Like Twigs in a Storm

by Ross Richdale

  "I'm at the school," Janice gasped and burst into hysterical sobs.

  *

  "We're only a few kilometres away, Janice." Lavina pressed the mute button on her phone. "She sounds pretty scared."

  "We've got more trouble," Steve said. "I'm sure that vehicle back there is following us."

  Lavina stared at her fiancé then in her own rear view mirror. As they came to a straight stretch of road, she could see a modern car behind them. "How can you be sure?"

  "It appeared when we turned into Upper Forks Road. I have a feeling they were at the junction just waiting for us. I tried speeding up and afterwards slowing but it has maintained the same distance back. As you know, when you slow down on this road, the car behind usually comes up and passes."

  "What is it?" came Janice's voice on the mobile phone, Lavina shot a worried glance at Steve and spoke back into the phone. “Nothing," she lied. "Steve just got a bit of a fright when he took a corner too fast. I hear a dog. Have you got them with you?" She continued to talk softly as Steve entered a windy uphill section. Once they were over the summit, it was only two kilometres to the school.

  "We need to do something," Steve said. "But what?"

  "Keep going," Lavina suggested. "The road becomes a four wheel drive when we reach the pine forest beyond the native bush. I doubt if a car could make it through all the ruts caused by last winter. There's also that old logging road that circles back down to the other fork. We'll get through but I doubt if a car could."

  Steve nodded. "What about Janice?"

  Lavina pressed the mute button again. "I'll get her to wait at the gate. There's only a short straight after that big 'S' bend. If you speed up around these bends, I'm sure you can gain some distance on the car, enough to stop and then get her and the dogs."

  "Okay. Tell her to have all the lights off."

  Lavina relayed the information and glanced down the hill behind. It was dark now and she could see the car lights below. "City drivers, they're okay on a motor way but these back roads slow them," she muttered. "You're right, Steve. We've gained at least two bends on them."

  "Hang on." Steve slowed, engaged four-wheel-drive and let out the clutch. The heavy treaded tyres gripped the loose metal. The jeep growled but took the next tight bend with ease. When they reached the summit, Lavina reported the car was now about four or five minutes back.

  "Good." Steve changed down and swung the wheel around another tight bend. The whole rear of the jeep slid out before the tyres gripped and the engine propelled it forward. "How's Janice doing?"

  "Janice, get to the gate and hurry!" Lavina shouted into the mobile phone. She switched the phone off and glanced at Steve. "She'll be there"

  Steve saw her beside the road when they drove around the next bend. The jeep screeched to a stop with all four wheels sending stones flying, Lavina jumped out, ran around and opened the back door, the dogs jumped in while Janice scrambled through Lavina's door to the back seat. Lavina jumped back in and Steve accelerated away, just as the car appeared around the bend.

  "Steve!" Janice screamed as she stared out the back window. "I saw a red flash. They're firing at us."

  "Hang on!" Steve yelled and wobbled the steering wheel to send the robust vehicle right, left then right again.

  "That's it," Janice continued, her voice almost a squeal. "The car's lights are wobbling like hell. I'm sure they almost lost control. They've dropped back."

  "Steve!" Lavina screamed.

  "I see it."

  Lights of a vehicle ahead suddenly switched on. A stationary vehicle was directly in front of them blocking the road just beyond the farm driveway. The enemy wanted them to turn towards home, but Steve had other ideas. The road was dark, the vehicle's headlights dazzled them on high beam but Steve knew there was a grass verge on the left before a small ditch and fence line. He headed straight for the lights.

  "The car behind is catching up!" Janice yelled.

  "The front one hasn't moved," Lavina reported.

  Steve braked so severely, the seat belts gripped all three passengers and almost propelled the dogs over on top of Janice.

  "Oh my God!" Janice screamed as the car behind almost rammed into their back bumper.

  But Steve wasn't on the road. He swung left, and the jeep's front wheels lifted off the ground while the motor screamed and they clunked down in a teeth-shattering shudder. The manoeuvre succeeded. Four spinning wheels gripped the grassy surface and the jeep swayed. Steve touched the accelerator, the jeep swung into the slide and moved forward.

  Lavina stared sideways and saw the vision of another car slide past Steve's window in a blur. He swung the steering wheel and the jeep bounced back over a rut onto the road again.

  "You did it!" Lavina shouted.

  Steve slowed, wiped a sweaty hand on his jacket and grinned at Lavina. "I'm glad we're in the jeep."

  "Nothing behind," Janice reported.

  "Yeah, we've gained a few minutes but they won't be giving up," Steve said.

  Janice turned and gripped the front seat. "That car must have been there when I drove to the old school."

  "Probably," Lavina said. "I guess they knew the other car was at the fork and if you'd kept going it would have stopped you. Going to the school worked. When we came along we must have totally confused them."

  Steve slowed. "I'm going to kill the lights. We wind uphill again soon. If they can't see us, it'll be to our advantage. Janice, tell us if you see any lights behind. Lavina, stick your head out the window and help guide me. It's pretty dark but I'm sure our eyes will adjust."

  He slowed again and everything went black, with a star-studded sky making a rectangle between the silhouettes of pine trees on each side.

  "Go right," Lavina said as Steve almost sideswiped a small bank.

  They climbed and the surface change from gravel to clay meant there was a smoother ride.

  "In winter no car could get through here but it's dry now," Steve muttered. "He manoeuvred the jeep around one bend after another.

  "Lights below!" Janice said. "At the bottom of the zigzag."

  "Thanks." Steve turned slightly towards Lavina. The whites of his eyes almost glowed in the dim light. "That fire break road is ahead at a 'Y' junction. If we're lucky and turn down it, that lot behind may keep to this road."

  "Good idea," Lavina said. "There's a whole network of forest roads all circling around the hillside. Some of them are pretty steep. I doubt if a car could make it."

  Moments later Lavina noted a gap in the black line of trees. "The junction," she said.

  "Fine. Can you see lights now, Janice?" Steve asked.

  "No, the trees are in the way."

  "Good." Steve turned the sidelights on, hoping that there would be no reflection but enough to see by.

  He was right. The clay road shone in the illumination and showed a definite spit in two with the road veering right and a narrower track to the left. Steve turned left and through massive clumps of spiky grass growing in from both sides in front of black pines a few meters back. Steve killed the lights again and they were in total darkness. He changed down to a crawler gear and edged the sturdy vehicle forward.

  Lavina gripped the handhold and turned to face Steve, " Cathy is expecting us at the hospital. We were going to go back to see her about now."

  "She'll understand," Steve comforted.

  "I'll get onto Pat Stein's special number first then phone Cathy," Lavina said, "

  She reached for the mobile phone but her brow wrinkled into a scowl. "We're out of range. I can't get anybody."

  *

  CHAPTER 18

  Cathy's mobile phone did run non-stop. She sent text messages to Donna, Ellie and other friends as the light outside the hospital window faded into darkness. After finishing her last text she frowned. She called home, but there was no reply. She rang Steve's mobile phone but received a voice reply stating the number was off line. Finally, she tried the old school, but it was all to no avail.

/>   "What's wrong, Cathy?" the nurse who'd just walked into her room, asked.

  "I can't get my mum on the mobile phone."

  "Perhaps she's on her way here right now."

  "Could be, but why is Steve's mobile phone turned off?"

  The nurse looked at her worried patient and took time to sit down and chat. Fifteen minutes passed before Cathy was alone again. Nobody had visited, so the teenager went through all the numbers again with the same result.

  “Oh Mum, where are you?" Cathy didn't know whether to be angry or worried.

  She bit on her lower lip and tried to become interested in the program on the television at the end of her bed. Finally, after a third attempt at all the numbers she pressed Memory 9, the special number given to them.

  "Constable Jane Frankton speaking,” the voice answered on the second ring.

  "Jane, it's Cathy Ryland. I'm worried. I can't get my mother on the phone." In small gasping sentences she explained everything that had happened.

  "You did the right thing, Cathy. Have you a number I can call back to?"

  "I'm at Westerfield Trust Hospital. I don't think they'll like the phone ringing."

  "Don't you worry about that," Jane replied. "I'll get some officers to try and contact your mum straight away. It's probably a little thing like a flat tyre in that jeep of yours and your mum is tucked behind a hill out of mobile phone range."

  "Could be. Thanks Jane." Cathy was still worried when she clicked off.

  *

  It was just before noon that day when Barrie glanced through the window of the woolshed. Two black cars that had slowed down and turned into the driveway. He frowned, tossed a handful of lamb tails into the wool bale, noted down the total and walked to the door.

  "Stay here, girls," he told the two dogs resting a few meters away. "I won't be a moment."

  He slipped out a small side door, absentmindedly swung it shut behind him, ignored the wee clunk as the latch clicked and headed for the gate in the hedge.

  The scene looked ominous. Eight men fanned out from the cars to surround the house. Barrie retreated through the fence and ran along the woolshed side, around a bend and across to a second gate at the rear of the house section.

  Now, if he could get to the implement shed, there was the hunting rifle locked in the security cupboard inside. He reached down, felt the bunch of keys he always carried attached to his belt and grunted in satisfaction.

  Barrie had the rifle in his hands within seconds but the bolt and bullets were both in separate locked drawers. With an eye on the half opened front door he fumbled with the keys. Damn! Which one was it? The fourth key fit. He reached in for the oil-impregnated paper. Good, he had the bolt.

  Adrenalin rushed through his body. A man was walking towards the door. Cursing his own ultra-cautiousness with firearms he fumbled though the keys again. The second worked, he grabbed the cardboard box of cartridges inside.

  "There's one in the shed!" a voice yelled.

  Barrie slid left behind the old farm Land Rover and crawled around the edge of the vehicle.

  "Holy shit!" His whole body jumped in fright as a firearm discharged and the shed vibrated in an explosion. A bullet whined as it ricocheted off something behind him? A second shot shattered Land Rover's windscreen and covered him in slivers of glass. Barrie dived down and crawled beneath the vehicle.

  He could see suit legs and shiny black shoes against the light of the door.

  "Come on out!" a harsh voice said.

  Barrie had the full magazine clipped in his rifle. He slid the weapon forward, aimed between the two shoes and fired. The report rung in his ears and he grinned at the sound of an oath and saw the legs make a hasty retreat.

  But Barrie was not out of trouble. Within seconds, he knew the shed would be surrounded. He grimaced and stared around. The storeroom was at the opposite end of the shed beyond his own Land Rover.

  He slithered across behind the second vehicle and crouched, panting beside a tyre so he could see the door. A man stood there holding a revolver ready to fire.

  Barrie's heart thumped in his chest but his arm was steady as he reached forward and fired at the ground in front of the man. After the sound echoed away, he swung around and saw the door was empty. It was the moment to move!

  Without hesitation, he charged across the ten-meter gap.

  "Get the bastard!"

  The words were obliterated by another gunshot explosion as Barrie reached the storeroom, flung the door open and crashed through. He felt stinging pain in his left leg before he heard the explosion. In agony, he collapsed sideways when his leg ceased to function.

  "Winged the prick!" More words rang in his ears.

  "Be careful. He knows how to handle that rifle," a second voice growled.

  Barrie wiped away tears of pain. His leg was useless and jeans already sticky with blood. He fired at nothing in particular, yanked the door shut and, crawled towards the cellar cupboard door.

  With super human fortitude, he opened it and had the forethought to only remove enough of the paint tins inside to leave room to crawl past. He placed three tins in a neat pile on the floor and heaved himself into the cupboard. Everything became black as the light was shut out and claustrophobic silence filled the dusty air.

  Barrie felt forward for the latch of the interior door. Bugger! His hand brushed a paint tin and the noise sounded like thunder.

  He stopped dead still and listened. But everything continued to remain silent. Barrie twisted himself back and reached for the hidden latch. Yes, it was there!

  He held his breath, opened the door and sighed in relief when the interior light flooded the area below.

  He managed to drag himself downstairs and along past the wine shelves to the end space. He grabbed a penknife from his pocket, reached down and sliced open the leg of his jeans. The calf muscle of this lower leg was a mass of blood. With a low moan, he lowered himself to the floor with his back against the bench, ripped his shirt and used the material to wrap around the wound. However, his vision began to cloud, the room turned blotchy purple and his stomach heaved as aftershock gained control.

  He gasped, used the adjacent chair to help himself stagger onto his good leg, stretched forward and pulled the old fashioned light cord to plunge the cellar into darkness. Satisfied, he let himself collapse to the floor and remembered no more.

  *

  The track ruts had been gouged out by earlier spring rain and were now three quarters of a meter deep by half that wide so the only way to prevent the jeep from sinking to its axles was to keep on the humps. After driving at a walking pace for an hour the trio now had the vehicle's lights blazing. There was no possibility what-so-ever that the cars could make it where they'd been so their priority was to get to a high point where the mobile phone would work. After that their plans were uncertain.

  Lavina was concerned about how Cathy might be feeling at the moment. She'd persuaded a tired Steve to let her take over the driving and was quite an expert in manoeuvring the heavy vehicle through even the most severe sections. Steve, Janice and the dogs walked beside or ahead of the vehicle to help navigate the best route.

  Steve squatted down to see where the front wheels were. "Left," he shouted. "Keep her going." This was a particularly tough downhill section where the humps between the ruts were so narrow the left tyres were several centimetres over space.

  Lavina bit on her bottom lip in sheer concentration and moved the steering wheel in the direction asked, the wheels turned slowly and the jeep edged forward. However, there was a slight curve. The back swung out ever so slightly and the rear wheels hit a soft section and began to sink.

  "Steve!" screamed Janice. "The back!"

  Steve looked up and immediately saw the problem. "Speed up and just keep going!" he hollered. "We'll meet you at the bottom."

  Lavina nodded and pressed the accelerator. The motor growled. Just as the rear tyres sank, the forward momentum and the pull of the front wheels allowed the jee
p to grip. Dried clumps of soil spun out and the whole frame quivered. With a clunk, the back chassis hit the ground. Lavina accelerated again and the four tyres finally found a solid base. The jeep tore forward leaving, Steve, Janice and the dogs behind.

  "She's going to do it!" screamed Janice.

  The jeep bounced. Clumps of dried mud spun out into the darkness but it moved forward at a speed that presented its own difficulty. Lavina was now going too fast.

  She realized to brake could cause a slide so she lifted her foot from the accelerator and allowed the motor to help while she gripped the steering wheel and hoped she could take the sharp right hand bend ahead. Once again, the jeep shook and bounced but Lavina felt the far side drop and corrected until the vehicle was on the flat heading straight for the bend.

  Now she braked and turned right, the rear swung out with the wheels skidding sideways on the hard ground. Lavina corrected but the edge of the track crumpled beneath the weight of the vehicle.

  With a screech of steel against dirt, the axle crunched onto the ground, toppling the jeep sideways. It quivered and crashed back down again on a forty-five degree angle. For a moment, four wheels spun. There was another violent shudder and the motor stalled.

  The dogs reached Lavina first, then a worried Steve who reached in through the driver's door to grab her shoulders.

  "I'm okay," she gasped and swished hair out of her eyes. She turned a pale face to Steve. "I've buggered it up now, haven't I?"

  "It wasn't your fault," Steve explained. "The whole side of the track collapsed under the weight of the jeep. You were well away from the edge."

  Lavina frowned as she unclipped her seatbelt and let Steve help her out. Perspiration rolled down her face. "I thought that if I stopped, the jeep would clunk down to its axles and we'd never get out." She glared angrily at the two inside wheels embedded in a massive hole. "And that's exactly what happened."

  Wrapping his arms around her in a massive bear hug, Steve kissed her cheek. "You're not hurt and that's all that matters. Nobody could have driven better than you did."