The Word of God (7 page)

“Lots of Delta Zulus,” Graham observed.

Peter opened the captured notebook and glanced at the decoded messages, his eyes searching for any trigrams that were the same. He had been hoping to find the ‘decode' key but there was none. So he studied the messages for similarities. Then he replied: “This is obviously a simple code they have made up themselves. Ah, here is one. Delta X-ray X-ray. It is the letter ‘K'.”

Megan looked distressed and shook her head. “Oh let's keep moving!” she cried. “We don't have time to do that.”

Peter looked at her. “It might be very useful to know the enemy's plans. It might save us from walking into an ambush,” he replied, but he stood up and motioned Graham to continue.

The track wound on down the ridge. After ten minutes they were all perspiring and panting. Graham kept up a steady pace, glancing back repeatedly to ensure the others were keeping pace. The three rescued prisoners were the slowest. Megan also slowed them down as she lacked confidence and her balance was poor. More than once she slid down a steep part on her backside.

As they walked Peter kept glancing at the coded message and noted more letters and words he could decode from the captured messages. Several times he stumbled but he persisted, feeling sure it would help to know what the Devil Worshippers were up to.

It was hard going down the mountain. Leg muscles and knees began to complain at the effort. Of equal concern was the rapidly fading light. The track was just bare rock, earth and tree roots and many of the steps were large enough to be awkward and a real test of leg muscles.

By the time they came to the steepest section, where the track went down among large boulders and they had to clamber down slowly using their hands it was almost completely dark. This slowed them down and made Peter even more anxious.

What has happened to the police?
he wondered.
Why haven't they arrived?

He began to imagine all the horrible things which might have happened to Charmaine and Dean.

Thankfully they descended to an easier stretch, passing the place where they had seen the Death Adder. As they did Peter shuddered and once again felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. This was so unusual for him that he looked anxiously around, eyes straining to see into the shadows. It wasn't really snakes he was worried about; it was the other Devil Worshippers. There were several places which were perfect for ambushes.

With a shrug he realized that it would be most unlikely he would see any trouble before it struck so he resolutely kept on going, glad that Graham was leading.

The track came out onto the really steep area of bare rock and grass at the half way point. By then night had set in fully. The whole coastal corridor appeared to be ablaze with lights. Cairns and its sprawling suburbs were plain to see as was Gordonvale. The sugar mill stood out even more clearly than by day because of the bright lights and white steam.

Graham stopped at the half way marker. “Time for a break. I'm puffed,” he said.

Peter nodded agreement. He took out his pocket torch and checked it, then turned it on and resumed decoding the message. The others came down the track one at a time to join them.

Joy flopped down beside Peter. “The others are falling behind. We will have to slow down.”

“We will. We will have to use torches from here on anyway,” Peter replied. The idea did not appeal because it limited their vision even more and made them blinder to anyone lurking beside the track. He found he could not shake the idea that the Devil Worshippers were waiting in ambush but was careful not to mention it lest he frighten the others.

Holding up the notebook he said: “I've decoded most of this. It says: Have, then a trigram I can't decode, another trigram by Six Five One, that is in numerals, Trigram have trigram Knights. Six Five Two captured.”

Graham leaned across to look. “Someone has rescued the Knights?” he suggested.

Peter nodded. “Could be.”

“They must all have a number,” Joy suggested.

At that moment Stephen arrived. “You are right. Rudd is Six Five Two,” he said as he slumped down.

Joy looked frightened. “Does that mean there are six hundred and fifty two of these people?” she asked, anxiety clear in her voice.

Peter shook his head: “I doubt it. I think they are in groups. This group is Group Six Five and the other group is Six Six.”

“That makes sense,” Graham agreed. “Six Six would be the HQ.”

“But how many in each group?” Joy asked.

“Six?” Stephen suggested.

“Why six?” Joy asked.

Stephen shrugged. “Because six the Devil's number isn't it?” he replied.

Joy thought for a moment. “So Six Six Six would be the big boss?” she said.

Graham grunted and then chuckled. “Or the bloody Devil himself!” he said.

“Don't joke Graham! This is serious,” Joy replied.

“Sorry,” Graham replied, but he didn't sound it He heaved himself to his feet. “Come on. Time we…”

As he said this Stephen's radio again crackled.

Peter switched on his torch. “Quick! Write down what they say,” he ordered.

Stephen did as he was told. Joy helped by holding her torch to light up his notebook.

When Stephen had printed the message he tore the page from his notebook and passed it to Peter. Peter held his torch in his mouth and set to work. It read:

From 66 to 65

DAW DXJ DZA DWG DXA DWA DZC DYJ DWF DZR DYK DXP DXN DYB DAY

Almost at once his eyes found trigrams that matched. That gave his spirits a real boost and he redoubled his efforts, making a quick list of trigrams and the word or number they represented as he did.

Megan, Adrian Jones and the two knights caught up and sat down, followed by Gwen, who was last.

“Much further to go?” Gwen asked.

“We are half way,” Peter replied.

“Is that all! What time is it?”

Peter looked at his watch, which had a small light in it. “Only half past seven. That took us about forty minutes. The second half will take longer.”

“How long do you think?” Joy asked.

“Probably an hour or more,” Peter replied.

“Do you think those Devil Worshippers might be somewhere down the track ahead of us?” Stephen asked.

Peter swore under his breath as he heard Joy suck her breath in quickly. “Could be. Nothing we can do about it.”

Graham gestured into the dark bush. “We could always leave the track and just head down the mountain,” he suggested.

“You and I could,” Peter replied. “I doubt if the others could. It is very steep and dangerous in places.”

“Why don't we keep moving?” Megan asked.

“Because you need a rest and I am decoding this message.”

“Can't it wait?” Megan grumbled.

“Possibly. But I think it would be very useful to know what the enemy are up to. Then we might be able to avoid them,” Peter replied. He bent back
to his notebook. The others sat or lay in the darkness. Minutes ticked by and Peter began to feel pressure to keep moving. However he persisted for another couple of minutes then said: “I've decoded all I can. It reads: From Six Six to Six Five: Trigram, Trigram, Numeral One, Trigram, Trigram, Numeral Five, Have trigram RV, that is ‘Rendezvous', with Bravo Mike yet?”

“Maybe a number to begin with?” Graham suggested.

“Might be, or a time,” Peter replied.

Suddenly the radio began to talk again. Six Five calling Six Six. Stephen and Peter both copied the message which was very short, one trigram:- DYR

Peter glanced at his notes. “That means ‘No', or ‘not',” he said.

Gwen frowned. “So they haven't RV'd with Bravo Mike yet,” she suggested.

Peter stood up, aware that he felt dizzy and that his muscles had stiffened up. “Maybe no. Now let's move.”

They started to creep down the steep, rocky slope. After only fifty paces the radio went again. Peter stopped and told Stephen to take the message

Megan snapped angrily: “This is silly! If we stop every time that thing talks we will be up here all night!”

Peter ignored her. He had a feeling that it might be better to spend the night on the mountain than risk eternity in a grave- or mouldering on a scrubby mountainside.

This message was from 66 to 65. Peter was able to decode it much faster as he became familiar with the code. There were only three trigrams he could not work out. “It reads Trigram, which I think means ‘move' to RV TRIDENT, which must be a nickname, then two trigrams I can't get.”

They resumed their slow progress down the steep slope. The whole thing began to take on the qualities of a nightmare, made all the more unbelievable by the sight of familiar places in the distance.

Megan called from behind him. “What are those lights I can see?”

Peter looked up. “That is Cairns in the distance.”

“Yes I know that,” Megan replied. “I meant those lights further down the mountain.”

She was right. With a surge of relief Peter saw the flicker of torches through the trees.

Gwen gasped with relief. “The police! At last!” she cried.

“Or the Devil Worshippers coming back with reinforcements,” Stephen suggested gloomily.

For a moment Peter experienced a spasm of fear which later embarrassed him to recall. This was almost instantly replaced by annoyance. “Stop talking about them Stephen. It is the police, I'm sure.”

“Hope you're right,” Stephen replied sullenly.

Graham held up the gun. “If it isn't then they will have an unhappy time trying to get at us.”

Peter shivered as he watched the lights. Definitely torches, and only a few hundred metres down the mountain. He told himself that feeling feverish was only from over-exertion but fervently prayed that it was the police.

In almost complete silence they sat and waited as the lights climbed slowly closer.

Chapter 5

FEAR AND HOPE

I
t was the police.

As the torches came closer Peter glimpsed a blue shirt. With that he breathed out, suddenly aware that his chest hurt from the tension. He counted the torches bobbing and weaving up the slope through the trees and decided there were only six of them. As they reached the bottom of the open rocky slope Peter turned on his own torch.

“Hello! Here we are!” he called.

The torches stopped and a man called back: “Are you the cadets who sent for the police?”

“Yes,” Peter shouted. He felt so relieved he wanted to cry aloud.

Another voice called up to them: “Is that you Peter?”

Captain Conkey!
Now we will be alright
, Peter thought.

“Yes sir,” he called back.

Three minutes later Capt Conkey and the police group joined them. The captain was dressed in his cadet uniform. With him were two police; a sergeant and a senior constable, and three men in the orange overalls of the State Emergency Service. Capt Conkey was puffing hard. He sat himself on a rock and wiped his brow, then shone his torch over the group. “Hello. Who do we have here? I'm Captain Conkey, OC of the cadet unit and this is Sgt Crowe.”

Peter stood and made the introductions: “These are the men who were going to be sacrificed by the Devil Worshippers sir. This is Mr Jones from Gordonvale; and these two gentlemen are both knights of the Catholic Church.”

Sir Miles and Sir Richard came forward and shook hands with Capt Conkey and introduced themselves. Capt Conkey was too polite to query what a knight of the Catholic Church might be but the police sergeant had no hesitation.

“Knights? Do you mean like in the middle ages? Sorry, I don't understand,” the sergeant said.

Sir Miles answered: “Yes, we are members of a Holy Order of Knights. We are Knights of the Holy Grail. Our Order is dedicated to carrying out special quests for the Pope.”

“Special quests! What the devil brings you to North Queensland then?” Sgt Crowe asked.

“Scarcely the Devil, although we have met his works here,” Sir Miles replied. Peter was intrigued because Sir Miles deftly avoided answering the sergeant.

Quest? What could it be?
Peter wondered.

Sgt Crowe appeared not to notice. He wiped sweat from his face and gulped at water from a bag slung over his shoulder. “Yes, what is all this about Devil Worshippers? We got the most extraordinary tale from the two at the bottom.”

Peter spoke first: “Are Charmaine and Dean alright sir? We were worried that something might have happened to them. We expected you hours ago.”

“They were delayed by some characters they had to hide from,” Capt Conkey replied. “They saw three men in black arrive at the bottom of the hill just after you had left. They said that one was all dressed in black robes like a monk. Two of them, including the monk, went up the hill leaving the third on guard so Charmaine and Dean had to stay hidden till he left.”

As Capt Conkey said this Peter felt the most extraordinary cold feeling grip his heart and chest.
More Devil Worshippers! That means they could still be somewhere nearby.

Stephen joined them. “If they started up the mountain just after us they might still be in the area,” he suggested.

Capt Conkey nodded. “The thought had occurred to me,” he replied.

Graham looked excited. “They might have met up with some of the jokers we bumped into at the top,” he said.

“That's a possibility,” Peter agreed.

Graham went on. “I was hoping you would come in a helicopter sir,” he said cheerfully.

Sgt Crowe grunted. “That would have been nice,” he replied. “I'm getting too old to be tramping up bloody mountains in the dark. We would have come by chopper but the only one available is away rescuing a deckhand off a prawn trawler who caught his arm in a winch. It should arrive in a couple of hours. Now, what's all this about Devil Worshippers?”