by Carl Hubrick
Yes, foreign guests and foreign accents were nothing new. But what the young receptionist would recall later was the woman’s friendly smile. The men were smiling too. In fact, all three never stopped smiling. Any charm school would have been proud of them.
The hotel receptionist checked the particulars. The reservations were perfectly in order and the rooms had been paid for in advance. The woman’s first name was Sofia, but the surname was unpronounceable.
‘We are on a mission,’ Sofia explained confidentially, ‘a mission of great international importance.’ She gave an exultant smile and the two men with her nodded and smirked, as if they were party to some private joke.
The young woman behind the desk beamed back in return. She was paid to smile, but even if she hadn’t been, these three would have made it impossible not to.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Tom woke up. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He was still sitting on the hut floor, his back against the wall. He glanced round at the others. Jason and Corina, sitting next to him were asleep. Corina’s head was on her brother’s shoulder. Tom thought Victoria was sleeping too, but then she opened her eyes and looked straight at him, as though, somehow, she had sensed his gaze.
The SIS agent was standing staring out the hut window that faced up the valley. Tom’s binoculars hung round his neck. He was looking back the way they had come. The young man was leaning heavily on the windowsill with one hand, while scratching Rhodo’s head with the other. The dog seemed to have put John X at the top of her favoured person list – an honorary pack member.
Rhodo saw Tom was awake and trotted over, tail wagging, and tried to lick her master’s face. Tom ruffled the Ridgeback’s ears and pushed her away.
‘No doggy kisses just now, thanks Rhodo.’
John X turned and held up Tom’s binoculars. ‘Borrowed your glasses, Tom. Hope you don’t mind?’
Tom nodded. ‘That’s okay. See anything?’
John X shook his head. ‘No, not yet. But they’ll be here. You can put money on it.’
The SIS agent was under no illusions as to his pursuer’s skills. He knew they would have found his trail by now, despite the dry, hard conditions. And he knew they would keep coming, no matter what. They would never give up. But whatever happened to him, the children were not to be involved.
Tom and Rhodo came over to the window. John X began to scan the ridge again, holding the binoculars with one hand while he steadied himself with the other.
Suddenly his gaze froze and his body stiffened. It was obvious to Tom what the SIS agent had seen. The young man sighed and passed the binoculars over to Tom without comment.
Tom studied the ridge. ‘I see three men, I think.’
‘Four,’ John X said. ‘There are seven in the group altogether, but where the other three are now is anybody’s guess. They’ve moved faster than I thought. Wake the others. It’s time to go.’
John X leaned back against the wall. His shoulder felt huge and hot, like a fire was slowly cooking it – killing its life. Rhodo sat next to him, her pink tongue lolling happily out the side of her mouth.
How had the terrorists moved so fast? He should have got the children out long before this, but they’d all been so tired – exhausted.
The children shouldered their packs and stood quietly looking at the SIS agent awaiting his instructions. Tom looped the binoculars round his neck.
‘You remember what I said before?’ John X asked.
Victoria answered for them. ‘We’re to keep going and not stop for anything.’
‘And we don’t look back, no matter what happens,’ Jason added.
John X nodded. ‘Good! Don’t forget it then. Your lives depend upon it.’
The SIS agent glanced back up at the ridge, but without the binoculars, he could not see the terrorists. He no longer cared what happened to him, but his concern for the children was close to panic. He knew these men. They had no mercy.
‘Let’s go then!’ John X moved drunkenly towards the door. Victoria moved to help him, but he waved her away.
‘No! Go! It’s everyone for themselves now.’
*
Once outside, Rhodo was first away, her eager black nose darting to this scent and that, followed by her fast-trotting legs. The children followed her lead and began to walk swiftly, two in each wheel rut that formed the steep hill track. The tall tufts of tussock and grass that grew in its centre showed how infrequently the rough track saw a vehicle. The children looked back at the stumbling figure following in the rear and hesitated.
The SIS agent waved them on angrily. ‘I told you not to look back!’ he shouted. ‘Once we start we don’t stop. Now go! Run!’ He felt the strength fade from his limbs. ‘Run!’ he hollered.
The children did as he ordered. They ran. It felt good to run, now that the way was downhill. They ran with their packs thudding against their packs, and Rhodo loped alongside them, barking her excitement. The late afternoon sun was still warm and bright, and the sweet scent of the green valley filled the air all around them. They were not afraid. John X was with them. They were on their way home.
Run! Don’t stop! Don’t look back! John X’s instructions - and for a time Victoria did as he had charged. But in the end, she could not help herself. She knew she should not, but she did. She looked back. John X was not there.
‘John’s gone!’
The children’s pace faltered and stopped. They stood puffing and panting, regaining their breath. There was no sign of the wounded SIS agent on the hill track behind them. Even if he had fallen, they should have been able to see him, for they had travelled little more than the length of two rugby fields.
Victoria began to walk back the way they had come.
Tom put a hand on her arm. ‘Don’t!’ he said. ‘I saw those men John X was talking about through the binoculars. They won’t be far away now. We’ve got to move on.’
Victoria turned to face him. Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears.
‘You know they’ll kill him, don’t you? I don’t believe he intended to come with us in the first place. He lied to protect us.’
Tom gave a brief nod. ‘It sure looks that way,’ he agreed. ‘He must have thought they’d catch the lot of us if he came too. It was him they wanted after all.’
He took his cousin’s arm. ‘Look, let’s not muck about,’ he said. ‘They could be here at any moment.’
Victoria shook her head. ‘I think I should go back,’ she said. ‘John might need my help...’
‘No you don’t!’ Jason exclaimed suddenly. ‘Look!’ He was pointing back up at the hut. Two figures were standing in front of it. Even as he spoke, one of the figures pointed their way.
‘They’ve seen us,’ cried Tom. ‘We’d better get out of here fast.’
The children ran. This time they were afraid. They ran for their lives, like rabbits fleeing the hunter’s gun.
The downhill pace was fast – a blur of grass and clay wheel ruts. Sharp grey stones jutted up without warning. Each of the children fell at least twice. But they quickly scrambled to their feet and ran on. They were barely aware of the reddening wounds that welled at their knees.
The binoculars bounced and swung at Tom’s neck. He ripped them off in a frenzy and threw them away.
Run! Don’t stop! Don’t look back! But how fast might these men run? How much faster a bullet?
Tom’s thoughts raced. The main road was still another three or four kilometres away – maybe five! How much longer could they keep going? He had the sudden gut fear they weren’t going to make it.
‘Hey look!’ It was Jason who cried out. But the four of them saw it in much the same instant. They had come round a turn in the trail and there – on the other side of a gate, at the bottom of the valley – sat an old white Holden utility facing forlornly uphill. It was almost as if the sight of the steep track had been too much for it. The front bumper drooped down each side in a pout, and the doors and fenders were sore with rust.
>
Tom had never been so glad to see anything in his life.
‘It’s the rabbiter’s utility!’ he shouted, his hope resurgent.
The four of them clambered over the gate and dropped down beside the battered old pick-up. Rhodo found a gap in the fence and squeezed through to join them.
‘He must... he must be around here somewhere,’ Victoria exclaimed, darting glances about her. She was still breathless from the run like the others.
Jason looked inside. The brown vinyl bench seat was split in places, bulging foam.
‘Who cares where he is,’ he cried. ‘The keys are in it!’
Tom took over. ‘Right! Jason, you and Rhodo in the back. Corina take the seat in the middle. Victoria, I’ll sit up front too, and be your navigator.’
‘Sure!’ Jason vaulted over the utility’s side in a flash. He landed on top of the rabbiter’s canned beer supply, bursting open the cartons and scattering the cans onto the steel deck in a din that would have been the envy of any heavy metal band.
‘Come on Rhodo!’ The big dog’s lumbering leap into the back of the utility started the beer can percussion anew.
Corina slid swiftly into the front and Tom followed.
‘Victoria! Come on! Hurry!’
Victoria was still standing outside the driver’s door. She looked even more scared now than she had a moment before.
‘What? I can’t drive this!’
‘But you said you’d had lessons,’ Tom cried out in dismay.
‘But I can’t drive this thing,’ Victoria protested. ‘I’ve only ever driven my father’s car and that’s an automatic.’
‘Just do it!’ Tom shouted. Those guys are close behind us for sure. Hurry!’
Victoria clambered in behind the wheel. She looked at the gear lever in consternation. ‘Well, I can try.’
She turned the key start. The engine fired and ran for a few seconds and then stopped. The girl looked down and found the accelerator with her foot. She turned the key again. The motor responded with a growl, followed by a belch of blue smoke from the exhaust.
Victoria gave a nervous grin. ‘There! So far, so good.’
‘Well, it had better be,’ Tom muttered.
The disquiet in his voice made Victoria look up. Two men were coming down the trail side by side at a fast jog. They were no more than fifty metres away. Both were wearing green and brown combat uniforms. Each carried a long black firearm cradled into his chest.
‘I don’t know which gear’s which!’ Victoria groaned.
‘Does it matter?’ Tom cried. ‘Just put it into something and let’s get the hell out of here.’ The two men spotted the Holden and broke into a sprint.
Victoria pushed in the clutch, found a gear, and the vehicle lurched forward towards the closed gate.
‘Damn! I wanted reverse!’
Tom grabbed the steering wheel. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he yelled. ‘Just keep her going.’
Tom and Victoria dragged on the wheel. Victoria pushed her foot down hard. The engine roared. The old utility came round in a tight turn. It gouged the gate-post, giving out a squeal of tortured metal as it went.
The utility left the track and careered down a small bank into a field, its wheels throwing up clouds of dust behind it.
‘Keep it turning!’ Tom shouted above the din of the motor.
‘I’m trying to,’ Victoria hollered back in reply.
The utility bucked wildly over the uneven ground, the chassis grating on tussock and stone. Victoria hauled hard on the wheel, bringing the vehicle round 180 degrees to get back on the earth and gravel farm trail. Being inside the Holden’s cab was very much like being inside a concrete mixer.
Victoria fought with the wheel. ‘I think we’re in low gear,’ she shouted over the engine’s snarl. ‘But I don’t know how to change it.’
Tom laughed with relief. ‘Who cares? She’s going great. We left them for dirt.’
One of the terrorists dropped to one knee and brought his weapon to his shoulder.
‘Duck!’ yelled Tom. He pushed Corina’s head down and saw Victoria go low behind the wheel.
They did not hear the sound of the shot. But all at once there was a hole in the centre of the windscreen and a sudden silver web of cracks. There was a matching bullet hole in the rear window.
Victoria swung on the wheel and the utility swerved wildly in response. A second bullet struck the roof of the cab and ricocheted away with a whine.
Jason must have ducked too, for when Tom looked back he saw his friend lying face down on the steel deck, his legs spread wide to hold him. He was trying to pull the dog down beside him. For a moment, Tom feared Jason was hurt, but then he saw him raise his head and peer cautiously over the Holden’s tailgate.
Rhodo saw Tom and grinned happily at him. She thrust her nose and pink tongue over the side into the vehicle’s slipstream.
If the terrorists fired again, the children were unaware of it. The old Holden was on its way now and hidden by a whirlwind wake of yellow dust. Tom gave the thumbs up through the cab’s back window. But Jason seemed not to see.
Corina lifted her head cautiously and looked at the bullet’s web in the windshield.
‘Whew! That was close,’ she said. Tom had to read her lips over the noise of the engine.
‘Yep, it sure was. But we’re okay now Corina, There’s no way they’ll catch us.’
*
Tom felt good. The dirt track was less rough now and becoming more like a road. Ahead of them lay the main highway and civilisation. Behind them, their dust cloud blotted out the hills, the terrorists and his fears. Had Tom been able to see through the thick haze, he might have realised their nightmare was only just beginning...
CHAPTER NINE
‘Hey! I think I’ve got it.’
Victoria pushed in the clutch, grasped the column gear-change lever firmly, set her mouth, and repeated the sequence she had just discovered.
The gear lever went up, gave a harsh graunch of metal against metal - once, twice - then slipped through neutral and dropped down into top gear. Victoria let the clutch pedal out, and after a couple of hops, the utility settled down to rumble along happily at twenty-five kilometres per hour.
‘Hmm,’ Victoria gave a satisfied murmur. ‘It seems to have two gears.’
Tom nodded. He had to admit his cousin seemed to have the hang of it, though he had a sneaking suspicion from his knowledge of his parents’ cars, that the utility might have another gear or two, somewhere.
‘Right, well, I think I’ll go through it one more time.’ Victoria was enjoying her newfound skills. ‘I’ve never driven a manual gear-shift before.’
The vehicle slowed. Victoria brought the gear lever back into low, which threw Jason and Rhodo to the steel deck in the back, and Tom and Corina almost through the remains of the windscreen in front.
‘Right!’ Victoria put her mouth in place. ‘Up!’ The mandatory graunch followed. ‘Push forward, across - and down! Take foot off clutch.’
After series of hops, the old Holden was away again in top gear, preserving second gear for the rabbiter, should ever he need it.
Victoria grinned at her passengers in the front seat. ‘Yep, I definitely got it!’
Jason in the back was hopeful the utility might stay in its current gear, as he, Rhodo and the beer cans were tired of trading places. But at least it kept him alert. And eventually it was he who spotted the other vehicle while it was as yet some distance behind.
It was a green Land Cruiser at the head of its own dust trail coming down the valley by another farm track than ran parallel to theirs. At the speed it was going, it would reach the highway ahead of the Holden and cut them off. Jason shouted through the bullet hole in the utility’s rear window and pointed frantically.
The passengers in the front could not hear what he said. But the message became clear enough when they saw the other vehicle gaining on them rapidly. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the occupant
s of the Land Cruiser, nor indeed as to their intentions.
‘It’s them, isn’t it?’ Corina said tearfully.
Tom nodded. ‘I think so.’
Corina began to cry.
Victoria risked a glance at the girl. ‘Don’t worry love, we’ll beat them.’
She pushed her foot down hard, and the pick-up surged forward with a roar. Jason and Rhodo met each other at the tailgate in a tangle. The speedometer needle vibrated its way up to fifty kilometres an hour.
‘I can’t go much faster,’ Victoria shouted above the rattles and bangs from the ruts, rocks and potholes of the occasional road.
‘But they are!’ Tom shouted back.
Victoria clenched her teeth and pushed the accelerator down harder. The speedometer trembled its way up to sixty.
‘Good going, Victoria!’ Tom yelled above the racket of the rough ride. ‘Main road, dead ahead.’
‘But they’ve cut us from home, Tom.’
‘Yeah, too risky to try for that. We’ll just have to head towards Christchurch. But they won’t keep the chase going once we’re on the open highway.’
‘Who’s going to open the gate?’ Corina cried out suddenly, peering ahead.
‘Forget the gate!’ Victoria shouted. ‘Duck!’
The next few minutes contained more happenings than most hours. The grey wooden gate exploded into kindling as the speeding Holden smashed through. To Jason in the back it seemed as if a bomb had hit the utility. A storm of splinters flew by, threatening to skewer him. Beneath the vehicle, a sudden shower of sparks erupted as a section of the gate caught for a moment, and then fell away.
Immediately, Victoria shouted another warning and pulled the wheel round hard in a 90-degree turn, to meet the main road.
Jason heard the tyres squeal – breathed the stink of burning rubber. The utility heeled over like a yacht in a squall. Its steel deck became a treacherous slide. Boy, dog and beer cans rolled. Jason gasped and grabbed at the deck with wide spread fingers. He felt a sudden punch of fur in his face as Rhodo tumbled over him - heard the frightened dog’s yowl in his ear. In the next instant, the animal had hurtled headlong over the side, and was gone.