Shanti hurriedover rounded river rocks and boulders to the other ladder, her heart still in her throat. More afraid of bullets than falling now, she started climbing as fast as she could, not waiting for Connor or the rope.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
Some hideous multi-colored spider had made its web between two of the rungs, but Shanti gritted her teeth and moved past it.
Up and up and up.
She came to a place with several missing rungs, the gap too wide for her. “I can’t reach! It’s too far!”
“I’m going to boost you.” Connor came up beneath her, nudged his head between her thighs from behind, as if to give her a ride on his shoulders. “Hold on tightly to the ropes and climb with me.”
He rose up the ladder, lifting her with him while she held on for dear life. “Can you reach the next rung now?”
“I’ll try.” She raised one foot, just managing to catch it with her heel. She slid her leg through and then another, as if she were climbing onto a swing. Then she pulled herself up, making the mistake of looking behind her.
It was so far to the ground.
Don’t look down.
“Beautiful. Keep going.”
She was almost there. If she fell now, if Connor fell, they would hit the ground like those two soldiers had. They would die.
Don’t think about it.
She climbed and climbed.
Relief flooded her as she pulled herself over the top and onto the carved stone stairs on the other side and crawled to safety, Connor right behind her.
He checked his rifle. “The only way to evade these bastards now is to put a lot of miles between us and the river. I know you’re hungry and tired—”
“I can handle it.” She wouldnotbe the reason they died out here.
Connor’s lips curved in an approving smile, sweat beading on his temples. “Listen to you—Princess Shanti of the Jungle.”
He led the way, sticking to rocky ground, moving at a pace that left her almost running behind him. She welcomed it, knowing that every step led her farther away from Naing and his troops and closer to freedom. Up a steep slope, down a rocky ravine, across a creek, and up again. Through dense undergrowth. Across a grassy field where macaques sat eating…
“Mangoes!”
Connor walked over to the tree, sending the macaques into a screeching fit, most of the troop running away or disappearing into the trees. “Take just a few.”
They picked fruit, Shanti dropping it into her handbag. Then Connor took advantage of the lack of tree cover to check in with his boss, giving him a quick update, while Shanti devoured a mango, the fruit taking the edge off her hunger, sweet juices spilling down her chin.
“Strong copy, Cobra. We’ll head north and keep to the mountains.” Connor tucked his cell phone away, picked another mango, and ate. “We’ve made thirty-six miles today. They want us to stick to the mountains and head straight north for now. The cover is better, and there are fewer roads.”
The last of the light began to fade, leaving them in the dark, the birds going silent.
Connor stopped, took out his flashlight, aimed it low. “I don’t see any way to keep going if we don’t have some light. Stay close.”
Shanti focused on the circle of yellow light in front of Connor’s feet, doing her best to step where it was safe.
On and on they went, hour after hour, Shanti hollow with hunger and weighed down by exhaustion. She thought for a moment of asking Connor to let her take a nap, just a few minutes of sleep right here on the ground. But she couldn’t fail him. Then it came to her that this is how so many Rohingya survivors had come to Bangladesh—fleeing on foot through the mountains at night. She couldn’t fail them either.
Shanti kept going, step after weary step, a light rain falling.
It must have been close to midnight when Connor stopped, turned the flashlight toward an unusually long and high mound of vines to their right.
Shanti fought to catch her breath. “Are we there yet?”