*
The main street in Mataranka was in chaos as Bill and Shoni rushed into the Town Hall and with relief saw that Jake and Koshi were safe. Jake explained what had happened and that the Chinese had escaped.
Fisher was on the phone coordinating the pursuit of the Chinese when he saw Bill and called him over.
“Bill you’d know this area well. I’ve set up roadblocks north and south along the highway but there’s been no reports of any sign of the Chinese. Where do you think they could have gone?” Fisher pointed to a large map spread out on the table.
“They’ve had help from Blakey who knows his way round here. There’s a couple of bush tracks that roo-shooters use but you’d think someone would’ve seen them.” Bill pointed out the tracks on the map.
“O.K. I’ll get someone checking them out,” said Fisher. “The only other way they could get away from here is by flying out. We’ve got the major airports covered but are there any smaller airfields around?”
Bill scratched his head. “Some of these properties have makeshift airstrips used for crop dusting or cattle herding. There is the old airfield at Daly Waters. It was built before the Second World War but is rarely used these days. Now you mention it, I remember seeing a small aircraft there last week.”
“That might be worth checking out, I’ll send someone out there as soon as I can,” said Fisher.
Dawn was breaking as the hospital was declared safe with the only problem being smoke damage to some of the rooms on the ground floor. The patients were gradually being returned to their rooms.
Jake sought out Koshi who was resting in one of the chambers of the Town Hall, heavily guarded by police. He beamed when he saw Jake and thanked him profusely for rescuing him yet again. He said he had received a further call from Acting Prime Minister Sentoro and had accepted her offer to fly him out of Mataranka by police helicopter to Darwin. He would have a brief stop-over at Darwin airport to meet with Sentoro before taking an RAAF jet straight back to Tokyo. He asked Jake to see him on his return to Japan. Jake shook hands with him and promised to catch up in Tokyo.
Jake then went looking for Bill who indicated he had to get back to Daly Waters to manage his camping ground and encouraged Jake to come with him. Jake agreed after getting a clearance from the hospital doctor on the condition that he would completely rest his leg. Lizzie had been working non-stop helping the patients at the hospital and would be needed there for a few days before being able to return to Daly Waters.
On his way out of the Town Hall Jake called on a haggard looking John Fisher and asked if they had caught the Chinese.
Fisher shook his head. “No, not a trace of them Jake. It’s like they’ve disappeared into thin air. They seem to be one step ahead of us all the time.”
“You don’t think they’ve got an insider in the system helping them out?” queried Jake.
“I doubt it but they do seem to be well informed,” replied Fisher.
Jake gave him his contact details and shook his hand and walked out of the building. He climbed into Bill’s truck alongside Shoni and they headed south down the highway.
Before long they were pulled up at the same roadblock which stopped Blakey a few hours before. The constable walked up to the truck and explained to Bill the reason for the roadblock.
Bill asked, “Have there been many vehicles come through in the last few hours.”
“Nah, mainly police cars and fire brigades, a couple of trucks and caravans and a roo-shooter.”
Bill scratched his head. “That’s curious, there haven’t been many roo-shooters around here lately.”
“Well he said he was a local, a big guy driving a green ute. Said he had a couple of dead roos under the tarp in the tray.”
Another car pulled up behind them and the officer waved them through.
After a few minutes driving Jake sensed something was worrying Bill.
“What is it, Dad?”
“What he said about the roo-hunter doesn’t quite ring true. There’s not many roos around here anymore since the drought. The shooters tend to go further north near Katherine where there’s plenty of kangaroos.”
Jake thought for a minute. “What sort of car does Blakey have?”
“He’s got that big Jeep. But wait a minute he used to have an old green ute, I haven’t seen it for a while but it just might be…” Bill’s voice tailed off.
“The copper said the guy had some kangaroos under his tarpaulin, he could have been hiding the Chinese.”
“It’s possible, Jake, perhaps we should check out Blakey’s place when we get to Daly Waters.”
Jake had a sudden thought. “Remember when you drove us all out past the old airfield, didn’t you point out there was an aircraft there?”
“Yeah that’s right, the airfield is rarely used these days which was why I noticed it.”
“Might be worth a look,” suggested Jake.
“You’re thinking they might be trying to escape by flying out from there?”
Jake nodded in agreement.
“O.K. we’ll go there as soon as we get to Daly Waters. You’d better call your mate Fisher to let him know what we’re doing,” suggested Bill.
Jake rang Fisher’s number which was busy so he left a message.
SUNDAY MORNING -DALY WATERS
Bill accelerated down the highway. He turned off to Daly Waters and drove straight out to the old airport. He slowed the truck when he approached the airfield.
Jake pointed to an aircraft which was parked outside the airport’s only hangar.
Bill exclaimed “I reckon that’s the same plane that we saw a few days ago when we went past the airport on the way to see the caves. Lizzie thought it was an ex-Flying Doctor Service plane.”
The single-engine aircraft was in the process of being fuelled up by a small red-faced man wearing a blue flying jacket. Bill stopped the truck alongside a tree which blocked them from view from the airport. He got out of the truck and pulled out two rifles from under the back seat. He handed one to Jake who gingerly stepped out of the truck. Shoni started to follow him but Jake pushed her back into the truck.
“Shoni, we are going to take a look around to see if the Chinese are here. We need you to stay here till the police turn up.”
Shoni protested but Jake insisted she stay put.
“If we find the Chinese we’ll need you to fetch help.”
She reluctantly complied. Jake followed Bill who was walking carefully across an open paddock towards the back of the hangar. They waited for several minutes before they edged their way along the rear of the hangar. They came to a window and chanced a look into the hangar. The window was covered in dirt and cobwebs but they could just make out three men standing next to a green utility parked in the hangar.
Jake whispered to Bill, “I’m pretty sure that’s them. The big guy looks like Blakey and the two smaller men are about the right height for the Chinese. I’m going to ring Fisher again and tell him to send the cops straight away.”
Bill nodded as Jake pulled out his mobile and tried to ring Fisher. His phone was still engaged so he left another urgent message on his voice mail. Out of desperation he rang Williams who answered his phone promptly. He explained the situation. Williams listened intently, asked for details of where they were and promised to send reinforcements immediately.
“Listen Stafford, stay where you are. Don’t go near them under any circumstances. I’ll ring up the local police to surround the place and will send a contingent from Mataranka. They should be there very soon.”
“O.K. we’ll wait but you’ve got to hurry, these guys look like they’re going to leave any minute.”
Jake peered into the window again. After a minute he saw one of the Chinese pick up his phone and start talking animatedly. He pocketed his phone, barked some orders at Blakey and the other Chinese. Suddenly, they pulled out their pistols and rushed out the front of the hangar, splitting up and walking around either side of the entrance.
br /> “Shit, something’s spooked them, they know we’re here,” Jake whispered to Bill. “We’ve got to get out of here”.
With that they ran back towards the road, Jake limping behind Bill. They heard a shout behind them and the sound of gunfire as the Chinese spotted them and started pursuing them. Jake waved urgently to Shoni who started up the truck and drove towards them over the paddock. The Chinese were catching up rapidly when Jake’s leg gave out from under him and he collapsed on the ground. A bullet whipped over his head just as he fell. Bill stopped when he saw Jake on the ground, turned around and fired off two quick shots from the rifle. The return fire caused the Chinese to halt temporarily which gave Shoni enough time to pull the vehicle up acting as a shield between the Chinese and Jake. They both jumped into the truck and Shoni thrashed the truck back towards the road while the Chinese pumped bullets after them. They could hear a police siren in the distance.
Once they were back on the road and out of range of the terrorists’ fire, Bill motioned to Shoni to stop the truck. Jake and Bill hopped out and looked back at the airfield. The Chinese had turned back and were hurrying towards the plane. Simmo was being dragged out of his hideaway in the hangar by Blakey and forced to finish fuelling the aircraft. The Chinese threw their packs in the back of the plane and with guns waving remonstrated to Simmo to get into the plane. He jumped aboard into the pilot’s seat followed immediately by the Chinese. The engine roared into life and the propeller started to spin.
“Bugger, they’re getting away. The police are too late.”
“Do you want me to take a shot at the aircraft?” said Bill
“Can you hit it from here?” replied Jake.
“No, but if we get a little closer we could. Shoni, drive over as close as you can to the plane.”
Shoni shifted the truck into gear and drove across the paddock again and stopped the truck about 100 metres from the plane.
Bill leaped out and climbed onto the roof of the truck as the plane taxied out to the start of the runway and stopped ready for take-off. He lay on the roof, steadied himself and fired, aiming at the fuel tank. He had let loose four shots as the plane started up and gathered speed down the runway but nothing happened. As a last hope he fired once more.
“Damn, I’ve missed and they’re getting away,” Bill cursed.
They watched in dismay as the wheels of the plane folded up into the wheel carriage and the aircraft took off and swung around to the north
“Wait, look,” said Jake as a thin wisp of smoke started trailing behind the aircraft. Then suddenly a bright flame burst out from the engine followed by an explosion as the plane tilted over and started spiralling towards the earth. Within seconds it plummeted to the ground where it exploded on impact in a fiery crash.
Bill took the wheel as they jumped back into the truck and drove as close to the burning plane as they dared. A police car was close behind them as they pulled up and surveyed the wreckage. The closest they could get was 50 metres from the plane as the heat radiated out like a furnace.
Three policemen jumped out of the car and approached the plane with fire extinguishers but the heat from the fire drove them back. There was clearly no chance of any survivors. Bill and Jake recognized one of the police as Constable Hobbs from the Daly Waters Police Station and walked over to him and explained that it was two Chinese with the pilot in the aircraft.
Suddenly a green utility burst out of the hangar heading for the road and Jake turned around in surprise.
“Hey that’s Blakey who was helping the Chinese. He’s getting away.”
Constable Hobbs turned around to see Blakey’s ute bumping over the paddock
“O.K. we’ll catch him” said Hobbs. Gesturing to one of the policemen he shouted over the noise of the fire
“You stay here till the fire brigade arrives. We’ll put out an alert on Blakey and pursue him.”
The policemen dashed back to their car and sped off in pursuit of Blakey.
Within ten minutes the fire brigade arrived and immediately set about putting out the fire from the plane wreckage. Shortly thereafter an ambulance and two more police cars arrived. They were federal police.
The senior AFP officer, John Jenkins, spoke to the local policeman and then questioned Jake, Bill and Shoni about their involvement with the Chinese. The policeman confiscated Bill’s rifles for forensic analysis and took statements from each of them.
Jenkins said accusingly “You guys were told to stay out of this and leave it to the experts. Now look at the mess you’ve made.”
Jake took offence at his officious manner and retorted,
“Well if we’d waited for you to turn up they would have escaped clean away and be on their way to Vanuatu or somewhere by now. How come you guys took so long to get here? I alerted Colonel Williams hours ago.”
The AFP officer answered back defensively. “Our resources were tied up in Mataranka with the attempt on the Japanese P.M.’s life and the fire at the hospital. You guys were told not to get involved. Anyhow the local police arrived here quickly.”
Jake remained unimpressed. “Not quickly enough unfortunately. Can we go now? We’re heading back to Bill’s camping ground in the town.”
“O.K., but stay there in case we have more questions. One of my men will contact you to write up statements. I need to have the signed statements by the end of the day.”
The fire brigade had put out the fire and pulled out three blackened bodies from the remains of the aircraft. They were placed in body bags in the ambulance and taken back to Mataranka to the morgue until they could be identified.
Bill, Jake and Shoni drove back to the camping ground still shaken from the turmoil at the old airport. They all went into Bill’s cabin and Bill found some mugs and made them coffee. He produced a bottle of whisky and laced each mug with a liberal amount. Jake put his leg up on the couch with a sigh of relief. Fortunately the stitches in his calf muscle had held tight despite the stress he had put on it in the last few hours but the wound was still painful. Bill was still shaky from shooting down the aircraft which led to the death of the two Chinese and the pilot. They were all on a high as they reflected on the entanglement with the Chinese. Jake expressed his disgust with the delay in the police arriving at the airport.
Shoni made the point. “When you two got out of the truck at the airport, I rang the police station at Daly Waters and spoke to Constable Hobbs. It was news to him about the Chinese being at the airport, so obviously the AFP didn’t ring the local police here.”
“That was quick thinking on your part Shoni. Yeah, I think Colonel Williams has a lot to answer for,” responded Jake.
“He might have just contacted the police at the Mataranka Station which was why they took so long,” suggested Bill.
“Yeah well, the guys that arrived were AFP not locals. You’d think they would have at least rung Constable Hobbs, the man on the spot here. Anyhow, I’ll talk to John Fisher about it,” said Jake savouring his coffee.
Bill was checking his phone messages when he cried out, “Oh Christ!”
“What’s up, Dad?” said Jake with concern on his face.
“It’s a message from Lizzie. Her brother Barry has died from a hit and run car accident after being released from the cop shop in Jabiru. I’ll call her back, she’ll be devastated,” said a shocked Bill.
Bill phoned Lizzie and spoke to her for ten minutes. He turned around to Jake and Shoni and explained the circumstances surrounding Barry’s death.
“I’m going to have to go to Lizzie. She’s in Mataranka now and needs to go up to Jabiru to support the family before the funeral. She’s in shock so I’ll have to drive her up there.”
“Jeez, Dad, that’s horrible news. I really liked Barry, I can’t believe he’s gone. Would you like me to come with you?”
“No, you’ve had enough excitement and need to rest that leg. Use the same cabin as you did last week. You can stay as long as you want.”
“Who’s goi
ng to run the place while you’re gone?” queried Jake.
“Gwen Mackie will look after it. She does the cleaning and knows how the camping ground runs. I’ll go and see her now and give her the heads up. Oh, and I’ll arrange for a mate to drive your rental car down from Mataranka.”
“Thanks Dad, I wish I could be of some help.”
“Don’t worry son, I’ll be back in a couple of days. I’m gonna get cleaned up, make a few calls and be off.”
“O.K. but let us know how things are going. I’ll come up for the funeral.”
“That’d be good son. I’ll keep you posted. See you soon,” Bill said as he strode off to his house.
After farewelling Bill, Jake and Shoni walked over to the cabin. They were both exhausted after their ordeal. Shoni helped Jake take the bandages off his leg and he inspected the wound. There was a large nasty-looking bruise around the gash but the stitches had held up well. He took the rest of his clothes off and with Shoni’s help he hobbled into the bathroom to have a shower. She quickly disrobed and got into the shower with him washing carefully his leg and other cuts and bruises on his body. Despite his condition he felt himself getting aroused under her gentle touch and pulled her glistening naked body to him. They kissed fervently as their bodies thrust against each other under the warm gush of water. Jack turned off the shower taps, pulled her out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her and laid her on the bed. Their tiredness disappeared as they made passionate love before dropping off to a deep sleep.