The Number 8 (6 page)

“See you soon then.” Dante smiled and headed inside.

“Swwweeeettttt,” Asmir said.

“What?” Dante asked.

“Don’t play dumb. You’re glad their coming. They’re right up your street. Intelligent, beautiful and ambitious.”

“I am glad, but it’s not exactly a romantic location is it? Squashed into wetsuits, submerged in ice-cold water and all that in complete darkness.” Dante flapped at Asmir like his comment was foolish.

“Are you kidding me? What could be more romantic than staring up at a million bright stars?”

“I think you mean a million bright worms.”

“Whatever, it’s still romantic. What’s going on with you? You are the most romance-crazed person I know. You used to believe that everything could be turned into a romantic situation. So what is it?”

“Nothing. I just don’t feel like a freezing cold cave is the place for romance, OK?”

“But like I just said…”

“Az, leave it, OK?” Dante pleaded. It wasn’t aggressive but it was the final word.

They continued to unpack in silence. Dante caught Asmir glancing over every now and then, looking worried. Dante paid no attention. He didn’t have any intention of unloading what he had on his mind. Most of it Asmir knew but Dante didn’t want to rehash it. He was committed to this trip. To the mission of this trip. He didn’t need to give attention to these negative emotions and risk spiraling again.

“What about you?” Dante finally said.

“Better after that sleep. Still a little pissed off at our friend Dick.”

“OK, good.” Dante paused, there was something on his mind. Asmir saw this pretty quickly.

“Spill it.”

“Have you noticed a couple of the passengers actively avoiding each other?”

“Meaning what?”

“OK, so people glance at each other from time to time, even those that don’t know each other. But there are a couple of passengers who
never
look at each other. You know me, I love to observe people and the dynamic is weird.”

“Explain…”

“They never sit closer than six rows apart, they’re never caught in the same group of people and like I said, the weirdest thing is that they never look at each other.”

Asmir dipped his hand inside his pocket and pulled out the crinkled piece of paper.

“Take a look at this,” Asmir said, handing it over to Dante.

Dante read the four words and began to say something but Asmir pre-empted him.

“On the bus, by the middle rows. No idea who it’s from or who it’s meant for.”

“Think it could be the two passengers?”

“Could be, long-lost brothers maybe.”

They continued to discuss all kinds of outlandish theories as to why they weren’t talking. Spies. Alien drones that had been planted on earth to monitor mankind. It all came out. Dante didn’t know what he had noticed but there was definitely something off about their dynamic. It wasn’t even that they actively disliked each other. It was like they didn’t want to be seen together. It didn’t sit right with him. Something was definitely wrong.

Chapter 12

There was a nervous tension permeating the bus. They had no idea what they were in for. Some were peering out of their windows looking for signs that they were nearly there. Others were silent and motionless. But it was clear that all were excited. They had no idea that Black Water Rafting was a combination of abseiling, freezing water and huge eels slithering through the blackness below them. Dante did, so he was just plain excited, but also restless, checking his watch every five seconds. This made Asmir a little uncomfortable. Asmir had continually tried to get Dante to tell him more about what they were about to go through, but Dante had refused. He didn’t want to build it up only for it to disappoint. After all, Dante had never actually done it before, but he had done several virtual tours. So he knew what to expect and he didn’t mind building it up in his own mind.

A couple of minutes rolled by and things began to change. People began to see the signs. The caves were 1km away now and the bus began to audibly awaken. Eyes lit up and smiles appeared. Even Viktor was grinning and boasting about how he was “a pro black water rafter.” Dante was sure he had no idea what it was.

How foolish you’re going to look half an hour from now
.

It was that that brought a grin to Dante’s face. He couldn’t wait to see Viktor floundering in the ice-cold, jet-black water.

As Dante could have predicted, Viktor had pushed his way to the front of the queue when the bus finally came to a stop. He was hollering and chanting on his own. This made both Dante and Asmir fall over themselves laughing, because it seemed Viktor was the only one who hadn’t realized that this stop was not for the caves, but for the wetsuits. He was quickly put in his place when Mel said over the loudspeaker, “All the girls please exit first and line up outside the blue building over there to collect your wetsuits. Oh and Viktor…please sit down.”

The whole bus roared with laughter as a dejected Viktor slunk his way back to his seat. A great moment. For the rest of them of course, not for Viktor, who would think twice before making a beeline for the door early again.

Five minutes later all the passengers were back in the bus with their wetsuits on their laps. Dante had taken about ten seconds to pick out his wetsuit. His body type was decisively medium. Height-wise, weight-wise and even his build could only really be described as medium. He was fit and quite toned, but not shredded and definitely not skinny. Asmir on the other hand wasn’t really anything. He had abnormally wide shoulders for someone of 5’11, yet his hips were those more frequently seen on a runway model. With his freakishly large hands and feet, he could’ve made an excellent swimmer.

It was getting warm now. As the driver started up the engine there were shouts for the air conditioning to be turned on. He obliged. With a clunk and a high-pitched whirring, the AC started up and the bus became more bearable. They pulled slowly out of their last pit-stop and began their very short trip to the caves. As they were leaving, Dante saw Asmir turn towards the light blue building and snap a shot of it with his camera.

“Why’d you do that?” Dante asked, as there seemed to be nothing special about the setting at all.

“Sometimes what you think will make a shitty shot proves to be anything but. Check it.”

He swiveled the screen towards Dante so he could see his work and sure enough, it was a beautiful picture. The glare of the sun on the window had sent a strange ethereal haze cascading over the light blue building. It was just a little bit magical. Asmir really was talented. But not wanting to give him a big head, Dante just grunted, “It’s OK.”

Asmir seemed to see right through this and began to show others around him. He had always had a big head, but at least now he could be arrogant about something he was actually good at. He tried to explain to the helpless passengers why the light fell that way or how the lens he was using affected the shot. No one shut him down straight away. They were all very polite about listening to his boring rant, simply because in all other aspects of his life he was so incredibly interesting. Of course, for those that were knowledgeable on the subject of photography, the conversation would have been riveting. But it just so happened that none of those people had booked a tour on bus number 8. One by one he bored the back of the bus to death. They patiently nodded until he finished or simply feigned a headache. Unsurprisingly few actually needed to feign it. But they didn’t have to put up with it for long because less than ten minutes later, they had arrived at the caves.

Ben bellowed from the front, “I hope you all like eels, because they’re
huge
down there!”

Chapter 13

Most of them hadn’t realized that before they abseiled down into the caves they would of course have to practice, or risk plummeting into the icy waters below. Dante knew this. While the rest of them were stood around waiting for instruction, Dante had dragged Asmir over to the area where they were meant to be. He would’ve told the others too, but he wanted to be in the first group and, preferably, the first to abseil into the darkness.

Two instructors were waiting for them as they rounded the corner into the sloping training area. One was wearing a harness and prepping himself for a demonstration. The other was older and stony-faced. He was clearly the guy in charge.

He spoke first. “Where’s the rest of ya’ then?”

“I’m sure they’ll work it out soon. What you see here is the smart people on the bus,” Asmir replied.

“There’s only two of ya’.”

“Exactly,” Asmir said proudly. Admittedly he had set that up quite well.

Moments later, the other passengers appeared. But when they saw what was waiting for them they quickly forgot about all of that and fell silent. Some out of fear, others out of excitement. The practice area was on an incline with the passengers at the bottom and the two instructors at the top. The younger one was connecting his harness to a rope that extended from their position to the observers. Each end was held to the floor by a system of carabiniers.

“OK, listen up. Jimmy here is gonna show you how to work the equipment. It’s pretty simple really. We’ve only ever had two accidents. Unfortunate really, nice kids, just didn’t listen.”

“What do you mean by accident? Did they die?” Carl shouted from the back.

“I just told you there was an accident. Isn’t that enough for you? You wanna know the gory details? You wanna know that one girl broke her back and never walked again? Or maybe that the other guy fell 40ft and hit his head so hard that he was in a coma for four months? Yeah, you could say they survived. I wouldn’t.”

That was the last thing he said before walking off to one side and letting the young guy take over. All the eyes followed him trying to detect a hint of deception or even hoping that he would turn to them and say “I’m just kidding.” But he was unreadable and clearly it wasn’t a joke to him. There was an uneasy feeling in the air now. Even Dante could not quite believe what he had heard. Two seriously injured and he just admitted to his customers that they could also be in danger. Not a great strategy.

Dante and Asmir were there first so the younger guy brought them up. Dante had been abseiling before and easily completed the training in under two minutes. Asmir was naturally well co-ordinated so for him the training was also easy. Lean back, feed the rope through the carabinier and repeat. Dante was on alert after the older man’s admission, so he carried on until he felt completely comfortable with the action. It took no more than five minutes. After he was released from his harness he felt better. He had the action down pat. But he was still thinking about the two poor souls who had come to see the glowworms and left in an ambulance. The likelihood was that it was someone who was on a similar trip to him. Here from other countries trying to see New Zealand for the first time. The accident would’ve ruined their trip and as the older guy had said, ruined their lives too. Dante wanted to know more, the details of what had happened in each case and what specifically to avoid doing down there, so he edged closer to the older guy. By now he was entirely uninterested with what was happening in front of him. He was clearly there just to oversee the progress of his apprentice. He was glancing at his watch, then at his phone, then back at his watch. A pointless action as every phone has a built-in clock these days. So if he was open to a conversation, this was as good a time as any. But he had to get the opener right.

“So, is that your son out there?” Dante asked.

The guy’s face lit up. “Yeah, that’s my boy. You see a resemblance?”

“Yeah, sure. That’s why I ask.”

“Ah, well most people say that he looks like his mother, but I’ve always thought he has my eyes.”

In truth they didn’t look remotely similar. The older guy had a strong build, a permanent frown and a buzz cut, while the younger guy was slim with a medium length combover and was clearly dazzling the girls in the group with his smile. They couldn’t be more different. Dante didn’t even agree with the guy about their eyes. In fact, their eyes were not even the same color, but he indulged him.

“Will you pass all this down to your son one day?” Dante asked.

“That’s the plan. It was my idea to get him out here working, but he’s grown into it,” the guy paused, “slowly.” He turned and looked at Dante for a reaction so he laughed at what he was sure was meant to be a joke. He had loosened the guy up now, so it was time to get to what he came for.

“So, that story you told about the two injured people, what on earth happened to them?”

Smiling, the guy leant in a little and whispered, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Sure…”

“That was a lie. There’s never been any injuries here, not even rope burn. You know why?”

“Why?”

“That story. It scares the living crap out of all of you and makes you actually pay attention to what we say. There’s no greater motivator than risk of injury or death.”

Dante was surprised by this guy. He was a manipulator as well as currently being the manipulated. “You do realize that’s sadistic, right? To make kids believe that they are genuinely in danger.”

“No, it’s genius. And you’ve got it all wrong. You
are
in danger. You’re abseiling into a pitch-black cave after being trained for just a few minutes. Don’t be foolish, that’s dangerous for the most experienced abseiler. There’s always risk, kid. I’m just trying to make sure that at the very least, you and your bus pay attention.”

He was right. Spinning a story like that would make them sit up and take notice. Dante took his attention off the old guy and glanced back at his fellow passengers. Every single one of them had looks of intense concentration etched on their faces. Brows furrowed, lips pursed and some were even rehearsing the movements carefully. It was clear that the fake story ploy was working as planned. Dante didn’t agree with his methods, but he couldn’t argue with the results.

The old guy carried on, “Like I said, don’t tell your friends over there. It kinda defeats the point of the story, you know?”