The Word of God (23 page)

“Are you on guard?”

“Yes.”

“What time do I take over?” Peter asked.

“One.”

“Not cold is it?” he commented, to change the subject.

“No. It's a lovely night,” Joy replied. He saw her head turn to look at him and her eyes sparkled in the starlight.

Peter struggled to a sitting position. “Sorry I made a noise.”

“It was what you saw the other day,” Joy replied. “I'm not surprised you had a nightmare. I wouldn't be able to sleep at all if it was me.”

“Anything happened?”

“Quiet as a… as a.. No, nothing,” Joy replied.

‘Grave,' Peter thought and then shuddered. They sat for a while in silence. Peter checked his watch and saw that it was 01:00. “Bed time for you.”

“In a minute. I can't sleep,” Joy replied.

Once again they sat in silence. Peter listened intently. All he could hear was the ripple of water over the rapids and their own breathing. There was no wind at all. The distant crowing of a rooster carried clearly to them.

Joy spoke after while: “Do you think we will be safe now?”

There was just the tiniest tremor in her voice. Before he thought about it Peter put his arm around her shoulders.

“We've been in worse situations. Graham and Steve will sort things out,” Peter replied.

“You admire Graham don't you?” Joy asked, moving closer to lean against him.

“Yes I do. He is a great bloke.”

“But you are the brains of the organization,” Joy said. Peter was embarrassed but pleased. He grunted non-committally, then said: “You'd better go to sleep.”

“I like you,” Joy whispered.

She moved to snuggle closer. Peter did not know what to do or say so only sat and held her closer, aware of his furiously beating heart. For several minutes they remained like that before Joy sat back up and turned her face to him.

“You are really sweet,” she whispered. Before he realized what she intended she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. Peter was so surprised and flustered that he did not know what to do. Before he could decide Joy lay back and snuggled into her sleeping bag.

For a while she lay looking up at him. He could tell as her eyes shone in the starlight. “Go to sleep,” he said. “Or you will be too tired tomorrow.”

She nodded, patted his arm and rolled on her side. Peter sat in silent wonder and relived the moment. It had been wonderful but left him thinking hard.
Do I like her?
he wondered.

Yes I do,
he decided. That set his mind speculating on what a relationship might be like. At length he shrugged.
What's the use? I live in Cairns and she lives in Townsville.

But the idea would not go away and happy thoughts kept him company for most of the next hour. Only towards the end did he grow cold and cramped. Then he began to notice the little night noises: scuttles and chirps and the bark of a dog somewhere off towards Little Mulgrave. That got his thoughts back onto the Devil Worshippers.

After a time he began to curse the murmur of the river as it seemed to drown all the other noises. He stared into the darkness at each tiny noise. Fear began to seep in like the cold. Within arms reach was the wall of tall grass which sometimes rusted as a wind gusted. On the other side was the blackness of the rainforest. He told himself that no-one could even know they were there, much less creep up through the dark forest without making a noise, but his fears would not be stilled.

Two O'clock crept by at last and he turned and gently shook Megan. She muttered in her sleep, then stirred and opened her eyes.

“What is it?” she murmured.

“Two. Time for you to do your hour on guard,” Peter replied.

“Oh bugger!” Megan swore. With some grumbling she sat up and looked around. “Brr! It's cold.”

“Wake Stephen at three,” Peter said. He moved to lie down. But before he could Megan gripped his arm.

“Sit with me for a minute please, till I am fully awake,” Megan asked.

So they sat, exchanging occasional comments on the weather and how dark
it is. After a few minutes Megan leaned forward to put her arms around Peter's neck. “I like you Peter. I think you are real cool,” she whispered.

Before Peter could react she kissed him. It was quite different from Joy's kiss. Megan's was hot and she smelt of perfume and the warmth set his pulses racing.

As they ended the kiss Peter pulled away, his heart hammering and his breath coming in gulps. “I'd better get some sleep,” he managed to mutter.

“Oh a little bit longer please,” Megan said. She leaned against him and kissed him again. This time he could feel her body and his responded. As she kissed him he returned them but knew he wasn't making a very good job of it. As well he was in a fever of concern lest Joy wake up and see them.

With a mumbled excuse he managed to release himself and lie down. She smiled down at him and kept her hand on his arm. He returned her smile, then closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Inside he was now a mass of confusion. Two girls! And both very nice. He began to compare them and to speculate on their relative merits and charms.

Chapter 15

PETER'S SUSPICIONS

G
raham woke them at 0600. Peter opened his eyes, first noting the clear blue sky dotted with paling stars. His attention was then drawn to Megan as she stood up. She looked around and cried with delight: “Oh! What a lovely morning!”

At once both Graham and Stephen shushed her. Fear at once flooded in. Megan looked hurt, then anxious as she realized what she had done. “We are safe now aren't we?” she asked plaintively.

Peter sat up and shook his head: “We might be, but it isn't worth the risk. We should keep our presence secret a bit longer.”

Joy nodded. “Less talking in the middle of the night when you are on sentry duty would help,” she commented.

Megan spun to face her, her face flushing red. “Oh yeah! So who are you to talk?”

Joy curled her lip and went to answer but Peter spoke first. “The fault was mine, so stop it please. Let's pack up and eat. I think we should be gone from here as quickly as we can.”

“I agree,” Graham said. “Let's aim at moving by seven.”

Neither girl spoke but both looked at each other with a hostile glint in their eye. Peter noted this and felt both shocked and guilty. Had Joy seen Megan kiss him? Did they both really like him? It was all a worry. He shook his head and knelt to roll up his bedding.

After a quick walk into the forest to relieve himself he returned to find the others seated on packs cooking. Graham stood from time to time to look out over the top of the long grass. Peter joined him and noted that they could see most of the overgrown quarry although the actual vehicle track was hidden from view. It was all very quiet and peaceful, the air still and the sky clear.

Half an hour later Peter had eaten and began heating water to shave with. Joy indicated that her water bottle was empty.

“I'm going down to the river to fill mine. Would you like me to fill yours too Peter?”

“Yes thanks,” Peter replied. He passed her two empty canteens. As he did Megan said: “You might ask the rest of us too!”

Joy turned to her. “Sorry. Would you like me to fill your water bottles too Megan?”

“No, I'll do it myself,” Megan replied.

Stephen looked up, obviously unaware of the by-play. “You can fill mine while you are at it,” he said.

“Yes, I will Stephen,” Megan replied. “What about you Graham?”

Graham had taken out his map and was studying it. “Yes thanks; and keep your eyes peeled.”

The two girls collected the water bottles and set off down the slope. As they went out of sight Stephen asked: “What's wrong with that pair?”

Gwen straightened up. “They are just being catty because they both like Peter.”

Peter blushed. “Oh they do not!” he said. To change the topic he said: “Which way do you recommend we go Graham?”

They crowded around to see the map. Graham pointed and said: “We are here. We have to go south, which means crossing the river. I suggest we walk out to that bridge we saw yesterday and cross over that, then follow the edge of the canefields around to the bridge at The Fisheries. Then we can follow the road along the valley to Kearneys Flats.”

Peter studied the map and agreed that was the best option. He then moved back to his stove, removed his shaving water and tested it. Shaving then occupied the next few minutes. He was just completing this chore when Joy and Megan returned. Neither looked happy but nothing was said. It made him feel very uncomfortable.

I don't want to be the cause of ill-will in the group,
he thought anxiously.
What can I do to stop it?

He was still puzzling over this when the sound of the radio crackling to life gave them all a rude shock. Peter snatched it up and was about to answer when it called again.

“Not for us,” he said. It was Six Five Six calling Six Five Three. Six Five Three answered but sounded faint and distorted. By then Joy had her notebook out and he called the trigrams to her as they came across. As soon as the message was complete Peter began to decode.

While he worked Gwen said: “That must mean that the police haven't captured them yet.”

“Looks like it… Hey! That is for us!” Peter cried. The radio was now calling Six Five Four. Feeling very apprehensive Peter picked it up, licked his lips, swallowed and answered.

“Six Five Four.”

“About bloody time!” came back the retort. “I was trying to get you for half an hour.”

“Sorry. I was… shckl… kl… kl..” Peter deliberately garbled the transmission by fiddling with the pressle switch.

“How are things there?” came the reply.

“Quiet.. crackle.. crackle.. No problems.”

“Good. Stay alert and wait for further instructions. Six Six Six out.”

Peter wiped his brow theatrically and grinned; then went on with his decoding. Gwen came to stand looking over his shoulder. “I'd love to know what it is that is worth killing people for that these people are all searching for,” she said.

“So would I,” Peter agreed. In fact it had been at the front of his mind often over the last two days but he had to admit he had no idea what it might be.

Stephen looked up from lacing his left boot. “It must be valuable to be worth killing people for,” he said.

Graham nodded but then gave a chuckle. “Aw, I dunno. These Devil Worshipper types might just do that because they enjoy it,” he added.

“Graham!” Joy called in a shocked voice.

“Sorry,” Graham said.

“Where are we going today Graham?” Megan asked.

Graham laid out his map. “See the Mulgrave River? It starts here at Mt Bartle Frere and flows north along this valley with the Atherton Tablelands on the west and the Bellenden Ker Range on the east. When it gets to here it meets the Little Mulgrave coming down from the north and it turns right and goes east past Gordonvale.”

“Where we walked yesterday,” Stephen supplemented.

Graham's finger traced the line of the river. “It goes east till it bumps into the coastal mountains, where we were on the first day at the bottom of Bell Peak. Then it goes south along the valley we call the Coastal Corridor till it meets the Russell River coming the other way. They both join and flow into the Coral Sea through a gap in the mountains at Deeral, here.”

“It makes a sort of inverted ‘U' doesn't it,” Megan observed.

Graham nodded. “That's right,” he agreed. “We are going south along the valley towards Bartle Frere.”

Stephen leaned forward and pointed: “And I reckon we will cross this saddle between Bartle Frere and Bellenden Ker and end up at Babinda.”

“Will it be hard going?” Megan asked.

Graham shook his head. “No. We hiked from Kearneys Flat to the base of Bartle Frere a couple of years ago with my little sister Kylie and her friends and they made it easily,” he said.

Stephen tapped the map again. “I don't know about this saddle between the Mulgrave Valley and Babinda though. It might be a bit rough.”

At that moment Peter finished decoding the message and what he read made his stomach contract with fear. “Listen to this,” he said. “It says: ‘Locate Army Cadets. Take prisoner. Hold till Operation TWOG completed. Will be sacrificed later'.”

“Oh my God!” Joy gasped. She went very pale.

Megan bit her lip and looked anxiously around. “We must get the police quickly,” she cried.

Graham nodded. “I think we had better get away from this area fast,” he said.

“We should have gone last night,” Stephen said.

Peter nodded and stood up. “Yes, but we didn't. Inspector Goldstein thought we were safe. Now we know we aren't. Let's get moving.” He bent and placed his water bottles in their holders and began doing up his pack. As he worked he glanced at his watch. It was just after 0700.

Gwen swung on her webbing. “I wonder what Operation TWOG is?” she said.

“God knows. Let's get moving,” Peter replied.

Graham stood up and walked over to the edge of the tall grass. “I think I can hear a vehicle.”

Peter moved to join him, calling to the others to get their packs on as he did. One glance confirmed the worst. A dark blue van was driving slowly in along the overgrown track from near the bridge.

“Might not be them,” Graham suggested.

Peter shook his head. He just knew in his heart it was. “Maybe, but we dare not take that risk. We must get out of here at once. Come on.”

He strode over to his own gear, swung his webbing on and said: “There is a Devil Worshipper vehicle driving in now. It will be here in about two minutes. Grab your gear and follow me.”

With that he swung his pack onto his shoulder, scooped up the radio and his staff and set off down the slope through the trees. Megan wasn't finished packing
but Gwen and Joy both grabbed handfuls of her gear and Stephen took her pack. They all followed in a straggling line, Megan almost hysterical with panic.