Redback. Lindy Cameron
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cabin in the semicircle and opened the door to the terrified hostages. Not surprisingly, coaxing them out into a dark night of staccato gunfire, thumping explosions beyond the garden barrier, and a lot of hysterical shouting had taken up most of that time, even though the source of the noise was still out of sight.
Gideon wasted a quick thought on why no one had come after them yet. Either the rebels and their other unexpected visitors were keeping each other nicely occupied or the Americans didn't have a clue where the hostages were actually being held.
'Incoming team,' Finch's voice announced before he, Marco and Pete broke cover on the other side of the garden.
'Got you,' Gideon said. 'Pete, go help Coop with the other cabins.'
'I'm on it,' Pete acknowledged, disappearing back into the vegetation.
Gideon turned back to her charge. Dr Rossi flinched and swore as every extra loud blast smacked the air over-and-above the clamour of the firefight, but she was obviously determined to get everyone out. And by herself - if necessary. The woman was already on her way to cabin number five.
Gideon took off after her, shouting orders to her squad as she ran. 'Marco, get over here. Finch, take all five cabins from your end. I've got our package.' She leapt onto the veranda. 'Dr Rossi.'
'What?' Jana asked, whacking the padlock to unwedge it from the door jam so she could cut it.
'My team will look after the others. Come with me.'
'I'm not leaving anyone,' Jana said and kicked open the door. Sally Tan and Shirley Moore, another Australian and one of the Kiwi delegates, rushed into her arms.
'Marco, take these nine to the boats,' Gideon said, indicating the clutch of ex-hostages huddled on the path, and the two women that Dr Rossi had just released.
Jana directed her colleagues towards Alan and the other eight delegates - oh, and another soldier, she noted - then turned to make for the next cabin.
Gideon rolled her eyes, flung out her arm and grabbed Dr Rossi by the back of the neck.
Jana was running on pure adrenalin now. She turned with her fists up, ready for a fight.
'Whoa,' Gideon frowned. 'Same side, remember.'
'Come on then,' Jana urged, peering up into the blue eyes of her rescuer's grease-blacked face. Well, one blue eye - the other had a lens device over it now. And to be honest, the colour was simply recall from the quick glimpse in her cabin. It was certainly too dark now to see the finer points of this statuesque soldier who, not an hour before, had been nothing to her but a desperate hope. And, admittedly, she had envisioned Rambo or The Rock. Jana planted her hands on her hips, rain-checked the promise of allegiance, and continued the challenging stare. It didn't work.
'Dr Rossi. We are going. Before they,' Gideon hoicked a finger in the direction of the mayhem behind them, 'any of them, catch up to us.'
'Boy, am I sick of people telling me what to do.'
'Let me be the last then.'
Chapter Four
Laui Island, Pacific Ocean
Tuesday 6.50 pm
Jana surrendered to the inevitable, but only because the other soldier had already rounded up her liberated colleagues and disappeared into the dark with them.
'How come your friend gets a crowd and you only get me?' Jana asked her rescuer.
'Because I'm in charge.'
'Oh,' Jana said.
'See that shed over there?' Gideon scoped the area as she spoke. 'Run and wait. Go.'
Jana cut straight across the lawn to the sun shelter and crouched by a low cane table. 'So how many of you are there?' she asked when the woman-in-charge joined her.
'We're a squad of nine.'
'I gather the rest of your men, or women, are blowing the island to smithereens then.'
'No. The Americans are doing that. And please don't ask me why,' Gideon said, pushing through the thick garden barrier to get to the edge of the path. The way appeared to be clear.
'Is that because you can't tell me, or you don't know?'
'Yes,' Gideon acknowledged, wondering if there was any kind of situation in which this woman would shut up. With a swift hand movement she indicated that Dr Rossi should stay behind her as they headed down the sandy path.
The confusing din of gunfire, which was now coming from directions other than just the docks and rec area, made it almost impossible to hear anything else - like approaching soldiers. Anything, that is, except Dr Rossi.
'You know,' Jana said, 'it's nice that you're the main man here, but it doesn't explain why I…'
Gideon stopped dead and put her hand on her charge's shoulder to stop her progress. Gideon looked down at the woman who, without the advantage of a night-lens, had no idea she was being glared at. 'You are the reason we're here, Dr Rossi,' Gideon explained.
'Me? Why?' Jana, all but speechless with surprise, assumed she was being teased until she felt the taken-aback twitch in her rescuer's hand.
'You're asking me?' Gideon asked.
'Well yeah. There's no one else here,' Jana said, waving at the dark.
That's what you think. Gideon caught a movement to their right, down the other path.
'Well, I don't know anything. I'm just your escort for the night,' Gideon whispered, keeping her night-eye on the two men who were looking in every direction except their six.
'Oh,' Jana said. 'Well do you at least have a name?'
'Yes.' Gideon noted that the bare backs and sheer variety of dangling weapons meant the men were easily tagged, even in this distance, as PRA fighters not Americans and certainly not her Redbacks.
'Well what is it?'
'Gideon. Commander,' she replied quietly. Ah good, they're moving out. No they're not. Yes. No. Oh come on boys, which way? Make up your alleged minds.
'Commander what? I didn't catch…' Jana was silenced by a hand clamping over her mouth. She allowed herself to be pushed down to her knees. Again.
Concentrating on the now departing enemy, Gideon became aware of an impatient tapping on her leg. The Doc probably can't breathe; but three more seconds and the rebs would be out of sight. Two, one - gone. Hmm, just a few more secs and she won't be able to talk at all.
The attention-seeking tap had become a full-on whack on her thigh, so Gideon let go of her package and turned to peer in the direction of Dr Rossi's pointing finger.
Breaking cover from the foliage behind them - but moving diagonally across the path not directly down it towards them - was trouble. The rebel, who was still about 12 metres distant, vanished back into the garden, only to repeat the crisscross manoeuvre a couple of seconds later.
Jana, who'd only seen a hulking shape doing a slow zigzag, nodded to indicate she understood from the Commander's light touch on her shoulder and lips, that she should stay low and silent.
A moment later - as the entire island began exploding around her - she found herself alone on the path.
A thunderous series of detonations accompanied Gideon's crash into the vegetation. While grateful for the cover provided by the superfluous destruction of Laui resort, she also registered the curious but distinctive click-bang-reverberation of the explosions. As every explosive device owned a particular sound and a unique blast wave, or 'atmosphere-smack' as the Redbacks called it, Gideon wondered who the hell was using time-coded C4. She knew it wasn't her team, which meant either the PRA had booby-trapped the island, or the Americans were redefining overkill.
She crouched and waited a little behind the spot where the stray rebel should cross in another two moves, if her timing was right and assuming