Kakadu Sunset

by Annie Seaton

  ‘Thank God.’ Ellie put both hands either side of Heather’s shoulders and helped her to her feet. ‘Where is she, Heather? You must tell me where Gina is. She’s in danger. Her life is in danger.’

  ‘But Dad –’

  ‘Your dad is safe. He’s over in the workshop with the other guys.’

  ‘I know, he insisted on coming in with me today, so I couldn’t check on Gina on the way to work.’

  ‘On the way to work?’ Ellie held Heather’s shoulders. ‘Please. Where is she?’

  ‘Not till I know Dad’s safe.’

  ‘Look, right now he’s with the other guys and he’s speaking at that anti-fracking meeting at ten. No one’s going to hurt him while he’s in front of a crowd.’ Ellie shook Heather gently. ‘There’s safety in numbers and as much as I hate to say it, the rangers always have their Winchester rifles handy.’

  ‘I suppose.’ Heather blew her nose and nodded slowly.

  ‘As long as he watches his back, he’ll be okay.’ Ellie gripped Heather’s arm. ‘Now for the love of God, will you tell me where she is?’

  A vast sense of relief flooded Ellie as Heather nodded mutely.

  Ellie ran all the way to the hangar. She paused at the gate to catch her breath, and called Gina’s mobile. No connection. She tried Kane but the call rang twice and then went to voicemail. David and Kane must be driving through a dead zone. The mobile service was patchy all the way from the lodge to Jabiru until you could see the big silver towers behind the town.

  She tucked her phone between her shoulder and her chin as she pulled out her keys to unlock the gate to the tarmac. ‘Ring me as soon as you get this. You’re going the wrong way.’

  Ellie lifted the padlock to unlock it and the chain came away in her hand. It slid to the concrete with a loud clang, and she narrowed her eyes. She was sure she’d locked the gate on the way out yesterday afternoon. Pushing the gate shut behind her, she locked the padlock at the end of the chain in case the first group arrived for their ten o’clock flight before she returned.

  She hoped she would be back by then. Jock wasn’t in the office and it was too early to ask him if she could take the helicopter up; she’d explain it to him when she got back.

  Hopefully with Gina as a passenger.

  Heather had promised her she was all right. She had food and water and the hut Heather had left her in was locked. The river hut was about two kilometres past Bill’s house at Black Jungle Springs. It had once been a residence but now the family used it as a fishing shack in the dry season.

  Ellie knew the area well; it was on the South Alligator River scenic flight run. The only thing that worried her was how close the hut was to the water. The place was a crocodile haven. If Gina had somehow managed to escape during the night . . .

  She swallowed, pushing the thought away. Surely she would know not to go wandering along the edge of the river.

  Please God.

  Ellie opened the hangar and took a quick look around. It had been locked up and everything looked okay. Maybe she had left the gate unlocked in her rush to get away from that jerk yesterday. She grabbed her small first-aid kit and ran for the helicopter and threw it in onto the passenger seat. A quick pre-flight check was enough; neither machine had been up since she’d refuelled and checked them yesterday. Ellie ran her hands along the skids, checked the rotors and looked over the fuel tanks. Still good; everything in place.

  She closed her eyes for a second as an image of Kane doing his three checks pushed into her thoughts. Yeah, she’d probably been too hard on him. She’d apologise later.

  Chapter 34

  7.15 am Saturday

  Near Black Jungle Springs

  Gina had finally drifted into a light doze just before dawn. The baby had given an almighty kick in the middle of the night and she’d sobbed with relief. The discomfort was welcome because she knew her baby was alive.

  She woke with a start as a bird screeched near the window. Sunlight bathed the room and she opened her eyes and looked around. Her head throbbed with a dull ache behind her temples and her mouth was dry again. Her hands were still bound in front of her stomach; she’d given up on trying to pull them loose in the early hours. Now that it was light, she could see the knot and where to pull at it. Pins and needles pierced her skin but the pain was welcome. It spurred her on. She lifted her wrists and used her teeth to work at the soft towelling tie. The baby kicked again as she grunted and strained. Finally the knot loosened and she was able to pull her hands free. She flexed her fingers as the blood rushed painfully into them. When they stopped burning and the numbness had gone, she braced then pushed herself slowly to a sitting position. Her back ached from lying straight on the hard bed all night.

  She reached for the half-full bottle of water and her hands shook as she unscrewed the cap. The water was cool and sweet and soothed her parched throat. When her headache had eased a little, she rolled over to her knees, supporting the baby with one hand and using the other to brace herself on the wall as she rose to her feet.

  The hollow ache began low in her back and Gina took a deep breath. When it spread and gripped her belly like a vice, she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. A trickle of warm fluid ran down her legs. She took another deep breath as the contraction tightened her belly at the same time as the low rumble of an engine reached her.

  Gina clutched her stomach as she stood, and crossed the room to the window. A black SUV had pulled up on the road beside the house and a tall man dressed in dark jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt got out of the driver’s side.

  Thank God. Whoever he was, he could get her out of here. She needed to get to a hospital. She ran to the door and lifted her hands to the lock. Her fingers fumbled as she hurried.

  ‘Help! Help me!’

  The man turned to her with a smile as she opened the door. She sagged with relief as he walked across from the car, but the relief was short lived. The baby pressed down on her bladder and she fought the building pressure as a shaft of pain speared down her right leg. Another contraction.

  He stepped up onto the first step. ‘Mrs Johnson?’

  ‘Yes. But, how do you –’

  Oh, Dio. He knew who she was.

  ‘What a pleasure to meet you.’ His eyes were cold as he put his hands together in front of him. Before she could push the door shut and lock it, the deep throb of an approaching helicopter vibrated through the small building. As he turned to look up, she slammed the door and ran.

  A line of cupboards with a small sink and stove ran along the back wall of the room she was in. There was an external door at the end of the cupboards and when she reached it, she flicked the lock over and pushed it open. Two narrow concrete steps led down to an open expanse of overgrown grass which edged the thick forest. Gina shivered. She couldn’t bring herself to step outside. Her feet were bare and she would be exposed and in full view.

  Her speed was limited by the contractions and she could have another one any minute. Her breathing hitched into frightened sobs as she turned from the open door and quickly crossed to the door at the side of the room. It led into a small bedroom, but there was nothing in there and nowhere to hide. She looked from side to side as she hurried back into the larger room. The front door shook as the man pushed his weight against it. Gina ran back to the small kitchen. A tall pantry was situated on the other side of the small stove and she pulled the door open. The bottom shelf ran the width of the double door and she crouched down and squeezed herself in. Putting her hand beneath the door, she pulled it shut just as the front door burst open. At the same time, the helicopter roared over the house and the building shook. She bit her lip and held her breath as the next contraction built.

  *

  Ellie banked her bird to the left and looked down to the monsoon forest below her. She’d been in the air for fifteen minutes. The silver sheen of the South Alligator River glistened to the north-west as she swooped over the top of the Gunbumbuk range. She was only a few minutes fro
m her destination.

  Please. Please let Gina be okay.

  As the forest cleared and she approached the wetlands signalling the edge of the river, Ellie glanced down at her watch; Jock would be in the office by now. She flicked the radio switch and called the base.

  ‘Ellie to base. Ellie to base. Come in Jock.’

  The reply was instant. ‘Ellie, where are you? What are you doing up so early. Did you have a sunrise flight?’

  ‘No. I’ll explain when I come back. Jock, I’m sorry but can you please cancel my ten o’clock . . . and get the team at the medical centre briefed. Pregnant woman. We might need a medivac.’

  ‘All right, I’ll brief them. What’s your destination?’

  ‘Two kilometres south of Black Jungle Springs out on the Old Jim Jim Road. Next to the river.’ A red light on the dash caught her eye and Ellie craned forward. The low fuel light had come on.

  ‘Bullshit,’ Ellie muttered beneath her breath. With a full tank and with only her light weight in the bird, the twenty-gallon tank should have given her at least two hours flying time.

  ‘What’s wrong, Ellie?’ Jock’s voice faded in and out of her earphones as she leaned forward looking for a clearing. She knew she had five minutes of flying time after the light came on.

  ‘I’ve got a problem here, Jock.’ She kept her voice steady as she searched the ground for somewhere to bring the bird down. The small settlement of Black Jungle Springs appeared below and she lowered the front of the helicopter as she flew over it. There were too many trees and the flat ground near the river was still covered with water. The wetlands were still drying out after the late wet.

  The engine power decreased as the fuel flow lessened and Ellie pushed the collective all the way down to reduce the drag on the rotor blades.

  ‘Shit, shit, shit.’

  ‘Ellie, what is it?’ Jock’s voice amplified her distress.

  ‘I’m in autorotation, Jock. Mayday, mayday, I’m taking her down.’

  Ellie searched desperately for a flat, clear spot below. Trees filled her vision as far as she could see. If the chopper came down there, she’d have no chance. Her heart lodged in her throat. She’d only ever practised an autorotation in the simulator at pilot school and had never done a real controlled crash landing before. The ground inched closer as the engine cut out. Now the whoosh of the air from the spinning rotors was the only sound and she gritted her teeth, fighting to control the bird in the descent without an engine.

  The scrubby forest stretched all the way to the river. The road wound through the forest and the small fishing hut appeared through a gap in the trees; a dark vehicle was parked at the edge of the fence. She smiled grimly. At least she was coming down close to her destination; someone was looking after her today.

  She pulled back on the cyclic and the main rotor blades picked up speed as she scoured the ground below. Levelling off, she pulled up on the collective and prayed. As Ellie brought the chopper in over the river, she noticed the rocks in the grass in the small clearing. She pulled back to slow her forward speed and glanced down to the other side. There was a small patch of pure white sand directly beneath her; holding her breath, she levelled the helicopter.

  ‘Oh, God. Yes.’

  Thirty feet to go. Enough to kill you dropping from that height. At least there was no fuel to burn. She overshot the clearing and banked the chopper to come back around to the small sandy patch by the river.

  ‘Come on, baby,’ she whispered as the clearing loomed ahead again.

  Her control held as the chopper got closer to the ground. ‘Almost there.’

  She jerked back and the T-bar suddenly whipped from her hand as a sharp crack broke the silence and the helicopter shuddered – she’d clipped a tree. A massive branch whipped across the side of the machine and the canopy split, blocking her vision of the clearing beneath her

  Ellie screamed as her bird flipped sideways in one swift movement. The seatbelt held her pinned against the seat as water sprayed in a huge arc around the helicopter. A loud screech of grinding metal mixed with the splash as the passenger side scraped on the rocks on the bottom of the shallow river. Her head ricocheted off the metal panel beside her as the helicopter came to a sudden stop.

  *

  Kakadu Highway

  Kane and David were just a few kilometres south of Jabiru when Kane’s phone beeped with an incoming message. He pulled it out of his pocket and listened to his voicemail.

  Hitting the brakes, he checked for traffic in the rear-vision mirror before swinging the car around and heading back the way they came.

  ‘That was Ellie. She must have found Gina. She said we’re going the wrong way.’ He flicked a glance at David, who’d been staring silently out the window for the past half hour as they’d headed north. ‘The message was garbled at the end. All I could pick up was black something. Bloody phone service here is shocking.’ He pressed the keypad to return the call.

  ‘Is Gina all right?’

  Kane shook his head. ‘I don’t know. That’s all she said. I’ll call her.’

  The call went to voicemail and Kane swore and passed the phone over to David. ‘Keep calling till she picks up.’ He changed back a gear and floored the accelerator. If they copped a speeding fine, so be it.

  David pressed redial until the phone service dropped out again. It was only fifteen minutes until they reached the Yellow Water turn-off which led back to Makowa Lodge.

  ‘Phone service should be okay now,’ Kane said.

  David lifted the phone to dial again but it rang before he could press. He answered and listened intently, and Kane took his eyes from the road, slowing the car as they approached the lodge.

  ‘Who?’ David frowned. ‘Ellie? Where is she? Yes, okay, I’ll put him on.’

  He passed the phone to Kane. ‘Someone called Jock for you.’

  ‘Jock?’ Kane turned into the lodge and parked in the front car park. ‘Fuck. When? Where?’

  Kane focused on his breathing, drawing the air in deep and letting it out slowly as the panic built in his chest. ‘No, it’s too far to drive. I’ll take the other helicopter up.’

  David stared at him, waiting for him to finish.

  ‘How long till the national park helicopter can get there? Okay, I’ll radio in when we’re in the air.’

  Kane shoved the phone into his pocket and opened the door. He beckoned David to follow him and they ran through the lodge towards the flight centre. ‘Ellie took a chopper up and she sent a mayday call about ten minutes ago. Jock said she was out of fuel and in autorotation. And she said there was a pregnant woman needing assistance. She’s found Gina. I hope to hell they’re okay.’

  ‘Thank God.’ David hurried along beside Kane, ignoring the curious looks of the tourists. ‘What’s autorotation?’

  ‘It’s a controlled crash.’ Kane briefly closed his eyes at the thought of what could go wrong. ‘But she’s a damn fine pilot. She should be right.’

  ‘He didn’t say anything else?’

  ‘No. The national park mob has got a crew heading out there. But we’re closer. We’ll get there first.’

  They reached the gate next to the hangar. ‘Shit, it’s padlocked and I don’t have my keys with me. No time to get them.’ Kane hoisted himself up on the wire fence and climbed to the top, bracing himself for the jarring pain in his hip as he landed on the concrete below. He waited for David to follow.

  Kane focused on the R44 sitting on the tarmac in front of him. He walked around it slowly, checking the skids and the rotor blades before opening the cowl on the fuel tank. His eyes widened when he spotted the piece of hose.

  ‘There’s very little fuel left in this tank. That bastard who was here yesterday must have interfered with the helicopters. I’d say the same thing was done to Ellie’s.’

  Although the delay frustrated him, Kane took his time preparing for the flight. He refuelled the chopper and did another thorough pre-flight check before he was satisfied that the bi
rd was safe to take up. Knowing the helicopter had been tampered with filled him with cold anger and he used that anger to fight the trepidation that threatened.

  As he did the final check, the faces of Hawk, and Dirk and Jerry, filled his mind. They were gone and he was damn lucky to be alive. Shutting down the part of his life that he’d once loved wouldn’t change anything. Anticipation flooded through him; the desire to be up in the air again.

  ‘Okay, right to go. Climb in.’ He shut the door behind David after he’d climbed into the passenger seat.

  As he checked the instruments, Kane was surprised at how calm he felt. His hands were steady when he passed over the headset to David, and he slipped his own on once David was ready.

  ‘Can you hear me okay?’

  David nodded and Kane lifted the right side of his headset away and opened the right hand door as he started up the engine.

  Exhilaration rushed through him as the bird lifted into the sky. He was totally focused on getting to Ellie. The first tremor ran through him when he imagined her lying broken in the wreckage. But this time he refused to give in to the fear.

  Chapter 35

  7.20 am Saturday

  Darwin CBD

  ‘What do you mean, she’s not fucking there?’ Russell Fairweather was sitting in the Cove restaurant of the Skycity Hotel in Darwin, waiting for his appointment to join him for a breakfast meeting. A couple looked at him curiously from the next table and he lowered his voice and smiled politely. ‘Where is she?’ he hissed.

  ‘She got away. The back door’s open and there’s no sign of her. What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Go and find her, of course. If you lose her, trust me, you will be very, very sorry. Now –’

  Before he could finish, a strange sound came through the phone. ‘Holy shit. You’ll never believe what’s just happened.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Ellie Porter has just crashed her helicopter in the river.’