by Dave Warner
Charlotte only had time to say, 'Fly, Leila.'
The rescue and frantic gallop had taken the last of Leila's reserves. She was busted, spent. There was no way she could make it across that gully. Not even if her life depended on it. But it wasn't just her life at risk here, it was Charlotte's. Charlotte, who had come without question to rescue her from criminals in the deepest and wildest of country. Leila could not let Charlotte down. She strained every sinew of her body to propel herself forward. She felt the earth go from under her.
She was flying now. Her life seemed to dawdle past in little cameos. Here she was, a small foal with her handsome father doting upon her. Then tragedy, her father dead in a movie accident, her mother forced overseas to earn money and Leila alone with nothing but a television set. A walk-on appearance in Charmed, stardom, horsehoes in wet cement, arclights at premieres, Feathers cracking jokes in her gigantic trailer, Joel Gold and Tommy Tempest worshipping the ground she walked on, a front cover of Variety, a kidnapping to Australia, meeting Charlotte and ...
Whoa! It was a horribly long way below. The ground came up towards her fast.
Without a bridle or saddle, Charlotte held on to Leila for dear life. She whispered into her ear.
'Love you.'
She couldn't stop her eyes from shutting.
Thump.
She opened to find they had landed safely. Todd and Warrior were already sprinting away. The sound of the trail bike leaving solid ground and buzzing across the gully reached her. She swung just in time to see the front tyre hit the lip of the ridge this side. There wasn't enough traction. The bike plummeted.
Charlotte urged Leila forward. They rode as hard as they could for another twenty minutes.
'I think we're safe,' ventured Todd eventually, cutting Warrior back to a canter.
Charlotte supposed it depended on your definition of safe. Safe from the illegal loggers maybe, but by now there was every chance her absence had been registered back at Thornton Downs.
'I'm hungry,' was all Charlotte could manage.
'Tell me about it,' mumbled Leila under her breath. 'My stomach is roaring like a lion with toothache.'
Todd, who was up ahead, turned back.
'You say something?'
'Just mumbling to myself,' smiled Charlotte. Her face froze. Headlights were powering towards them fast. She and Todd swapped looks and Todd shot off into the bush on Warrior. Charlotte tried to send Leila after them.
'I'm sorry, Charlotte, I'm done. I've got nothing in the tank.'
Now Charlotte could see the outline of the vehicle.
'A good thing that's a ranger then.'
The truck pulled up and a young man in a ranger's uniform jumped out.
'I'm guessing you're Charlotte Richards.'
'Hey, I get top billing here,' protested Leila. Fortunately it was too dark for the ranger to see.
'Sorry?'
Charlotte covered.
'I was just thanking my stars. We thought it was the illegal loggers come to get us. To-oddd,' she hollered. 'It's safe. It's the ranger.'
A moment later Todd and Warrior appeared out of the dark.
'You kids must have had quite an adventure.'
Todd said, 'We'll tell you about it some other time. You had better call in help before they get away.'
Hannah stared at the clock, which didn't seem to have moved. It was three a.m. and she had not heard anything from Charlotte. Dare she wait until morning? What if it had all gone wrong? She would not be able to live with herself. No, she had to act now. Just as she was about to swing out of bed there was a tap on her door.
'Hannah? It's Tara.'
Tara was one of the girls in the next room.
'What is it?'
'I've got your sister on the phone.'
Hannah leaped out of bed and pulled the door open on a drowsy Tara.
'Thanks, Tara.'
The girl waved her away.
'You can give me the phone back in the morning.' She stumbled back to bed. Hannah shut the door.
'Charlotte? Where are you?'
Charlotte was sitting on the step of the ranger's cabin at the park entrance, enjoying the best toasted muffin ever. She wasn't getting to eat much of it, as Leila would take a massive chomp every time she went to take a bite, but it was still the best. Using the ranger's satellite phone, Charlotte quickly told Hannah her news.
'But what about at Thornton Downs?'
'So far, so good,' Hannah reassured her. 'Emma suspects something but I've managed to thwart her. Strudworth is still away. I can't believe you were locked in a cabin with Todd Greycroft. From what I've heard about him, you were born lucky.'
A little while ago she wouldn't have thought of herself as fortunate but now, as she stroked Leila's neck, she was inclined to agree.
'I had better go,' she said, noting an ambulance slowly pulling out of the park with what she knew to be the two trail-bike riders. From what the ranger had said, they had both sustained broken bones.
'When will you be back?'
'Maybe dawn. Just depends. Todd's giving a statement to the police and then I have to. But don't say anything to anybody.'
'I won't. I'll sleep better now.'
They rang off. Leila gulped down another muffin.
'Hey, kid, sorry I kicked up a fuss about Hannah before. I was jealous. I admit it.'
'You know I would never let you down, don't you?'
'I know.'
'You need a vet?'
'I need food. A little Korean massage wouldn't go astray either. And a pedicure. My hooves look like a Clydesdale's.'
A commotion drew their attention to where a group of police were loading a handcuffed Pat, Reno and Jimmy into a police van. Reno was talking loudly.
'You guys drugged me.'
Pat yelled, 'We did not.'
Reno snapped back, 'So. The horse talked, did it?'
The rest of the conversation was lost as the door was shut on them. Todd emerged from the cabin.
'Your turn.'
Charlotte stood up.
'Thanks again. For everything.'
'You would have done the same for me.'
Leila watched as Charlotte moved inside. She liked Todd. It was good he and Charlotte were friends. She felt hot breath on her neck, turned and saw Warrior.
'Ah, the cavalry,' she quipped in horse.
'How are you doing?' He had a deep, masculine voice.
'I'm fine, thanks for asking.'
'I was worried you weren't going to make that jump back there.'
Leila re-ran his words through her head.
'Excuse me, did you say you were worried?'
That had to mean he fancied her.
'You heard me.'
Warrior moved off towards Todd. Leila got a little spring in her step. So, Warrior liked her. Way to go, girl.
'See, here are the rules. Section 2 paragraph 1.3: "It is compulsory for JOES to attend all educational classes. Failure to do so without permission will result in expulsion from the squad."'
Mr Graham squinted at the lettering that was being pushed so close to his eyeball by Emma Cross that it was just a blur.
'I'm aware of the rules.'
'Then you'd best act on them.'
They were in the hallway outside Mr Graham's room. He had found Emma dressed and waiting for him, literally at the crack of dawn.
Emma continued. 'I believe Charlotte Richards has been absent.'
'I saw her yesterday.'
Emma raised an eyebrow.
'Did you? Would you swear that in a court of law? Perhaps all you saw was what Hannah Weston wanted you to see.'
Now that he thought about it, he wouldn't be able to swear that it wasn't some ruse. Caroline Strudworth was not yet back from the city, which meant it all rested on his shoulders.
'Very well.'
He strode down the hallway, Emma falling in beside him. If what the girl said was correct, it would be most unpleasant. Charlotte Richards
was a particularly gifted horsewoman and she had lost her mount through no fault of her own. However, rules were rules. The money that financed the JOES came from a private bequest from a Mr Thomas Abernathy, who had personally written the unbreakable rules into the deed of the grant. They stopped outside the door of the Trigger room and knocked.
'Hannah? Charlotte?'
Inside, Hannah jumped at the sound of Mr Graham's voice. Charlotte had not yet returned. Hannah had not counted on him visiting so early and had not even taken the trouble to stage a fake Charlotte in bed. Was there time now?
'Open up, Hannah.'
No. The game was up. With shaking hands she opened the door. There stood a serious Mr Graham with a smiling Emma. Hannah might have known that where there was a problem she would find Emma Cross.
'How's Charlotte feeling?' Emma asked, as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
'Um ...'
Mr Graham entered the room.
'Where is she?'
Hannah tried one last lie.
'Actually, she's just in the bathroom.'
Stupid, Hannah. Stupid. He's going to wait.
There was a knock on the door. It was Miss Batt.
'Mr Graham, Miss Strudworth is on the phone.'
Mr Graham waved a finger at Hannah.
'I want to speak to Charlotte.' He turned on his heel.
Emma bounced on her toes, and whispered, 'She's going to take you down with her.'
For the second time in as many days, Hannah slammed the door in Emma's face. She was about to throw herself down on her bed in despair when she looked out of the window and saw, to her amazement, Charlotte riding Leila towards the stables. She must have got a lift with Todd to Milthorp and ridden crosscountry back to Thornton Downs. Hannah still had Tara's phone. She dialled frantically.
Leila was trotting towards the stables full of ideas, '... and that creep, Pat, Russell Raven could play him. I'm telling you, Mr Gold would love this story. It would be a box-office smasheroon.'
The phone rang. Charlotte had Hannah's in her pocket. She answered.
'Hannah's phone?'
'Charlotte, it's me. You have like two minutes to get up here. Graham wants to speak to you. Emma's on the warpath.'
'Roger that.'
Charlotte ended the call.
Leila said, 'I heard,' and began galloping.
Charlotte's brain was moving fast.
'Front door will still be locked. I'll have to get in via a window.'
At the stables, Bevans appeared. A question on his brow.
'Miss Charlotte?'
'If anybody asks, you never saw me, Bevans.'
'Right you are, Miss.'
'Please take care of Leila.'
Charlotte jumped from the saddle and sprinted towards the building. She would have to scale the outside walls. The quickest way was the peppercorn tree right by Strudworth's office. She ran to it and started up.
'Hayes-Warrington won't budge, I'm afraid. I can't see a way out of this.'
Mr Graham was on the phone in Miss Strudworth's office, listening to a distraught Strudworth. 'We can try fundraising.'
'For a million dollars? No, this is the end of Thornton Downs.'
Mr Graham found himself eyeball to eyeball with the stuffed Zucchini. That horse gave him the creeps. He turned away, which was just as well for Charlotte because, at that moment, she was scurrying up the tree right outside.
'Caroline, chin up. We'll talk about this when you get back.'
'Is everything shipshape?'
Mr Graham remembered Charlotte Richards but he didn't want to raise the issue right now and burden his friend with more worries.
'Pretty much.'
'Have the Parks and Wildlife people been in touch?'
'Not as far as I'm aware.'
He heard Caroline Strudworth utter a despairing moan.
'I'll be back by lunch.'
Graham checked his watch. He'd best sort out this Richards business pronto.
Perched on the tip of a high branch of the peppercorn tree, Charlotte rang the last-called number. Hannah's breathless voice answered.
'Where are you?'
'Open the window.'
Hannah raced to the window and threw it open. She looked below expecting to see Charlotte scaling the walls somehow but there was no sign of her.
'Up here.'
Hannah's eyes travelled upwards. Charlotte waved, ended the call and dropped. Hannah thought she was going to plummet to the ground but Charlotte's hands latched onto the branch. Now she hung from it, swinging to build momentum like a trapeze artist.
'Hannah?' It was Graham at the door. 'Open up.'
Charlotte was arcing up higher, the window several metres away but below her. She counted. One ...
In a panic Hannah looked from the window to the door. She charged to her bed, seized the mattress and flung it onto the floor.
Mr Graham barked, 'Hannah, what on earth are you doing?'
In the tree, the sun's rays tingling her otherwise chilled face, Charlotte concentrated on that opening below her. 'Two ...'
Hannah backed slowly towards the door, eyes on the window, gripped by fear but unable to look away.
'Three.'
Charlotte let go, arcing down, feet out ... She dropped below the gable, below rows of bricks, right through the window and WHAM! Onto a mattress, a split second before the door opened and Mr Graham, flanked by an eager Emma and Rebecca, entered.
Mr Graham stopped dead at what he saw. Charlotte Richards, lying on a mattress on the floor.
Charlotte took great delight in seeing the disappointment etched on the faces of Emma and Rebecca. One word edged its way from Mr Graham's lips.
'Explain?'
Hannah looked nervously to Charlotte.
She stood, dusted herself off and said, 'Falls.'
She'd lost Mr Graham.
'Pardon?'
'We've been practising falls. Had Lucinda known how to fall she might not have injured herself so badly.'
Graham nodded. 'Good thinking. And how are you feeling today?'
'Oh,' said Charlotte, staring at Emma with her brightest smile. 'Absolutely wonderful.'
Chapter 17
She needed some kind of miracle. And miracles just didn't happen to Caroline Strudworth. No, all her life she'd been the person who bought a ticket in every raffle but had never won so much as a cupcake. Sometimes she would buy a whole book of tickets. The meeting with Lucinda's father had not broken the mould. It had been worse than depressing – catastrophic in fact. As she always did, Miss Strudworth parked her Volkswagen perfectly aligned in the car port so that the driver and passenger doors were equidistant to the walls. How ironic that those like Mr Hayes-Warrington, who made their living by the law, were those capable of the greatest injustice. Somewhat robotically, Miss Strudworth exited the garage and was crossing towards the main building when her eyes found Charlotte Richards trotting towards her. On Leila!
'Oh, Charlotte, she's back!' Strudworth saw the marks on Leila and let out a little stifled cry. 'They hurt her. Poor girl.'
She rubbed Leila's muzzle.
'Apparently it was some illegal logging operation. They were using her to cart the logs.'
Miss Strudworth uttered something about the world as we know it coming to an end.
'And how did she get here?'
Charlotte had prepared for that.
'The Parks and Wildlife people.'
'That was very good of them.'
What was even better of them was that they had agreed to keep silent about the details of the rescue. Charlotte could sense something wasn't right with Miss Strudworth. There was an underlying sadness about her as she looked around at the grounds of Thornton Downs. She had a fair idea what the problem might be.
'How did things go with Lucinda's father?'
'Not awfully well, I'm afraid.'
'What do you mean? How much does he want?'
'Put it this way. If I sell Th
ornton Downs I might walk away with my car and enough for a small flat in the city.'
Charlotte didn't know what to say. She knew how much Thornton Downs meant to Miss Strudworth.
'But it wasn't your fault, it was Chadwick's.'
'I explained that Chadwick was no longer with us. He said, "You mean he's dead?" I said "Unfortunately not, but I have dismissed him from Thornton Downs and the last I heard from his mother he had been forced to take a job as a yak handler in the Gobi Desert." But it was all to no avail.'
She gazed out at the Australian bush. It was just beginning to glow with the new day's light.
Charlotte couldn't believe it.
'There has to be something we can do.'
Strudworth sighed.
'Charlotte, we're talking more than a million dollars.'
Strudworth gave Leila a comforting pat.
'I'm glad you have Leila back.'
Then she walked slowly towards the main building.
Charlotte looked Leila in the eye.
'We have to do something, Thornton Downs is her whole life.'
Leila said, 'I don't have a lazy million floating around. The trouble with being a horse, nobody pays you. It's all freebies but no cash.'
A crazy idea was beginning to brew in Charlotte's head.
'How did Mr Gold's latest movie do, do you know?'
'I think it opens this weekend but I don't need a crystal ball to tell you it's going to tank.'
Charlotte was aware that modesty wasn't Leila's strong point.
Leila continued. 'Feathers will do a nice cameo but Sarah-Jane can't carry a movie without me. They used a couple of fillies in my place but, you know, it's like steak and spam. I feel sorry for Tommy Tempest and Mr Gold, they always did right by me but this movie has the smell of death.'
Joel Gold's office was on Hollywood Boulevard just past San Vincente. Unlike many of his peers, Mr Gold did not go for show. There was no modern Swedish design furniture, no expensive oil paintings on the walls and very little sunlight. The office was dumpy, crammed with a soft leather couch and armchair and a massive desk, which usually contained a pile of scripts almost to the ceiling. Mr Gold sat in his favourite, well worn leather swivel-chair. Tommy Tempest stood looking over his shoulder, staring at the computer screen as live box-office takes were forwarded direct from movie theatres all around the country.