[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.His eyes were starting to feel sore now.As the full glare of the new day started to burn over the desert landscape, he pulled the shades from the pocket of his work shirt.He thought about some of the things John had told him; the parables from the gospels.He remembered the one about the seeds falling on stony ground.He didn’t think his heart was stony ground any more.He wanted the seeds that had been sown into his life to take root.He wanted that new life.He knew now that there was a meaning beyond what he had known.Life was more than stacking up credits and satisfying his appetites.There had been another story about a merchant looking for fine pearls.Clay had seen some of those on jewellery in Ahab’s collection.When the merchant had found a really beautiful pearl, he had understood its worth.In the story he had sold everything to make it his.Clay felt like he had found something like that pearl and, like the man in the story, he would be happy to trade everything to possess it.AFTERMATHHe felt as if he was waking from one of his troubling childhood dreams.Everything was falling back into focus.This was where he belonged and he was grateful to be here again.Somehow, everything seemed more real.While their passengers were being examined and patched up in the M.I.room, he sat outside with Whitney, Phillip and Joey.He looked across at Whitney.“Thanks for what you did,” he said.John came out of the treatment room.“You must be Whitney.We are all grateful to you.Credits can be transferred whenever you’d like.I guess, right now, you need a rest.We’ve set up a berth for you.There’s hot food.Tell the men anything else you might need.” Whitney nodded.“Thanks.”Skye emerged unsteadily from her checkup on the arm of a medtech.Clay helped her settle into a seat.“So?” he asked.“I’ll be fine.Cuts and bruises.It feels as if it will take a while for this to wear off,” she slurred.She glanced down at the floor for a long time before she spoke again.“You know, those men knew exactly where we would be.Someone at that camp had told them everything.We made the meet with Ivan and Therese.We were already on the way back when they stopped us.”“Ivan and Therese?”“Yes, those are their names - the two from the camp.This was not an isolated incident.There is a network in those camps feeding people to the traffickers.” “What happened to them?”“I don’t know.They drugged me up.I remember Jansen fighting with a big man and Ivan trying to protect Therese….then nothing ‘til I was in that cage where you found me.”Berta came alongside her and put a hand on her shoulder.“Get some more sleep.Come on.You can talk about it later, eh?”She helped Skye get slowly to her feet and walked her away.Clay shook his head, weary now.“I’ve got to sleep, too.”Whitney and the others rose from their seats.They stood, looking at each other for a moment, their tired faces still dark with camouflage.“Quite a trip!” Joey observed.He turned to Whitney.“Come on, I’ll show you your cot.” Clay followed them to his own guest berth.It was all he could do to wash off the camouflage and sweat before he turned in.Ripping off his boots, he lay back and quickly sank into deep sleep.He must have been out for a decent interval.He felt recharged as he sat up on the cot.Whitney was already awake.Sitting on the side of his berth, he was fastening his high combat boots.“Morning,” he grunted, as he finished pulling the straps tight.“Any food around here?”“Sure,” Clay yawned.“I’ll come with you.”The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted up the corridor from the dining area.Most folks had already left.Three of Berta’s crew were noisily cleaning up.Whitney and Clay filled up their drinkers and sat at one of the vacant benches together.“They all been checked? They going to be okay?” Whitney asked, sipping his drink.“Well, I want to check the details, but I think so,” Clay told him.John appeared and placed a small comp on the bench.“Got something for you.Joey tells me this should about cover your expenses.Please check.” Whitney turned the readout to face him.He whistled gently.“Very generous.Thanks.” He tapped the comp.“This looks like quite a place.” He gave a faint smile and took another mouthful from his drinker.“I guess if you showed me the full set up you’d have to kill me, right?”“You’ve done us an amazing service,” John said.“I figure that if you were going to turn us in you’d have done it long before now.Get something to eat and I’ll be pleased to show you around.”“What’s the damage?” Clay asked.John looked serious.“Casey’s really in a bad way.We just hope he’s not too busted up internally.Those people really hurt him.If he wasn’t such a tough specimen, I reckon he’d be dead.”“The kids all right?”“Time will tell.Who knows, with what they’ve been through? Those kinds of scars can take a while to heal over, but we know a great physician, eh? Anyhow, they’ve got a place here as long as they need it.We’ll take it one step at a time.” Clay went over to the serving area and washed a piece of toasted bread down with the dregs of his coffee.“See you later,” he called to Whitney and John [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]