But now it was ten-fifty and there was no sign of her. What could be taking so long? Wei-Lin knew her job was simply to watch, that she mustn’t, under any circumstances, approach Nate or talk to him. But what if she’d been captured? Pan remembered the drug she’d been given after her trip through the sluice gate, how she was compelled to tell the truth. Was Wei-Lin, even as they sat there waiting for her, in a room spilling her guts to Professor Goldberg, happy to do so, eagerly answering each question? Maybe this whole plan had been a mistake. Did they really need Nate? Was he so special that it was worth putting everything in jeopardy? She couldn’t justify it. She just had a sense that he had a part to play. A crucial part.
‘Should we go down and check it out?’ Jen whispered. ‘She’s been a helluva long time.’
Pan opened her mouth to reply, but a skittering of rocks close by brought both girls to their feet, Pan’s heart hammering in her chest. The night was nearly starless and it was difficult to see more than five metres in any direction.
‘It’s only me.’ Wei-Lin’s whisper was a relief, but it did little to still the adrenaline rush through Pan’s veins.
Wei-Lin stepped forward and placed her bow on the ground. Then she slung the quiver off her shoulder and placed it next to the bow.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Jen hissed. ‘We’ve been worried.’
‘No need,’ Wei-Lin whispered back. ‘All good. But I did talk to Nate.’
‘What?’
‘No option.’
Wei-Lin sat on the rock and Pan and Jen squatted down to listen better. Wei-Lin explained that she had arrived at the sluice gate well in advance of the agreed time, to scope out the rendezvous point and the surrounding areas. She’d found the place deserted.
‘I scouted everywhere within a kilometre radius,’ she explained. ‘No one there. Didn’t think it was likely there’d be an ambush party on the other side of the wall or that anyone would abseil down from the towers. It all looked good.’
Then she’d found a place where she could see the sluice gate, but remain hidden.
‘I had to get close, though. Even after my eyes had adjusted to the dark it was almost impossible to see, especially in the shadows of the wall. But I figured I would hear anyone approaching. It’s so quiet out there.’
Nate had turned up exactly on time. He stood in the dark waiting. For forty-five minutes. ‘In all that time he didn’t make a sound, no calling out, no indication of him speaking into a walkie-talkie or anything like that. I would’ve heard. He just waited.’
Finally, she said, he must have decided no one was coming. Wei-Lin saw him move away from the wall and start running. She followed him as best she could, but she was carrying a bow and even at the best of times, Nate was not easy to keep up with.
‘I thought he’d lose me,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘I thought maybe he was going back to report to The School, or simply return to his cabin. Maybe even just run around the boundaries, like he said he does at night. But he didn’t do any of those things.’
It turned out he was running towards the dormitories. Wei-Lin ran as fast as she could until she was certain that’s where he was heading.
‘I called out to him,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know what else to do. I had to make a decision and I didn’t want him coming back here. Too risky.’
Nate had stopped immediately. They’d talked.
‘I told him I’d been watching him, that we had to know we could trust him.’ Wei-Lin shook her head. ‘I still don’t know, to be honest. That he wasn’t part of a trap this time doesn’t mean he won’t betray us in the future. Anyway, we’ve been through this. He said he understood. I told him to go back to his cabin. That you, Pan, would make contact.’
‘How did he react?’ asked Jen.
‘He just accepted it. Turned and headed off to the staff quarters.’
‘You didn’t tell him anything about the real plan?’ Pan asked.
Wei-Lin smiled. ‘Call that a real plan? I wouldn’t dignify it with so grand a name. Of course not, Pan. Just told him to wait. He nodded and left. That was it.’
‘Okay,’ said Pan. ‘Good job, Wei-Lin. Thanks.’
‘You’re letting him in?’ asked Jen.
‘Yeah,’ Pan replied. ‘I told you. Hunches. No choice but to rely on them.’
Pan dreamed. Vivid dreams. She watched as the woman exited a shop and was hit by a car, saw a policeman thrust a gun barrel into his mouth and pull the trigger. But these images were no longer disturbing. They were like a movie she had seen over and over and in that process lost all sense of realism. But she also dreamed of her mother and Danny. They were on a beach, the sky was a pristine blue and the ocean sparkled.
Pan and Danny built sandcastles at the water’s edge. They cheered when the tide came in far enough to fill their moat. But the tide was relentless and soon their castles crumbled.
Chapter 13
The next day was torturously slow. Pan kept glancing at her watch and had to check that the second hand was still moving.
She and Jen took the opportunity whenever they could to go over the plan. Wei-Lin had been right. It wasn’t really a plan, as such; more a rough timing of when things might happen. If only one thing went wrong, then the sequence of events would be disrupted and they would be into new territory. But it was impossible to predict the unpredictable. Get into the elevator. That about summed it up. From there on, they’d have to make up the plan as they went.
‘We don’t have enough weapons,’ said Pan. ‘Just Wei-Lin’s bow and your knife. It’s not enough.’
‘Hey, Pandora,’ said Jen. ‘Chances are we’ll be up against automatic weapons and trained soldiers. It don’t matter what we’ve got. We can’t match their firepower. Relax.’
‘Relax?’ Pan snorted. ‘Have you got your lock picks?’
‘That’s the tenth time you’ve asked me today. The answer is the same as the other nine answers. Yes. I made new ones.’
‘You think Eric will do it?’
Jen wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. The day was almost sultry and the time of the freezing cold and biting winds that had buffeted them when they first arrived seemed like a lifetime ago. She sighed.
‘No idea. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Either way, we’ll deal with it. Stop worrying.’
‘What else is there to do?’ Jen simply raised her eyebrows. ‘I’m worried about Sam and Karl,’ Pan continued. ‘I don’t think it’s right they should be doing this.’
‘It’s their decision,’ Jen pointed out. ‘You’re not their mother. Now shut the hell up, Pandora. You’re making me nervous.’
The girls sat at the base of the memorial cairn. I gravitate towards this place, Pan thought. It calls me, reminds me of my vow to Cara. She looked out over the expanse of The School. The buildings glinted with reflected sunlight and even the wall was bathed in a buttery glow. It lent it a fairy-tale aspect.
‘You know something?’ said Jen. ‘When The School looks like this I could almost imagine it as home.’
‘I can’t,’ said Pan. She shuddered. ‘There’s only one home for me and I’m going to see it again before I die.’
‘I guess you’re lucky.’ Jen scratched her leg. ‘Having a home, I mean.’
‘When we get out and all of this is over,’ said Pan, ‘I want you to come stay with me in Melbourne. We’ve got room. Danny’s a weird kid. All he does is play computer games, you know? But when you get to know him . . .’
‘Whoa, Pandora.’ Jen got to her feet, put her hands on her hips and rolled her head to unknot the muscles in her neck. ‘You got me wrong. I’m not looking for someone else’s home. Hey, I appreciate the offer. But get real. You and me would have nothing in common out there, and you know it.’
‘I don’t know that.’
‘Yeah, you do. We come from different worlds.’
‘Even if that was true, it doesn’t mean it has to be that way in the future, Jen.’ Pan got to her feet as well. ‘We are f
riends now. We’ll always be friends.’
‘Send each other birthday cards? Have a School reunion every five years? Name your kid after me? Maybe we could meet up once a week at The Coffee Club, chat about life over a few lattes. Like each other on Facebook. You know something, Pandora? Your naivety is kinda cute, I gotta admit it.’
‘Oh, please.’ Pan could feel her anger rising. ‘You need to get rid of that huge working-class chip on your shoulder, Jen. Don’t stereotype me. You’re my friend and I don’t give a shit about your past, your criminal record, your streetwise persona. I believe true friendship is stronger than petty differences that you seem to think are so important.’
‘ “Persona”? Helluva word, Pandora, and I have no idea what it means. “Stereotype”, yeah. That word I do know. And I reckon you’re the one who’s guilty of doing it. Think it would be fun to have a lesbian girlfriend from the wrong side of the tracks? I know what would happen. You’d be caught. You wouldn’t want to dump me, ’cos that would definitely not be cool, but you’d soon realise I didn’t fit in. What then? Meet me in private, so I wouldn’t embarrass you? Think you’d get on with my friends? Your intentions are good, but it just wouldn’t work.’
‘I refuse to accept that.’
Jen took the knife from her waistband and examined the blade. She ran a finger along the edge, testing its sharpness.
‘And here’s something else,’ Jen continued. ‘You think I’d like to be a part of your world, that people like me would love to graduate into the middle class, that’s it’s all we hope and pray for. But you’re wrong, Pandora. I don’t wanna be like you. I don’t wanna be invited to your party. I’m happy with who I am.’
For a moment, Pan thought she was going to burst into tears. That was so unfair and so inaccurate. She bowed her head and fought to keep the emotion from registering on her face.
Jen put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Hey, girlfriend,’ she said. ‘Don’t take it to heart. We’re friends now and that’s all that matters.’
Pan nodded.
‘What’s the point in worrying about the future,’ Jen continued, ‘when we’re probably gonna die in the next twenty-four hours? Lighten the hell up, Pandora.’
And then Pan laughed. ‘We’re going to die and you tell me to lighten the hell up? Hey, that works for me, Jen. Has anyone told you you’re a great motivational speaker?’
Jen chuckled. ‘Get tired of hearing it.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Seven forty-five. Two and a quarter hours until Dr Macredie leaves the Infirmary. Everyone knows what to do?’
‘We’ve been over it and over it,’ said Pan. ‘They’ll be here at nine forty-five, behind the cairn.’
‘And Nate?’
‘I’m meeting him at the waterfall. Then I’ll bring him here, assuming he can be trusted. If we don’t show . . .’
‘Yeah, I know. Abort. Regroup. Reschedule.’
‘And if I’m taken, then go ahead the following night. Time is running out.’
‘I hear you.’
Pan glanced at the darkening sky. She knew from experience that in fifteen minutes the darkness would be complete. Despite the warmth in the air, she shuddered. Everything hinged on the next twenty-four hours and she wasn’t convinced any of them were ready. But they would never really be ready. It was like the hang-glider flight from the Garden on Top of the World. Sometimes you just had to pluck up your courage and take off into the unknown and not think about the drop beneath you, and its consequences.
Pan’s nerves were stretched taut and her head jerked at every sound, real or imagined. When Nate entered the clearing her heart raced, though she wasn’t sure whether that was because of his sudden appearance or the flood of emotion at seeing him.
She stood and he smiled. For a moment she thought he might take her in his arms, but he didn’t and she was glad. No distractions, she thought. That could be the death of all of us. They walked together into the forest. Pan didn’t know the time. The team had all been instructed to leave their watches behind in the dormitories. But they were going straight to the rendezvous point so for them time-keeping was not an issue. Pan had to rely on her sense of how much time had elapsed, and she was nervous she’d get it wrong. She thought they had plenty of time, but . . .
‘It’s good to see you, Pan,’ Nate whispered.
‘You left me a note, Nate,’ Pan replied. ‘It said, Trust me. You said the same thing before you shot me on the tanker. But so far you’ve done nothing to convince me why I should.’
‘And yet here you are.’
‘Here I am.’
‘Because you do trust me, despite everything?’
‘Because I think we might need you. There’s a big difference.’
Nate walked in silence for a while. Pan glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. His head was bowed, his curly hair falling across his face. He shouldn’t be so good-looking, she thought. And giving off that chastened puppy air. It’s not helpful.
‘Where are we going?’ he said eventually.
‘We’re going for a run,’ said Pan. ‘But this time you’re following me.’
They made it to the cairn well before the others. Pan and Nate slipped behind the pile of rocks, where the shadows were deepest, and squatted down to wait. They had seen and heard no one on their journey, which Pan had deliberately made circuitous, just in case they were being followed.
It seemed they waited forever, but finally she heard approaching feet. The rest of the team were obviously taking care to move as silently as possible, but sound carried. And it wasn’t until Jen appeared around the corner that Pan was able to relax a little. Jen was followed by Sanjit, Wei-Lin and Sam and Karl, who were holding hands as if they couldn’t bear to separate for a moment. In other circumstances, Pan would have found it touching. Now it seemed a symbol of how thoroughly they were outmatched in this battle.
No one spoke. No one acknowledged Nate either, even by glancing in his direction. They huddled together in silence.
If all went well, they would hear Dr Macredie leave the Infirmary in approximately fifteen minutes. She had to pass close by their hiding place on her way home to the staff quarters. They would probably spot the light from her flame torch. Then they’d wait for Eric to do his thing – another ten or fifteen minutes after that. If nothing happened – and Pan thought that was the likeliest scenario; she couldn’t rid herself of the belief that the red-haired boy was all bravado – then they would be forced to go up the steps to the Garden on Top of the World without the benefit of a distraction. The huge boy who’d been posted as a guard was still there. Jen had checked last night. So, they’d need to get past him and then into the Infirmary itself. After that – well, who could tell? But the die would have been cast. There would be no turning back once they reached that top step of the stairs carved into the cliff side.
The fifteen minutes crawled by. Pan tried to count the seconds. One Mississippi, two Mississippi. But she lost count and gave up. And thinking about the time passing only seemed to slow it. She attempted to keep her mind as clear as possible, but even the pulsing of blood in her ears was loud and furious. She concentrated on her breathing, tried to relax. A cramp developed in her right leg and she shifted position. It didn’t help.
Pan heard the crunch of rocks and pebbles underfoot. The noise was sudden and almost painful, such was her state of tension. She moved her head to the side of the cairn and could just make out a patch of yellow light some distance off. It wavered and then was lost to view as the bulk of the cairn impeded her line of vision. It had to be Dr Macredie.
The entire group watched as the light faded into the distance. Silence returned and none of them broke it. Then it was more waiting. Pan kept shifting her position in an attempt to ease the cramping and in the end sat on the ground and stretched her legs out in front of her. The minutes crept past and still they waited. It has to be more than fifteen, Pan thought. At what point should they move? Jen crept closer and put her mouth to Pan’s ear.
/> ‘Whatya reckon, Pandora? Time to go?’
Pan whispered back, ‘I think we should wait another couple of minutes. Eric might still come up trumps.’
Jen snorted. ‘Has he got brown eyes, do you remember?’
‘No, blue. Why?’
‘’Cos he should have brown eyes. The guy’s full of shit. I reckon we could wait all night for that douchebag. He’s probably snoring while we’re stuck here twiddling our thumbs. I think we should go.’
‘Ask the others, Jen. We’re in this together.’
‘Yeah, but one of us has to take the lead and this time it ain’t Nate. I say we go.’
‘You’re the leader?’
‘Damn right.’ Jen smiled and even in the darkness, Pan could see the flash of her teeth. ‘It’s time for action. You do the thinking. Hell, you and Sanjit can have that job for all I care. But this job has my name written all over it.’
‘Okay. Go for it.’ But even as she said the words, Pan felt her bowels twist at the prospect. Jen thrived on danger. Despite all she had been through, Pan couldn’t ever be comfortable with it.
Jen got to her feet and motioned to the rest of the team. She inched out from behind the cairn and looked right and left. For a full minute, she examined the darkness, checking for movement. Then she lifted one arm and beckoned the group to follow. They slid out into the night, and even that action made Pan feel vulnerable. The cairn was really no protection at all, but it had felt secure. Now they were completely exposed.
Jen moved at walking pace, placing her feet carefully to minimise noise, and the team followed her example. Their progress still sounded alarmingly loud, but there was no option. The guard would hear them coming when they climbed the steps, no matter how carefully they moved. Perhaps it was better to walk confidently. Running up would certainly alarm him. Measured footsteps might conceivably make him think that Dr Macredie had forgotten something and was returning.
The group turned the corner of the cliff and the stairs lay before them. Jen stopped and made damping gestures, her hands splayed. Keep as quiet as possible. Everyone nodded. Perhaps it was only Pan, but she felt that all of them took a collective deep breath before the first foot was placed on the rough stone step. No way down, she thought. The only direction is up.
Pandora Jones: Reckoning Page 12