Kakadu Sunset (36 page)

*

Kakadu Highway

Kane and David were just a few kilometres south of Jabiru when Kane’s phone beeped with an incoming message. He pulled it out of his pocket and listened to his voicemail.

Hitting the brakes, he checked for traffic in the rear-vision mirror before swinging the car around and heading back the way they came.

‘That was Ellie. She must have found Gina. She said we’re going the wrong way.’ He flicked a glance at David, who’d been staring silently out the window for the past half hour as they’d headed north. ‘The message was garbled at the end. All I could pick up was black something. Bloody phone service here is shocking.’ He pressed the keypad to return the call.

‘Is Gina all right?’

Kane shook his head. ‘I don’t know. That’s all she said. I’ll call her.’

The call went to voicemail and Kane swore and passed the phone over to David. ‘Keep calling till she picks up.’ He changed back a gear and floored the accelerator. If they copped a speeding fine, so be it.

David pressed redial until the phone service dropped out again. It was only fifteen minutes until they reached the Yellow Water turn-off which led back to Makowa Lodge.

‘Phone service should be okay now,’ Kane said.

David lifted the phone to dial again but it rang before he could press. He answered and listened intently, and Kane took his eyes from the road, slowing the car as they approached the lodge.

‘Who?’ David frowned. ‘Ellie? Where is she? Yes, okay, I’ll put him on.’

He passed the phone to Kane. ‘Someone called Jock for you.’

‘Jock?’ Kane turned into the lodge and parked in the front car park. ‘Fuck. When? Where?’

Kane focused on his breathing, drawing the air in deep and letting it out slowly as the panic built in his chest. ‘No, it’s too far to drive. I’ll take the other helicopter up.’

David stared at him, waiting for him to finish.

‘How long till the national park helicopter can get there? Okay, I’ll radio in when we’re in the air.’

Kane shoved the phone into his pocket and opened the door. He beckoned David to follow him and they ran through the lodge towards the flight centre. ‘Ellie took a chopper up and she sent a mayday call about ten minutes ago. Jock said she was out of fuel and in autorotation. And she said there was a pregnant woman needing assistance. She’s found Gina. I hope to hell they’re okay.’

‘Thank God.’ David hurried along beside Kane, ignoring the curious looks of the tourists. ‘What’s autorotation?’

‘It’s a controlled crash.’ Kane briefly closed his eyes at the thought of what could go wrong. ‘But she’s a damn fine pilot. She should be right.’

‘He didn’t say anything else?’

‘No. The national park mob has got a crew heading out there. But we’re closer. We’ll get there first.’

They reached the gate next to the hangar. ‘Shit, it’s padlocked and I don’t have my keys with me. No time to get them.’ Kane hoisted himself up on the wire fence and climbed to the top, bracing himself for the jarring pain in his hip as he landed on the concrete below. He waited for David to follow.

Kane focused on the R44 sitting on the tarmac in front of him. He walked around it slowly, checking the skids and the rotor blades before opening the cowl on the fuel tank. His eyes widened when he spotted the piece of hose.

‘There’s very little fuel left in this tank. That bastard who was here yesterday must have interfered with the helicopters. I’d say the same thing was done to Ellie’s.’

Although the delay frustrated him, Kane took his time preparing for the flight. He refuelled the chopper and did another thorough pre-flight check before he was satisfied that the bird was safe to take up. Knowing the helicopter had been tampered with filled him with cold anger and he used that anger to fight the trepidation that threatened.

As he did the final check, the faces of Hawk, and Dirk and Jerry, filled his mind. They were gone and he was damn lucky to be alive. Shutting down the part of his life that he’d once loved wouldn’t change anything. Anticipation flooded through him; the desire to be up in the air again.

‘Okay, right to go. Climb in.’ He shut the door behind David after he’d climbed into the passenger seat.

As he checked the instruments, Kane was surprised at how calm he felt. His hands were steady when he passed over the headset to David, and he slipped his own on once David was ready.

‘Can you hear me okay?’

David nodded and Kane lifted the right side of his headset away and opened the right hand door as he started up the engine.

Exhilaration rushed through him as the bird lifted into the sky. He was totally focused on getting to Ellie. The first tremor ran through him when he imagined her lying broken in the wreckage. But this time he refused to give in to the fear.

7.20 am Saturday
Darwin CBD

‘What do you mean, she’s not fucking there?’ Russell Fairweather was sitting in the Cove restaurant of the Skycity Hotel in Darwin, waiting for his appointment to join him for a breakfast meeting. A couple looked at him curiously from the next table and he lowered his voice and smiled politely. ‘Where is she?’ he hissed.

‘She got away. The back door’s open and there’s no sign of her. What do you want me to do?’

‘Go and find her, of course. If you lose her, trust me, you will be very, very sorry. Now –’

Before he could finish, a strange sound came through the phone. ‘Holy shit. You’ll never believe what’s just happened.’

‘What?’

‘Ellie Porter has just crashed her helicopter in the river.’

Russell turned away to the window and kept his voice low. ‘Go and make sure she’s dead and then find the other woman.’

Outside at the lagoon pool there was already a crowd lying around on sun lounges and day beds. Indolent tourists; Russell couldn’t think of anything worse than lying around with no goal for the day.

‘Yes, sir. I’ll find her.’

‘Do that. I’ll call you in an hour.’

*

Ellie opened her eyes. The cable from her headset was choking her and she reached up and yanked it off. She was hanging sideways, held in by the seatbelt that was now constricting her breathing. She turned her head slowly and the vertigo eased, but she drew in a breath as she caught sight of the water flowing through the jagged edges of the smashed canopy. The door on her side had popped out in the crash but it was above the water level. If she could get her belt undone, she could clamber up on top of the chopper and stay above the waterline.

Jock knew she’d come down and he knew where she was heading; he’d have help on the way as soon as he could locate a pilot. Ellie focused on the hole in the Perspex canopy, trying to clear her blurred vision and see how far away the riverbank was. This part of the river was a narrow waterway, and only deep in the middle. The sandbanks where the crocodiles basked in the winter sun shifted every wet season. She shivered as she looked out over the water. The riverbank was only about twenty metres away but it might as well have been two hundred. There was no way she’d wade through that.

A movement flashed in her peripheral vision; her heart jumped as she imagined a crocodile slithering at speed out of the water and through the hole in the canopy. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.

But when she slowly opened them, it was the face of a man, not a crocodile, that met her.

Henry, her difficult tourist, stood waist deep in the water, peering up at her through the hole in the canopy. She opened her mouth to yell at him to climb up on the skids, out of the water, away from danger, but the words died on her lips when she saw the knife in his hand.

‘I suppose you think you were clever, landing like you did. Not so clever now, are you?’ His tone was conversational.

‘Who are you?’ she whispered.

He laughed and the sound was chilling.

‘What are you going to do?’ Ellie was rigid with fear, her eyes fixed on the knife that was now only inches from her neck.

‘Good question. Maybe I’ll cut you out of the belt? Or perhaps I’ll cut that pretty little throat of yours first?’

Ellie whimpered and tried to shrink back away from him.

He pulled the knife back and shifted to one side as he braced his other hand on the edge of the cockpit. ‘You know, you’ve got the same eyes as your father. He looked at me just like that when I tightened the rope around his neck.’

Ellie shuddered and her chin trembled as his words sank in. Even in her dazed state, her thoughts turned to her mother and her insistence that Dad had been murdered. A heavy weight settled in Ellie’s chest. Mum had been right all along, but they hadn’t listened.

She lifted her chin, ignoring the shooting pain down her back. ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘I’m just doing my job, sweetheart.’

He lifted his hand and leaned to the left. The cold steel of the knife touched her throat with a sharp sting, and Ellie raised her hands and pulled back as far as she could. As he leaned forward again, the water behind him suddenly churned and a massive crocodile broke the surface. The huge jaws clamped down on his legs and the knife dropped, hitting the metal with a clatter as his head slammed against the roof of the cockpit. He disappeared from sight before she could take a breath. The water erupted with red foam as the crocodile rolled, its creamy white underbelly flashing in the sunlight as it flipped over.

One unearthly scream, a last splash and they disappeared below the surface.

He was gone. The water was calm again, just a quiet gurgle as it washed through the broken canopy of the helicopter. The silence was almost obscene, as Ellie imagined what was happening beneath the clear, green water.

A keening sound filled her ears and it was a few seconds before she realised that the noise was coming from her. She had to get out before other crocodiles came. The dominant male had fed, next it would be their turn.

Pushing as hard as she could against the seat, her fingers scrabbled for the catch of the seatbelt but they slipped off before she could release it.

Three times, she pushed herself as far back as she could, and three times the belt jammed. Finally with a grunt Ellie stretched her legs towards the water and arched her back, and the catch released with a loud click. Sobbing, she reached up and pulled herself out through the canopy, using the skids to lever herself to the side of the helicopter that was safely above the water. Her head spun as she stared at the sandbanks in the middle of the river. Four huge crocodiles lay watching her. As she lay on her back on the cold metal, the water churned again.

But this time it was the rotor wash from the other Makowa Lodge helicopter as it headed for the clearing at the edge of the river.

*

David craned forward as the helicopter headed towards the sandy clearing. ‘Look, down there! It’s Fairweather’s man’s vehicle. It has to be. There wouldn’t be many black Mercedes in this part of the world.’

Kane twisted to the left and looked out the other side. The river glinted silver as it snaked around a bend. His pulse sped up when he saw the red Makowa Lodge helicopter on its side in the water.

‘Fuck. She’s come down in the river.’ Adrenaline spiked through him but he focused on taking the chopper lower.

‘It’s all right.’ David pointed. ‘Look, Ellie’s on top of the chopper. She’s okay.’

As the helicopter flew across the water, Ellie lifted her hand and waved to them. The world seemed to go by in slow motion as Kane dipped the bird to the east and brought it down as close to the edge of the river as he could. He shut everything down and gestured for David to wait until it was clear to get out. David tore the headset off and pointed to the building which was set back in a cleared space at the edge of the forest.

‘I’m going to find Gina.’

‘Wait. We don’t know where the guy from the car is. He’ll have heard us coming. He’s had plenty of time to hide while we landed.’

David ignored him. ‘I’m going. Just watch my back.’ He picked up a large lump of timber, and ran off past the SUV in the direction of the hut.

Kane stepped down from the helicopter and ran towards the water. ‘I’m coming,’ he called to Ellie.

‘No.’ Ellie screamed and put her hands over her face. She was sitting up now and even from a distance he could see the blood on her neck and her shirt front.

Kane stopped and looked past the helicopter. An enormous crocodile walked clumsily along the sandbank, its tail moving side to side, and then slid into the water.

His heart was pounding as he took a step back. Ellie dropped her hands from her face. There was blood on her fingers. ‘You’re bleeding.’

‘I’m okay. Go with David. Find Gina.’

‘But what happened? Where’s the guy from the car?’

Ellie shook her head and all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms. ‘He’s gone.’ She pointed into the water.

‘Hang on. I’ll come straight back.’ Kane walked stealthily towards the front of the hut, his eyes scanning the long grass as he moved closer. Stepping onto the front landing, he avoided the gaps in the timber where the floor had rotted away. He was about to try the front door when David’s shout reached him.

‘Kane, quick, around the back. It’s all clear.’

He vaulted over the low railing and ran along the side of the hut and up the back steps.

‘She’s here. Gina’s here.’ David was standing by the back door, supporting a woman in his arms. She wore a long pink bathrobe. She was bending forward; her long dark hair covering her face. ‘The baby’s coming.’

‘Shit. How long?’ Kane was qualified in emergency care but he’d never delivered a baby.

David’s wife clutched at his arm. ‘The contractions are about five minutes apart. There’s one building now.’ She doubled up with a moan. ‘David, I’m scared, it’s too early. It’s different this time. The pain is worse.’

David stared at Kane, his mouth set. ‘How many passengers can you take?’

‘Only one.’

*

Ellie lay with her eyes closed. She tried to open them but they wouldn’t open. She tried to talk but no words would come out. It must be a dream; she slipped back into the dark and floated painlessly for a few more seconds. Her head ached and when she tried to move, her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. The sound of running water surrounded her. Finally she forced her eyes open and pushed herself up, holding her head until the vertigo passed. She was on the helicopter in the river. There was a tender spot at the back of her head, but her fingers came away clean this time; the bleeding had stopped.