*

  The handful of volcanologists on Bali were going crazy.

  The readings on their detection systems were off the chart and 800% stronger than they had initially predicted.

  The old shamans on the Island of the Gods had always said Agung was cursed, and that when it finally erupted again after fifty-three years it would erupt with little warning and destroy everything in its path.

  Of course, scientists didn’t believe such superstitious ramblings, but more than a few of them hunched over their beeping machines and flashing screens had failed to predict the eruption would happen so soon.

  And judging by those latest readings, it was going to blow any time now.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Ayu struggled for breath beneath the surface of the water, her tiny bloodied hands the only thing visible to Kane through the narrow gap. She swallowed several gulps of the filthy water and choked, images of her family flashing in her mind as she started to lose consciousness.

  Kane thrust his own hands through to grasp hers, but they sank below surface a second too soon.

  “Fuck!” he shouted in frustration. Got to get through this fucking wall!

  With his last ounce of energy Kane tore at the bricks, ripping them down one by one until three rows were cleared, but it wasn’t enough. The rumbling shakes of the ground had ceased, but right now Kane wished it would start again to help him destroy the stubborn wall. But it didn’t, and he tore into the next row.

  Ayu had been under for a full minute, and Kane knew there were only seconds left before she drowned. Kane was a strong man, in the best shape of his life, but he’d sapped his energy and could barely hold himself up on the wall and attack the bricks. Then he had an idea, and knew if it failed Ayu would die.

  He jumped down from the wall and waded a couple of steps to the middle of the room. Kane had practised the Korean martial art of tae-kwon-do for the best part of two decades, and had been awarded the highest achievable level; black belt, 9thDan. He was technically a Master. His best move? A flying roundhouse kick.

  He took just one more second to breathe and compose himself, and with the thrust of a tiger launching at its prey he flew through the air, twisting as he went, and slammed his right foot into the top bricks with a hammer blow before landing on the floor with a splash. It was a direct hit, but he had only succeeded in removing one solitary brick.

  “Ah, come on!” he bellowed, and knew he had only one more chance before it would be too late for Ayu.

  Again, he hustled to the centre of the room, and with a roar reminiscent of the caged tiger nearby he propelled himself once more at the wall, this time aiming five rows below the top. He struck with another powerful hit, and as he landed he turned to see a raging torrent of water flowing through the newly formed hole. Kane could not believe it actually worked.

  He burst into action, ripping at the crumbled edges of the hole, and in just a few seconds the poorly built division between the two cells had a wide enough gap to scramble through and pull Ayu’s inert body over into his side. Keeping her body afloat by balancing her on his knees, he immediately opened her mouth to check her airway was clear, and as powerfully as he dared he gave Ayu the kiss of life.

  *

  Jago checked his Rolex again, counting down the minutes until Putu’s hour was up.

  He had no doubt the overgrown village idiot would tell him what he wanted to know and that he would eventually reclaim his valuable product by force from the Chinese.

  But nobody crossed Jago and got away with it. His former boss had found that out the hard way, his head now a permanent trophy in the freezer box in Jago’s apartment in downtown Denpasar.

  No. Even if Putu did tell him everything, he would pay for his betrayal with his life and the lives of his loved ones and friend.

  The girl, well she had served her purpose and he would send her back to Ubud with a message, Jago safe in the knowledge that such a message meant The Rooster would never be crossed or betrayed again.

  Jago studied his watch one more time, and after staring patiently as the seconds ticked down towards the hour, he nodded at his guards to collect Putu from his cell. It was time for a little justice.

  He glanced over to his pride and joy, Pecalang, unsure who was relishing the meal to come more, himself or the starved tiger.

  *

  Ayu wretched a gut full of dirty water out in a violent gush, but amazing as it was to Kane, she was still alive. After a few seconds she looked at her rescuer, and despite the shock in her eyes she recognised her uncle Putu’s friend and smiled.

  “Hi,” said Kane.

  “Hello,” replied Ayu, before coughing and spluttering out more water.

  Kane rubbed her back until she had recovered a little more. “You are going to be okay,” he said, unsure if she understood or not, or even if it was true.

  But more as if she sensed what he said rather than understood the words, she nodded, a tiny smile parting her swollen lips.

  Kane stood and lifted Ayu to her feet. It was virtually pitch black in the cells, but it was obvious the water flowing from Ayu’s side was now rising in his own, approaching his knees and Ayu’s waist, and causing her to panic. Not surprising after all you’ve been through, he thought, and knew he had to find a way out of there soon.

  He believed there was no way out via his cell—the ancient door was just too solid—and looked above the flow of water into Ayu’s cell and scanned the walls. Grabbing his phone to once more use its torch feature he was dismayed to find it got destroyed in the battle with the bricks. He tossed it aside.

  But then he spotted their salvation.

  In the ceiling of Ayu’s cell was a large grate, almost like some kind of trapdoor, and that’s where most of the water streamed in from.

  Fucking rain, he thought with a wry grin, I did not come to Bali for the fucking rain, his very British sense of humour untimely given the circumstances.

  But he knew it was their only way out, and he turned to Ayu.

  “I am going over there,” he said, and first pointed to himself, and next motioned over the wall. Ayu’s eyes went wide with obvious fear as she understood what he meant.

  “No,” she said, one of only half a dozen English words she knew. “Please.”

  “It’s okay, I won’t leave you,” he pushed, smiling as best as he could to put her at ease. “You’re coming with me.”

  With no time to waste he lifted Ayu’s slight frame and sat her on top of the wall, the flow diminishing as the water level had evened out both sides. He scrambled over himself, and once on the ground he lifted Ayu down, the water still above her waist. Kane had no idea what he would find once they left the cells, but they could not risk waiting long to find out. He had to get Ayu out of there. And it had to be now.

  Sensing she knew his plan, he hoisted her onto his shoulders and stepped beneath the grate. With Kane on his tiptoes, she reached up and clasped her tiny fingers around the slots in the grate, and with a desperate lunge, Kane jumped, Ayu’s arms dislodging the grate from the hole.

  There was no way Kane could climb out of the cell, so his only chance was to send Ayu through and hope for the best. She seemed to realise this too, and scrambled into a standing position on his broad shoulders, and a moment later was pulling herself over the edge of the cell, and with a grunt, hauled herself out.

  She stared down at Kane, the smile not disguising the fear still in her eyes.

  Kane smiled back at her. “Go,” he whispered and pointed away to her left. “Go.”

  Ayu looked uncertain, but after a seconds’ pause she stood up and disappeared out of sight.

  Kane drew a deep breath, relieved he’d been able to help her escape what had almost become her tomb. But now she was gone he moved to the back of the cell and sunk to his knees, exhausted. What next? he wondered.

  Just then he heard a scraping noise from above and braced himself to see armed guards aiming guns at his head. But what he saw surprised him to the point of a wide grin. It was Ayu, and now she was smiling wide.

  A moment later she moved aside, and a second after that Kane had to take evasive action and dodge a plastic chair she dropped through the hole, the word Bintang and a familiar red star spinning through the air and landing with a splash. Kane had never wanted a bottle of Bali’s most popular beer more in his life than he did in that moment. But for now he’d settle for the chair.

  Standing it beneath the hole he stepped onto it and looked at Ayu.

  “Clever girl,” he said as he crawled through the hole. “Clever girl.”

  And fifteen seconds later he and Ayu were racing away to safety.

  Or so he thought.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Kane clutched Ayu’s hand tight as he led her down the dark winding passageway in search of a way out. He knew sunset had long since passed back above ground, so looking for a ray of light to lead them to their escape was… well that was only in the movies, anyway. Instead they crept along with caution, hoping they’d get lucky and not run into Jago’s men.

  Suddenly Kane heard a noise and froze. Is that a voice? It was, and it sounded like Ketut.

  “Ketut?” he whispered as loud as he dared, like you did when trying to get someone’s attention without wanting to wake them up, usually when drunk. “Is that you?”

  “Hiram?”

  Kane spun on his heels and strained his ears to listen.

  “Hiram?”

  There! Kane hustled to the end of that stretch of corridor and found a door in the wall. “Ketut?”

  “Yes, in here.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I am okay.”

  “Uncle Ketut?” blurted Ayu in Balinese.

  “Ayu? Is… is she hurt?”

  “Long story. She’s okay. We have to get you out of there.”

  “The door is on runners. If you lift from that side I think we can shunt it off.”

  “Got it.” Kane crouched and shoved his sore fingers beneath the steel edge of the door, bracing his right knee into the ground. Ketut did the same the other side.

  “Ready?” asked Ketut.

  “Ready!”

  “Okay. One. Two. Three.”

  Both men heaved upwards, straining their backs into the lift, but for a few seconds nothing happened.

  “Again,” said Kane. “Three. Two. One.”

  Both men lifted with all their strength, and after shifting on its runners for a few moments the door finally burst out of its frame and clattered to the floor, the crunching squeal of steel against stone ringing out along the corridor.

  “Ayu!” Ketut said, gaping in shock at the ragged appearance of his niece. “Are you hurt? Let me look at you.”

  “She’s okay. I’ll explain later. We need to get her out of here. Now!”

  Ketut scooped Ayu up into his arms and started to trot down the corridor. Four words from Ayu stopped him in his tracks.

  “Where is uncle Putu?”

  Ketut looked at Kane, then down at Ayu, and knew that, despite what he had done, the danger he had put them all in, they could not just leave him there to die. It was not what families did. It is not what Putu would do.

  “She is right… we can not leave him.”

  “No, we have to get Ayu out of here, far away from this place,” protested Kane, “We’ve got to get her safe.” Though it was the smart move, his heart told him to stay and search for his friend.

  Ketut released Ayu from the hug and turned to face Kane.

  “You take her, get her to safety. I will stay. I trust you, Hiram… please take Ayu away from here.” He paused, determination hardening his eyes. “Putu is my brother. It is a family problem now.”

  Conflicted, Kane looked at his friend, reluctant to leave him alone but determined to get Ayu out of this hell hole. But after another moment’s thought, he nodded. “Okay, I will take her,” he said, and turned to pick up the little girl.

  But Ayu was gone.

  “NOOO,” yelled Ketut, and turned on his heels, barreling after his niece with Kane hot on his heels.

  “She can’t have gone far,” shouted Kane as they rounded one bend in the dark after another. And then they heard a voice.

  “Hello, little girl. How did you get here?”

  Kane grabbed at Ketut’s sleeve and yanked him to a stop. “Jago’s men,” he hissed.

  Ketut breathed hard, listening, desperate to run for Ayu but wise enough to pause and think.

  “Come to rescue your stupid uncle?” said one of the guards, to which both men laughed. “Well, you have come to the right place.”

  The first guard snatched her up, and she screamed, but a second later Ketut and Kane flew around the corner and smashed into the unsuspecting thug with his back to them, slamming him into the wall and sending his handgun spinning through the air. Before the guard holding Ayu could react, Ketut snagged the loose gun and levelled it at his head.

  “Put her down, now!”

  The guard did so, shoving her to the ground.

  Kane grabbed her and pulled her away.

  “Give me your gun.”

  The guard hesitated a moment too long and Ketut smashed him on his skull with the butt of the pistol, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

  The second guard jumped to his feet several yards away and gritted his teeth before charging at Kane.

  Ketut raised the gun but Kane shouted, “No! The bullet could go anywhere.”

  Kane sidestepped the henchman with ease, and he spun so quickly he landed him a brutal kick to the gut as he passed. He doubled over, but was tough and soon recovered.

  Wary now, not suspecting such an adversary, he approached Kane again, duty bound to Jago and to protect the asset—the girl—at all costs.

  He lunged, his left jab sharp but missing, and Kane glared him down, confident he could deal with the now unarmed gangster.

  “Finish him,” demanded Ketut. “Or I will.”

  Kane knew he meant it, and it was all the inspiration he needed. His jowls clenched and his mind focused, and as inexplicable as it was, he smiled.

  Staring at Kane’s grinning face in disbelief, the thug was momentarily caught off balance, and Kane made his move. Powering off his stronger right leg, he flew through the air, his legs scissoring mid-flight, and his right foot connected with the man’s jaw with a stomach-turning crunch and he collapsed to the rocky floor in an ugly, unmoving heap, a dislocated shoulder and ruptured cruciate ligament for his troubles.

  Kane checked for a pulse, and satisfied the man wouldn’t die but that he wouldn’t be a threat any time soon, he turned to Ketut.

  Just then they heard a raucous metallic banging from somewhere nearby, as if some kind of heavy object was being repeatedly slammed against steel.

  “Putu?” they said in unison, and after following the sound for a few seconds were suddenly outside Putu’s cell door.

  “Putu? It is us,” said Ketut. “We are okay, and—”

  “Ayu?”

  “Yes, brother.... we have Ayu. She is fine.”

  From behind the thick door came silence, Putu awash with emotion.

  “Brother?” probed Ketut. “Putu?”

  “I am here.”

  Kane raced off and returned thirty seconds later with a set of keys from the fallen thugs. He swiftly tried each one in the heavy industrial padlock, and on the third attempt the big lock clicked open, and a weary looking Putu stepped out of the cell and Ayu leapt into his arms, burying her face in his massive chest.

  Although they couldn’t see Putu’s face, both Ketut and Kane knew by the big man’s quivering shoulders that he was crying too. After a few seconds Putu eased Ayu from his hug and put her down. He then reached back into the cell, just behind the door, and the look on her face when he handed Ayu her beloved Babaya Putu was a look of sheer joy. She squeezed it so tight it looked as if she might never let go, and Putu knelt and rejoined the hug.

  They gave them another moment, but then Hiram turned serious. “We have to get out of here. Now!”

  Putu nodded but asked, “Which way?”

  A sudden loud commotion from along the passage to their left made their decision for them.

  “This way,” yelled Putu, and three men and a little girl raced off down the tunnel to safety.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Jago looked at his expensive watch again and shook his head. He stood up and took a deep breath.

  “They should have been here by now. Go and check on them.” He dispatched two guards to find out what the holdup was and began pacing the room. Something was wrong. Jago could sense it. As he often did when he felt uneasy he approached the cage that held the magnificent tiger captive. He’d brought her a couple of years previous, and like all the others he’d had poached from the jungles of Sumatra, he fully intended to sell her off in pieces for a massive profit. But there was something about this one, something special he had noticed while appraising his purchase outside the sleepy Sumatran village of Bukit Lawang in the island’s northern highlands.

  So he had decided not to butcher the stunning animal, opting instead to keep her as a trophy and, as the name Pecalang translates to, a guard. There was no doubt she impressed his clients as they came to do business. In fact, one such client, a Taiwanese dealer, had offered him a massive two-million dollars. Yet Jago had turned down the incredible offer, declaring, “No money on Earth could tempt me into selling my beautiful Pecalang.”

  Of course, Jago knew Pecalang did not feel the same about him, knew she would rip him to shreds and eat him given half a chance. But not tonight. Tonight, someone else was on the menu.

  Jago heard a sudden disturbance to his right and turned to see Putu, the girl, and the two other men bursting into the room. A second later his remaining guards leapt to their feet and turned their semi-automatic weapons on the intruders, who froze, rooted to the spot.