Taking the Chequered Flag (6 page)

‘What happened?’ Angus asked E.D. They were huddled in the front section of Mario’s van, along with Hannah and Gabby. Mario was in the back attending to E.D.’s bike.

E.D. shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. It’s done now.’

‘It looked like you and Jack bumped or something,’ said Hannah. She looked at E.D. He seemed forlorn and resigned.

‘He kicked me, made me lose my balance. Coming out of corners are my best moments and he slowed me down. I just couldn’t get the bike back under control—not until I’d been overtaken.’

‘Yeah, I know. I recorded it,’ Gabby said, trying to brush off specks of dirt from her new
T-shirt. Why do I always get so dirty at motorbike races? she wondered. It’s not like
I’m
riding the bike this time. She looked up. Everyone was staring at her. ‘What?’

‘Oh my God, I’m so stupid!’ Hannah said, slapping herself on the forehead.

‘What?’ Gabby asked, looking at each of them.

‘Have we got time?’ Angus asked.

‘Time for what? Hello?’ Gabby saw E.D. glance at his watch. Suddenly he threw open the door and started sprinting through the puddles towards the clubhouse.

‘Come on, Gab!’

‘But it’s raining!’ A clap of thunder rumbled overhead.

‘And bring the camera!’ Angus yelled, his hair already plastered to his face. Sighing, Gabby reached for her bag and followed the others into the rain.

‘Hey, Gabby, what’s up?’ Mario called from the rear of the van. Gabby paused, the rain drenching her. She shrugged, threw her hands in the air and followed the others to the clubrooms. Mario wasn’t far behind.

Gabby arrived to see E.D. standing alone in the pouring rain, his hand holding a purple flag.
He looked like a drowned rat; his long black hair hanging down over his face and shirt. But he was grim and determined.

‘What’s he doing?’ Gabby whispered to Angus.

‘Holding the purple flag,’ Hannah interrupted.

‘Well I can see that.’ Gabby was quickly losing patience. Angus took her bag and pulled out the camcorder. ‘What, do you want me to film him?’

‘The race officials are just deciding whether he got there within 15 minutes of the end of the race.’

‘The purple flag is the dispute flag,’ Hannah added.

‘Oh, I get it. He’s lodging a protest. Why didn’t you just say so? It’s the same in swimming, only the flag is…’

‘He’s going in,’ Angus said, moving closer to the window.

An official had waved him inside. E.D. arrived at the door and handed the flag to a big man with a red face and a white moustache. He looked cross and impatient.

‘Too late, young fella,’ he said, gruffly. ‘You should have thought of it earlier. Anyway, I’ve spoken to the marshals and they didn’t see anything unusual.’ It was only then that Angus
noticed Mr Proctor and his two children standing together by another door on the far side of the room. E.D. shrugged his shoulders and headed slowly for the door. Hannah and the others joined him.

‘As long as the purple flag is available to be taken, a dispute can be heard.’ E.D. froze. It was Mario’s voice that had suddenly broken the silence.

‘And who would you be?’ The large man glared at Mario.

‘I’m his brother, but I’ve also been on the International Committee of Motorbike Racing and am a current member of the Australian Federation of Motocross Bikes and Bike Racing. I’m aware of the rules. That boy held the purple flag in his hand and you need to hear his complaint.’

E.D. swallowed. He was about to speak, but Angus suddenly jerked a hand over his mouth.

‘Let Mr Theodore decide, E.D. He’s in charge here and he knows the rules better than anyone.’

Hannah smiled. That was so clever of Mario. She watched Mr Theodore closely as he slowly twirled his white moustache.

‘Very well,’ he said, finally. ‘Although Emilio here exceeded the time limit, that flag should
have been brought in and it wasn’t. Sit down, Emilio.’ He looked across at Jack Proctor. ‘You’d better come over here and have a seat too, young Jack. It seems that this concerns you.’

‘This is an outrage!’ Mr Proctor said angrily. Another crack of thunder shook the building.

‘It’ll be an outrage if we all drown because you kept us from getting this affair over and done with,’ Mr Theodore boomed, almost as loud as the thunder. Dragging his feet, Jack sauntered over to a chair and slumped down in it. Two more officials carrying notepads had appeared from a small office above.

‘Right, let’s have it.’ Mr Theodore turned to face E.D.

‘It’s pretty simple. This guy here kicked out at me and caused me to lose my balance. It took me a while to get my balance back and by the time I did I’d lost at least two places. I came seventh and missed out on the Inter Club Meet next weekend.’

Hannah, Angus and Gabby edged closer. It was hard to hear with the driving rain beating down on the tin roof overhead. Mr Theodore turned to Jack.

‘Well, did you do this?’

‘Of course he didn’t,’ Mr Proctor bellowed,
striding forward himself. ‘My boy would never do a thing like that. If you ask me—’

‘Mr Proctor, I’m not asking you. I’m asking the boy.’ He turned back to Jack. ‘Well?’

Jack folded his arms and stared straight ahead.

‘Of course I didn’t. He’s making it up because he’s not good enough and the only way he reckons he can get to the Inter Club is by cheating.’

‘Well,’ Mr Theodore said. ‘That appears to be that. One boy’s word against the other’s. And since we have no evidence there’s nothing to be done about it.’

‘Now, Gabby,’ Hannah said, pushing her forward.

‘What?’ Gabby said loudly. Suddenly everyone in the room was looking at her.

‘You have something to say, Miss?’ Mr Theodore glared at her. Gabby stood there, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

‘She has nothing to say,’ Hannah said, stepping forward.

‘Well that’s plain for all to see,’ Mr Theodore said. Mr Proctor burst out laughing.

‘But she has something to show,’ Angus said, joining his friends.

‘What’s going on?’ E.D. asked. Gabby reached into her bag and pulled out the camera. Jack’s face slowly went white. His father’s quickly went red, then purple.

‘You can’t take the evidence of some stupid little camera taken by—’

‘Well, well. Let’s have a look,’ Mr Theodore said, beckoning Gabby over to the table where he sat. The two officials next to him leaned in closer to view the small screen. Gabby pressed play. The screen crackled slightly as black and white lines scrolled across it.

‘Gabby?’ Hannah said, suddenly noticing Gabby’s frown.

‘It’s okay, Han. I can do this.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. How long must this farce go on for? This is an absolute joke. Jack, come on. We’re going.’

‘Wait!’ Hannah said, surprised that she’d spoken the word.

‘Hannah, it’s not working!’ Gabby squealed, pressing the stop button and then the play button again. Hannah stepped forward. Jack had stood up and was walking over to his father. Mr Theodore was frowning, and the other two officials were glaring at Gabby.

‘Gab, did you press rewind?’ Hannah asked, quickly.

‘Oh!’ Gabby let out a little embarrassed laugh and pressed the rewind button. ‘One more minute,’ called Mr Theodore. Mr Proctor and the two kids paused by the door. The tape had rewound to the beginning. Hannah pressed play, then fast forward, cueing the tape to E.D.’s race.

‘Righto, young man. Now where and when did this supposed push occur?’ Mr Theodore asked, leaning in again and looking interested. The other officials followed his gaze.

‘Back corner, right out near the golf course. Marshal 13,’ E.D. said. ‘Just after the corner.’

‘Furthest part of the course,’ Mr Theodore grumbled. They watched the small screen for a moment. ‘There!’ E.D. exclaimed, pointing. Hannah stole a glance in Mr Proctor’s direction.

‘I’ve got an important engagement, Harold,’ he said, the tone of his voice changed from the anger of a few moments ago. ‘We need to go now.’

‘Pause it there and rewind,’ Mr Theodore said, taking no notice of Mr Proctor. ‘Can we zoom in? And go a bit slower.’ He removed a pair of glasses from his top pocket and slowly placed them on his nose.

‘He’s loving every minute of this,’ Mario whispered to Angus. ‘Until he finds out the closest I’ve come to a motocross committee is standing for an hour in a marshal tower. And that was only because that nice girl Rebecca promised me a date if I could help out.’ Mario smiled to himself.

Except for the rain beating on the roof like a thousand drumsticks rapping a snare drum, there was no other sound as E.D. and the three officials closely watched the footage.

‘Well, I’ll be dammed,’ Mr Theodore said finally, leaning back in his chair. ‘Damian? Sharon?’ He turned to the officials next to him.

‘That’s an obvious breach of rules going on there,’ Damian said. Sharon was nodding her head in agreement.

‘Right then.’ But as Mr Theodore rose importantly from his chair, a door slammed. Mr Proctor and Jack had suddenly disappeared.

‘Teagan?’ Mr Proctor’s voice screamed from outside the clubrooms.

‘I…I’m sorry,’ she muttered, then quickly slipped out. Angus blushed. She had been looking directly at him.

‘Well, well,’ Mr Theodore muttered, twisting and pulling his moustache. ‘Most unusual.’ He
raised himself up to his full height. Hannah stifled a giggle as the image of a pigeon, preening and proud, jumped into her head. Mr Theodore looked around importantly, cleared his throat and spoke.

‘Let it be known that the ruling of this committee is that a breach of the rules of fair play has taken place and that Jack Proctor is hereby disqualified from the race. He will receive zero points and thus be ineligible to participate at the Inter Club Meeting next week. No further penalty shall be invoked. Let it also be known that Emilio De Lugio will be granted an advancement of one placing, thus giving him sixth placing and therefore making him
eligible
to participate at the Inter Club Meeting next week.’

Gabby grinned. She liked the way he’d said eligible.

‘You guys are awesome!’ E.D. yelled, rushing over to Gabby and Hannah and hugging them both. They watched as the three officials trooped upstairs.

‘Well done for bringing your camera, Gab,’ Mario said, squeezing her arm.

‘And for taping the race,’ Hannah added.

‘And for finding the rewind button in the nick of time.’ Angus smiled.

‘Well, I did get a bit of help with that last part.’ Gabby tucked the camera in her bag as they made their way through puddles and mud to Mario’s van. But none of them ran, and for once Gabby barely noticed the rain drenching her.

‘Look out!’ Mario screamed suddenly, jumping to his right. The others followed, but not before an enormous black and green van shot past them, saturating them all with a wall of water as its wheels churned through an enormous puddle.

‘Temper, temper!’ E.D. shouted and grinned at Jack’s face staring out of the car. ‘Got you now, Jack Proctor.’

‘This is the best idea we’ve had for a long time,’ said Hannah as she trudged up the long driveway to Gabby’s house. ‘No dust, no dirt, no noise, just peace and quiet, and a swimming pool.’

‘It wasn’t our idea, remember,’ said Angus.

‘Sometimes, Gabby has the best ideas.’ E.D. ran the last 20 metres to the front door and rang the bell.

No one had answered the door by the time they reached E.D. He was standing with his nose almost on the wood.

‘What are you doing?’ Angus said, pushing his friend away from the door.

There was a note pinned to it, and the writing was in Gabby’s small, neat hand.
Had to
go out for a moment. Back soon. Help yourself to drinks and chips around the back. Please turn the filter off before going in the pool. No T-shirts, E.D.

‘She just likes my manly chest,’ said E.D. as they walked around the back.

‘In your dreams, E.D.,’ said Hannah. ‘She doesn’t want your black T-shirt leaving dye in the water.’

‘Believe what you like, Han.’ E.D. grinned. ‘That girl is always thinking of me.’

Gabby wasn’t thinking of E.D. at all. She was thinking of Tony. And she was on her way to speak to him—without the others, which was what she’d planned.

E.D. won’t mind, she reasoned. After all, it’s for Tony’s sake. She didn’t let herself think that E.D. might have wanted to be included in helping his brother.

Gabby arrived at E.D.’s house and checked the driveway for cars. She wasn’t expecting Mario to be there; he would be at work. Mr De Lugio worked at a hardware store in town and Mrs De Lugio would be out shopping. She always said that on Mondays she had to stock up because her boys had eaten everything in
the house by the end of the weekend. And E.D. was at Gabby’s place. That only left Tony.

She knocked at the back door and heard a faint ‘Come in’ from the depths of the house. Nervous now, and wondering what she was really doing, she pushed the door open and went inside. ‘Hello,’ she called. ‘It’s Gabby.’

‘Gabby? I’m in the lounge room.’

She walked through the kitchen to the lounge. A big ceiling fan was slowly swooshing around but the room was still hot. And dark. The curtains were drawn against the sun. It took her a moment to see Tony but there he was; his leg up on a chair. In the dull light, his leg was pale. It shocked Gabby until she realised that his leg was encased in a white stocking.

‘Hey, Gab,’ said Tony. ‘E.D.’s not here. He said he was going around to your place. Didn’t you know?’

‘Oh,’ said Gabby, ‘well, yes. I did know. I invited him.’

Tony tilted his head curiously. ‘You asked him to your place and then you came here?’

Gabby wondered how he knew her plan—then realised that it was pretty obvious. ‘I wanted to see you,’ she blurted out. ‘I mean, I wanted to ask you what it was that you know about Croft’s
Cement. What’s going on there and why they want to…hurt you.’

Tony didn’t say anything. He looked at Gabby until she started to squirm. ‘Geez, Gabby. What have you guys been talking about?’

’There’s a lot going on. Something at Croft’s Cement yard, something at Proctor’s. And who wants to bury you at the Graveyard?’

Tony frowned. ‘Did E.D. set you up? Did he send you here to ask me about Croft’s? How did he know about that, anyway?’

‘It was my idea to come and ask you. E.D. told us how you’d been arguing with Mario.’

Tony was silent. He looked away, angrily rubbing his hands on the arms of the chair he was sitting in. He lifted his leg and put it down on the floor, wincing. ‘This stupid leg,’ he said in frustration. ‘I could deal with things myself if I could only get up and going. God! It’s going to take weeks for this to get better.’

‘What sort of things are going on at Croft’s?’ Gabby sat down on the edge of another chair. ‘We could probably help you.’

Tony shook his head. ‘I don’t really know what’s going on. I saw stuff. Some guys threatened me.’ He looked at her. ‘It could be dangerous, getting mixed up with this.’

‘We’ve dealt with dangerous things before,’ Gabby said crossly, thinking back on the adventures she’d had with her friends. ‘Anyway, if it’s so bad, why didn’t you just tell the police?’

‘I nearly did.’ Tony stopped rubbing the chair.

‘And?’

‘Well, I thought I could deal with it myself.’

And be the hero, thought Gabby. She shrugged to show Tony that she knew what he meant. Tony was handsome enough to be a fantastic hero. Gabby thought about all those action movies she’d seen in which the heroes leaped about, flashing their good looks around. Tony, she thought, would fit right in.

‘What is it that you saw?’

Tony was still for a moment and then heaved himself to his feet. He grabbed the pair of silver crutches next to him and hobbled over to the mantelpiece above the fireplace. Gabby couldn’t see what he was doing but when she turned around he had a mobile phone in his hand. ‘I found this.’

‘The phone?’

‘No—this.’ He pushed a few buttons then gave the phone to Gabby.

The screen was tiny and the video only lasted 30 seconds but it was enough to see the blurry images of two men, a long sort of tunnel and a tiny room that appeared to be cut out of rock, filled with shelves and boxes. The film stopped and Gabby played it again. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s at Croft’s Cement. There’s something going on there and when I went looking, I found this room. More like a cave, really. It’s where they keep their stuff.’

‘Who?’

‘I don’t know who they are. Big blokes, tough looking. They come in at night and unload this stuff.’

Gabby looked at the footage again. There didn’t seem to be anything remarkable about it. It just looked like a bunch of boxes to her. ‘How do you know it’s not just Croft’s Cement stuff? They might have bits of special cement in the boxes.’

Tony gave her a funny look. ‘I’m sure Croft’s don’t even know about it. That cement yard hasn’t been used for years and I’ve seen the cars come in late at night. The big guys use torches and one keeps guard. No, it isn’t anything to do with Croft’s.’

‘Have you got any idea what might be in the boxes?’

‘Something small.’ Tony hopped back to his chair and sat down, lifting his leg up onto its seat. ‘I’ve seen these guys in action three times and once they had a box open. It seemed to be full of plastic bags and each bag had something dark in it.’

‘I’ll show the others. They might have an idea.’

‘No.’ Tony reached for his phone. ‘Don’t show them. Don’t even tell them about it.’

Gabby fiddled with the phone, turned it off, and then handed it to Tony who put it in his pocket. At the same time, her phone rang its funky tune and she reached into her pocket to answer it. ‘Hello?…Hi…Yep…Coming now…See ya.’ She flicked it off and turned to face Tony. ‘This is crazy. If you think something is going on, you need to tell someone.’

Tony shifted uncomfortably. ‘I can’t do anything now.’

‘Yeah, I know your leg won’t let you do anything.’ Gabby looked closely at Tony. ‘That’s not what you mean, is it?’

There was a long silence as Tony made a big fuss over straightening his stocking, which
Gabby could see was perfectly straight anyway. ‘I was going to use the race for cover.’

‘Huh? What race? The preliminaries?’

‘Not that race. Not those types of races. Another race.’

‘You were going in another race? You mean, an
unofficial
race?’

Tony nodded. ‘The Graveyard race. I was going to get a group of riders together to have a go at it.’

‘That’s the really dangerous course! People get hurt there. Even I know that.’

Tony shrugged. ‘All races are dangerous. It’s no different. I was going to check out the area during the race and then call the police when I found it. It would look like I found the room by accident. But…’ His voice trailed off.

‘But those big guys found you poking around there and threatened you. Said they were going to
bury you in the Graveyard
.’

Tony just looked at Gabby.

The sound of the back door opening made them both jump. There were several thumps as bags of groceries landed on the kitchen table. ‘Antonio!’ called Mrs De Lugio. ‘I’m home, love!’

Tony cringed. Gabby tried hard not to giggle.

‘I’m still in the lounge room, Ma. Gabby’s here.’

‘Gabriella!’ Mrs D stormed into the lounge room and gave Gabby a hug. ‘You’ve come to see my boy! And isn’t he looking well? The doctors say that he will be back in action very soon. But no motorbikes.’ Mrs D shook her finger at her son. ‘No motorbikes for a long, long time.’

‘Mama,’ Tony protested. ‘Only three months. Not forever.’

Mrs De Lugio turned to Gabby in dismay. ‘You see what I have to put up with? Not forever! He wants to push his mother into an early grave. They all do. Riding these crazy machines. I don’t know.’

‘It’s okay,’ Gabby said encouragingly. ‘Tony’s strong and he’ll get better very soon. And you never know, maybe he’ll take up some other sport. Like swimming.’

Tony gave her the strangest of looks and even Mrs D looked up with a frown. Gabby gave a nervous laugh. ‘Well, got to go. Everyone’s waiting for me at home.’ She lifted her phone up, reminding Tony of the phone call she’d had.

‘You won’t stay for coffee and cake? I just baked last night.’

‘Thanks, Mrs D, but I’ve got to get going.’

‘Next time, you promise that you will stay. I have no one to talk to in this family but boys. And all they talk about is wheels and grease and speed. Huh!’

Even though Mrs D sounded disgusted, Gabby couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were twinkling. ‘Okay, next time I’ll stay.’

‘Good girl.’

‘Bye, Tony,’ said Gabby as she followed his mother into the kitchen.

‘Gab,’ hissed Tony just before she went through the door. ‘Keep it a secret.’

Fortunately for Gabby, Mrs D caught her by the shoulders, swinging her around and giving her a huge container of home-made biscuits. ‘You take those for yourself and the others. For after their swim.’

Gabby thanked her and hurried out of the house without looking back at Tony. I haven’t promised, she thought. I couldn’t promise.

When she was well out of sight, Gabby stopped and set the biscuits down on the footpath. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and went to Messages. There it was; a 30-second video clip, straight from Tony. Well, not Tony exactly. Tony’s
phone.

She put the phone back in her pocket, picked up the biscuits, and hurried home. Part of her felt bad that she’d tricked Tony, pretending to answer the phone when she had forwarded the video from his phone. I’m only trying to help him, she thought, running the last kilometre to her house. And that’s okay.

That’s what she wanted to think, anyway.