Blood at Yellow Water (18 page)

“O.K. you can be on your way buddy,” said
the young officer.

Blakey breathed a sigh of relief and drove
at a steady pace until he turned into the track back to the
farm-house in Mataranka. The two Chinese crawled out from under the
tarpaulin and made their way to the house. They made tea and sat
around the kitchen table.

“You’re stuffed now Xu. The whole area will
be crawling with cops and they’re gonna find us sooner than later.
What are you planning to do?” asked Blakey.

Xu scowled “We’ll have to get out of here.
We’ll fly out first thing in the morning. Can you tell the pilot to
have the plane ready for take-off at sunrise?”

“It’ll take some time to get it ready, Simmo
will be asleep from a night out at the pub by now.”

“Ring him up right now and tell him I want
the plane ready by dawn or he won’t get paid,” shouted Wu
angrily.

Swearing to himself, Blakey made the call.
After a long wait, a groggy Simmo answered the phone and Blakey
passed him the message. After a short and expletive ridden
conservation, Blakey hung up and turned to Xu.

“He’s not happy - he reckons the earliest he
can take off will be about 7 a.m.”

“Shit! O.K. but he’d better have it ready by
then and he’d better be sober.”

They made a meal out of some canned food and
were soon climbing into their beds to get a few hours’ sleep before
flying out.

*

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.

“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.