“Fuck!” yelled Blakey as he slammed on the brakes.
“What’s the matter” shouted Xu.
“There’s no dust on the road ahead. We’ve lost them.”
“You imbecile Blakey, how could you have lost them?”
“They must have turned off somewhere. We were gaining on them so either they’re hiding off the road or they’ve found another track,” Blakey retorted as he turned the Jeep around and headed back the way they’d come.
“Find them quickly Blakey or your life won’t be worth living,” threatened Xu.
Switching the lights onto high beam, Blakey drove steadily scanning the sides of the road for any sign of a track. After fifteen minutes he was beginning to doubt his own judgement when something caught his eye. He stopped the vehicle and jumped out searching the side of the road. Xu followed him.
Blakey pointed to a shape in the ditch on the side of the road.
“Look there.”
“What is it?” demanded Xu.
“It’s a dead kangaroo. It’s got fresh blood on it. They must have hit it and damaged the car. They can’t be far away.”
Blakey drove carefully up the road but still saw no sign of any exit route. He went back the other way and after a few minutes he yelled in exultation to Xu. He pointed to tyre marks turning into a narrow track and to a sign post laying on the ground.
“The bastards have gone this way,” he yelled pointing up the track.
Jake woke up with a start and looked up to see Koshi standing over him. He didn’t know how long he had dozed off but thought it could only be a few minutes. Koshi was visibly shaking from a combination of both the trauma he had been through and the cold night air. Jake sat him down on the rock and explained what had happened. He shook his head incredulously while listening to Jake’s account of the events. Jake explained to him the gravity of their situation and that the Chinese could be close at hand. He checked him over but apart from a strained ankle and some scratches and bruises he seemed to be physically sound. He was, however, suffering from shock and complained of a severe headache. Jake gave him some more painkillers and some water which, after a while, seemed to revive him.
As Koshi stood up, he cocked his head to one side.
“I hear something.”
Jake listened. Sure enough he heard the faint drone of a car engine.
“It’s a car coming this way. We must find a safer place to hide.”
They pulled some more bushes over the Toyota and brushed away any tyre marks they could see. Then they hurried off to look for a hiding place.
The moon appeared behind some clouds and there was just enough light for them to look around their environment. It was an extraordinary and eerie place. The large rock stacks seemed to be in a regular formation and resembled the ruins of a huge ancient temple. As they wandered around, Jake supporting Koshi under one arm, they both felt an eerie sensation. Behind the temple there were dark shapes embedded in some hilly outcrops. Shining his torch Jake noticed some caves and entered one of them, taking care not to trip over rocks which were partially blocking the opening. There were old ashes in the centre of the cave which suggested it had been as a meeting place by aboriginal groups. Around the side of the cave was a narrow opening which led to a larger cavern. He stopped in awe when his torch lit up some magnificent paintings on one wall of the cavern. He explained to Koshi that the paintings were ancient rock art, depicting aboriginal stories. He could hear water dripping and found a small spring at the back of the cavern. They drank their fill and Jake filled up his water bottle which was close to empty. There was a thin beam of moonlight shining into the cave and by climbing up some rocks Jake could see there was another exit near the roof of the cave. He squirmed up through a narrow tunnel and came out on the side of a hill. He scrambled back down to where Koshi was waiting.
“This cave is probably as safe as anywhere else to hide out. We have shelter, fresh water and a place to rest. If they find it, we could climb out the other exit.”
Close to exhaustion, Koshi nodded in agreement and gratefully sat on the ground. Jake quietly pulled some rocks in front of the main opening to the cave to disguise the entrance and took up watch behind them.
Blakey drove up the track, following the tyre marks of the Toyota. When the track petered out, he and Xu stepped out of the Jeep and examined the terrain. There was just stony ground in front of them and the beam from the Jeep’s headlights didn’t pick up any sign of the direction the Toyota might have taken. The moon was covered by clouds and the darkness was almost complete. Blakey switched on a powerful torch and walked on ahead, waving it from left to right. Eventually, he stopped, beckoned to Xu and pointed to some flattened grass.
“They’ve gone this way, I’ll walk on ahead and you can follow me in the Jeep.”
After a hundred metres, Blakey stopped and walked back to the vehicle.
“It’s no good. I can’t find anymore wheel marks in the dark. We’ll have to spread out in a chain and see if we can find them. They can’t have gone too much further in this terrain.”
The Chinese stumbled out of the Jeep and formed a line. The moon broke through the clouds providing them with a faint glow to help their search. Eventually one of them grunted and pointed to a tyre mark in the dirt. Carefully they walked towards a thicket. Blakey, walking in front, cleared away some loose branches and thought he detected a gleam of metal. With a heave he lifted up a large branch and sure enough there was the Toyota. They surrounded the vehicle with guns drawn but a quick inspection proved it that it was unoccupied. They checked the Land Cruiser over but found nothing of interest.
The Chinese conferred and decided they would split up to search the immediate area and return to the vehicle in one hour. With torches and guns at the ready they split up, each allocated an area to search.
After an hour, they returned to the car frustrated by their inability to find any trace of Jake and Koshi.
“It is no good in this cursed darkness,” said Xu. “We will have to wait till first light to continue our search. They can’t have gone far, Koshi must be injured.”
Liang kept guard while the others settled down amongst the rocks and tried to make themselves comfortable for the remainder of the night.
From his view point at the cave entrance, Jake had seen light from a torch some twenty metres away but breathed a sigh of relief when the Chinese had continued on past the cave entrance.
FRIDAY EVENING -DALY WATERS
Just after 10 p.m. Bill Stafford drove into the caravan park at Daly Waters. He had driven Lizzie to Mataranka as she had an early morning shift the next day at the hospital. Her car was being repaired following an altercation with a kangaroo so Bill had offered to drive her up to Mataranka. He had heard about the drama at Jabiru on the radio but was unconcerned about Jake, presuming he would have left Jabiru before the explosions. He entered his cabin and made himself a coffee. He checked his mobile phone which he had left in the cabin connected to a charger earlier in the day as the battery was running low. He saw there was a message and clicked on it. With alarm he saw it was from Jake and listened to his message.
“Christ!” he cursed, “he’s in big trouble. I’ve gotta help him.”
He rang up the local police constable, Max Hobbs, and passed on Jake’s message. Initially Hobbs was incredulous but he knew Bill well enough to take him seriously. He promised to relay the information to the AFP and get back to Bill as soon as possible.
Bill grabbed a bottle of water, collected his two rifles and ammunition from the closet and rushed out the door. As he was getting into the car, he saw Shoni walking hurriedly towards him from the hotel. She had arrived back from Jabiru the night before.
“Mister Bill, have you heard from Jake? I’ve been ringing him for the last twenty-four hours but he hasn’t called me back. With the terrorist attack at Jabiru I worry about him.”
Bill repeated Jake’s pho
ne message. She looked aghast and asked Bill what he was going to do. When he told her his plans she insisted she was coming with him.
“Oh no you’re not! This could be very dangerous. We might need you back here in case Jake turns up.”
Defiant, Shoni jumped in the passenger seat of his truck and despite Bill’s pleas refused to get out. He shrugged his shoulders, jumped in the truck and after filling it up with petrol at the all-night service station, roared northward up the highway until he came to the turn-off to the Stockmen’s Track where he took a right turn.