by Greg Scowen
‘I’ve got friends here, I’ll be OK. It’s almost a relief for me, after so many years of him in pain. But you only just got to know him.’
The world span around Matt and was on the edge of losing control. From a massive high to the lowest of lows in but a few seconds. He was supposed to be calling to tell Nadine to look out for his Dad, and his exciting news. Instead, she was breaking her terrible news. He really felt for her right now. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he hadn’t yet had the chance to develop a full relationship with his father. But Nadine. This must be torture for her.
‘I’m just happy to have had a chance to meet him,’ Matt said. ‘And having done so, I’m going to make sure that I complete his work down here. I’m going to find the answers he was looking for and see that he gets the respect he deserves for his contribution to New Zealand.’
Aimee smiled at him. Her hand on his knee brought Matt an amount of comfort that she was probably unaware of. It also helped to hold down the anger that twitched through his legs. He forced a smile back.
‘Have you had any luck?’ Nadine asked.
‘We have. In fact, I was calling to tell you we have some good leads and are going to head to Dunedin to follow up on them. I thought Dad might want to know.’
‘He would have loved to have known. He was so excited that you were here. So happy that you would continue his work. He talked about nothing else the last few days.’
The anger twitched beyond Aimee’s hand. As it rose through his gut it evolved into a wave of determination. Thankfully it escaped his mouth in that latter form.
‘Then we’ll continue in his honour.’
‘That would be great, Matt.’
‘But first I’ll come back for his funeral.’
‘No, don’t worry about it. We’ll have a tiny service, probably only a handful of folk. You don’t need to come out of the way. He would have wanted you to go on with the investigation down there.’
Matt felt guilty, but he understood what Nadine was saying.
‘Alright, we’ll do just that,’ he said. ‘Look after yourself. I’ll get in touch again when we have more information.’
Matt hung up the phone and looked at Aimee. She sat, looking back at him with a comforting expression on her face. Not smiling, not frowning, not angry, or even sad. Just an expression that made Matt feel at ease. He needed that. Everything was so confusing. Meeting your estranged father after thirty years, and then losing him again a week later. The whole situation was beyond bizarre. Questions whirled around Matt’s head. Why did he have to die now? What sort of luck did this family have? How on earth did Matt end up in the south island of New Zealand investigating a pseudo-history that his father had worked on? Was Hemi right? Was his father murdered?
‘I don’t know what to do...’ He pondered out loud.
‘Just do what you do best, Matt.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Absorb yourself in your work. Find the answers to your father’s questions. You can respect him that way.’
‘How come you know me so well?’ Matt asked her, pleased that she was able to understand his misgivings.
‘Don’t know,’ Aimee said, looking down briefly. ‘Fate, I guess.’
CHAPTER
34
Wednesday, November 10, 1526
After coasting the cape which housed the large volcano we had sighted, we sailed south-east and then south-west again, for about thirty-five leagues each stretch. What appeared to be another large bay, which I expected to sail north-west away from, turned out to be the entrance to some straits. The weather here was not in our favour, so although we could see a welcoming-looking harbour on the northern land-mass, we did not make an attempt to enter it. Instead, I put out to sea on the eastern side of the straits and we slowly drifted south-east along the coast of the southern land-mass. We are now about ten leagues from the entrance to the straits. I have decided to continue on south along this coast now. This land has, so far, offered plenty of opportunity for anchorage and safe harbour, so I do not doubt we will find more soon. I have named the land Gálatas Nueva, because it reminds me so of Galicia, from where we departed.
CHAPTER
35
The Waihopai Spy Base was not in the Navigon GPS as a point of interest. No surprise there. But Aimee wanted to see the base, and Warren had mentioned it to Matt too. So Aimee was giving Matt directions the old fashioned way.
‘You need to continue on state highway 6 as far as Renwick,’ she said. ‘Then, turn right on 63, and then a kilometre later, left onto Waihopai Valley Road.’
Matt drove silently and watched the country-side roll by as he made his way to Renwick and followed the other instructions. Perhaps Aimee had noticed he was quieter today. He had noticed it too. Definitely not his usual bubbly self, but Aimee would understand why. Truth be told, Matt was furious. Furious and determined. Not to mention overcome by guilt. What if his father hadn’t died naturally? What if Hemi’s warning had been serious and his father had been killed. If he could have warned him, maybe he would still be alive.
The guilt had given Matt a new resolve. Drive. He didn’t really want to waste time anymore, but it was only fair that Aimee got to see something that interested her on this journey too. It would be a short stop though. Matt wanted to get on with his father’s work. Nothing else mattered anymore. He had to prove something, although he wasn’t sure what it was.
On the right, the rolling countryside gave way to two large white golf-ball-like objects in the fields. Surrounding the complex was a high fence with barbed wires running along the uppermost parts. A sign warned that this was a defence area.
‘It doesn’t look like much, does it?’ Aimee said.
‘No.’ Actually, Matt was quite disappointed for Aimee’s sake. ‘But looks can be deceiving. Warren says that the satellite receivers here are capable of intercepting every telephone call, every radio communication, and every e-mail or Internet transaction that travels through the south pacific skies. But who can listen to all that?’
‘Computers in that building there filter the whole lot for keywords. Every time a phrase or word triggers a match the conversations or messages are recorded.’ Aimee handed Matt the notes that Warren had given them. ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about. I find it hard to believe that New Zealand would be involved in something like that.’
‘It’s a US operated base, in cooperation with the NISO. Some worldwide project called Echelon.’ Matt said, continuing to explain with the aid of the notes. ‘Although that’s denied by the NISO. Actually, by practically everyone.’
Aimee reached for her camera and took a couple of photos of the base.
‘I’ve seen enough, let’s just call it paranoia and get going to Kaikoura. I want some of that famous fresh seafood for lunch.’
The idea of a good lunch was enough to encourage Matt’s lips to turn up in to something resembling a smile. He turned the car and started down the road. As he passed a driveway on the left he recognised a familiar black Corolla that was parked behind the shelterbelt.
‘Looks like your friend’s still with us,’ Aimee said, the sarcasm clear in her voice.
‘I don’t get it. Unless he never lets us out of his sight, how does he still know where we are? Oh, speaking of which, I should turn the GPS back on.’
Matt pulled off to the side of the road and leaned over to press the power button on the GPS. A little smile decorated his lips. It took perseverance to not say anything to Aimee, but Matt had just realised where Hemi was getting his information from. It would also be a relief to not have to tell Warren that he had damaged his GPS. Miraculously, the scratch by the power button was gone. Matt worked up a plan; he needed to casually feed information to Hemi for it to work.
‘So after Kaikoura, how far will we drive today before stopping for the night?’
‘Christchurch.’
‘Where they had the earthquakes, right?’
‘Yeah.Brave lot. We had a
pretty big one in Whakatane when I was a kid. Scared the living crap out of me. We had a lot of quakes there.’
Matt finished punching it in the GPS.
‘Alright. I’ve got it in the Navigon. Let’s get us to that lunch.
He pulled the car back out onto the road and turned off towards Kaikoura. In his mirror, Matt confirmed that Hemi stuck with them. Matt was going to revel in every minute of his cunning.
* * *
Hemi watched as Matt and Aimee drove past. He saw Matt look his way again. He felt sick to his stomach. His heart pounded through his chest. He couldn’t believe where he had just watched Matt and Aimee go. His boss would be furious. Beyond furious. Hemi just wouldn’t tell him. But that wasn’t the worst of it. It had been a torturous drive this far. Having to listen to the pain that Matthew Cameron was suffering at the loss of his father brought too many bad memories. It was all Hemi could do to keep driving. Hating Warren Rennie was nothing new, but realising he was capable of murder was something else altogether. Hemi tried to minimise the emotions he faced by telling himself it hadn’t happened, despite being convinced it had. Even so, it wasn’t the same as his father being killed, because Matt’s father had been at deaths door. Hemi had seen the medical records. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
He waited for the Mazda to almost leave his line of sight before pulling out of the driveway where he had been waiting. He knew he didn’t have to hide himself and of course since he listened in on their conversations through his GPS bug he also knew where they were headed. In fact, the bug had been revealing in more ways than just where they were going. Hemi learnt a lot about New Zealand history. He had only once heard the story of a pre-Tasman ship being seen by Maori. That was in school. But now Hemi was being immersed in a fascinating world where the Spanish perhaps found New Zealand before the Dutch or British. He found himself rooting for Matt and Aimee, actually hoping they would find the evidence they needed to prove the theory once and for all. At the end of the road, he turned right in the direction of Kaikoura, keeping within a 500m range of his prey. Kaikoura was a logical lunch stop. He hoped they picked somewhere where he could get some fresh crayfish. Hemi loved nothing more than a good fresh cray.
* * *
The coastline between Blenheim and Kaikoura was rugged and stunning. Matt constantly had to drag his eyes back to the road to prevent an accident. But no matter how many times he scolded himself for being irresponsible, he found himself looking out at the rocks and rough seas. He also found himself wondering about the Maori place names and asked Aimee what Rakautara meant as he saw a sign whizz by.
‘No idea,’ Aimee answered. ‘They didn’t teach us anything like that at school. We only learned some token words here and there. Words for apple, house, food, family. Stuff like that. I could never string together a single sentence in Maori.’
‘That’s a bit sad isn’t it? Shouldn’t you try to maintain such a unique language?’
‘Nowadays there’s more emphasis on it, they even have rules about how much Te Reo has to appear in local TV.’
They passed a large billboard advertising a hotel in Kaikoura, apparently just minutes away.
‘I can tell you what Kaikoura means though. Kai is the Maori word for food and Koura is the word for crayfish. Kaikoura basically means the place of eating crayfish. Stacks of them around.’
Matt read another billboard as they went past. ‘You can go whale watching and swimming with dolphins too?’
‘The Whale Watching is owned and operated by a Maori tribe,’ Aimee said. ‘The Ngai Tahu tribe was awarded a large amount of land, some businesses and the usage rights a while back. They’ve established a very successful industry out of it all.’
‘Awarded? In what way?’ Matt asked.
‘As redress. Basically, some people don’t think the treaty of Waitangi was fair. Several Maori tribes have claimed that they were not present at the signing of the treaty, therefore their land cannot have been given over to English sovereignty. The government set up a tribunal to settle claims from the Maori. The Ngai Tahu claimed back many parts of the South Island and were given redress in the form of a lot of land and businesses in the tourism sector. Now they do whale watching, jet-boating, scenic boat trips, the works. They even own some police stations and council buildings.’
‘They’ve done well for themselves then.’
‘Indeed. Which is why some disillusioned folk, who call themselves the Clan of Truth, dream up theories of a pre-Maori discovery of New Zealand so that they can claim the land back.’
‘Clan, as in Celts, the Celtic theories?’ Matt asked, cringing. ‘Surely that wouldn’t work to their advantage though?’
‘Of course not. It’s a fool’s dream. They can no better prove that they’re the rightful owners than the Maori can today. Even if the Celts were first, where is the bloodline? The land would of course go back into Crown or Government ownership if the theory was proven. Which makes you wonder why the government would want to hinder research into such a theory.’
‘Good point, the Government stands to win, at least in the property stakes.’
‘It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. The Clan of Truth may occasionally bring an interesting idea to the table, but they damage their credibility by injecting blatant racism and religious rot through their work. Anyone with a sense of balance in debate steers clear of them.’
‘Well, we’ll have to steer clear of the whale watching too. We don’t have time for that.’ Matt laughed, breaking the tension. ‘We can definitely spare a few minutes to find some fresh seafood for lunch though.’
He drove the car into the main street of town and found a parking spot. They went by foot around a few local eateries and settled on a place with some outdoor seating that offered a view over the coastline. Both of them ordered the fish of the day with chips. Crayfish couldn’t tempt them, it seemed. But then, Matt didn’t really have an appetite at all. He was too busy chewing over what Aimee had been saying. Some disturbing ideas came into his head, but Matt knew he was being silly. Warren wasn’t that disillusioned. Matt put his paranoia aside and stuffed a handful of piping hot chips in his mouth.
CHAPTER
36
Matt eased open the room door and entered the hotel hallway. He was just about to gently tap on Aimee’s door, when she opened it.
‘Your timing is impeccable,’ Matt whispered.
‘Thanks. I wanted to make sure you didn’t have to knock.’
‘I’m sure he can’t hear us. I think he’s on the other side.’
‘Better safe than sorry.’
‘Let’s go then.’
Matt wheeled his case along the hall and out the hotel’s small back door. This place was perfect. It was a big sprawling building on two levels, with a garden courtyard in the middle. The small car park was out the back, which meant that Matt and Aimee could make their run for it without having to go through any lobbies or up and down lifts. They were as quiet as mice.
Out in the car park, their feet made crunching sounds on the fine gravel that was scattered about.
‘Shh,’ Aimee said, ‘don’t you know anything about being stealthy?’
Matt stifled a laugh. They threw their gear in the boot and climbed into the car as quietly as possible. It was ridiculous really, since early-morning noise in a city isn’t exactly unexpected. Matt started the car and crept out of the car park. When they had turned a few more corners and were on a main road south out of town, they finally let out a breath. Matt looked over at Aimee and saw her smiling. Both of them cracked up.
‘I think we’ve lost him for good now. What did you do with the GPS?’ Aimee asked.
‘I took it out of the car when I went and paid the hotel and dumped it in the skip bin out the back.’
‘How are we supposed to know where to go?’ Aimee asked, laughing.
‘There aren’t that many roads in New Zealand. I’ve no idea why anyone would need it anyway.’
; ‘Which road are we taking, then?’ Aimee asked as they reached an intersection with one road pointing to Dunedin and another pointing east to the Banks Peninsula.
‘It’s too dark to go and look at Warren’s bullaun bowls out at Taylors Mistake,’ Matt said, referring to yet another of the items on Warren’s list. ‘But I’m not interested anyway.’
Matt was no longer driven by his original reason for coming to New Zealand. Now, he was driven by the need to fulfil his father’s destiny. As if somehow that would make up for not finding him sooner or cancel out his death.
‘I’ve only ever heard about stones with hollows and cup marks, never seen any except for in pictures. It might be interesting,’ Aimee said.
‘I doubt it. Truth be told, after what you told me about the Clan of Truth, I’m feeling a bit stupid for not looking into Warren’s ideas more carefully before I came out here.’
‘You think Warren’s involved with the Clan?’
‘No. I doubt it. But there’s just too much speculation and not enough fact. I was naive to come here based on Warren’s word alone. After reading some of the websites that are going on about all of these places, I get the impression that if we go trotting off to all of them, we’ll get painted with the same brush that I’ve painted most of those authors with.’
‘What brush is that?’ Aimee asked.
‘The fruit-loop brush.The Clan of Truth brush. Most of these theories turn from slightly realistic into ridiculous about four hundred words in. Just as you start to get interested in some website or other, the authors decide to throw in that the alignment of rocks vaguely resembles a zodiac or something, or that they have the same measurements as the great pyramid. It’s bloody embarrassing. Even worse, running around looking at these sites of Warren’s without doing some proper research first is far beneath what any decent academic would do.’