Brett Battles - Little Girl Gone

Either the other boat had a better engine than theirs or a better pilot, because they were definitely closing in.

“We need to go faster!” Logan yelled over the sound of the motor.

Daeng shook his head. “The pilot said that’s all it’s got.”

Just then something hit the boat about four feet in front of Logan, creating a small hole in the sidewall.

He pointed at the damage. “Daeng! They’re shooting at us!”

Daeng leaned sideways so he could look around Logan, and see what he was talking about. But before he could say anything, his hand flew up and grabbed the side of his head. At the same instant, Logan heard something rip through the air a foot to his left.

Daeng doubled over, his face wincing in pain as he pressed his fingers against his head.

Logan looked back at their pilot, and pointed to the right. “That way! Now!”

He didn’t know if the guy understood his words, but the pilot got the gist of Logan’s motion. He shoved the steering pole around, sending up a rooster tail of water as the boat whipped through the turn.

“Back and forth,” Logan said, pointing in one direction, then the other. Up to that point, they’d been too much of a stationary target. They had to keep changing direction.

He leaned down next to Daeng, not waiting to see if the pilot did as he instructed. He could hear Daeng breathing heavily.

“Where did it hit you?”

He was trying to see the wound, but Daeng had twisted his head so the injury was facing down, out of Logan’s view.

The pilot suddenly screamed out.

Looking back, Logan saw that the man had scrunched down behind the bulk of the engine, one hand hanging onto the steering pole. Though he looked frightened, he didn’t appear to be hurt. Before Logan turned away, the pilot screamed again as a bullet smacked into the engine, sending a couple of sparks into the air.

Logan looked back at Daeng. “How bad is it?”

Daeng took a deep breath, then lifted his head. “I’m fine!”

“Let me see.”

Daeng turned, and moved his hand. The side of his head was covered in blood, making it impossible to see where the wound was.

Glancing around, Logan spotted a bottle of water back near the pilot.

“Throw me that,” he said, pointing at it.

The pilot didn’t move.

“Throw it to me!” This time he emphasized his words by jabbing his finger at the bottle.

Reluctantly, the pilot picked it up and tossed it over.

“Don’t keep us going in one line,” Logan said, pantomiming again to remind him.

He then cracked open the bottle and poured it over the side of Daeng’s head. Once the blood was cleared away, he could see that a bullet had torn through the upper part of Daeng’s ear, creating a flap that extended from the back of the helix almost all the way to the front. If it had taken another quarter inch with it, the whole top of the ear would have been gone.

“It’s not pretty,” Logan told him. “You’re going to need to get it stitched up when we get back, but you’re going to be fine.” He pulled off his shirt and placed it over the wound. “Press this against it.”

Daeng didn’t look like he really wanted to, but he did it just the same.

Logan glanced up and saw that they were now on the opposite side of the river from where they’d started, but still heading north. He scanned ahead, hoping for a wharf or canal or anything that they might be able to use to their advantage. He was just starting to turn back when a large, shadowy form moving steadily down the center of the river caught his eye.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Daeng looked over. “A barge, I think.” There was controlled pain in his tone.

Logan watched for another second. Yes, a barge, just like the ones he’d seen earlier. And if there was one barge, then there was probably at least one more tethered behind it.

Logan could see the tug now, too. It had a few dim lights on and looked tiny in comparison.

“Tell the pilot to head over there,” Logan said. “We can use it as cover.”

Daeng yelled back the instructions, but instead of the boat turning, the engine started to rev down. Daeng yelled again, but the man’s response was short, and though Logan couldn’t understand the words, he was pretty sure he knew what the guy meant. “Go to hell!”

Their pilot then put a foot on the edge of the boat, and jumped into the water.

28

As their pilot started to swim away, Logan looked back and saw Ryan’s boat closing fast.

He started to scramble back toward the engine to get it going again, but Daeng moved first. The motor suddenly roared back to life, and they shot away from the shore.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Logan yelled.

“I sure as hell hope so.”

They were headed straight for the barge now, with the other boat a lot closer to them than Logan would have liked.

“Can’t you go any faster?”

By the look Daeng gave him, Logan was pretty sure they were going as fast as they could.

A searchlight on the tugboat flicked on, illuminating the water in front of them. Daeng whipped the boat to the left, running along side the barge, and staying out of reach of the spot. But Ryan’s boat turned a few seconds too late, and the light caught them. Several people yelled across the water, and a horn on the tug blasted twice, but within seconds the other longboat was back in the dark, too.

As they raced past the first barge, Logan could now see that it wasn’t a convoy of two but of three, each looking like a large football field on a raised, black pedestal, gliding through the water. Just before they reached the halfway point of the second one, Daeng shouted, “Hang on. I’m going to try something.”

Logan was already hanging on, so he tighten his grip and hoped whatever Daeng was going to do would work.

Less than five seconds later, Daeng cut the engine way back, and swung the boat around so that it looked like they were going to ram right into the side of the barge. But suddenly the bulky vessel in front of them was replaced by the gap between it and the third barge. Daeng gunned the engine, shooting them through the quickly closing space and onto the other side.

Logan looked back. The other boat hadn’t been able to turn in time. They were going to have to go all the way around the third barge.

Daeng turned their boat so that they were traveling in the same direction as the barges, only faster. On their right, the gap they’d shot through was coming up again. Logan nearly lost his balance as Daeng whipped them back through to the other side.

“A little warning would have been nice!” he shouted.

“Sorry!” Daeng replied.

As they emerged, they could see the tail end of Ryan’s boat disappearing around the back of the third barge. Daeng turned them south, then matched their speed to the convoy.

For several minutes, they continued on in this way, their presence masked by the massive barge at their side. Logan constantly scanned in both directions, ready to shout out if the other boat reappeared. Finally, Daeng lifted the propeller out of the water, and they slowed until they were simply moving with the current.

Beside them, the dark hulks moved by, until the third barge passed and they were alone in the river again. Daeng dipped the propeller back in the water, and aimed them across the wake toward the other side. Then, just as they were clearing the first of the swells, the sound of another engine cut through the night.

Ryan’s boat.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Logan yelled.

Apparently, Ryan and his pilot had been doing the same thing Logan and Daeng had, only on the other side of the barge. Now they were headed straight at them.

The pilot of the other boat yelled across the short distance between them.