Claws of the Crocodile

by Bear Grylls

  Beck carefully kept a straight face, not giving anything away. Mia had put the handbag down on the sand just before the men showed up. He didn’t know what Brihony was playing at, but if she had any kind of plan, then it was more than he had. And maybe there was a USB stick in Mia’s handbag. It wouldn’t be the one they were after, but how would they know that just by looking at it?

  At a nod from his colleague, the second man picked up the handbag and passed it to Brihony.

  ‘Empty it onto the ground.’

  Brihony did as she was told, though her fingers shook as she tugged at the zip. She upended the bag, and the contents spilled out onto the sand. The man shone his torch down on the small pile and Beck looked closely. Purse, lipstick, small packet of hankies, phone . . . Nothing that looked like a USB stick.

  The second man crouched down and poked through the pile while the first kept his guard over the two friends. He looked up.

  ‘It’s not here.’

  ‘Oh, for crying out loud, you stupid drongo!’ Brihony snapped. She strode forward, ignoring the threatening gesture from the first man, and rummaged quickly through the pile herself. ‘Here it is – right here. Look.’

  She had something small and cylindrical in her hand. She held it out towards the second man, covering it with her fingers. As he leaned forward, she pressed the top, and a jet of fluid squirted into his eyes.

  He howled and staggered backwards, clutching at his face. The first man leaped forward, but he tripped over Mia and stumbled, straight into another squirt of the fluid. He bellowed and fell backwards into his companion, and they collapsed into a tangled heap on the sand.

  ‘Come on.’ Brihony grabbed Beck’s hand and pulled him away. He hadn’t realized she was sobbing. ‘Come on . . .’

  He threw a last glance back at Mia. It felt heartless to leave her just lying there, needing medical attention. But there was nothing he could do while these two guys were around.

  They scrambled up the sides of the hollow and ran over the dunes, away from the sea.

  ‘What was that stuff?’ he gasped.

  ‘Anti-assault spray.’

  ‘Neat.’

  The soft sand meant that every step was a stumble. After a minute, Beck glanced back again. The men were only just emerging from the hollow. The moon had stayed out, and Beck knew that their dark figures would be very visible against the light sand.

  They had to get to help. They were in a town of 15,000 people – it shouldn’t be hard! The problem was that their attackers were between them and the crowd. He and Brihony were running away from any potential helpers. They couldn’t just change direction and find some witnesses. The men would just cut across and intercept them before anyone else was within earshot.

  The ground grew harder beneath their feet, and buildings loomed up ahead of them. They could run more easily now. Unfortunately, this meant that the men would be able to as well. With their longer strides they would soon catch up. Beck and Brihony had to take advantage now, while their pursuers were still struggling through the sand.

  Ahead of them were shops and stalls, but they were closed.

  ‘What is this place?’ Beck asked.

  ‘Apex Park. This is where Mum parked. We’ve got to get back to the car.’

  ‘Can you drive?’

  ‘No, but my phone’s in it . . .’

  Beck glanced back and saw that the men were gaining on them now.

  Suddenly he and Bryony were running on tarmac: the car park. It was almost empty, and Mia had parked at the far end. Beck didn’t bother looking back because it would only slow him down. The car was still miles away, and another problem occurred to him: hadn’t Mia locked it? How were they going to get in?

  And then they were there. Beck tugged at the nearest door. Sure enough, it was locked. He turned round: the men were almost upon them.

  Brihony was fumbling inside the front wheel arch. Suddenly the car’s lights flashed as the remote locking system operated.

  ‘Spare key in a magnetic box!’ she said, waving it triumphantly under Beck’s nose. Beck dived into the back of the car and pulled the door shut behind him.

  Brihony only had her door half closed when the first man caught up. He grabbed it and began to pull it open again. There was a brief tug-of-war, and then Brihony deliberately let go. All at once the door swung open and he fell over backwards. She grabbed the handle again and pulled it shut, just as the second man reached them. He made the mistake of taking hold of the edge just as the door was slamming shut, and it closed on his fingers. He bellowed with pain, and staggered away. Brihony pressed the central locking switch, and all four doors locked with a loud click.

  Beck watched the men nervously. He knew that car glass was tough, but he didn’t feel secure when it was all that stood between him and a baseball bat. He scrambled into the front passenger seat while Brihony fumbled with her phone.

  ‘Police? Hi, yeah, I’m in Apex Park and two guys are—’

  One of the men brought his bat down on the window. The glass splintered and starred, but stayed intact.

  ‘Did you hear that? Yeah, I’m locked in a car and there’s two men attacking us. Also they knocked my mother out – she’s lying on the beach and she’ll need an ambulance—’

  The man swung the bat at the window again, and it gave a little more. Beck slammed his hand down on the car horn, over and over. The sound echoed around the car park. Surely someone would come and investigate?

  ‘Yeah, that’s my friend . . .’ Brihony said into the phone.

  The men were still out there, though they backed off when the horn started. They shot anxious glances into the dark, torn between wanting to get at the two kids in the car, and wanting to escape before help came. They circled the car like wolves waiting at the base of a tree for their prey to fall out.

  But Beck kept blasting the horn, and finally they heard the sound of the siren. The man with the bat smashed it against the car once more, but it was just frustration. He and his colleague turned and ran off into the darkness only seconds before the police car pulled up.

  Beck and Brihony didn’t unlock the doors until they saw a uniformed police officer emerge.

  Chapter 9

  ‘And you didn’t get a look at their faces? Either of them?’ the policewoman asked.

  Brihony silently shook her head.

  Mia lay unconscious on the other side of a glass partition. A doctor and a nurse fussed over her, and she was being fed oxygen. The doctors had assured them that this was normal procedure. Giving a patient extra oxygen just meant that the body was getting as much oxygen saturation as possible to aid its recovery.

  ‘Can you think of any enemies your ma might have? Has she had an argument with anyone recently? Anyone at work?’

  Brihony shook her head again. ‘No one.’

  In the few moments between the men running off and the police arriving, Beck and Brihony had come to an agreement. The police would ask questions, but they wouldn’t mention Lumos. Ganan had said that the corporation even had people in the police. Talking about them might mean putting people in real danger.

  The doctor stepped out of the room behind them. He had a warm, reassuring smile which Beck felt was probably genuine.

  ‘Brihony? Here’s the deal. Your mum has a hairline fracture to the skull, and there’s almost certainly bruising to the brainstem. But her vital signs are good. She will probably be unconscious for two or three days, but that’s normal. It just means she’s getting better. Then, when she wakes up, she’ll need to stay in for monitoring. The important thing is, she’s through the worst. Every day from now on will be an improvement.’

  Brihony was silent for a moment. She stood with her eyes closed and relief on her face, taking in the good news. ‘I suppose there’s no reason to stay around, then?’ she asked.

  ‘That’s up to you. You’re welcome to wait here, but it can get mighty boring. Do you have somewhere you can go? What about your dad? We should get in touch wit
h him.’

  ‘He doesn’t live with us, and he’s away at the moment,’ Brihony told him.

  ‘Two kids can’t just go home alone,’ the policewoman said. ‘Is there someone we can contact to come and get you? Another family member? A friend?’

  Brihony opened her mouth, but Beck got in first.

  ‘It’s OK, thanks. I’ll call some friends.’

  Brihony closed her mouth and nodded to back him up. The policewoman looked a little surprised, maybe wondering why the boy with the English accent was calling the shots.

  ‘Well, if you’re sure. If you remember anything else, get in touch; otherwise we’ll just have to wait for Dr Stewart to wake up so we can talk to her.’

  And good luck if you do, Beck thought. Mia knew nothing about Lumos – she would have no idea who could have done this. The thought made him boil with rage. The men had mentioned the USB stick, so there was no question who they worked for. But Lumos were stupid if they thought that he and Brihony already had it. They weren’t just murdering thugs, they were stupid murdering thugs. And that made them even more dangerous, because who knew where they would lash out next?

  Brihony waited until the policewoman was out of earshot, then turned to Beck. ‘You’re going to do it, aren’t you?’ she asked quietly. ‘You’re going to find Pindari . . .’

  He nodded. ‘This is something I have to do. And not just for those who want to protect this land – I have to do it for me too. And for Mum and Dad.’

  Beck had thought hard about this. On the one hand, he had promised Al to stay out of trouble. On the other, Mia had been badly hurt, and maybe other people would be too if Lumos weren’t stopped. Whoever had killed his parents were still out there and might strike again. Meanwhile, if Ganan was to be believed, Lumos had people everywhere. No one and nowhere was safe. Beck couldn’t bring his Uncle Al into this mess – too many people that Beck loved had already been hurt.

  If it was up to him to stop it, then that was what he would do. Alone.

  ‘Can I borrow your phone?’ he asked Brihony. ‘Mine’s at your house.’

  He used it to log on to PlaceSpace and send a message to Jim Rockslide.

  Barega and Ganan picked them up from the hospital and drove at random through the town. They didn’t go back to Brihony’s house – Ganan pointed out it was quite possible that Lumos were watching it.

  ‘First thing,’ said Beck, ‘you want me to find Pindari? I need to know roughly where to start. Australia’s kind of big.’

  ‘You’d noticed that too?’ Barega smiled, though Ganan scowled at him for making a joke at a time like this. ‘No worries. We can take you to his usual territory.’

  ‘Cool. Second . . .’ Beck gestured at what he was wearing – a T-shirt, baggy shorts and trainers. ‘This is completely unsuitable for the desert and I didn’t bring any proper gear. You’ll have to get me some clothes – and make sure you’ve got the same things. Long-sleeved shirts, trousers, and everything needs to be loose-fitting – to let air circulate but prevent sweat from evaporating too quickly. Wide-brimmed hats. Sturdy boots.’

  ‘How about supplies?’ Ganan asked.

  ‘High-energy food concentrates, and plenty of water. In a climate like this we’ll lose three and a half litres per hour.’

  ‘We’ll be near a river,’ Barega pointed out. ‘Water’s no problem.’

  ‘As long as we can purify it. We’ll need bottles – and I mean proper, large, five-litre ones, not those tiny little things you get in shops. If we’re striking out inland, we’ll need to take a proper supply with us.’

  ‘No worries,’ Ganan said. ‘But nothing happens until after sun-up and we’ve all had some sleep.’ By now it was past midnight and sleep was a welcome idea. ‘We’ve got a room rented. It’ll be crowded but it’ll be safe, and Lumos shouldn’t know about it.’

  ‘But first thing in the morning,’ Brihony said, ‘you can take me back to my place – just long enough to pick up my clothes.’

  Beck stared at her. ‘Eh?’

  She gazed calmly back at him, but for a moment her voice trembled. ‘Beck Granger, do you think, after what’s happened, that I’m just going to sit back and twiddle my thumbs? In case you hadn’t noticed, my mum nearly had her brains smashed in, and I want to get the guys who did it!’

  Beck had to admit she had a point. He wanted to get at the people who had killed his parents – it was the same thing. But even so . . .

  ‘Hey, Brihony, no offence, but we can’t afford passengers,’ Ganan said.

  Her eyes flashed with anger. ‘Can’t afford passengers? You two are already passengers! You said it yourself – Beck is the one with the expertise! He’s the one in charge!’

  ‘Right!’ Beck agreed. ‘And that’s why I say there’s no way I’m going to put you in danger . . .’

  Chapter 10

  ‘You know,’ said Barega with a broad smile, ‘you two are going to have to start talking to each other again eventually.’

  Beck and Brihony scowled at each other, and looked away again. The boat continued its steady chug up the river gorge.

  Beck knew, deep down, that Brihony was right. She had run through all her points while all three of them tried to persuade her that she shouldn’t be coming. Lumos’s thugs could very easily strike again. She couldn’t stay at the hospital for ever. If she went to stay with her dad when he returned, then he would be in danger too. At home on her own, she would be twice as vulnerable. The police had no reason to believe that she was at risk, so she wouldn’t get any protection. Coming with Beck and Ganan and Barega was the only logical course.

  But Beck didn’t like losing arguments. And deep down he was scared that someone else close to him would wind up getting hurt.

  ‘We’re going to be roughing it,’ he reminded Brihony. ‘It’ll be hot, we’ll be tired and thirsty . . .’

  ‘I know all about roughing it in the Outback, thanks. I’ve been camping more times than I can remember.’

  Beck sighed and dropped the subject. He recognized a losing battle when he saw one.

  They had stuck together as a foursome, not splitting up. Brihony and Beck had got a few snatched hours of sleep on the floor of the men’s shared room. Then it was breakfast in a diner, before Beck supervised the buying of clothes and supplies. It was scary to think that he was in charge of keeping the four of them alive.

  But at least he looked the part – in a long-sleeved cotton shirt and a pair of sturdy cargo trousers, with extra outside pockets and vents down the legs to help the air circulate. On his head was a wide-brimmed hat made of sheep leather, which blocked out the sun and kept his face and shoulders in permanent shade.

  He had insisted that everyone had their own water bottle. His own dangled at his side, tied to a long strap that went across his body. On his belt hung a machete – a thirty-centimetre blade of hard, shiny steel with a pointed tip, one edge blunt, the other razor-sharp. Pindari would no doubt have scorned it, he thought; the old man would have said his people had survived for thousands of years without such things. But Beck was not an Aboriginal boy, and a machete had kept him alive on more than one occasion. He wasn’t going into the Outback without one.

  Like Beck, the two men wore brand-new clothes. Brihony had found all the right kit in her cupboard at home. It had been a tense five minutes of waiting outside while she got it – running in, throwing things into a bag and running out again. Still, Beck was glad they had done it. It had also meant that he could retrieve his phone – along with some-thing else that now hung around his neck on a bootlace.

  Beck’s fire steel was his oldest possession, given to him by his father years ago. He could even say it was his oldest friend. It consisted of a short rod and a flat piece of steel. The rod was made of a substance called ferrosium, a combination of metals that sprayed sparks when it was struck with another piece of metal. The flat bit of steel was what you did the striking with. Even if it was soaking wet, the ferrosium could spray sparks like a hose spra
ys water. Beck had used it to light camp fires for himself all over the world – from jungles to the Arctic. When it hung around his neck again, the metal cold against his skin, he had finally felt properly dressed for the expedition.

  Ganan and Barega had acquired a small boat from somewhere, and then they had all headed inland in a four-by-four, towing it on a trailer. First they had followed a proper highway, then turned off onto rutted dirt tracks. Finally they had reached the river, which was the best way to get to Pindari’s land.

  The boat had an outboard motor and a canopy to shade them. The men sat in the stern while Brihony and Beck took the middle seat. The supplies they had brought with them were piled up in the bows – boxes of canned food, bottles of water, sleeping bags and tents.

  The river was a dirty, muddy brown, but even after six months of nothing but sun and baking heat it was still deep. It snaked through a landscape of red sandstone cliffs and gorges. Under the cliffs there was flat shoreline on either side, though Beck knew that during the Wet, the entire channel would be covered by surging water.

  The sky was a blue dome from horizon to horizon. Heat beat down on the canopy, and even the breeze felt like a hairdryer blowing on Beck’s face. Once again, he marvelled at how quickly you could shake off civilization in this country. They had parked by the river, slid the boat into the water, set off – and five minutes later, it was as if they had travelled back in time by millions of years. There was nothing to suggest that other humans existed anywhere in the world.

  Brihony stiffened suddenly, peering ahead. ‘Steer to the right a bit, Ganan,’ she called urgently.

  ‘Why?’ he asked, and Beck saw Brihony’s look of irritation. Ganan still saw Brihony as an unnecessary passenger.

  ‘Because there’s a crocodile dead ahead.’

  Chapter 11

  The boat swerved abruptly to the right as Ganan pushed the tiller over, and Beck had to grab onto his seat to stay upright. He craned his neck to peer ahead but couldn’t see anything apart from the usual stretch of dark brown water.