Blood Sisters

by Caroline de Costa

  slowing down maybe going up gillies

  The lights must have been green as they turned immediately to the right, going slower now. Scarlett texted: now on gillies

  Scarlett turned to Marcie and said softly. ‘I think they’re going to take us somewhere in the bush. They have guns. But the police aren’t far behind. We just have to try to stay safe.’

  Emily whispered ‘If you and Marcie can get out before they do, you should run into the bush, but in separate directions to confuse them. It’ll be very dark in the bush, like it was for me behind the house. Even if the moon’s out. They’ll think you’re me and go after you, so don’t worry about leaving me here.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Scarlett, ‘that’s right, they don’t know I’m here. Yet.’

  Marcie nodded her head. She understood.

  ***

  As Cass turned the car up the Gillies, she spoke to Jordon: ‘Just text Drew so he knows where we are. There are now three girls in the back of the truck. I think what the kidnappers are planning to do is to take them somewhere out in the rainforest. Looks like they might already know a place. It’s likely to be a dirt track going deep into the bush. And... it looks pretty certain that they intend to kill them. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but very soon, Jordon, I want you in the back with Mindy and Denzel, low down. Keep my phone with you. If I stop suddenly and tell you both to get out, just do it. Let Denzel go if you have to. Get yourselves into the bush off the road and wait for Drew and tell him where I’ve gone. If he doesn’t turn up pretty soon call him again.’

  ***

  The truck was travelling more slowly now.

  ‘I think they might be looking for a turnoff,’ Emily whispered.

  She was right. A moment later the truck slowed completely, made a right-hand turn, and began to lumber up a steep slope. There was a sudden severe jolt; Marcie and Scarlett had to hold onto the sides of the tray to stop themselves sliding on top of Emily. Scarlett braced herself against the truck’s side so that she had both hands free to text again.

  turn off 9.6 k from hwy to right going up now steep & bumpy

  Cass’s reply was not long in coming. It was all upper case: BE CAREFUL

  The track must be getting more and more rutted: they were being thrown up and down. Then after about five minutes they stopped altogether.

  Now they were in complete darkness. The forest, if that’s where they were, was silent. They heard the men get out and slam the doors. Scarlett tensed, all senses alert, on edge. Get ready, she thought.

  There was the scrunching of feet on the ground, and footsteps walking away to the right side of the truck. They heard McFadden’s voice. ‘Not in the same place we put the other one.’ Scarlett felt icy cold. The girls huddled together, their ears alert for the slightest sound, shivering. The footsteps came nearer.

  The passenger door opened and there was the clattering of metal and the thud of a heavy object falling on the ground. Then a lot of shuffling and it sounded as if both men had moved away from the truck. There was the sudden smell of tobacco burning—one or both of them must have lit a cigarette. Then McFadden’s voice again. ‘Come on, Fang, let’s get going!’ And then the sound of the two men walking away from the truck, and the tapping of a shovel on the ground as they went.

  Quickly Scarlet texted: stopped somewhere they are digging

  There wasn’t time to add ‘our graves’ but she was pretty sure Cass would understand this.

  She now shone the phone around their prison. She’d heard the snap fasteners on the cover click into place when they were back at the Bayview house. It might be possible, by pushing hard from the inside, to open some of them on the left side, the side away from where the men were digging. She cautiously tried, finding three or four of them giving way quite easily. Carefully, she lifted the cover. It was very dark but there was now a little moonlight. After a moment her eyes adjusted so she could see that on the left of the truck was a clearing. She would need a bit more space if she and Marcie were to fit through the cover but if they did that, they could make it into the shelter of the rainforest and try to keep the men at bay until help arrived. She pushed hard, and two more fasteners gave way.

  She turned to Marcie and mimed her escape plan, indicating that Marcie should follow a few moments after she climbed out. Marcie nodded vigorously. Scarlett looked across at Emily. Although it was very dark and Emily’s hands were tied together, Em did her best to give a thumbs-up. Scarlett kissed her gently, then slipped her legs through the space she’d opened in the cover, over the side of the tray. She pushed herself up and out, bracing for the landing on the ground so that it was as silent as possible.

  Unnoticed, she began to creep across to where shrubs and ferns edged the rainforest, again trying to move silently. There was a large log across her path and she stepped onto this to get to the darkness beyond. She didn’t look back, but she hoped Marcie was following her out of the truck.

  That’s when things started to happen.

  ***

  Jordon had guided Cass along the Gillies using Google Maps in his own phone, but it took several agonising minutes before they found the start of the track. Then, as soon as Cass turned onto it, she realised that the forest road was very rough. There were deep potholes and in many places grass growing across the track. She’d have to go slowly. Hopefully her tyres would hold out. But the truck too must have done this climb quite slowly. Meanwhile Jordon called Drew and explained where they were.

  ‘Damn,’ Drew said, ‘I think we’ve overshot the turnoff. We’ll come back and take it carefully. We’re pretty close behind you, though.’

  ***

  The log Scarlett had stepped onto was rotten. It gave way under her weight, and with a crash she plunged forward into the darkness. As fast as she could, she rolled further into the forest and, bent double, half ran deeper under the canopy of trees. But a nightjar had also been disturbed and it now rose, squawking, into the treetops. Bloody freaking hell!

  There was a shout from the other side of the forest where the men must be digging. ‘What the fuck was that?’ It was McFadden’s voice. ‘Go and have a look, Fang.’

  Scarlett heard the sound of footsteps running towards the truck.

  And then, a blessed relief. The sound of a car approaching up the track. Only one, though.

  Next came the sound of McFadden moving back towards the truck.

  ‘Someone’s coming! What the fuck’s going on? Get out the guns!’

  There was the opening of doors and the clatter of metal. Then Fang’s voice.

  ‘Sir, one girlie trying to get out.’

  From the forest, Scarlett could see a light shining at the side of the truck. Then the approaching car lit up the clearing. The two men hid behind the front of the vehicle and Scarlett could see they both had guns. She could also see that the other car was quite small, a little Toyota, or something like that. That must be Cass Diamond. She was right in the sight of the men with guns.

  Scarlett looked around for some kind of a weapon, scrabbling around near her feet. Her hand felt a couple of large rocks. She managed to prise up the larger of these, which was about the size of a brick. Then, as quietly as she could, she began to move towards the truck, staying hidden behind shrubs and bushes. The men’s attention now was entirely on the car and its driver.

  ***

  Cass had concentrated on getting the car slowly up the hill. Then, after about five kilometres, she could see the truck ahead. She dimmed the headlights, keeping her head well down. The truck was parked in a clearing, its rear end towards her, covered with the tarpaulin. There was no one around that she could see. She stopped her car about fifty metres away and turned off the engine. Then she saw a figure emerge from the bush on her right and move swiftly towards the truck. She switched the headlights onto high beam. In the lit-up scene, Cass saw a second man run across to the truck. The two opened the passenger door on the right, took out something and then disappeared, leaving the door open. T
hey must be behind the truck bonnet.

  Then she saw that from both sides of the truck the men were emerging with guns drawn. ‘Stay down,’ she ordered Jordon and Mindy. Jordon was holding Denzel by the collar. If he barked... Then she flung her car door open and dropped to the ground in the door’s shelter, reaching for her own gun.

  ***

  As Cass’s car had approached, the brightness of the headlights made it harder and harder for Scarlett to see the car itself. About fifty metres from the truck the car stopped and nothing happened for at least a minute. Maybe Cass was waiting for more police. Scarlett strained her ears but couldn’t hear another car coming up the hill.

  Then Cass must have got out of the car because, suddenly, her voice boomed out.

  ‘Police! Drop your guns and come out. Both of you! Where I can see you! Hands up!’

  Scarlett watched the outlines of the two men sheltering behind the truck. She saw McFadden look across at Fang and nod. The big guy lifted his right hand. Scarlett couldn’t see the gun but she knew it was there. McFadden began to move down the left side and Fang down the right side of the truck. They’re planning to shoot Cass, thought Scarlett.

  Scarlett knew this was the moment. She gripped the rock, drew back her arm, and hurled it with all the force she could muster at the front window of the truck.

  Simultaneously, there were two enormous explosions. The first was the sound of shattering glass, which Scarlett found very satisfying. The second was a shot fired by Fang. Scarlett saw that he’d been thrown by the noise of the rock on the windscreen but had fired anyway. The shot had gone wide, nowhere near Cass. Cass immediately put out the car lights, so she was no longer an obvious target. But Fang still had the gun. He would try again.

  There was a brief flash of light, and Scarlett realised that Cass had a torch. She shone it just long enough to see where Fang was, ready to fire again once he knew where his target was. Scarlett was also conscious of a shape on top of the back of the truck. Then Cass turned the torch off.

  Suddenly there was a wild shriek. Scarlett had never heard anything like it. A woman shrieking in a foreign language. Eee-yo! Laa-ban-an!! Together with a whooshing sound from the back of the truck and then a tremendous thud as something hit the ground. There was a shout of pain. A man’s voice. Fang, Scarlett thought.

  She couldn’t see what had happened to Fang but she could see that McFadden was still on the other side of the truck.

  Scarlett stood up and edged through the bushes. Then Cass’s torch shone briefly again, now closer to the truck. Scarlett saw Marcie standing behind the truck and Fang on the ground, with Marcie’s right foot on his stomach and his gun in her hand, pointing at his head.

  Marcie looked like she knew how to use that gun, too.

  Did Cass know where McFadden was? She was quite exposed now in the open clearing.

  Scarlett took a deep breath. Then she shouted, ‘The other one’s behind the truck!’ to Cass. She hurled herself back into the bush again, rolling and crawling so McFadden couldn’t see where she was. She found a position behind a tree fern and picked up several small rocks from the ground. Then she hurled these one after another at the shattered front window of the truck, hoping the diversion would help whatever Cass was going to do next. For what seemed a very long time there was no movement—from Cass, from McFadden, from Marcie. Just groans from Fang.

  Then there was a scream from McFadden’s spot. Some scuffling at first, then blows, another male cry of pain – McFadden again, a thud and the clink of metal. This was followed by Cass’s voice cutting right across the clearing: ‘Okay, everyone, stay right where you are. I’m Cairns police, and I’ve got a squad car on its way.’

  Then to Scarlett’s amazement Cass shouted at the top of her voice: ‘Jordon! Turn the car lights on full!’

  From the car came a blaze of light that lit up the whole scene. First Cass, on one side of the truck, with McFadden in a headlock and handcuffs on his wrists. Then Marcie, still prodding Fang in the stomach with her foot, while smiling maliciously, leaving no doubt that if he moved a muscle she would blast him through the forehead with the gun.

  As well, from what Scarlett had thought was an empty car, there emerged a young man, a girl and a dog. The dog started to bark. The girl had been holding his collar. Then the dog pulled himself free and before he could be stopped, he raced towards Fang on the ground and sank his teeth into the man’s leg. Fang screamed again. Marcie smiled, and prodded Fang. She spoke to him in a foreign language, and it sounded like she was enjoying what she was saying.

  ‘Denzel!’ the young man shouted. Scarlett saw that he looked a lot like Cass—he must be Cass Diamond’s son. The dog turned and ran back towards him.

  Then, finally, there could be heard, coming up the hill, the cars containing four uniformed police and Detective Drew Borgese.

  22

  Cairns

  Friday 31st August 2013

  The uniformed police wasted no time arresting Fang and McFadden, bundling them into the back of the police car handcuffed to one of the constables. A wagon was ordered to take them to the watch-house. Drew walked across to Cass.

  ‘Good exhibition of your martial arts skills again, Detective?’

  ‘Yeah. Not too hard, actually. The guy’s not a fighter. A bully and a racist, yes. Once I got in close it was just a tornado kick to his gun hand and another one to his throat, and it was all over. I was glad the gun didn’t go off, though!’

  As soon as McFadden was taken from her charge, Cass turned to find Scarlett, who had ripped the tarpaulin off the truck and climbed in. Her arms were around Emily, who was shaking and sobbing but also grinning with huge relief. Covered in dirt and with her hands and feet still bound, she was trying to sit up.

  ‘I thought we were going to die!’ she gasped.

  ‘She’s tied with wire. I couldn’t get it loose,’ Scarlett explained to Cass. ‘Marcie was just tied up with string, so that was easier to get off.’

  One of the uniformed police appeared with wire cutters. ‘I’m just taking some photos first,’ he said to Emily as he climbed into the back of the truck. ‘For evidence. Then I’ll cut you free.’

  By now Marcie had walked around to join them, Fang having been taken care of.

  ‘I saw you jump!’ said Cass to Marcie. ‘From way back on the truck. It looked like you were flying. You hit that big guy so hard!’

  ‘I saw what you did to that shithead,’ Marcie gestured with her head at the departing McFadden. ‘Kicked him right over!’

  ‘And,’ Marcie added, ‘I did fly. I learnt to fly when I was a kid. And to fight. I wanted to kill that guy. Fang.’ She pointed to her face and arms. ‘He burnt me with cigarettes. Then he tied me up and fucked me. Many times. The other one, too. I hate them, both of them.’

  Cass turned to Scarlett and Emily and said: ‘Your parents will be worried sick about where you are. It’s well past midnight. Before we do anything else, you’d better call them and tell them you’re all right. We’re going to need lots of information from you both, some of it tonight, but probably a lot can wait. And we’re going to have to get you back to civilisation. We’re also going to have to get medical examinations for all of you.’

  ‘Oh shit,’ said Scarlett, pulling her phone from her pocket. ‘I had it on mute. There’s six missed calls from Mum. She’ll be having kittens. I’ll call her straight away.’

  ‘I lost my phone behind the house,’ Emily said. ‘So, can you tell her I’m here, too. Hopefully she didn’t try calling Meredith!’

  Cass turned to Marcie. ‘You may need to stay in the hospital a day or so, Marcie, to get checked out and treated for those burns. Then we’ll be able to get you a safe place to stay, in a nice hotel, to help you recover.’

  ‘No,’ said Marcie, ‘not yet. First thing is, we go and get the others.’

  There was a moment’s silence, then Drew said: ‘What others?’

  ‘The other girls.’

  ‘The other
girls, where?’

  Emily spoke from where the young constable was cutting the wires on her wrists, ‘At Bayview. At the house. Behind the house. I was there just a couple of hours ago. There were other women there. Besides Marcie.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Marcie, ‘I never saw them. We were all locked up separate and at night we called out to each other. Maria is there, Maria Ramos from Manila Metro. She’s been there two or three years. She forgot how long. And Felicia and Florentina, there a long time too. That man, McFadden, he tricked them into coming here, like me. They don’t have family back home, so no one’s missing them.’

  ‘Em and I, we went up the Lake Morris Road on Sunday and looked down at the back of the house,’ Scarlett told Cass. ‘We saw that man, Fang, going into the building at the back of the house.’

  ‘Jesus!’ said Cass. ‘We’ll send out a team immediately.’ It occurred to her as she said this that her weekend leave with Zak was receding rapidly into the distance. But this case was turning out to be the biggest thing she’d ever been involved in.

  ‘Yep,’ said Drew. ‘And I’d better go with them. If we need a warrant to search, we can get it quickly. She wasn’t very helpful yesterday, that Tina woman. She might be more help now.’

  Marcie spat on the ground. ‘She is scared of him, too,’ she said. ‘She comes from the same place as me. Angeles. Now she has the big house and the big car and the kid in school. But she does what he says. She never comes out the back, but she knows what he does there. For sure.’

  ‘One other thing,’ said Cass. ‘The men were over in the bush there when I first drove up.’ She pointed off into the darkness.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Scarlett. ‘They took shovels over there. They were going to dig our graves, then shoot us, I think.’ She shivered.