10
Shanti trembled in fear, her mouth dry, her pulse like thunder in her ears.
No! Connor! Oh, God.
But she didn’t have time for grief because, at that moment, the co-pilot turned and pointed his pistol straight at her.
She shrank back into her seat, hands raised, sure she’d taken her last breath.
The man spoke to her in English. “You be a good girl. Don’t make me kill you.”
He climbed into the back, and for a moment, Shanti was sure he meant to open the door and dump Connor’s body. Instead, he took Connor’s radio and went back to his seat, listening via Connor’s earpiece and laughing with the pilot about something. She couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other. Maybe they were on a private channel.
“Bastards.”
But theycouldhear her.
“Watch your mouth, Ms. Lahiri.” The pilot turned just enough for her to catch a glimpse of his face.
“You?”
It was the Indian pilot who’d flown the UN helicopter.
He chuckled. “It’s good to see you again.”
“You flew the helicopter the day those two men fired that grenade at us. Did you know they were going to do that?”
“Of course, but they never planned to hit us. It was supposed to frighten you away. No one wanted to hurt you. Sadly, you’re stupid and chose to stay.”
“But why? You work for—”
“I work for money. The pilots who were going to fly you today developed fatal headaches, so I took the job.”
Shanti stared in horror as the two men laughed. “Youkilledthem?”
“They were in the way.”
Whoever the poor people were, they had worked for Cobra and had been sent here to protect her. Now, they were dead.
Shanti sat there, shaking, adrenaline making it hard to think. The helicopter had almost reached the Naf River now. They were flying her to Myanmar.
Of course, they are. Think!
They were going to take the phone. They were going to take the phone and kill her just like they’d killed Connor and the pilots and…
Connor’s words from last night came back to her.
You have to make your peace with death. Then the fear disappears.
A man who isn’t afraid of dying is dangerous.
Make your peace with death. Make your peace with death.
How thehelldid a person do that?
She didn’t want to die.
Neither did the Rohingya men, women, and children in those villages.