There was a deep rumble of thunder directly above us as I guided her hands round the thin trunk, debating whether or not to explain what I was going to do with her next.
'Grip hard and don't let go, no matter what.'
I decided against it; she was in enough pain without anticipating more.
I crawled back down to her feet and fed the belt under both her ankles, digging into the mud so I didn't move her damaged leg any more than I had to. Then, kneeling in front of her, I gently picked up the foot of the injured leg between my hands, the right supporting her heel and the other on her toes.
Her whole body tensed.
'It's going to be OK, just keep hold of that tree. Ready?'
Slowly but firmly, I pulled her foot towards me. I rotated it as gently as I could, stretching the injured leg out straight to stop the taut muscles from displacing the bone any more and, I hoped, bring some relief from the pain. It wasn't easy, there was a lot of thigh muscle to pull against. Every movement must have felt like a stab from a red hot knife. She gritted her teeth and for a long time didn't make a sound, then finally it all became too much. She screamed as her body jerked, but didn't release her grip as the exposed bone started to retract from the open wound.
Rain fell in torrents and more thunder rumbled across the darkening sky as I continued with the traction. She screamed again and her body convulsed as I sat down, pulling her leg with all my weight.
'Nearly there, Carrie, nearly there ...'
Luz came running over and joined in the sobs. It was understandable, but I didn't need it. I hissed at her, 'Shut up!' There was no other way that I could think of, but it just made her worse. She whimpered again, and this time I just let her get on with it.
My hands were busy and I couldn't cover her mouth. I couldn't let go because the muscle contraction would pull it back in again and cause more damage.
I started to feed the canvas belt over Carrie's ankles with my left hand, and then over her sandal led feet in a figure of eight.
'Keep your good leg straight, Carrie, keep it straight!' Then I pulled back on the ends of the belt to keep everything in place, tying a knot with the belt still under tension to keep her feet together.
Carrie had been jerking like an epileptic, but still held on to the tree and, more importantly, kept her good leg straight.
'It's OK, OK. It's done.'
As I knelt up Luz fell on top of her mother. I tried to get her off.
'Let her breathe.' But they weren't having any of it, clutching each other tight.
It was getting so dark I could hardly see beyond the two of them now, and the fracture still had to be immobilized so it couldn't do any more damage. I gently folded over the sweatshirt sleeve lying under her knees and tied the ends together with the knot on the side of her good knee. Large lumps of bright green leaf protruded between her legs now that they were getting strapped together.
I placed strips of sweatshirt firmly and carefully over the wound. I fed the material under her knees and then worked it up before tying off on the side of the good leg. I wanted to immobilize the fracture, and put pressure on the wound to stem the blood loss.
Rain cascaded down, blurring my vision as it ran into my eyes. I was working virtually by feel as I tied off the other sleeve round her ankles, adding more support to the canvas belt.
I stayed sitting at Carrie's feet, almost shouting to make myself heard above the rain. TMow you can give me my Scout's first-aid badge.'
All I had to do now was make sure that the sweatshirt wasn't tied too tight. I couldn't tell if the blood supply was reaching below the ties; without light I couldn't see if the skin was pink or blue, and finding the pulse was a nightmare. There was really only one option.
'If you feel pins and needles, you've got to tell me, OK?'
I got a short, sharp 'Yep!'
I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face now as I checked Baby-G. The dial illuminated and it was 6.27. Just behind me, I could hear both of them crying, even above the drumming on the vegetation.
I was starting to feel cold. Not too sure where their heads were, I called out into the darkness, 'You two must keep physical contact with each other all the time. You must each know where the other is all the time never let go of each other.' I put my hand out and felt wet material: it was Luz's back as she cuddled her mother.
No way were we walking out of here. What the fuck was there to do now? I didn't really know. Well, actually I did, but I was trying to deny it. That was probably what was making me feel cold.
I was kneeling there in the rain when I heard Luz speak up.
'Nick?'
I tapped my hand on her back to acknowledge her.
'You going to get Daddy now?'
THIRTY-SIX
It seemed I had come to that bridge.
I'll be no more than a couple of hours.'
She wasn't wearing a watch, but some kind of timing would be something to cling on to.
'Eight thirty, Nick, eight thirty...' Carrie fought between short, sharp breaths, as if I needed reminding.
'If I'm not back by first light,' I said, 'you need to get out into the open ground and make yourself known. You'll need taking care of. Once the weather clears they can use the heli to get you to hospital.' Maybe, maybe not: I didn't know what they'd do, but there was no other way if I didn't return.
Going back to the house had been a simple choice to make. Carrie needed medical attention. I needed a wagon to get her to Chepo. I had to go and get one, and that meant getting Aaron out of there too. Stealing a wagon in the middle of the night, then picking Carrie up so close to the house was a no-no: it simply wouldn't work. I needed to have control of the house and the people in it first.
I didn't know if it was the physical pain, or the realization that what I'd just talked about was a contingency plan for if Aaron and I were both dead, but she let out a loud sob. Rain drummed on Luz's back as she knelt over her mother and joined in. I just let them get on with it, not really knowing what else to do while I
tried to think through what I'd do once I was at the house without coming up with much.
I checked Baby-G: 6.32. Less than two hours till Aaron's bluff was called.
I felt my knees sinking into the mud. 'I'll see you both soon. In fact, I won't see you, I'll hear you ...' I gave a weak laugh.
I drew an imaginary straight line down her body to her feet. She hadn't shifted position since I'd laid her down, so I knew that that was the way to the treeline. I started crawling, feeling my way over the wet leaf litter, and soon emerged into the open ground.
There was an immediate difference in the ambient noise. The dull pounding of rain into mud took over from the almost tinny noise of it hitting leaves. It was just as dark, however, and because of the dead ground I couldn't see any lights from the house.
I stood up and stretched, then ripped an armful of palm leaves from the trees at the edge and laid them out on the ground at my entry point, throwing mud on top to keep them in place. Then, with the heel of my boot, I scraped deep score marks into the mud for good measure. It didn't matter if Charlie's men found the long straight puddles after first light by then I'd either have done my job and be away from here, or it would all have gone to rat shit anyway and Carrie and Luz would need finding.
I set off towards the house, conscious that the helicopter would be somewhere to my left. I was tempted to make my way over to it and have a look for a weapon.
But what if the pilot was asleep inside or listening to a Walkman? What if they had somebody on stag? It was unlikely, in the middle of nowhere and with us now lost in the jungle, but still, I couldn't take the chance of a compromise so far from the house. The aim was to get all of us out of here, not go the best of three falls with someone in a helicopter.
As I crested the high ground, I saw the glimmer of light from the single bulb burning away in the shower area. There was no other lighting, nothing from Luz's bedroom, or Carrie and Aaron's. I certainly couldn't tell if our escape window was still open or not, and I didn't intend getting close enough to that side of the house to find out. Why bother? It was wasting time. I'd go to the side where I knew there was an entry point that would definitely get
