Page 18 - Archangel

baby moses from the waters

Even in this life-threatening circumstance, she smiled, and waded slowly
and silently toward the boat. Whispering ‘Imana Ikurinde’ [God protect
you all, Kiryawanda], she lifted the precious cargo that was her two-year-
old son from her neck and into Sean’s hands. She extolled, ”Praise Be to
God. Thank you for coming back.” Expecting Layla to follow, Sean tried
to clear space in the bateau but was finding none. Inexplicably, Layla had
already turned and was slogging back through the shallows to the beach.
She turned once more to instruct, “Go quickly or you may sink in the
waves. No others are in the forest awaiting escape at present, and there is
no room anyway. My work is done for the night. Leave before we’re both
discovered. Care for my son before I join you, Brothers. God is great, all
the time.”
Passing her child whose leg sported a makeshift caste to a woman
next to him, Sean then scrambled to port, intending to slip into the surf
in pursuit. Skye moved forward quickly to catch the slight Northern Irish
doctor by the coat collar and pull him backward before the dangerously
overloaded craft started to swamp. “We’ve got to go now, Sean, or we’re all
finished, including Layla’s son,” he said. Sean looked on in misery as Layla
had already reached the beach and sprinted 20 paces to disappear into
the forest. Shell-shocked, he slowly took Layla’s son back into his arms,
cuddling and clinging to him like a talisman for a better future.
Without a second to spare, Skye and 12 others along the gunwales
paddled as fast as they could with the slight current. The oarsmen
regained previous progress, while others comforted the Northern Irish
physician who quietly covered the child of the bravest soul he had ever
met. MacIain too paddled toward open water as if possessed, which
was true. Prior to departure from Bukavu, MacIain had received a radio
transmission from Layla about the compromise of the last remaining land
escape route, to the north. That group of refugees had been betrayed and
ambushed – 17 men, women, and children tortured and murdered. What
Skye and Layla knew, and Sean only sensed, was that their more dangerous
water escape route was the last one left for 30 miles. Layla’s words and
actions were declaration that she was returning willfully to serve any
remaining refugees, to the death if necessary. She would never have given
up her son, unless she knew or sensed that the enemy and possibly the end
was near.

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