THEY WERE IN SIGHT of the water tank when Aza's iPhone rang.
"Thank God! I've been trying to get you for ages." It was Ian's voice. "We believe that Joseph Hardy is in your area and he could be dangerous."
"I know," Aza replied and brought him up to date on their situation.
"We are still building up evidence against him for Sofia being shot but can get him in a different way. The Canadians have asked our government to expedite him on a cold case in British Columbia. Recent progress in DNA testing has linked him Ethan Yang's death..."
Aza listened as Ian gave her more details about Hardy's time in Canada. "He can be arrested on this Canadian charge and a court case held in Auckland on the validity of the Canadian request to have him expedited. No doubt he will have lawyers contesting it on the grounds that he is a New Zealand citizen so cannot be expedited to a foreign country."
"And will it work?"
"Not on a charge this serious but the Canadians will have to prove to our court that they have enough evidence to try him in Canada for murder."
"So how does it affect us now? "
"I think you should stay at the top tank and make no attempt to get back to Renee and Tyler's place. We will get a police helicopter up to you as soon as possible. How's the snow?"
"Still falling but not as bad as last year."
She repeated her news to the other two and Tyler agreed that they should stay at the water tank. "Even if he is around, I doubt if he will try to come close. We have a good view across to the steps and he doesn't know we have no weapons. There is no other way except the new track up here so we're as safe as anywhere." He grimaced. "At least we'll have shelter. If he is out hiding somewhere, he'll be pretty exposed to the elements."
"Hope the bastard freezes," Sofia retorted.
HARDY SHIVERED AS HE attempted to restore circulation in his limbs. He took one last mouthful from the gin bottle and stuck the empty bottle in his pocket. Over the previous hour the one consolation was that it had stopped snowing and the dark clouds above had moved on. Even the mist had dispersed and watery sunlight showed a hillside of glistening snow that would be about knee deep when he walked out.
He grimaced, tested the crossbow and convinced himself that they'd be coming soon.
A mechanical throbbing caught his ears. He stood up and gazed out over the valley. Damn, a helicopter was approaching. He watched as it came straight towards him. It flew in and slowed before it turned and headed towards where the water tank was. When it passed almost directly out from him, he noticed something that sent a shiver up his back. It wasn't one of those red rescue helicopters but a blue and white model with Police written along its side.
Why would the police be way out here?
He watched as the helicopter flew in a semi-circle above the hilltop but he couldn't see the tank from where he was. However, he was sure that it was encircling the structure. He swore and decided to use his crossbow telescopic lens to get a closer view.
The helicopter descended and finally hovered. He could see a uniformed police person being winched down in a sort of chair until he was out of sight. Moments later someone was lifted up in the same chair. It was probably a woman but even with his telescopic sight he couldn't see her face.
She was assisted aboard and the chair lowered again, a second woman was hoisted aboard and next a guy carrying a dog was winched up; the original policeman went up last and the helicopter rose back into the sky.
"Bastards!" Hardy screamed and almost shook his fist into the air.
Instead he gulped and flung himself onto the ground.
The helicopter had turned and was making a low level sweep across the hillside. Seconds later it was over him, so close that the downdraft from the rotors stirred up the snow in a mini whirlpool.
"THERE'S SOMEONE THERE," the policewoman who had helped rescue the trio called to the pilot.
Aza stared out the side window and just caught the view of someone huddled beneath a rock that was situated above their snow-covered track leading down from the steps.
"Want me to go back?" the pilot asked.
"No. We're fully loaded but radio his position in. In these conditions he won't get far."
"Right."
The helicopter continued on in a semi-circle and the policewoman spoke again. "There's a vehicle parked down a side road." She brought binoculars to her eyes. "Looks like a Land Cruiser. Could be his for I can seen nothing else around and all tracks have been obliterated by the recent snow."
The pilot spoke on his radio before turning to face Tyler. "We'll get you home, Tyler," he said. "There's a ground party coming up from Christchurch and I've been ordered to stay with you until they arrive. " He grinned. "And which of you is Doctor Aza Perry?"
"I am," Aza replied.
"Good. I'm under orders to look after you, Ma'am. Would you all like to be taken back to Christchurch?"
"My partner is down there," Tyler said. "I don't want her just left alone."
"There is no need to take us to Christchurch," Aza said. "I wish to stay with my friends at East Ridge. I'm sure it'll be safe there."
"As you wish," the pilot said. "Once we land though, you all need go to your main building and remain indoors. Don't even venture out to other buildings. We're treating this case as a high priority one with a dangerous armed man in the vicinity. Once the ground party arrives, the entire area will be cordoned off." He turned to Tyler again. "We want no heroics or taking things into your own hands; is that clear?"
Tyler nodded and gave Aza a twitch of a smile.
She grinned back and noticed a change in the engine noise. They were back above the house already and Renee was waving at them from the snow-covered driveway.
"There are overhead wires going out to the other buildings," Tyler said. "That paddock beside the house is free of any obstacles and we have no animals there."
"Thanks," the pilot said and nodded at a monitor on the dashboard. "The new tracking system we have is pretty good. Reckon I could find a mobile phone lying beneath the snow with it."
He swung the helicopter around and landed in thirty centimetres of snow just beyond the house. Aza was closest to the door so climbed out, bent down and ran out from beneath the rotor before she stood and watched Renee.
She wasn't first, though for Sam had bounded out and tore across to be gathered up into Renee's arms twenty metres away. She hugged the dog and stood back to wait for them to arrive.
DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM all but he'd still get them. Hardy yanked the gin bottle from his pocket, realised it was empty and flung it aside. He gathered up his crossbow and headed back to the Land Cruiser. The snow was up to his knees in places but he lunged on cursing and swearing at the world in general and that bitch of a woman, Aza Perry in particular.
How dare she insinuate that she had done most of the research in his laboratory. Now she was returning to again undermine him and everything he had done over the years. Thirty years! Thirty years of research for the betterment of mankind and this slut of a girt barely out of high school thought she knew more than him.
He slipped in the snow and fell. As he staggered to his feet he realised that the crossbow was gone. Oh hell. It had fallen down a small slope. Oh what the hell, he had something far better in the Land Cruiser, anyway.
He grinned and wiped saliva from his mouth. The automatic rifle he had bought from a criminal gang in Auckland would wipe them all out in seconds. It was a fearsome weapon that he had fired a few times at a remote camp overlooking the ocean that he had visited. It hadn't actually cost him much for all he did in exchange was to provide them with a new refined version of strawberry, the hallucinatory party drug hitting Auckland party scene. He disapproved of recreational drugs himself but if the silly bastards wanted to kill themselves, so be it.
After a couple more slips in the snow or was it four, he staggered up to the Land Cruiser and flung himself in behind the steering wheel.
God, he felt lousy, he was soaking
wet and his mouth felt dry. He cursed as he started the engine, slapped the select onto the 'R' and roared back. The wheels spun and there was a slight crunch. Bloody rock or whatever it was!
He peered down at the select, found low ratio drive, turned on the wipers to clear the snow off the windscreen and began to warm a little as warm air filled the cab. He accelerated, managed to get onto the road without sideswiping anything and headed out.
Luckily it had stopped snowing and the Land Cruiser coped well with the snow a quarter way up the tyres, he guessed it was The engine screamed and he realised he was in a low gear. He changed to 'D', noticed the rev gauge drop to reasonable position and accelerated.
The four-wheel drive coped well with the snow being swished aside as he made it to the main highway. He slowed and stared around. Everything was a sheet of white but it was easy enough to see the road that was as flat as a billiard table while the edges showed tussock and other crap poking up through the snow. He'd aim for the middle and he'd be right!
Everything was deserted as he swung onto the highway and roared off. It was a strange sensation for the Land Cruiser sort of slid a little as he accelerated. He gripped the wheel and gave it a wiggle; the vehicle slid left and back to the right. He became mesmerised by seeing the snow spin up off the wheels.
Wow! This was fun!
He roared ahead, lifted his foot off the accelerator and peered ahead. Damn wipers weren't coping very well.
Oh well, he accelerated and suddenly realised the road had gone! Damn there was a tight bend in the road.
He braked, felt the Land Cruiser slide sideways and everything outside begin to spin. Damn, he was spinning around, now what should one do in this situation? He shoved his foot on the brake and the vehicle responded in exactly the wrong way. The skid was accentuated and there was a scream of scraping steel as he found himself pulled back by his seatbelt but everything was going by sideways. The vehicle bounced and was on its side. It toppled; an airbag hit him in the face and pain cut through his right leg.
But where was the road? The Land Cruiser shook and bumped with snow flying by, not that he could see much. He screamed when he tried to move his foot across to the accelerator. Too late it seemed, he remembered that on an icy road one should steer into any slide and not brake.
He noticed a piece of the roof buckling down towards him, felt it bash into his head and more pain. He screamed but there was nobody to hear him as he forgot to remember.
CHAPTER 15
Renee called it Tyler's toy but in reality, the quadcopter that he had bought from Chinese manufacturers in kit-set form, was a sophisticated drone adapted for agricultural use. The Quadbee 3 had four, thirty-five centimetre rotors encased in what looked like tyre tubes. Overall, it was a little over a metre in diameter with the engine, batteries and camera suspended below the circular framework in a cocoon shaped container behind the camera lens and between two skids that it sat on. A remote guidance system connected to his laptop, gave a live view of the ground below with enhanced zooming if wanted and could take video or still photographs. Tyler had enhanced it from the original specifications to give it a greater range and an ability to fly higher than usual. It could remain in the air for an hour, hover over a site and a homing device would return it to the ground station if it's signal was interrupted. This was useful when it flew beyond a line of sight such as on the other side of a hill.
He had used it several times to fly over the bush to plan the route for his track back from the top tank and was also going to use it to see the extent of the recent slips.
When he carried it out to the back veranda, Renee glowered at him. "What are you going to do, Tyler?" she asked. "You know the police told us to stay indoors."
He grinned. "This is on the opposite side of the house from where Hardy would be, even if he managed to get this close to our place. It'll be hours before the police get here even if they can get through the snow."
"So!"
"I'm going to search for him and that Land Cruiser. If I fly the Quadbee over the area I can see if it's still there and even trace Hardy's movements. It's stopped snowing so everywhere he goes show a trail in the snow."
"But you've only flown it in fine weather. The wind has come up and what if more snow arrives?"
"It shouldn't affect it. It's well sealed and the worst that could happen is that the camera lens gets fogged up."
Renee shrugged. "Okay, but keep behind the house and remember the overhead wires going out to the sheds."
"You can bring your lap top out here on the veranda and link it with my one on the control panel, if you wish. If anything interesting shows on the live stream, you can record it to playback later. We hardly need the live view continuously recording."
"Right," Renee replied. "Aza and Sofia are feeding Alice so we might as well do it now. I'll get my laptop."
After she returned and linked her laptop with his, Tyler walked away from the veranda and pressed a button to start the Quadbee's engine. "Okay, little fellow," he said. "Let's see what you can find out."
THE VIEW OF THE SNOW covered hills, road and village was surreal as Tyler sent the Quadbee south before circling across the water tank track and north to where be believed Hardy's vehicle could be.
Yes, there were tyre marks in the snow and a disturbed area where it had parked. He flew the quadcopter lower, hovered for a moment and took a couple of zoomed-in still photographs before continuing to follow the somewhat erratic path where the Land Cruiser had gone.
"What's wrong with him?" Renee who had brought her laptop out and stood beside him in the snow.
"Drove too fast for the conditions and doesn't know how to handle his vehicle."
"It's more than that. Can you get the Quadbee to go in lower and hover above that rock we just went past?"
Tyler did and saw Renee's reason for her request. There was a line of paint and missing snow on the rock.
"He sideswiped it," she said.
Tyler nodded and made the drone rise several metres so he could see the continued track in the snow. The tyre marks showed where the Land Cruiser slid halfway across the junction with the highway before continuing east in their direction. Here, Tyler had to keep Quadbee higher for power poles ran parallel to the road but the tyre marks were still easy to follow.
Suddenly they stopped with just a blanket of virgin snow covering the road. He circled around and saw disturbed snow everywhere with three distinct circles formed followed by a long almost ploughed up section of snow with the black road seal contrasting with the white.
He slowed the drone and after checking that the power lines were across the road, brought it down to only a metre above the surface, made it hover while he took a still photograph and slowly moved forward again.
There it was!
The Land Cruiser was down a slight bank on its side and in a crumbled mess. The radiator was steaming and a trail of brown liquid seeping out must be diesel spillage. There was no sign of smoke or any other movement.
"Looks bad," Renee muttered.
"Yeah!"
Tyler moved the drone slowly around to get a different view of the Land Cruiser. It was tipped on it's right so the driver's seat would be on the damaged underside. He could see that the windscreen had popped out to look like crumpled tinfoil while the engine had been pushed downwards with an airbag hiding the inside view.
"The hand," Renee gasped. "See the hand!"
Tyler zoomed in from the now hovering drone and moved the lens slightly to focus to the left. He could make out the top of the steering wheel and Renee was right. A hand gripped it!
He peered closer and saw three fingers curled around. They were moving! "He's alive. Did you see his hand shaking?"
Renee looked up and nodded. "No matter how evil his intentions were, we need to go and help him, Tyler."
TYLER'S New Holland tractor had been well used over the previous year, mainly for contracted out ploughing and harrowing land down on the Canterbury Plains a
round Springfield where he had sub-contacts through a couple of large companies who appreciated his expertise. Now in mid-winter he still had the roading contract and only that morning had an email to ask if he could check out the highway in his section. This was where the Quadbee came in handy. He could do a morning's work in only half an hour with aerial or close range photographs sent back.
The news that the highway would be closed came as no surprise but was disappointing though, in an emergency the police or other rescue teams still used a road closed to the general public. He reported the Land Cruiser accident and was asked if he could cope for the police helicopter was being used on another mission and the ground party were held up by the snow and their arrival time had been put back several hours.
He headed out in the tractor with the cab crowded by three humans and a dog. Sofia had agreed to stay home to look after the baby because Aza wanted to come, Renee also insisted in being there and, of course Sam was not going to be left behind on such an important mission. To complicate matters, the next band of snow clouds had blown in and it had begun to snow again.
Using the grid references from the Quadbee that Renee had on her iPad, he came to the corner where the accident happened and stopped the tractor.
Outside, heavy snow was falling and all traces of tyre or skid marks had been covered. There was nothing to indicate that a vehicle had run off the road.
"You sure about the grid reference?" he asked Renee.
Renee nodded and pointed to their position showing as a red dot on the iPad map and the reference numbers on the left screen. The right screen now showed a still photograph of the wrecked Land Cruiser and an identical map reference.
"This is the place. It will be across the road there..." She pointed out Tyler's side window. "His car skidded across the road at the corner we're now on, probably spun at least once before disappearing over that bank. Just missed that power pole, I reckon."
Snow Bond Page 15