‘But they are working with the Vietnamese, they must be,’ she protested. ‘The man you knocked out…’
‘Yeah, I know. One of my mates reckoned they were secret police — something called TC2.’ From her stricken expression, he guessed their infamy was widely known. ‘But they won’t catch us either. You know I said I was a soldier?’
‘Yes?’
He gave her a small but meaningful grin. ‘I wasn’t just some squaddie. Trust me, I’ll—’
He snapped his head around at a sound from the north. An engine. Someone was driving down the track into the village. ‘Oh, fuckeration. Time to go!’
‘Do you think it is them?’ Natalia asked as he jumped up.
‘I’m not taking any chances that it’s not!’ He looked up the hill. The vehicle was not yet visible, but he glimpsed flickers of colour between the trees as it approached. The land around the village had been cleared, making their chances of escaping before the new arrivals spotted them slim. ‘Did you tell the people here what happened to you?’
‘Yes, but—’
‘Are they your friends?’
‘Yes, absolutely, but—’
‘Then tell ’em we need to hide!’
He ran with her to the nearby villagers. Natalia hurriedly spoke to them, then cried, ‘Here, quickly!’ She and Chase rushed for the building that was home to the Agent Orange victims, one of the Vietnamese women going with them. A call drew out the woman inside. Natalia exchanged rapid words, then the nurse bustled them into the children’s room.
The only hiding places were under the beds. The woman led Natalia to one of them, then gestured for Chase to get under another. He dropped to his belly and slithered beneath it. There was barely enough room, his back touching the slats supporting the thin mattress; he realised at once that it was also too small to conceal him fully. Even if he positioned himself to be hidden from someone coming through the door, if they walked past the bed he would be visible.
Natalia, smaller and slimmer, was better covered, but the most cursory search would expose her too. She gave the Englishman a fearful look across the grubby floor. One of the children made a sound, excited at seeing the young blonde again, but the carer quickly hushed him.
The vehicle drew closer. For a moment Chase thought it was going to drive straight through the village, but then it downshifted rapidly before stopping. He heard voices, a man with an unmistakably commanding tone calling out.
Natalia tensed. ‘It is the men from the camp,’ she whispered. ‘He is asking if they have seen any foreigners. They are telling him no, but…’
The sudden silence as the new arrivals switched off their vehicle’s idling engine was a clear sign that they were not convinced. More words were exchanged. ‘He says he is from the government,’ she continued. ‘And that… Eddie, he is telling them that you have kidnapped me!’
‘Let’s hope your friends don’t believe him,’ was his grim reply.
She kept listening to the unfolding discussion. The voices of the villagers became agitated. Were they going to give the fugitives away? Chase checked the room for other possible exits. A window with a half-open shutter, some uneven planks in one corner that might break if charged with enough force…
Natalia’s breathless whisper brought his gaze back to her. ‘They are still saying they have not seen us!’
Chase strained to listen, trying to read the emotional state of those outside from their voices. If the villagers were too insistent about not having visitors, it would arouse suspicion.
Had they convinced the secret police? Or would a house-to-house search be ordered? Chase looked back at the window, working out the quickest route to his weapons by the river…
‘They’re going,’ Natalia gasped. The commander issued orders with grudging acceptance. His men climbed back into their vehicle. ‘My friends did not give us away. I knew they would help us.’
Chase remained silent. The man was still talking; he guessed he was reminding the villagers of their duty to report any sightings of the kidnapper and his prisoner. Their replies sounded like assurances that they would. One of the women called out, ‘Tạm biệt,’ which even after only a short time in Vietnam he knew meant ‘goodbye’. They had done it…
A child’s chatter and laughter caught his attention. It was the one-legged boy who had hugged Natalia earlier, scurrying from one of the houses to see the new visitors. His mother shouted for him to come back, but he was already in the middle of the group, asking excited questions. Chase held in a sound of irritation. The kid was going to hold up the secret police’s departure—
Natalia’s sudden look of horror warned him that he was doing more than that. ‘What?’ he whispered.
She waved him to silence, listening intently. The commander was speaking again, but now in a much more amiable tone. The boy laughed and gave him a happy reply. The other villagers were conspicuously silent.
‘He’s asking if he’s seen me,’ she told Chase, frightened. ‘He calls me “the girl with yellow hair”, and — and he said yes!’
‘Shit,’ Chase hissed. Outside, the car’s doors opened again. Still sounding friendly, the commander asked another question. The boy’s response was enthusiastic.
Too enthusiastic. He hurried to the door of the building, calling out. Natalia swallowed. ‘He told them I’m in here!’
Options flashed through Chase’s mind. He didn’t like any of them. Both potential escape routes would put them only a matter of yards from their pursuers, but if he tried to stand and fight he would be outnumbered and outgunned—
Out of time. The boy ignored his mother’s pleas to come back to her and entered the building — then the room. Behind him, Chase saw tough leather boots beneath khaki trousers. The commander. A second man, then a third, followed him. One of the children in the beds made a sound of fearful surprise at the sight of the strangers.
Adrenalin surged through the Englishman’s body as the boy limped towards him, then stopped — but not by his bed. Nor Natalia’s. The boy eagerly beckoned the commander to look at something.
One of the other men chuckled quietly, drawing an irritated exhalation from his superior. He spoke to the boy again, now more patronising than friendly, then issued an order. The three men turned and clomped out of the building. The boy went after them, still asking questions.
Natalia started to crawl out from under her bed, but Chase waved for her to remain still. He waited until the car had restarted and driven away before finally signalling that it was safe for her to move. Hands shaking, she slowly emerged. ‘What happened?’
Chase had already got to his feet and found the explanation. ‘You were in here, and he brought them to see.’
The realisation made her laugh, though it was a pure release of tension rather than humour. ‘So I am,’ she said, gently touching the photograph of herself. ‘Oh God, I thought they had found us…’
‘So did I.’ He took a slow breath, trying to calm down. ‘It’s too risky to stay here — they’ll probably come back. They know that you knew about this place, and since it’s the nearest village, they’ll expect you to come here sooner or later.’
‘I cannot let anything happen to my friends because of me,’ she said, nodding. ‘You are right, we have to go.’
A thought occurred to Chase. ‘Bollocks!’
‘What is it?’
‘The mine. We can’t leave it for a bomb-disposal guy to deal with — they’ll know we were here.’
‘How?’
‘’Cause they’ll realise that someone with training did their job for them. And I’m guessing that even if we’re long gone, it won’t be good for your friends if anyone finds out they sheltered us.’