Chapter 13
Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties.
A society whose members spend a great deal of their time in the irrelevant other worlds of sport & soap opera, mythology & metaphysical fantasy, will find it hard to resist the encroachments of those who would manipulate & control it.
-Aldous Huxley
Zac stirred as a familiar but unexpected smell tantalized his nostrils. He sat bolt upright and looked around in bewilderment. Someone stifled a chuckle behind him. Zac scanned the figures in the dim light, looking for someone who exuded authority. His eyes found a man about his father’s age with a similar build. Zac could just make out that he was wearing khaki camouflage.
“Um... Hi. Are we in a classified area?”
“Yes. But civilians don’t drop in very often.”
Zac struggled into his fleecy jacket and climbed out of the sleeping bag. Jake and Maya rolled closer to each other but kept sleeping.
“John Cunningham...” grinned John, extending his hand.
“Hi, I’m Zac... Er... sorry. It was twilight when we set up camp last night, and I didn’t notice... any of this...”
Zac looked around and scratched his stubbly beard. Bemused.
“Actually, I didn’t notice any of this when I woke up in the middle of the night either... And I definitely would have remembered seeing a camper’s kitchen this well set up... Hey, you’ve got eggs! I don’t s’pose we could buy a packet? We’ve run out of everything that resembles protein and I’m so famished I could eat a dozen eggs by myself.”
All round laughter.
“Feel like a packet of bacon with those dozen eggs Zac?” offered John.
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place,
but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
-Lady Dorothy Nevill
Jen walked back out into the kitchen wearing jeans and a comfy shirt. Gordon cleared his throat.
Silence.
Jen set about doing the dishes. Gordon picked up a tea towel.
“Jen... I’m sorry. You were already cautious of me. Now you must be paranoid.”
Silence.
“And Dave might be away for several more days... I should ring Dave... And explain what happened...”
Silence.
“I know you want an explanation... But I don’t want to talk to you about it without Dave being present... I’m too chicken.”
Silence.
“Will you stop it woman?!”
“Stop what?”
“Stop listening to me. Yell at me... Or do something other than listen to me! It’s... terrifying!”
Jen cracked up.
“That has to be a first. A man telling a woman to talk.”
Gordon smiled tensely. Jen caught Gordon’s eye.
“Dave says that when people are upset or nervous they’re a bit like onions... You know... you need to peel back a few layers before you get to the heart of the matter... So he just listens a while... and looks past the words... and into their soul...”
“So what do you see in my soul?”
“Someone who’s feeling uncomfortable and is very concerned that I might be uncomfortable.”
“You talk as though you aren’t uncomfortable.”
“I’m not. You brushed against me. You got an erection. It’s a bloke thing.”
“You noticed it happen?”
“I felt it happen. And it was kinda visible because you were wearing a sarong.”
“You mean I got it in front of Luan and Tarapaca?” mumbled Gordon.
“Yes. But it just backed up our story - you know - that we had a compelling reason to get rid of them ASAP.”
“And I had it right up until I noticed it?”
“’Fraid so.”
Gordon ran his hand through his hair.
“This conversation. It must be embarrassing you. I’m sorry.”
Jen laughed deliciously.
“Gordon, I raised a houseful of boys in a wilderness setting alongside a man who was a fitness instructor and a mentor to men. Experience has taught me that, irrespective of their age, men voice pretty much the same concerns about a handful of issues... And sometimes they need reassurance about those issues... Especially when they’re not married...”
Gordon exhaled noisily.
“I’ve been scared Jen... I was having grave fears that I wasn’t... operational anymore.”
“Take my word for it Gordon. You’re still operational!”
Gordon cleared his throat self-consciously.
“Are you going to tell David about this conversation?”
“How about I let you tell him? When you’re ready, eh?”
“Thanks for your reassurance Jen. Gosh that was hard yakka. You’re the first woman I’ve chatted to about the topic since... since Tess was killed.”
“That’s quite a while. Have you ever thought about telling you know who, that you secretly admire her and would love to get to know her better?”
“Jennifer!”
“Come on. You can tell me.”
Gordon grinned sheepishly.
“Yes... I’ve thought about it a lot lately. Especially since Zac’s met Maya. But she’s so... free-spirited... and vivacious... Like Tess was... It’s probably best I stick to caring for Tess’s mother. And being a better father to Jake. With occasional lapses into hire-a-hubby when the fellas are off chasing bad guys.”
Silence.
“You’re interesting company Gordon. I’m sorry I’ve never really let you close to me in the past,” said Jen hesitantly. “That’s just the way I am. Kinda.”
“Don’t apologize for being yourself Jen. They say, behind every good man there’s a special woman... And we both know Dave’s one in a million...”
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal.
My strength lies solely in my tenacity.
-Louis Pasteur
Zac looked around John’s cabin. It exuded warmth. As if it had been the centre-point of years of meaningful interaction.
“54 hours!” grinned John, shaking Zac’s hand. “That’s an extraordinary effort for a civilian team. The average time for our Special Forces teams is only about two hours faster. We’ll have to lift our game!”
Zac smiled his tired acknowledgement.
“Your effort on the vertical cliff challenge was particularly impressive.”
“You saw that?”
“We’ve had you under covert surveillance the whole time since you passed Skully - as you requested. Watching you interact with each other was entertaining actually. Especially when that young fella in your party accidentally saw the young woman in her bras.”
“You saw that?”
“Actually, I missed the shenanigans, but I heard he darted off like he’d seen a bear skin instead of bare skin!”
Zac grinned shyly.
“You’d better not mention that if you get to speak to Jake... He’s a little stressed about the incident... Actually, you’d better not let Maya know either. She might sock you if she finds out.”
A friendly chuckle.
“So did you know we were there? Aside from the obvious indications - like dropping off food and wood for you.”
“I felt you were there. And it helped me stay focused... But the only time I actually saw evidence that you were there though was when I saw a reflection... like a glint off binoculars... when I was in the middle of the rope bridge.”
“That would have been when Rod passed the binoculars to me. About then, you had Charlie urging everyone to pray for your safety... Ryan blubbering with remorse that he hadn’t called a rescue chopper... and me quietly confident that you’d make it...”
“You all saw me freeze?”
“I saw a young leader grit his teeth and find the mettle to do something he obviously didn’t want to do. Keep a hold of that achievement. You’ll be able to draw courage from it many times in the future. When you face other diffic
ult challenges.”
“How can you draw courage from fear?”
“Fearlessness is like a muscle Zac. I know from my own experience that if I routinely exercise it, it becomes second nature in a crisis.”
“And you exercise it in that crazy playground out there? Where do you find the energy?”
“I look towards the goal. The hot springs on our trek happen to be among the nicest in Yellowstone Park. The soak at the end of each day is more than enough motivation to keep me going.”
“We missed the hot springs. My map’s old. You’d better not tell Maya about them either. She might want to double back and check them out.”
John laughed warmly.
“Sounds like you had your hands full with your charges. I tell you what... You hit the shower and I’ll rustle you up an up-to-date map and mark the hot springs on them. In case you ever decide to drop in on us again.”
“Thanks,” replied Zac tiredly, as he picked up his towel and shower bag.
Ω
Gordon pushed himself casually to his feet.
“I’m just nipping down to Dave’s den... I left the transmitter part of Zac’s new locator beacon down there... I’d like to have it near me. I haven’t heard from him for a couple of days now.”
“You boys and your electronic toys...”
“Well this particular toy is still being field tested... I might just sneak outside and grab the manual for it out of my car...Don’t stress though. I’ll lock the bad guys out again as soon as I’m back inside...”
“Just be careful you aren’t seen by the bad guys.”
“Wilco... Goodnight Jen.”
Ω
Mike whistled cheerily as he started shaving. He could sense Ryan watching him in blunt appraisal, but deliberately said nothing. Ryan sighed faintly and started examining his face for pimples and popping them. Mike put away his razor, then pulled a bottle of peroxide out of his bathroom bag.
“Didn’t your big brother tell you that popping zits just makes ‘em worse?”
“No. I don’t have a big brother.”
“Everyone needs a big brother... Here...This stuff makes ‘em heal up in a few days.”
Mike started gently applying the peroxide before Ryan had a chance to argue. To his surprise Ryan tolerated the physical contact.
“Stinging?”
“A bit... How come you’ve got peroxide in your bag anyway?”
“Big brother Mikey still gets the odd zit.”
Ryan laughed.
“Good for shaving nicks too...” continued Mike, as he casually dabbed peroxide on his own face.
Mike paused and eyed Ryan.
“Hey - moderate that crestfallen look Captain. You’ll have a five o’clock shadow at nine o’clock in the morning one of these days yerself.”
“It seems to be taking forever,” sighed Ryan.
“Might seem that way to you, but I’ve seen baby-faced blokes like yourself sprout facial fluff overnight... and a month later they look like gorillas.”
“How old were you when you had to shave properly?”
“About twenty-five from memory.”
“That old,” murmured Ryan.
Mike grinned and slapped Ryan on the back.
“Take my word for it little brother... A few years from now you’ll be standing in front of a mirror somewhere in the world having a shave and thinking - wasn’t it easy, back a few years ago when I didn’t have to shave...”
Ω
Zac emerged from the shower, refreshed and renewed.
“Hello? There was a young face under all that stubble!” joked John.
“Not to mention two ticks feasting away,” muttered Zac. “I’m glad to be rid of it.”
John laughed and handed Zac a map with the locations of the hot springs circled. Zac examined it casually.
“I take it you’ve trekked the Pass before with your dad?” probed John.
“Not dad. My boss brought me here once and we did the lower section of it. The chopper dropped us off the other side of the rope bridge and we hiked down then got air-lifted back out again.”
“So the rope bridge and the cliff apparatus were all unchartered territory for you eh?”
Zac nodded as he folded up the map. John looked impressed.
“That’s quite a feat, especially with two other untrained people in tow. Why are you so determined to get out in such a hurry anyway?”
“I need to get to Western Australia. My sister’s in trouble.”
John Cunningham chuckled.
“I appreciate you need to be cautious Zac... but I don’t buy the ‘my sister’s in trouble’ story. Want to try another one?”
Zac said nothing.
“Okay I’ll start the story... You’ve got this sister... but she’s actually a beautiful spy... And she’s discovered Luan Ain Quong and Carlos Stefan Tarapaca intend on testing an E/M weapon on one of our warships while it’s undergoing maintenance at Garden Island next week...”
“Eaves-droppers!”
“You wanted covert monitoring from us. What did you expect?”
A hint of a smile.
“So you’d still rather keep the details of this planned weapons demonstration under wraps?” probed John.
“I have to authenticate the story before I go spreading it around. I’m not sure who Pedro’s informant is. Although Pedro used to work for some intelligence agency in Haiti and he visually identified both Luan and Tarapaca...”
“...which is why he intervened when he saw them pursuing your beautiful spy-sister...”
A shy grin.
“Well, we took the liberty to verify your beautiful spy-sister’s story with the U.S Navy, and I can add that the Jefferson is currently docked at Garden Island at Western Australia with just a skeleton crew aboard... I’ve also confirmed that Luan Ain Quong and Carlos Stefan Tarapaca arrived in Alice Springs ten days ago, then booked a flight to a remote West Australian town called Laverton...”
“Laverton?! That’s how Dave’s involved...” murmured Zac.
“Dave?”
“Um... Just a friend.”
Ω
Gordon slipped out the front door and crept stealthily up to Tarapaca’s jeep. He threw a cautious gaze around him then slid his fingers under the dash. The neodymium base of the object he was holding attracted itself to the metal firewall and clung like a gecko. Gordon threw a second cursory gaze around his surroundings, then he silently tiptoed back into the homestead and locked the door.
Ω
Zac followed John into the operations centre. He looked around his surroundings with alert curiosity. He noticed where the antenna cables came in the room and followed them with his eyes until they terminated near a trapdoor in the floor. John watched him with a hint of a smile. Jake and Maya walked in with Ryan.
“All patched up?” asked Zac, looking at Maya.
“Ah ha. The doctor said you did a great job but I’ve got some penicillin just to be safe.”
“Did you get something for that chafing Jake?”
“No way! It was a female doctor. I wasn’t gonna drop my jeans and show off my undies to a woman!”
“She wouldn’t have made you do that,” interposed Ryan. “You just had to ask her for nappy cream.”
“But I’m not a baby!”
John Cunningham roared with laughter. Zac tried to keep a straight face.
“Don’t mind him,” advised Ryan. “He laughs at everything! I meant, the zinc in the cream makes the chafing feel better... Come on... Let’s go back to Fiona and we’ll ask her for some cream together.”
Ryan grabbed Jake by the wrist and led him back out. John watched Ryan leave with raised eyebrows.
“Something up?” asked Zac.
“Just a bit surprised... I haven’t seen Ryan reach out to anyone before, that’s all.”
“Probably just enjoying the company of another teenager.”
A pause.
“What makes you think Ryan’s a teenag
er?”
“That behaviour’s typically teen... I mean he wouldn’t drag you off by the cuff somewhere would he? And he’d die of fright if you did it to him!”
John laughed warmly.
“Well they can’t get up to much mischief around here. And Ryan knows your chopper’s due in half an hour.”
“Our chopper?”
“Your lift to Western Australia. There’s a jet undergoing a pre-flight inspection at Malmstrom Airbase now as we speak... You’re looking at a twelve hour flight... W.A local time is GMT+8, so add 15 hours as well... we should have you there about 1 pm tomorrow, their time.”
Zac failed to hide his astonishment.
“Don’t look so surprised. You’re in a hurry to see your sister, aren’t you?”
“You told him?” asked Maya.
“Er... bits and pieces.”
Zac caught John’s eye.
“We’re really grateful for your assistance. Although aren’t you stretching the rules a bit for us?”
“Your Cat 1 P & P classification is enough to get your whole party through without any questions.”
Zac frowned slightly.
“What’s he talking about Zac?” asked Maya.
“That’s his way of saying he’s happy to help us,” dodged Zac.
John chuckled.
“Thanks. It would have taken us double that time to get back to W.A through the normal channels without assistance...”
“Are you kidding?” interposed Maya. “It would have taken us a lot longer than that! Your customs declaration says you’re in Australia on a lecture tour... I don’t have a visa to enter the U.S and Jake has never even applied for a passport... I would’ve liked to hear you explaining to Customs how we all got into the States in the first place.”
Zac cringed and rubbed his forehead. John Cunningham’s eyes danced.
“Er... We entered the U.S with my boss via Travis Airforce base. The paperwork’s just a little out of order because we had to leave Western Australia in a bit of a hurry.”
“Sounds intriguing.”
“Well I think this place is intriguing,” said Maya. “Is that the same thingy that Dave’s got, Zac?” pointed Maya.
“Er... Yes.”
Zac’s brow furrowed.
“Hey... the decor’s not that bad!” joked John.
“Sorry. Just a memory. From years ago,” said Zac vaguely.
John redirected his gaze as Charlie walked in with Ryan and Jake.
“Well make sure you give my regards to Dave when you get back to Western Australia,” said John, eyeing Zac.
“How’s he know Dave? Does he help him monitor the Weathermakers?” piped up Maya.
Zac exhaled noisily.
“Maya. He doesn’t know Dave. He’s just dropped his name to try get more information out of us.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a snoop and he’s growing more inquisitive by the minute!” replied Zac, winking at John.
Everyone laughed.
“But he might know Dave. Remember Dave said he was stationed at Yellowstone Park for fifteen years. And they both look a similar age.”
John broke into a huge grin.
“So David Hopkins is still hanging out with Gordon in his retirement, eh? That doesn’t surprise me, given they bunked together for so long.”
Zac struggled with John’s revelation.
“I didn’t realize you knew Gordon too!”
“Everyone knows Gordon!” laughed Charlie.
“Who’s Gordon?” asked Ryan.
“My Dad,” replied Jake casually.
Warm, surprised grins from Charlie and John.
“This is what he looks like,” continued Jake, moving closer to Ryan. “Zac took this photo of us last week near the wind tunnel.”
“Wicked! Is that the Air and Space Museum in California?”
“Ah ha. Have you been there?”
“Nah. Hopefully one day. That’s a brilliant shot. Can I have a copy of it?”
“Sure. I took other photos too. Would you like to see them?”
“Rad. Plug your camera into my computer so we can see them all properly...”
Zac made intentional eye contact with Jake.
“Just the air museum photos Jake.”
“Okay... But why?”
“John and Charlie claim they’re your Dad’s friends but they didn’t know you were Gordon’s son until you told them. And Ryan sounds like someone your age, but he could be just acting your age... They could be all bad guys, out to get to at your Dad. And if they are, they can glean all sorts of information about the places you two hang out together by looking at your photos.”
“I never thought of that,” replied Jake solemnly.
“Don’t feel bad. Mike keeps drilling all the sixth sense stuff into me too,” shrugged Ryan.
“Who’s Mike?” asked Jake.
“He’s my mentor. Like Zac is to you.”
“Awesome... Here’s the air museum photos.”
Jake and Ryan started pouring over the photos. Zac redirected his attention back to John.
“So how long have you known Dave anyway?” he ventured.
“Don’t answer that John!” chirped Charlie. “Zac might be a bad guy - out to get Dave!”
“Fair enough - I deserved that!” laughed Zac.
“Not at all. Kiviuq has trained you well,” replied John.
Zac’s heart-rate doubled. He forced himself to look composed.
“Hmmm... let’s see,” smiled John reminiscently. “Dave and I go back about 35 years. We became close after a parachuting mishap one time. After the incident I had a fear of falling. I hid it from the blokes I worked alongside, but Dave could sense my fear. Anyway we were doing a refresher course out here. And I froze in the middle of the rope bridge, kinda like you did. Dave sent everyone on ahead, then coaxed me across to safety. Then, when I finally got to the other side, he made me turn around and go back across the bridge with him again. Twice!”
“Twice?! Boy, I’m glad he didn’t see me freeze on the rope bridge,” murmured Zac.
John laughed warmly.
“See I told you he knew Dave!” piped up Maya.
“I’ll let him know our paths have crossed next time I speak to him.”
“What do you mean next time we speak to him? We’ll see him to...”
Zac ran his fingers along Maya’s lips as if zipping them up. Charlie and John roared with laughter.
“Talk about a chip off the old block!” chortled Charlie.
“I bet he’s just as big a larrikin too when he’s not on his best behaviour in front of us!” added John.
Zac silently fought off his mounting confusion.
“Maya, why don’t you and Jake go get some last minute scenery snaps?” he said, trying to sound casual.
“Jake can get the last minute scenery snaps,” replied Maya, shouldering her pack. “I’m getting a last minute handful of biscuits...”
“See you both shortly. I’ll be out as soon as I hear the chopper coming...”
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.
That is why I succeed.
–Michael Jordan
“Ah... the secrets I could learn from that beautiful woman if I chatted with her for about an hour!” joked John, as Maya walked out.
“You’d have to separate her from our super-secretive Professor first!” grinned Charlie.
“Well I would have loved to have chatted with Ryan here and learnt his secret,” averred Zac.
“What secret?” asked Ryan.
“How someone in their teens manages to find common ground with blokes in their mid-fifties. It’s quite a feat on your part.”
“What makes you think I’m only in my teens?” shrugged Ryan
“You’re using your iTunes album covers as your screensaver. And I noticed you’re into Guy Sebastian, Britt Nicole, Carrie Underwood and Just Jack rap. So at a guess I’d say you’re about eighteen.”<
br />
“I could be in my mid twenties,” ventured Ryan.
“You could be. But there’s a noticeable absence of the earlier albums released by Lady Gaga, Céline Dion, Black Eyed Peas and Rihanna in your collection, which suggests you’re still in your teens.
Ryan broke into a grin.
“Hey. I know what you’re doing! You’re showing me what you were telling Jake about - how people can pick up personal information from photos and that... Boy, I’m glad you weren’t at my Academy Professor. I would have had to have been real careful if you’d been on staff!”
All round laughter.
“Lady Gag and the Black Eyed Beans eh?” murmured John. “And my parents used to make fun of me listening to the Beatles.”
“You were into the Beatles?” repeated Ryan. “They’re sick!”
“You probably won’t be too well fifty years from now either, pup.”
Ryan sighed faintly.
“I mean... never mind, it’s not important...”
“He means the Beatles are too cool to gag on beans!” said Zac, winking at John.
Ryan laughed jovially and hi-five Zac. John and Charlie exchanged blank looks.
“That lingo of theirs is practically a code...” muttered Charlie.
“So it’s cool to be sick?” ventured John, eyeing Zac.
“Yep. If the Beatles were around today they’d be sick... wicked... insane... awesome and rad... As well as hot... and cool!”
Charlie and John exchanged maniac grins.
“Sick!” they repeated in unison resting their arms on each other’s shoulders and spinning around in a circle.
“Wanna dance with us Baby Bear? It’s rad!” said Charlie with twinkling eyes.
“Maybe later. After the Professor’s left.”
“Wicked!” added John, pressing his body against Charlie’s.
Zac made demure eye contact with Ryan.
“Maybe you should cut down their caffeine intake.”
Ryan laughed freely.
Charlie rested his head on John’s shoulder. Both men moved around in a slow dance.
“Wanna commando cuddle with us young fella?” grinned John, making eye contact with Zac. “It’s awesome!”
Zac shook his head vigorously. Raucous laughter from John and Charlie. Ryan eyed Zac sympathetically.
“Don’t freak out. They aren’t gay. Commando cuddles are just part of their lark classes...”
“Lark classes?”
“They train ISRA operatives. And those guys have to do all this touchy-feely embarrassing stuff as part of their training. Like showering together. And dancing. And massage stuff...”
“Why?” asked Zac.
“So they’re comfortable about being in each other’s personal space when they’re on assignment, or when awkward stuff happens... It helps them get each other through the tough times too. You know, when things go wrong out in the field.”
A memory of how Dave had started dancing with Gordon at the Laverton cave-in surfaced. Zac quickly pushed the memory away. Uncomfortable about its implications.
“I could tell you did more than just fitness training here,” he replied, to change the direction of the conversation. “Actually, when we first arrived I was worried that we might have accidentally strayed into ISRA headquarters...”
“Why’d you think that?” frowned Ryan.
“I noticed the Ka band receiving phased-array antennas and your link with the AEHF 1 satellite.”
John and Charlie stopped dancing.
“And my first thought was... this place is obviously a central communications hub of some sort and since it used to belong to Air Intelligence, it might be ISRA turf now.”
Ryan’s brow furrowed. John smiled faintly.
“Did anything else make you think it might be ISRA HQ?” asked Charlie casually.
“Well I noticed the antenna cables running down to the underground complex,” shrugged Zac. “Are the Wideband Gapfiller terminals down there?”
Charlie paused.
“Yes.”
Ryan cocked his head.
“How’d you workout there’s an underground level under here Professor?” he asked.
“The antenna cables terminate near the trapdoor entry,” replied Zac.
Ryan’s eyes started following the cables along the wall. John stifled his amusement.
“Dave’s gear is in a bunker setup underground too,” continued Zac, when Ryan said nothing. “Except he’s painted his dish antennas camo colours to make them harder to spot on Google Earth.”
Charlie gazed out at their dish antennas and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“You sound like you’d like to hang around and train with us,” offered John.
“Maybe the milsatcom training. But your touchy-feely training looks... extending,” replied Zac, pointing at Ryan’s monitor.
Ryan diverted his gaze from the trapdoor and groaned audibly.
“Mike put it there? I’ll kill him!”
“I probably would myself,” muttered Zac.
John and Charlie doubled over with laughter. Ryan and Zac inched closer to each other in mutual support.
“I think they both need to sit in on our lark classes... To learn how to handle awkward, embarrassing moments!” tormented Charlie.
John grinned and rested a fatherly hand on Ryan’s shoulder.
“I’m responsible for your burning ears pup - not Mike,” he said. “And for your burning cheeks young fella,” he added, fanning Zac’s face with his hand. “Sorry to have stretched you both out of shape there... Major Gregory is apprehensive when it comes to IT, and there was a window of opportunity to boost his confidence in his abilities last night, so I took it. Except then things got busy around here and I didn’t get to remove that file...”
“You were mentoring Mike?” said Ryan curiously. “That’s different. He’s off the hook... I s’pose you are too.”
Ryan reached over and hurriedly dragged the file out of the album cover folder and onto the desktop then relabelled it lark class stuff. John laughed and eyed Zac.
“There’s a story attached to that lark class footage actually. Ryan’s been helping us identify and address weaknesses in the Officer training programme - like the need for a core unit in physiology. Yesterday he participated in a delivery at the base hospital with Mike - because the baby’s father is overseas on assignment. Ryan videoed the baby’s birth and cut the umbilical cord. And word has it that the medical staff were so impressed by Mike’s field approach to midwifery, that they’re going to turn Ryan’s footage into a training video as well...”
Ryan eyed John in silent surprise.
“Boy, you’re braver than I was at your age!” said Zac in genuine admiration.
“You were about my age when you saved Gordon’s life,” countered Ryan.
Charlie and John exchanged surreptitious glances.
“You know about that too?” gasped Zac.
“Jake told me.”
“I’ll kill ‘im,” muttered Zac softly.
“Ah... the secrets we could learn from Gordon’s love-child, if we chatted with him for an hour!” joked Charlie.
Zac forced a smile. John picked up on his tension and casually pointed to the album cover that was now on the screensaver.
“I see you’ve got Space Jam in that folder of yours too. We’re gonna have to watch that together later, pup.”
“Okay,” shrugged Ryan. “How come you like Space Jam though? You’re not a kid.”
“Neither are you. But you obviously like it!”
John’s eyes twinkled.
“I hit ‘em high... You hit ‘em low...” he sang deeply.
Ryan eye-rolled.
“Come on... hit me high... hit me low... for embarrassing you around Zac!” coaxed John.
Ryan threw a cautious punch at John. John grinned and blocked it. Ryan laughed and tried harder.
“Watch out pup,” advised Jed, as he walked in. “John can hit yo
u high and low at the same time with his eyes shut. He trained with the old Schoolmaster.”
“That’s good. I want to learn some old school defence...”
“...and I want to learn why the Black Eyed Beans and Lady Gag are sick.”
“Sounds like you two will bridge that generation gap no time. What else have you been doing to bridge it anyway?” asked Zac, glancing at John.
“Well... let’s see... We had a sleepover last night...”
“Don’t tell him about the sleepover!” groaned Ryan.
“Gag and switch channels?” suggested Zac.
Ryan screwed up his nose.
“I can’t do that or you’ll think the sleepover was sus. And it wasn’t... It was another lark class thing... um... sorta... I haven’t been here long, so John and Charlie introduced me to this Farliga Pass tradition called the three Bears camp-over and told me how it began.”
“Really? How did it begin?”
“Well John’s parachute failed and Kiviuq saved his life mid-air, by entangling him arms and legs in John’s useless chute and landing tandem with him. And Dave brought them both here to keep an eye on them... And Father Bear Dave and Mama Bear Kiviuq tucked Baby Bear John in between them in a share bag and used the strength of mateship to help him hold it together. And John still uses the same mateship principles. Except these days John is Father Bear and Charlie’s Mama Bear. And last night I was Baby Bear.”
“That version of the Three Bears camp-over is a little different to the one I heard as a kid,” said Zac with thinly veiled incredulity.
“That crazy Eskimo adds in the bit about the baby bears sliding down the Northern lights, eh?” grinned Jed.
Zac gave up trying to hide his bewilderment. John made eye contact with Jed and shook his head almost imperceptibly. Jed acknowledged him with a flicker of his eyelids.
“I nearly forgot why I dropped in,” he chirped. “The chopper’s approaching final.”
“Thanks... Perfect timing... Ryan... Go and find Jake and Maya and help them aboard the chopper.”
“Here... Let me take that for you,” added Charlie, picking up Zac’s pack.
John ushered Zac over to the waiting chopper. He rested both his hands on Zac’s shoulders and moved him around in a slow circle like he’d done with Charlie. Zac felt unnerved to the core.
“Come back again one of these days when you’re less busy Ataniq and we’ll have a long chinwag, eh?” he said softly.
“I might take you up on that,” replied Zac shakily.
Silent eye contact between John and the chopper pilot, as Zac boarded. A hand reached out and tousled his hair in an informal greeting.
“Gidday ya gay woman-pusher!” said Mad Max exuberantly. “I thought it was you three on top of the ridge yesterday arvo...”