Banning lay still, listening, adrenaline causing his heat to beat quickly. It was still daylight outside. The roaring of the blood in his ears made it hard for him to pick up the sound. After a few seconds he heard it too, the unmistakable mosquito whine of the microlight's engine.
He raised his head and turned it, trying to pick up the direction the noise was coming from.
North.
They both sat up and Banning looked out from under the shelter, checking that it was well hidden under the trees. Satisfied that it was, he waited.
"He's not coming up the beach," he murmured. "It sounds like he is inland a bit."
"What do you think he's doing?
Banning paused before replying – considering.
"I'm not sure. I would have thought he would be looking for footprints on the beach. Unless... maybe they don't think we are this far south and are not looking for us on the beach."
Sure enough, a few moments later, the microlight buzzed almost immediately overhead of their position back from the beach and disappeared over the headland close to them, just to their south. They stayed out of sight, under the shelter, as it flew over but then a few moments later the engine abruptly stopped.
"Damn!" whispered Banning.
"What?"
"He just landed on the next beach."
"What are we going to do?" Pitcher became alarmed.
Before he could answer they heard another engine coming from the north.
"You've got to be kidding! They've got another one," he hissed.
The second microlight flew over the canopy of palm trees above their heads and disappeared beyond the headland. A few moments later, its engine stopped as well.
"You know, I wonder if their base is on the next beach," Banning paused, thinking and then turned to Pitcher .
"I don't understand what is going on here?" he said searching her face. "This guy must be a complete psychopath. Who in their right mind buys a heap of aircraft and employs people to look for an ex- girlfriend in the bush?"
Pitcher looked worried.
"Are you in the mafia or something?" Banning's gaze was intense.
"No!" Pitcher became indignant.
"Is he in the Mafia?"
"I don't think so."
"I don't get this," he said.
"Well, he is very wealthy, so he can easily buy lots of microlights," volunteered Pitcher.
"Yes, but why? Why would he? What's in it for him? There has to be a reason he is doing this. I can't believe a jealous man, even with a strong sense of pride would go to all this effort and expense to hunt down a couple of women in the bush."
"You make us sound worthless." She sat up, folded her arms and glared at him.
"No, no, no. I don't mean it like that. Look. Think about it. People have disagreements all of the time and relationships bust up. Sometimes they are messy and people get carried away in the passion and the heat of the moment and sometimes hurt one or the other or even kill them. But they are usually crimes of passion and after a few days of cooling down all the heat goes out and the behaviour is not sustained. These guys just keep escalating."
YOU ARE READING
Calypso's Mast
مغامرةSomething smashed into her, knocked out all of her wind and spun her around. A vice clamped over her mouth and crushed her chest. A second later, she was behind a bush and looking eye to eye with Suzi. Suzi growled. "Shut-up, Suzi," hissed Banni...
