Ancient Island

by David Harp

  Chapter 35

  Australia

  The flight was long and exhausting despite cruising at over 500 miles-per-hour. The plane made brief stops in Texas, California, and Hawaii before clearing customs in Australia. Haley joined Claude in the cockpit for the final leg of the trip from the Gulf Coast Airport in Queensland to Sydney Bankstown Airport.

  The weather was sunny and warm when the plane landed. A black stretch limousine was waiting to take the weary travelers to the Park Hyatt Sydney Hotel. It was mid-afternoon, but everyone except Claude went straight to their rooms.

  While the others were resting, Claude was attempting to make dinner reservations for ten people at the hotel restaurant, an establishment which normally had a two-week waiting list. The Park Hyatt Sydney was a 5-star luxury hotel with an unparalleled waterfront location between the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. As he often did, Claude was successful in his efforts to arrange the evening meal. He requested the group meet with him at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby.

  Dinner presented an opportunity to establish a few ground rules for the visit. The table overlooked the Sydney Opera House, but Matt and Brian were more fascinated by the dozens of sailboats which appeared to be playing chicken with a massive cruise ship departing the harbor. As the sun set, warm pink streaks of light reflected off the Opera House superstructure, gradually supplanted by the illumination of street lamps along the quay.

  Most of those present were willing to ignore their empty rumbling stomachs while they watched the harbor lights, but the food presentation was even more entertaining.

  A carefully choreographed procession of waiters and waitresses delivered mouth-watering meals fit for celebrities, and which were as appealing to the eyes as to the palate. Each dish was designed with a personalized decoration. Dan’s steak was topped with an intricate sculpture of the Opera House which he scoffed down without hesitation.

  “I can’t believe you ate it,” Linda said. “That was a work of art!”

  “And it was delicious too,” Dan replied.

  A young man named Carlos Ferrer was dining with them. The handsome man’s well developed physique was evident beneath his expensive Armani suit. Linda and Tammy could not take their eyes off of him. Claude introduced Carlos near the end of the meal when the students’ curiosity was peaked. He said Carlos would be the liaison, (i.e., chaperon) while Claude was taking a four-day trip to the mountains.

  Claude was leaving in the morning for the Lamington National Park to see the rainforest and visit an old acquaintance. He said two friends cancelled at the last minute, so there was extra space for two people if anyone wanted to join the excursion.

  Linda said, “I want to go.” Then Dan also asked. His request prompted giggles from Matt and Brian. Claude smiled and appeared happy to have the company. Steve trusted Claude to take care of Linda, so plans were made. The three of them would leave early the next morning.

  Claude and Carlos went back to their rooms after the meal. The students spent the rest of the evening on a leisurely stroll. They walked for over an hour, taking in the sights and sounds along the quay. The sky was clear, but even the stars couldn’t compete with the twinkling city lights of Sydney. By the time they returned to the Hotel, their minds were already filled with pleasant memories, but Matt couldn’t shake the notion someone was watching them.

  Claude met Dan and Linda in the lobby at 6:30 a.m. the next morning and took a taxi to the airport. They flew back to the Gulf Coast Airport in Queensland to meet Claude’s friend Samantha. She was a tall woman in her mid-thirties with ivory complexion, azure blue eyes, and long raven-black hair.

  “Hello sweetheart,” Claude said as the two embraced.

  “Hello Dad.”

  The words came as a shock to Dan. He looked at Linda with a stunned expression, but she looked back as if to say, “how sweet.” Dan knew Claude as the person who made things happen like Merlin the magician. He never pictured him as a family man.

  Claude had booked reservations high in the mountains at a place called O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat. The four of them loaded the rental van and began their adventure. Samantha insisted, “This is my territory, I’m driving!”

  She sped along the narrow mountain ridges like a stock car driver. The only stops were at a fern garden and two distilleries which the passengers needed to steady their nerves. When they arrived, an older couple welcomed them with open arms. The greeting seemed odd to Dan who assumed the pair had mistaken them for someone else. He soon realized the owners treated every guest like long lost children. It was part of the retreat’s charm.

  The Retreat was isolated like an island hidden on top of the world. It was designed to help visitors forget their tedious lives back on Earth. Linda and Dan walked together through the ancient forests on a suspension bridge high in the tree tops. They peered over Moran Falls with a majestic view of nature’s grandeur. Spectacularly colorful birds flew from the trees to eat from their hands, then they dined in a cozy rustic restaurant with new friends.

  The other students were beginning their own adventures in Sydney. Brian and Matt had begun their challenge to visit as many beaches as possible in four days while Chris, Haley, Steve and Tammy were taking a more traditional approach to sightseeing.

  Haley had become a minor celebrity even in Australia. Carlos was concerned because she didn’t have a bodyguard. He asked for a copy of her itinerary.

  “This is the best I can do,” Haley told Carlos as she handed him a hastily written plan. Then she added, “Australia is a beautiful and fascinating country. I can’t guarantee we won’t venture off course.”

  “Just remember,” Carlos said. “You are the protégé of one of the richest men in the world. You are visiting an international city on the far side of the planet. Please be careful!”

  “Thanks for the encouraging words,” Haley said sarcastically, “but I can take care of myself.”

  The two couples began their first day out with a tour of the Opera House where they attended a play, followed by lunch at the ARIA Restaurant. It didn’t take long before they started seeing a familiar face pop up in the crowd, Carlos. It soon became a game, find the hidden Carlos.

  After visiting the Botanical Gardens, Tammy won the game by spotting the hidden Carlos five times as they walked along the Farm Cove perimeter path to the well-known tourist photo spot, Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair.

  On the following day, Chris convinced the others to ride the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. They wandered casually through the gardens, taking pictures at every opportunity with the iconic opera house in the background. A late afternoon compromise led them on a shopping trip to Darling Harbour where they stopped to eat pizza at Pancakes on the Rocks.

  They were enjoying the harbor view in front of the convention center when a gang of ten young Asian men approached and surrounded them. Steve, Tammy, and Chris were very nervous until the men began performing a magic act. Every time one of them touched Haley, she disappeared and rematerialized somewhere else.

  Steve started to applaud when the apparent leader said something in Chinese and another revealed a knife pressed against Chris’s side. It wasn’t an act.

  Haley began speaking to them in Mandarin which surprised everyone. Even Chris had forgotten Haley was trilingual.

  “They want me to go with them,” Haley said calmly.

  “No way,” Chris shouted as Steve and Tammy joined in the protest.

  “I’ll be O.K., you need to trust me. They won’t hurt me.” Haley tried to calm the others, but it was too late. Her companions were shouting and trying to draw attention. The leader took Haley while other gang members held Chris, Steve and Tammy.

  It happened so fast that by the time security personnel and bystanders came to help, the gang members had slipped into the crowd. Haley was out of sight with the leader.

  Chris, Steve and Tammy were screaming and trying to find Haley as officials worked to gain control of the situation. As soon as Tammy finished dialing Car
los’ cell, she heard a ringing phone coming toward them. It was Carlos. He was wheezing heavily.

  “Haley’s been kidnapped!” They all shouted at the same time.

  “I know; I followed them through the convention center, but they got away.” Carlos replied, gasping for air.

  Officials were talking to Carlos within five minutes.

  “You said her name is Haley?” asked an officer.

  “Yes,” Carlos answered.

  “We’ve got her. She’s O.K.,” the officer reported.

  “Thank you God,” Chris wept, his hands still trembling.

  “I can’t say the same for the guy who was with her,” the officer said, his smile revealing morbid amusement.

  “What happened?” Carlos asked.

  “We don’t know exactly, but we found him writhing on the sidewalk. His right hand was severed. The girl was trying to comfort him.”

  The officer shook his head and smiled. “Imagine that; the man kidnapped and tried to rob her, but she was still worried about him.”

  The man with the severed hand was rushed to the hospital for replantation, but Carlos and the studentss were taken to the Rocks Police Station to fill out a report. Haley was already being questioned separately.

  The rest of the evening was very confusing. Police struggled to make sense of what happened. Haley explained that the man’s hand got tangled in the cord when he tried to pull the medallion from around her neck. His hand was torn off when something startled him and he panicked.

  The police had three problems with Haley’s account of the stroy. First, the necklace was a flimsy leather cord which should have snapped before sawing through the man’s wrist. Second, the cut on the wrist was smooth like a laser rather than a jagged tear. Third, although blood splattered the sidewalk and the area where the hand was severed, there was not a drop of blood on Haley.

  When Haley was released a little after midnight, police still could not explain what happened. The woman in charge was furious.

  “I have never seen anything like this. There is no rational explanation for what happened tonight, but we have been ordered to stop the investigation and let you go. It is disgraceful!”

  Carlos refused to leave Haley alone after the incident. He felt some responsibility for her abduction and was a little angry with Claude for placing him in a difficult situation. When Claude returned from the rainforest, Dan overheard the two of them arguing in the hotel lobby.

  “She could have been injured or even killed,” Carlos told Claude.

  “I don’t think so,” Claude replied. “You don’t know her like I do.”

  “What I know is that she is an eighteen-year-old girl. She’s flesh and blood. No amount of training can protect her from the Qabalah.”

  Claude took Carlos by the arm, pulled him to the side and lowered his voice.

  “Don’t mention the Qabalah in public! Look, it’s a lot more than training. Her physiology is different in ways you can’t imagine, and she’s protected by the medallion.”

  “That thing around her neck?” Carlos asked.

  “Yes, it’s a sophisticated symbiotic device. Quite frankly, we don’t understand how it works, but it makes Haley practically invincible. You saw what it did to the kid who grabbed her. I suspect the Qabalah hired him to steal it. They knew he would fail, but they wanted to find out what would happen.”

  Instead of ruining the trip, the attempted kidnapping added an extra air of excitement. Every time Steve told the story, (and he loved retelling the story) it grew more sensational. In his version, the gang was twice as big and Carlos fought them hand to hand.

  Linda and Dan considered their romantic trip to the mountains equally memorable, but Matt and Brian insisted their beach adventure was the most authentic Australian experience.

  Everyone stayed together the next two days for security. They scheduled a city tour, harbour lunch cruise, and a day trip to the Blue Mountains. Claude arranged a twilight bridge-climb the last night before leaving. It was requested by Mr. Weston who considered it a good “team-building” experience. It was also good exercise!

  Steve admitted to a “slight” fear of heights. He made it to the top of the Harbour Bridge with a firm grip on Tammy’s hand. Tammy enjoyed the panorama of sparkling city lights from the top even though she had lost all feeling where Steve was attached. Chris held Haley, Dan embraced Linda, and Brian and Matt flirted with the tour guide. Harbor lights danced on the water while a gentle breeze lifted laughter of happy tourists from along the waterfront.

  Haley whispered to Chris, “Do we have to go home?”