Invisible Armies

Chapter 29

"– around here somewhere. They didn't just vanish. Maybe –"

"– It's not like we can call for backup. They're on foot. Let's get back to the vehicles, maybe some street kid saw –"

"– Wait. Wait a minute. Maybe they're in the water."

Danielle goes rigid with fear. Then both flashlights rise and rotate towards the ocean. One of them sweeps straight towards them.

"Take a deep breath," Danielle whispers to Jayalitha, "and trust me." She thrusts her right arm into the loops of her purse handle, threads her arms under Jayalitha's, and pulls her down into the ocean.

Jayalitha squirms violently at first. Danielle tightens her grip, and Jayalitha stiffens, then goes limp. Danielle kicks as hard as she can, trying to propel them past the breakwater, but her legs keep hitting Jayalitha's, impeding their progress, and when she must come up for air they are next to the wall of rock but not yet past it. Two circles of light crisscross the dark water, hunting them. Jayalitha gasps loudly for air, and Danielle is afraid she might be heard. She fills her lungs and pulls Jayalitha underwater again. She can tell they are past the breakwater by the way the surge of the sea strengthens, and for a moment she feels triumphant – until a wave catches them and flings them straight into the wall of rock.

The breakwater is made of stones the size of washing machines. Danielle's head hits one of them so hard, just behind her right ear, that she sees stars, sudden explosions of false light that fog her vision for a moment. A jagged edge scrapes painfully across her lower ribs. Somehow she manages to keep hold of Jayalitha. As the wave retreats, pulling them back out into the water, Danielle flails with her feet, propelling them out and away from the breakwater. Her vision slowly clears. The next wave is not as strong, it rushes them towards but not quite to the rocks, and with its ebb Danielle manages to get them far enough away from the breakwater that she thinks they are safe. If treading water for two, while bleeding, dazed, and being pursued by corrupt police officers, counts as safe.

The breakwater's invisibility works both ways. There is no way of knowing whether their pursuers are waiting for them on the beach. They might have gone already, or they might have heard Jayalitha's gasp and be willing to wait there until dawn. There is certainly no way Danielle can hold out that long. At first, kicking so frantically that her legs start to cramp, she fears exhaustion will soon force them back onto land. But when she relaxes a little, understanding that they are buoyant enough to stay in place with less work, her legs begin to loosen and grow accustomed to the rhythmic paddling motion that keeps them afloat.

"Are you okay?" she asks, keeping her voice very low. She thinks of Keiran's warning as they hid in the Goan jungle, that whispers carry farther than a quiet voice.

"I think so," Jayalitha says. Her voice is high and weak, she is still breathing fast, but at least she has managed to force herself to relax into a floating position, with Danielle holding her firmly from behind. "Do not let me go. Please."

"I won't," Danielle promises.

Time passes. Danielle has no idea how much. She can't let go of Jayalitha to look at her watch, and her sense of duration has been stretched like a rubber band by imminent peril. It feels like hours. It almost feels like she has spent her whole life treading water in this cold water, trying to ignore the pains in her side and skull. But surely it can't have been more than twenty minutes.

"How are you doing?" she asks.

Jayalitha starts at the sound of her voice. Then she says, her voice trembling with cold, "I am sorry, Miss Leaf. I am very sorry for the trouble I have brought on you."