Joy looked worried. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. We are turning off to go down this spur to Little Mulgrave,” Peter explained.
Sir Miles frowned. “Show me on the map what you mean,” he asked.
Peter pointed out their location and the proposed route. Sir Miles bit his lip and looked at the map hard, then said: “You may do that, but I must go up the mountain.”
“Why?” Gwen asked.
“My quest. My next contact person is up there.”
Peter shook his head as anxiety gripped him. “Can’t it wait? You could drive up with the police once we get to Little Mulgrave,” he said.
“No, I cannot wait. It is now very urgent. Sir Richard knows who to contact and where. He was there when Old Sam told me,” Sir Miles explained.
“Old Sam?” Gwen queried.
“The man in the red shirt. He is a gold prospector.”
Graham gave a short chuckle. “Gold prospector! We know all about that in the Mulgrave Valley,” he said, adding, “He needs to be careful though, most of the valley is off limits to fossickers because it is ‘World Heritage’ National Park.”
Sir Miles smiled briefly. “That may be so. It would certainly explain why he was reluctant to explain his business, or to have the police involved. But I must get up the mountain before Sir Richard and the Black Monk. Where is a place called Gillies Lookout?”
Peter’s mind flashed back to a drive with his Uncle and Aunt the previous year. He pointed up to the top of the range. “Somewhere up there.”
Gwen nodded. “I know where,” she added. “It is where the hang gliders have a launch platform. I was there only a month ago.”
Joy looked astonished. “Do you do hang gliding?” she asked.
Gwen shook her head. “No, but my boyfriend does,” she replied.
“Never mind boyfriends,” Sir Miles cut in. “I must get there quickly. Can you take me there?”
“Yes, of course,” Gwen replied.
“Which way?”
Gwen thought for a moment. “It will be quickest if we hitch hiked up the Gillies. We have to go in along a side road to Danbulla from the top of the range.”
Graham pointed to the map. “The lookout is about here. We went past it on that Senior Exercise. The track that runs up this ridge goes to it. We walked up that way.”
“Battling French and Indians all the way,” Stephen added. “It was bloody hard work and nearly bust me.”
Graham grinned. “Yes, it was a bloody good exercise.”
“But what about the police?” Megan asked anxiously.
Peter pointed over the side of the road. “Some of us go down to Little Mulgrave and the others go up the Gillies,” he replied. He did not like the idea of splitting the party but it seemed to be the best plan.
Graham supported him. “I agree. I will run down to Little Mulgrave to get the cops while you keep going.”
“I’m coming with you,” Megan cried. “I don’t want to die!”
“Nor do any of us,” Graham replied with a thin smile. “But I don’t see how you will be safer there than here.”
“There will be people, and the police,” Megan answered. She was now looking around, her eyes flicking anxiously for signs of pursuit.
“I can get there faster alone,” Graham objected.
Peter did not like that idea. He shook his head. “You probably can but take Megan anyway,” he replied. “And take Joy as well. Steve, you go too, to help protect the girls.”
“We don’t need protecting!” Joy snapped indignantly. “Just give us a gun. Anyway, I’m not going. I am staying with you.”
“I was thinking of hitch hiking,” Peter replied. “If there are too many of us the drivers may not stop to pick us up, or we might have to leave some behind.”
“I don’t care!” Joy stubbornly insisted. “I am going up the mountain.”
“So am I,” Stephen replied.
“Oh stop arguing and let’s get out of here!” Megan wailed, tears now running down her face.
Graham nodded. “OK, Megan, you come with me. You others do that. Have you still got your gun Sir Miles?”
“Yes I have,” Sir Miles replied, tapping his pocket. “Now let us move please. If Sir Richard has reached the Black Monk they may be driving up the mountain already.”
Graham gave a wry grin. “Don’t try to hitch hike with them,” he replied. He handed Peter the Beretta. “At ‘Action’, safety on. OK, come on Meg, down the mountain!”
Graham turned and walked into the bush followed by Megan. Peter watched them go with mixed feelings. He liked to have Graham around during a crisis but knew it was the best way.
At least Steve is still with us, he thought, knowing that Stephen was a good man to have in a crisis.
Then he felt the weight of the pistol in his hand and experienced an instinctive revulsion to having the repulsive thing. With a sigh he slid it into his pocket and started walking.
The road levelled out at that point to curve to the right around The Knob. A narrow bench cut carried the road across the face of the hill. As they walked Peter alternately watched ahead and behind. He also glanced over the side frequently to see if he could see any sign of Graham’s group. They were nowhere to be seen as the timber was much thicker down in the re-entrant they had vanished into. The slope was very steep.
“Good view,” Gwen commented as they walked along.
Peter glanced back. The whole valley lay below them and he realized he could see all the way back along the valley to the Pyramid. The sight made him shudder. Then a movement caught his eye. He stopped abruptly and stared back through the trees.
A kilometre back he glimpsed two black clad figures walking along the road behind them. For a second fear dried his throat and he had to swallow to speak. He pointed: “Devil Worshippers! They are catching us up.”
The group resumed walking as fast as they could. Peter knew he was scared and wanted to run but also knew he had to pace himself or they would end up exhausted. Joy panted gamely along behind him. From time to time he turned and gave her a reassuring grin. He knew now that he cared deeply for her.
The road curved left around the hill side and headed directly towards the ridge which led right up to the top of the range. The Gillies Highway was only a few hundred metres ahead and they reached it after three minutes of rapid walking. At that point the dirt road did a sharp turn to the left and went through a short, deep cutting.
As they did, Gwen glanced back and then shook her head. “Oh! Look at the view! I can see right down to Gordonvale.”
Peter looked and then smacked his forehead. “Oh! We are nongs. We are now right up high. We should be able to get mobile reception now. Try again Gwen.”
Gwen nodded and took out her phone and turned it on. At once her face lit up. “We have service!” she cried happily. She began to tap in Inspector Goldstein’s number while they continued walking.
At the sound of a vehicle Peter glanced ahead. He noted bitumen and saw that they were now only ten metres from the Highway. As the group reached the bitumen road on the outside of a sharp curve two cars went roaring past going up the mountain.
Made it! he thought. Even as he did another car raced past going up the mountain.
“Stop the next car that comes along,” Peter said. He walked quickly out to the edge of the highway and looked hopefully down it. The sound of a vehicle’s engine warned him. He stepped out and raised his arm.
The vehicle, a black 4WD came fast around the bend but immediately started to slow.
Good! thought Peter. Then his brain registered what he was seeing and a stab of pure terror lanced through him. Oh no!
His eyes registered that the driver was a man in black who was staring at him in astonishment. “Devil Worshippers!” Peter shouted.
The vehicle swung sharply towards them and screeched to a halt. It’s going to hit us! Peter’s mind reasoned, panic surging. Frantically he pushed Gwen aside and t
hen took a desperate dive to his left to avoid being struck. As he rolled on the rough gravel beside the bitumen he noted that Gwen had fallen on her back right in front of the vehicle and was now desperately flailing with her arms and legs. Even as Peter’s mind registered what he was seeing he noted her roll over and start scrabbling under the wheels of the vehicle.
“My phone! I’ve dropped my phone!” Gwen cried.
Peter saw it, lying on the bitumen right in under the chassis. But he also saw the driver was climbing out of the vehicle.
The gun! I must stick the driver up! Peter thought as terror washed through him.
He sprang to his feet and tried to get the gun out of his pocket. But the weapon snagged and he experienced the ghastly sensation of desperately wanting to act but being foiled. Worse still he saw the driver, a Devil Worshipper for sure, leap out and start reaching for his own gun.
There was a blur of rush and movement but Peter’s whole focus was on survival. Desperately he struggled to get the gun clear, only dimly noting that the vehicle had rolled backwards a few metres into the middle of the highway. People pushed past behind him and others were yelling. And then he had the gun out and swung it up to aim. He saw the Devil Worshipper’s eyes widen in horror as he saw it. The man turned and dashed back behind his vehicle and then around to the far side of it.
Stephen and Joy ran past, hurrying Gwen between them. Sir Miles followed. Peter found he could not pull the trigger and found himself running with the others. But he was very conscious that the Devil Worshipper had been trying to get a gun out of his own pocket so he kept glancing back, the instinct of self-preservation helping him to focus.
Thus he saw the Devil Worshipper pull his gun clear and then cock it. It was a revolver, a huge looking thing with a long barrel. The sight of it sent another spasm of terror pulsing through Peter.
He’s going to shoot! Peter thought in near panic.
“Down!” he screamed. Without realizing what he was doing he stopped running and went into a crouch, steadying his own gun with both hands.
With amazement and disbelief he saw the Devil Worshipper’s pistol level on him and a puff of smoke appear at its muzzle. At the same instant he squeezed the trigger of the Beretta- but nothing happened. There was a sharp crack close to the side of his head.
Safety catch! Peter swore angrily at him self and fumbled at it.
Bang! Bang!
Sir Miles crouched beside him and snapped off two shots. The windscreen of the 4WD starred and the Devil Worshipper ducked out of sight. Sir Miles grabbed at Peter’s sleeve.
“Run! Come on! Quick!”
Peter turned and scuttled for cover, slithering over the side of the bank, furious with himself for forgetting the safety catch. He now slipped it off and risked a glance back up over the edge of the road from behind a tree. Joy clung to the steep, grassy slope nearby, her mouth open in anxiety.
Next to her was Gwen. She was shaking her head. “My phone! It’s on the road under the vehicle,” she cried.
Peter glanced that way but could not see it. Sir Miles grabbed at Gwen and pulled her down. “Too bad! We can’t get it now,” he said.
The Devil Worshipper snapped a shot from behind the back of his vehicle. Peter did not even hear where the bullet went but he was angry as well as frightened so he levelled the gun and pulled the trigger.
Bang! The pistol bucked in his hand and the reek of burnt gun oil and cordite wafted into his nostrils, increasing the surge of adrenalin into his system. There was a sharp metallic ‘whang!’ as the bullet struck the man’s vehicle. The Devil Worshipper ducked again and Peter glimpsed his boots under the vehicle.
Stephen moved to a crouch beside Peter and he saw that he had his revolver out. Bobbing quickly up Stephen levelled it and fired. Just as quickly he dropped down. “Made the bastard jump!” he commented.
Peter risked another glance and saw a car pull up on the other side of the 4WD.
Glancing around he saw the others crouching and looking terrified. Gesturing frantically he shouted: “Keep going. That way, around the bend and run up the road!”
Gwen nodded and started moving. She tried to run but the slope was too steep and was covered with a matt of deadfall:- dry leaves and twigs which offered no firm footing. The others followed her lead but they had to scrabble along, using rocks and trees to gain a handhold or footing. Peter waited until Sir Miles was moving then followed, his whole body quivering with excitement and fear.
“What will we do now?” Joy gasped.
Peter found he was sucking in great rasping breaths and he had to steady himself to answer. “Get out of range to start with, then try to stop a car and hitch,” he replied. Even as he said this he heard a car race past going down the range. He risked a look and saw a red sports car screeching to stop to avoid hitting the 4WD. He also saw the Devil Worshipper gesturing to the driver to pass him. The red sports car squeezed through the gap and went around the bend out of sight.
A horrible thought flashed through Peter’s mind. “I think he’s stopping all the cars coming up,” he said. At that moment the radio crackled. Joy looked at him questioningly. She was red in the face from the exertion and clearly very scared.
Peter nodded. “Listen to it. It might help us,” he said. Joy paused to haul the radio out, then continued scrambling along the hillside behind him. As she did she gasped out every thing the radio said.
“It is from.. puff.. Six Five Five to BM. He isn’t using code. I think it is that man back there. He says: ‘Enemy are at the highway. Have been fired on. Enemy now running up the highway. I have blocked all traffic going up. Send instructions.”
Peter grabbed Joy’s arm as she slipped on the steep slope. It was obvious to him they were in real trouble and ahead of them the side of the mountain looked vertical. “Get up on the road and run. We are going too slow here,” he ordered.
They scrambled up onto the bitumen. By this time they were fifty metres from the 4WD, which was almost hidden around the bend. As Peter scrambled up, hauling Joy with him, he saw the Devil Worshipper briefly but Stephen snapped a shot and the man ducked back out of sight.
Sir Miles turned and crouched behind a tree beside the road. “Run! I will cover you,” he yelled. He leaned out and snapped a shot, which was answered almost at once. Where it went Peter had no idea but it sent a wave of bowel loosening terror through him and he ran.
Joy cried out and for an instant Peter feared she had been hit but she was only gasping out another radio message. “It is the Black Monk, I can tell by his accent. He told that man to block all traffic up the mountain but to allow all cars coming down to pass through once he has checked we are not on board. He says they will block the highway further up.”
Gwen gasped. “That means he is already in front of us,” she cried.
That sent another spasm of fear pulsing through Peter and his eyes searched through the trees to where the scar of the road cut went across the face of the escarpment but no cars were visible.
Trapped! he thought. Enemy in front and behind!
Joy called again, slowing to a gasping walk as she did. “The Black Monk is asking Six Five Six where he is.”
Peter nodded and glanced back. They were now out of sight of the man. “OK, slow down,” he said.
Another glance behind showed Stephen and Sir Miles pounding up the road behind them, both with pistols in hand. As they joined them Joy said: “Six Five Six is answering. He says he has just reached Six Five Five at the Knob.”
“That will be the two we saw following us,” Gwen suggested.
Peter nodded grimly. Three behind; and how many in front? But what to do next? “Keep running,” he said.
In his mind was an emergency plan of turning and going down the side of the mountain back into the Mulgrave valley. They had no option of going to their right as the other side of the Highway was a steep rock cutting. They ran another hundred paces around another curve before slowing to a gasping walk.
&
nbsp; “What do we do?” Joy asked anxiously.
Peter steadied his breathing. “Try to throw them off the track,” he said after a moment. “Go down there if we have to.” He pointed over the side down into the valley.
Sir Miles shook his head. “But I must get up the mountain!” he replied. “I must get there before the Black Monk and Sir Richard.”
In his fear and distress Peter experienced a surge of anger. “Well you can’t! They are already in front of us,” he snapped back angrily. “So forget your bloody quest.”
“I wasn’t thinking of the quest,” Sir Miles answered. He swallowed and gasped for air. Peter saw that he was very red in the face and looking extremely distressed. Sir Miles looked grim and went on: “I was worrying about the person who is the next contact. If Sir Richard gets to him first I fear they may be killed, once they have given him the information on where to go next.”
That put things in a very different light and Peter had the grace to blush at his selfishness. But there were still the girls to consider. Unsure of what to do he kept on walking, the others puffing and panting along with him.
Gwen hurried along beside him. “No cars,” she pointed out.
“No.”
Joy listened to the radio again. “The Black Monk, telling Six Five Six to keep the road blocked and to follow us on foot with two men.”
That speeded them up. Peter felt utterly winded and had the beginnings of a stitch. As he strode along he began scanning the ground for places where a last ditch stand had some chance of holding out till the police arrived. The steep, high ridge on their right offered the best possibility, if only they could get up onto it.
I must pick the safest place I can, where we can hold them off with minimum risk to the girls. A place that isn’t dominated by higher ground.
Into Peter’s calculations came the memory of the Sniper with his rifle and telescopic sights to chill his blood and freeze his brain.
It must be a place where we can’t be picked off from long range either, he thought. Oh my God!
By now they were all gasping for breath and sweating and their running had slowed to a painful jog. They rounded another curve. To Peter’s relief the long cutting ended and he saw it would now be possible to double back up onto the higher ground above it. He also saw that the ridge joined the main escarpment only another hundred metres on at some sort of flat clearing beside the road.
The Word of God Page 22