Hindsight (20 page)

‘Usually by motivation. As my gran used to say, evil is either active or passive, and that little scene was definitely active — the most common motives for which include greed, lust or jealousy. So which would you bet on?’

‘All three probably,’ Ben said. ‘Look at her. She’s eye candy.’

‘Yet they also took you. Nice try,’ Lockman said, swerving hard left around a bend and causing Mira to lean all the harder against him. ‘Unless you did something to provoke wrath or envy, I’m betting on greed — and something to do with you, ma’am, since they weren’t too gentle with him. Question is: what is it that you’ve done or got, that they want?’

‘That’s none of your business,’ Ben said. ‘But if those are Mira’s glasses in your chest pocket, I’ll thank you to give them back to her.’

‘Every intention of it. Here you go, ma’am.’ He tapped them onto her hand as he changed down gears to take a sharper corner in the opposite direction. ‘Do they help much?’

‘Surprisingly, yes. But that’s not really any of your business, is it?’

‘Perhaps, but you folks could be a little more grateful. Did I help you back there, or not?’

‘You did,’ Ben conceded. ‘And we are grateful, but …’

‘We don’t trust you either,’ Mira said, ‘and if you don’t quit calling me ma’am, I’m going to borrow a guide dog and train him to bite you.’

‘A
guard
dog would be a better idea.’

‘I had one of those,’ Ben argued. ‘Your colonel shot him.’

‘Oh yeah, sorry. I did read that in one of the briefings. As it happens, I have a mate not far from here who breeds shepherds for the army. Usually has some for sale to the public — unless you’d rather high-tail it to the nearest cop station?’

‘Not even if I was desperate,’ Ben said, shifting his arm around Mira. ‘It was the local cop here who sent me up the river the first time.’

‘Yeah, I read about that, too. Funny, there wasn’t any mention of what special interest the army had in either of you in the first place, aside from being volunteers for the docs’ latest science project — and you know, security for that
is
my business.’

‘Then you’d better ask them,’ Ben said. ‘If they chose to leave you in the dark, it’s hardly our place to fill you in.’

‘Fair enough. I suppose I’d have greater cause for concern if you did blab it to me.’

‘Forget it,’ Ben said. ‘Aren’t you on holidays? Or was that a cover story, just as Mira guessed?’

‘What difference does it make now?’ he asked, taking another corner at speed.

‘One was a lie,’ Mira replied.

‘I haven’t lied to you, ma’am. Not ever.’

Mira dug him in the ribs with her fingernail. ‘Quit calling me that.’

‘Ow! Hey, first names don’t come easy to a grunt who’s born and bred military.’ He accelerated down a ramp onto the freeway, as the atmosphere seemed to intensify unexpectedly.

‘What am I missing?’ Mira whispered to Ben.

‘Nothing,’ he replied. ‘I just want to be sure whose side he’s on. Born and bred?’ he asked. ‘That equals loyal to the death, right?’

‘Not if it means abetting traitors, but I’m pretty sure I’ve proven that already in Kitching’s playpen.’

‘Playpen?’ Mira complained as he accelerated into a faster lane. ‘Kitching
tortured
you!’

‘Put it this way,’ Ben said, ‘if I asked you to stop right now, would you let us out?’

‘Here?’ Lockman chuckled. ‘Are you kidding?’

‘No better place to hitch a ride with all this traffic, each way.’

‘I wouldn’t advise it. Aside from the fact that you’re in urgent need of a field dressing, there’s no telling how fast those guys can get themselves into another vehicle — until they turn the corner and bag you. Next time, you can bet they’ll be ready for anything.’

Ben swore under his breath. ‘Don’t kid yourself. You’re abducting us too.’

Brakes squealed and small stones skittered as the Hilux slewed sideways across two lanes to a wide bay reserved for break-downs.

‘There’s your kerb,’ Lockman said as the truck came to a halt. ‘I’ll even hail an ambulance — save putting another civilian at risk by hitching, but if you’ve misjudged
me
as a con, pal, you’re not going to last long.’

Mira heard sincerity in his voice and caught Ben’s arm as he moved to climb out ahead of her. ‘If we did stay with you,’ she asked, ‘where would you take us?’

‘Anywhere you want. I’m kitted up for camping and this is a four-wheel drive, but whatever you do, scratch Serenity off your list — and Straddie. The ferry is a bottle neck.’

Mira laughed. ‘Serenity is the
last
place I’d go!’

‘Worth a call to each, though. Let your friends and family know they’ll need to be wary of strangers for a while.’

‘Mel is going to love that,’ Mira said, wondering how much worse their day could get.

‘Ma doesn’t need to know yet. The day is young and the problem can still resolve itself.’

Lockman laughed. ‘Have you got a stash of pixie dust you haven’t mentioned?’

‘Better,’ Ben said. ‘We’ve got money. We can buy a yacht and sail out beyond their reach.’

‘Only if you can pay cash. Make no mistake, for her sake. It’s not too difficult for any guru-hacker, PI or investigative journalist to peek into your finances — and those guys threatened you with everything they had. You’d be dumb to underestimate them, even if their first shot was only with a taser.’

‘Only?’ Ben grumbled. ‘What would you suggest we do? A shootout at noon?’

‘I prefer fishing,’ Lockman said, ‘and for big game, we need the right bait.’

J
olting over the ghostly purple gutter into the parking lot for a bayside boat ramp, Lockman manoeuvered expertly into the midst of long rows of four-wheel drives and their boat trailers, where he found a triple-length parking space and drew to a halt in the middle of it.

Yesterday, the space had been vacant too. Most of the neighbouring ghost-trailers were empty of boats, but full or empty, it wouldn’t take more than two or three to hide them from any traffic in the dead-end street. Or from boat traffic on the water, as it happened, since a ramshackle bait shop squatted by the water’s edge, obscuring what could have been a glorious view. Yet, they weren’t really cornered against the bay, since an array of four-wheel drive trails also fanned into scrub and mangroves on the other side of the car park.

‘I won’t let you use Mira as bait,’ Ben said as he climbed out. He tugged Mira’s hand to follow and keep her close.

‘I never suggested that,’ Lockman said, and in seconds, he was out too. Mira heard the seat crack and groan forward, then rustling behind it as Lockman fetched out his first aid kit. ‘They’ve shown an interest in your car, so it will do.’

‘You just drove us away from it!’ Ben argued.

‘Drove
her
away from it. That’s the first rule of war, mate: deny your enemy their goal. They seemed less careful about you, but that’s not to say your car isn’t useful as bait where it is. That’s if you still want to find out who you’re dealing with?’

‘You didn’t recognise them?’ Mira asked, astounded. ‘That laugh was the same as I heard from our cell. You weren’t blindfolded. The kookaburra man was the colonel’s contact with the black market!’

‘I didn’t hear any laugh,’ Lockman said. ‘How about you?’

‘Not laughing,’ Ben replied. ‘Gregan made some weird sounds when he was tearing out his hair at our little floor show, but that looked like frustration. He’s had plenty of trouble with cops lately. And there’s no chance of him being hooked up with Kitching. He’s just a local small businessman.’

‘Greppia was there
today
?’ Mira asked. ‘And you didn’t mention it?’

‘I didn’t want to distract you. I suppose he did sound a little like a kookaburra, but he wasn’t laughing. He had crocodile tears — and what are the chances of him being in tight with the colonel anyway? Like, I said, he’s just …’

‘A question mark,’ Lockman argued. ‘If he’s a local mobster, he’d have ties to the black market for sure.’ Lockman slammed his bench seat back into place and instructed Ben to take off his shirt. ‘Your shoulder’s bleeding.’

‘No need, Corporal. It’s just my old wound leaking.’

‘Ben, please,’ Mira pleaded, hearing the pain in his voice. ‘If you won’t let him check it, let me?’

Ben huffed and stood still, so she took it as consent to reach inside his shirt front first. Starting gently from his collarbone, she closed her eyes, better able to see him take shape in her mind, as she explored for blood or tenderness.

She worked her way down and across his chest enjoying an intimacy that seemed safer with someone else watching. Buttons peeled open, as his hands worked down ahead of hers, letting her in. His left hand came to rest on her hip, making her all the more aware of him — his warmth and the salty smell of his skin.

He was warm — too warm — and she felt his heart pounding harder inside its cage. No sticky blood though, as far as she could find.

‘A little more to your left and higher,’ Lockman said. ‘Geez, mate, I didn’t realise he got you clean through. I’ll bet that hurt.’

‘Genius,’ Ben muttered.

‘Surgical. He must have used laser sights to wing you that neatly without killing you. Damned considerate, or the luckiest near-miss in history.’

‘Considerate?’ Mira gasped, astounded. ‘Considerate would have been a water pistol! Or leaving us alone in the first place.’

‘My point exactly. There must be something about you that makes you worth such an effort.’

‘You nailed it already,’ Ben replied. ‘We’re civilians with access to the docs. Sitting ducks.’

‘Ah, but that wound tells me a different story now. The colonel had everything he wanted from them, and yet he still went after you and did that. He also locked her up like a zoo exhibit in my cell, with people coming and going, looking in on her. No, there’s something about you, Mirage, that wasn’t in any of the reports I saw.’

‘Mirage?’ She caught her breath as time swept her memory back to the sweet-smelling pillow of an infant’s cradle. Nobody had called her by that name since her blind mother. Yet the way Lockman pronounced it, sounded just as beautiful — and far too intimate to be coming from him.

‘That’s your name, isn’t it?’

She squirmed, feeling uncomfortably aware of both men again. ‘From you, I think I prefer ma’am.’

Lockman chuckled. ‘Yes, ma’am. So what is it about you that makes men like the colonel and Greppia want you so bad?’

‘You’ve got eyes.’ Ben tensed under her fingers. ‘Now back off, okay? She prefers space.’

Silence followed, and Mira wished she could read their body language, since it always helped so much when lip-reading yester-ghosts.

‘Okay, I get it,’ Lockman said. ‘Like you said; if the docs thought I needed to know, they would have told me. I get that a lot in R & D.’

A pad of soft cotton bumped against Mira’s bare forearm.

‘What’s that?’ she asked.

‘Research and Development.’

‘No, that …’ She stuck out her elbow, which found his hand with the cotton again.

‘Oh, a bandage.’ Lockman nudged the pad against her hand this time. ‘Sorry, it’s easy to forget you’re blind. Here, take it,’ he added, holding it against her fingers until she did. ‘I’ve dabbed it with honey.’

‘Honey?’ Mira screwed up her nose. ‘Have you never heard of antiseptic?’

‘For something like that, honey sticks better and hurts less. Just poke him until he yelps and then you’ll know where to put it. The adhesive tabs on the ends should peel off fairly easily — I assume you’d rather do that yourself?’

Of course
, she thought, wondering how he knew, but trying to peel off the tabs with blunt fingernails seemed impossible at first.

‘Ow! Hey, thanks, pal,’ Ben complained as she found the oozing edge of his wound again. ‘You’ve helped us enough, okay?’

‘Harden up,’ Lockman said. ‘Get your shirt off and let her get at it properly. You’ll be no use to her if that gets infected.’

Reluctantly, Ben shrugged off his shirt and turned around, causing Mira’s hand to trail loosely over his skin.

She smelled blood, and her fingers soon found the trail to the wound — just above his shoulder blade. Much smaller than the exit wound on his chest, the entry wound on his back was still little more than a puncture, but leaking far more.

‘We were discussing bait,’ she said, hoping to distract Ben from any pain as she tended to it. ‘But even if we do lure them, what then? As appealing as it may sound to kill the kookaburra man and his two fake MPs, I treasure my freedom … And you don’t really think you can talk them into leaving me alone, do you?’

‘I’m with her,’ Ben said. ‘Although I’m not convinced that Gregan Greppia looked familiar with either of the two men who grabbed us, I think it’s best if we just make like stingrays: muddy up and disappear.’

‘That’s my plan, too,’ Lockman said. ‘Cough up your car keys. Take my truck and my gear, and go camping. I don’t care where, only be smart and make it somewhere secluded — just you and the sleepy sounds of Mother Nature. We can swap cars again when I give you the all clear.’

‘Great,’ Ben said flatly. ‘How exactly do you plan to achieve that, if you won’t know where we are? I’m hardly going to answer my mobile phone now, am I?’

‘Not even by accident. Hand it over.’ Lockman clicked his fingers. ‘Take mine. It’s secure enough and has reception almost anywhere.’

‘An army phone?’ Mira asked suspiciously. ‘Have I not made it perfectly clear that I don’t want anything to do with the military?’

‘Relax, it’s my personal phone, and only close friends and family have the number.’

Mira frowned, unconvinced.

‘Do you want to be free of your fan club today, or not?’

‘What if your mum calls?’ Ben asked, resignedly.

‘Then you’re already dead, mate. Angels sang her home when I was a kid.’

‘Hand it over then,’ Mira said. ‘If we must have a phone with GPS that can be tracked, I want to be sure it doesn’t get used even by accident.’

Lockman complied without argument, Ben checked it was off and she stashed it in her shirt pocket with plans to leave it in his car, just as soon as they could slip away.

Hovering down the highway in Lockman’s Hilux, Mira felt safer with Ben at the invisible wheel — until she saw the exit sign for the secluded end of Halls Bay. It seemed too surreal, having been raised in the area as a child, to see it now through a monochrome haze. So much had changed. Once a remote crossroads in the forest, now a thriving suburb at a freeway exit, it took another few minutes of driving downhill into wetlands before the road narrowed to a single lane and the slim line of older bitumen led into scrubby coastal forest.

Yet some things never changed. Milkweeds still lined both sides of the road at the point where the sealed bitumen ran out and the sandy gravel began. They’d always smelled so acidic, and yet seeing them now, they looked wildly pretty in the violet haze of yesterday.

‘I expected there’d be traffic,’ she said, having braved her second road journey with her eyes open — all the way this time, except for bridges, which she still found nerve-racking. ‘Even if it’s only conservationists.’

‘No tree huggers required here now that there’s an injunction in place. Never should have needed them in the first place. A blind fool could have seen this stretch of coast needed saving from developers. Your place was the only private land between the national park and the bay … It’s only a matter of time now, I guess, until it’s all turned over to National Parks or redesignated as a state government reserve. I just wish it could have been a happier homecoming for you.’

‘Happier than the one you can expect with your mum, I’m afraid. Do you think she’ll be angry for long?’

‘For what? Bringing trouble home again … Nah.’ He sounded convincingly relaxed about it. ‘She won’t even notice us missing tonight — not until breakfast.’

‘Good, because I was going to ask if you’d bring me back here for one last look anyway.’

‘Inevitable then,’ Ben said, ‘because I was going to suggest it too.’

Speeding along the rough gravel, they splashed through a shallow, sandy creek, where Mira spotted the rusted sign to her parents’ old bird sanctuary. For many years, it had been lashed to a timber gatepost and overgrown by forest vines, but now it was part of the road and the gatepost was nowhere to be seen. The threshold into her childhood property was now guarded by a ghostly chain that was strung slackly at waist-height between two methuselahan eucalypts, both of which were safe from dozers inside the boundary with state forestry.

Central to the huge chain, a heavy sign warned:
Trespassers will be prosecuted.

‘There’s one perk in being an ex-resident of Serenity,’ Ben said light-heartedly. ‘You’re already unfit for prosecution.’ He braked to a halt at the chain and waited for a thick-smelling cloud of dust to overtake them before stepping out. ‘Ten to one our boyscout friend has a set of bolt cutters in his kit.’

‘Ah, but then it will be obvious that someone is in there. So maybe we should go to a normal camping ground after all?’

‘Not possible, Mira. I’m trying to avoid a paper trail, and a camping ground means we’d need to show ID for a permit. Knowing Gabby as I do, I also know how vigilant park rangers can be with patrols. We’d barely be parked five minutes.’

‘Then I suppose it’s just as well we have a four-wheel drive now,’ she said cheekily.

‘I can’t drive over the chain, Mira. I need to find something to cut it.’

‘What if you back up as far as the creek? So long as there’s no tree down across it, you should be able to drive upstream for a few minutes and find where it curves around into my place below the ridge. It should be shallow the whole way.’

He closed his door, shifted gears and accelerated in reverse. ‘We’ll probably bog,’ he muttered. ‘In my car, we could have made it
under
the chain.’ He splashed backwards through the creek, locked hubs to engage drive on all four wheels, then veered upstream. ‘I just hope Lockman remembers that my car’s a bit more delicate.’

‘What do you think his plan is?’ she asked, bouncing as the front wheel climbed up over a small boulder. ‘He wasn’t very generous with details.’

‘I suspect he makes it up as he goes. But he handled them once already, so I doubt he’ll need backup.’

‘Unless it’s standard procedure, or if he’s running late for getting back to the labs or wherever.’

‘No need to look so worried, Mira. They’re probably still handcuffed and feeling quite chatty by now.’

Mira shrugged, not so much worried about Lockman, as the trouble that might follow him back to her and Ben.