“She’s had so many sleeping drugs—” Nola stopped and smiled. “Sorry. I sound like an American, questioning a doctor’s order.”

“It’s mild. Dangerous to let Lulu cry. No way.” Ming-Ji extended her hand. “Good-bye.”

“That’s it?” This was sheer lunacy. Nola wanted to run, but there was nowhere else to go. She had reached the end of the continent, was about to fall off the edge of the world. Once again, she had become an orphan.

“You be all right,” Ming-Ji said. “Tomorrow Philippines.”

“Thank you very much, my very good friend.” Nola restrained herself from forcing a hug on Ming-Ji. Her hands trembling, she gave her money to cover her expenses for the trip back and rolled four wads into her own pouch. She would buy the lives of four men. Let this ordeal be over.

A new fear slammed in her head. The fishermen could rob her, kill her, and throw her body into the South China Sea, and no one would ever know.

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 34

Somewhere in the fog, but very near, a boat engine coughed and revved. A cloud of smoke steeped with gasoline burned Nola’s nostrils. She clutched Lulu's basket and shuffled her feet on the stepping-stones toward the noise until a hand grabbed her elbow. In the dark, Lulu's basket was lifted. A hand guided Nola into the flat, narrow boat that rocked wildly as she searched for a footing between her bags.

Six black cormorants perched on a ten-foot bamboo poles that stretched across the front of the boat, awaiting their masters like family pets. They seemed unaffected by the din of the engine other than occasionally adjusting their grip on the poles. Nola too, curled into herself, one hand tucked inside the sleeping baby’s blanket to feel her warmth.

A couple of hours later, when a ribbon of pink showed at the underbelly of the sky, the boat neared the island. The men killed the motor. In the sudden silence, the roar droned on in Nola's head. She hadn’t expected the boat ride to be so long, yet it made sense: A jail on an isolated island ought to be too far for prisoners to swim ashore.

The boat bobbed on the surface of the water while the men waited. Both held long-stemmed pipes between their teeth, but did not light them. One of the cormorants dove into the water and brought up a fish. As a ring around its neck prevented it from swallowing, the fisherman removed the fish from the bird’s beak and rewarded the bird with tiny pieces it could swallow. Satisfied, the cormorant returned to its hunched position.