Blood Tears (51 page)

Couldn’t have happened
to a more deserving person.

The Sarge held out a
hand and I gave him my handcuffs. Red, desperate for survival and
therefore dangerous, struggled underneath the Sarge’s hold, making
it hard for him to secure the cuffs. With probably more force than
required for the situation, I slammed my body on to Red’s, giving
the Sarge enough space to cuff him.

And though we were
abused, kicked, punched, and had things thrown at us, I couldn’t
stop smiling as we dragged a naked Red through his relatives.

“
Kill
them,” he shouted at his relatives. “Kill them all.”

“
Shut
up, Bycraft,” said the Sarge as we manhandled him to the patrol
car, shoving him in the back seat to rejoin his brother.

It was possibly one of
the best moments of my life.

An angry crowd
surrounded the car, rocking it and smacking their palms on the
windows.

“
We
have to get out of here,” said the Sarge, honking the horn to clear
a path for us.

When that didn’t work,
he sounded the siren and lights, but the angry Bycrafts wouldn’t
shift, some of them climbing on the bonnet, banging on the
windscreen.

“
Go,”
I urged. “Run them over.”

He inched the patrol
car forward, forcing them to either get out of the way, or risk
being hit.

“
I
can’t believe how easy that was,” I said, still smiling. “They’re
getting out of practice the longer they stay in jail.”

“
I
wouldn’t gloat too soon, Tess. I don’t think we’re out of the woods
yet,” he said, his eyes flicking to the rear view mirror. “We’re
being chased by a crowd.”

I looked in my side
mirror to see a bunch of Bycrafts sprinting after the patrol car,
brandishing an assortment of weapons.

“
Speed up,” I advised, advice that he took.

We soon out sped the
Bycraft pack, but we couldn’t escape the vicious stream of
invective issuing from the back seat.

“
Shut
up in the back,” the Sarge shouted at them.

“
Go
fuck yourself, copper,” shouted back an enraged Red. “And Tessie,
when I get out again, I’m going to hurt you so bad for so long that
you’ll wish you died tonight.”

“
Shut
up, Bycraft,” warned the Sarge again.

“
You’re never getting out again after this little stunt, Red.
You’ll be a whistling little jail bird until you die.”

“
Fuck
you.”

“
He’s
such a great conversationalist, isn’t he?” I said to the
Sarge.

He didn’t answer,
pulling into the pub carpark.

“
Go
get the others. All of them,” he ordered tersely.

Hearing that tone, I
didn’t hesitate, but threw open the door and sprinted upstairs. The
doctor was just leaving Quentin’s room.

“
Is
he okay to travel?” I asked him, not bothering with any niceties.
“We’ve got to get them out of town urgently.”

“
I
don’t think so,” the doctor started.

“
Too
bad for him,” I said, banging on the second door.

Arapeta poked his head
out, and I was glad to see he was dressed in his uniform again.

“
Time
to move out. Double time. We’ve got the other two waiting
downstairs.”

I gave him kudos for
not double-guessing or questioning what I asked, but gathering his
wards and their baggage, all of which was packed ready to go.

I tried to drag Quentin
to his feet, but he was a big lunk of a man and too heavy for me.
The doctor stood by disapprovingly, not offering to help. I was
just about to seek out Abe, when that wonderful man appeared out of
nowhere.

“
Help
me get him down the stairs. These people need to get out of
here.”

Again, I thanked the
heavens for a man who didn’t waste time asking annoying questions.
He moved to one side of Quentin, and with me on the other, we
managed to get the still-drowsy man on to his feet.

“
I
don’t recommend this, Tess.”

“
Doc,
I’m sorry, but we don’t have a choice. The Bycrafts are ready to
erupt if we don’t get these men out of town as soon as
possible.”

He sighed. “If we don’t
have a choice, make sure he’s kept upright. We don’t want him
choking on vomit or his tongue or anything.”

“
Gotcha,” I said, and with a great deal of difficulty, Abe and
I guided him down the stairs and to the van, propping him up in the
passenger seat.

By then Arapeta and the
Sarge had managed to get three of the prisoners into their
compartments, after Arapeta insisted on searching Karl
thoroughly.

“
We
don’t have time for that,” the Sarge insisted.

“
You’re not the one who has to get him out at the other end,
mate,” Arapeta said tersely. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m
not that keen on being shanked.”

“
Hurry up about it then.” I could tell by the Sarge’s snappy
tone that he was stressed. “We still have to get Red in the
van.”

When the Sarge and I
pulled a fiercely struggling Red from the back seat, trying to
dodge his spit, the only weapon he currently possessed, Arapeta
shook his head and took a stubborn stance, his legs apart, arms
crossed.

“
Nope. No way. He’s not getting in the van like
that.”

“
Put
him in the van and get moving,” the Sarge through gritted
teeth.

“
Not
happening.”

“
Put
him in the fucking van. Now!”

In the distance we
could hear the loud rumble of approaching voices.

“
Fucking hell,” snarled the Sarge and grabbed Red, virtually
tossing him in the last compartment, slamming the door on him. “Now
get driving.”

Finally noticing the
approaching rabble himself, Arapeta gave the Sarge a hard last
stare, and strode over to hop up into the driver’s seat.

“
Tess, get in,” said the Sarge. “We’ll escort them out of
town.”

“
What
do you think’s going to happen?”

“
God
only knows. I just feel like it’s going to get ugly unless we get
these guys out of town. Then hopefully, they’ll realise it’s
pointless to fight it anymore, and give up and go back to their
party. I mean, it’s not as if they have huge attention spans, so
I’m hoping they’ll get bored of the whole thing pretty
quickly.”

We’d just driven out of
the carpark, following the van instead of being in front like a
usual police escort, when the mob of Bycrafts came running down the
highway.

“
Geez, they must be insane. Do they think they’re going to
chase the van all the way to Big Town?” I asked, checking the side
mirror.

“
I’m
not sure there’s much thinking going on in that family
tonight.”

We followed the prison
van until even the most tenacious of the Bycrafts gave up. Even
then we escorted it until it reached the turnoff to Wattling Bay.
The Sarge honked the horn, received a wave in reply, and spun
around back to Little Town.

“
I’m
glad they’re gone,” he said. “Now hopefully things will quieten
down.”

“
It
was pretty funny though, wasn’t it? Springing Red like that, and
taking him into custody naked.”

“
Can’t say my favourite pastime is grappling with naked guys,”
he smiled.

“
At
least that officer didn’t have to search him this time.”

We both laughed about
that, but it was the last laugh we shared for a long while.

As we passed the pub,
we noticed at the same time. The Sarge turned into the carpark at
the last second, the tyres squealing in complaint.

“
Oh,
shit,” he said, screeching to a halt.

I jumped out of the car
and ran over to Abe, who surveyed the damage with a mixture of
shock, disbelief, and anger on his face.

“
What
happened?” I asked.

“
As
soon as you left, I closed the doors, but they attacked them. With
anything they could lay their hands on.”

The glass double entry
doors and the large glass picture windows either side of them, both
that gave the pub’s foyer such an airy, light feel, had been
shattered.

“
Luckily it’s safety glass and hasn’t broken into a million
shards,” he said, almost robotically.

“
What
did they use?” asked the Sarge.

Abe gave a humourless
laugh. “What didn’t they use? Look around. It’s all still here.
They ripped up the tables and chairs from outside, the bins, some
of the logs from the fence. It was a mob – like a mindless mob.
Poor Romi and Toni are upstairs crying and scared out of their
brains. My staff are huddled in the lounge bar. Some of them are
crying too. It’s a miracle they didn’t make it inside.”

“
Do
you know where they went?” I asked.

“
No
idea.” He looked over our shoulders and pointed. “But that might
give you a clue.”

We turned to see a
plume of white smoke spiralling into the air. Without even saying
goodbye to Abe, we ran to the car and followed the smoke.

The Sarge sat silent
when we pulled up in front of a burning building.

I managed a quiet,
“Oh.”

The police station was
on fire.

Chapter
36

“
Call
the captain of the Rural Fire Brigade,” ordered the
Sarge.

I rang, but he didn’t
answer his phone and I was forced to leave a message.

“
Who
else is in the Brigade?” he asked.

“
Um,
Abe is, but he’s a little occupied at the moment.”

“
Who
else?”

“
Gerry.” I rang him only to speak to his wife for a few
moments. Hanging up I said to the Sarge, “He’s a no go. According
to Valmae, he’s in bed with man flu.”

“
Who
else?”

“
Dave
is.”

We looked at each
other.

“
Should we?” he asked.

“
Do
we have a choice?”

“
No,
but I don’t know if it’s any use. Look how fast it’s
burning.”

“
Old
timber. And we haven’t had any rain for ages. But we can’t just let
it burn down.”

Before I could ring
Dave though, a small explosion sounded from behind the station, and
a loud cheer rose.

“
They’re still here,” the Sarge said.

“
Sounds like they just set fire to the lockup.”

“
Come
on, before they decide to do my house too.”

We stepped out of the
patrol car warily, not knowing how many people we’d be facing. They
came spilling around either side of the burning station, laughing
and still cheering. It looked like the entire family – far too many
for the Sarge and me to cope with by ourselves.

“
You
won’t be locking us up anymore, you fucking pigs,” slurred a very
drunken Rosie.

The Sarge made a
valiant attempt. “Get on home, all of you, now,” he yelled. “Or
you’ll find yourselves in the Big Town watch house.”

They laughed at
him.

“
How
you going to get us there, copper?” yelled Lola, clearly having a
great old time, never mind the fact that she’d buried one of her
sons earlier today. She did a dramatic turn of her head from one
side to the other. “Can’t see no backups for you two pieces of dog
shit.”

“
Yeah, and by the time any other pigs get here, we’ll have
burnt all this cop shit down, fucking pigs,” shouted an exhilarant
Rick.

They swarmed nearer to
us.

“
Maybe we should burn them too,” yelled one of them from the
back – Mark?

“
Piglet whore first,” said Rick, a decision greeted with a
resounding roar of approval by his relatives.

“
Burn
her at the stake,” laughed another – one of the teens.

“
Get
back in the car, Tess,” the Sarge demanded in a low voice. “It’s
not safe. We need to be able to get away.”

Perhaps it was shock,
but I stood there, almost hypnotised by the flames destroying the
building I’d worked in for years, the building that had stood there
my entire life.

“
But
all those presents you bought me are in there. They’re all being
burnt,” I said, unbelievably sad at the thought. “Can’t we save
them? Let me go and get them.”

“
I’ll
buy you more, Tessie. I promise. I’ll buy you a million more. But
please, just get in the car now. Please.”

When I didn’t move, he
grabbed me by the arm and shoved me in the passenger seat. I fell
on it inelegantly, arms and legs everywhere. He started the car and
reversed it to a safer place, but still in view of the mob.

The Bycrafts kept
advancing, but stopped when they got to my Land Rover.

“
No,”
I said, knowing that whatever I said was pointless. They would do
whatever they wanted, just as they had since the town started.
“That’s my car.”

I didn’t know what they
were using as an incendiary, but it was powerful stuff. We watched
helplessly as my precious set of wheels – no matter that it was
decrepit, vandalised, and ancient – exploded in a ball of flames.
Someone let out a groan of anguish, and it was only later that I
realised it was me.

“
Tess, we have to save the police house,” the Sarge said, but
it sounded as if he was a million miles away from me.