Plague Island

by Justin D'Ath

  ‘I need food’ – Colt’s head drooped forward and he jerked it up again – ‘right now.’

  James braked suddenly and pulled over to the side of the road. ‘I’ve just remembered something.’

  Colt was dimly aware of James getting out of the car and going around the back. Then he heard noises behind him – another door creaking open and bumping sounds as things were moved in the rear of the station wagon. He tried to keep his eyes focused on the little white rectangle of his mother’s car, getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

  But then his head fell all the way forward and his eyes closed.

  ‘Colt! Hey! Colt! Colt!’

  Someone was shaking him. Saying his name over and over. Calling him back from a dream in which he was a baby regent firebird being fed by its father.

  ‘Eat this,’ said the father bird.

  Baby bird’s beak seemed to be full of seeds, but there were other flavours, too. Nuts, dried fruit, hard lumps that tasted like cheese. It wasn’t too bad. Baby bird swallowed what was in his mouth, and father bird fed him some more.

  ‘Is it okay?’ asked a man’s voice.

  Colt opened his eyes. James was crouched on the roadside next to the car’s open passenger door. He had a big white bucket filled with what looked like a mixture of birdseed and breakfast cereal. There was some cupped in his hand.

  ‘It’s a bit dry,’ Colt said.

  James found the water bottle and held it to Colt’s lips. ‘Have a drink.’

  Colt gulped down some water, then helped himself to a handful of the strange food. There were several flavours he couldn’t identify, but basically it was quite good.

  ‘More water?’ asked James.

  ‘Not yet.’

  When James straightened up and had a drink himself, Colt saw for the first time how tall he was.

  ‘Do you play basketball?’ he asked.

  ‘I used to,’ James said.

  ‘Were you any good?’

  The tall man winked down at him. ‘Better than I am at playing secret agents.’

  A few minutes later, they were back on the open road. Colt cradled the bucket of whatever-it-was between his knees and shovelled it in by the handful. Already he was feeling a bit stronger.

  ‘What is this stuff?’ he asked.

  ‘You wouldn’t want to know,’ James said.

  ‘I do want to know.’

  James looked sheepish. ‘Rat food.’

  Colt nearly choked. ‘You. Are. Kidding!’

  ‘’Fraid not,’ said James. He reached across and patted Colt’s elbow. ‘Don’t worry, champ, it’s very nutritious.’

  Colt knew that already. His whole body was tingling with energy. With strength. But he studied the pile of seeds and other stuff in his hand, not sure that he wanted to eat any more. ‘Rat food?’ he said doubtfully.

  ‘You heard correctly,’ James said.

  ‘But . . . why have you got rat food?’

  ‘My rats have to eat something.’

  ‘Your rats?’ said Colt.

  ‘My rats,’ said James.

  Colt studied him. ‘You’ve seriously got rats?’

  ‘Guilty.’

  ‘But it’s illegal to have rats!’ Colt said. ‘If DoRFE finds out, you could go to jail!’

  James kept staring straight ahead, concentrating on the road. ‘That’s why I didn’t want to tell you about it.’

  ‘I’m good at keeping secrets,’ said Colt.

  ‘I hope so,’ said James.

  ‘Why have you got rats?’ Colt asked.

  But James changed the subject again. ‘You’ve stopped eating.’

  Colt pulled a face. ‘It’s rat food.’

  ‘You don’t have to be a rat to eat it.’ James pointed at the bucket. ‘There’s all sorts of good stuff in there, champ. I mix it up myself.’

  It was the second time James had called him champ. Colt’s mother used to call him that when he was little, but she hadn’t done it for years.

  ‘I’m feeling okay now,’ he said.

  ‘You’re looking better, too,’ said the tall man, smiling. He turned his attention back to the road ahead. ‘No sign of our bird thieves.’

  Colt glanced at the dashboard clock. ‘How long did we stop for?’

  ‘Five or six minutes.’

  That gave the bird thieves – Birdy thieves, Colt thought – quite a head start. And there was a town coming up. They had to slow to 60. Colt peered down every side street they passed, looking for his mother’s white four-wheel drive.

  ‘They could be anywhere,’ he said, discouraged.

  But James seemed confident. ‘I don’t think they’ll stop in a little place like this. They’ll want to get those birds out of the country as quickly as possible.’

  ‘What about Birdy?’ Colt asked.

  ‘I’m guessing they’ll leave her in the car when they abandon it,’ said James. ‘Like they left you and your mother. And probably your truck driver friend.’

  ‘They’d better not hurt her!’ Colt muttered, feeling his muscles grow tight.

  There was small country police station ahead. James slowed the car. ‘What about it? Maybe it’s time to get help?’

  Colt shook his head firmly. ‘We’ve already had this conversation, James. They’ll hurt Birdy if the cops come after them.’

  The tall man sighed. ‘The police are trained to deal with these situations. They have hostage negotiators – people who know how to reason with kidnappers.’

  Colt had seen hostage negotiators on HV and in movies. And he’d seen them make mistakes, seen the hostages die in a hail of bullets.

  No way was he going to let that happen Birdy! He flexed his iron-hard muscles.

  ‘Keep driving, James. I can deal with this. I’m Superclown.’

  James shook his head. ‘What have I created?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Colt asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ James said quickly. ‘I was just thinking out loud.’

  ‘What were you thinking?’

  ‘That I’ve created a situation that can only lead to a whole heap of trouble.’

  ‘But it wasn’t you who kidnapped Birdy,’ Colt pointed out.

  ‘Granted,’ said James. ‘But I didn’t go to the police when I should have. There are laws against that sort of thing.’

  ‘Against rescuing someone who’s been kidnapped?’

  ‘Against taking the law into our own hands,’ James said. ‘And anyway, who says we will rescue her?’

  ‘Me,’ said Colt.

  They had passed through the town now and were back on the highway. Colt could see no sign of his mother’s stolen car on the open road ahead.

  ‘Can you go a bit faster?’ he asked.

  ‘We’re going fast enough already.’

  ‘But they’re getting away!’

  James pointed at the phone. ‘So call the police.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You’re as stubborn as your –’ James started to say, then stopped himself. ‘Colt, I’m not going to drive any faster. This old rattletrap doesn’t even have airbags.’

  ‘Doesn’t it? I thought they had to.’

  ‘Only cars built in the last ten years.’

  Colt scooped up another handful of rat food and shoved it into his mouth. ‘I’m sorry for getting you into this, James.’

  ‘That’s okay. I just don’t want you or anyone else getting hurt.’

  ‘You don’t have to worry about me,’ Colt said. ‘Even if I do get hurt, I get better really quickly.’

  ‘Is that true?’ James sounded doubtful.

  ‘Yeah.’ Colt ate some more rat food – he was beginning to like it. ‘A while ago I broke my back. At the hospital, they reckoned I’d never walk again. They had me on drips and I wasn’t allowed to eat. But Birdy sneaked me some proper food, and two hours later I was good as new.’

  ‘That’s quite a story,’ said James. ‘But even if it’s true, Colt –’

  ‘It is true!�
�

  ‘Okay. I believe you, champ. But what happens if the car runs off the road because I’m driving too fast, and we hit a tree or something?’

  ‘You mean if I died?’

  ‘That’s exactly what I mean.’

  ‘Maybe I wouldn’t die,’ Colt said, trying not to spit seeds as he talked.

  ‘That’s a dangerous attitude,’ said James. ‘You could get yourself into a lot of trouble, thinking like that. No matter how strong and invincible you think you are, I want you to promise me you’ll never take any stupid risks.’

  How’s that any of your business? Colt wondered. But apart from being a bit bossy, James seemed like a pretty nice guy. So Colt just shrugged and said okay.

  Four or five kilometres past the town, they came to a crossroads. A big green-and-white sign told them that the intersecting road was Highway 22. Arrows pointed to Mimosa (turn left) and Lorus (turn right). Lorus was the small rural city the circus had left that morning. Straight ahead was Redlake, a popular winter spot for skiers.

  James pulled over just short of the crossroads. ‘Which way do you think they went? Left, right or straight ahead?’

  Colt didn’t think Birdy’s kidnappers would go up into the mountains – not if they wanted to get out of the country – so that left Lorus or Mimosa. ‘I reckon Mimosa,’ he said. ‘It’s right near the sea.’

  ‘Lorus is closer,’ James pointed out. ‘Plus there’s an airport.’

  ‘They won’t fly, will they?’ asked Colt, who remembered seeing a few small planes buzzing around above Lorus while the circus was there. ‘How would they smuggle all those birds onto a plane?’

  ‘They could charter one. Or, if they had pilots’ licences, they could hire one and fly it themselves.’

  ‘Could a charter plane get all the way to Bintalu?’

  James nodded. ‘They’d have to make a few fuel stops at islands along the way, but it could be done.’

  Colt tried to figure out what he would do if he was trying to smuggle a dozen ten-million-dollar birds out of the country. Would he go by sea or by air? The longer he and James sat there trying to decide, the greater the kidnappers’ head start.

  But if they got it wrong, he might never see Birdy again.

  ‘James, how long would it take us to get to Lorus?’

  The tall man looked at the distance written on the road sign. ‘If we sit on the speed limit, we could do it in twenty minutes.’

  ‘What if you drove fast?’

  ‘It’ll take twenty minutes,’ said James, who had accused Colt of being stubborn.

  Lorus Airport was on the east side of town, well away from the abandoned racecourse where the circus had been set up. It was tiny. There wasn’t even a terminal – just a squat control tower, a scatter of small buildings and hangers, and a few single-engine aeroplanes lined up on the grass next to a narrow bitumen landing strip. James drove around the outside road as if he knew exactly where he was going. Turning in through a small, unmarked gate, he parked the station wagon outside a shed marked ‘Office’. There were only two other cars, and neither was a white Appaloosa four-wheel drive.

  ‘Looks like they’re going by sea,’ Colt said heavily.

  ‘Not necessarily,’ said James. ‘There’s an airport at Mimosa, too.’

  ‘There is?’ Colt became angry. ‘Why didn’t you say so?’

  James sighed. ‘Because I thought they’d come here. It’s much closer, and there’s no security staff to check what’s coming in and out.’

  Colt sank back in his seat. ‘Now we haven’t got a hope of catching them!’

  ‘Yes we have.’ James pushed his door open and got out. ‘Come with me.’

  Colt’s new friend was full of surprises. Not only did he keep rats and know all sorts of stuff about Colt and the circus, but he was also licensed to fly an aeroplane. Fifteen minutes later, after filling in a stack of forms and swiping his credit chip, he and Colt went soaring up into the wide blue sky above Lorus Airport in a little blue-and-white Cessna.

  ‘Ever flown in a light plane before?’ James asked, turning the Cessna in a wide semi-circle that would bring it back towards Highway 22.

  Colt was staring wide-eyed down at the tiny houses far below. Despite Stage 12 Water Rationing, some of them still had backyard pools. ‘I’ve never even been in a plane,’ he said.

  There was a buzz of static in his ears. He and James were sitting side-by-side, but they had to wear headsets and microphones to communicate over the roar of the Cessna’s engine.

  ‘Did you say something?’ he asked.

  James flicked a switch. ‘Sorry, I was just talking to Air Traffic Control. So this is your first ever flight, hey? How do you like it so far?’

  ‘It’s cool. But how will we find the kidnappers?’

  They had flown over the highway and seemed to be heading in the wrong direction.

  ‘I’m taking us on a direct course to Mimosa,’ James explained. ‘We should get there well before them, even though they’ve got quite a head start.’

  ‘Are we going to land at Mimosa?’

  ‘Not immediately.’ James was looking out his side window. ‘Once we get there, my plan is to turn around and fly back above the highway until we spot them coming the other way. Do you reckon you’d recognise your mother’s car from a thousand metres up?’

  ‘Easy,’ Colt said. ‘What will we do when we spot them?’

  ‘Follow them,’ said James. ‘And when we see where they’re going – either to Mimosa Airport or to the docks – then we’ll call the police and let them handle it from there.’

  ‘I don’t want to call the police,’ Colt said.

  ‘We have to.’ James glanced at him, a look of apology in his eyes. ‘You might think you’re invincible, champ, but I’m responsible for your safety. I’m not letting you play superheroes against men armed with guns.’

  ‘Don’t you believe I’m really Superclown?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter whether I believe it or not,’ James said. ‘You’re only a boy. I can’t allow you to risk your life.’

  ‘What about Birdy’s life?’ cried Colt. ‘Ranga said they’d hurt her if the police get involved!’

  ‘I’m sure the police can handle it.’

  Colt gritted his teeth. James had tricked him! He hadn’t dared try this in the car, when Colt could have forced him to stop and hitched a ride with someone else. But now they were a thousand metres above the ground and Colt was trapped. ‘Can I use your phone?’ he asked.

  James dug it out of his pocket and handed it over. ‘Who are you going to call?’

  ‘Mum.’

  Removing his headset, Colt punched in his mother’s number. It was no use calling her because the kidnappers had taken her phone. But James didn’t know that. If he could trick Colt, then Colt could trick him. He wasn’t going to give the phone back. No phone meant no calls to the police.

  ‘Hello,’ a man’s voice said in his ear.

  Colt was so surprised that he didn’t say anything at first. He lowered the phone to make sure he had the right number. Kristin, it said on the screen.

  He was talking to one of the kidnappers!

  ‘Is Birdy okay?’

  ‘Who’s this?’ asked the faint voice. It was hard to hear anything because of the Cessna’s roaring engine.

  ‘Superclown!’ Colt shouted. ‘I’ve got a message for you guys: If you stop the car right now and let the girl go, I won’t come after you.’

  There was a brief silence, then the connection broke.

  ‘Was that who I think it was?’ James asked when Colt had put his headset back on.

  ‘Yeah. I guess I shouldn’t have threatened them.’

  ‘No harm done. They warned you not to involve the police, but they didn’t say anything about Superclown.’

  Colt looked at him to see if he was serious. He couldn’t tell. ‘You know how I said Birdy was my friend?’

  James nodded.

  ‘Well, she’s more than tha
t, really. It’s like she’s my little sister.’

  James reached across and patted his arm. ‘I’m sure it’ll turn out okay, Colt. She won’t be hurt.’

  Colt’s eyes filled with tears. He quickly turned his head away. For a minute or two there was just the muffled roar of the Cessna’s engine as he looked down at the slow-moving landscape far below them.

  ‘Would you like to fly it?’ James’s voice came through his headset.

  Colt wiped his eyes, then turned to look at him. ‘Fly the plane?’

  ‘Sure,’ said James. ‘It isn’t hard.’

  ‘I’ve never even driven a car.’

  ‘Flying one of these is much easier than driving a car.’ James grinned. ‘And there are less things to run into up here.’

  The Cessna had dual controls. James showed Colt how to turn right or left using the U-shaped control column. He showed him the compass bearing to follow. And he demonstrated how to keep the aeroplane at a constant altitude by lining up the top of the nose cowling with the horizon ahead.

  ‘Have you got it?’ he asked.

  Colt nodded nervously. ‘I guess so.’

  ‘Right-oh, then.’ James took his hands off his own set of controls, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. ‘Wake me up when you see a big city ahead of us.’

  ‘Hey, don’t go to sleep!’ cried Colt.

  James opened his eyes. ‘Just kidding. Easy, isn’t it?’

  Colt pulled the control column back a little because the cowling had dipped below the horizon. The nose came back up. It was easy. ‘What about those clouds?’

  There was a big mass of white clouds not too far into the distance.

  ‘It’s up to you,’ James said. ‘You can either fly straight through them or go around.’

  ‘I want to go through that gap.’

  ‘You’re the pilot.’

  Colt moved the column sideways and the Cessna tipped slightly to the right. When it was heading towards the gap in the clouds, he straightened it up again. Now the nose was too high, but he soon fixed that by gently pushing forward on the control column

  ‘You’re a natural!’ James said, and Colt forgot all about being angry with him five minutes ago.