The Deception (26 page)

Jaz sighed and felt her body relax. ‘Thanks.’

When they got to their class, they took their seats near the door.

‘Hey, who is Tay talking to?’ Anna whispered.

A pretty brunette was sitting next to him and they were talking as they waited for Mr Green to arrive.

‘I don’t know, never seen her before. Have you?’

Anna shook her head slowly. ‘No. Must be new. I don’t like her.’

Jaz laughed but cut it short when Mr Green strode in the room. He was tall and gangly and walked with his pelvis pushed out.

At the end of school, they all headed towards Tay’s Mustang.

‘Jaz!’

Jaz turned at the sound of her name. It was her mum, who’d come to pick up Simon. She was still wearing a long grey fitted skirt and matching jacket with a white blouse. She’d be heading back to work after settling Simon at home. ‘Hey Mum, I’m going to the gym with the guys, I thought I told you that this morning.’

‘Yeah, I remember. I just thought you might like this. It came in the mail today.’

‘Who’s that from?’ said Simon, as he arrived and tried to look over her shoulder.

The envelope was plain, with a stamp from Qatar. Strange. The handwriting was familiar, turning it over it only said on the back MS. ‘Marcus,’ she said, more to herself.

‘Oh, is that all.’ Simon went and got in the car.

She could feel her mum’s eyes on her, watching, waiting.

‘You okay, honey?’

‘Yeah. His family have moved overseas so it’s definitely over.’ She had to give her mum something.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Jaz, come on,’ yelled Tay from his car. He reached in and honked the horn.

‘Thanks for this, Mum, I’d better go. I’ll see you at home.’ She sprinted to the Mustang, the letter gripped firmly in her hands.

‘Sorry. Let’s go,’ she said as she jumped in.

‘Tay, who was that chick in bio?’ asked Anna, who’d claimed the front seat.

Jaz sat in the back watching out the back window for any tags, while the letter burnt a hole in her hand.

‘Nina. She’s just moved here. Her dad’s a bigwig at some mine. She seems really nice and down to earth. I reckon you’d like her.’

Anna remained silent.

‘I’ll introduce you tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ said Anna quietly. She turned in her seat, obviously to see what Jaz thought on this new girl. Except Jaz was too busy with the envelope in her hand. ‘What’s that?’

‘Mum, just gave it to me. It’s from Marcus.’

The car fell silent. Her friends knew what this meant to her.

‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ asked Anna. She turned back to the front, giving Jaz some privacy.

She slipped her finger under the paper and edged it open. She pulled out a napkin with Qatar Airways written in maroon in the corner. Marcus had written on it.

Dear Jaz,

You must be going crazy wondering where I am. Dad didn’t want me to talk to you but I couldn’t leave without saying ‘goodbye’.

I am on a plane to another country because my dad did something stupid, that’s why we had to leave. He told us about it. I can’t really tell you much about it but please believe me. I’m so angry with him, not just for what he’s done, but the lies and the fact it means I have to leave you.

Jaz flipped over the napkin. His writing grew smaller and cramped as he tried to fit his words on.

On the up side he’s letting me go to an art school, I think he’s trying to win me back. It’s a start. But all this means we won’t be coming back to Australia.

I wish we could stay in touch, but it’s safer if we don’t. I wish I could have said a proper goodbye, held you in my arms one last time. I won’t forget you. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. But I’ll have you forever in my dreams.

Marcus. Xxx

He’d even drawn a little picture in pen at the bottom. It was them hugging goodbye.

Jaz blinked away her tears and handed the napkin forward for Anna to read while she watched the world flash by her window.

Marcus was okay and he’d given her closure. Even though she was upset, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders.

‘Aw, that’s so sweet.’

Anna handed it back and Jaz read it again before tucking it into her schoolbag. She hoped for Marcus’s sake that they were safe from Salvatore’s reach. She also wondered what Salvatore thought of Tony’s disappearance. What had he thought happened? What had Ryan texted him from Tony’s phone? Would he ever look for Carl? Her brain ached with the unanswered questions.

When they arrived at the gym they went inside and changed. It was funny to see it all back to normal after the party. It brought back memories, good and bad.

‘I’ll just be a minute, Tay. Just wanna check something,’ she said, ducking into Pax’s house.

She pulled out the box from under her bed and held her new gun as she sat on the floor.

‘And here I thought I was the only gun mad person,’ said Tay as he poked his head inside the door.

‘It’s just so cool. Have you seen it?’

He nodded. ‘Ryan wanted to double-check you’d like it. Personally, I thought the phoenix was a rather special idea.’ He knelt down beside her and reached for it, checking out the engraving. ‘It’s like giving you a nickname. Out on ops you can be called the phoenix.’

Jaz laughed. ‘I like it. I might have to get the matching tattoo.’

‘Nice.’

‘What about you? We’ll have to find one for you too. I’m thinking something relating to your Mustang,’ she said with a chuckle. Jaz reached for the gun and popped out the empty clip. She’d love to take it to the firing range but that wouldn’t happen, seeing as she didn’t have a gun licence.

Pax paused by the door. ‘Oh, look at you two, sitting there like kids with a new toy,’ he said.

Jaz shot up as an idea hit. ‘Pax. Can you make me a gun licence so I can take this to the firing range?’

Pax puffed out his chest and held the front of his shirt. ‘Why yes, yes I can. I’ll do it up now for you. Another thing I can teach Anna too.’

‘Awesome. Thanks Pax.’ She threw her arms around him then turned back to Tay. ‘How about we take this puppy out for a test drive tomorrow?’

‘Jaz, you just made my day.’

Putting the gun back, they went back to the gym and spent six minutes getting warmed up. Then they started the lesson.

‘One thing Ryan taught me, Tay, was “no rules”. When it comes to unarmed combat, use anything imaginable as a weapon.’ They walked around the gym and pointed out things that they could use and how. ‘We can use our belts, shoes, dirt, whatever.’ Jaz nearly said bricks but stopped herself. The sound of her hitting Rich in the face with a brick didn’t as she momentarily relived it. ‘And he also said to maim, not hurt and anger. Making them angry just gives them strength, so we have to fight hard and dirty. In our situations, it will be either them or us. So go for eyes, hit the nose upwards and go for the groin.’ She got him to hold her tightly and then went limp to show him how hard it was to control her. ‘While I’m down here I now have access to your family jewels,’ she said with a grin.

‘I don’t need that demonstrated,’ he said with a frown.

‘I think we should also have some knife fights to practise. It’s not something you can really prepare for,’ added Jaz. She was not prepared for her knife attack and would surely be dead if it wasn’t for Ryan coming to her rescue.

‘What if we hurt ourselves?’ he said, looking at her strangely.

Jaz shrugged. ‘How else are we going to learn? You know Cody said that most of the injuries the SAS get are from their training, not the actual missions. Maybe we need to go hard too. And if we get cut then we just sew it back up, just like Ryan does.’

‘Oh yeah, I can see myself doing that.’ Tay screwed his face up. His singlet had a circle of sweat at the neck. ‘Actually, he did say we should do a paramedics course.’

‘Really? Huh, good idea. Do you want me to see if I can enrol us into one?’

‘Yeah, I think that would be good.’

Anna walked in as they were talking and she was shaking her head. ‘It’s a big course, they can go for months. You’ll have to see if you can fit it in with school, otherwise you will have to do it next year at uni. In the meantime, you can do a heap of ambulance courses that are shorter. Could probably do one during school holidays,’ said Anna. ‘We’ll all go.’ She held out a bit of paper.

Jaz reached for it. It was her gun licence, looking all official on the right paper.

‘You have a gun because you are a part of a pistol club and a member at the rifle range yada yada,’ said Anna with a smile. ‘I can whizz them up like that.’ She clicked her fingers.

‘It seems so wrong,’ said Jaz with a smirk. They had access to stuff above the law. It was a strange feeling.

‘Not for me,’ said Tay. ‘Shall we get back to fighting?’

‘Yes, let’s.’ They went back to the mat and began to spar. Anna stayed to watch for ten minutes. In that time Jaz had connected kicks five times, as well as punches, but he’d deflected many more and had got one punch in.

Tay bent over, breathing heavily.

‘Good, again,’ she ordered. She didn’t wait for him to get ready, instead she went straight into attack mode. Through being with Ryan on a few missions, she’d come to realise the difference between the sparring and play fighting she did to the survival fighting that happened out there. You couldn’t go easy, or take your time. Everything was urgent and instant. She really wanted Tay to understand this too before he was put in a compromising position. And that meant going hard on him. So he ended up with a few bad bruises, at least he wasn’t dead.

His arm flew up quick, deflecting her jab. After another ten minutes she called it quits and got him to spend time punching the bag. ‘Harder, Tay, throw everything into it.’

Sweat was now running down his face, drenching his singlet. He paused to rip it off and throw it in a wet heap on the floor. Jaz motioned for him to get a drink too.

‘Okay, let’s do a run of push-ups, then squats, kicks, then back to push-ups.’ Jaz did each one with him and when he began to tire and slow she pushed him harder. ‘Last one.’

He collapsed on the ground with a groan. Jaz sat beside him, also covered in a sheen of sweat. ‘Awesome, Tay.’ She held out her fist for him to pump.

‘Now you can go for a run with a heavy pack on and weights on your hands,’ said Ryan as he entered the gym. He had on a zip-through hoodie with his black cargo pants.

Tay flopped back and groaned again while Jaz laughed, even though she knew Ryan was serious.

‘What you up to?’ she asked as he sat down with them. This is the first time she’d seen Ryan since he’d slipped out from her party on Saturday. Now wasn’t the time to ask why he’d left. The cool, level-headed Ryan was back, his demeanour in place.

‘Sorting out our trip up north. Anyone here?’ he said, glancing around the gym.

Jaz checked the clock on the wall. ‘Tick will be here in ten and Bags’s lesson called in sick.’

He nodded. ‘Okay, well, we need to be on the road Friday so we can get there and set up camp. The ship is passing through that night and the drums are supposed to be thrown overboard where the tidal waters meet, should wash up in the morning. We need to keep watch on who comes to collect them. Can you get Friday sorted?’

‘Yep, you can stay with me,’ said Tay, giving her a wink. He would be her alibi.

‘Good. Be ready here at nine, pack like a tourist and we’ll head off. Will take us nearly five hours to get there and set up.’

‘I’ll be ready. Will I need my gun?’

‘Bring it. It’s yours to take where you feel fit, which means most ops.’

Jaz couldn’t help her smile. Was it normal to get excited over that? She really was a little different, but so were her friends and that’s why she loved them and why they all connected.

Jaz reached for her towel and dried off some of the sweat on her chest and arms.

Ryan stood up and slipped his hands into his pockets. ‘I’ll leave you to it. I’m busy until Friday, so if you need anything send a text as discussed and I’ll try and stop by the gym.’

All three of them had instructions to text Ryan saying the boxing lesson time at the gym had been changed. He’d know that meant they needed to talk to him. Other than that, he didn’t want them to use his number.

‘Okay, see you Friday,’ said Jaz. He waved as he headed back to the front door. Jaz watched him the whole time. Friday they had over four hours in a car together. He couldn’t run or avoid her so it would be the perfect time to really talk with him.

‘You’re so gone, aren’t you?’ said Tay, who was staring at her.

‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘Just a little.’

‘Gonna be an awesome trip,’ he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Jaz threw her towel at him. ‘You need to get back to work. Besides, I think you have your own love-life to worry about.’

Tay stood and helped pull Jaz up. ‘What’d you mean?’

‘Is this new girl of interest or are you just teasing Anna?’ For the first time in what felt like ages, since she’d worked out that Tay liked Anna, she said something about it.

He chewed his lip. She could see his mind trying to process it.

‘Do you think it’s working?’ he asked.

There was no trying to deny his feelings and that in itself made her think he was getting close to doing something about it.

‘Do you think it’s wrong? I mean, will it ruin our friendship?’ Tay whispered.

‘You need to weigh up whether you think it’s worth it.’

Jaz should know, she’d wondered if Ryan had been wondering the same thing. Maybe that’s why he kept backing away. He didn’t want to take the risk? Maybe she wasn’t worth it? Was he? Yes, she thought so.

Chapter 23

Jaz was at the gym early. She’d left home early under the disguise that they had a science project to finish, which they’d been working on at Tay’s. Lucky for them it was half true, they did have a project due for science but it had been last week and they’d already completed it at school. Jaz showed her mum photos of it, saying it was nearly done, a few bits to finish before taking it to school. ‘Good job,’ her mum had said. ‘Are you still staying at Tay’s tonight with Anna?’