by Des Hunt
‘We’re ready,’ said Zac, his face split with a huge grin.
Jess moved alongside, hugging Alex to her chest. ‘So are we.’
The constable unclipped the walkie-talkie and spoke into it.
‘Mission accomplished,’ he said loud enough for all to hear. ‘Over and out.’
Chapter Thirty-two
One week after the rescue at Zealandia, Jess and Zac waited impatiently in the McGonagalls’ house.
‘Where is she?’ asked Jess.
‘Maybe she left a note somewhere,’ said Zac.
Jess pointed to the empty tabletop. ‘That’s where Mum leaves notes and there isn’t one.’
Zac searched around the floor, thinking it might have blown off. There was nothing.
‘She’d better come soon,’ he said, ‘or they’ll be closed before we get there.’
He was talking about the zoo. At lunchtime they’d received a message from Anna saying that Tasha and Alex had been shifted out of Te Khanga, Wellington Zoo’s animal hospital. Alex’s eyes had opened during the night and they were now considered ready for visitors. Jess and Zac were welcome to visit after school, if they liked.
Of course they liked! They’d been phoning Anna every day asking if they could come. In fact, the whole school wanted to go and see the famous cat and her baby.
School had restarted on Monday, with Zac as the twenty-first student. He and Jess were immediately declared heroes by the teachers and students. The story had been told repeatedly, and the classroom wall covered with newspaper clippings. Most of the people involved were featured. Bryan was there alongside his ‘moa’ photo. He claimed that the capture of Tasha showed that his sightings of creatures weren’t fantasies. He had seen a moa and was going back to East Cape to prove it. The Neanderthals featured in several photos, including one showing them being escorted onto a plane that would fly them back home to stand trial for the murder of a fellow mobster some years before.
The only ones whose photos hadn’t been put on the wall were Zac and Jess. Initially, they’d been kept well away from the media. But the continual presence of reporters outside the school had become awkward. In the end, Crawford and Jenny had agreed to one interview. This had happened after school on Wednesday with the principal sitting in. The reporter was from a women’s magazine that was after a human interest story: how Zac and Jess had felt, rather than what had happened. They’d answered as best they could — until the reporter asked if they were romantically involved. Fortunately, the principal intervened before they needed to answer.
Things had settled back into an ordinary school routine after that, until lunchtime today — Friday — when Anna’s message arrived. Jess and Zac had already waited impatiently for school to finish and now they were pacing around the McGonagalls’ kitchen becoming increasingly agitated.
‘Where is she?’ asked Jess, yet again.
‘Right here!’ called a voice from the doorway. ‘Sorry I’m late.’
Jess glared at her mother. ‘Where were you?’
Jenny sighed. ‘It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way. C’mon, let’s go before rush hour sets in.’
Walking outside, they found that the only vehicle in the drive was Crawford’s beat-up ute. Its motor was idling noisily.
‘Where’s your car?’ asked Jess.
‘That’s the long story,’ said Jenny, rolling her eyes.
After they’d all piled in through the passenger door they took off with a hiss and a roar. Jenny told the saga of her afternoon as they passed over Makara Hill.
Shortly after Jess had phoned about the trip to the zoo, Crawford had rung. He’d received an urgent call to a meeting in the city, but the ute wouldn’t start. He’d tried Will’s number; it went straight to voicemail. Second choice was Jenny: could she come and help jump-start the thing?
Jenny could. Yet when she got there they still couldn’t get the ute going. By then Crawford was meant to be in downtown Wellington, so Jenny offered her car. He accepted the offer and took off, leaving Jenny at the top of the ridge near to where she thought Will was working. Except Will was further away than she thought. By the time she found him and they’d returned to the ute and got it going, almost two hours had passed and she was the one who was late.
‘Will said it’ll be right as long as I don’t turn the engine off until we get to the zoo.’
‘What’s wrong with it?’ asked Jess.
Jenny chuckled. ‘Apart from what you can see, nothing much. Will thinks that Crawford must have flooded the engine and then flattened the battery trying to start it. It was still flooded when we tried the jumper leads.’
Zac said nothing. It sounded as if his father had got into a panic about the meeting. Something must have gone wrong. When Zac had left for school that morning Crawford had been excited about working on The Book all day. He’d finally sorted out what he wanted to write and was keen to get started.
Zac turned to Jenny. ‘Did Dad say what the meeting was about?’
‘He didn’t know. All he said was that he’d had a call from the receivers of Fort Morris demanding that he come and see them immediately.’
‘Bet he wasn’t happy,’ said Zac.
Jenny nodded her head. ‘Far from it. In fact, I haven’t seen him so angry before. I’m sure he was hoping it had all settled down again.’
Me too, thought Zac. He knew how his father would be feeling. The Fort Morris affair had destroyed much of the excitement of saving Tasha. The media attention on Crawford had been almost as bad as when his brother first went missing. In the end, Crawford had arranged a news conference, hoping that it might calm things down. It hadn’t. MIAG had turned up, demanding that he be arrested then and there. That hadn’t happened, but nor had Crawford got the chance to explain things from his point of view. Zac was beginning to think they’d never be free of the mess left behind by his criminal uncle.
Jess must have sensed his change in mood and put a hand on his arm. ‘Think happy thoughts, Zac,’ she said. ‘Think of Tasha and Alex.’
Zac gave a thin smile. ‘They might not remember us any more.’
‘They will.’
‘Tasha, yes,’ conceded Zac. ‘But Alex can see now. He might not like what he sees.’
‘He’ll still like me,’ said Jess, confidently. ‘He thinks I’m his second mother.’
Zac nodded. That was true. Last Friday, while they’d been waiting for a zoo van to arrive at Zealandia, the kitten had spent more than an hour resting on Jess’s lap. Tasha hadn’t minded, but Zac had, especially when the kitten had bitten him just because he’d tried to stroke it.
Ungrateful little beast.
Although it was well past the time for visitors to enter the zoo, the woman at the ticket counter recognized them and pointed the way to Te Khanga.
Anna was waiting outside for them. ‘Did you have trouble with the traffic?’ she asked.
‘Sort of,’ replied Jess.
‘Tasha’s been prowling around impatiently,’ said Anna. ‘Almost as if she knew you were coming.’
Zac was feeling surprisingly nervous as Anna guided them through a series of doors to a building at the back of the centre. The enclosure was more of a house than a cage, with sleeping quarters and an exercise space. Tasha was walking around, weaving in and out of the boulders and logs arranged around the exercise area.
She glanced up as Anna entered, and then continued prowling. Only when the others were fully in the room did she register that something might be different. She stopped and stared at the group.
Then she gave a couple of chirps before bounding over a log, heading straight for Zac. He opened his arms and braced himself against the side of a rock. Just as well he did, for even then the impact forced him back a couple of steps as she thumped into his chest.
‘Tasha!’ he cried. ‘Take it easy!’
But Tasha was too excited to be gentle. Her head bashed against his; her teeth dangerously close to piercing his cheek.
; ‘Settle!’ he ordered.
Tasha calmed enough to avert a disaster. Then she began purring, the sound vibrating both of their bodies.
‘She seems pleased to see you,’ said Anna, with a chuckle.
Zac replied with a goofy grin.
Jess turned to Anna. ‘Where’s Alex?’ she asked.
Anna pointed to the opening of the sleeping quarters. ‘Through there. You can go and get him.’
No second invitation was needed, and a short time later Jess reappeared with Alex cradled in her arms.
‘Look how big he’s got,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe it!’
‘Tasha’s a good mother,’ said Anna. ‘And we’ve been supplementing her milk with a bottle of formula each day. He’s a hungry beast, that one.’
Alex poked his head out from Jess’s arms, taking in the surroundings. How much he saw was not clear, except it was enough for him to stretch out a paw and pat her chin.
Jess beamed as she stroked his head. ‘You’re not a beast, are you? You’re the cutest little baby ever.’
‘Tasha’s looking good too,’ said Jenny. ‘What have you been feeding her?’
‘Well, she’s no longer getting little spotted kiwi, I can tell you. Losing two of them was two too many. She’s now on the same diet as our other serval, meat with supplements.’
‘What’s going to happen to them long term?’
Before Anna could answer, a bell rang.
She smiled. ‘Good timing,’ she said, as she walked to the door, ‘because I really don’t know, but I suspect that’s someone who does.’
The door opened to allow a large beaming man to enter. He spread his arms as he walked towards them. ‘My friends, my friends,’ his voice boomed. ‘So good to meet you.’
It was Mikhail Popanov.
On hearing the man’s voice, Tasha left Zac and rushed at Mikhail, who took her in a much bigger hug than Zac could ever give.
‘My lovely, lovely sweetheart. How are you, my darling?’
When the Russian billionaire eventually lowered Tasha to the ground, he moved to embrace each of the two women. Then it was Zac’s turn.
‘And you must be Zac,’ said Mikhail, as he wrapped the boy in a giant bear hug. ‘The one who saved my beautiful Tasha. Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ The pressure of the hug increased with each ‘thank you’ until Zac felt his ribs creak.
Then Mikhail moved to Jess, who was sitting on a log cradling Alex. For some time he stood staring at the kitten. Then Jess stretched out her arms for him to take Alex. A silly grin crossed the big man’s face.
‘My baby,’ he crooned. ‘My baby. Who is the most gorgeous kitten in the world?’ He then switched to Russian. Although none of the others could understand what was said, the message was obvious: one of the richest men in the world was baby-talking to a cat.
When he’d finished, he handed Alex back to Jess.
‘You do know how special this little cat is?’ he asked.
Jess nodded.
‘He is white but his father wasn’t. That means that Tasha’s white gene must be dominant. Was the dead kitten also white?’
‘I didn’t see,’ said Jess. ‘It was covered in blood.’
‘It would have been,’ said Mikhail. ‘All her kittens will be white. And so will be the ones that Alex fathers. He could mate with yellow servals all over the world and produce only white kittens.’
‘Is that what you want him to do?’ asked Zac.
Mikhail turned to him. ‘That is a good question, Zac. I am not sure. You may not know it, but I have been criticized for keeping Tasha as a pet.’ He leaned over to stroke Tasha, who was sitting obediently at his side. ‘Some people say she should not even be kept in a zoo. What do you think?’
‘I could look after her,’ said Jess, hopefully.
The Russian smiled. ‘Unfortunately, that can’t happen. New Zealand has very strict rules about keeping exotic animals.’ He turned to Anna. ‘What do you think we should do?’
‘She should stay here at least until she stops feeding Alex.’
Mikhail nodded. ‘I have today transferred funds that will make that possible. But what happens in eight months’ time, when Alex is fully weaned?’
‘It would be wonderful to keep them both,’ said Anna. ‘But I’m not the one who can make that decision.’
‘Then we will have to wait and see,’ said Mikhail.
He turned to Jess. ‘But for the next eight months you can visit them as much as you want. There is money available for that. You too, Zac.’
Jess and Zac beamed.
‘Now I must go,’ said Mikhail. ‘I still have another meeting before I leave for Sydney. Meetings, meetings, meetings. That’s all I seem to do these days.’ He opened his arms to Jess. ‘But I will make sure there is time to come back and see you and Zac.’
After hugging Zac again, he moved to the women and kissed them on both cheeks. Then he got on his knees beside Tasha, cuddling her close. His voice went quiet. ‘And I will come back and see you too, my lovely. But until I do, you must give my share of your love to the others.’
Minutes passed while the only sound in the enclosure was Tasha’s purring in the man’s arms. Zac watched, knowing the emotions the man would be feeling. Eventually, Mikhail stood. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing would come. He shook his head, turned and moved to the exit. There he managed a little wave before the door clanged shut behind him.
Chapter Thirty-three
It was dark by the time they left the zoo and headed back to Makara. Jenny took back streets to avoid the worst of the Friday-night traffic. Even then it was after six before they reached the suburb of Karori. Then Jenny’s phone rang and she had to pull over to answer it.
Although Zac could hear only one side of the conversation, he could tell from Jenny’s responses that the call was from his father.
After several exchanges, Jenny said, ‘Okay, we’ll see you then. Bye.’
Zac waited until they were back on the road before asking, ‘How was Dad’s meeting?’
‘He didn’t say,’ replied Jenny. ‘He rang to tell me that he’ll be returning my car later than intended.’ She chuckled. ‘Plus he wanted to know if this heap was still going. I told him only just.’
‘Did he sound angry?’
Jenny thought about that. ‘No, not really. He sounded awfully tired, though. That’s why I asked him to stay for dinner.’
‘Did he say yes?’ asked Jess.
‘Yeah. But it might be a bit later than usual.’
‘Good,’ said Jess. ‘We can have a party to celebrate eight more months with Tasha and Alex.’
‘Crawford might not want to party,’ said Jenny. ‘Depends on what sort of meeting he had. If it was difficult, I doubt he’ll be in the mood for a celebration.’
‘I know what will cheer him up,’ said Jess. ‘That lemon meringue pie you make.’
Jenny laughed. ‘You just want it for yourself.’
‘And Zac,’ said Jess.
‘Okay,’ said Jenny. ‘But we’re going to have to call in at the supermarket to get some eggs and cream.’
The supermarket was the same one that Jess and Zac had gone to on their first trip to Zealandia.
After Jenny had parked the ute, Zac let the others out then climbed back in.
‘Aren’t you coming in?’ asked Jess.
‘I’ll look after the ute, in case someone tries to steal it.’
Jess snorted. ‘Who would steal this old heap?’
Zac gave a half-smile. ‘I’ll stay, just in case.’
‘You’re scared that old man might be in there, aren’t you?’
He shrugged.
‘Come on, Zac. I need you to help select the nibbles and drinks. That old guy won’t be there.’
‘It’s probably past his bedtime,’ added Jenny, with a giggle.
Reluctantly, Zac climbed out and joined them.
He didn’t see the man until they’d almost finished th
eir shopping. And it was the daughter he recognized first; she was wheeling a trolley loaded with food. Zac wished they’d used a trolley as well — because then he could have dumped the armfuls of bottles he was carrying and escaped. Instead, he hid behind Jess and Jenny as they checked the last few aisles in case they’d forgotten something.
They hadn’t, and soon they were standing in a queue, exposed for all to see. That’s when the old man spotted them.
‘You!’ he shouted, rushing towards Zac, pointing. ‘You! I want to talk to you.’
Zac closed his eyes and lowered his head. Oh no! Not again.
‘Leave him alone,’ said Jenny, stepping between Zac and the old man.
‘No!’ cried the man. ‘I must talk to him.’
‘Please leave him alone,’ said Jenny. ‘It’s not his fault. He hasn’t done anything.’
‘But he has,’ insisted the man. ‘I want to thank him.’
Zac looked up. Was this some sort of trick? ‘Thank me? Why?’
‘For the money,’ said the man. His wrinkled face was hard to read, but Zac could now see more excitement than anger.
‘What money?’
By then the man’s daughter had weaved the trolley through the other shoppers to stand beside her father.
‘Haven’t you heard?’ she asked.
Zac, Jess and Jenny looked at her blankly. ‘Heard what?’ asked Jenny.
‘It was on the news,’ said the woman. ‘That Russian billionaire has repaid all the money stolen from Fort Morris.’
‘We’re getting our money back,’ said the old man. ‘Thanks to you.’
By then others had gathered around. Some of them had heard the news item as well. It turned out that Mikhail Popanov had bought Stanley’s island in the Caribbean. But the money wasn’t going to Stanley; it was going back to the Fort Morris investors. The sale price was more than the amount that had been stolen, so all were getting their money back, plus interest. What would happen to Stanley was unknown, although the police had said he’d be arrested if he ever returned to New Zealand.
‘I’ll get my money back because of you,’ said the old man, pointing at Zac. ‘And you,’ he added, moving the finger to Jess. ‘All because you saved that Russian’s cat.’