Not yet, at least.
They climbed and climbed. At the brow of one hill they dipped down, but only to then climb another. There were no paths or landmarks, but the men seemed to know where they were going. Nor did they seem to be affected by the heat in the same way as Ben and Aarya, who were weak with exhaustion.
When a plane flew high overhead, Ben stopped and waved manically to it.
Bad idea.
A brutal kick behind the knee knocked him to the ground; he was grabbed by the hair and pulled up again. The man with the wounded face didn’t speak, but his look told Ben all he needed to know: Do that again, and you’re history.
They ran for an hour, maybe more, before the scenery started to change again. Up ahead there was a craggy, cliff-like structure dominated by the wide open mouth of a cave. They were quite high up now, and behind them Ben could see the green zone from which they had just run, a mile or two in the distance, with a river snaking lazily through. He didn’t get the chance to stare for long, however, because they were forced towards the cave at gunpoint.
They were still several metres from the mouth of the cave when the air grew colder. Ben didn’t know whether to be relieved by the drop in temperature, or scared by the strangeness of it. They stepped into the cave’s mouth, out of the burning brilliance of the sun, and he felt as though he had been blinded.
It took a moment for his eyes to get used to the gloom. The cave walls were high and craggy. A little way from where he was standing he saw a bed of ash where a fire had recently been lit — clearly this place was no stranger to humans and in one corner of his mind he wondered if animals lived here too.
‘Get further into the cave!’
It was Amir’s voice. Ben spun round to see the man standing just behind him. His face shone with sweat, his milky eye bulged and he had placed the suitcase bomb at his feet. He untied their hands before instructing, ‘Both of you. Now! Further!’
Neither Ben nor Aarya could speak because of the rough, stinking gags round their mouths. They had no choice, though, but to do as they were told. Ben took Aarya’s hand and, timidly, they crept towards the back of the cave.
‘Wait!’ Amir hissed.
They stopped.
Their captor walked up to them. ‘These caves do not end,’ he said. ‘If you try to run away, you will be wandering around them for the rest of your lives. Which will be very short, without light, food or water.’
Ben narrowed his eyes as menacingly as he could. He pulled Aarya away and they continued walking into the caves while the men started talking in low voices. He could tell from the sound of their voices that they were discussing their next move.
He looked over his shoulder as they walked: ten metres, twenty metres. Amir was right: the cave seemed to go on for ever and the light from its mouth did not penetrate very far. Near-darkness soon engulfed them. When he was sure they were out of sight of the men, however, Ben stopped. He turned Aarya round and untied the gag from her mouth.
‘Ben—’ She started to say something, but he just pointed at his own gag. Moments later, that too fell to the floor.
‘Quick,’ Ben whispered. His voice was like sand paper. ‘They’ve just got us out of the way because they don’t want you to overhear what they’re saying. They’ll come and get us any minute.’ He peered into the darkness. There were openings off to either side — mini caves. It looked like Amir had been telling the truth. If they tried to escape, they’d get hopelessly lost.
‘What can we do?’ Aarya asked in a small voice.
Ben set his jaw. To flee into the unknown darkness of these caves would be madness, but there was no way he was going to give in to this without a fight. He drew a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. They couldn’t fight these men with guns. No way. They’d have to be cleverer than that. More subtle.
The beginnings of an idea started to form in his brain. It was a long shot, but it was the only shot they had…
The pieces of cloth that had been used to bind their mouths were lying on the cave floor. Ben picked them both up. ‘Wait there,’ he told Aarya.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Just wait.’ He headed further into the cave system, dropping one piece of cloth about fifteen metres away from where Aarya was standing, then continuing and dropping the other one even further in. He ran back to her and looked at his work. He could only just see the first piece of cloth; the second was obscured by the darkness of the cave.
‘If you were one of them and saw that,’ he whispered to Aarya, ‘what would you think?’
Aarya’s eyes widened as she understood what Ben was doing. ‘That we had gone further into the caves.’
Ben nodded. ‘Come on then,’ he said. Together they ran quickly into one of the smaller caves to the side.
It was impossibly dark in there. Thick, velvet blackness. ‘We need to hold hands,’ Aarya breathed. ‘If we are separated, we’ll never find each other again.’ They grasped each other’s hands; Ben used his free arm to feel his way in the darkness, touching the side wall of this new cave as they moved away from its entrance to make sure he knew where they were. In his head he counted paces. Five, ten, fifteen… They were twenty paces from the opening of the cave mouth before they stopped.
‘We’ll wait here,’ he said, speaking so quietly he could barely hear his own voice. ‘With a bit of luck they’ll follow the bits of cloth and not look here.’
‘With a bit of luck?’ Aarya said. She didn’t sound too convinced.
‘Yeah,’ Ben replied. ‘I reckon we’re due some, don’t you?’
‘And what then? They will not leave the bomb unattended. Someone will stay at the entrance to the cave.’
‘I know,’ Ben said. ‘But if we can get them to split up, that’s got to be a good thing, hasn’t it?’
‘They have guns, Ben. All of them.’
‘Well, if you’ve got a better idea, Aarya, I’m all ears.’
‘Do not be cross with me, Ben,’ Aarya scolded. For a moment she sounded for all the world like Ben’s mum. ‘I am trying to make sure we have thought of everything.’
Ben nodded. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘But come on — we won’t have much time before they realize we’ve pulled a fast one. If you’re going to think of something else, think fast.’
A silence. Aarya clearly didn’t have a better idea. ‘I hope you are right about this, Ben,’ she said finally.
‘I really hope you are right.’
‘Me too,’ Ben breathed. ‘Me too.’
They waited.
In the darkness, a second seemed like an hour and Ben tried not to think about what else they might be sharing this cave with. He closed his eyes — it made no difference, after all — and took some deep breaths. He was exhausted, but he knew he couldn’t give in to it now.
His clothes had become sweaty in the scramble up to the caves. Now, the moisture was pulling all the heat from his body. He started to shiver, and he felt Aarya doing the same.
Not long now, he told himself. Not long now and we can make a run for it…
‘They’re coming…’ Aarya whispered.
Ben strained his ears. Sure enough, he heard noises. Voices. Muffled and distant. Ben could barely make them out, but they sounded angry. And they were getting louder.
He held his breath. Find the cloth, he said to himself. Whatever you do, find the cloth…