Killer Ute (10 page)

27

I try not to think about how far away the shore is. I just count my strokes . . . 531, 532 . . . I'm swimming slow, but I know every stroke counts. One at a time . . . 533, 534 . . . There's a fishing boat like Mei's dad's trawler further up the coast. But they won't be able to spot me yet, so I keep making for the beach. A few motorboats hum. If I keep moving, surely someone will see me.

Barney dives around me, and disappears for minutes on end, maybe longer. So when the water is disturbed below me I don't panic. Something surfaces to my right. ‘Back at last, Barney?' I turn to look at him and my words burn the back of my throat. A fin, a huge one, is ten metres away, cruising in a circle. Only white pointers cruise like that. Smaller sharks dart. I drop my head underwater. Yep, a white pointer. Holy moly, that bloke wasn't kidding. It's three metres I reckon, huge compared to the shark Mei and I saw when we dived on the
Clan Ranald
. Will it attack me? Do I still smell like fish guts? Is the Pope Catholic?

I flounder and stop swimming. What can I do? Wait until it comes? Hit it on the nose? I wonder if that really works. But I'll try anything. I can see the beach at last. I fiddle with my life jacket to find the whistle. I hope sharks are scared of piercing noises. I blow it as loud as I can. The fin is giving me a wide berth. But then it closes the gap. The shark brushes past me. It feels like a bus has just barrelled through. Is it checking me out? I keep blowing the whistle. Then Barney surfaces.

I look in horror at Barney. It's like he has a neon sign on him:
Eat me! I'm shark food
. ‘Barney, get out of here. That shark will take you before me.' Mei will be so upset if the shark eats Barney. I blow the whistle at him. He doesn't like it and swims away. The fin follows him. I can't watch. I keep heading for shore. I'm so tired now I'm dog paddling. Even a seahorse could catch me.

Something's splashing behind me. I hope it's not Barney. Then a motor idles nearby. How did a boat get so close without me realising? The guy must be back but I'm too tired to check. I keep paddling but it will be easy for him to pick me off with an oar.

‘Joel!' Did the guy know my name? ‘Joel Billings! It's Constable Jones. With Sea Rescue.'

I stop and tread water. I can't believe it. The boat edges closer. Mei's hanging over the side, her mouth wide in the cutest smile I've seen. ‘Nice work with the whistle, Joel. We heard you from ages away.'

‘Can you climb the ladder?' Constable Jones says. I try, I really do, but my legs won't work. He comes down the ladder to lift me up. When he puts me on the deck, Mei starts taking off my life jacket, and I'm so stuffed I can't help her.

‘I'm sorry about this,' Constable Jones is saying. ‘We didn't realise someone else was involved, or we would have provided protection . . .' He crouches beside me as Mei drapes a blanket around me. ‘So he dumped you in the sea?' he asks.

I nod. My teeth are clattering so much I reckon they might fall out. How long have I been in? The sun's in the western sky. Hours and hours.

‘We've caught him,' Constable Jones says. ‘Felicity found him heading north and the trawler sent a boat out too.' I can see the concern in his face, concern for me. ‘With what he tried to do to you, he'll get a long time in jail. Along with his mates. You don't have to worry any more, Joel.'

Yeah, that's what I thought this morning. What happens when they serve their sentences? They won't have turned into choirboys. I don't say that though; there's only one thing I'm worried about right now. ‘Dev?'

Constable Jones smiles. ‘He was determined to come while we searched for you. Can you stand?' He helps me up. I wobble a bit but I manage to walk with him supporting me on one side and Mei holding my arm on the other. She feels so warm. Can't wait to hug her when I get feeling back in my arms.

They take me into the cabin. Dev's sitting up on a stretcher. His head is bandaged and he looks grey, but he's alive. I practically fall on him. He groans, but manages a grin. ‘Takes a lot to drown us, hey mate?'

I can't help it – it's so good to see him alive – I cling to him and cry like a little kid.

28

Felicity insisted Dev and I have a check-up at the Penola hospital last night. They said we were okay to go if we took it easy. What a relief. I don't want to miss a second of this last day, so early in the morning Mei and I slip down to the rocks. We're rewarded. Barney's there, grunting at us. I'm so relieved he's alive I get tears in my eyes. I don't know what's come over me lately; I never cry. Barney looks like he's begging, but I'm not tempted to give him a fish. He was almost shark dinner because he was hanging around me. I finally get to tell Mei how he helped me in the sea. Her eyes get that shine in them that I love. ‘Truly? He actually did that for you?' And she tells Barney what a special pup he is. He lets her stroke his chin before he dives into the water. He swims away but bobs his head up once to check on us.

Mei's standing as close to me as she can on the rocks. Her eyes are glistening. ‘It's back to school on Monday,' she says, but her eyes don't look like she's thinking of school at all. That's when I wrap my arms around her and kiss her.

We slowly walk back over the dunes, arm in arm, just talking about the stuff we'll do when we're home again. Her dad will bring the trawler to the jetty to pick her up later on.

When we reach the campsite Max and Felicity are dismantling the kitchen tent. Dev's doing ours but before I can help him, Felicity calls me over. ‘How are you today, Joel?'

Apart from feeling like I've been flattened by a steamroller, I'm fine. ‘Okay,' I say.

She pauses; I guess she knows there's stuff I wouldn't tell her. ‘Joel, you've had a difficult time, but you've handled this situation really well. You're one plucky kid and anytime you want a real holiday . . .' she grins when she says ‘real holiday', ‘. . . you can stay at the farm.' Then she gives me a big hug.

I help Dev pack our gear, but I'm not moving too fast. Dev watches me. ‘You sure you're okay, mate?' He says it in that off-hand way of his, letting me choose to answer or ignore him. I'm pressing all the air out of the mattress and I flop onto it, to squeeze out more air. ‘I guess I'm okay but I keep thinking – it won't ever be over for good, will it? It's only in stories that the bad guy dies at the end and everyone can relax.'

‘Scott will be in jail a long time, mate.'

‘Yeah, then he'll get out.'

‘He might get help in there – I did.'

I can't imagine Scott a changed man like Dev is. Guess I just have to take a page out of Dev's book and make the bad things work for good in my life, to make me strong. It's like Dev knows what I'm thinking. He pulls me up and holds me by the shoulders. ‘I am so proud of you, mate.' His voice cracks and he gives me a hug like he gave Mick – the ‘we've been through stuff together' kind of hug. And then it hits me; I know what I have to do. Scott will always be there but I won't let him ruin my life. This is one battle I will win. It's not a battle with Scott but a battle with my mind. And the way to win is to keep my eyes on Dev.

Acknowledgements

This is a work of fiction and no character represents any living or dead person.

My thanks go to Longriders CMC who gave permission for their club's name to be used in this book.

Thank you to Kristina Schulz, Cathy Vallance and the wonderful team at UQP for all your work on
Killer Ute
.

Thank you, Ray and Helen Hammat, for your hospitality in showing me Beachport where I spent my first childhood holiday. Thank you, Grigor Fahlbusch, for reading the manuscript and your suggestions. Thanks to Mac Hayes for your advice. Thanks also to John and
Lorraine Foote for diving anecdotes, Beachport Information Centre, Beachport Museum, Chris Johnson, Craig Riley, Colin Moulden, Year 6 students at Wilderness, including Rheannon Ashby, and to Ben Morton for the cowcatcher. Thank you, Ross Vogt, for that exhilarating ride.

Also in this series by Rosanne Hawke

THE KEEPER

Get hooked on the first gripping book in this action-packed adventure series!

Twelve-year-old Joel hasn't had an easy life – the school bully picks on him and his parents abandoned him long ago. He lives with his over-protective gran who won't even let him enter a fishing competition! Joel reckons having a new dad would solve all his problems, so he places an ad in the local paper.

When a tattooed, long-haired biker named Dev Eagle answers the ad, Joel's world is turned upside down. But Dev is not the only new stranger in town – someone from Joel's past is back to haunt him.

ISBN 978 0 722 4973 0

Also in this series by Rosanne Hawke

SAILMAKER

Be blown away by the second haunting tale in this exciting adventure series!

With his biological father back in jail, Joel thinks all his troubles are behind him. He's looking forward to the future with his biker foster dad, Dev. But Joel runs into trouble when he and his best friend, Mei, meet the old sailmaker and discover that the island lighthouse is haunted.

Strange noises in the night, unexplained footprints – Joel reckons there's got to be a logical explanation. But he soon realises that solving the mystery will be far more terrifying and dangerous than a ghost!

ISBN 978 0 7022 4972 3

Also by Rosanne Hawke

TAJ AND THE GREAT CAMEL TREK

Winner Children's Literature Award, Adelaide Festival 2012

CBCA Notable Book for Younger Readers 2012

An inspirational and gripping adventure and tribute to the Afghan camel drivers who helped explore Australia.

Beltana, South Australia, 1875.
Twelve-year-old Taj and his camel Mustara are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

They are joining explorer Ernest Giles on his second attempt to cross the Australian desert where wild dogs, scorpions, poisonous snakes and a constant shortage of water mean they are never far from disaster.

As if things weren't tough enough, Taj, raised in the ways of the Afghan people, is struggling to find his place in this new and exciting land.

‘This is a must-read historic adventure, which is at times quite grim and at other times warm and charming.'
Good Reading

ISBN 978 0 7022 3877 2

First published 2013 by University of Queensland Press

PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia

www.uqp.com.au

© Rosanne Hawke 2013

This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Typeset in 11.5/16.5 pt Rotis Semi Sans by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane

Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

National Library of Australia

Hawke, Rosanne.

Killer ute / Rosanne Hawke.

For primary school aged children.

Automobiles – Australia – Juvenile fiction.

A823.3

ISBN (pbk) 978 0 7022 4960 0

ISBN (epdf) 978 0 7022 5078 1

ISBN (epub) 978 0 7022 5079 8

ISBN (kindle) 978 0 7022 5080 4

University of Queensland Press uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.