Beside a Burning Sea (41 page)

Ten feet behind the man on point, another soldier appeared. He carried a rifle and also moved like a seasoned veteran. More men materialized around the bend. The leader was slowly but surely approaching the spot directly beneath Akira and Jake. Where is Roger? Akira frantically asked himself, trying to somehow see beyond the distant bend. Abruptly, the point man paused, as if sensing that he was being watched. He dropped to one knee, his gun held in a firing position, his head twisting left, then right. He looked up, eyeing the ridge above him.

Akira, who had kept the man within his gun sight, held his breath. The soldier’s gaze appeared to sweep past him. However, the point man then frowned, his eyes narrowing as he noticed the rifle’s barrel. The soldier was remarkably fast, swinging his machine gun upward, sending a burst of bullets in Akira’s direction. Despite the stream of bullets rising toward him, Akira didn’t move, his finger pulling on the trigger, his eye re-aiming the gun even as the point man fell. Jake fired a heartbeat later, and the second soldier in the column spun to his left as the bullet struck his shoulder.

Akira fired another shot, hitting a third man, and then rolled to his left, away from the soldiers below. Jake did the same, closing his eyes as bullets thudded into the soil around him. He twisted over the top of the hill and was momentarily safe.

“Run!” Akira shouted, heading down the other side.

Jake stumbled after Akira, the explosion of a hand grenade almost knocking him off his feet but miraculously not wounding him. Hearing the Japanese shout below, and knowing that they were clambering up the hill, Jake moved in vast strides, running through bushes rather than going around them.

Understanding all too well that Jake would provide a target almost impossible to miss, Akira urged him forward. Suddenly desperate, trying to give their pursuers a moment’s pause, Akira screamed, “Banzai!” The Japanese war cry reverberated eerily in the jungle.

After a few seconds passed, angry replies reached Akira’s ears. His countrymen called him a traitor, and without question their hearts were filled with rage and hate. And Akira knew that were he and Jake to fall, their deaths would not come nearly fast enough.

WHEN THOSE ABOARD THE LIFEBOAT had been at sea for no more than a minute, two extraordinary discoveries were made almost simultaneously. First, with the binoculars pressed tight against his forehead, Nathan spied a strike force of American warships. The vessels were several miles due east and were headed full speed toward the other side of the island. Then, equally stunning, while Nathan spoke about the looming naval battle, Annie realized to her horror that Ratu wasn’t on board.

“Where’s Ratu?” she shouted, frantically looking about, standing so quickly that she rocked the lifeboat.

Isabelle left her seat as well, scanning the water. “He was with us! I saw him get in!”

“He’s not with us!” Annie shrieked, putting her hands to her head. “He must not have—”

Not very far from where they’d left the beach, the unmistakable sound of machine-gun fire suddenly split the silence. A heartbeat later, explosions belched mushroom clouds up through the jungle’s canopy. Small-arms fire filled the gaps between the explosions, scores of streaking bullets announced with brief outbursts of sound.

“Akira,” Annie muttered. “They’re . . . they’re chasing him!” More explosions and gunfire dominated this side of the island. Suddenly, Annie found it hard to breathe. The world seemed to tip and sway about her. “I . . . I have to go,” she said haltingly, the fear of her own death suddenly inconsequential when compared with thoughts of what might happen to Akira or Ratu.

Isabelle reached for her sister. “Annie, you don’t—”

“I love you,” Annie said, then jumped off the lifeboat.

“Annie!” Isabelle screamed, dropping to her knees, trying to grab her sibling’s arm.

Annie kicked away from the boat as if she’d been born to do nothing but swim. Her hands and feet tore through the water, propelling her forward. Her terror over Akira’s possible death gave her a strength she’d never known. She didn’t care about what pain she might endure or what limbs she might lose, or dying alone in the jungle. All that mattered was that she find Akira. That she’d be there for him as he’d been for her.

So intent was Annie on reaching the shore that she didn’t hear Isabelle and Joshua screaming for her to come back. She didn’t see the life jacket that Nathan had thrown near her. And so Isabelle grabbed Joshua’s arm. “We have to turn around!”

Joshua placed his free hand over hers. “Are you willing to risk everything?”

She bit her lip at the thought of losing their child. Her vision blurred. Her stomach threatened to heave. Still, she nodded. “We can’t . . . we just can’t leave her alone out there.”

Nathan picked up the machete, silently telling his wife that he was sorry for whatever might happen, that he would always love her and be with her. “Let’s go get Annie,” he said, his limbs weak with fear.

Joshua started to fiercely row his left and right oars in opposite directions. The lifeboat began to turn. A smoking plane roared overhead and crashed into the sea. Watching Isabelle weep and hold her belly, Joshua was filled with a sudden and seemingly infinite sense of pride. “I love you,” he whispered, wondering if this would be their last day together, praying that it would not.

“Please hurry, Josh,” she said, her voice quivering, her face streaked with tears. She rocked back and forth on the bench, a profound feeling of helplessness overwhelming her. Though her time aboard
Benevolence
had been often defined by tragedy, at least she’d been able to subdue her patients’ suffering. At least she’d helped. But now, much to her horror, when Annie most needed her, Isabelle could feel the distance between them increasing. She could do nothing.

As Joshua’s hands bled upon the oars and he felt a muscle give way in his back, he tried to comfort her, for he could see that she was at the extreme limits of her endurance. “I bet it’s a girl,” he said, his eyes growing moist.

“A girl?” she replied, surprised by his words.

He nodded, grunting against the oars, biting his lower lip as he thought of their child. “With big . . . blue eyes and a heart . . . a heart like her mother’s.”

Isabelle watched Annie drag herself through the shallows and then start running down the beach. “Look at her go,” she whispered, shuddering as she wept.

As Joshua watched Annie, he prayed for her safe return, pleading with God to deliver everyone unharmed. “Where did the frightened little girl go?” he asked, awed by the change in Annie’s character. “When did she get so brave?”

“When she fell in love,” Isabelle replied, her trembling hands reaching for the medical kit. “I think Annie . . . she just needed to fall in love.”

WHEN RATU HAD FIRST heard the gunfire, he stopped running. Leaning against a tree, he wept, clinging to his necklace as if only it could save him from drowning. When the sound of death had suddenly stopped, he started running again. Darting around trees, he quietly called out Jake’s name, repeating it over and over in the same determined manner that a baby wails for its mother from a crib.

The deeper Ratu moved into the jungle, the more anxious he became. “Where are you, Big Jake?” he half spoke, half cried into the endless trees. “Big Jake, please tell me where you are! Please!”

Several gunshots rang out not far away. An explosion and additional gunfire seemed to answer. Believing that Jake and Akira were still alive, Ratu hurried ahead. He cried as he ran, his small frame wracked by sobs. Ratu had never felt so alone. Not when he first stowed away on
Benevolence
. Not when his father left. The terrible noises, the jungle, and the absence of his friend overwhelmed him. Suddenly, nothing mattered but finding the man who he’d grown to love.

And so Ratu charged blindly through the jungle, calling for Jake. As he crossed a stream, he thought he heard shouts in the distance. “Big Jake!” he screamed. “Big Jake, I’m here!”

Twenty paces away, bushes suddenly parted and Akira and Jake burst forth. Jake grabbed Ratu with his left hand, sweeping him over his shoulder. Ratu looked up and saw a handful of soldiers running forward. Gun muzzles flashed and bullets thudded into nearby trees. Akira paused briefly to fire, and a soldier cried out and fell.

Beneath Ratu, Jake hurtled over logs and rocks and seemed as strong as ten men. Ratu tried to wrap his arms about Jake’s torso, but his friend’s giant leaps caused Ratu to bounce and groan. More gunfire rang forth, and suddenly Jake grunted and stumbled forward. Ratu almost immediately saw the wound in Jake’s leg. Blood spurted from an ugly hole, and Ratu tried to press his hands against the torn flesh. A crushing explosion then threw Jake from his feet, tossing him against a tree as if he were no more than a leaf in a gale.

Akira screamed when he saw the grenade detonate so close to Jake and Ratu. Jake crumpled against a tree, his rifle spinning end over end into the jungle. Ratu was thrown into nearby foliage. Knowing that his countrymen would bayonet Jake and Ratu if he left them alone, Akira dropped to one knee and fired his rifle. His bullet struck a soldier in the neck and he died instantly. Even before the soldier’s body hit the ground, Akira was running toward it. He dove for the man’s light machine gun and, grasping it, rolled and fired in practically one motion. Another two soldiers fell and then an explosion lifted Akira off his feet. The world spun around him. He twisted through the air like a tossed toy, landing hard on his back. He tried to stand but his legs betrayed him. His ears rang. His thoughts weren’t connected. Time expanded, wobbled, and burst. To his immense surprise, he noticed that two fingers from his left hand were missing. He then saw Annie smile, and he reached for her.

Roger knocked Akira’s outstretched arm aside. Still on his knees, Akira started to mumble something, and Roger slammed the butt of his gun into Akira’s ribs. Pinpricks of light dominating his vision, Akira toppled face forward onto the ground.

“Don’t kill him, you fool!” Edo snapped. “I need to—”

Roger thrust his pistol into Edo’s open mouth and pulled the trigger. The back of Edo’s head disintegrated, and he fell lifeless at Roger’s feet. “Goddamn . . . monkey,” Roger muttered, swaying unsteadily.

At the sound of Roger’s voice, Akira groaned and rolled to his back. Blinking, he tried to bring his enemy into focus. But Roger noticed Akira’s wound, stepped on his injured hand, and ground his heel upon the bloody stumps that had once been fingers. Akira screamed. He tried to beat Roger’s leg with his other hand, but the world still spun and his blows were almost powerless.

Roger laughed deliriously, gripping his side. “Where . . . where’s that little bitch?” he asked, finally removing his foot from the wound.

Akira sought to gather his thoughts, to properly wield his mind and strength. Blood poured from his wound, and he knew that his world would soon go black unless he bandaged his hand. “Free,” he finally replied.

“Free?”

“From the . . . the ugliness of you.”

Roger wiped his sweaty brow, tried to steady himself, and again smashed his heel upon Akira’s wound. Akira screamed as pain nearly overwhelmed him. “I’m going . . . to drink her blood,” Roger said, spitting out the taste of himself. “Yours too.”

Akira closed his eyes, aware that he was fading, desperate to see Annie again. “Are you . . . a coward . . . or a man?” he asked in Japanese. The pain on his hand came again, darkening the nearby jungle, threatening to send him into oblivion. “I—”

“Get up,” Roger suddenly yelled, kicking him in the ribs.

Akira clawed back from the blackness. He opened his eyes and saw a plane burst into flames through a gap in the canopy. An image of Annie atop a tree then flashed before him, and he made no effort to force her away, as he needed her now. How he loved her. How she brought a sense of wonder into him that he’d never known. Thinking of this wonder, and of how Roger wanted to steal it from the world, Akira stood unsteadily and faced his adversary.

Roger spat out more of his own blood. “You’ll never . . . touch that little whore again,” he said, raising his pistol in one motion, pressing its warm muzzle against Akira’s nose.

“But you see,” Akira said, closing his eyes, keeping the image of Annie locked within him, “I am . . . touching her now.”

“Now?” Roger laughed, putting slight pressure on the trigger. “Did you say now?”

“You would not . . . understand. So sorry.”

“She’ll be next. And she’s going to—”

Akira suddenly twisted to his left, knocking the gun aside with his uninjured hand. Roger reflexively yanked on the trigger, and Akira felt a searing pain in the side of his neck. But his world didn’t immediately darken, and so he slammed his knee into Roger’s broken rib. And as Roger shrieked in pain, Akira dropped to the ground, grabbed Edo’s fallen pistol, and sent a trio of bullets straight up and into Roger’s groin and chest.

And then Akira started to fade away. Thinking of Annie, and of how he wasn’t nearly ready to leave her, he forced his injured hand beneath Roger’s shuddering body so that the weight of his dying enemy would stop his own blood from departing.

FIFTY FEET AWAY, the gunshots reverberated within Jake’s mind. With immense effort, he opened his eyes. Ratu lay motionless nearby. His head was bleeding profusely, and the sight of such blood caused Jake to weep. “No,” he whispered, trying to move, besieged with grief. “Please . . . no.”

Ratu blinked, grimacing at the pain within him. “Big . . . Jake?”

Jake attempted to rise to his elbows, but his body barely responded. His tattered legs were immobile, as if he were a snail and they his lifeless shell. Still, he slowly dragged himself toward Ratu. Moaning at the agony his movements brought, Ratu clawed to his friend. Their hands met, and Jake rolled over and pulled Ratu closer. Ratu managed to put his head on Jake’s chest. Lying on his back, Jake pressed his hand against the wound on Ratu’s forehead.

“Thank you . . . for . . . for finding me,” Jake whispered, the edges of his vision darkening.

Ratu began to tremble. “Big . . . Big Jake?”