Red Centre

by Chris Ryan

  Finally the elements gave in. The plane stayed on terra firma. When the windscreen cleared, a tree loomed directly ahead, too close to avoid. Pirroni cut the engine but the propeller carved into a heavy branch. The blades sheared off with a screaming sound and the cabin lurched violently. The wind picked up again and reclaimed control of the craft. Pirroni pulled the plane round in a circle. Gradually it slowed and finally stopped.

  The wind howled around the cabin. Pirroni unbuckled his seatbelt and checked his gun.

  Holly turned to look at Alex. She was clearly terrified. ‘Have we crashed?’ she whispered.

  ‘We’ll be OK,’ he said softly. Inside he didn’t feel as confident. The plane was damaged and they were in the middle of a dust storm. What would happen now?

  In the bunk, Li waited. Her ears strained for the sound of voices. She heard none. She knew they were on the ground - she had felt every bump as the plane circled on the rough scrubland. She had felt the lurch as the propeller smashed into the tree. But now there was silence.

  Should she move? Were the others still conscious? Should she lift the bunk lid and look?

  A smell wafted into the tiny space. It was cigarette smoke. Alex didn’t smoke; Pirroni must still be alive and in control of the plane.

  Li resigned herself to staying put for a while longer.

  The storm passed. Amber risked opening her eyes, shielding them with her fingers just in case. She saw bright sunshine, clear and dust free, the surface of the red earth smoothed as though by a giant hand. The trees were still.

  They were all coated with the red dust. It stuck to the sweat on their faces and clothes like a fuzz of velvet. Their eyes and teeth showed brilliant white in contrast.

  The black scarf Amber wore around her neck felt tight and claustrophobic in the heat. She loosened it. ‘Guys,’ she said, ‘do I look as red and fuzzy as you?’

  Hex opened his mouth to speak and spluttered instead. He looked past her. ‘Oh my God - the plane.’

  It lay by the side of the carriageway. One wing was buckled and the fuselage was creased like an empty drinks can.

  Amber swore. ‘Those road trains have ninety-eight wheels, huh?’

  ‘They can weigh ninety tonnes,’ said Hex. ‘In case you were interested.’

  ‘I am so not impressed,’ said Amber.

  ‘Come on,’ said Paulo. ‘Let’s check the damage.’

  They walked towards the plane. Now that the air was no longer murky with dust the full heat of the sun beat down on them. ‘We need something to cover ourselves with,’ said Hex, squinting up at the sky.

  ‘This does not look good,’ said Paulo when they got up close.

  The plane lay on its side, the roof and door crumpled, as if it had been folded. One window remained, its surface white and frosted. Hex ran his finger over it. ‘It’s been sandblasted. Literally.’

  Amber lay on the fuselage on her tummy and tried to reach into the plane. The doorway was a narrow crevice. ‘I can’t even get my shoulders in,’ she gasped. She straightened up. ‘No chance of using it as a shelter.’

  ‘Are there any blankets or anything in the back?’ asked Paulo.

  ‘There was nothing,’ said Amber. She rubbed a bruise on her hip. ‘Not even a carpet. I was sitting on bare metal.’

  ‘There are two water bottles.’ Hex managed to hook them out and passed one each to Paulo and Amber. ‘That’s all there is. There’s a first-aid kit but it’s jammed under the seat.’

  Leaning against the plane, Hex pulled his palmtop out of its carrying case and switched it on.

  ‘So where are we?’ said Paulo, peering at the screen.

  The screen remained blank. ‘Who knows?’ said Hex. ‘The batteries are dead. I could try recharging it from the plane - if I could get at the battery.’ He looked at the crumpled fuselage and let out a sigh.

  ‘We can take the compass out of the dashboard,’ said Amber. Hex gave her an odd look. ‘Or whatever it’s called in a plane,’ she grumbled. ‘I don’t know - it looks like a dashboard to me.’

  But Hex was not looking at her; he was looking past her.

  Amber was about to follow his gaze when a quiet voice said, ‘Your compass is not reliable here.’

  They turned. A brooding face of leathery black skin regarded them. The scorching sun overhead cast dark shadows on his brows, making his eye sockets deep pits.

  ‘The iron in the rocks will affect your compass,’ he said. ‘You need to navigate by the sun and stars.’

  Hex tried to guess the age of the Aboriginal in front of him. The face was creased and lined, but the hair was jet-black and thickly waved without even a trace of grey. He wore jeans and a checked shirt open to the navel with the sleeves ripped out. His feet were bare, the toenails long and curved over like claws.

  Amber knew there were often tensions between the Aboriginals and the settlers who had come later to Australia. It was similar with the American Indians. Would this local be friendly to some stranded westerners, or hostile? She wasn’t too sure about the way this man was eyeing Hex’s palmtop.

  The man spoke again. ‘I need your help,’ he said.

  18

  ONE FALSE MOVE

  Alex was drenched in sweat; they all were. The inside of the plane was as hot as a greenhouse. Outside, the storm still howled and flung earth at the plane. But Pirroni sat calmly.

  Alex marvelled at the terrorist’s focus and determination. He never lost sight of his goal. If something went wrong he either sorted it out, or he waited for conditions that were more favourable. While they were waiting, Pirroni had drunk water and smoked one cigarette; those were the only things Alex had seen him do. Otherwise he seemed like a machine. The man had the focus of an assassin.

  Not for the first time, Alex thought about his knife. Its theft was like an insult that kept stinging. He didn’t know how he was going to get it back, but he would. Then he pulled himself up. He must keep calm. The mission came first.

  At last the air cleared and Alex, Pirroni and Holly could see where they were. It looked like a parched forest in a Martian landscape. Brushwood in a desiccated green grew in clumps on the red soil. Termite mounds rose in irregular towers. To one side was the tree they had hit, on the edge of a shrivelled wood.

  Pirroni lifted the gun from his lap and pointed it at Holly. ‘Take your seatbelt off, open the door and get out.’

  Holly fumbled with the belt but managed to unfasten it. She fumbled with the door handle too, before jumping out.

  Pirroni turned to Alex. ‘Now you.’

  Alex did as he was instructed and landed on the red soil next to Holly.

  Pirroni climbed out, carrying his holdall. Alex could see the outline of the Colt Commando rifle and the water bottles.

  Of course, thought Alex. He wants to get as far away from the plane as possible. If they stayed there, anyone searching from the air would spot them in no time. ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘We need water too.’ He looked at Pirroni.

  Under the bunk, Li waited, listening. She heard three people get out of the plane. Now one climbed back in - probably male from the weight of the footsteps. He went into the cockpit.

  Then he came nearer, clambering through to the back and standing right beside her hiding place. She heard a cupboard being opened, then closed. She heard the opposite bunk lid being opened.

  Li breathed very slowly and deeply. She couldn’t hold her breath, because if she needed to spring out and fight for her life, her muscles wouldn’t be oxygenated enough and she would tire quickly. So she took in as much air as she could as silently as possible.

  If it was Pirroni, he would probably have a gun, so all she could hope for was that the element of surprise would work in her favour.

  The crack where the lid met the side of the bunk widened and light poured in. She tensed like a cobra, ready to strike. A large shadow was visible. The lid was raised further. The shadow adjusted its position and an arm reached in.

  Li recognized the two watches j
ust in time. The next thing she saw was Alex’s face, sideways on and very, very surprised.

  Their eyes met for just a moment. Li put as much warning into her expression as she could manage, then lowered her head. Her hair spilled over her face in an inky veil and she melted back into the shadowed interior of the bunk.

  Alex stood holding the bunk open. He felt like his brain had been scrambled. Li! What was she doing here? Think, he told himself. The important thing is not to give her away. Behave as though the bunk had nothing in it. He lowered the lid and opened a cupboard, deliberately paying the bunk no more attention. He was looking for something to carry the water bottles in. Concentrate on that, he told himself. Look for a bag, just as you were doing a moment ago, before you saw Li.

  He found one and put the water bottles in it. He left some for Li, out of sight. There was a medical kit and he left that for her too. Then he got out of the plane.

  ‘Quickly,’ said Pirroni. He indicated that Alex and Holly should walk into the wood.

  Alex took Holly’s hand and began to walk. He didn’t want to leave Li all alone in the wilderness. What would she do? But for all their sakes he had to act as if she wasn’t there at all.

  Li waited until she could hear no more footsteps, then opened the lid a fraction. There was no-one in sight. She opened it fully, still prepared to defend herself, then stood up cautiously.

  She was alone.

  She stepped out of the bunk and massaged some life back into her cramped limbs. But every moment she spent doing that was a moment when Pirroni and his hostages were getting further away. She had to get going. Her own survival, as well as Alex’s, depended on it.

  But first she knelt in the doorway and studied the ground for footprints. The ground was baked hard like terracotta and nothing showed. She got out carefully and moved away from the plane a little. Then it hit her. Not only was she alone; she was alone in a great wide sun-cracked earthbowl miles from anywhere. The blue sky above her seemed immense. She felt vulnerable and insignificant, like an ant.

  Calm down, she told herself. You’re not alone, you’re following Pirroni. What would he do? He would get into the wood as soon as possible. She moved to the edge of the trees.

  And there she had her proof: a footprint in a shallow gully where the soil was softer because it was sheltered from the sun. It looked like the Timberlands Alex wore.

  Li smiled. Alex was leaving her a trail. They were in this together.

  She hopped back into the plane to look for materials she could take. She searched the aircraft and found water bottles and a medical kit. She couldn’t take all the medical kit because it was too big, but she packed the most useful items into a tool bag taking scissors, antiseptic cream, sutures and needles and strong bandages that could double as ropes.

  In the bunk was the blanket she had rested on for all that time. She pulled it out. It was bright blue. She dragged it outside and laid it on the ground. It made a stark contrast to the rusty earth. Unravelling her tool bag, Li took out the medical kit scissors and cut the blanket into three strips. Then she arranged them to form a giant arrow next to the plane, weighted down with stones and pointing in the direction she intended to take through the trees. If anyone flew over and saw the wreck, they would know there were survivors to find.

  She began to walk into the wood. The air smelled astringent, of eucalyptus. She looked back at the plane for a moment. Leaving it went against all her survival instincts; you didn’t leave your vehicle when you were marooned in a hostile environment. She made a cut in the tree with scissors and hoped someone would find it.

  Tommy Bininuwuy stopped his pick-up truck. ‘We’re here,’ he said.

  It hadn’t taken Amber, Paulo and Hex long to decide they should go with Tommy. For now, they had little idea where Pirroni was, and they couldn’t carry on searching without transport. This way, if they helped Tommy, they could stock up on supplies and figure out a way to get back on the trail. They might even be able to borrow a vehicle.

  They looked out through the dusty windows at the settlement. A cluster of around twenty homes stood among the sparse trees; they were made from concrete breeze blocks and roofed with corrugated iron. Chickens ran between the houses. A radio provided a quiet, tinny accompaniment to their squawking. A woman sat on the veranda of the nearest home. She looked up from her sewing and waved as she saw the truck. Two other Aboriginals drawing designs on flattened pieces of eucalyptus bark checked out the new arrivals, pausing with their brushes poised over a jam-jar full of paint-cloudy water. All the people shared the same jet-black skin and profuse curls that Tommy had.

  Amber, Paulo and Hex jumped down from the truck. Tommy led them onto the veranda past a woman in a blue T-shirt with large pink flowers who was bending over and talking to a little girl. Amber looked down to smile a greeting. Both the woman and the child ignored her.

  Amber was taken aback. They had looked right through her as though she wasn’t there.

  Inside the building was a schoolroom painted pale yellow. A line of wooden tables with chairs faced a blackboard.

  Tommy had not explained to them what he needed them to help with, but when they saw the front bench it was obvious. On it, in pieces, was a computer. Monitor and keyboard were intact, but the cover had been removed from the central processing unit and its green circuit boards lay exposed.

  Amber laughed out loud. ‘Hex - all yours!’

  Hex was already peering into the open machine. ‘Fantastic!’ he exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with delight. ‘I haven’t seen a Pentium for years! How did it go wrong exactly?’

  Pirroni walked slowly. Deeper into the wood, the ground was rutted. Some of the tree trunks were scorched. Ashy deposits carpeted the floor. On top of them, eucalyptus leaves were scattered like tiny scimitars. From time to time the trees thinned out and gave way to termite mounds. But this time they were not the red, bulbous mounds they had seen before. These were pale, slender wafers, set out at intervals in the clearing like ghostly tombstones. Despite the trees there was little shade; the air was suffocating and stale.

  Alex noticed that Pirroni was now walking heavily. Could it be because of his lameness? A bright-green snake slithered away from under his feet and he realized the terrorist was doing it deliberately to make sure that any wildlife heard the vibrations and fled.

  Alex scraped the black forest floor aside with his toe and found the red earth beneath. To delay a little longer, he tripped.

  Pirroni turned round and looked at him coldly. ‘If you injure yourself I will leave you.’

  Of course. That was why Pirroni was taking them so slowly. In this desolate place even something as insignificant as a sprain meant a prolonged but certain death.

  Alex looked behind him at the place where he had trodden. He was pleased to see the big red streak and a firm print. Then a thought came like a dark cloud and spoiled his optimism: he had been looking forward to building on skills like this in the army. He shook his head. He must keep focused on the mission.

  Holly took his hand. She looked up at him and managed a smile. Her face and clothes were red with a fine layer of dust and she looked like part of the landscape. She was being very brave. Are you OK without your glasses?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m OK. A little short-sighted. Not much. I can get about . . . I know you’ll get us through this,’ she whispered.

  He felt a great wave of protectiveness and squeezed her hand to reassure her. Then he let go, tripped again, leaving another mark, and caught up with her.

  Pirroni put his hand up. ‘Stop.’

  He retraced his steps, looking carefully at the ground. Alex’s heart was in his mouth. What if he saw his clue? It was highly visible, a red streak in the black ash, where hardly any other footprints showed. But Pirroni stopped when he found one of his own footprints and knelt down. He reached into his bag and brought out a rifle bullet.

  Alex’s mouth, already dry from the heat, turned to sandpaper.

  Pirroni took o
ut Alex’s knife and experimentally scraped at the footprint. It was soft. He chose a spot in the middle where his heel would have been and skewered the knife into the ground up to the hilt, turning it to bore a wide hole. The brutality of the action made Holly wince. Alex felt steel in his soul.

  You don’t do that with my knife, he thought. Somehow, soon, I’ll be taking it back from you.

  Pirroni put back some of the loose earth to make the hole narrower. He searched in his pocket and took out one of the screws from the plane’s GPS unit. He dropped it into the hole, checked to see which way up it had landed and packed the loose earth carefully around it. He dropped the bullet in after it. Then he smoothed the surface over the hole so that the footprint looked intact, and stood up. He drank some water, surveying his booby trap. Then he resumed walking.

  Alex was in no doubt how nasty that booby trap was. If someone stepped on the hole - which was likely if they were tracking them and checking the size of the footprint - their weight would push the bullet onto the screw and fire it. The bullet would go straight up into their leg and probably take the limb off.

  Before Alex set off, he picked up a twig and silently bent it in two places so that it formed a letter N, meaning negative - one of the international signals for danger. He dropped it behind him, then caught up with Holly.

  But his thoughts were somewhere else. Be careful, Li, he said to himself. Be very, very careful.

  19

  BEFORE THE MAELSTROM

  If Li missed Alex’s next mark she could wander for ever. She picked her way carefully, scanning the ground with every step. But she saw nothing. Black ash coated the floor, and its powdery surface hardly took prints at all.

  The heat sapped all her energy, making it impossible to walk energetically even if she had wanted to. The air was so warm she could hardly breathe. No matter how deeply she inhaled, it felt as if nothing was going into her lungs. She rationed her water, knowing it might have to last a long time. But one of the things she had with her was water purification tablets, so if she found another source she would be able to use it.