Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [41]
As I ran along the covered walkway to the bus pickup point, yet another police car came roaring down the road. I took cover behind a large standing refrigerator and waited while it passed. I could have done with some light refreshments, but the door on the drinks chiller was chained and padlocked shut. I moved on as the latest squad car screeched to a halt beside the others.
This was the moment! Keeping low, I sprinted across the broad concourse. There were no shouts or shots and I was down the wooden terraces onto the sand. Here I took shelter behind a bar kiosk while I got my bearings.
“Sami?”
“I hear you, Daniel. Have you got a plan C?”
“Why?”
“There are two police launches patrolling the sea side and another chopper heading that way. We’re having to move out.”
“Shit!”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll go bush and work out a plan.”
‘I’ll try and come up with something.”
“Please do. My arse is feeling more than a little exposed over here,” I replied, and I really did feel like a little boy lost. Right at that moment in time I was not feeling confident of anything. The only thing I did know was that I had to get the hell away from the fort. The gunfire had stopped but there were more police sirens in the air as well as the sound of approaching choppers, a whole bunch of them. It was time to move, but God only knew where and how.
With Simone, I’d walked the beach promenade past the hotels, including the one I knew to be Lu’s. That was obviously where the second wave of his gunmen had hailed from. It was now almost 01:30, the Rasa resort still had lights blazing. I was sure their guests were wondering what the hell was happening. Some of them would no doubt be thinking WW2 was being reprised.
I could see that some of the beachside bars back towards the middle of the island appeared to still be open. Or at least they had lights on. Not that that would be any help to me, especially dressed as I was. I left my temporary sanctuary and started along the beach away from the fort. I stayed off the tram road for the moment, and then a chopper came sweeping in from behind the Rasa Sentosa Resort. The million-candlepower spotlight was turning the night into day along the beach. In seconds it would catch me if I didn’t move, and fast.
I ran for the jungle fringing the beach road. I knew that one of the entrances to the nature walk started close to where I was heading. If I hadn’t already overshot it, I might just get into the cover of the bush.
The entrance to the trail was right in front of me. I threw myself into it and rolled into the undergrowth. I lay there head down, making like a shadow as for a moment night turned into day all around me. The chopper thudded on by and was gone, at least for a while. I imagined that any young lovers having a late-night grope out on the beach were going to get a real shock this night.
On the trail, I started to climb quickly. Height is an advantage in virtually any situation. I needed to get off the island tonight because I had no doubt that there would be police and troops scouring every centimetre of Sentosa come dawn.
I turned on my headlamp and screwed it right down to the dimmest beam possible. The track forked. One pathway, the one I’d come down with Simone, curved away to my left. However, there was an old overgrown trail going away to the right, along the side of the hill. My only way off the island was either over the bridge or by swimming. The bridge was my first option. The old trail at least led in the right direction.
“Are you still okay?” It was Sami in my ear. I answered in the affirmative as I threaded my way along the defunct pathway. The jungle was reclaiming it and in a year or so it would be gone. For now it was the equivalent of a three-lane highway for an old jungle fighter like me. Another chopper roared by overhead. Even under the cover of the trees, I shielded my lamp, dim as it was. If the machines flying above the island didn’t have heat-sensitive kit fitted, I had to believe that others with that technology