“She’s onto me,” said Bill. “She pulled a gun on me without any warning or sound and I flinched away from it before she pulled the trigger. It wasn’t even loaded.”
“Jesus…”
“I have an idea. We’ve got no choice but to take Reilly with us. If we don’t and he realises we’re gone, he might alert Hannegan before we can get to that trawler. But we won’t tell him what we’re doing until the moment we do it. If he tries to betray us or stop us, we’ll… do whatever we have to. But if I’m somehow wrong about him, we can still all get away.”
Ade swallowed hard. “So the plan’s otherwise the same?”
Bill nodded. “A launch will be waiting to take us to the trawler from the beach on the far side of the village, but it’s too risky for them to hang around more than a minute or two. If we’re not there at the exact scheduled time, they’ll leave without us.”
“I just can’t believe Reilly would inform on us,” said Ade. “It goes against everything I know about him.”
“Goddamn it, he lied to us about his family!” Bill hissed. “I smelled the same damn soap on his skin that Hannegan uses. The son of a bitch has been getting preferential treatment. Do you understand? It’s him or us.”
He heard Ade swallow. “Sure. I understand.”
Bill didn’t sleep that night. From the sound of their breathing, neither did any of the others - all except Reilly, who still had Owen’s bed. When the time came, Bill rolled out of his bunk and pushed Owen awake. He grumbled and sat up.
Bill held up five fingers. “Five minutes,” he mouthed, then did the same for Ade.
“What’s going on?” asked Reilly, when Bill pushed him awake.
Bill pressed a hand over Reilly’s mouth, then put a finger to his lips.
“What’s happening?” Reilly demanded, too loudly. “What are you doing?”
Bill shook his head, then ignored him, waiting while Owen laced up his boots before doing the same for Ade. Then he helped Bill lever up the two long floorboards.
“You’re escaping?” asked Reilly.
“I’ll go first,” Bill said, tapping his own chest, then pointing to the gap in the floor for Reilly’s benefit. “Then you,” he pointed at Reilly, and then at Owen and Ade, “then the others.”
Bill slid down through the narrow gap before Reilly could say anything more. His knees pressed into damp soil and he squirmed beneath the floorboards towards the gorse bush. A body pushed through the gap behind him, and he heard Reilly cursing and muttering as he flailed around in the dark.
Bill crawled under the gap in the fence. Reilly came next, standing up and staring around. Ade followed, half-dragged by Owen.
Bill took Ade’s other arm. It was always going to be slow going; Owen and Reilly at least could walk, but they’d have to carry Ade most of the way.
“This way,” said Bill, pointing in the direction of the village.
Reilly grabbed Bill’s free arm. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Bill shook him free, then tapped at his arm as if he were wearing a watch and mouthed the words no time at him.
“Of course there was time!” Reilly’s speech was becoming more slurred; he’d been relying on the memory of what his voice sounded like in order to speak, and that memory was fading. “You didn’t trust me.”
Bill shook his head. There was nothing more he could say.
They reached the village. Bill felt the water lapping around his feet as they navigated a street. He could sense Reilly’s amazement at the way he moved as easily as a sighted person.
Then they turned a corner, and then another, and Bill suddenly realised Reilly had slipped away. He heard the man’s retreating footsteps as he hurried back in the direction of the camp.
“Reilly,” said Ade, his voice urgent. “He’s-”
“I know.” The words felt heavy in Bill’s mouth. He sniffed the air, cold and sharp in his nostrils. “Keep going,” he told Ade. “Make sure you and Owen get to the rendezvous.”
“But what about you?”
“Just get there,” he snapped. “If he alerts the camp authorities, it won’t just be our skins - it’ll be everyone on that trawler as well.”
Had he known this moment would come, he wondered? Could things have gone a better way, a way that didn’t end in betrayal and death?
He didn’t, couldn’t, know. There was only this moment, and the next.
He pulled Ade into a tight embrace, then gave Owen a final nod before turning and hurrying back in the direction of the camp. It didn’t take long for him to pick up Reilly’s scent.
It soon became evident that Reilly had got lost in the dark. Bill could hear his laboured breathing, and followed the sound of his splashing feet down a side-street.
Bill stepped towards him and sensed Reilly’s alarm. “I’m sorry,” said Reilly. “I got lost. I-”
“You were trying to make your way back to the camp, weren’t you?”
Reilly clearly didn’t need his hearing to guess what Bill was saying. “You’re not even blind, are you?” Reilly demanded, backing away.
“No, I was blind.” Bill moved closer. “To certain realities, at least. Hannegan wanted you to spy on us, didn’t she? That’s why she put you in our hut.”
Reilly couldn’t hear him. It didn’t matter. Without even thinking about it, Bill had bent down and scooped up a rock that felt heavy in his hand.
“You don’t understand,” said Reilly, his voice thick. “My family - they said they would…” He paused and let out a shuddering breath.
