He stepped off the ladder into slushy snow and helped move the children away from the hovering craft. With a roar, it shot up into the air and headed southwest. Queenstown and the international airport were in that direction.
"Leave the kitbag," Ryan said to the two older Williams. "Get the children inside and light a fire. Everyone will freeze if we stay out here."
Again the five all co-operated and soon they all arrived at the hut. It was unlocked, as expected and smelt of smoky wood. Inside was a tidy living area with a fireplace containing a wood burner that was all set out with kindling and wood ready to be lit. Piles of split dry logs were stacked neatly along the hearth and matches sat on the mantelpiece. This was a typical government hut that dotted the mountains and forest parks throughout the country for the use of hunters and tourists.
There was no generator but several lamps and candles were there, all ready to use and a wetback on the kitchen wood-stove fed hot water to the adjacent bathroom. Off this main living area were two bunk rooms with eight bunks in each. The kitchen cupboards held some basic tinned and dried food and several signs asked visitors to replace any food used and respect those that would use the facilities in the future. Ryan opened a logbook on the table and noticed that the last visitors were trampers from a month before. He glanced through earlier notes in the logbook. This was obviously one of the more remote huts with most entries being made in the summer season but with hardly any at this time of the year. With no nearby ski resort this did not surprise him. It did however, mean that the chance of someone casually dropping in was remote. Their abductor or the gang he worked for had knowledge of the area and had chosen wisely.
"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT the kitbag?" Hamish asked.
Ryan grimaced. There had been few things he had noted about their abductor that were inconsistent. He was a cold calculating international brute from Russia or another Eastern European country who had no compassion what-so-ever yet he seemed to be thoughtful enough to buy them food to eat. Also, in almost a slip of the tongue, he had said to be careful when handling the kitbag. Why the concern?
"Leaving us a bag of groceries is out of character," he said and explained the reasons.
Hamish nodded. "That bit you mentioned he said about us being pawns made me think. In a chess game aren't the pawns sacrificed or used to protect more valuable pieces?"
Ryan nodded and called Coira over and asked if she'd look after the little ones while they went and got the groceries from the kit bag. She frowned. "So what's wrong? Has he poisoned the food or something?"
"No. I'm sure the food's fine. It's the kitbag itself I'm interested in."
The bag was lying in the snow beside the trampled down section made by their footprints. It certainly looked like a military one with canvas sides and an old fashioned shoelace type string that pulled in to close the top with the rest dangling down ready to be slung over someone's shoulders. There was nothing else unusual except that one side appeared to have padding.
Gingerly, Ryan loosened the string until the kitbag was open. Inside were plastic bags with the logo of a national supermarket chain on them. He lifted the top one out but found nothing such as wires attached to it.
"Seems okay," he said after he opened it to find bread, cartons of breakfast food and other items anyone would buy.
He lifted out the next bag and finally the last three. The only difference was that the lower bags contained heavier items such as canned corn, stew and bottles of drink. He reasoned that they were genuine groceries for no wrapping or cartons had been tampered with. There was even the supermarket docket shoved in between them.
"So we were wrong?" Hamish said as he shivered in the cold air.
Ryan shook his head. "Look at the kitbag itself. Why is one side more bulky than the other?"
Hamish peered at the bag. "Can't see much in this dim light but hasn't that inside lining been added?"
Ryan nodded and ran his hand around inside. Yes, one side had no padding while the other had a section sewn in. It wasn't a pocket for there was no outside zipper or entrance. He pushed it very slightly and pulled back in alarm.
"What?" gasped Hamish.
"Something underneath is soft like putty. I think it's plastic explosive."
"So leave it. You're no bomb expert."
Ryan nodded and withdrew his hand. He knew modern explosives were deadly and suicide terrorists could blow up a building with a similar amount as the amount probably sewn in here. If set off inside the hut, the whole building would blow up and kill them all. Even here it could be dangerous if it exploded.
"So it's not linked to the groceries by a trip wire," Hamish continued.
"No it's probably remotely controlled. If we're being held to claim a ransom, all they need to do is explode one somewhere where everyone can see it and make the threat of blowing us up if their demands aren't met."
"So it's safe to carry?"
"I'd say so. For it to just explode now would defeat the purpose of the whole exercise. It would have been easier to just blow the bus up with us all inside."
"So what do we do?" Hamish sounded nervous.
"Get it well away from the hut and leave it. Wasn't there quite a steep ravine on the other side of the hut that we saw on the way in?"
"I think so."
"You take the groceries inside and I'll carry it there."
"No," Hamish whispered. "We do it together. What if you tripped or something?"
"Fair enough." Ryan didn't feel as confident as he tried to sound as he lifted the kitbag without pulling the string top and walked out around the hut. The snow was up to his ankles in most places but the danger of stepping into a deep part was a concern. Hamish said nothing but brushed past and stepped out a track for him to follow. It was getting darker with the first stars beginning to appear while their breath puffed little clouds as they walked slowly ahead.
"We're at the edge of a steep bit. Want me to go down?" Hamish asked a moment later.
"No. Follow the summit along. Can you still see where to go?"
"Not too bad. The snow along the top reflects what light there is."
They walked for another few agonising minutes before Ryan called a stop. To their left it was dark, the snow close to them looked an eerie grey and the twilight had all but gone.
"So do we toss it out or just leave it here?" Hamish asked.
"Leave it," Ryan puffed. "If it blows up now..."
He found a patch of tussock, scooped out a hole in the snow beside it and placed the kitbag in. They stepped back, turned and at a rapidly increased speed, followed their footprints back. The lights of the hut were a guiding light. They decided to leave the groceries until the morning and head for the warm hut. For the first time, Ryan realised how cold he was.
When they reached the door a worried looking Coira opened it. She held the door wide and Ryan was about to walk in when the world behind exploded in a boom of orange flames. The whole area shook and chunks of debris hit the hut roof. Hot stinking air engulfed them all and the sound even hid Coira's screams as she stood opened mouthed and staring out in sheer terror.
Ryan's ears rung as he reached out, grabbed the girl and propelled her inside. Hamish was there too with them all in one big bundle on the floor. Outside, more debris hit the roof, the hut shook like in an earthquake and the orange light faded.
Silence followed!
"It's okay," Ryan said to the shaking girl and the crying children standing by the sink. "It's okay. Hamish and I got the bomb away in time. We're all okay."
Hamish stared at him with his face chalk white. "Bloody close though."
He held his watch up. It showed it was two minutes past six.
Ryan felt ill. He was wrong. The kitbag bomb had been timed to explode at six that evening when they would all be settling in for the night!
CHAPTER 12
Ryan had almost no sleep that night. The three younger children were all weepy and would wake up, calling for their parents while the
two older ones were solemn but determined to keep a brave look on their faces. More by mutual agreement than anything else, everyone except Ryan slept in one bunkroom while he bunked down on the living room couch so he could keep the fire blazing and be there when any of the others came out. And they did, either in pairs as Aria and Owen did a little after midnight. They cuddled up with blankets around themselves as they talked and asked questions about why this was all happening, why people were mean and also talked about themselves, their pet cats, dogs and little pony.
Finally they both fell asleep on the massive old couch that Ryan had shifted off. He found two more blankets and tucked them in before placing the last logs on the fire. On the mantelpiece, the oil lamp spluttered and made flickering shadows around the room with the only noise being rattling windowpanes, for a wind had come up outside.
Ryan sat in a comfortable armchair and wondered about who would have sat in it before him. The hut itself was modern, having probably replaced an ex-army hut that were the first huts brought in pieces after the Second World War, well before helicopters were used in the country. This new one would have been prefabricated and flown in for assembly. In fact, it looked incomplete for wiring and lights around suggested that a generator would be added to give the place electricity.
He woke up when the door banged and a gust of cold air blew on his face and realised he had dropped off. Coira stood in the doorway with an armload of wood in her arms. She placed them on the hearth and added one to the fire that had burnt right down to a few embers.
She grinned and ran a hand through her uncombed hair. "Sorry to wake you. Everyone else is asleep but it's been a long night.'" She walked across to the two Meadows children and pulled the blankets up around them. "Hope Mum and Dad aren't too worried about us." She glanced up at him. "Karla too but she's a tough old bird."
Ryan laughed. "Tough old bird?"
Coira flushed. "That was meant in a nice way. She's liked by us all but we know that if she tells us or our teachers to do something we do it."
"And why is that?" Ryan asked.
"She's Karla." That seemed to cover everything. The girl continued to chatter on and in many ways her conversation was similar to that of the younger children, sometimes unsophisticated compared with city kids of the same age while in other statements she showed the maturity he had found in Hamish.
"Oh, I've got something to show you," she said and without hesitation shoved her hand down the front of her kilt and brought out a mobile phone. "My special one. Don't tell Karla for she has banned their use at school. Sewed a wee pocket on the inside of my kilt." She grimaced. "I wasn't going to let that bastard tell me what to do. He's got my iPad, though."
"Coira, you're a wonder!" Ryan praised.
She shrugged. "It's out of range. I tried it. No charger either so I didn't leave it on for long. Perhaps in the morning if we go up on the ridge above us we might get it to work."
"I don't know how I could have coped without you and Hamish."
"Yeah well, I guess he's okay for a brother. Can get bossy, you know."
Ryan grinned and gazed at the fire that had burst into flame around the new logs Coira had added. There was an old well-used kettle hanging on a hook under the mantelpiece. He took it off, filled it with water from a tap above the kitchen-type sink and placed it on the fire. "I doubt if I'll get much more sleep so what say we both have a cup of coffee?"
There was no reply. Coira was fast asleep with her head slumped over the arm of the other armchair. He grinned and used his own blanket to tuck around her. Oh well, he'd have to have a coffee by himself.
IT WAS FINE BUT COLD as Ryan and Coira made their way up the steep hill behind Middle Ridge Hut, the name he had discovered in a folder about the hut that had originally been hidden under a pile of old magazines. They were both thankful for a couple of jackets left in the bunkroom for without them they would have frozen. As it was, Ryan's feet felt like ice as they crunched through icy snow. Hamish had agreed to stay inside with the younger children while they sort out mobile phone range from the ridge above them.
Up here, there was a bitter wind that was probably why the hut had been placed down the eastern slope. It had been disappointing for there was nothing within range of Coira's mobile. The battery was charged so that was not the problem.
Ryan looked around. The ridge extended away with the flat land of Central Otago to the southwest way beyond the hut below them. A deep valley on the east cut beneath another range of hills. Beyond these, cloud covered the mountains that he knew were there. "I don't see any good in moving any further along," he said. "We're about as high as we can go."
"But it curves slightly. Couldn't we go a little further?" Coira sounded disappointed.
"A little way," Ryan replied. "It's pretty cold and I don't like those clouds. Snow could blow in."
They plodded on for fifteen minutes before even Coira admitted that she was freezing and there was little to achieve in continuing on. They stopped by a large rounded rock smoothed by years of wind and she took out her mobile. Calls to her home and school were unsuccessful so Ryan suggested she try sending a text message as in fringe areas they often worked when phone messages didn't. Coira shrugged, typed out a message at a speed that made him grin and sent it off. However, her phone just came up as unsuccessful. She tried a friend's number and glanced up.
"What now, Ryan."
"Try the emergency Asterisk 111. Perhaps they can receive less powerful signals."
Coira nodded, typed in different message and hit send. This time there was a delay before her mobile chirped to show that the text been dispatched successfully. Seconds later, a text message came on screen with a reference number and stated that the text had been received and would be passed on to the appropriate authority. The girl grinned and attempted to send more messages home but still with no result.
"Okay, let's head back. Hamish will be getting worried," Ryan glanced at the clouds. "It'll be snowing soon."
The journey back was mainly downhill and took half the time. Still they were glad to walk into the warm hut and the odour of cooking. Hamish looked up from where he was stirring something in a pot.
"We got the groceries and found some soup packages, we've added some potatoes and carrots. Thought you might need something to warm your tummies."
"We all helped," Aria said. "I peeled the potatoes."
"And just about cut yourself," Brother Owen said.
"Did not," the little girl retorted.
"I kept the fire going," Elliot said. "Brought in some more logs too."
"They've all been so helpful," Hamish said. "But how did you two get on?"
Now it was daylight, everyone had cheered up and the hut felt comfortable and was almost like being in a holiday home. Half an hour later Ryan glanced out and studied the silent land around. The wind had stopped and huge flakes of snow began falling. Within minutes all their footprints and tracks they'd made were gone and still it tumbled down. Inside, the with two fires, the main one and the wood stove, it was a cocoon of warmth, the children had found some board games in a cupboard and a game had begun.
They had done everything they could so only had to wait for someone to come and rescue them. Ryan's only worry was that their abductor might fly over and see that the bomb hadn't destroyed the hut. He didn't, though tell the others of his concern. Why worry them over something over which, they had no control?
KARLA HAD A TERRIBLE night worrying about Ryan after the Board of Trustees stepped in and told her to go home and they would cope with the local calls as well as those from the newspaper, radio and television stations.
Even little Alexis asked where Daddy was and everyone at the crèche that morning were so kind, she almost burst into tears as she hugged her daughter and walked over to school. Though offered the day off by the board she had refused for it was better to be at school helping than sitting alone at home just waiting for news.
Roxanne censored every incoming call or text
message and allowed only personal ones through. And the messages and calls arrived. Most of the staff at Tui Park either rang or sent text messages and Chrissy Ancell, her friend who had followed her as principal of Top Plateau School brought her to tears again at the mere sound of her voice. The news on the national television and radio stations was brief but enough had been said to alert friends and family that she and Ryan were involved.
It was now a little before ten in the morning and finally most parents and locals had left, though Sonya insisted on staying with her at school. The sound of a helicopter flying in made her jump up and almost run outside. Her heart sunk for it was nothing like the helicopter Dolina had described but a large grey Royal New Zealand Air Force military craft.
Karla frowned as she walked back inside and caught Roxanne's eyes. "I'm in the office if it is somebody important. If it is the press or television tell them an appointment is necessary if they wish to speak to me."
"Or direct them to me," said Sonya, who had joined Karla. "I'll go into Don's office."
Coming across the football field were several men. Two were in uniform; one looked like an air force officer and the second a high-ranking police officer.
ROXANNE'S VOICE OVER the intercom was almost stuttering. "The head of New Zealand's Defence Force and the district police commander would like to speak to you Mrs Spicer. Shall I let them in?"
Karla's throat felt dry in apprehension. Why were they here except to bring tragic news?
"Please do and ask them if they'd like a coffee or morning tea."
"Of course, Mrs Spicer."
The police officer stepped forward with his hand extended. "Mrs Karla Spicer, one of our newly appointed change principals. I've heard a lot about your efforts here. I am Superintendent David Pierce, Southern District Police Commander. Accompanying me is Air Vice Marshal Max Wilderthorn, head of New Zealand's defence force."
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