Kakadu Sunset (2 page)

‘His ex-wife tracked him down and he’s done a runner. I’ve hired a new guy, but he doesn’t know his way around yet.’

‘Can he spot for me?’

‘Yeah, I called him in a few minutes ago. I’ve asked him to check over the chopper for you since he’s doubling up as engineer for us.’

‘Great. Two pairs of eyes will be good. Log me a search grid and fax it through to the hangar. I’ll get there as quick as I can.’ She glanced at the turn-off to Ubirr as her car flew past the intersection. Funny to think she’d be up in the air in this same spot in a couple of hours. Ever since Paul Hogan had stood there in
Crocodile Dundee
, Ubirr Rock had become a tourist icon.

‘Thanks, Ellie. Appreciate it.’ The phone crackled and Jock’s voice faded in and out as she headed away from the high phone tower behind the Jabiru township. ‘It’s good to have you back, kid.’

‘Ditto.’ She turned south onto the Kakadu Highway, opening the window to let the breeze in. For a moment she let the wind blow her hair back, knowing she was grinning like a fool. Family time was good, but this was what she lived for.

Up in the air, where the world was clear and true. And all hers.

*

Kane McLaren drained the last of the avgas into the small Robinson R44 helicopter. He stepped back and placed the empty drum beside the pump, and pulled a rag from the back pocket of his jeans before wiping his hands.

Even though it was late July – winter down under – the heat rose off the tarmac in waves, sending sweat trickling down his bare chest. He’d pulled his shirt off as soon as he’d opened the hangar and the temperature had hit him. Even with the doors open, the air hung thick and humid and motionless.

After the disaster of his last tour, he’d taken the job at Makowa in a bid to lose himself in one of the last untamed areas of Australia for a while. How long he stayed here depended on his mum, and how ill she was. Despite her emails, he’d had a feeling that the prognosis was more serious than she’d let on. Today’s visit had confirmed that. Something was seriously wrong. And what the hell was she doing living out here by herself anyway? He’d deal with that later.

He was about to start the pre-flight checks when footsteps pounded on the concrete floor behind him.

‘Hey.’

Kane put the rag down and turned. Cargo shorts, heavy lace-up boots and a khaki shirt didn’t hide the curves of the hot little package standing in front of him. His mood lifted a fraction. He wiped a sweaty hand on his jeans leg before taking her outstretched hand.

‘I’m Ellie Porter. You’re the new pilot?’

Her grip was firm. ‘Kane McLaren. I’m the engineer.’

‘Jock told me he’d hired a new pilot.’ Her eyebrow was crooked above a steady gaze.

‘I am a pilot, but I only signed on here to do the maintenance work.’

She pulled her hand out of his and gave him a smile. ‘Okay, you can sort that out with him later. Let’s just get this bird up in the air. Is she ready?’

‘
You’re
the pilot?’ She looked way too young to be in control of a chopper. Her dark hair was pulled back into a braid and she looked like she was barely out of school.

The look she shot him reminded him of the only woman in his unit; Hawk they’d called her – she’d had night vision to rival a superhero.

Ellie didn’t respond to his question, so Kane followed her around the back of the chopper. She opened the door on the left and pulled herself up into the cockpit in one lithe, practised movement. Nice legs. She was short, but her thighs were muscled and slim.

She buckled herself in and pushed the wiring light test switches one by one. He gave a mental shrug and turned towards the back of the chopper to check the fuel tanks for leaks.

‘Are we right to go?’ Her voice followed him as he went through his routine. ‘Are you done with the clutch check? Blades okay?’

‘All good so far, but she’s not ready to go up yet.’ He ran his hands down each side of the tail rotor.

‘Why not? Is there something wrong?’

‘No. It’s all fine. But I always do three checks on my birds before they leave the ground.’ He made it a statement, not an excuse.

‘We only do one here.’ She gestured to the vacant seat beside her as he came back around the front of the R44 and closed the cowl doors over the tanks. ‘Climb in.’

‘Not yet.’ Kane wasn’t used to explaining himself and he didn’t intend to start now. He was in charge of the safety routine, and that was that. And besides, he wasn’t going up with her. He reached into his pocket for a piece of gum.

‘In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a hurry. Did Jock tell you why we’re going up?’ Her voice had an edge now, a husky tone that perversely made it even more attractive.

‘Yeah, I know about the search. I’ll only be another five minutes. Two and a half minutes each pass around.’ Kane blinked as the perspiration ran into his eyes. ‘One down, two to go.’ Heat or not, a chill was running through his body.

He checked the rotor blades and skids again as Ellie’s impatience hung in the air like a heavy cloud. By the time he’d finished his final check, her fingers were drumming on the instrument panel and her mouth was set in a tight line.

Kane strode back around to the side of the cockpit and slapped his hand on the roof. ‘You’re right to go.’

‘What are you talking about? I need you too.’ She levelled a steady gaze at him and he saw that her eyes were pale blue, contrasting with her tanned face. ‘Get in.’

‘No, babe. I’ve got stuff to do down here.’

‘Look,
mister
, I don’t know where you’re from or what you’re used to, but we all work together here. I need a spotter for this search and Jock said you were it, so haul your arse into that seat so we can get out of here. An extra pair of eyes could mean the difference between life and death.’

‘Sorry. Not in my contract.’ He’d made it quite clear when he was hired that he wouldn’t be flying.

‘We’ve got four people missing out there in the park and one of them is a young child. There’s only one hour of daylight left at most.’ She turned away from him and ran a final instrument check. ‘The crocs will be on the move as it gets darker. Want that on your conscience?’

Shit
. Kane paused with one hand on the door and popped another wad of gum into his mouth.

Her eyes were fixed on his, and he could see the worry in them. Going up with her was the only choice he had. No matter how hard it was going to be.

‘Let me get my shirt.’ He ran over and snatched it from the chair inside the hangar.

‘Hurry up. You’ve . . .
we’ve
. . . wasted enough time as it is. Just get in the seat,
please
.’

Kane slipped his shirt on but left it unbuttoned. He ducked his head as she depressed the engine starter button until it fired, and then reached over to push the fuel cut-off. Before she could roll on the throttle, he bit down on the side of his cheek and swung himself into the front seat beside her. He grunted an acknowledgement as she passed him a headset.

‘Good to go?’ Her voice came through clearly and Kane nodded gruffly.

He stared ahead as the chopper lifted off the short runway and tipped forward as it gathered speed. The forgotten rush of being airborne filled him and he kept his eyes open, focusing on where he was.

The land below was a contrast of lush green forest and patches of scrubby trees on red dirt, interspersed with a network of narrow channels where silver water glinted in the late afternoon sunlight.

Five minutes later they were swooping over a wide river. She pulled a piece of paper from her shirt pocket and passed it to him as her voice filled his ears.

‘Talk me through the grid. Start at Cahill’s Crossing.’

*

With her attention fixed on guiding the helicopter along the search grid, it was a few minutes before Ellie ventured a glance in the direction of the man who was reading the coordinates to her in a flat monotone.

She dipped the chopper low, keeping her eyes fixed on the river and the floodplains below, looking for a flash of colour or movement in the brown and green landscape. The scenic flights she took up most days covered the most popular parts of the national park and in the four years she’d been working as a pilot for Makowa Lodge, she’d flown over much of it. But Kakadu was such a huge area; there were still gorges and valleys and river flats she had yet to explore from the air.

Luckily, the area plotted in today’s search was very familiar. Cahill’s Crossing was on the flight path for the scenic route; the twenty-minute whistlestop tour that most of the tourists chose. Ellie also knew it from the ground; she and Dad had often fished for barramundi at the crossing when she was growing up.

They were low enough to see several huge crocodiles basking on the sand in the late afternoon sun. She swallowed, hoping the missing tourists had been smart enough to stay away from the water.

A gust of wind buffeted the helicopter as she glanced across at her offsider. His gaze was fixed on the ground, but it was his utter stillness that caught Ellie’s attention.

Strong hands clutched the piece of paper she’d picked up at the office in the hangar. The edges were crumpled in his grip, and his knuckles were white.

She lifted her gaze to his deeply tanned face and saw perspiration beaded on his forehead, even though it was cooler up in the sky with the breeze from the rotors coming in the air vents on the doors. Not to mention the fact that his shirt was unbuttoned.

It was hard to ignore the glimpse of muscled arms and tight abs when she looked across to his side of the chopper. It was a long time since she’d been up close and personal with a body like that.

Maybe never, if she was strictly honest about it.

Suddenly he pointed. ‘Over there.’

Ellie jumped as the deep voice intruded on her thoughts. His dark eyes met hers for a second as he swivelled in his seat and leaned across her, indicating a large stand of sandstone rocks a couple of kilometres to the east of the crossing. His bare arm and chest pressed against her shoulder and she leaned back a little, keeping a firm grip on the cyclic. His eyesight must be acute; she had already scanned that side of the river and seen nothing out of the ordinary.

She peered across to where he was pointing. Sure enough, two figures were hunched together in the lengthening shadows beneath the rock.

‘Good pick-up.’ Credit given where credit due.

She swooped down as low as she could go so they knew they’d been spotted.

‘Shit, there’s only two down there. They must have split up.’ She flicked on the radio and waited for her boss to respond. ‘Jock, we’ve spotted a couple of them.’

‘Roger that.’ The Scottish burr was muffled by the noise of the fresh air rushing in despite her headset. ‘Location?’

‘We’re closer to Ubirr Rock than Cahill’s Crossing.’ She looked back to Kane. ‘Coordinates?’

As he read them to her, she relayed them to Jock.

‘Thanks, I’ll let them know at the park base. Well done.’

Kane’s dark eyes held her gaze for a moment, and then he looked down again as he shoved the paper into his pocket. ‘We’re going to have to go down. Look.’

Ellie tipped the bird and leaned to the side, using one hand to hold back some hair which had come adrift from her braid. On the ground, a tall man was waving his arms frantically and gesturing to the rocks.

‘Damn it, looks like there’s a problem.’ Ellie stared down at the scene playing out beneath them as Jock’s voice came through her headset, relaying their position to the national park rangers on the ground. ‘The others must be there out of sight.’

‘There’s a search crew three kilometres west of Ubirr Rock.’ Jock’s voice came through clear. ‘They were searching closer to where the vehicle was found. They’ll be able to get to them in half an hour or so. Thanks, Ellie, great work. Head back to base now.’

‘Negative, Jock. Looks like someone’s hurt. We’re going down to check it out.’

‘Watch out for those crosswinds. The wind’s picked up over the last couple of hours.’

‘Will do.’ She noticed Kane brace himself as she lowered the front of the bird and dropped them fifty feet in one swift dive. A gust buffeted the machine and she glanced at his white-knuckled fingers gripping the edge of his seat. She looked up and caught his eyes. He was watching her closely as she gripped the single T-bar cyclic between them. For a split-second, he lifted his hand from his seat as though he wanted to take control, but he dropped it again as she held the bird in a hover.

The wind buffeted them from side to side, but she held the bird steady. ‘Don’t worry. She’s a reliable machine. Most accidents are usually caused by pilot error.’ Ellie kept her eyes on him a moment, then dropped the front down and prepared to land on a large flat patch of sand between the tourists and the river.

‘R44s are hard to hold in a hover pattern.’ His voice held a tinge of new respect.

‘You don’t say?’ She lifted one hand briefly and patted his leg. Kane’s thigh muscles were taut beneath her hand. ‘No need to worry,
babe
. This here is child’s play. Wait till you see how hard it is up in the real gorges of the park.’

The bird dropped as a strong gust of wind tipped it end to end. ‘Hang on. I’m taking us down.’

*

By the time she put the chopper down on the river flat, the trepidation that had been roiling in Kane’s stomach was replaced with a grudging respect. Despite the difficult crosswind between rock pillars, Ellie had handled the bird as well –
almost
as well – as he would have.

‘Get the first-aid kit. It’s in the –’

‘I know where it is.’ Kane cut her off tersely as she swung out and ducked beneath the rotors. Just because she knew her stuff didn’t mean he’d let her boss him around.

Ellie was obviously slow on the pick-up because she kept firing instructions. ‘Tie down the front blade while I see what’s happened here.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he muttered as she ran across the sand to meet the tall guy standing in the shadow of the rocks. This close, Kane saw that he had his arms around a small child, so it looked like the kid was okay. A second man was seated on a large boulder with his back to them.