by Jay Darby
“Have you spoken to Jane? Does she remember what happened?”
Emma looked down at her. “She’s drowsy…The doctor said there’s no permanent damage, but she’ll be in pain for weeks. I’m glad she blacked out…” Her sweet voice trembled. “She won’t remember what they did.”
Flames scorched Porter’s gut. He bent to kiss Jane’s cheek.
Her eye opened. “Don’t worry about me,” she whispered. “Amber…Those bastards have my baby.” She grabbed his forearm, jaw clenched, and met his gaze. “Promise you’ll find her. Don’t care what you have to do, just find Amber.”
He squeezed her hand. “On my life...”
Jane’s eye closed, she sank lower.
Porter ushered Emma away from the bed, and they joined Lionel near the doorway. He didn’t want to ask her the questions but knew he had to. “What don’t you want Jane to remember? What happened out there?”
“When the cars forced our horses off the road I fell and hit my head. When I came to, I lay on the road with a guy pointing a gun at me. Bastards held Jane down, and they…” She stopped, cheeks striped with tears, and her eyes asked Porter if he wanted her to continue. He nodded. She gulped. “They stripped her naked and I thought they were going to…I, I started to stand, but Jane told me to stay down. She protected me, knowing they’d kill us both if I tried to stop them.”
Porter swallowed bitter bile. “How many of them? What they look like? Sound like?”
“Six. All in black, faces hidden, wearing gloves, like those SWAT teams in the movies. They didn’t speak loud enough for me to hear...Jane was covered in blood, and I was ready to kill the bastards,” her voice crackled as she sobbed, “if they laid another hand on her…”.
“Stop,” Lionel told her. “Don’t make yourself re-live it.”
Porter glared at him for saying it, then addressed Emma. “Where was Amber?”
“Gone. We screamed out for her. Nothing…”
He sighed, loud and desperate. “Sorry, it’s hard for us both, but have to know what they did to Jane…They held her down…And?” He sucked at the disinfected air. “Did they…?”
“No, they didn’t…But after they’d tied us, five gathered around her, and the sixth guy did the sickest…”
“What?” he prodded, crook in the guts but needing to know.
She hesitated. “He took photos while they posed with her, and they all laughed. One guy, their boss, guessing by the way he acted, picked her up like a doll. Arsehole smiled into the camera and held her while the others…Took turns licking her breasts.” Her shoulders slumped, she sobbed.
Porter winced, then shuddered as a tingle of hate ran down his spine. “And?”
“He put Jane down on the road, and threw me this...” She took a crumpled piece of paper from her shirt pocket and handed it to him. “Didn’t show it to that new guy Grimes, because you guys don’t trust local coppers…”
“Good job…” Porter spread the paper in his hands. His ruptured heart threatened to break in two as he read the handwritten message.
‘SHOULD’VE LEFT CROOKED RIVER WHEN WE TOLD YOU TO. NOW IT’S TOO LATE, YOU’LL ALL DIE. WE’VE ALREADY TASTED YOUR SOUR BLACK WHORE. WE’RE SURE THE YOUNG ONE WILL BE MUCH, MUCH SWEETER.’
“What does it say?” Lionel said.
Porter scrunched the paper in his fist. “They’ve got Amber…” He turned to Emma. “Did you see these blokes leave? Which way? What were they driving?”
“They drove away from town. Two black four-wheel drives, a bit like yours. One had damage to the front, from where it hit…My horses…”
Porter juggled his phone. “Gotta call Klose and get the vehicle descriptions circulated. Make sure they’re search--” His phone vibrated, he glanced at it. Incoming, from an unknown caller. He put a finger to his lips to hush the others then answered. “Yeah?”
“Dan Porter?” The voice sounded like a robot from a B-grade sci-fi movie.
Porter frowned. Someone disguising their voice was never a good sign. “Who’s this?”
“Listen carefully, don’t interrupt, and do as I say.”
His dry throat croaked. “Listening...”
“Your girl’s in extreme danger. Go to the abandoned Cobb mine on Bull Cart road. Go unarmed, hide your face, and dress as they do. Hurry, or she’ll die.” The call terminated.
“Who was that?” Lionel said.
“No idea…” Porter ran to Jane, pecked her cheek and moved towards the door. “Emma, how far to Cobb mine? Reckon me and Lio passed it the other week…”
“Close to thirty k’s. Why? What’s going on?”
“Amber…Come on Lio, will explain in the car.”
Emma followed them out the door. “I’ll come and show you the way?”
Porter turned back to her. “Nah, we’ll find it, please stay with Jane…Tell Foster what’s happened when she arrives, but not to follow us. And tell no-one but her where we’re going…Trust no-one.”
FORTY ONE
Porter drove the Landcruiser like Sebastian Vettel on speed, and they reached the Bull Cart road intersection within fifteen minutes. He started to turn onto it, then braked. Forty meters ahead, men in black hooded cloaks guarded a roadblock at the entrance to Cobb mine. Dozens of buses lined the red dirt road in front of it. Men in the same black outfits stepped from the buses, then hustled past the roadblock towards the entrance.
Porter reversed around the corner, out of view. “Bloody hell…” He checked the rear vision mirrors. “What’s going on?”
“A huge gathering, and I don’t think we’re invited,” Lionel said from the passenger seat. “Let’s leave the car and cut across to the entrance driveway through the bush. And hope they didn’t see us...”
“Good idea...” Porter parked the Landcruiser off-road and hid it amongst thick mulga bush. He removed his shoulder holster and threw it into the glovebox. “Let’s go.”
“Won’t you need your gun?”
“Told you, the person on the phone said no weapons, and to dress like ‘em. Now I know why…We’ll separate two, take their outfits and hide our faces with those masks.” Porter smirked. “Best we cover all your parts, mate, ‘cos don’t reckon there’ll be any black fellas at this party. Come on, move your arse.”
They sprinted through undergrowth until boots crunched on gravel, not far ahead. They slowed into a crouch, approached the driveway, then hid behind bushes. Hundreds of hooded men marched towards the homestead like black ants to sugar.
Porter winked at Lionel and gave him a hand signal to wait. Dead leaves crinkled to their right. They lowered themselves, chests pressed against red dirt. A hooded man walked thirty meters into the mulga forest and stopped to urinate. Porter signaled for Lionel to stay, then rose to a crouch.
He grabbed a fist-sized rock from the ground, crept behind the man and clubbed the back of his head. He caught his limp body and lowered it to a bed of dry leaves. He changed into the man’s uniform and boots, pulled the cloak’s hood over his head, and tightened the full-face mask. Once he’d covered the body in leaves, he crawled back to Lionel.
Lionel’s eyebrows jumped. “Shit,” he whispered. “Scared the --.”
“Shh…Wait here.”
Lionel nodded and flattened himself against the dirt.
Porter returned five minutes later and handed him a uniform. Lionel changed into it and pulled on the boots. Porter looked him up and down, straightened the gold shield on his chest, then adjusted the uniform and mask, so none of his skin showed. Satisfied they would blend in, they walked to the gravel driveway and joined the march towards the sandstone homestead.
Porter peered ahead. The winter sun had sunk into the horizon, the homesteads’ tin roof glowed pink as day became night. He glanced from side to side and flicked a sticky tongue against the roof of his mouth. His guts churned. Were these KA soldiers he marched alongside, the men responsible for multiple murders and abductions? It was a risk to follow the anonymous phone tip, and he migh
t’ve been marching into a trap…But he’d promised Jane he would find Amber, what choice did he have?
The line halted, Porter was twenty meters from the entrance doors. He peered to his right. A six-seater helicopter with a blue stripe down its’ side sat idle in a clearing. Two black SUV’s were parked to his left, one with a crumpled front end. The cars used in Amber’s abduction? She had to be inside the homestead, but where exactly? Where were all these men going? Before he could find out, he and Lionel would have to make it past the guards up ahead.
He reached the doors, and a burly guard called him forward. He trembled under the cloak as the guard told him to raise his arms to the sides. The guard swept a metal detector wand over him, frisked his torso and legs, then waved him towards the doorway. He took one step into the large foyer, then hesitated, and turned to watch Lionel approach the entrance.
The guard gave the same instructions, and Lionel raised his arms. Would the cloak conceal all of the black skin underneath it? Porter held his breath…It did, barely.
Lionel dropped his arms. The guard tilted his head from side to side, as though he couldn’t see clearly in the dim light, then stepped closer to him.
Porter froze.
“You, in the doorway,” a guard yelled at Porter from the foyer. “Too fucking slow…Get inside.”
Porter turned, shuffled forward, and allowed men to overtake him in the line. A door off to the side of the foyer slammed shut. He peered over his shoulder and sighed. Lionel had made it past the guards and hurried towards him. The guard who’d yelled ushered them through a sandstone archway, then loaded them into a caged elevator with twenty others.
Machinery above them whirled into action, and the cage descended through a mine shaft. After fifty-metres it opened into a gigantic cavern. Porter looked down and saw it full of KA soldiers, a black mass of evil. He noticed a second elevator operating on the far side of the cavern and assumed the homestead had more than one entrance. He kept his head bowed as the elevator neared the end of its’ journey, avoided eye contact, and said nothing.
The cage slammed into the caverns’ rock floor and wobbled to a stop. Porter stepped into the black mass and Lionel followed. All soldiers faced the same direction, towards a section of the cavern that’d been blocked from his view on descent. He headed that way and pushed men aside to maze through the crowd.
A gap opened, he rushed forward and squeezed through it. Twenty meters ahead, at the bottom of a sunken amphitheater, appeared the object of the soldier’s fascination. He gasped, vomit scalded his throat, and he stared at the scene in front of him.
FORTY TWO
Porter’s heart thudded his chest as he watched Amber. She lay spreadeagled atop a marble bed at the bottom of the sunken amphitheater, writhing and screaming. Golden shackles attached to metal stakes secured her hands and feet to the bed. Fiery torches hung from rock walls and shone a flickering light on her oil sheened nakedness.
A giant in a white hooded-cloak stood next to her. He raised an axe above his head as though it were a toothpick.
The black mass chanted. “Axeman, axeman.”
Porter pushed past black-clad soldiers and made his way down steps to the bottom of the amphitheater. He stopped five meters from Amber, the mass of bodies too dense. His eyes darted left and right. Even if he could push further through the crowd, he’d have to get past the two rows of guards that circled the bed.
The axeman stepped closer to Amber and raised the axe. The black mass cheered.
Porter’s pulse raced, his whole body trembled. If he waited another second, she could die. A gap opened ahead, and he started towards it, but a hand grabbed his elbow and held him back. He turned to lock eyes with Lionel and knocked his hand away. He prepared to lunge forward, then a voice boomed throughout the cavern.
“Quiet! Calm down…Quiet!” The voice came from a man standing on a raised platform to Porter’s left. He wore a blue gown with matching hat and a white mask. The black mass turned to watch him and jostled for position.
Eight masked men, wearing similar gowns and hats to the man in blue, sat on throne-like chairs behind him. Seven wore purple. A diminutive man in the center wore a red gown with sparkling gold trim.
The man in blue raised his hand then dropped it. Chatter ceased. “On this grand occasion, please make welcome…” His tone was theatrical, like a world championship boxing announcer. “Members of the high council…And, our Supreme Leader, K…A…One!”
The black mass cheered.
The frail man in red stood and trudged to the platform’s edge. He acknowledged them with a nonchalant wave, the thunderous applause subsided, and an eerie silence fell over the cavern.
Amber’s pleading sobs tortured Porter’s ears. He glanced about, desperate to find a way to her.
“Thank you, KA7…” KA1 turned to the man in blue. “Our magnificent Master of Ceremonies has done a wonderful job preparing the festivities, as always.”
KA7 bowed his head.
“Well, here we are, still going strong,” KA1 told the soldiers in a deep, powerful voice. “Can hardly believe it is fifty-five years since our humble beginnings…Our enemies once tried to divide us, and the fools think they succeeded…But very soon, they will see what a rich and powerful organization we have become...And down in the sacrificial pit, what a beautiful, unblemished creature our men have secured for the occasion. Si diis placent!”
“Pleased be the gods!” The black mass chanted.
Porter gasped under the mask. Sacrificial pit? He tried to push through the men in front of him. They growled and blocked his path.
KA1 threw his voice across the cavern. “When our ancestors first arrived from mother Scotland, this great southern land was a haven for those of pure, Celtic blood. For decades we controlled governments and maintained that vision. But, at the start of this century, came a change for the worse. Unimaginable numbers of Asians, blacks, ethnics, and Arabic refugees invade us. Weak politicians allow them to buy our land, infiltrate government and destroy our culture. Such politicians should be hung for treason...”
The soldiers booed, swore and shook fists.
Porter tried to shuffle forward, but the masses jammed tight around him.
“However,” KA1 continued, “we will make this nation great again. Your hard work has enabled us to position one of our own in government, one soon to become leader of the ruling party. And, my brothers, laws will be made and enforced that protect us from the hordes of brethren. Impure, lesser beings will be banished. We, the nemed, the true ruling class, will rise again. This southern land will be great again!”
The black mass cheered.
KA1 pointed down to Amber’s limp body, where the Axeman stood over her. “On this auspicious occasion, we sacrifice a black virgin to please the gods…” He threw his arms out and faced the darkness above. “Lord of the realm, protector of the sacred white race, we ask that you accept this virgin…May her sacrifice appease you, and her blood quench your thirst.” He lowered his gaze to the pit. “Axeman, see it done. Caelicolis placent…Sanguis!”
“Pleased be the gods…Blood!” The black mass roared as one. “Pleased be the gods…Blood!” They roared louder.
Porter lunged towards the pit and Lionel pushed him from behind. They drove a wedge through the crowd until they reached the guards. He stepped to his right and caught a glimpse of Amber. She lay less than three meters from him. Her eyes were closed, tears streamed down her face. He grabbed a guard by the shoulders and pulled him forward. He hoped to break through, but the guards linked arms and the line held.
The Axeman held his weapon aloft.
Amber opened her eyes and screamed, loud and chilling.
Porter’s heart shattered into a million pieces. He would yell out and offer himself, delay them, anything…He opened his mouth, but another yelled first.
“Stop! Axeman, do not strike.” The command came from a High Council member dressed in purple. He rushed down the platform’s stairs and w
aved aside guards to enter the sacrificial pit, then stood over Amber. “Put it down,” he ordered the Axeman.
The Axeman lowered his weapon. The black mass murmured.
KA1 stepped down the stairs, towards the pit. Three High council members followed him.
“KA6, our dear Secretary, what is the meaning of this?” KA1 stopped at the last stair. “Why have you spoken so?”
“Stop! Come no further,” KA6 yelled.
Porter’s ears pricked. The Secretary? The bloke Ferguson had said protected the Cumal files? Who was he?
Guards parted to allow KA1 and the others into the pit.
KA6 produced a pistol from inside his gown.
The black mass gasped.
Porter watched in awe.
KA6’s hand shook as he aimed the pistol at KA1. “Have the Axeman untie the girl, cover her, and leave the pit.”
“And why, KA6, would I?” KA1 said in a calm voice. “You have one gun, and may kill ten of us, but the rest will tear you apart.”
KA6 reached inside the gown with his free hand and pulled out a remote control. “Because this will set off the eighty kilos of TNT I’ve rigged to the ceiling. One press of the button buries us for eternity...”
KA1’s narrow shoulders collapsed, air seemed to rush from him.
Soldiers looked upwards. Whispers of fearful disbelief echoed throughout the cavern.
“Order the Axeman. Now,” KA6 yelled.
KA1 signaled to the Axeman. The Axeman unshackled Amber, caught her as she slid from the marble bed, and folded her into a sitting position. She steadied herself, wrapped arms around naked breasts and gazed wide-eyed at the black mass. The Axeman covered her with his cloak, then marched bare-chested to the edge of the pit and stood behind KA1.
“Good...” KA6 leveled the pistol at KA1. “Now…Dan Porter, come forward.”
Porter stared at KA6, his mind numb. Had the Secretary called out to him? Or had he finally lost it, and was imagining the whole scene?
“Where are you, Porter?” KA6 yelled above the black mass’ chatter.