Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz

Author:Anthony Horowitz
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

T

T H E R E W E R E twenty people inside the

container, huddled together in the half-light thrown by a

single battery-operated light. Alex knew at once that they

were refugees. He could tell from their faces: not just for-

eign but afraid, far removed from their own world. Most

of them were men, but there were also women and chil-

dren . . . a couple of them as young as seven or eight. Alex

remembered what Ethan Brooke had told him about ille-

gal immigrants when he was in Sydney. “Half of them are

under the age of eighteen.” Well, here was the proof of it.

There were whole families locked together in this metal

box, hoping and praying that they would arrive safely in

Australia. But they were powerless, and they knew it, ut-

terly dependent on the good will of the snakehead. No

wonder they looked nervous.

A gaunt, gray-haired man, wearing a loose, dark yel-

low colored shirt and baggy pants, made his way forward.

Alex guessed he must be in his sixties. He might once

have been a farmer. His hands were coarse, and his face

had been burned dry by the sun. He muttered a few words

to Alex. He could have been speaking any language—

Dari, Hazaragi, Kurdish, or Arabic—it would have made

no difference. Alex knew that without Ash, he was ex-

T h e L i b e r i a n S t a r

221

posed. He had no way of communicating and nobody to

hide behind. What would these people do if they discov-

ered that he was an imposter? He hoped he wouldn’t have

to find out.

The man realized that Alex hadn’t understood him.

He tapped his chest and spoke a single word. “Salem.”

That was presumably his name.

He waited for Alex to reply, and when none came, he

turned to a woman, who came forward and tried a second

language. Alex turned away and sat in a corner. Let them

think he was shy or unfriendly. He didn’t care. He wasn’t

here to make friends.

Alex drew his legs toward his chest and buried his face

against his knees. He needed to think. Why had he been

separated from Ash? Had the snakehead somehow found

out that the two of them were working for ASIS? All in

all, he doubted it. If the snakehead even suspected who

they were, they would have dragged them out together

and shot them. There had to be another reason for the

last-minute decision at the harbor but try as he might,

Alex couldn’t work out what it was.

There was a sudden jolt. The whole container shook,

and one of the children began to cry. The other refugees

drew closer together and stared around them as if they

could somehow see through the flat metal walls. Alex

knew what had happened. One of the huge machines—

the spreaders—had picked them up, lifting them off the

truck and loading them onto the Liberian Star. Right now,

222

S N A K E H E A D

they could be fifty yards above the dock, dangling on four

thin wires. Nobody was moving, afraid of upsetting the

balance. Alex thought he heard the hum of machinery

somewhere above his head. There was a second jolt and

the electric light flickered.

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