The Repossession (18 page)

Of course it could have been anyone just going trekking in the mountains. People did that all the time, nothing odd about that. But a bus stop in the middle of a forest?

No way. Made no sense without a road. No bus was ever going to be up here in anyone’s lifetime.

‘This is so weird, Mouch.’

She forgot all about the eagles now. She watched as the boy reached the bus stop, put down his backpack and punched the vending machine. It must have dispensed a can because moments later he was sat on the ground drinking.

She lost him momentarily, couldn’t find him again. ‘Darn, can’t get used to these . . .’ she swore with frustration as she swayed on her elbows. ‘Here he is.’

He was lying on his back now. Had to be exhausted after that climb. Who wouldn’t be?

She saw sudden movement. A four-by-four came into view travelling at speed down a dusty track. She was too far away to hear anything, but it came to a sudden stop by the bus stop. Two men in what looked like space suits got out and went over to the kid. They picked him up.

He didn’t resist. Didn’t do anything. They carried him

to the four-by-four and carefully put him in the back, like they didn’t want to wake him. Another guy went back for his backpack and slung that in the back too.

‘Hey, that’s not right.’

She focused on the four-by-four. She couldn’t make out the writing on it, but she recognized the symbol.

Fortransco. The Fortress!

‘You see that, Mouch? They just abducted that kid.

They weren’t helping him. They stole him. Like they knew he was there and he’d be unconscious.’

The guy in the suit stopped suddenly and he was pointing in Genie’s direction.

She swiftly put the field glasses down on the rock, dizzy from the concentration.

‘Uh-oh, Mouch. Damn. I’m such a dumb ass.’

Stupid, stupid. Had a reflection on the glass given her away somehow? Turning too fast she lost grip and Genie slid headfirst down the boulder into the water.

She swallowed and choked and swore and swallowed more water again, feeling angry with herself as she struggled to get right side up. The water was deliciously warm however, and although she was fully dressed, she swam. Mouch leaped in as well, thinking it was a game, and paddled out to join her.

‘I suppose you think this is funny, but we should

probably get out of here, dog.’ He just swam, dead serious, concentrating on keeping his head above water.

For five blissful minutes they swam and savoured the crystal clear water. She knew she had to leave. They had definitely seen her but the water was so good and surely they wouldn’t bother to come up this far.

Moucher noticed the sound first. His ears flattened and he abruptly turned and headed towards the shore in a panic.

‘What?’

Genie tossed her hair and batted water out of her ears.

Only then did she notice the water was vibrating all around her, literally forming droplets on the surface.

The noise grew in intensity. Mouch was still frantically doggypaddling and the water was moving, definitely moving. She was beginning to move with it and began to swim towards the rock, the current gaining in strength.

Were they draining the reservoir? Did they know she was here? She swore. Why, oh why, had she brought the field glasses?

She was hardly making any headway at all and Mouch was coming back to her, unable to beat the current.

She grabbed him, flipped over on to her back with the dog on her chest and kicked as hard as she could to make it to the safety of the edge.

The noise intensified. Suddenly a huge helicopter swept in over the water, no more than ten metres above her, the downdraught pushing her under. It flew right overhead, engines roaring. She could see two men standing by an open door – they could have seen her. It slowed, hovered a moment, then dropped down over the other side out of sight.

She realized that the vibration and suction had stopped.

She was safe again. Nevertheless she got out of the water quickly, Mouch shaking off the water beside her.

That was a Fortransco chopper and if they’d seen her, she was in real danger. How quickly could they get up here?

‘We got to go now, dog.’

Mouch was with her one hundred per cent. His heart was still beating like a bird and he couldn’t wait to leave.

Sopping wet, Genie collected the field glasses, regretting her afternoon had been ruined. She wanted to look over the edge, see exactly where the chopper went, but she realized that would be foolish. She had to get moving. This was Fortress territory and they’d be only too happy to snatch her for their experiments.

How stupid she’d been to stay. She cursed herself for swimming and wasting time.

Mouch was gone already, heading back down the dry stream bed.

‘You could have waited,’ Genie shouted after him.

He stopped a moment, looked back at her, tail between his legs. He carried on. He was one scared dog and wasn’t going to wait for anyone.

What had made the water vibrate? That was such a weird sensation watching a whole reservoir shake. She stripped off her top and shorts and began to wring them out. She thought again of the boy they’d grabbed and bundled into the vehicle. What must he be going through?

Poor bastard. That’s when she heard the distinct sound of an engine approaching. She bounded to the top of her boulder to snatch a look and her heart sank. A jeep was driving hell for leather towards the reservoir from the Fortress direction. They
had
seen her.

No time to dress. No way she could head down the way she’d come, there was no cover on the stream bed. Wet clothes bundled under her arm, she sprinted for the treeline.

The jeep was bouncing crazily along the forest road and would be here in two minutes flat. She had nowhere to hide. Could climb the trees, but there was no safety in sparse pine trees. They’d spot her in seconds.

She looked back, the jeep was just seconds away.

There was a small ridge ahead, a tree growing over the top of it, its roots exposed and a bunch of rabbit holes dug into the yellow earth. She jumped into the small recess, rolled in the earth, smearing dirt over her wet body, covering herself in pine needles. She covered every bit of her flesh she could in yellow mud and bits of the forest. She squirmed closer to the ground, pulled away at the edges of two rabbit holes, trying to make it bigger and provide more soil to cover her. She hid her clothes and field glasses in the hole, lay flat and said a prayer for invisibility.

Uniformed Fortress security guards got out of the jeep.

Briefly glancing up she could see there were two of them, a man and a woman, and they had weapons. Genie closed her eyes, squished herself more firmly into the earth, covering her head with dust and soil.

She hoped Mouch had gone home. The last thing she needed was for him to come back and sniff her out.

She could hear them speaking, their voices carried far.

‘Something was swimming in the reservoir for sure.

Got paw prints on a rock here.’

‘That doesn’t explain how they saw a glint of light.’

‘No, but I got still wet paw prints and could be a coyote.’

‘Swimming? You ever see one swim?’

‘It’s hot. Yeah, coyotes can swim, Gerry. I’ve seen them do it.’

‘OK, if you say so, but what caused the flash?’

‘Maybe when the chopper came in from Synchro?’

‘It was before that.’

Genie couldn’t see, couldn’t look, but she could hear one of them was moving her way. Grunting with the effort of climbing the slope.

‘What you got?’ the guard called from the water’s edge.

‘Trail. Someone was walking up here, got a partial shoe imprint on the clay down besides you. Unless you think coyotes wear shoes now.’

‘Now you’re getting sarcastic.’

Genie could hear the woman was getting closer to her.

Hear her wheezing, smoker’s lungs struggling in the thin air. Genie stopped breathing. Worse, she could feel something crawling over her head towards her bare back.

Oh my God, a beetle? What was it? Were there scorpions up here? She
hated
things crawling over her.

‘Anything up there?’ The other guard was calling from further away.

‘Can’t see anything.’

‘Footprint – could be old. Not much to disturb it up here.’

Genie was aware that someone was standing no more than one metre from her. Was she watching her?

Waiting for her to move or breathe, or surrender? The bug

had reached her back now and was crawling towards her ass.
Please
God, do not let it bite me! She stopped breathing entirely; she could feel each tiny footprint as it made its way down her spine.

‘We’re wasting our time,’ the other guard was calling from below. ‘There’s no one around. Had to be animals.’

‘You going to McBean’s re-opening in Spurlake? It’s a two-for-one deal on all pastries all day,’ the security guard shouted down. She was practically standing over Genie now. She could probably reach out and touch her shoes. How could she not see her?

‘Not unless you’re buying,’ the other guard called back.

‘Never eat out. Can’t afford it on these wages. Come on, let’s get back. Shift change in thirty minutes anyways.’

The bug was circling on her back now – she wanted to scream, absolutely sure it was going to lay eggs or do something gross. The security guard moved away from Genie. Her feet crunched on twigs and gravel as she went back down the slope. Genie exhaled after thirty seconds more and drew new oxygen in, still not daring to look or move.

She heard the jeep start up but still she didn’t move.

Didn’t move even when the jeep moved off, in case it was a trick. In case one of them was still there, waiting to catch her. The bug was suddenly moving south again. She

had to move, she had to . . .

Genie rolled over and jerked to her feet, shaking the mud and bits of the forest off her. The jeep was gone for sure. She ran like some demented soul towards the reservoir and crashed in. ‘Off, bug! Off, bug!’ she yelled, rubbing herself all over. She stayed under the water for as long as possible to make sure nothing was still crawling on her.

She was walking out of the reservoir, shaking water out of her ears, when she heard the familiar whine of a chopper engine winding up again.

She raced for the forest hidey-hole again. She needed to retrieve her clothes and the field glasses.

Why, oh why, had she come up here? She flung herself back on to the forest floor. Instantly she saw a huge squashed ground beetle. She must have crushed it when she rolled over. At least it wasn’t something poisonous.

She felt foolish now, but feeling it crawling on her back had made her nearly wet herself and she could still feel its tiny feet on her skin, even though that was impossible.

She shuddered.

The chopper rose up and flew out over the reservoir.

Genie watched it go, saw guys looking out from an open door, as if they were searching for her.

She most definitely had to get out of there. They weren’t

going to give up. She scrabbled to get her clothes on, yellow mud smearing her all over again, pine needles sticking to her wet hair. This was one dangerous place.

Rian was resting on a bench in the backyard eating one of Genie’s muffins when Mouch came back. He looked dirty and exhausted, his fur all matted with yellow mud and his paws bloody. Rian looked up expecting Genie to follow right after. Mouch wasn’t happy and, desperately thirsty, annoyed his bowl was nearly dry.

Rian filled it up and checked his paws.

‘Marshall?’

Marshall appeared moments later, mopping his brow. He frowned when he saw what condition Moucher was in.

‘Where’s Genie?’

‘She say where she went?’ Rian asked, worried now. He kept looking in the direction that Moucher had arrived in and expected to see an equally exhausted Genie return.

Marshall was looking at the dog more closely. ‘His fur’s all yellow. The soil up by the reservoir is like that.

I was telling her about it earlier.’

Rian ran inside. Grabbed a water bottle and filled it.

If he was going looking for Genie she’d probably need water.

Marshall was standing by the hay field when he came out. He pointed out where she’d tracked through it.

‘She went across the field to the old stream. It’s bone dry this time of year, Rian. Fastest way up there. That’s Fortress territory up there. If they found her . . .’

Rian didn’t need an explanation, he knew exactly what that meant. He began to run across the field.

Mouch collapsed in a heap by his bowl, unable to move a muscle more.

Marshall watched Rian go. He frowned. He realized that he was real fond of that girl and he sure as hell didn’t want her in Fortress hands. He turned back towards the house. He had to hose Moucher down, treat his paws.

Something must have really terrified him to make him leave Genie behind.

Rian was moving up the dry stream bed as fast as he could, amazed Genie had done this route. It was tough going, with lots of sharp edges. No wonder Mouch had come back sore. He looked up, saw a Fortress chopper circling over the mountain ridge in the distance.

Curiously, it gave him hope. Perhaps they were looking for Genie. If so, it meant they didn’t have her. He climbed faster, grazing his knees on a rock as he jumped from one to another.

Another chopper came roaring out of nowhere, seemed to be following the stream down the mountain.

Rian threw himself down and crawled under a rock overhang. The chopper flew right overhead, he felt the downdraught as it banked right and headed towards Marshall’s farm below.

Rian was scrambling up to continue where he heard a rockfall up ahead around the bend and someone swear.

‘Genie?’

An apparition suddenly appeared above him. A yellow mud girl with streaks of blood running down her arm.

She looked like a wild animal, the field glasses the only thing not covered in dirt. She stared at him, her breathing short, her adrenaline on overdrive.

Rian stared at her in shock, momentarily unable to move.