‘This is Williams’ ranch in the central part of the western desert, the nearest town to him is three hundred kilometres, he lives there by himself, he has no workers, the ranch is not a working farm. As you can see he has satellite capabilities, heat sources show a high concentration in the second barn, my tech guy tells me this is probably from computers, he’d hazard a guess that Williams’ has a lot of security on the ground; trip wires, sensors that sort of thing.’
Chloe tapped one of the photographs that showed a large area around the ranch; the farm was just a blip. She ran her finger along a series of ridges to the north of the farm. ‘What is this area, I’m not too good with maps?’
Katsumoto smiled, ‘I had to ask myself, they are foothills, deep canyons and ravines, millennia ago there were vast rivers running through this area.’
‘Williams’ picked his spot well,’ Dan said, he ran his fingers across the same picture. ‘Flat featureless desert to the west, south and east and hills to the north, going by vehicle is out of the question unless we want to be spotted from fifty miles away.’
‘How’s that?’ Chloe asked.
‘We couldn’t drive in from the north, and the other directions would make it impossible to drive in without causing one hell of a dust cloud.’
Chloe nodded in understanding. She adjusted her wayward sweater and drank some lemonade; it was delicious and she smacked her lips at its tartness.
‘I make it myself,’ said Katsumoto.
Dan held the photograph of Williams’ up and studied the man; tall, muscular, used to hard work, the years had been good to the man. The man’s face was handsome but the grey eyes were dead. Dan tossed the photograph aside and said, ‘How many square miles does he own?’
‘Thousands,’ Katsumoto replied. ‘He lives out there in seclusion, rarely going in to the city, and when he does he has a jet fly in for him, out there it’s easy to land and take off. An aerial assault is out of the question if that’s what you were thinking Dan.’ Katsumoto pointed at another close-up of the ranch taken from above and pointed at a grey object set between the main house and the first barn.
‘It’s a fifty millimetre assault canon, it would bring anything down that he saw as a threat.’
Dan nodded, ‘I get the picture, so the desert’s out, we can also assume that he has sensors set up, probably from a mile out leading back in to the ranch and anything bigger than a fox would probably alert him.’
‘What about kangaroos?’
‘Good point,’ Dan replied to Chloe.
‘From what I have been able to learn Williams’ has culled most of the local kangaroos, they’re not a protected species, I’d expect that if something large did set off an alarm that Williams would make sure first it wasn’t a large mammal before he became too worried, however I wouldn’t like to take my chances.’
Dan was studying the map of the hills to the north of the ranch. He looked at Katsumoto.
‘How far would you say it is between the ranch house and these hills, they seem to go right on past his place?’
‘A mile; a little more perhaps.’
‘So we could get to within that distance without triggering anything, I doubt the hills are monitored, too much wildlife, too many winds coming down out of the larger mountains further to the north, he’d forever be listening to one alarm or another bleeping.’
Katsumoto agreed with Dan’s assumption.
‘That would get you a mile out, but then there’s the sensors, you’d never get any closer, by the time you crossed that last mile he’d have shot you a hundred times if he wished to.’
Dan shook his head and smiled, ‘We won’t be crossing that last mile; we’ll take him from there.’
‘How?’ Chloe asked.
‘A long range rifle, a mile’s not an impossible shot.’
Chloe turned to Dan with an amused look on her face. ‘And you can make that shot?’
Dan nodded once but didn’t explain further.
Katsumoto studied the photograph and nodded his head, ‘Yes, that could work; you would have to go in on foot.’
Dan shook his head, ‘I was thinking of horses, we could ride in over the hills in two days, on foot it would take much longer, and it would be tiring.’
Katsumoto smiled. ‘Like John Wayne?’
Dan laughed, ‘I always preferred Clint Eastwood.’
‘I have already made arrangements for your flights tomorrow, you’ll be catching a commercial flight in to Perth, from there I have chartered a private plane to take you in to the desert, I know people who could meet you with horses and anything else that you might require, can you both ride?’
Dan nodded his head. Chloe shrugged, ‘I haven’t for a while but sure, I think I’ll be okay.’
Katsumoto stood up and Dan and Chloe followed his lead.
‘I will call my friends in Australia; I will have them obtain a suitable rifle for you and some small arms just in case.’
‘Thank you Katsumoto, it would have taken us weeks to prepare for this,’ Dan said.
‘You are both my friends now; I will always be here to help where I can.’
‘Let me know how much it’s all cost and I’ll transfer the funds,’ Dan said.
Katsumoto shook his head. ‘Nonsense.’
‘At least allow us to pay your friends in Australia for their help.’
Katsumoto could see that Dan would not take no for an answer and agreed.
‘I will let you know later today when I have more information.’
‘Thank you Katsumoto.’
‘Hai.’
Later Katsumoto met them in the kitchen and explained what he had been able to arrange since their discussion earlier that morning.
‘The private plane will fly beneath radar and land twenty miles north of the hills, hopefully you will not be seen or heard by Williams, two associates that I have used on many occasions will meet you when the plane lands. Their names are Chrissy and Lacey; I do not know their surnames, they can be trusted completely.’
‘They’re women?’ Chloe asked with mild shock.
‘Yes, they are; how to put it delicately; fond of each other.’
Chloe reddened and turned away
Lesbians, just what we need, Chloe thought and then silently scolded herself, who was she to judge. She said a silent apology to the two absent women. She put her elbows on the table and her sweater started to slide down her shoulder, Dan reached out and stopped it before any harm could be done.
‘Thanks,’ Chloe said and held her hand to her chest securing the garment.
‘They will have horses for you, good mountain horses, saddles, clothing, they will also bring with them weapons. They will want fifty thousand dollars and if the horses are killed a further ten per horse.’
‘That seems fair,’ Dan said.
Katsumoto went to leave the kitchen and then stopped.
‘Chrissy and Lacey, they may act a little crazy but do not be fooled, they are good at what they do and are very dangerous, you’ll be safe with them. They shall meet you in three days in the desert, good luck my friends.’
Dan shook Katsumoto’s hand and Chloe gave the elderly man a peck on the cheek. Katsumoto blushed and Chloe smiled.
‘Thank you for all you have done Katsumoto,’ Chloe said, ‘Thank you for looking after Dan.’
Katsumoto bowed his head.
‘You are most welcome Miss Chloe.’
The Desert, Western Territory, AUSTRALIA.
The single prop light aircraft circled three hundred feet above the flat red sands of the desert. Out of the window to his left Dan could see the vast foothills that they would have to ride across to reach Williams’ ranch.
Chloe was in the rear of the small aircraft and had spent most of the six hour flight rifling through the two large canvas duffel bags that they now used as luggage (they had opted to not use suitcases anymore, they were too cumbersome).
The trip from Tokyo had taken twelve hours for them to ge
t to where they now were. They’d grabbed some food and a brief rest in Perth before making the final leg of the journey northwards.
The pilot, a jovial man in his fifties was called Chet and was originally from Texas and Dan had had to endure the flight, up front, listening to the man’s entire life story. Chloe had just grinned at him; she couldn’t hear a thing from where she sat in the rear sorting through their belongings.
Chet said in to his head-piece that they would start their brief descent. He pointed across Dan at the ground below them. Dan could see a brown All Terrain Vehicle parked below them; out here in the middle of nowhere it looked conspicuous by its very presence.
‘Tell your lady it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.’
Dan nodded his head and leaned back through the gap between the seats and grabbed Chloe’s naked foot. She jumped at his touch and wiggled her toes at him. Dan motioned for her to sit forward. Chloe leant forward and Dan saw straight down her open shirt, her nipples were huge and her breasts were soaked in sweat. The thin cotton shirt clung to her like a second skin.
‘It’s going to get bumpy,’ Dan said loudly to be heard over the engine. Chloe nodded her head and kissed him quickly on the mouth. She sat back and strapped herself in; the belt crossed below her breasts and Dan grinned, the shirt was near as damn-it see through.
Chloe waved him away and looked out the side window.
The plane banked and Chloe caught a brief glimpse of the ATV parked below them.
Chet straightened the wings out, adjusted the flaps and lowered the landing gear and began his descent. They hit the ground before bouncing up again in to the air, and touched down again, it was like a tennis ball bouncing down the court. Dan watched outside as the ground dipped and swelled as Chet began to throttle back. On the next touchdown they stayed down and Chet powered back until the plane was moving along the flat red ground at an easy rate.
The ATV was looming large through the cockpit’s main window and Chet turned the stick and the plane taxied to a stop twenty yards and slightly to the left from the ATV.
Chet throttled down but kept the propeller spinning.
‘Everyone out who wants to get out, just call me when you want picking up, these coordinates are now in my SatNav so it’ll be easy to find you.’
Dan took off his headphones and opened his door, he shook Chet’s hand.
‘Thanks buddy,’ Dan said.
‘No worries, you both take care, its hotter than Texas in June out here, lotion up or you’ll both look like lobsters before this day’s out.’
Dan laughed and got out of the plane; he stepped under the wing and helped Chloe out through the open door. He pulled the two canvas bags out and dropped them on the ground. He closed the hatch and Chloe took one bag, Dan grabbed the other and they walked out from under the plane and in to a heat they’d never felt before. Instantly fresh sweat broke out and Chloe was the first to say, ‘Fucking hell that’s hot!’
Chet powered up and quickly took off, the plane banked away from them and headed east.
Dan wiped his left forearm across his face.
‘Shit almighty,’ he proclaimed. Chloe handed him a pair of sunglasses and he put them on. Chloe was already wearing hers.
Even dressed as they were the heat was stifling; the sun high overhead cooked everything beneath its intense glare. Dan pulled at the thin cotton shirt he was wearing; the material was soaking wet and his thin canvas trousers were stuck to him like glue. His feet felt soaked in sweat inside his trainers. Chloe was faring a little better; her shirt was unbuttoned; exposing a two inch strip of flesh from neck to groin, and she had rolled the sleeves up high. She had cut her tan coloured cotton trousers in to shorts (very short shorts Dan had told her earlier, the bottom of each buttock clearly on show, they’re more like knickers than shorts he had remarked), and she wore a pair of plimsolls.
The doors to the ATV opened and two women stepped out in to the heat, both were wearing only bikinis and flip-flops, one wore a white bikini, the other a black one.
‘Eyes on me Mister,’ Chloe said nudging him.
Dan looked at her and smiled, ‘Honey, next to you they’re a six out of ten at best.’
‘Charmer,’ she replied and lifted her face to him to be kissed. Dan had to lean forward quite a bit and looked at her cleavage as he kissed her.
Chloe pushed him back playfully.
The woman in the white bikini said, ‘Hi there folks, I’m Chrissy, she’s Lacey.’ Chrissy pointed at the other woman and Lacey nodded her head and smiled.
‘Welcome to the hottest place in Australia,’ Lacey said as she stood next to Chrissy. Chrissy put her arm around her partner’s waist, resting her hand on Lacey’s hip.
‘I’m Dan; this is Chloe, pleased to meet you, thanks for coming out here.’
‘No problems there chum, Katsumoto said to help out however we could.’
They all shook hands and Lacey, who was studying Chloe said, ‘Damn lady, you’re gorgeous.’
Chloe reddened and Chrissy laughed and said, ‘Ignore her Chloe; she’s a bitch that’ll flirt with anyone.’
‘But it’s you I go to bed with every night, ‘Lacey said laughing too.
‘Can we get out of this heat, I’m beginning to boil?’ Dan asked.
‘Sure thing handsome,’ Lacey said. ‘Let’s get moving along.’
Chrissy walked with Chloe towards the ATV and whispered in her ear, ‘Chloe, you see what I mean, she’ll flirt with anyone.’
Chloe laughed, she instantly liked them.
‘You could both be models,’ Chloe said as they all got in to the ATV. Dan had stowed the bags in the rear and sat next to Chloe in the rear seats. The vinyl was hot to sit on but the vehicle was cooler than outside due to the air-conditioning running; the noise from the over-worked fan sounded like a trapped hornet but at least they were cooler.
Lacey got behind the wheel and started the engine; she looked back at Chloe and smiled at her.
‘So could you Chloe, guess that makes Dan here one very lucky man, in a truck with the three hottest women in the whole of the western world,’ Lacey said and laughed hard as she accelerated along the desert.
The truck was a smooth ride and Dan watched the flatness out of his window. Chloe nudged him and handed him an ice cold can of coke.
‘From our friends up front.’
‘Thanks,’ Dan said to them and popped the tab. Chloe popped her own and tilted her head back to drink thirstily. She lowered the can and held its coldness against her throat.
‘How do you cope in this heat?’ Chloe shouted to the women up front, the noise from the engine was worse than the plane.
Chrissy leaned back over her seat and said, ‘Bikinis, factor fifty and a hell of a lot of water, don’t worry when we get to the campsite you’ll feel a lot better about the whole thing, trust me.’
Dan kept scanning the vast red sands of the desert but he couldn’t see anything other than desert, no birds, no wildlife at all, it was like being on Mars.
Lacey stopped the ATV and when the red dust settled they all climbed out of the vehicle.
‘So what do you think you two?’ Chrissy asked as she held her arms wide to encompass the area around them.
‘Very pretty,’ remarked Chloe as she joined Dan outside of the vehicle, within seconds she could feel the heat of the hard desert ground through the soles of her plimsolls.
The camp was at the base of the hills, which loomed high over them, the maps hadn’t shown their true magnificent beauty. The camp was set up in the shade of a large flat rock easily two hundred feet high; no sun could get to them here during the day, and in the shade the temperature was more bearable, but still in the 80s. Three tents had been erected and a horse box was off to the left, two horses; one a dappled grey and the other dun-brown stood tied to a post staked in to the desert. A portable canvas trough was set up near enough to the animals so that they could drink. Various plants grew among the rocks and there were even a few trees.
‘When you head up in to the hills it gets greener, stick to the trails and you’ll be fine.’
Dan nodded his head.
‘Were you able to get a map of the hills like I asked?’
‘Yes, it’s in the middle tent along with everything else that you asked for, total cost fifty thousand dollars,’ Lacey said with a grin.
Chrissy sighed loudly and said, ‘I’m sorry for Lacey’s rudeness...’
Dan waved it away with a chuckle. ‘Its fine really; let’s gets business out of the way.’
Dan dragged one of the bags from the rear of the ATV and unzipped it, he found what he was looking for and tossed a bundle of hundred dollar notes across to Lacey who caught it easily and fanned the crisp bank notes with her thumb. She frowned at Dan and then looked at Chrissy.
‘Chris? There’s seventy five here, you did ask for fifty right?’
Chrissy nodded her head.
‘The extra is a bonus,’ Dan said. ‘I wouldn’t have known where to start getting all f this organised.’
Lacey whistled and tossed the bundle of money through the open flap of the nearest tent.
‘We won’t offend you by saying no,’ Lacey said laughing.
Chloe was watching the horses and Chrissy said to her, ‘They won’t bite you honey, they’re a pair of softies.’
Chloe smiled, ‘It’s not that, they’re beautiful.’
Dan walked over to the horses and smoothed the face of the dappled grey. Chloe stepped up next to him and looked up in to the face of the dun-brown.
‘He’s called Bud,’ Lacey said as she joined them by the horses. ‘The grey one doesn’t have a name, or not that he’s told me.’ Lacey laughed at her own joke.
Chloe ran her hand down Bud’s neck and the horse nickered gently.
Dan bent over and lifted the grey’s legs one by one checking the hooves; he smoothed the horse’s flank as he walked behind the grey and did the same with Bud. He looked up at Chrissy. ‘They’re freshly shod, thanks for thinking of that, are they good in this sort of terrain?’
Rage Against The Machine: Special Edition (Dan & Chloe Book 1) Page 32