Chapter Thirty-Six
TUG OF WARMatua and Ika remained at the edge of the camp, held back by armed officers wearing body armour. Phoenix saw their anxious faces peering at her from beside Matua’s truck as she crashed from the bush and onto the campground. She raised her hand in a half-hearted wave to signal she was okay, but her wrist felt almost too heavy to lift. She wasn’t okay. Exhaustion vied with disappointment and turned her bones to lead. The bruise from her injury tightened her scalp like a tourniquet.
The campers peered through the windows of their cabins, exiled to their bunks by the police officers. They watched with wide eyes as the camp leaders gathered around the dead fire in a sombre huddle. Sitting with their wrists cuffed behind their backs, they made a sorry crowd. They l
