The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 66

'We made it!' Anatoly shouted joyously as he, Sara and other prisoners joined us ashore. But Oliver and Slade were nowhere to be seen.

'Where's Oliver?' I asked Anatoly as I gave him a hug.

'He- he mustn't have made it of the ship!' Sara cried. 'Slade!'

'What about Slade?' I asked, concerned.

Surely Slade hadn't kept him prisoner after what Oliver had done with Shado? No one could have told him.

'He knows,' Sara bowed her head, reading my mind. 'He knows the truth about Shado.'

'That means he's in trouble!' I exclaimed. 'We've got to do something!'

No one responded.

'We need to go back!' I repeated. 'He's our friend!'

'We can't,' Sara said gently. 'It's too dangerous.'

'I can't let him down, Sara,' I shook my head. 'Me and him, we both got on the freighter together, and we swore that we would both get off the freighter together. I made a promise.'

'And I made a promise that no one else would get hurt!' Sara exclaimed. 'I want to help Ollie, more than anything. But we can't just rush back on that boat and get caught. We need a plan.'

'Okay,' I said sadly.

---

'Yeah, this is much better than the freighter,' Hendrick complained as we entered our hideout.

'You prefer boat, Hendrick?' Anatoly asked sarcastically, making me laugh under my breath a little. 'Feel free to swim back.'

As they talked, I could see Sara looking round the hideout, her face telling me she was thinking about Oliver. I joined her and held her hand to help her through her worry.

'Sara said Oliver survived here over a year,' Peter told Hendrick. 'We can do the same.'

'Unless Ivo and his men come find us,' Hendrick pointed out, pacing the old plane.

'We don't know what happened on the boat,' Peter said. 'Who's alive, who's dead.'

'He's right,' I nodded to Hendrick. 'For all we know, Slade or Oliver could have killed Ivo and his men. Maybe that's why they've not returned.'

'Sara, are you there?' Slade's voice suddenly broadcasted from Sara's radio.

'Slade,' Sara replied, quickly grabbing hold of it and putting it to her mouth. 'Is Oliver-?'

'He is in pain, yes,' Slade whispered scarily, making me shudder and feel cold at the thought of Slade torturing Oliver for the wrong reasons. 'But he is still breathing. For now.'

I gasped and tried to hold in my tears. Slade couldn't be doing this. Shado's death wasn't Oliver's fault.

'Listen, Slade, you won,' Sara quickly blurted out, worried sick. 'You have the Amazo. Just, let Oliver go and you can leave us here.'

'That's my problem, Sara,' Slade whispered. 'I can't leave.'

'Why not?' Sara asked in a puzzled tone.

'During our assault, the ship's engine was damaged,' Slade explained. 'She won't sail. During the attack, unfortunately I decapitated the engineer.'

All I wanted to do was to rant at Slade about how horrible he was and how I wanted to decapitate him, but I couldn't. I had to stay quiet if I wanted us to get anywhere.

'So what can we do about our problem, Sara?' Slade went on. 'You want Oliver back, and I need someone qualified to fix this boat. For Oliver's sake, I sure hope that Mr Hendrick is there with you.'