Island of Bones(92)

She nodded weakly.

Louis shifted her weight, his arms starting to burn. “Mel, hold on to my belt and keep one hand above you so you feel the branches.”

“Louis, we need to know what we’re up against. Ask her.”

“No! Let’s get back to the boat first.”

Louis ducked under a branch, and stepped into the thicket. He kept his head down, using his shoulders to push the brush. The branches tore at his face. He was drenched in sweat and blood and could barely hang on to Angela. But he moved on, Landeta’s hand tugging at his belt.

Louis’s foot hit flat ground. Another path.

“I hear water,” Landeta said.

Louis braced himself against a tree, using his knee to boost Angela up into his arms. His lungs were burning. He could smell her blood on his sleeves, thick and heavy.

“We came up with the water on our left. We go back with it on the right,” Landeta said.

“I agree.”

They had to go more slowly now. Angela and the baby were so heavy Louis had to stop every twenty feet or so to hoist them back up into his arms.

“I see the white cloth,” Louis said.

They made their way to the cloth they had left on the tree. Louis peered down into the mangroves, out to the water.

“Mel, I can’t see the boat. They must have found it.”

He carefully laid Angela on the ground. The baby was fussing in her arms.

“Watch them,” Louis said.

Landeta nodded, knelt, and put one hand on Angela.

Louis skidded down the incline, catching himself on a mangrove limb. When he reached the mud, he stopped and ripped the flashlight from his back pocket.

The beam picked up something white. The boat was there. But there was no water.

He directed the flashlight out toward the bay. The beam caught the water, a good thirty feet out from shore.

The fucking tide! It had gone out. Why hadn’t they figured that into this whole stinking mess?

He felt his entire body tighten. He threw the flashlight down to the mud.

This whole thing was stupid. Stupid! They shouldn’t have come here in the first place.

“Louis, what’s wrong?” Landeta called.

Louis closed his eyes, drawing in heavy breaths. Calm down. Calm the fuck down.

“Louis?”

He picked up the flashlight and pulled himself back up the incline.

“The tide went out and the boat is in the mud,” Louis said. He saw Landeta was holding the baby, a torn piece of the bloodied sheet wrapped around it.

“I had to cut and tie off the cord,” Landeta said quietly. “It was still attached.”

Louis looked down at Angela.

“She’s dead,” Landeta said.

Louis knelt and felt at her neck for a pulse. Nothing. His hand lingered on her neck. He hung his head.

“We’re stuck here until high tide,” Louis said.

“When is that?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Louis said.

Landeta didn’t respond. In the quiet, Louis could hear a squeaking sound and looked at the baby in Landeta’s arms. A tiny foot was sticking out of the sheet.

“There’s the ferry at the restaurant dock,” Landeta said. “Or maybe that skiff is there.”

Louis shook his head. “No, that’s where they’ll expect us to go.” His eyes searched the darkness. “We have to go back to the compound. Maybe there’s a phone there. They won’t be expecting us to go there.”

He looked down at Angela.

“You have to hide her,” Landeta said.

Louis ran a hand over his sweaty face.

“Now,” Landeta said.

Louis knelt and gathered her body into his arms. He stood and stepped over into the mangroves. He gently laid Angela down among the arching roots. He paused then smoothed her white nightgown down over her bare legs. He placed the remaining portion of the sheet over her face.

He turned back to Landeta. “Let’s go,” he said quietly.

Louis knew they couldn’t stay on the path, so he led Landeta straight up into the brush, keeping the water at their backs. If they kept going uphill, they had a good chance of reaching the compound. They had to move slowly, and the heat was unbearable. Landeta was doing his best to keep the baby covered with the sheet to protect it from the mosquitoes, but Louis could hear the baby’s small cries.

A yellow light glowed in the darkness ahead. It was the house. They moved toward it and soon the shapes of the other cabins in the compound came into view.

Louis saw the beam of flashlights and waved Landeta down into the brush. Two men emerged into the compound, one carrying a rifle. They stopped and began to talk. One of them was clearly angry, but the other was just listening. Louis couldn’t see their faces or hear what they were saying.

“What’s going on?” Landeta whispered.