'Run!' yelled Alex, flattening himself against the base of the cliff. 'Down the slope! Into the forest! Now!'
Beatrice dumped Robert onto the stretcher with Hex, then she and Amber grabbed the head end of the stretcher and Philippe grabbed the back. Together they raced for the cover of the trees, Emilie running along beside them. Alex stayed where he was. He was not going to leave Li now. It was his mistake which had got her into this trouble.
'I told you to run!' he yelled as Paulo slammed into the cliff base beside him.
'I am not leaving her either,' scowled Paulo.
They both covered their heads as a shower of stones rattled down the face of the cliff. Twisting their necks, they looked up. Li was halfway down now, descending with dangerous speed. Above her, the men cocked their rifles and aimed them downwards. The leader shouted again, repeating the same words three times. Li guessed he was ordering her to stop, but she kept going. The leader shouted again and the men fired.
Li brought up a hand to cover her head as bullets ricocheted from the cliff face all around her. She cried out and nearly fell as needle-sharp splinters of rock speared into her cheek.
The leader shouted again and the bullets stopped. Li forced herself away from the protection of the cliff and carried on descending, her face bleeding and her head ringing. She was only a metre or so further down when the shots rang out again. Li flattened herself against the cliff. Again, none of the bullets hit her. The angle of the cliff was too steep for the men to have a good chance of finding their target. But Li was still in great danger. Her head was reeling and she was finding it harder and harder to make her shaking toes and fingers grip the rock.
She started to descend again, then she heard the men reloading above her head. Her courage failed her and she flattened herself against the cliff. Tears flowed down her face and she felt her fingers weakening. Just as she was about to give up, she heard Paulo's voice coming from directly below her.
'Li! Listen to me. Alex and I are right underneath you.'
'I thought you'd all gone!' she cried. 'I thought I was alone!'
'As if we would,' said Paulo, his voice full of affection. Li smiled through her tears.
'We have a blanket ready to catch you,' said Paulo. 'Just let yourself fall backwards. Do you hear me? You are already two-thirds of the way down. It is not far.'
Li hesitated. It was against all her instincts to let herself fall back into space, but the men had finished reloading above her and the leader was barking orders once more.
'Li. Trust us,' called Paulo.
Li closed her eyes, made herself go limp and tumbled away from the cliff, arms outstretched.
TWENTY-EIGHT
She landed squarely in the middle of the blanket. The shouting of the leader became more frantic as Paulo and Alex picked Li up under the arms and ran with her down the mountain slope. Li could only hold her bare feet out of harm's way as they raced towards the shelter of the forest, bullets thudding into the ground and pinging off rocks all around them.
Amber stood just inside the sheltering trees, waving frantically to show them the way to the game trail. They raced towards her and she stepped back as their impetus carried them helter-skelter into the forest. Alex stumbled in the sudden dimness and the three of them fell full-length into the soft leaves that covered the game trail as the bullets tailed off behind them.
'Here,' gasped Amber, dropping Li's boots at her feet. Li yanked them on and the four of them hurried to join the others further up the trail.
On they went, hiking through the rainforest with dogged determination. No-one knew how long it would take for the pirates to catch up with them. If they were carrying rope, they might be on the trail again very quickly and it would be an easy matter for them to follow this game trail all the way to the beach, even if Alex destroyed all his markers. As he marched, Alex tried to figure out what to do next. He thought about hiding in the forest, but then dismissed that idea. If the pirates found them, they would not be able to run again. He thought of leaving Hex and the children somewhere, but one look at Beatrice's panicked face told him she would not tolerate that. There was a hiding-place behind the rockfall in the cave, but there was only one way in or out. It could equally easily become a trap. He stumbled on, his tired brain going around in circles. One thought kept coming back to him again and again. If the pirates tracked them all the way to the lagoon, there would be nowhere else to run.
They had passed the waterfall and were on the game trail heading to the beach when the pirates reappeared. Amber heard a shout from behind them and her heart sank. She turned and saw the five men, running towards them along the track in single file.
'They're here!' she cried.
Desperately, the exhausted group tried to pick up their feet and run but all they could manage was a tired shuffle.
'They're gaining on us,' whimpered Amber, glancing behind again. As she did so, her foot caught on a tree root and she fell, dropping her corner of the stretcher. She hit the ground hard and all the wind was knocked out of her. Thrown off-balance, the others dropped the stretcher. One of the poles snapped in two and Hex slid off onto the forest floor, groaning with pain as his injured leg folded beneath him.
Behind them, the leader of the pirates smiled and held up his hand, ordering his men to slow to a walk. He slipped his rifle from his shoulder and his men followed suit. His smile grew broader as he sauntered towards them.
Alex picked up the broken stretcher and threw it into the undergrowth. He and Paulo each took one of Hex's arms and draped them around their shoulders. Then they pulled him to his feet while Li helped Amber up. They moved on, with Alex, Hex and Paulo at the back, but it was hopeless. The men were gaining with every step.
Alex and Paulo seemed to reach the same decision at the same instant. They shared a look then, gently, started to lower Hex to the ground.
'Don't you dare,' grated Hex, lifting his head to look at Alex. 'I want to be standing.'
Alex nodded and the three of them turned to face their hunters. Silently Li and Amber stopped too and retraced their steps until they were shoulder to shoulder with the boys. Philippe looked back and saw what was happening. Quickly, he ordered Beatrice and the children to carry on, but he turned back and stood at the rear of the group, watching the killers approach with a look of quiet determination on his face. If they were planning to kill his children, they would have to get past him first.
The leader was close enough for Alex to see the gold tooth in the middle of his smile when the undergrowth erupted on each side of the game trail. Two komodo dragons burst from the bushes and slammed three of the pirates to the ground. One of the men managed to roll out of the way, but the dragons pounced on the other two, raking razor-sharp claws across their bellies. It all happened so fast that their leader was still smiling as his men were attacked behind him.
One of the men on the ground gave a high, agonized scream as the komodo dipped its snout into his belly. The other fallen man twitched silently as the second huge lizard tore the flesh from his arm. The pirate leader turned, brought his rifle up to his shoulder, then lowered it again and stepped back, out of the way of the komodos' swinging tails. The two remaining men stared at the carnage for a few, shocked seconds, then ran back the way they had come, ignoring their leader's shouted orders.
Alex was as shocked as anyone by the gruesome sight in front of him, but a cold, determined part of his brain was also looking out for his own survival. That part of him understood that, suddenly, the odds were a lot better. However, the pirate leader still had his rifle and they had nothing but a knife.
'Come on,' hissed Alex, a plan forming in his mind. 'We have to make it to the beach!' They turned and hobbled away from the ambush site. Behind them, the leader of the pirates checked that his rifle was loaded before slowly following.