Free The Vanishing by John Connor

Now.’
    There was movement above them, inside the actual lab block, over their heads. He heard a door swing open, then there was a man right in front of them, legs moving in front of the grille. He was walking across the space in front of the lab. His legs stopped in front of the grille and Tom heard the crackle of static from a radio set, then words: ‘Max? You there?’
    Another crackle, then: ‘ Yes. ’
    The man was standing not four feet from them. ‘We can’t find her,’ he said quietly, in broken English. What was the accent? German? ‘They fucked it up. Went fucking crazy, shooting everything. Can you get over here?’
    A short break, then a crackle and click. ‘ Yes. I’m done. ’
    ‘Any problems?’
    ‘ No problems. He didn’t get far. It was a diversion, I think. But he wouldn’t let me near. He was armed. He got one of the Somalis. You clear at that end? ’
    ‘You could say that. They shot everything that fucking moved. One left only. The woman – Mailot.’ A pause, then the man added: ‘One down here too. The target shot him.’
    There was a longer gap before they heard the voice on the radio again. ‘ Clarify. They missed the target and the other woman? ’
    ‘No. Just the target. Mailot is here. I have her.’
    ‘ Fuck … ’ More words followed, but in a completely different language. Russian? Whatever it was, the anger was very clear.
    ‘Suggest we just sit tight and wait,’ the one in front of them said. ‘We’ve got it all covered. The target will have to eat and drink. There’s nowhere to go.’
    ‘ We can’t wait. It has to be sorted quickly. We have five days maximum. That’s the deal. And she could lie low for much longer than that. Or there could be interruptions before then – it’s likely there will be. It’s her birthday in five days, so anyone could arrive – people like this use helicopters like they’re taxis. They can get here quickly. She could have invited a cruise ship full of people. We have to find her now … ’
    The voice was silenced by the man in front of them cutting in. ‘But we can’t cover the whole island.’
    Another pause.
    ‘ I agree. But maybe the other girl can help. Wait for me. I’ll ask her. ’

10
    She scrambled too quickly back to the first mesh, making too much noise. Tom followed, grabbing at her legs, trying to slow her. She’d flipped, he thought. Something had snapped inside her. She was going to give them away, get them both shot.
    But at the other side, back in the open, she stood immediately and moved straight into the jungle. She clearly knew where she was going, and he had trouble keeping up with her. She ran through the fronds with the gun in both hands, head down to stop the branches lashing her eyes. They were deep into the trees before he could catch up, grab her and spin her to face him. ‘What are you doing? What the fuck are you doing?’
    ‘They’re going to do something to Janine,’ she panted. ‘You heard. I have to stop them …’
    ‘For Christ’s sake! You can’t stop them. There’s four of them. Maybe more. All armed …’
    But already she was off again, heading downhill into deeper layers of fern that rose well above her height. He cursed and followed into the damp darkness. As the ground levelled out she pushed through to a narrow trail, with less vegetation around her legs, then started running along it in the half-light.
    He had to stop her. Precisely what they wanted was to get her to break cover. If they were covering this trail then it was already too late. He kept pulling at her shoulder, trying to halt her, but she shook him off, kept going. She was much stronger than he had imagined. And determined. The trail was getting wider, moving uphill, the trees farther apart at each side, letting in more light through the gaps in the canopy. If they were up ahead, waiting for her, then she would be perfectly visible. ‘Sara, please stop,’ he cried, trying to whisper and shout at the same time.