Wild Dogs, page 14
‘But you told me instead.’ There was a wry grin on the young officer’s face.
‘Yeah, well, figured you were alright too, you know, because . . .’
‘Because I’m too new to be bent?’
Darren shrugged. ‘Pretty much.’
The constable surprised Darren by laughing. ‘You’re right there, Darren. Thought I was ready for the outback, but never quite realised just how big and hot the place was. I mean, you see it on TV, but it’s not the same, is it?’
‘Guess not. Hey, so you gonna tell Parker or not, cause if you’re not, I’ll go and tell him myself.’
Jefferson shook his head. ‘Oh, no need to bother him just yet – he’s pretty busy in there at the moment. That Elsie is fired up.’ He stared at Darren. ‘I’d hate to be anyone caught up in this whole grog-running business.’
Darren looked at his shoes briefly before the officer’s voice brought his gaze back up.
‘I’d like to go over your story with this nurse Courtney. Get all the facts down. Then I can take it to Sergeant Parker, and he can decide where to go from there. If what you say about corruption is true, then this is a pretty big deal, even without the idea of illegal immigrants making it to the mainland. And that in itself puts the whole offshore detention thing in jeopardy.’
Now this was more like what Darren had been hoping for. He stood, heading towards the medical centre. ‘She’s over there, in the clinic. Reckon she’d be having a shower or something. She was pretty hot and sweaty. I’m impressed she made it back without me having to carry her.’
‘Sounds like quite the girl,’ Jefferson said, rising to follow.
‘Yeah, she didn’t lose her shit at all. Reckon most girls might have screamed, or fainted maybe.’
‘Maybe so. I’ll be interested to hear what she has to say, and then we can deal with this roo-shooter fellow.’
Darren nodded, pleased this policeman seemed to be finally taking him seriously. With any luck, he and the nurse could wash their hands of the whole thing, and get back to life in little old Jakob’s River.
TWENTY-FOUR
Courtney Drage’s entire world shrank down and focused onto a single point – that point being the muzzle of Chase’s pistol. It wasn’t an overly big gun, she knew that, and yet right now it looked like a friggin’ bazooka.
‘Where’s your mate, the blackfella?’ Chase asked.
She took a moment to answer. She knew very well where he was, but decided to play dumb. ‘I don’t know. I came in here to get cleaned up. What do you want with me?’
‘Just a few words, that’s all.’ Chase grinned. Under different circumstances it would’ve been quite the friendly grin, the grin she might expect before he offered to buy her a drink at a bar, except the closest thing to that here was a coffee from the store, and wouldn’t that get Melissa going?
Oh, for God’s sake, girl, she thought, he’s got a gun and you’re worried about small-town gossip?
‘Take a seat over there.’ He pointed to the chair between the beds. She did as he instructed, not taking her eyes off that gun.
‘I don’t know anything.’
‘Maybe, maybe not.’ He sat on the edge of the closest bed, the one Amin had been lying on earlier that morning. It felt like an age ago. She had thought today was going to be an interesting one when Darren arrived, what with Elsie on the warpath, but that had turned out to be the understatement of the century.
‘You seem like a smart girl,’ Chase started. ‘So why don’t you do the smart thing and tell me what you do know.’
‘Okay,’ Courtney said slowly, while her mind raced. If Darren did manage to tell this Sergeant Parker guy everything, wouldn’t there be a good chance he’d want to come and see her too, to get her version of the story? And if so, maybe they’d be on their way over right now. She had to keep Chase here, keep him occupied until that happened. Because like he said, she was a smart girl. She knew there was no way he would just accept her story, give his thanks and then waltz on out of here, leaving her behind. Well, she had always been told she could talk the leg off a wooden chair. Time to put it to good use.
‘I think that Amin is a refugee, one of those boat people you see on the news, only instead of being picked up by Customs or the Navy or Search and Rescue and shipped off to Manus, he made it here, and I think you had something to do with that. Why else would you be after him? He seems like an okay kind of guy, doesn’t say much, but I suppose that’s understandable, seeing as he was coming down with an infection. He had a pretty deep scratch on his arm, said he’d fallen onto a sharp stick, but now I’m not so sure. Anyway, he’ll be fine, because I gave him some antibiotics. Not prescription, because I can’t do that, not yet anyway. I will be able to after a couple more years of practical work, though. But I had them ready for Dr Woolford, the doctor from Geraldton. He was supposed to come out today, but cancelled. Probably lucky for him, hey? Anyway, I grabbed the antibiotics when we ran away from you earlier. Amin said his injury was from a tree branch he fell onto, but now I think maybe there was some sort of fight. That’s how Gabe must have found him. He’s a funny old man, doesn’t say much either. Surprised he didn’t just drive on past but—’
‘Christ’s sake, woman, would you stop yabbering on?’ Chase shook his head in disbelief. ‘Jesus, I never heard someone blather so much.’
Courtney gave him a sweet smile. ‘You asked what I knew. I’m telling you.’
‘I asked for what you knew, not your fucking life story. So where were they headed?’
‘I don’t know.’ She glanced away as she spoke, and Chase pounced.
‘Yeah, you do. I can tell. Don’t lie to me, little missy, or you might just see a side of me you don’t like.’
‘Haven’t seen one I like yet, either.’ The retort was out of her mouth before she could stop it, and for an instant she thought he might slap her. If he was okay with holding a gun on her, then he was most likely the slapping type.
Instead, Chase’s face wore a grin. ‘I’ll give you that one, but don’t think I won’t teach you some manners next time round. Now, where were they headed, and where’s your mate?’
As if on cue, the door buzzer sounded. ‘Anyone home?’
Chase pointed to Courtney, then the doorway, and indicated she should call him in. She shook her head, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at his gun then at her. His eyebrows raised. Really? She relented.
‘In here, Darren.’
Her heart sank as she watched the young man enter alone, then leaped up again as she glimpsed the familiar blue of a police officer’s uniform, only to sink once more as she spied the skinny officer who looked barely out of high school.
Here we go again, she thought, getting ready to dive for the floor before someone started shooting. She figured Darren had filled in this new recruit – obviously the older, more experienced sergeant wasn’t available – and he’d brought him in to get her side of the story. Perfectly reasonable, because as far as stories went, this one was quite the tale. But in doing so, the young constable was about to be mowed down as he saw Chase, realised that Darren was in fact telling the truth, and reached for his gun.
‘Shit, that’s him!’ Darren pointed to Chase, who was staring at the both of them with stunned surprise. ‘That’s the fucker I belted!’ His eyes darted around, perhaps seeking another fire extinguisher to lob, but it was too far away.
To Courtney’s amazement, Chase dropped his gun on the bed and raised his hands. ‘Don’t shoot. You got me, fair and square. I give up.’
The officer moved closer, and she saw that his hand rested on the butt of his service pistol. Darren darted to her, and she was touched by the concern on his face. ‘You okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?’
‘No, just asked some questions. You found a policeman then?’
Darren never answered. His eyes suddenly bulged and he went entirely rigid as a strangled moan came from his clenched mouth. Courtney could hear a strange, sharp buzz, almost like the sound a particularly large moth would make when it flew into the bug zapper mounted in her kitchen.
He collapsed in front of her. Actually, he didn’t collapse – that would involve bending the knees. He toppled, like a sapling going down under the weight of a bulldozer’s blade, and hit the ground with a sickening thud, both hands balled into fists so tight the tops of his knuckles shone. Behind him stood the constable, arms outstretched, gripping his freshly deployed taser, its two fine wires leading straight to the back of Darren’s shirt.
Courtney shot to her feet, but her scream was cut off in an instant by Chase’s hand reaching around and covering her mouth. His other hand gripped an arm and forced it behind her back. ‘Quiet, love, remember?’ Still holding her, he gave Darren a vicious kick in the side. ‘That’s for my head.’
Darren grunted in pain – extra pain, to be more accurate – but barely moved. Courtney had seen enough taser victims in the ER to know he might have trouble moving very well in the near future. If they got that far, she thought, staring at the approaching police officer. No wonder Gabe and Darren had given absolutely no credit to the idea this kid was in on Amin’s troubles. If Courtney had still been working her part-time job pulling beers in Perth, she would’ve sent him home to his mother.
‘What happened?’ Jefferson asked, looking around.
‘Wheldon sent me to suss things out when the boys never returned.’
‘I got the message. They escaped? How? The whole point of that hole is no one’s around and there’s nowhere to go.’
‘Only one did, I think. Had some help, too. There was an old dogger – reckon he was working in the area and heard the racket,’ Chase said. ‘If he hadn’t stuck his nose in, no one’d be any the wiser.’ He nudged Darren with his toe. ‘Like this little shit, or our nurse friend here.’
‘Stuck our noses in?’ Courtney couldn’t hide her indignation. ‘You came into my clinic and started waving that gun around.’
‘Ah, well,’ Chase said, ‘can’t help bad luck, can we, Jefferson?’
The officer swore. ‘You were supposed to take care of it.’
‘I was about to, but they bolted on me, then the bastard set a friggin’ booby trap and took out my front wheel. So I came back here to tie up loose ends first. Reckon I’ll have to get rid of these two now, then track the other pair down again. Done it once, can do it twice.’
Chase’s words sent a cold bolt of dread into Courtney’s belly. Get rid of them. But surely they couldn’t do that. If she went missing, alarms would be raised. That was the whole point of her coming back in the first place. If she’d even suspected Chase would be waiting for her, she’d have stayed cramped up on the back seat of Gabe’s ute and trundled off to wherever it was those two were going.
‘Right,’ Jefferson said. ‘I haven’t got much time, I’m supposed to be meeting our man tomorrow morning. We weren’t due back here until next week, but that grog brought us out early.’ The constable unclipped the spent taser cartridge, shoved a new one in and reholstered the weapon. ‘And Parker will be wondering where I am.’
‘Think you can get back to Carnarvon?’
‘Possibly. Parker’s keen to follow things up here, but there’s not much to go on. Everyone’s staying quiet. No actual offences were reported, so maybe.’
‘See how you go, and if you can’t, you can’t. Don’t push it too hard with Parker – he’s not stupid. You carry on as planned, and I’ll track down those other two.’
‘Maybe you won’t have to track them.’ Jefferson pulled a card out from his pocket and opened his phone, dialling the number as he spoke. ‘I’m about to bring them to you.’
TWENTY-FIVE
Gabe pulled over on the crest of a hill and opened his door.
‘What’s wrong?’ Amin asked as he climbed out.
‘Nothing, I hope. Just want to see if we’re still being followed.’
It was just after midday and the sun beat down with relentless force, sending shimmers across the horizon and sweat into Gabe’s eyes. The elevated position gave him a good view of the landscape, and to the south he could see the sparkle of tin roofs on the buildings that made up Jakob’s River.
The track they had been following was not so easy to see, weaving in and out of the low mulgas and gums, around fallen curaras and the rocky piles of granite and ironstone. The air was crisp and still, save for a lone eagle soaring on the thermals above them, and the ever-present bush flies. There was no sign of any vehicle other than his own.
Reaching behind the driver’s seat, Gabe grabbed his binoculars and trained them on the area where he thought Chase should have hit his trip-wire. Again, he couldn’t see him, but he might be looking in the wrong place, or his view was obscured by the vegetation. Either way, there was no tell-tale cloud of fine red dust that signalled Chase still trailed them. So where did he go? Did he miss the turn-off and keep driving? Perhaps he figured they’d be looking for Amin’s family so decided to carry on ahead and lie in wait. Or he’d followed them down the side track, hit the trip-wire and was busy repairing his wheel. But Gabe was certain if that were the case he’d be able to see him, even just the top of his ute. They weren’t that far ahead, were they?
Another thought hit him, one that he really didn’t like. What if Chase had seen where Courtney and Darren took off into the scrub? Gabe kicked himself for not taking the time to cover those tracks, but then time wasn’t really something they had much of, was it?
He heard a door open and Amin joined him. Gabe had his smokes out by now and rolled one for each of them.
‘Do you see him?’
Gabe shook his head and passed the binoculars to Amin. ‘No. You have a look. My eyes are getting old.’
As Amin scanned the landscape below them, Gabe pondered his earlier thought. Would Chase follow those two back? It would make sense to get rid of any witnesses, though how would he do that without raising suspicions?
Amin handed him back the binoculars. ‘I do not see him either. I think he has gone elsewhere.’
‘That’s what worries me. What if he’s gone back after those two kids?’
‘Would they not be safer in the town? With this policeman you are so sure is not corrupt?’
Gabe ran a hand over the harsh stubble on his chin. ‘You’d hope so, but that Chase fella is a cunning one, I reckon. Found us, didn’t he?’
Amin didn’t respond. Gabe knew he was agonising over what to do. If it weren’t for Darren, they could very well be in much deeper trouble than they already were, but to go back meant delaying the search for his family yet again.
Amin sighed, dropped his finished cigarette and ground it out with his boot. ‘I think it is certain we are not being followed anymore, so if you can bear with me for five minutes, I must say my prayers.’
Gabe shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. I’ll get some lunch organised. How’s your arm feeling?’ Amin had already taken two antibiotic pills, along with a couple more Panadols from Gabe’s well-stocked first aid kit. Morning headaches were nothing new to Gabe, so he always carried a good supply of the cure, as well as the cause.
‘Better, thank you. I shall not be long, and then we will be on our way again, though I am torn as to which direction to take.’
‘Perhaps you could ask your God for advice?’ It was a jibe, but a friendly one.
‘Perhaps,’ Amin said, as he began to wash from the water tank below the tray. ‘Would you like to join me and ask Him yourself?’
Gabe scoffed, but didn’t reply. He’d stopped asking God for favours just over four years ago.
When Amin returned, Gabe handed him a roughly made cheese sandwich. ‘Hope you’re not one of those dairy-free, gluten-free types,’ he said. ‘Or you’re gonna bloody starve. So, what did you decide?’
Amin accepted the sandwich but took a moment to answer, and when he did, it was in a slow, cautious tone. ‘I would like to press on. I worry for my wife and child.’
‘I can understand that,’ Gabe said. ‘If it makes you feel any better, I think they’ll be okay as long as you’re wandering around out here. Without them, you’ve got no incentive to keep your mouth shut, right? We keep you out of that Chase guy’s hands, they won’t touch them.’
‘What you say makes sense, but what about our friends?’
‘Once they find the sarge they’ll be okay. He was due out there around the time we left, so he’s probably arrived already, and Chase isn’t going to do anything in public, if he did go back there. Darren seems like a smart kid – he’ll give the sarge my card and we can explain everything and make sure Parker knows it needs to be kept quiet.’
‘Do you think he will?’
‘Honestly, I’ve no idea. But this is getting too big for you and me alone, and now with Courtney and Darren involved . . .’ He trailed off, again looking back down the track expecting to see a cloud of dust as Chase tore up to catch them. There was none.
Another sigh from Amin. ‘I agree, though you will have to forgive my mistrust of the police. My home has a very large problem with corruption, and I was not surprised to learn it was happening here also.’
‘Don’t blame you for being jumpy. Come on, let’s keep moving.’
Gabe had just started the engine and was about to get rolling when an unfamiliar ringing filled the cab. For a moment he had no idea what it was, and then realised. The sat-phone. He rarely used it, if ever, as the charges were too exorbitant for anything except the most urgent of calls, and were it not for being a safety requirement of Parks and Wildlife, he wouldn’t bother with the bloody thing. He’d gone a lifetime in the bush without one, and as this thought went through his mind, another immediately followed: Would’ve been handy that one time, though, wouldn’t it? He shoved the thought away.
Taking a deep breath, Gabe removed the handset from its cradle and glanced at the screen. The number calling was marked as private, which he supposed was fair enough for a police phone. He had no doubt it was the police. That phone hadn’t rung since he’d bought the thing.
