Philippe. 'I don't understand,' she whispered.

'Ah,' he said. 'You did not know. I am sorry.'

A rifle shot broke the silence, sending an explosion of birds winging out of the forest. Alex leapt to his feet as another shot rang out, then a third. He ran out into the open and stared down the side of the mountain towards the cove. He could just see the top of a wooden mast poking above the rainforest fringe. The pirates' ship had sailed into the cove and dropped anchor while they lazed under a tree as though they had all the time in the world.

'They're back!' he yelled, racing to pick up his rucksack. And I think they just executed your three guards. Come on! We need to move fast!'

TWENTY-SEVEN

They scrambled to their feet and set off round the shoulder of the mountain.

'Hurry,' panted Amber. 'Once we're round the other side, we'll be out of sight. We'll be safe.'

'We should have set a watch,' gasped Paulo.

'I know,' said Alex. He was getting very tired now and making basic mistakes. As he sweated and panted up the steepening slope he felt uneasy. He was sure there was something else he had forgotten – another basic mistake he had made – but his weary brain could not grasp what it was.

He was still trying to figure out what was bothering him when they came out on the southern side of the mountain and stumbled to a halt at the top of the rock outcrop. They dumped the stretcher onto the slope and rubbed their aching shoulders. Hex opened his eyes and looked around him.

'Are we still here?' he said weakly, gazing up at Alex.

Alex grinned down at Hex, forgetting the worrying niggle in the back of his mind. 'You've been further than you think,' he said. 'You've been out of it for a good few hours. We're heading back to the camp now.'

'There and back again,' said Hex, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep once more.

'Alex, cut this bunk blanket into strips,' instructed Li. 'We're going to be abseiling down and people will need protection against friction burns.'

Alex set to work with his knife, while Li pulled their two ropes from the rucksack. She worked quickly, doubling each rope and then anchoring them to the same boulder she had used earlier in the day. In a very short time, the two abseiling ropes were ready.

'Who's abseiled before?' asked Li. Paulo, Alex, Amber and Philippe all raised their hands.

'Philippe, do you feel strong enough for this?'

Philippe nodded confidently. Li studied him. He was tall with a good physique and stood with a straight back, despite the bruising. 'OK,' she decided. 'You and Paulo are going down first.' Li grabbed the two rucksacks and emptied them. 'You'll be carrying Robert and Emilie in these. Strap them on back to front, so the kids are facing you and there's nothing on your backs for the rope to get tangled in.'

Alex hurried over with the blanket strips and Paulo and Philippe wrapped them around their hands and thighs, to serve as protective padding against the friction of the rope. They strapped on the rucksacks and Emilie and Robert were loaded into them, Robert with Philippe and Emilie with Paulo.

'Look after her,' pleaded Philippe as they each grabbed a doubled rope and stepped backwards over the cliff.

Once Philippe and Paulo were down, Li and Alex rigged up a cradle and lowered Hex down on the stretcher. Amber and Beatrice went next, with Amber encouraging and advising a sobbing Beatrice every step of the way. Finally, only Li and Alex were left at the top.

'You go,' said Li. 'I'm going to untie the ropes afterwards so they can't follow us down.' She nodded over her shoulder in the direction of the cove.

'I shouldn't worry about the pirates too much,' said Alex. 'We're out of sight now. Even if they find our trail, it'll take them hours to follow it.'

'Best to be safe,' insisted Li. 'I can throw the ropes down, then free-climb. Easy-peasy.'

Alex grinned at Li, then grabbed the rope and disappeared over the edge. As soon as he reached the bottom, Li loosened the knots at the top and threw the ropes over, followed by her boots.

Alex and Paulo stuffed the ropes and boots into the rucksacks, then stood back to watch Li's descent. She moved easily, feeling for remembered hand and footholds from her earlier climb, but descending was always a slower process. She was less than a third of the way down when shouts and running footsteps came from the mountain slope above her head.

Li flinched and nearly fell. She gripped the rock with her strong fingers and flattened herself against the cliff. Alex stared up in horror as five men appeared at the top of the outcrop. How had they managed to follow so quickly? With a sickening rush, he suddenly realized what had been bothering him. He should have destroyed each of his trail-markers as he passed them. Instead, he had left every single one intact. The pirates had simply followed the arrows.

One of the men barked an order as Li continued her descent. The men unslung their rifles from their backs.