by Carl Hubrick
Karl X gave his fallen comrade a cursory glance. The look of contempt was plain on his face.
‘Incompetent fool!’ he growled. ‘Time after time he asks, when can I go on this mission or that? Bah! Even this small task he has bungled. His will be a fool’s death – a death of dishonour.’
Karl X was speaking as if Omar could not hear him – speaking to himself almost.
‘It would have been better to have had these children as my soldiers. I salute their bravery. They will go to their fate with honour.’
Karl X smiled, and strangely, his smile seemed as real and sincere as any Tom had ever seen.
‘My children,’ the terrorist cooed. His voice was quiet and kindly as though he were their father. ‘I offer you my true sorrow that I must finish what the fool could not.’
Terror shot through Tom like a bolt of lightning. Nothing could save them now.
The dark eye of death fixed its gaze upon them...
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A single gunshot exploded across the room, bursting into their ears.
For a second, Karl X and the children stood frozen, like images caught in a camera flash. Then Karl X smiled sadly, and his lips parted as if he wished to speak. But no words came. Instead, bright red blood bubbled from his mouth and dribbled down his chin. Then, with the sad smile still fixed upon his face, the terrorist leader crumpled slowly to his knees. Like the villain in every TV movie, he stayed kneeling for a moment, sheer will power holding him. Then the weapon dropped from his hands with a clatter, and he fell face down onto the grey wood floor.
Tom spun round. In the far corner of the hut, John X sat propped against the wall, his sunken eyes fixed upon the doorway - the terrorist’s big black pistol gripped firm in both hands.
John X fired again blindly into the open doorway where Karl X had stood – and then again – the bullets speeding away harmlessly into the night.
But it was the last supreme effort of a dying man. With a deep sigh, the SIS agent toppled sideways, as if in slow motion, the smoking pistol still locked in his grasp.
Victoria ran to the young man’s side. Tom knelt down by his dog and hugged her close. Rhodo growled softly, but at no one and nothing in particular. The fierceness of her hackles began to subside. The Ridgeback did not understand what had happened, but she knew, somehow, there was no longer any threat to her charges. Her pack was safe.
‘Is John X dead?’ Jason asked Victoria.
The girl nodded. ‘Yes, I think so,’ she said. She turned her face away as tears overcame her.
‘Well, he lived long enough to finish what he started,’ Tom commented quietly.
‘And a bloody good thing for us too, mate,’ Jason said, clapping Tom on the shoulder. ‘And you know what? I’ve just realised. I’ve never seen a dead person before, and now we’ve got two of them.’
Victoria gently closed the eyes of the SIS agent and then pulled the blanket up and tucked it round him. Corina knelt and put her head on Victoria’s shoulder.
‘He saved us all, didn’t he?’ she said softly.
Victoria smiled. ‘Yes – he saved us. John saved us.’
‘I wonder where this one got hit?’ Jason put his boot under the terrorist leader and rolled the corpse onto its back with a grunt. The man’s dead eyes came up staring, his sad smile frothed in blood. The hackles spiked up again along the Ridgeback’s neck and shoulders, and her lips curled upwards in a snarl.
‘Well, look at that,’ Jason said in admiration. ‘One shot! Drilled him right through the heart. Just like bloody James Bond, eh? Aw, yuk! There’s bits of red meat everywhere. Looks like raw mince.’
He turned to Tom and grinned. ‘Anyway, at least that’s one loose end we won’t have to worry about. And come to think of it, neither will he.’
EPILOGUE – THE LOOSE ENDS TIED
The children spent a cold night out in the open. They found an outcrop of overhanging rock not far from the hideout that gave them some shelter.
All of them had agreed it would be unwise to stay in the hut in case any of the surviving terrorists returned. Victoria and Tom had thought it equally unwise to begin trekking through the mountains in the dark, and Corina had sided with them on that. Anyway, Tom had argued, they had to wait for daylight, because they really didn’t know exactly where they were.
Despite the chill, sleep soon overcame them. Even Jason, as self-appointed guard and sentry, nodded off not long after the others, the terrorists’ machine pistol cradled tightly in his arms. Only Rhodo maintained her vigil, snoring softly as she did so.
As the new day’s sun stirred, the chop of helicopter blades overhead awoke them. Before the children had time to shake the sleep from their limbs, the hillside around them was alive with stern-faced New Zealand anti-terrorist troops, guns at the ready. It was, as Jason described it later, like a bloody invasion.
Almost as swiftly, the children were whisked back home to tearful parents, aunt and uncle, and returned to the places and things they had known before they met John X.
Of course, life was not quite the same as it had been in the past. Police and intelligence officers interviewed them and took notes, wanting to know even the tiniest snippets of conversation the children might have overheard while they were captives.
Was there anything the terrorists had said that might give a clue as to where they had come from? Had they given any hint of what they were planning to do next? It seemed obvious to the children that Omar was not talking. Perhaps Karl’s ghost might be proud of him yet.
Then there was the gentleman with the thatch of brown hair and sad looking eyes who asked Victoria quiet questions about John X, and nodded wisely at the answers.
Next came the media. Newspaper and television journalists wanted to know anything and everything – who, what, when, where, why and how – but the police kept it all under control, allowing only the briefest of interviews and camera sessions.
So, in the days that followed, Victoria, Tom, Jason and Corina had their names and pictures in the papers and on television. Rhodo had a newspaper story all to herself, concerning the characteristics and history of her breed. Tom couldn’t help thinking how much Karl X would have enjoyed such media coverage for his “glorious mission”.
*
Anxious American secret service agents bundled Senator Lloyd Honeywell off to Canberra, Australia, less than an hour after the would-be assassins’ attack. The Americans feared another attempt on The Peacemaker’s life. But the senator sent word to the children that he would return some day to meet them and thank them in person for saving his life. Meanwhile his office, through the United States Embassy, showered them with movie tickets, T-shirts, McDonald’s vouchers and crates of Coca-Cola.
*
Wiremu Kingi survived the crash. The big man crawled out of the wreck of his Land Rover and spent an uncomfortable night in the bush with a broken leg and concussion. The next morning, an armed police patrol on the lookout for terrorists, spotted his upturned vehicle at the bottom of the bluff.
*
Six hours after the children’s rescue, Uncle Ian, Victoria’s father, crossed the Tasman to spend the rest of the holidays with his daughter. His friend, Julia, flew over two days later. Julia has started giving Victoria driving lessons, and the girl is beginning to think her father’s friend is okay.
*
A few weeks after the events of that summer, when Victoria, Uncle Ian and Julia had gone back to Sydney, and life had returned to school days and homework, Tom and Jason spotted Mrs Sykes one Saturday afternoon at the video store in the local shopping mall. Her long brown hair bounced in a ponytail, and she was wearing a chic yellow shirt and blue jeans. It was difficult to be sure at first, if it was the same Mrs Sykes. Jason reckoned she was looking in the Adults Only section of the video store, but Tom said she wasn’t - and anyway, so what if she was? Jason took off rather than speak to the cat lady, but Tom went up to say hello.
‘Mrs Sykes?’
‘Tom! What a pleasant surprise!’ The cat smile came on, but the brown eyes seemed to be warm and sincere. ‘It’s so good to see you safe and sound. I saw on the news what happened to you and Jason, and those two girls. Terrorists! My goodness, it must have been a dreadful experience. You know, I still can’t believe it.’ She shook her head. ‘I still can’t believe such a thing could happen in this country.
Anyhow, thank heavens you weren’t seriously hurt – or worse. Fortunately you’re both brave boys and obviously survived the ordeal without too much harm.’
‘Oh, it wasn’t too bad really,’ Tom said modestly.
His former teacher smiled. ‘Well, I’m just happy to see you still in one piece,’ she said. ‘Anyway, now tell me, how is high school? Is it as good as you thought it would be?’
‘Oh yeah, it’s okay, thank you.’
‘And are your teachers nice? You’ll have several now, won’t you?’
‘Yeah, they seem okay.’
‘And lots of homework, I expect?’
‘Yeah, there’s certainly heaps of that,’ Tom replied. ‘How ’bout your new class, Mrs Sykes?’ he queried.
‘Well, thirty-five this year – a few more than in your class, Tom. But they’re coming along quite well.’
‘Still a few loose ends to tidy up, eh, Mrs Sykes?’
The cat lady laughed. A friendly laugh, Tom decided.
‘Yes Tom, I suppose you could say that.’
* * * * *
The two surviving terrorists disappeared despite police roadblocks throughout the district. Did they manage to leave the country? No one knows. So even now, Tom still gets the shivers whenever he thinks of those two men out there. And he wonders how long they will wait for further orders to tie up loose ends...
APPENDIX OF ACRONYMS
SIS: The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
The main role of the SIS is to gather and analyse information from both within New Zealand and overseas that could affect the security of the nation. The SIS advises the Prime Minister if it believes it has uncovered any threat or danger. The SIS is independent of both the police and the military.
DPS: Diplomatic Protection Squad
The DPS is the police unit that provides a bodyguard service for visiting dignitaries during their stay in New Zealand. The same protection is available for New Zealand VIPs as well, when the need arises. Members of the squad are usually plain clothed, and are skilled in driving, use of firearms and unarmed combat.
AOS: Armed Offenders Squad
The AOS is the division of the police equipped with firearms and expert in their use. The squad was set up to respond to emergencies such as hostage situations or the capture of armed criminals.
STG: Special Tactics Group
In addition to the AOS is the STG, a highly trained police group that can act in high-risk situations where there are heavily armed criminals or terrorists. The next step up is the New Zealand Army’s SAS. The STG trains with the SAS.
SAS: Special Air Service: (NZSAS):
The NZSAS is an elite army unit that can undertake special missions both in New Zealand and overseas. Its specialist areas include reconnaissance, intelligence work and counter terrorism. Their motto is Who Dares Wins.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carl Hubrick was born in Auckland, New Zealand. After graduating from Canterbury University, he became a television director for the NZBC, at CHTV3 in Christchurch.
He attended Christchurch Teachers’ College in 1977, and over the years has taught at primary, secondary and adult levels.
Carl is married and lives in Pegasus, North Canterbury.