G. Fields - Under Vanishing Skies

When he saw me running to the pier he stopped me and asked where I was going. As I told him, I saw the flash of vengeance in his eyes. He didn’t say a word. He just followed me on board.

I took another sip of chicory and finally spoke. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Michio. If you want me to say that it’s a good plan… well, I’m not going to do that. I think the plan gives us almost no chance of getting out of there alive.”

“Do you see, father?” Yoshirou said, throwing his hands up in the air. “I told you that we should have done this alone. He will only hinder us and I—”

“Silence,” Michio said. His eyes narrowed and jaw clenched as he stared down his son. Yoshirou averted his eyes and Michio continued, “Aron is a good man and you disrespect him and me with your childish words. Remain silent and allow him to finish his thoughts.” Michio looked at me and said, “I apologize for my son. Please… continue.”

“Michio, the kid has a right to say what he thinks,” I said. “He’s putting his neck on the line too. Besides, I’d rather know what he really thinks now, before we get there. We all have to be honest with each other if this is going to work.” I swallowed hard. “So I’m telling you what I really think because that’s what you asked for. I think that plan is way too risky… but I’m in.”

I looked over at Kamish and asked, “How about you?”

He looked at each one of us before responding, “They will pay for what they did to my brothers.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

“Okay, so we’re all in. Now let’s go over the first part of the plan again,” I said. “I’m not quite sure how we’re supposed to paddle in on surf boards from that far off shore on a moonless night.”

Michio walked back over to the map that was laid out on the table. He placed his finger on the map and said, “You see these large outcroppings just to the north of the island.”

Everyone except Anand huddled around the map to see what he was pointing at. Anand probably had the map memorized. But I looked. I saw two tiny dots on the map that marked the location of the outcroppings. They looked to be about a quarter mile apart from one another.

“So?” I said.

“So, we use this to help us find the island.”

“That’d be great if we could see them.”

Michio looked at me with the hint of a smile. “We will see with our ears,” he said.

I cocked my head to one side and waited for him to explain.

“All we have to do is listen to the sound of waves crashing on either side of us. As long as we hear that, we know we are moving south toward the island.”

I looked closer at the map and said, “I’m pretty sure my surfing guide brought a group of us down here twelve years ago. And if I remember right, he called those outcroppings the Razors or the Razor’s edge or something. I’m guessing they called it that for a reason?”

Michio nodded.

I continued, “So it would probably be a bad thing if we got too close?”

The smile disappeared and Michio said, “We will be alright as long as we stay in the middle and we stay close to one another.”

I nodded and said, “Okay. I don’t like it, but okay. We paddle in between the outcroppings. But why don’t we leave the same way we go in? Wouldn’t it be easier?”

He shook his head. “No. The prevailing winds are currently blowing from the north, so instead of fighting the wind, we will use it to help us get off the island.” He stabbed his finger on the map again and said, “Here on the south side.”

Kamish said, “That is close to the main pier. You said that it will be guarded.”

“That is true,” Anand said without looking over. “And they have snipers in at least two places on either side of the pier.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“I’ve been delivering supplies there ever since the refugees arrived.”

“So you saw the pirates up close?”

Anand shook his head. “No. Up until a few months ago, there was nothing unusual about the island. But then things began to change.”

I set my mug on the table. “Change how?”

“The people who normally met me at the pier for deliveries were replaced by men I had never seen before. They dressed like the refugees, but they looked like middle easterners. Others had very dark skin, like Africans.” He continued to look out the front window and said, “One day, I arrived and they would not allow me to get off the boat or talk to anyone. They said it was a new security rule. Occasionally, when I would drop off supplies, I would see familiar faces, but when I waved to them they hurried off. I mentioned this to an MDF patrol once.”

“What did they say?” I asked.

Anand looked at me and said, “They said they would check it out, but I never heard anything more about it. That was a few weeks ago. So when Michio asked me if I had seen anything strange during my supply runs, I told him about the island. He asked me to keep a closer eye out for anything unusual. That’s when I noticed the snipers hidden in the bushes near the pier.”

Michio walked over and put a hand on Anand’s shoulder. “Thanks to Anand, we now have a much better chance for success.”

I don’t know whether it was Anand’s story or the smell of the diesel exhaust, but I felt nauseous. “So how do we get the surf boards from the north side of the island to the south side?” I asked.

“Yoshirou will take care of that. He will tie the boards together and swim around the island and then wait for us.”

“But father,” Yoshirou said, “You know that I can fight better than him,” he said, pointing at me. “He should take the surf boards around the—”

“Enough, Yoshirou!” Michio said. “We have had this discussion and I will not have it again. You will do as you are told.”

Yoshirou looked like he was about to say something, but looked away.

The kid was probably right, but if anyone was going to risk his life to get Shannon back, it was going to be me. After the fight we had on Lohifushi, I didn’t know how she felt about me anymore. But I knew how I felt about her. The feeling had been there ever since I saw her on the day of Rick’s funeral. And the feeling had grown. At some point, it broke through the wall I had built around my heart, the wall I had built to protect me from the pain I felt after my family died. She rescued me from that prison and now it was my turn to rescue her.

Yoshirou stormed out of the bridge.

“I apologize for my son,” Michio said. “He is young and rash, but he is a good boy.”

We all nodded.

“Please excuse me,” he said and went after Yoshirou.

I was about to go out on the deck for some air, but Kamish came over to me and pulled out an eight-inch curved blade from his belt. It was still in its sheath.

“Here,” he said.

“I’ve never been very good with knifes,” I said.

“Take it.” He held it out in front of me. “It belonged to Senil.” His eyes gleamed with fresh tears as he said the name of his brother.

I took it and felt the weight of it in my hands. I didn’t know what to say. So all I said was, “Thanks.”

I laid on the long board, paddling toward the island. I had to admit that Michio’s plan to hear our way to the island was actually working. In fact, it had worked so well that after a half an hour I closed my eyes. With no moon, I couldn’t see anything anyway. Even with the ghostly glow of the floating bioluminescence, there wasn’t enough light for me to see more than five or six feet in front of me.

My other senses quickly kicked in. I could gauge the distance between the outcroppings from the sound of the waves that crashed into them. I felt the chill of the water that engulfed my arms with each stroke. I tasted the salt from the water that dripped down my face and onto my lips. Even my sense of time was keener. Somehow, I was able to anticipate the swells that passed underneath me. Like I said, the plan worked pretty well. Right up until it didn’t.