“Exactly.” He squeezed her arm and said, “Come on. Let’s go.” And he led the way down one of the piers.
As they approached the water, she asked, “Does that mean that they’re gone and that Marge’s safe now?”
“Not yet, but she’s getting there.”
“How long until we join them?”
He nodded discretely to a Zodiac out in the ocean, going away from them. “They’re on that.”
She stared at it. “I wish we were too,” she said softly.
“No need,” he said. “We’ll be on our own.”
She looked up at him. “I don’t understand how you can command all these resources.”
“You’d be surprised,” he said. “At least Uncle Sam’s money is being put to good use.”
She smiled bravely at that. He continued to walk her toward the water. His gaze searched the harbor, looking for their ride. As she stood stock-still beside him, she asked, “Is that the military behind us?”
“It is,” he said in a low voice.
“Chinese military?” she asked, her nervousness getting to her.
He walked slowly, gripping her fingers gently in his hand, as they walked down the pier. “Doesn’t mean they’re looking for us,” he said.
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t either,” she snapped.
He loved the grit showing up every time her back went up. “You’re right,” he said, “but chances are, they don’t even know anything about us.”
“But what if they do?”
“Then we might have a bit of a skirmish,” he said. “I’m looking for our ride right now.”
She sucked in her breath and almost held it.
“Relax,” he said.
“But they are coming up behind us.”
He walked to the side of the pier, where there was a bench, and positioned himself where he could turn and defend her behind him. He also saw their ride approaching from the side.
What they needed was a few moments to get on it quietly and calmly, without suspicion. He studied the layout of the pier, noticing the military police were about one hundred yards away and closing in. There was no pause in their walk. There was no determined look on their face.
“I don’t think they even know we’re here,” he said.
“I really don’t want to take that chance,” she said nervously.
He gripped her fingers and said, “I need you to stay calm. I need you to not let them know anything is different. We can’t alert their attention to us.”
She took a long slow deep breath. “I guess that’s what happens when you’re kidnapped and taken captive,” she said almost bitterly. “You become forever worried about what’s … when it’ll happen again.”
“It won’t happen on my watch,” he said.
“You don’t know that,” she said. “You can’t hold both of them off.”
He looked down at her, his lips turned in a crooked smile, and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. But I don’t want them to be aware that we are, in any way, anything other than tourists.”
At that, her gaze was caught by something in the water.
He looked over and smiled. “Yes, watch the fish,” he said and pointed a little farther out to another swarm, a school of fish that he couldn’t name.
“Mother Nature’s beautiful,” she said, with a murmur.
“Not only is she beautiful but she’s also very good at what she does.”
“What, kill?” she asked, almost a snarl to her voice.
“There are always predators in this magical kingdom,” he said. “The trick is to make sure you’re not at the bottom of the totem pole.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but I was put at the bottom, so it’s a little bit odd to even be thinking that I’m trying to get out of it.”
“I get it,” he said. “Hold strong.”
She nodded slowly. As the men came closer and then walked past, she slowly let out her breath. “That,” she said, “was not very comfortable.”
“They’ll have to turn around and come back as well,” he said, turning her in his arms and pointing out more fish that were brilliant works of art. Up along the water, several junk boats were coming, some full of wares to peddle to the tourists and locals alike.
She smiled. “It must be an interesting life to live on a boat like that.”
“I don’t know about interesting,” he said. “It’d be fun for a while. But I think you might get a little more feeling of being closed and hemmed in.”
“Do you think so?”
“Well, in your room, you couldn’t get out,” he said, “but, when you’re out in the water in one of those, you really have no place to go either.”
She thought about it and nodded. “I guess you always think that you’re in a big wide-open sea, under the blue sky, and you won’t feel that same feeling. But, because you can’t get off, maybe you do.”
“It’s exactly how it feels, yet, on the other hand, it is home for many, many thousands of people.”
She nodded. One junk boat in particular pulled up in front of them and pointed at his wares. She smiled and shook her head.
As it was, Diesel smiled and gently pushed her down one of the ramps and said, “Let’s take a closer look.” And leading her down the wooden steps, they approached the area, where all the junks were lined up. He said, “Don’t look around.”
“Now I just want to,” she snapped.
“Doesn’t matter if you want to or not,” he said. “They’re watching us.” They walked up to the first boat, and he studied the fruit. “Do you want a piece of fruit?”
“I don’t think I could eat anything,” she said.
He nodded and smiled and dickered for a piece and quickly picked it up and handed it to her.
She looked down at the pineapple and smiled. “Well, I do happen to like these.”
“Good,” he said. He kept walking, as if toward the other boats, as if wondering what the other boats might have for sale.
“I guess you can get anything here, can’t you?”
“Literally anything,” he said.
She
