Escape Attempt

I rushed forward out of the tunnel entrance, aiming my spear gun at the man on the right and angling away from Laughlin somewhat, so as not to present the Tongans with two targets together. I was hoping to move fast enough to get within firing range of my target before he could grab his spear and throw it at me. I needn't have worried. Apparently the sight of two people coming at them dressed in black neoprene and wielding spear guns scared the hell out of the two men on guard. The one I was aiming at just scrambled backward, colliding with a tree and forgetting his spear.

Unfortunately, Laughlin's target seized up his spear and drew it back to hurl. Laughlin glanced at him and said, "No," very calmly and clearly, obviously hoping the man would recognize at least that word, but the man didn't even hesitate. Left with little other choice, Laughlin fired. The spear hit the young man in the ribs, just below the left shoulder. He screamed and his own throw went wide of Laughlin by mere inches. He dropped from the shock, red blood welling around the spear front and back. The other man turned and ran toward the water.

I immediately yelled, "Stop!" then, "No!" but like his counterpart, the man either didn't understand, or didn't care, for he kept running. I aimed for one of his legs and fired, not wanting to kill the man if I could help it, and immediately began reloading. My shot took him in the thigh, a flesh wound that caused him to stumble, but run on to the beach. There he stopped, looking down at the water and his bleeding leg, and I wondered if he knew about the monster shark that Laughlin and I had encountered. Or maybe the water just tended to be shark-infested. That was a lovely thought.

Hearing me approach, the wounded man turned to face me with hatred in his eyes. I aimed my spear gun very carefully at his chest and motioned for him to move away from the water, back towards his companion. He reluctantly complied, limping on his badly bleeding leg. Thankfully, I didn't appear to have hit an artery, so he was in no danger of bleeding out, but he'd probably never walk right again. Still, it was better than being dead.

The sky overhead was now a dark gray, and the wind was brisk. As we neared the temple entrance, I noticed that some of the crates had been smashed open and closed inexpertly. Confirming their contents, perhaps? I saw no reason to take a look inside one myself - I already knew what they contained. The man Laughlin had shot lay on the ground, laboring to breathe, and flecks of blood now appeared at his mouth. He was obviously dying. If we'd had a trauma team present, they might have been able to save him, but as it was, he wouldn't even survive the ride back to the main island. I wondered if Laughlin had ever killed anyone before. Given the condition of the Tongan we'd found inside the temple, I couldn't muster up a great deal of regret for this one's passing, but people sometimes reacted unpredictably to taking a human life, even when the act was justified. If Laughlin was disturbed by what he'd done, though, he was hiding it well.

Indicating the man I had shot, I told Laughlin, "If we don't want to worry about a spear in the back before we leave, we're going to need to secure him. Do you see any rope out here?"

"There is really nice jail cell downstairs. It seems highly appropriate to me," Laughlin responded with a evil grin.

No, he definitely was not upset about shooting the Tongan. "It certainly would be," I agreed with a nod, "but there is the small matter of making it down the slippery stairs while trying to keep a bead on this guy. I think we're safer just tying him up and leaving him inside of the cave mouth."

Laughlin agreed, and we quickly tied up our prisoner. By the time we were finished, the other man had died and the storm was now looming large on the horizon. Since the Tongans had apparently not left a boat behind for their people, it looked like we were going to have to stick with our original plan for one of us to swim out to our boat and bring it in. Assuming our boat was still there, of course. Wanting to be sure of this before one of us went through the risk of swimming out to it, I told Laughlin, "I'm going to see if they managed to overlook our boat when they came in," and began climbing the nearby low summit ridge. Given that the islet was only about the size of a football stadium, I would be able to see any ships or boats near the island from the top of the ridge.

I climbed for about ten minutes, brushing aside the thick foliage, weapons in hand in case there were more Tongans still on the island. When I reached the top, I was relieved to see our little boat bobbing in the lee of the island, which just might have hidden it from the natives' view. I hurried back down to Laughlin as quickly as I could manage without breaking my neck, and the storm was rising fast when I finally reached him. We'd have to leave right away if we didn't want to weather the storm in the temple.

"The boat's still there," I informed Laughlin as I ran up. "Do you want to swim for it while I get the Tongan?"

"Sure. Do you think we should take one of these crates back as evidence?"

"I'm not sure it will help much, unless the statues were stolen or imported illegally, but better to have it and have it turn out to be useless than not have it and need it. If I have time after bringing the Tongan up, I'll see if I can find a light one."

Laughlin ran for the beach while I hurried back down into the temple for the injured prisoner. Suddenly, I felt my feet slip out from under me on the slimy stairs, and I began careening down the inclined floor toward that open black pit. My flashlight dropped from my hand and slid ahead of me, falling into the pit and disappearing. With desperate speed, I pulled my dive knife from its sheath at my waist and jammed it into a large crack between two paving stones. I skidded to halt in the dark, my heart pounding in my chest, and emitted a few choice swears at my current situation. I wasn't sure how far away from the pit I was when I finally stopped, but I thought I could get up if I was careful. I had walked safely through here before. Of course, I had also walked safely up and down those stairs before, so I was inclined to be cautious.

Listening carefully while waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, I strained to hear any sound from the prisoner, but he appeared to be too far away. I remembered where we'd left him, though. Using the slope of the floor to orient myself, along with what little light made its way down from the temple entrance, I began to move in the direction of the tortured man, pausing periodically to listen for his breathing...or anything else that I might hear. Luckily, I was able to reach him without further incident. He was breathing shallowly and had again lapsed into unconsciousness. To make matters more complicated, it was pitch dark where he was. I swore again as I realized the difficulty of the task ahead of me. Without any light source, I needed to drag an unconscious man across a room containing a very deep, nasty pit that I couldn't see, and up a set of slime-covered stairs that I hadn't been able to keep my balance on properly when I was unencumbered. And I had to do so quickly enough to get outside before a very nasty storm made it impossible to leave the island at all. No problem.

Somehow, after what seemed like an eternity, I managed to get the injured man up the two flights of stairs and out under the dark sky. A stiff wind was now blowing, whipping through my hair and chilling my skin. The rented boat stood off beyond the reef, and I could see Laughlin on the deck, doing some sort of slow motion exercises. I ran for the shore as quickly as I could manage with my burden, then began wading out towards the reef, towing the Tongan behind me. Thankfully, the lagoon never got more than chest-deep, so I was able to move much more quickly than if I'd had to swim with him. When I reached the reef, I gingerly hauled the man over it and towed him to the boat. The wind was quite strong now, and the wave crests were turning into spraying whitecaps. Even with minimum sail, the boat was heeling wildly in every gust. Luckily, the main island was less than a mile away. Even so, I wasn't sure we were going to make it.

I lifted the man up and, with Laughlin's help, placed him in the boat. Then I climbed in myself, doing my best not to get clobbered by the boat in the process. I looked over at Laughlin, who had started getting the rigging set for half mast. "Sorry, I didn't think I could manage one of those statues and him, and I don't think we should stick around long enough to go back for one, do you?"

Laughlin glanced over his shoulder and replied, "Not hardly."

I nodded, lending a hand with the sail. "I didn't think so."

"What do you want to do when we get back to shore?" Laughlin asked as we began racing towards A'vuo'tutu. "I personally am a little tired of swimming with sharks."

"Me too. It's an interesting question, though. Whoever sabotaged our gear is going to be rather disappointed to find out we survived. Not knowing what we may have discovered, they'll likely try again. Normally, I'd suggest trying to keep our continued existence a secret, but it's a small island, we're not natives, and we need to get this poor man to a hospital." I thought over the situation for a moment. "We need to decide exactly how much we're going to tell the local Tongan authorities. And that depends, in part, on whether or not we think they're in on whatever's going on out there."

"First let's worry about getting this man to a hospital. I think our cover story should be mostly the truth. We were out sailing and scuba diving. Our equipment malfunctioned. We ended up on that island and found the poor man there. Being the good citizens that we are, we promptly sailed him back here for medical attention. Since neither of us speak Tongan, we have no idea what his name is, or why he was there."

"No mention of the cave, then? I suppose we could say we found him on the beach."

"I agree completely, though I am not going to start volunteering any information. I am just going to say that we found him on the island. If they ask specifically, then I'll just say that I would have to show them."

I nodded in agreement. It seemed the safest approach.

"I would love to have a deep meaning full conversation with the man that sold and rented all this equipment to me. I wonder if he is still around?" Laughlin said with a malicious smile.

"Good question. I'd be especially interested to know if he's the same guy I talked to." Either way, I had to wonder just how many of the natives were part of whatever it was that we had gotten caught up in. If it was all of them, we were going to have a hard time surviving until the end of the conference.

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Last modified on June 11, 2002 by Kris Fazzari.