Hitch Hikers by Ian Dolby - HTML preview

‘We should have done that.’ lamented Angie. ‘Then we wouldn’t have wet our bikinis!’

I checked that all three were clipped onto the lifelines as they made their careful way forward. Soon Janice was also squealing with delight as she alternated between the two bow seats and the trampoline netting. After about fifteen minutes, they’d all had enough and groped their way back to the cockpit. The stiff breeze was warm to hot, blowing off the mainland, but since they were wet, they cooled down quickly, so I sent them below to rinse off and change into dry clothes.

Janice was back first, looking highly desirable wearing only fresh panties, as she’d left her shorts and T-shirt draped over the nav station. Gracefully, she slipped them back on before joining me in the cockpit.

I grinned my best evil smirk at her, ‘If you keep running around dressed like that, I’m going to have to park the girls on the wheel and take you below.’

She giggled, ‘Can we? I’m game if you are!’

I looked at her again and saw a look in her eyes similar to what I thought must be in mine. Adrenaline does that every time and beats the hell out of artificial drugs.

I sent her below and five minutes later, the girls re-appeared and were pleased to be told they were to take the wheel, one to steer and the other to watch the mainsheet release.

‘I’ve got to go below for a few minutes,’ I said, ‘but I’ve eased both the mainsheet and the staysail a little, so gusts won’t be a problem. The breeze is pretty steady, so just keep it pointing on course and keep a lookout for ships. Call if there’s a problem. ’

‘Okay,’ Angie said with a knowing grin, wriggling into position. ‘Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. Enjoy!’

Zoe giggled as I beat a hasty and slightly embarrassed retreat inside.

Janice was waiting for me, already naked, perched up on the end of the bed in our cabin and laughed when I related the girls’ parting comments.

‘Cheeky minxes!’ she said. ‘They’re way too mature for me. I never know what they’ll come up with next.’

I leered at her, ‘You may not know what they’ll come up with next, but I know what we will.’ And proceeded to demonstrate the point, with Janice obliging twice before we finished, then as quickly as we decently could, cleaned up, dressed a nd went back up top.

‘Really!’ Angie said in mock disgust, then made a Freudian slip. ‘I don’t know what’s got into you two!’

82

‘I can tell you in fine detail what has.’ Janice replied in her best dry drawl. ‘Or me, at least!’ The girls’ laughter left several wiggles in our wake.

Since all was going well with the current watch on deck, I sheeted the sails in slightly for better speed, checked it was still safe for inexperienced hands, then joined Janice on the cockpit lounge to enjoy the ride.

The rest of the run proceeded uneventfully, with the stiff breeze holding steady out of the NNW. The swell rose a little more, but didn’t cause any problems apart from helping the bows to toss a bit more spray and green water around.

Because we maintained a higher speed, the lumpy green line of Three Hummock Island rose out of the mist and spray just on 18:00. By then everyone had had their share of hand steering and were happy to turn the duty over to George. There was only one isolated rocky outcropping to watch for on our approach, but as it was off-track to the north of our landfall, it wasn’t a problem in the good visibility.

Fifteen minutes later, having sailed right into position, the anchor rattled down in the shallows, before I backed down into four meters of the clearest water I’d seen, just ten meters off the beach. This left Firebird safely tucked up into a little hook of shallow water at the north end of the mile-long stretch of pure white sand of a magnificent beach. It was pure white, and rivalled the stunning Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays.

With the shelter afforded by the low hills bordering the bay, the stiff breeze had dropped away just enough to keep the heat tolerable.

Janice looked around at the glorious scene. ‘Oh dear, Harry. You’ve done it again! I thought Marshall Bay was beautiful, but this is so much better . Just look at that beach.’

I bowed and replied, ‘Yes ma’am. As your humble skipper, it’s the least I could do.’

She whacked me on the arm and laughed, ‘You’re an idiot.’

‘Harry,’ Angie spoke up, ‘is it safe to swim here? We’d love to go in. It’s very hot! ’

I looked around and decided that being so close to shore, there was little danger of nasties coming into such shallow water.

‘Yeah, sure. But don’t swim out past the boat. Just toward the shore.’

With a screech of delight, they disappeared below to change and I looked at Janice.

‘Going in?’

‘I think so,’ she said, ‘It looks so inviting. How about you?’

‘I'll think about it,’ I replied.

83

The splashing, shrieks and growls from just past the bows told of the girls and Jasper having fun and cooling down. ‘I might join them,’ Janice said, casually slipping off her top and shorts and in just her brief panties, dived in.

I decided to stay and watch out from the bows, just in case of uninvited visitors, so I perched on the padded seat in the right bow and looked at the carrying-on just below me. They greeted the topless Janice with a cheer and within moments, two tiny bundles of wet cloth hit me in the chest, accompanied by shrieks of laughter at my surprised reaction. Even Jasper got into the water play, ducking and swirling around.

I must confess I greatly enjoyed watching the three of them splashing around topless, looking remarkably similar with their short, blonde hair with only Janice’s bigger boobs showing who was who. I declined their invitations to join them and waited until they headed for the stern before walking aft to get the shower ready. I’d almost reached the cockpit when another wet bundle hit me square in the middle of my back. I stumbled to more shrieks of laughter as they gathered around the stern, waiting for me to get the shower ready.

Jasper got hoisted up first, and I quickly hosed the salt water out of his fur. There was no sand this time, so the job went more easily. Sending him up to the cockpit to shake water everywhere, I stood with a grin as the three naked nymphs emerged. Janice was first, gave me a kiss and let me spray fresh water all over her. I tried to pass the shower nozzle to her, but she shook her head and grinned,

‘No way. This is crew’s privilege. You’ve got to do the twins as well.’

I swallowed to free up a suddenly dry throat as the first delightfully naked twin climbed the ladder. Trying to only look at her face, I saw it was Angie, and she was desperately trying to stifle a fit of giggles!

‘Oh, Harry,’ she giggled. ‘You should see your face. It’s okay to look at us. We actually like it, dummy. Really, it’s natural!’

I shut her up by spraying water in her face and over her head, snatching a glance down her lovely body as I did, suddenly conscious of the fact that I only wore shorts. Her wash-down was therefore very brief and I sent her up the steps with a quick smack on the bum.

I heard a quiet exclamation from Janice, and then in an amused tone, she said ‘What’s this, young lady? Have you been practicing your hairdressing skills?’

Angie giggled again. ‘Zoe and I thought we’d try a bit of trimming on each other to see how it looks and feels. I mean, you haven’t got much fur there either, and we love the way you look, so we thought we’d do the same.’

84

‘You realise that if you stop, it’ll itch like buggery!’ Janice warned.

‘Yes. But we wanted to try, anyway. I left this little line just above mine, but Zoe’s got a tiny triangle above hers.’

‘Okay,’ Janice replied, ‘but be careful when you re-trim,’

‘Yes, Mum, we will,’ Angie replied happily.

By now I’d guessed what they were talking about and surreptitiously took a quick look at Zoe when she turned around. Sure enough, she had a tiny, but decorative little triangle positioned just above her otherwise bare, interesting bits.

Zoe received the same treatment with the shower, except she didn’t stop giggling. By the time I’d replaced it in its locker, Janice had the twins half-wrapped in towels, drying off.

I had a quick look down to make sure I was almost decent before climbing up to the cockpit and was relieved to see that I was merely in an ‘quite engorged’ rather than

‘fully erect’ state which would have been excusable under the very trying, yet delightful circumstances.

Finally, they hung their towels up to dry on the cockpit lines and went below, still giggling, while Janice, happily standing around still naked, was no help at all, bursti ng out laughing as she looked at my crotch.

‘It’s not funny!’ I exclaimed, desperately trying to round-up my shattered dignity. ‘I didn’t know that was coming at me.’

‘Oh, it really was that funny, Harry,’ she laughed. ‘Especially as I did warn you. The girls aren’t showing off, or not much. They’re just comfortable like that and consider it natural. And they’re obviously really comfortable with you. But the funniest thing was that lovely bulge in your shorts you’re still desperately trying to hide or make go away.’

I tried to glare at her, but it was impossible to be mad, so I chuckled ruefully.

‘Well. I guess you’re right. If you, the girls’ mother is happy with the situation, I guess I’ll have to be.’

She kissed me softly. ‘That’s the spirit. You’re a good man, Harry. Stay like that.’

Once again, dinner that evening, courtesy of Angie displaying her considerable culinary skills, was a very happy occasion, although my uncontrollable, hair-trigger erection remained the main source of hilarity. As always, I found it impossible to take offence with three irrepressible ladies, one of whom I found I was becoming quite attached to. It was a new sensation for me and I tried to view it objectively, but gave up and just enjoyed things moment by moment.

85

For a change, we played Scrabble, a game which apparently lent itself to even more cheating than Monopoly.

I checked the weather charts and radar, and discovered the front had slowed and wasn’t expected to pass through our position until mid-morning tomorrow, Saturday.

Therefore, winds would stay northerly all night and Firebird would remain secure.

CHAPTER 15...Luke’s car en route to the city...Friday evening Despite the pressures of business and his missing family, Luke headed for his favourite play-pen for some much-needed relaxation. Although the $12M initial cost of the old mansion, plus another $1.2M for the necessary, ‘special renovations' took nearly all his capital, the payback had been well worth the effort. The only worry was the two eighteen-year-old, blonde-headed chunks of security for the loans, currently running around loose somewhere in the country.

Tonight, some interstate members of The Circle were in town, and Luke was keen to play the gracious host in the converted mansion they’d made their base. Luckily, none of the Circle’s Principals had questioned the exorbitant weekly fees he was charging members, just so he could pay off the loan interest. As extra spice for tonight, Luke knew there had been a new delivery from Vietnam, and according to the listing, there were some items who were exactly what appealed to his particular, perverted taste.

Just the thought of checking the inventory made his groin tingle in anticipation.

Already living the pleasure ahead of him, the trill of the mobile phone rudely interrupted his erotic reverie.

‘Yeah. What is it?’ he barked, in his endearingly polite manner.

‘Jimmy here, Boss. I’ve got some good news!’

‘About fucking time! Ten grand a day to keep you clowns running around the country tripping over each other’s dicks! None of you could find your own fat arses with both hands. So – what’s the good news?’

‘We got a break and think they went to Eden, Boss.’

‘Excellent, Jimmy! Are we about to have another session where I get high blood-pressure trying to drag the story out of you word by word, or is there any chance that you might actually tell me the full story without further threats?’

‘Ah...Yes, Boss.’

‘Great! Which ‘Yes’ would that be, Jimmy? The ‘Yes, I’m going to tell you the good news story and make you a happy Boss?’ or the ‘Yes, I’m going to prove once and for 86

all what a moron I am and make the Boss put a contract out on me.’ Which one is it going to be Jimmy?’

‘Ah... I think the first one, Boss.’

‘Great, Jimmy. So go ahead and tell me, before I drive to wherever your worthless hide is at the moment and turn you into a new bonnet ornament. I think I need a new one, don’t you Jimmy?’

‘No, Boss. You don’t need to do that. Anyway, we had one of the girls phoning all the motels in every town on the main highways. I’m afraid the phone bill is going to be very high, Boss. Is that all right?’

‘Yes, Jimmy. If you produce a result, I don’t give a flying fuck about the phone bill.’

‘Oh, good, then. Well, our girl finally found a motel in Eden on the south coast of NSW

that had three females booked in. It was a mother and two daughters – they shared a room which they’d booked for four nights, but checked out suddenly last Monday, late in the afternoon.’

‘Oh, well done, Jimmy. You can do it. Think that is. Anyway, where are they now?’

‘Well, according to the motel owner, they said they were being picked up by some friends the same evening, and were going to the Gold Coast. I’m in Eden now, and we’re asking around to see if they really did get picked up.’

‘Good work, Jimmy. I’ll cancel that contract on you if you keep doing the right thing.

Now you will remember to call me when you find out more, won’t you?’

‘Yes, Boss. Thanks, Boss.’

‘Good dog, Jimmy. Now fuck off and get on with it!’

Luke continued his journey to The Circle’s Pleasure Centre in a much better frame of mind. He could even imagine the net he’d cast for his family closing tighter and tighter, and became quite excited at the mental picture of his lovely blonde, virgin daughters standing naked in front of him, while he conducted a world-wide video ‘Sale of the Century’, live and in full colour.

CHAPTER 16... Firebird... Three Hummock Is...Saturday am It was 06:30 the next morning when the phone rang. Luckily, Janice and I had just finished a delightfully extended round of getting-to-know-you-even-better, so it wasn’t too embarrassing to head for the saloon without waiting to put some clothes on.

87

It was a secure call, so I pressed the appropriate buttons and waited for the devic es to agree to talk to each other. Finally, a long beep and a green light showed that an effective agreement had been reached.

‘Hello,’ I said hopefully, ‘Sandy?’

‘Hi, Harry,’ she said sounding despondent. ‘How’re things with you?’

‘Excellent so far, thanks. But it sounds like things aren’t so good at your end. Is Greg alright?’

‘Yes, he’s okay, but only just. Some thugs beat him up last night, on his way back to his hotel after work. It could have been much worse, but he’s pretty good at defe nding himself, and gave better than he got. Despite that, they had to keep him in hospital overnight with busted ribs, mild concussion and facial contusions.’

‘Bloody hell! How could that’ve happened?’

‘That’s what we’d like to know. The local coppers he’s working with are a decent bunch and they reckon it’s a weird attack. It wasn’t a routine mugging, because nothing was asked for or taken, even though Greg nailed two of them and the third bailed out. Greg went through the usual mug shots, but nobody stood out. The locals reckon it looks like an organised hit.’

She broke down for a few moments.

‘I’m sorry, Harry. It’s getting a bit too serious when the good guys can get beaten up so easily.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ I commiserated, ‘but he knew the risks and it proves there really is some bad shit going down.’

‘Yes, I know he did. But apart from that initial enquiry, he’s not made any follow-up requests I know of. And I’m supposed to be his partner.’

‘Okay, Sandy. How about you speak to him again and make sure he didn’t make any further calls. We both know what he’s like when he gets his teeth into something. This bashing could just be a warning to ‘butt out or else’!’

‘I’d really like to think that’s all it is. But I’ll call and ask him. Is there any other message you want me to pass on?’

‘No. Not really. Just to keep his silly head down, mouth shut and stay frosty.’

‘Righto. I’ve already done that in less polite language, but I’ll pass your version on,’ she replied.

‘Oh yes! There is one more thing. Can you call Annette at the ACP and see if there’s any action on the Human Trafficking emails or the text messages we asked about earlier?’

88

‘Yeah. No problem Harry. I’ll do all that and get back to you ASAP.’

‘Thanks Sandy, take care of yourself. Low profile now.’

‘Yes Dad,’ she chuckled softly. ‘I’ll be a good girl.’

The unit beeped and squawked like it was going to chuck a hissy fit as it went through its usual sign-off procedures. I sat there a bit longer, digesting what she’d said, and planning what our best moves would be.

Finally, I convinced myself that we were doing all we could to stay under the radar and that we should just stick with the plan for now. That was mainly because I hadn’t come up with a ‘Plan B’ yet.

I must have been thinking too long, because Zoe suddenly appeared in front of me giggling and asked if I wanted a mug of tea. Belatedly, I realised that I was still naked, hadn’t washed and probably smelt a bit musky. Therefore, I muttered, ‘Yes, please!’

then under her clinically assessing gaze, I abandoned the shelter of the chart table with as much grace as I could, ducked out into the cockpit, and chased by her giggles, dived over the stern into the crystal-clear water.

Within minutes the water performed its usual magic by cleansing both body and mind, so in a more composed condition, I re-boarded, rinsed off with the shower and snagged one of the towels still hanging up from yesterday. While drying off, I scanned the clear sky, noting the warm north wind was blowing a lot harder than last night.

There was nowhere to safely hide without looking overly modest, so it was only slightly mortifying to see Angie had now joined her sister in the galley – both evil twins grinning as they intently watched my quick-dry antics. Finally, with the towel safely and firmly wrapped around my nether regions, I marched through the saloon and to my delightfully shared quarters where Janice laughed herself into hiccups when I told her.

I’d barely re-gained the bed, when Angie appeared with two teas and a bunch more giggles, which made me realise the ladies were laughing a lot more than they probably had for a long time, even if it was at my expense.

After Angie had departed to join Zoe at breakfast, I told Janice the details o f the phone call. Once again, I felt no remorse at holding back any reference to the notion that Luke might be in the process of auctioning the girls.

Twenty minutes later, I was still engrossed in the book I was reading in bed, when Zoe poked her head around the cabin door.

‘Sorry to disturb your peace, Harry, but there’s some dirty-looking cloud coming up from the west.’

89

I belatedly realised the wind was making a lot more noise in the rigging than before, so I scrambled out of bed, only pausing briefly to drag on a pair of shorts. Naturally, Zoe waited by the door, a smirk on her face.

‘Be nice to Harry,’ Janice feebly chided her with a chuckle.

‘Of course, Mum,’ Zoe grinned as she followed me.

Her warning was spot on and none too soon! A large mass of angry black cloud was already well above the western horizon, spears of jagged lightning making an awe-inspiring, but potentially dangerous display along the leading edge. The hot, gusting northerly was still whistling through the rigging, but that would change shortly to a howling, cold south-west gale when the front arrived.

‘What do you have to do?’ Angie asked, all previous frivolity forgotten. ‘And can we help?’

‘We need to get a second anchor out over the bow to make sure we stay put, ’ I replied, checking the storm edge to judge how quickly it was moving, which turned out to be very quickly. We probably had around thirty minutes to prepare.

I started the engines and moved forward, dropping the second anchor about 10 metres to the left of the first one, so the chains formed a shallow ‘V’ shape.

It only took about ten minutes until both two anchors were firmly buried in knee-deep water, so the pull on them was nearly flat, giving maximum holding power.

Once I was happy with the set of the anchors, I wrapped each chain around a samson post so the winches didn’t carry the extreme loads I expected. I removed all loose items from the deck and added more lashing on the tightly rolled sausage of the inner staysail.

With some time left, I decided to drop the rolled-up screecher completely, to remove the risk of it flapping loose. With the help of the girls, I dropped the long tube of sail onto the trampoline, disconnected sheets, halyard and the roller furler, then bundled the fat, purple sausage down into a bow locker.

Despite the low humidity of the north wind, we were sweating with exertion and as the girls were too excited to go below, we remained on deck to watch the approaching monster.

Storm

The upper edge of the cloud mass was now a razor-straight line of pure, malignant blackness, arching from the southern to the northern horizon, made much darker-90

looking by the morning sun shining brightly on it. The menacing lack of colour of the cloud was relieved only by the almost-continual flashes of lightning. Fortunately for a boat with a carbon mast-top poking twenty-four meters above the water, they were mostly cloud-to-cloud strokes, but there were enough ground strikes to prompt me to lower the two copper grounding plates into the water, connected to the stainless-steel mast shrouds with thick braids of woven copper.

With all the lightning activity, there was an almost continual rumble of thunder, a lot of it sub-sonic being felt rather than heard.

As a final check, I went below to check the weather radar site for NW Tasmania, which had an excellent view of the frontal squall line and showed an ominous picture of the following cloud band which was much deeper than expected.

I went through my usual pre-storm routine, by shutting down everything electronic, disconnecting antennas and stowing small and portable electronic items in both the microwave oven and a Faraday Cage locker I’d had constructed. They would protect sensitive electronic gear from the incredibly destructive effects of a lightning strike which could generate massive voltages, currents and electronic-frying electro-magnetic radiation.

After a final check, I re-joined the ladies on deck, who were still making awed comments over the appearance of the storm and its attendant light show .

‘How much longer before it gets here, Harry?’ asked Angie.

I looked at the speed of advance of the cloud band, already past overhead, swallowing the pale-blue morning sky like a rampaging blue-black monster.

‘Definitely time for a quick cuppa,’ I said, hoping to calm the apprehension showing in their eyes.

‘Oh, okay,’ Angie replied, heading for the galley.

That was all the time we had, as before we finished, the leading edge of rain and wind, came sweeping over the crest of the low hills just west of us, with a rapidly building roar like an on-coming freight train.

‘Righto,’ I said, ‘This is it. We’d better get inside!’

There was a semi-dignified rush along the side decks and down into the cockpit, where I started both engines.

‘What’s that for?’ Janice asked.

91

‘The first gust will probably be very strong,’ I replied, keeping an eye on the cloud of suddenly airborne sand off the beautiful beach, ‘so I'll use the engines to take some load off the anchors. It won’t last long, then I can shut them down.’

Seconds later, the surrounding water turned into a seething mass of white foam, as with a screeching howl, the gust front slammed into us. I shoved the throttles into drive and advanced them to 70% power, but the wind just pressed us back and down like a giant hand. The ladies were suddenly very scared when their world went from fairly serene to utter mayhem in seconds, and the anchor lines jerked Firebird to a halt. I could feel the immense, quivering strain they were under, but had confidence in the tackle and the fittings to which they were attached.

I gave the engines more power, then leant over to yell in Janice’s ear – she was hanging onto the helm seat with considerable strength.

‘Take the girls into the saloon and sit down. This won’t last long, but it’ll still be pretty breezy for a few hours.’

She nodded her understanding and carefully groped her way to the girls who were hanging on just as hard and shepherded them into the saloon. She returned to my side, however, after closing the heavy waterproof sliding door to cut some of the howling noise.

I saved my breath going crook at her, admitting it was comforting to have her presence beside me. The morning had turned almost full dark, so I switched on the forward-facing spotlights, which I usually only used for groping around a strange harbour at night.

The view, however, wasn’t very encouraging as torrents of rain lashed the boat, bringing with them truckloads of leaves, branches, sand and sea foam.

‘This isn’t exactly like storms ashore,’ Janice yelled into my ear, and I grinned at her levity. The anemometer on the masthead was flicking madly between 50 and 75 knots, but the anchors were holding well and the anchor watch GPS showed no rearward movement which would indicate we were dragging. I was very thankful, since I really didn’t fancy getting blown seaward into the bowels of this monster.

Thankfully, it was only another ten minutes before the insanely gusting wind started to ease. The massively thick cloud mass, streaming just overhead, started to lift as well.

Mind you, ‘ease’ was only a relative term since the actual wind speed was still well up in the gale force range of 40 to 45 knots, but I was comfortable enough to shut down the engines, and let Firebird look after herself.

92

Janice looked at me, her eyes a bit wild. ‘Is that it?’ she asked, a shake in her voice,

‘Not quite,’ I replied with a smile, ‘it’ll still blow hard for a while, but that’s the worst of it.’

‘Thank the Lord for that,’ she said, and I noticed that she was shaking a bit, so I gave her a hug.

‘Thanks for staying out here. I intended you to go inside with the girls, but it was nice to have you here.’

‘No problem,’ Janice smiled, ‘you might have needed an extra hand in a hurry.’

‘You’re right,’ I reflected, ‘I’ve learned to never take these frontal squalls for granted.

They’re too unpredictable.’

We stayed out in the cockpit for a while longer to see how Firebird was settling, but now the worst was over, she sat quietly to the twin anchors, although the wind still howled through the rigging and kept up an eerie bass moan from the mast.

The girls were glad to see us when we went inside and shut the door, creating an almost snug little oasis from the continuing fury outside.

I put the kettle on again, which got Angie moving as she now regarded the galley as her domain, a task I was delighted to relinquish.

Janice was the first to notice the dramatic drop in air temperature, made worse as we were all damp from rain and spray.

‘Okay,’ she told the girls, ‘Go dry off and change into warm clothes. Harry thinks it’ll stay cool for a few days.’

There were no arguments, so we all changed into trakkie-daks and jerseys which were much warmer and comfortable. Being inside and warm lifted everyone’s mood considerably as did the hot chocolate and toasted sandwiches Angie produced.

‘How long will the storm last, Harry?’ Zoe asked.

‘Hard to say, but from the look of the satellite photos, maybe a day or even two. These winds will drop to something more reasonable in a few hours, but the rain will probably hang about into tomorrow. At least the boat is getting a good fresh-water wash.’ I chuckled.

‘I guess we’ll stay here until the weather settles?’ Janice asked.

I eyed my crew, ‘Yep. A high-pressure system will eventually move in, but there may be a couple more fronts sweep through before it takes over, hopefully not as savage as this one! Anyway, we'll stay here for a few days at least since there's no need to rush off.’

‘I’m happy about that.’ Angie said. ‘It’s been very interesting, but scary.’

93

‘I agree. Running into a storm like that at sea is very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous, which is why I usually hole up somewhere safe until good weather and favourable winds resume. Anyway, we’re safe and comfortable and have plenty of time to wait until conditions improve.’

CHAPTER 17... Firebird... Three Hummock Is...Tuesday pm The next few days in our new anchorage went quietly. The south-west wind slowly diminished and the rain spattered down in brief squalls from fat, swollen clouds scudding low across the scrubby hills to the west of us. They looked threatening enough for the first day and a half to discourage outdoor activity, and the air was cool enough to make staying in bed in the morning very pleasant. It was an unusual but strangely pleasant experience for me!

Janice and I became closer and the girls approved of our bonding. They were frisky and uninhibited as always, but everything was in fun and with high spirits.

Breakfast was served in bed on a couple of occasions, so the doona became littered with crumbs when we’d all finished. When Jasper nosed in to scrounge any unattended food, it became crowded, yet entertaining.

In the odd moment of introspection, I caught myself wondering what could have driven Luke to destroy his relationship with such a wonderful wife and kids.

The counter-thought also crossed my mind that I just didn’t see myself as a surrogate husband and father, despite the way the relationship seemed to be heading. I really didn't want that level of long-term domesticity, nor did I think that Janice would trade a comfortable lifestyle on shore, with all the trappings her money could provide, for a nomadic sea-borne existence.

Tuesday evening was squally when the SatPhone rang again. We’d finished dinner and were just sitting around – Janice and I reading, something we both enjoyed, while the girls watched a movie on the TV, selected from my extensive digitised library.

They had come to realise when the encrypted SatPhone rang, it was serious and affected their future, so there was no argument when Janice paused the movie, then shooed them to our cabin.

‘Hello? Harry’s Homeless Shelter.’ I tried to enliven the usual dumb response that’s become part of our genetic programming.

94

‘Hi Harry, it’s Sandy,’ came her more cheerful voice.

‘Good evening, Sandy,’ I replied. ‘It sounds like things are a bit brighter up there?’

‘Yes, they are. Greg’s recovering well, although his ribs are giving him heaps of trouble and will for a lot longer, but his concussion has subsided and the rest of his injuries are just uncomfortable, rather than painful.’

‘Great news. Did you ask him those questions?’

‘I did, and although I had to drag it out of him, the sod finally admitted to putting in another request for information and it wasn’t through Annette. It was some turkey he’d met on one of those Inter-Force conference things which passes for an excuse for the boys to strut around comparing dick sizes, while boozing it up at taxpayer expense. We think it might have triggered the beating.’

‘Sounds like it,’ I replied, ‘there’s no other reason to put a scare into Greg. Frankly, I think they’ve panicked and made a big mistake – especially if the local coppers have become suspicious about the motive. I mean, they can’t hope to silence a State Police Force and stop coppers investigating odd-looking crimes, can they?’

‘No, you’re right, and I’ve tried to push that thought as much as I can. I’ve got some good contacts in the Central Brisbane LAC which has the case, and have suggested to some mates that there might be more to this than they’re being told. I suggested there’s proof of deliberate high-level interference. That’s really got the detectives stirred.

They hate political shit getting into investigations and now they’re asking the questions .’

‘Please be very careful!’ I cautioned.

‘I have been and still am. The guys who I laid some of this stuff on already had doubts about this incident, so they’re making all the enquiries now as part of their own investigation. I’ve just supplied a little bit of behind-the-scenes information.’

‘Righto. With a bit of luck then, this thing might start to unravel all by itself.’

‘Yeah. I was thinking that too. But I’ve also contacted Annette, and the way she’s taken this whole mess on board, we might have got a real break! ’

‘Tell me, tell me!’

‘I’m trying to, you goose. Belt up! She'd already made a legitimate Human Trafficking enquiry into Melbourne area activity, as part of an on-going HT investigation. To cut her long story short, what triggered that enquiry was that around a month ago, a rubbish collection crew in St Kilda, found a 12-year-old Thai girl at 3am one morning. She was very dirty and wearing only torn, grubby panties. She was also badly traumatised, mentally and physically, and spoke some strange tribal dialect.

95

It took a while for the hospital to find someone who could understand her, but finally a Thai doctor was able to. It turned out she and her sister had been sold by her parents to Thai human traffickers, then smuggled into Melbourne in a container with a bunch of other young kids and teenagers, both boys and girls. She managed to escape from a very fancy old house with high, ornate ceilings and polished wood panelling, by hiding in a rubbish bin, which was where the garbos found her. Interestingly, the bins were right outside the old mansion Luke Emery owns, although at this stage, it’s the only connection to him.’

‘Wow!’ I said getting excited. ‘That’s a stunning break.’

‘Yes, it is. But wait, there’s more! The fact that an illegal immigrant girl was found escaping from a house Luke owned and visited regularly, was enough to get approval for an intercept on his phones and email service. And best of all, those taps were put in place four weeks ago. Annette has all the transcripts since Janice and the girls bugged out, and she’s managed to keep the taps feed under her control, as well as hiding the fact that Luke’s under digital surveillance.’

‘Oh, this just gets better and better! But tell me, has Annette checked all the transcripts yet?’

‘No, not all of them and she hasn’t been through any of the emails either – there are thousands. But what she has come across is a series of calls Luke’s had with one of his employees, a thug called Jimmy. She thinks his full name is James Fitzroy and he’s got a record of arrests and convictions as long as your arm for intimidation, break and enter, and assault, including male and female rape. He’s spent time in prison on account of those minor character flaws, but it hasn’t reformed him.

Anyway, this Jimmy is in charge of the bunch of hired thugs looking for Janice and the girls. The calls detail the progress made as they tracked them around following Janice’s credit card purchases, but when she stopped using her plastic in Sydney, Jimmy and crew lost track.’

‘Is there any hint they were tracking them via mobile phones?’ I asked, dreading the answer.

‘Yes, they have been, so they have the technology. It’s concerning just how much money Luke’s spending on this search.’

‘Yeah well, that fits my theory that he’s hoping for a big payday selling the girls.’

‘Yeah. I agree, as nasty as it is. Nothing else makes sense.’

I asked again, ‘I don’t suppose there’s any hint of when it might be coming up? I'm sure the answer will be in the emails.’

96

‘I’ll call her again, just to try to hurry it along, but I think she’s trying as hard as she can.

She’s paranoid about trusting the wrong person too, but she said there’s two or three of her staff she can trust implicitly.’

‘Righto, good call. We’ll leave her to get on with it. We’re under the radar for now, so we’ll try to stay that way.’

‘It sounds like a real holiday cruise, Harry. I’m due some leave – I could come down and join you.’

‘I’d love to see you, and I just happen to have a spare cabin at the moment, but I think you’ll be a lot safer staying away for now. Plus, you’re doing such a great job keeping all us in touch. We badly need that info stream.’

‘Yeah, yeah! Got it Harry. I’ll stay here for now while you cuddle up to our star witness.

Don’t you worry about me, I'll be alright.’

I chuckled, ‘Yeah, yeah. That’s impressively pathetic, but don’t give up your day job. I’ll think about your proposition, and you call when you get more news.’

She laughed and cancelled the call.

CHAPTER 18... Firebird... Three Hummock Is...Tuesday to Friday Over the next three days, the south-west wind kept blowing, and according to the maritime reports, the west Tasmanian coast was being severely pounded by huge swells which kept marching up from the Southern Ocean in endless ranks. The su n shone brightly from a nearly cloudless sky, turned a washed-out blue by a very thin, high cirrus cloud cover. After updating Janice on the latest, I told the troops th ere was no point in uncomfortably bashing our way further south, while we could remain tucked up safe and secure in a beautiful bay, so that plan went on the back-burner.

The ladies were very happy with that decision, since they loved our latest hidey-hole and they had the island to walk on and explore.

They became quite good at fishing, landing some beautiful snapper, as well as the large and very tasty King George whiting and a few flathead. It was a delicious way to extend our pantry stocks.

I used the time to check Firebird over carefully for storm damage, but found none. I also retrieved the second anchor, as we were totally secure on the main Excel anchor in anything up to and including a whole gale. Perhaps I was overly cautious by putting 97

out a second anchor ahead of the storm, but I’d developed a healthy respect for fast-moving squall fronts.

We went for long walks and runs on the amazingly white beach to keep our fitness levels up and even ventured inland through the dense scrub, although when I casually mentioned that Tiger snakes were present on the island in large numbers, enthusiasm waned dramatically for any more bush walks.

We saw kangaroos on the beach, and even Jasper, who was delighted to be taken on at least two walks a day, couldn’t get close to the giant mice, although it wasn’t for want of trying. I had to firmly tell him not to chase them off the beach.

I didn’t let on that I spotted a snake on the beach one afternoon. It was quite rare for them to venture into the open since they became easy prey to eagles and ospreys so it was very unlikely that one would pose any problem.

As the days warmed up and the cool south winds eased, the girls took to running around naked again, including going for beach walks sans clothing. Janice also joined the undress movement, and they badgered me to join them. I resisted at first, only giving in when I thought I could control my body while surrounded by their bare ones.

Most times it worked, but I had to be careful where I looked, to the endless amusement of my fair companions.

‘It’s really not fair!’ I exclaimed to Janice one afternoon, attempting to act dismayed as I failed to control my body’s response to the girls’ mock wrestling bout on the soft sand just in front of us. ‘When you females get aroused, everything is still nicely tucked away, mostly out of sight even, while a male with everything hanging out in the breeze to start with, ends up with a mini flagpole.’

Janice giggled as she made an exaggerated inspection of the source of my complaint.

‘Golly gee, Harry. I could say that if you weren’t so big, it’d be less of a problem, but then I’m definitely not going to make any complaint about size. Particularly after what I’d been used to.’

I raised my eyebrows and looked at her. ‘Oh yeah? Please explain?’

She avoided my gaze for a few moments before replying. ‘Luke has always been small, even when he could get it up. Thin and short was the best he could do on a really good day, which is why his forced attentions didn’t hurt at all, just the beatings. I even needed artificial insemination to get pregnant. The little guys just couldn’t swim that far without help.’

98

She suddenly giggled, ‘Yesterday, I heard the girls making a comparison. You would have been very flattered if you’d heard them.’

There didn’t seem much I should say to that, so I didn’t and we walked on in comfortable silence. After that, however, I was less concerned about my occasional erection in front of the girls, although I felt a bit uncomfortable when they paid such close attention to it.

Their generally happy demeanour remained a real pleasure to both Janice and me, although they had down times when they missed their close friends back home. Still, the adventure of the boat trip always won through any depression and having Jasper to cuddle and play with was a great distraction and mood lifter.

Sandy...Southport...Friday 08:00 am

Sandy had the midnight to 09:00 shift on Friday, and was at her desk finishing writing another interminable report before she knocked off, when her boss, Superintendent Bob Casey bellowed down the stairway, requesting her presence in his office. He wasn’t angry – it was his normal way to summon staff.

She tidied her hair, straightened her uniform and beat feet upstairs. He had a corner office with an entertaining view of a traffic-choked intersection in downtown Southport.

‘Good morning, sir,’ she said from the open doorway after knocking politely. ‘You wanted to see me?’

He looked up from a pile of reports he’d been ploughing through. A thickset man in his late 40’s, dark hair well-speckled with grey and muscles slowly turning to fat from too much beer, too much time behind a desk and too little exercise.

He smiled, stood and waved the curvaceous, auburn-haired Senior Constable to the chair opposite his desk.

‘Come in, please Senior and take a seat. Thanks for coming up, there’s just a couple of small matters, then you can go back to generating more of these things to choke my in-tray,’ he said, smiling genially, while waving disdainfully at the pile of reports in front of him.

‘Thank you, sir,’ Sandy sat primly in the attention position

‘Now first,’ he said, ‘I believe you’ve got one of the TRG’s encrypted SatPhones?’

Sandy nodded, ‘Yes sir. I’ve been running some tests because it was a new model and we don’t have those even in our budget. It does seem very good though, much better 99

signal quality than the old model we sometimes use and no encryption dropouts. We should get them and soon.’

‘Ah, good, good. However, records show that you’ve been using it several times to make quite lengthy calls to the same number. Can you explain?’

Sandy swallowed and prepared to lie. ‘I’m sorry about that, sir, but I’d wanted to see how well the new encryption algorithm holds up during a lengthy call, to make sure there was no degradation of signal quality or strength, so I called a friend of mine in the ACP. Our old ones sometimes drop the encryption partway through the call, so the user has to start all over again.’

Superintendent Casey held up his hands in mock horror.

‘Enough! I sometimes think you tech specialists speak a different language to we normal mortals. Anyway, I presume you’ve done all the testing necessary?’

Sandy tried to smile, ‘Yes sir. That’s enough for my report.’

‘Good, because the TRG need that one back urgently. It seems one of their brightest dropped his from a hotel balcony, and it went into the main pool twenty stories below.

Very nearly hit some old duck on the head, so of course she’s suing the hotel for a case of advanced palpitations and in turn, they’re suing the TRG.’

He chuckled, ‘I've gotta tell you the story. It turns out, the incident was spotted by some religious cult leader having lunch with his secretary on the balcony of his room just across from the TRG chappie. The TRG bloke was making a call on the SatPhone while standing there stark naked, and according to the secretary, quite aroused. It was about then he dropped the bloody thing! Hotel security were already on the way in response to the outraged call from the religious dude, where they found two naked young ladies in there with him, one of them tied to the bed with TRG handcuffs . What a clusterfuck!’

He looked quite cheerful about the much-vaunted TRG cocking things up so publicly.

‘Anyway, if you wouldn’t mind boxing it up and calling a courier to collect it. Here’s the address,’ as he passed her a sticky note.

‘Okay sir. I can do that,’ she replied. ‘Was there anything else?’

He looked a bit discomforted for a moment. ‘Yes, damnit, there is. It’s that bloody paedophile business again. I was called by that nosy, condescending, slimy little prick from the ACP – Alistair Swinford is his name. Rotten little arsehole! The same one who ripped into me about Greg’s enquiry last week.’

Sandy just nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

100

‘Anyway, he asked if anyone else had been making further enquiries into the investigation, and naturally, I had to say no! But then I thought I’d better talk to you since you were Greg’s partner on this thing.’

Sandy opened her mouth to speak, but he held a hand up for silence.

‘Sandy, you've done excellent work since you’ve been here and I’ve got no complaints, but I really get upset when a Commonwealth copper gives me a serve because my people are doing their jobs. And the smarmy little prick not only refused to tell me what was going on, but also said it was on a ‘need to know basis ‘, and I didn’t need to know!

Bullshit! If it affects this station or my staff, I need to know! Now, what I need from you is any information which might shed some light on this mess. I feel like I’m trying to fight a bunch of shadows in a dark room with my hands tied behind my back.’

Sandy thought for a long few moments, then looked him in the eye and said, ‘Sir, I can honestly say that I have no idea what the ACP are investigating which might affect this station. Like you, I’m not privy to that info and I’m sure Greg wasn’t either. ’

He patted the air between them wearily, ‘I know. I know. I’ve already spoken to Greg and he said the same. Alright, if you don’t know, all we can do is wait for their Lordships to let us little people know what their high and mighty plans and machinations have revealed. If they bother!’

Sandy tried desperately not to show relief on her face, but seized the opportunity to ask,

‘With all this fuss going on, may I please put in a request for some leave? I’ve got over 4 weeks banked up and HR want me to clear it. I really feel I need a break from it all.’

He looked concerned and frowned. ‘Of course, of course. Send it through the usual channel, but make sure it gets sent to me. I suppose you want to start straight away?’

Sandy smiled, ‘Yes sir, I really would. This whole thing of being under suspicion of I-don’t-know-what, has been preying on my mind.’

‘Understood and say no more. Go fill out your paperwork and bring it straight up for my signature.’

Sandy stood. ‘Thank you, sir, for being understanding.’

Half-way to the door, she paused, having one of those rare epiphany moments where a bright light suddenly reveals the solution to a puzzle, then she gave him what she hoped was a sufficiently meaningful look. ‘Look sir, if there should be anything I remember that might help you, or if, by chance I do come across some pertinent information from, let’s say an informed friend, may I call you direct? Perhaps on your personal mobile phone if I can have the number?’

101

Superintendent Casey frowned briefly as he considered the import of her words, then smiled.

‘Oh! Oh, I see. Yes indeed. That might be a very good idea, Senior. Here’s the number and yes, you can call at any time, day or night.’

‘Yes sir, and thanks again. I’ll really try to remember as much as I can and let you know what I find... that is, remember.’

‘Good work, Senior. I look forward to hearing from you before long...’

He stopped as obviously some dots connected for him, and it was his turn to have an epiphany. ‘Oh, now here’s a few thoughts. How about we don’t worry about your leave application? How about I assign you to work plain clothes, solo, investigating the connections to the national paedophile ring we were told about by that local rock spider? You know, the one we snagged last month? If I were to leave the investigation area to your discretion, you can do what you consider appropriate, but remember that you’re reporting only and directly to me. A reasonable expense account goes with it, but don’t go crazy. And keep all receipts, otherwise accounting will go nuts. Do you think interstate travel would be involved?’

Sandy couldn’t help but break out into her trademark, beaming smile.

‘Oh sir, that’s fantastic! I know exactly where and what to investigate, especially under the terms you laid down, so we can comply with the ‘no interference’ edict by the ACP.

And yes, there will be some interstate flying, but I’ll report as I go, rather than in advance. Based on what I think I might possibly discover, I must respectfully ask that you don’t communicate any of the information it’s possible I might pass on to you, to anybody else. At least for now until we work out who are the right ears.’

Superintendent Casey beamed at her, like a father might look at his favourite daughter.

‘I can work with that,’ he smiled. ‘Just be careful. I still don’t like the way these ACP

clowns are running around deflecting investigation enquiries. Makes me very suspicious and unhappy!’

Sandy left and hurried downstairs to wrap up her work. With her normal partner, Greg laid up for many weeks to come, she wasn’t working with anybody else, so her absence wasn’t going to be noticed. Officers were transferred in and out all the time on temporary duty. She was about to pack up the SatPhone, when yet another thought struck her.

Checking the battery charge, she went out to the carpark, found her car and dialled the number she’d almost learned by heart.

102

CHAPTER 19... Firebird... Three Hummock Is...Friday 09:00

We’d just come back from a beach-walk when the SatPhone made its distinctive

‘secure call’ tone. Janice rolled her eyes and shooed the girls up for’rard to sit around the bows.

‘Yo!’ I answered for a change.

‘Hi, Harry,’ came Sandy’s voice, ‘I only have a minute, so listen up. The ACP has been sniffing around again, not looking for anything in particular, just flashing their dicks, basically. However, it’s made my position very awkward and rendered me almost useless sitting here, since this SatPhone has to go back to the TRG and I can’t ask any more official questions. The big news is that my boss, Superintendent Casey, has picked up on some of what’s happening and is totally pissed off at being jerked around by the ACP investigator who’s been doing this local cover-up.

I’ve managed to drop enough hints that I know more than I can say, so the darling man has assigned me my own, solo, on-my-own plain-clothes investigation of the information our local paedophile has given us. Did I say that I’m all on my own, have an expense account and almost unlimited scope of operation? I just have to report directly to him every so often. How do you like that?’

I was trying to absorb all that she had said, then replied, ‘That’s terrific, having that support. But I presume you’ve not told him much, and you do trust him?’

‘That’s right. I just inferred that if I could get away from nosy ACP investigators, I’d be able to find out more. And, yes, I do trust him. There’s no way he could be involved with these creeps.’

I thought a bit more, and then said, ‘Okay Sandy, I presume you want another boating holiday?’

‘Yes please, Harry. As soon as we hang up, I won’t have this phone anymore. My boss is covering my back, and I can help with contacts wherever I am. You’ve got every form of communication known on your lovely boat, so we can stay in touch just as easily.’

‘Righto. Come on down. You know what to pack, but bring enough for at least a month.

It’s warm to hot at the moment, but plan for very chilly as well. Any of your special gadgets you’ve got lying around might come in handy as well, but you really need to cover your movements, so here’s a plan I just happened to prepare earlier. Got a pen?’

‘ Go ahead.’

103

‘Don’t make any phone calls on your normal or work mobiles, and don’t tell anybody about your movements. As soon as you can, buy four or five pre-paid mobiles. Just the most basic type – no bells and whistles. You’ll only use those from here on. You can use your credit card until you leave, then no more.

Withdraw as much cash as you can from your account, and book the first flight to Melbourne, with a connection to Adelaide, but only book your checked bag as far as Melbourne. Say you don’t trust the transfer system and will re-book it there.

You won’t be on the Adelaide flight unfortunately, so you'd better let the Service pick up the tab for the flights. You’ll also need to book a one-way flight with King Airways, Melbourne to Burnie, Tasmania, but pay cash for that, no card. I’m sure you can work it out.

There are flights today to Burnie at 12:30, 14:50 and 18:55. Copy so far?’

‘ Copy.’

‘Okay. At Burnie airport, you’re actually at the town of Wynyard. Don’t ask, it must be a Tasmanian thing, ‘cause Burnie is actually 18 km or so down the road to the east. Take a taxi into town and have the cabbie take you to the Jetty Hotel. It’s a neat little pub on the waterfront, with accommodation, but you’re not going to check in. If the cabbie wonders why a pretty chicky-babe wants to stay there, just say you’re going to hook up with a bunch of bikie mates, who are coming through town tonight or tomorrow. That should make him lose interest. Naturally, don’t mention boats.’

‘ Copy.’

‘Make your bookings soon as, and let me know which Burnie flight you’ll be on. We’ve got a four-hour run to Wynyard from here, so let me know flight time ASAP. We shouldn’t spend too much time in Wynyard, but we'll reassess that after we see the local situation.’

‘Okay, Harry. I’ve got it all. I’ll call back shortly with flight details.’

The phone shut down as I mentally reviewed the new arrangements, before waving Janice and the girls back.

‘Things have changed yet again,’ I said, and explained what was happening. The mention of the search-net tightening further, reminded the girls that as fun as the trip was, it had a very serious purpose.

‘We’re going to have a good friend joining us later,’ I concluded, mainly to the girls, since Janice was privy to most of my info from Queensland. ‘Sandy is a lovely, very smart and funny lady. She’s also a Senior Constable with the Queensland Police, a 104

comms tech and instructor in hand-to-hand combat, so she knows how to handle herself and most weapons. She’ll call again soon with flight info. I’d like to time our run so we get there about the same time as she does. We may not spend much time there as it’s a very small port and we’ll be noticed, but we’ll see how things look when we get there.’

‘How long will it take to get there? ‘Janice asked.

‘It’s an almost straight run of 48 nautical miles, so with the wind as it is, about 4 hours or less. I hope.’

‘What happens after we pick up Sandy?’

‘Back here, at least for a few days. There are also a couple of beautiful looking bays on the east side of the next island to the west. We could go there for a few days if the southerly keeps on. Regardless, we have plenty of choices in this general area, so long as the food holds out.’

I looked at Angie. ‘Speaking of that... Chef! How is the pantry holding up?’

She grinned and answered confidently, ‘Pretty good so far, Skipper. Frozen meat and vegies are okay, although bread-making supplies are good only for about another week.

Fruit juice and long-life milk supplies are good, but everything else will need to be restocked if we're going remote again, especially with an extra mouth to feed .’

‘Righto. That’ll be enough. The southerly will turn before then, so we’ll be able to head for Strahan. And you guys can catch more fish! Those spicy Thai fishcakes you made last night were terrific!’

Angie beamed with the praise, which was genuine, as she really was good in the galley.

It was, however, still a little disconcerting for me to see their bare little breasts bobbing around up close and personal. By unspoken agreement, Janice and the twins always wore panties of some sort when inside or sitting in the cockpit. Needless to say, I at least pulled shorts back on once onboard.

‘Okay, boss,’ she grinned, ‘your trusty crew will fire up the fishing lines again. Should we toss a line over now?’

I looked at my watch. ‘Yeah, you can, although as soon as Sandy calls with a time, we may have to set sail immediately.’

‘No problem.’ She and Zoe moved as a well-practised team, baiting lines that were already rigged and casting over the stern.

105

The fish life in this beautiful bay was amazing, so it was only minutes before Zoe was hauling in a 2.5kg snapper. On its own it would feed two of us, but by the time the SatPhone rang fifteen minutes later, they had eight more, even bigger.

As expected and although the calling number was strange, it was Sandy, sounding quite excited at the prospect of the trip and getting more closely involved in the action .

I didn’t bother to chase the girls away as they needed to hear most things from here on, except stuff about their dear Daddy’s ultimate plans for them.

‘Hi again, Harry,’ she said. ‘I’ve got the times for you.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘The flight to Melbourne was the most difficult and I’ve still got to pack and get to the airport. I’ve conned a Code 3 ride with Highway Patrol, which should save some time, so I’ll be on the 14:50 Burnie flight that gets in at 16:00. Will that work out?’

‘Great! That’ll work out fine. We won’t have to rush so much, although we might have some night sailing if we want to get back to our lovely little hidey-hole tonight. I see you’ve got the burners already.’

‘Yep! There’s a shop just across the street, although the battery needs charging. ’

‘Only call if your schedule changes, so get going and stick to the plan.’

‘ Roger boss. See you this arvo.’

I checked the time, before informing the crew.

‘It’s 10:00 now, and Sandy’s on track with flights, but she won’t lob in Burnie/Wynyard until 16:00. That gives us plenty of time to make the run if this breeze holds. If we leave by 12:00, the timing will be about right. The airport’s just on the edge of town, so that bit won’t take long.’

‘Is there anything we need to do to get ready?’ Janice asked.

‘Nah! Not really, apart from making up Sandy’s bed in the stern cabin. Firebird’s ready; just the usual stowing of loose stuff in the galley. We’ll be in quite sheltered water all the way, so it should be a fast, fun sail.’

That pleased the crew, although Jasper had only one romp on the beach. Still, I was appreciative that all the extra exercise meant he slept most of the night through, and when he wanted a human to snuggle, he usually bunked with the girls. Although their favourite wee-small-hours saying was a sleepy grumble of ‘move your furry fat arse, cat.’ I noticed they didn’t kick him out.

106

With time in hand, we had a leisurely morning tea, while the twins hauled in a few more fish. As we had plenty of fresh fillets in the fridge, they’d planned to freeze some, but Angie was also very keen to try smoking some on the Weber. She’d braved the tiger snakes in the scrub and collected what she reckoned would be a bundle of nice-smelling wood to do the job. Hearing their chatter, I was delighted they had fitted into the routine so well and cheerfully did their share of jobs. Most teenagers would have been content to lie back playing with their phone or iPad without lifting a finger to help.

For about the twentieth time, I reminded Janice what a terrific pair of girls she had.

CHAPTER 20...Three Hummock Is to Wynyard...Friday 12:00

Promptly at 12:00 with Zoe on the wheel, I raised the anchor. Three minutes later, we had all sails up and set, a stiff 25 knot breeze out of the southwest sending Firebird scooting along at 15 to 18 knots, a low swell alternately lifting the bows, then the sterns in a gentle, almost soothing rhythm. The breeze was too much for the big screecher, so I left it furled. As I had hoped, the swells stayed quite low, with insufficient fetch to let them build too much, while the breeze picked up some more once we were clear of the islands.

It turned out to be a great sail, with Firebird only heeling a few degrees and slicing cleanly through the water with an easy, loping motion. Zoe let out a whoop when the speedo touched 20 knots and stayed there for minutes on end.

‘This is brilliant!’ she enthused, a beaming smile on her face. ‘Even better than coming across from Flinders. The waves are smaller.’

We all smiled at her infectious happiness, as I mentally revised our landfall time downwards.

The motion was so easy, Angie had no trouble making and serving tea and sandwiches for lunch, and nothing spilled. It became a fast run to Wynyard, the 50 nautical miles completed in 3 hours flat for an average speed of 16 knots. Rather than waste time trying to beat inshore against the wind, I fired up the engines for the last short leg into port.

With sails neatly furled, Firebird motored easily and quietly towards the river entrance.

The offshore breeze completely flattened the swell in close, so there were no 107

significant waves on the shallows either side of the entrance to worry us as we followed the lead triangles to stay in the narrow channel.

I supervised Zoe carefully, but she picked up the idea quickly and kept us safe. We were ahead of time anyway, and were anchored across from the wharf by 15:30.

As I shut down the engines, I said to the ladies, ‘I have a cunning plan. As we’re early, let’s go ashore and have a beer or two while we wait for Sandy.’

‘I thought you didn’t want to hang around?’ Janice asked. ‘I mean I’d love to go join normal civilisation for a while, however short, but is there any risk?’

I looked around at the peaceful, pretty little harbour with the neat white-painted Jetty Hotel overlooking the water.

‘No, I don’t think so. Don’t dress up – we’re only going to the pub.’

That raised a laugh as everyone rushed below to chuck on something half-decent, which really didn’t take more than a couple of minutes. I just changed my shirt and splashed some anti-stink under the armpits, then went aft to lower the RIB. We left the boat unlocked with Jasper on guard, looking slightly forlorn about being separated from his newly-expanded family, and puttered quietly ashore.

I noticed there was a security fence along the wharf’s inner edge, so we went around the tiny marina, and tied up right beside the carpark.

It was a brief stroll through a pretty little park; then over the road where we plonked down at an outside table on the pub’s veranda, looking out at Firebird. Jasper’s black head could just be seen peering wistfully over the cockpit surround, his eyes firmly on us. Over the last week and a bit, he’d become way too used to constant company and attention, and I thought he’d miss them when the ladies went back to their shore-side life and we resumed our usual wandering lifestyle. ‘ So will I, for that matter.’ The random thought flashed across my mind as I went into the bar to order.

‘Gidday love,’ called the cheery barmaid, an older, buxom woman. ‘Wot‘ll you ‘ave?’

‘Two schooners of Cascade and two Lemon Ruskies, please.’

‘Coming right up.’ she answered, starting the beer pulls first. ‘You lot off that bloody big cat?’

‘Yeah. I’m afraid so,’ I grinned.

‘Jeez, don’t be afraid!’ she said laughing. ‘I’d be on it with you in a flash. Trouble is, this place is just starting to turn a profit so I can’t leave.’

108

‘No bloody wonder you’re making a profit,’ called out one of the grizzled old regulars from down the bar, in a gravelly voice, ‘the bloody prices you charge a busted-arse old fisherman, it fair makes me eyes water!’

‘Oh, bullshit Ernie,’ she scolded, placing the drinks in front of me and accepting the $50

note. ‘The only thing that makes your eyes water is too much of that cheap rum from the Bottlo up town. Now if you got off your skinny arse and went fishing a bit more often, you’d appreciate the good stuff I serve here.’

With Ernie grumping in his beer and with that battle won for the moment, she smilingly handed over my change and went to top up some others, while I carried the drinks out to the ladies.

We clinked glasses, the twins eagerly sucking down their cold Ruskies. I’d discovered Janice enjoyed the odd beer on a hot day, so we relaxed, soaking up the peace and tranquillity of the harbour.

‘Can we get some chips?’ Zoe asked.

‘Sure,’ said Janice, looking at me helplessly, ‘but I didn’t bring money ashore.’

I smiled and gave Zoe $15. ‘Better get a couple of bags,’ I said. ‘This is so nice, we might stay a bit longer! The folks in the bar give off a good vibe.’

The old fisherman who’d joshed with the owner just before, wandered out, beer in hand and looked the ladies over, looked over at Firebird, then looked at me.

‘Bloody ‘ell Skipper, that's a good-looking crew you’ve got there. Why can’t I pull glamour like that? Surely pretty girls would rather work at sea and come home covered in scales and stinkin’ of fish guts, than lounge around on that luxurious bit of fluff?’

The ladies in question looked up, then giggled at his comments.

He looked at them a moment, but then chuckled.

‘That’s good. You can take a joke; I reckon maybe you lot are okay.’ he declared. ‘We get a few wankers from across the strait. They drift in here with their bloody great gin palaces, poncing around like they've just crossed the Tasman, but that looks a half -

decent boat. Can she handle a good blow?’

‘Yeah,’ I replied, taking a pull of beer, ‘she is at that – and yes, she can handle a blow.

Been through several in the Tasman already.’

‘Good thing you’ve got a dog aboard,’ he commented, squinting his rheumy eyes at Jasper’s head, still poking above the cockpit coaming, ‘helps with security in strange ports, I reckon. He looks a bit like a Rottie from here.’

109

‘Yeah. He’s a Rottie/Doberman cross. That gives him the narrower head shape.’ I didn’t bother to correct him. A cat close to the size of a Rottweiler/Doberman cross would attract way too much attention in the sleepy little port of Wyn yard.

‘Anyway folks, didn’t mean to butt in, but I just wanted to let you know that if you wanted to stay a while, where you’re parked is just fine.’

‘Thanks, mate,’ I said easily as he turned to amble back inside, ‘we might just do that.

Or at least stay for a feed. Is it okay here?’

‘My bloody oath,’ he enthused, turning back with a gap-toothed grin. ‘Old Mavis in there puts on the best feed in town, bar none.’

‘Good-o!’ I replied cheerfully, ‘that’ll do us.’

‘Are we really staying for tea?’ Janice asked quietly after he left. ‘Isn’t it a bit risky?’

‘Maybe, but I’m getting a good feeling about this place. The biggest risk was coming here in the first place – but I needed to get Sandy out of circulation ASAP. Now that we’re here, I think it might arouse more curiosity if we just grabbed her and ran. ’

She thought about that for a few moments, then nodded. ‘Okay. Makes sense, and I know we’d all like a night out. It’s just a bit unexpected – pleasantly so, I might add.’

We drank, chatted and generally just soaked up some no-pressure, shore-side routine.

I went in to get another round of drinks and asked about a feed for later on. My new best friend, Mavis, slid a menu across and said we could eat anytime and just let her know.

‘Great! But no rush, thanks Mavis. We’ll suck up a couple more of these lovely beers first.’

‘Good on you, Jimmy,’ she said, pouring the next round. I didn’t think that using my right name would’ve been the best idea under the circumstances.

We’d almost finished the second round of drinks and another couple of packets of chips, when a battered old taxi pulled up out front.

By now I had a slight glow on, and Janice definitely had rosy cheeks and looked looser.

‘Ah. This looks promising,’ I announced cheerfully, and the ladies looked on with interest as their new crewmember dragged herself and a couple of bags out of the cab and paid off the driver. Her shoulder-length, auburn hair glowed with health in the late afternoon sun, while the pale-blue denim jacket over a white T-shirt did little to hide her well-developed chest. Likewise, the rest of her, encased as it was in tight jeans, wasn’t hard to look at either. Obviously, since I’d last seen Sandy, she hadn’t let herself go at all.

110

‘Wow!’ exclaimed Angie, rather reverently. ‘That’s Sandy?’

‘She doesn’t look like a copper,’ Zoe threw in.

‘You can check her badge later,’ I joked, getting up to greet her, as she climbed the steps and stopped at our table, dumping her bags on the ground with a thump.

She looked sternly at us, then at the collection of empties clustered in the middle of the table.

‘I hope you don’t intend trying to drive that overgrown hobie-cat out there while partly under the influence, Mr Stevens? Especially with untrained passengers aboard.’ she asked sternly.

‘Wouldn’t dream of it, Constable, oops, Senior Constable.’ I replied cheerfully, flashing a highly derogatory two-fingered salute. ‘I’d probably wait until I was properly pissed, then let the semi-pissed, but fully-trained First Mate here do it for me.’

‘Oh. Well, that’s all right then. I was afraid I’d come to the wrong pub and found the wrong Harry’

With Janice and the twins looking on with puzzled expressions, Sandy dropped the

‘Smart-arse Cop’ routine and beamed with pleasure, the smile transforming her face, as she grabbed me in a tight hug and kissed me soundly. I couldn’t help but notice Janice had a somewhat ordinary expression on her face when we finally separated, the feeling of Sandy’s lovely chest pressed firmly against mine still lingering.

I turned to introduce the others, but Sandy beat me to it, grabbing Janice’s hand and leaning down to kiss her as well.

‘Hi Janice,’ she said softly, ‘please excuse me taking liberties with Harry. We go back a way and went through some tough times together. I tend to get very fond of people who save my life.’

Not giving Janice a chance to speak, she turned to the girls.

‘I know one of you is Angie and the other is Zoe, but I’m buggered if I can pick which is which.’

A tanned, freckled Angie cautiously stuck her hand up. ‘Hi. I’m Angie with the freckles.

This is Zoe – sans freckles.’

Each promptly received a hug and a kiss from Sandy, who then rounded on me.

‘And where the hell’s my beer, Harry? Jeez, the service is rat-shit around here. Have I got to get my own or what?’

I sketched another mock salute and smiling with pleasure at seeing my dear friend again, hustled inside to order another round and was promptly set upon by Ernie the fisherman.

111

‘Bloody hell, Skipper! Now you’ve snagged another one. Where’d you pull her? Fair dinkum, you gotta teach me how you do that. I mean, she’d just arrived and was giving you what for, when wham! She’s all over you like a bloody octopus. I mean, how the hell do you do it?’

I couldn’t help jerking his chain, as I replied with a helpless shrug, ‘Buggered if I know either, Ernie. I mean, there we were, just sitting minding our own business when she rocks up, gives me an earful and demands a beer. Says she was supposed to meet up with some bikie mates this evening, but then changes her mind and says she’d rather go on a boat than sit on the back of a bike. Bloody hell! I mean, what’s a guy to do? I’ll have to put her to work to pay her keep, I suppose. Of course, if I do take her, I’ll have 50 rabid bikies chasing me for pinching their main Momma! If you know what I mean ?’

‘Yeah, well. You could always sling her my way,’ Ernie sniggered, ‘instead of being a greedy bugger. As if three ain’t enough, when I’m stuck with a moron for a son-in-law who’s got two left feet and doesn’t know starboard from the hole in his bum. Tell her if she likes boats so much, I’ll keep her so busy the bikie blokes won’t have a chance to find her.’

‘Oh, turn it up, you old goat!’ Mavis laughed at him. ‘You wouldn’t know what to do with a lovely young lady like that. Now you leave the nice gentleman alone. And while I’m on a roll, it wouldn’t hurt if you learned a few manners. Might get you a lot further with the ladies.’

‘Does that mean if I learn some of those fancy, poncy manner things, I might finally score with you?’

‘You’ll never know if you don’t try,’ she said cryptically, with a wink at me, as I loaded the drinks onto a tray and beat a hasty retreat back outside.

Sandy quickly won Janice and the twins over completely, and soon they were giggling and laughing like old mates, particularly when I told them of my exchange with Ernie.

‘So now I’m a bikie moll who’s abandoned the pack to go off as part of a boatie’s harem.

Is that the picture, Harry? I mean, I’ve gotta get the story straight. I wouldn’t want to spoil your legend!’

I shrugged carelessly, ‘Yeah, well. That’s about it, Sandy. I mean, what else can I say?

Ernie did make you a serious offer, though.’

That earned me a serious smack on the arm.

Zoe looked at her, ‘Harry says that you’re an instructor in hand-to-hand combat. Can you teach Angie and me some moves?’

112

Sandy chuckled, ‘Yes. I am and sure I can. Some of the more basic self-defence ones are quite easy. We can have a session each morning up on the trampoline mat.’

Zoe’s eyes gleamed, ‘That’d be great. Thanks Sandy!’

After another round, I could see we were all getting a bit pissy, so decided it was late enough to order tea. I wrote down the decisions and went in to see Mavis.

‘No problem, dearie.’ she chortled, taking my money, still highly amused by my taking the piss out of Ernie who looked as though he was still trying to work out who was what.

‘I’ll bring it all out just as soon as it’s ready!’

Shortly after, Sandy went in to the toilet and I saw her stop by Ernie on the way back.

She whispered in his ear and then gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

‘What was that about?’ I asked when she sat down.

‘Oh, nothing much. I just told him that while taking on a gang of bikies was great fun, because the blonde ladies told me that they’d stayed around because you were hung like a 15-hand horse, I just had to find out for myself. I mean, normally, once you’ve been had by a gang of bikies, everything else is pretty boring! ’

That really cracked Janice and the girls up as I nodded ruefully that they had paid me out big-time. Just before our dinner arrived, Ernie wobbled past and threw me a salute.

‘I’m glad I found out your secret, Skipper,’ he slurred. ‘I can sleep easy now knowing I can’t compete with what nature provides some and not others. Calm seas and fair winds to you.’

To a chorus of ‘Good-nights’, he stumbled down the steps and steered an erratic course down the road towards home.

‘Ernie’s a nice old bloke,’ Janice said to Mavis as she and a young girl handed our meals around.

‘Yeah, he is. You’d never guess it, but he’s also filthy rich and owns half the commercial buildings in town. Mind you, he’s worked his arse off all his life to earn it.

He’s become the un-official town mayor.’

She noted our raised eyebrows and shrugged.

‘He doesn’t like to show it, but that’s just his way and there’s quite a few more very un -

assuming rich folk just like Ernie in town. It’s that sort of place, so they stay here because, unlike most small towns, people here really do mind their own business. For instance, there won’t be any loose talk about your visit. Ernie liked you and really appreciated the bit of fun. That was enough for him to accept you. Anyway, enjoy your meals.’

113

She left and we tucked in – really enjoying the simple pub grub. Ernie was right, the food was terrific, with decent-sized serves. None of that prissy little blob of something unidentifiable in the middle of a huge, white plate with some artistic scribbling with a fancy sauce to make it look good. The party was getting happily raucous and being Friday night, the pub was as well, with a wide selection of customers. The young girl who’d helped with serving our meals, appeared with a guitar, and perched beside an open window not far from us.

She sang several Irish ballads in a beautiful, clear voice, loud enough to be heard over the ceaseless chatter, and without any microphone. She was a pleasure to hear and more than a few drinkers stopped chattering to listen and sing along, our group included.

However, by 21:00, yawns started appearing. As it’d been a big day, we decided to pull the pin, so I ducked inside to say goodbye to Mavis and thank her for her hospitality.

‘No problem, lovie,’ she said. ‘It’s been a pleasure to have you here and have a bit of fun with Ernie. Come back soon if you can.’

‘Thanks Mavis. After what you said earlier about people keeping quiet, we just might do that. It seems a beaut little place.’

‘Oh, it is, darlin’. Bye now,’ as she bustled off to satisfy more thirsty drinkers. I re-joined the crew who were waiting, Sandy shouldering one bag while Zoe hefted the other.

‘Well, troops,’ I said, ‘I don’t think we should even think about going anywhere tonight, except straight to bed. We might get going early tomorrow and head back to Three Hummock Island. What do you think?’

‘Yea!’ was Zoe’s comment, and that seemed to sum up the others thoughts as well.

We crammed into the RIB and puttered quietly out to Firebird.

As we approached, Sandy asked me, ‘I don’t suppose you’ve still got that beautiful little black kitten the Korean cook gave you?’

I chuckled, ‘Still got him, but he’s not exactly a kitten anymore.’

‘Oh, yeah. I suppose he wouldn’t be,’ she said. ‘It’s been a while.’

‘Yep. About 18 months,’ I said as Zoe swung the RIB neatly in against the stern.

‘ Firebird looks good,’ she noted as she carefully stepped out and we handed her bags up.

‘Better than ever,’ I smiled. ‘We’ve had a couple of really cracking runs lately. Huge fun!’

114

Sandy was looking casually around when I turned on the dim, blue courtesy lights, so she jumped back and nearly fell overboard when saw a huge, black form silently stepping toward her across the cockpit.

‘Fuck me Harry! What the hell’s that?’

Luckily Janice grabbed her arm before she disappeared over the rail, while the twins dissolved into giggles.

‘Ahh... this is the kitten. I called him Jasper,’ I announced to a still shocked Sandy.

‘Bullshit! This can’t be that little kitten. Can it? I held him in the palm of my hand!’

‘One and the same,’ I smiled, ‘but let’s see if he remembers you. Just stand still. He has an odd routine for this, but you only have to go through it once.’

‘Jasper,’ I called ‘this is Sandy and you should remember her. She’s going to stay with us.’

My beautiful big cat drifted silently up to a clearly apprehensive Sandy and gently nuzzled her hand, then poked his nose firmly into her crotch, rocking her back on her heels. As unexpected as it was, Sandy was more concerned by the fact that he didn’t have to stretch up to do it! After a few moments of nuzzling, he stepped back, sat , then raised his right paw to her.

Hesitantly, she took it, marvelling at the softness of his fur, but noting the steel -

hardness of his razor-sharp claws, carefully sheathed.

‘That’s amazing,’ she said as she automatically stroked his head, only slightly startled by the loud, rumbling purr that vibrated up from his chest. ‘He’s grown absolutely beautiful.’

‘He does remember you,’ I said softly, ‘he hasn’t shaken hands with anybody else.’

‘He certainly didn’t do it with us,’ Zoe confirmed. ‘Cats aren’t supposed to do stuff like that!’

CHAPTER 21... Firebird... Wynyard...Friday 21:00

With introductions over and Jasper having done his usual trick of taking over the party, we got on with settling Sandy in. Janice and Angie had made up Sandy’s bed, and as she’d been on Firebird before and knew the routine, the housekeeping briefing wasn’t needed. She was equally familiar with the restrictions applying to baggage on a boat, so there were enough drawers and hanging space for her gear.

115

The twins were tired and more than a bit wobbly, so we did the kissy-huggy routine and sent them off, Jasper in tow. Even though the rest of us were tired, we decided to have a quick cuppa and a catch-up. We settled in the cockpit with steaming mugs of NQ tea in front of each.

‘What’s this NQ tea stuff,’ Janice asked, peering at the highly aromatic black brew.

‘It’s black tea with a very healthy dollop of black rum liqueur added. They make something very similar in western Austria around Salzburg called Jagertee,’ I added as the day’s bit of trivia.

She tentatively sipped the brew and smiled with delight.

‘Yum! Very tasty. It’ll be great on a cold night.’

Sandy took another big sip of hers and settled back into the cushions with a smile and a sigh. ‘You don’t know how good this feels to be with you guys and away from bloody Southport station with that creepy ACP goose Alistair Swinford sniffing around, trying to find someone poking into his precious investigation.’

She looked at me and asked, ‘So, Harry. What’s the go from here?’

I paused a few moments, her question kick-starting a fast-moving train of thoughts which needed to be shuffled into cohesive order to make sense. ‘Well. First up, we need to break trail and duck out of sight again. That means we should head back to Three Hummock Island as even though we’ve already been there, we weren’t sighted by anyone, so that tells me that it’s a safe haven for now.’

Sandy looked at Janice and me. ‘Yes. That works, but very soon we need to meet with Janice’s Dad to get him a copy of Luke’s files. I mean, they’re going to be his main prosecution weapons to block Luke from getting custody of the girls, and hopefully land him in jail where anything else will be a moot point.’

I looked at Janice, ‘Sandy’s right. What do you think? Is it something we should do now or very soon?’

She nodded, ‘Yes. Definitely sooner, not later. I know Dad was working on ways to stop Luke’s plans, but we haven’t spoken to him for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, even back then, he thought his phones might be tapped, so I really don’t know what’s happening on the legal front, or even how to contact him. I mean, he’s not going to try to call me if he thinks the bad guys are listening.’

I nodded agreement. ‘Okay. Then as a priority, because there’s so much material to pass across, we need to set up a safe meet where there’s no chance they could track him to our location. Is that about it?’

116

Sandy grinned, ‘That needs a plan, but the same question keeps coming up. How do we contact him in the first place if his phones are tapped?’

I nodded distractedly. ‘I’ve got the start of a cunning plan which might work, so let’s think about where we might meet safely.’

Janice shrugged, ‘What’s wrong with here?’

Sandy nodded, ‘Tempting, but wouldn’t that be risking more public exposure?’

Janice shrugged again, ‘Yes, it would, but we can’t arrange a mid-ocean drop-off, or can we?’ Janice glanced my way, as I concentrated on the ‘how’ part of the meeting, letting the ladies discuss the ‘where’ bit.

When I didn’t immediately respond, she added wisely, ‘it'll be much easier here with the airport handy and some friends ashore watching our backs.’

I focused back on what she said, and nodded acceptance. ‘True. I’ve been anxious to avoid re-visiting any particular place, but now we’ve met the locals, the pros probably outweigh the cons in favour of meeting him here. Provided we plan to put a few safeguards in place, that is.’

Janice looked pleased. Then Sandy said, ‘All right. That’s the ‘where’, but we still haven’t come up with the contact plan yet.’

I thought a bit longer before looking at both ladies. ‘If we presume that both Robert’s and his shared secretary’s phones are bugged, what if we could contact one of the other barristers there? I doubt they would be able to bug everyone on a busy office.’

I addressed Janice. ‘I don’t suppose you know one of the other guys or girls there?’

She thought a few moments. ‘There’s a female barrister who I met at Dad’s place a couple of times. They seemed pretty keen on each other, and at the time I thought they might hit it off, but it didn’t seem to work out. I think I still have her mobile number in my address book. I’ll go look.’

While she was gone, I said quietly to Sandy, ‘I’m avoiding any mention of our suspicions about the sale of the girls for now!

‘Yeah, understand. But we’ll have to pass those suspicions on to Robert. And at some stage, you’ll have to tell Janice. She’ll cut your nuts off with a blunt knife if you don’t.’

Janice returned, address book in hand. ‘Yep, here it is. Jackie Holt is her name.’ She scribbled Jackie’s name and number on a scrap of paper and handed it to me.

‘Okay. I’ll call her in the morning, but as she doesn’t know me, she’s not going to do anything I ask.’

117

Janice looked blank for a moment, until I asked. ‘Is there some piece of information I could use as a reference? Like something only you and Jackie would know about? I just need to be able to convince her I’m calling on your behalf. Ideally, you should make the call, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to have your voice going over a phone!’

Janice thought a few moments, then her face brightened, ‘Yes! Got it! Once when Dad had to go to Court in Geelong, he was in such a hurry leaving the office, he forgot his wig. Their secretary and Jackie were locked into a meeting with clients at the time, so the secretary called me to come in and pick it up from the office and chase after him. I didn’t catch him until he got to the Courthouse, but I was just in time. Jackie would remember because she’d bagged him big time about it.’

‘Okay. That’ll do. I’ll say something about a wig to Geelong and hope she accepts it. If she does, I’ll ask her to get Robert to buy a phone and he can call me for contact details.’

‘Can I say hello too?’ Janice asked wistfully.

‘Yeah. You can. But jumping ahead of myself, if we can get Robert aboard, you’ll need to take the girls ashore out of the way, while we show him the files and hand over the copy we made.’

She nodded acceptance. ‘I understand. But we’ll need to tell the girls the full story as soon as we can.’

I nodded agreement, then continued, as ideas kept popping into my head. ‘Presuming we can organise it, and Robert co-operates, then before he gets here, I need you to write a Stat Dec to say the original copy you made of Luke’s computer drive has stayed under your secure control at all times since leaving the house, and when I made the next two copies, your drive didn’t leave your sight. Then say the two extra copies we made were sealed in brown manila envelopes with both our signatures and the date across the flaps. That should provide him with the secure chain of evidence, with one copy for Robert and one for Annette.

Once Robert has seen the stuff on the drive, we’ll discuss the best way to get things happening to nullify Luke’s search.’

Once more, I ducked away from the unpleasant task of mentioning the possible auction to Janice.

Thinking aloud as part of this brain-storming session, I said. ‘The other concern I have, is that those rock-spiders I identified at the top of the ACP have a lot of pull, and getting an investigation going from within the ACP will be difficult. Anyway, until we have Robert in front of us, we’re only guessing, so what do you both think of that plan?’

118

Both ladies were agreeable, but as Sandy was yawning, Janice and I were tired and we’d covered things pretty well, we turned off the lights, locked the doors and went to bed.

CHAPTER 22... Firebird...Wynyard to Three Hummock Is...Saturday am My built-in alarm clock woke me at 06:00, after a deep and undisturbed sleep, so I felt more relaxed than I had for weeks. Janice snored softly beside me and I almost felt guilty that soon I’d have to wake the whole crew to get under way, but decided to have a mug of tea up on deck first, trying to soak up more of the peace and tranquillity of the beautiful little harbour. There wasn’t a breath of wind, and while the early morning sun glittered off the unruffled sheet of glass of the river’s surface, the outgoing tide made little swirls around the moored boats, which promptly disappeared as though they’d never been. The scattered trees on the shore bordering th e golf course opposite the wharf stood bathed in soft, golden light.

I hadn’t long sat in a bow seat and taken the first few sips of the hot, sweet liquid, when Sandy appeared, also with a mug of tea, and sat on the deck close by, leaning back against the life-lines. Despite the morning chill, she wore just baggy shorts and a T-shirt. I couldn’t help noticing she’d not bothered with underwear.

‘Sleep well?’ I enquired, happy to see her.

‘Like a log.’ she grinned. ‘I always sleep well on Firebird. Spending the day jumping in and out of aeroplanes was a bit tiring as well, I suppose.’

‘Well, you can kick back a bit now,’ I said, ‘Angie does the cooking – she and Zoe do the fishing – and Zoe does most of the steering duty. All I do is navigate and yank a few strings occasionally.’

She laughed and I so was very grateful that circumstances let her join us. Despite the bond I felt with Janice, I now realised that once we got her mess sorted officially, she and the girls would have to establish their new life ashore. In the meantime, I greatly enjoyed Sandy’s company, so different to Janice in experience and outlook, and I appreciated her trained, professional outlook.

The fact that she was delightful to look at didn’t hurt either.

‘Just for the record,’ she said, bringing my thoughts back to earth, ‘I brought some hardware. I have my Glock 22 service pistol and a bunch of extra magazines. Plus, the usual handcuffs, capsicum spray and flick baton.’

119

I raised my eyebrows, ‘That’s handy. Isn't your Glock .40 calibre?’

She smiled, ‘Yes it is, but I've got a good supply of ammunition. Have you still got those pump-action shotguns?’

‘Yeah. One is tucked inside the cockpit table’s seat back, and the other is inside the helm seat back. They aren’t easily found. There’s a pile of ammo for them, in a locker behind the main switchboard, mostly SG loads, but there are some Brenneke rounds as well, for longer-range deterrence.’

‘Good choice, but let’s hope we don’t need them.’

‘Amen to that.’

‘When do we leave?’ she asked.

‘Probably very soon. I held off ‘cause everyone was so tired, but you and I are up, so the rest can be too.’

Suiting action to the words, I took our empty mugs and headed for the cockpit.

‘Can I do anything?’ Sandy called.

‘Not for now, thanks. Without wind, we’ll have to motor out. Just kick back, keep looking glamorous, and enjoy life on the bounding main.’

I started the engines and let them warm while I rinsed our mugs. Checking that oil was pumping and electrical stuff was flowing where it should, I hit the anchor winch button, making sure the chain washing jets came on as well. Watching the chain counter, I stopped it neatly when the anchor snugged firmly into its security socket.

Engaging forward drive on both engines, Firebird slowly gathered way and slipped quietly toward the open sea. A faint farewell floated across the pellucid water, and I saw old Ernie waving from the jetty. I returned the gesture, before returning my attention to tracking the shore leads to make sure we stayed in the channel.

It was 07:30 by the time we’d cleared the breakwater at the river mouth, and Janice had dragged herself out of bed to make an appearance. The twins followed close behind, and I scored a kiss from all three, then there was a log jam in the galley as they all wanted tea and breakfast together. With Bass Strait so calm, Angie started cooking a hot brekkie, a rare treat at sea, even though catamarans sail so flat. Before long, another mug of hot tea was parked in front of me and a large bacon, egg and cheese toasted sanger was handed across.

Sandy came aft to retrieve hers, but then went up for’rard again, to be joined by Janice with her food. I stayed on the wheel for a short while, watching the comfortable interaction between the two ladies, but although they talked a great deal, there was also lots of laughter.

120

We maintained our most economical motoring speed of 8 knots and I let Z oe take the wheel while we waited for the breeze to arrive. Actually, she more or less pushed me off the helm seat to make room for Jasper, so I gave in gracefully and went for’rard to sit with the ladies.

‘What time would Jackie normally be at the office?’ I asked Janice.

‘Normally 09:00 to 09:30.’

‘So, if I called her now, would she still be at home?’

‘Oh, yes. For sure.’

I went aft and found Firebird’s mobile in the nav station charger, before re-joining the ladies up front, the piece of paper with the number on it clutched firmly in my hand.

I carefully dialled the number, and finally heard the ring tone.

‘Hello?’ came a professional-sounding female voice.

‘Good morning, Jackie. You don’t know me and I apologise in advance for being devious, but I’d like you to hear me out. I’m not a telemarketer.’

There was a silence that I took to be positive, so I quickly continued,

‘I’m calling on behalf of a person you know, and may have been concerned about recently. I don’t want to say too much, but this person was a key player in the Geelong wig chase. Does that help?’

She was silent for a few moments, and then chuckled, a warm, throaty sound which raised a tingle down my spine. ‘Oh, yes, it does. Is our friend all right?’

‘Yes. The whole package is safe, well and with me now.’

‘I presume you want a message passed to someone else?’

‘You can presume that, and in turn, how secure can we consider your phone?’

‘This one, reasonably so. But the office system seems to have been infested with bugs lately. We have an exterminator coming in today. So we’d better keep it short and cryptic.’

‘That’s my intention. Would you ask our friend to buy a pre-paid mobile, a very basic version, and use it to call this number ASAP, but from somewhere away from the office?’

‘Yes, I understand! The situation is deteriorating, so take extreme care and pass on my best regards to the package.’

With a click, she was gone. I checked the phone log and saw we’d been connected just 30 seconds.

121

‘That was usefully short and sweet,’ Sandy commented.

‘Yes, she was very good. Now we wait for Robert, but I’ve just realised that I’ve made a mistake.’

The ladies raised their eyebrows at me and smirked at each other. ‘Really?’ Sandy commented sarcastically. ‘Surely this can’t be the real Harry? Admitting a mistake?’

I poked my tongue out at her, while Janice giggled.

‘Yes. I buggered up. I called Jackie on the boat’s cell phone, but if we get too far out to sea, we won’t get reception. I should’ve used the SatPhone. Too late now, but there’s a work-around – we’ll just stay inshore in mobile range until he calls. We're not in a hurry and I can pass on the SatPhone number then.’

By now the breeze was kicking in from the southwest, so I shut down the engines and set about hoisting sails, while directing Zoe to steer a course that would keep us within a mile of the shore. Fortunately, there weren’t any hard bits to dodge, so she steered a suitable course.

Two hours later, we were just off Stanley, of ‘The Nut’ fame, when the phone rang and I answered.

‘Hello?’

‘...Excellent, Robert. I’m Harry and I have a lot of information and questions for you, but first, for verification, you might like to very briefly say hello to someone.’

I handed the phone to Janice who was already tearing up.

‘...Hi Dad. It’s so good to hear your voice too, but we can’t talk much at the moment.’

‘...Yes, we’re all very well – in fact, never better and being looked after and protected by two wonderful people.’

‘...I can’t say where we are, please Dad. Just in case, you know?’

‘...Yes. We need to do it ASAP and Harry has a plan to protect us at the same time. He needs to talk to you right now. I’ll see you soon, Dad. Bye now.’

With tears leaking down her cheeks, she handed the phone back to me and turned to bury her face in Sandy’s chest. I tried to feel only slightly envious as I spoke to Robert.

‘I’m back, Robert.’

‘...It’s a very long story Robert, that’ll have to wait a little while.’

‘...It’s water, Robert. Moving wet stuff.’

‘...Sorry, I get that way sometimes.’

‘...No. You can assume what you like, but I can’t confirm anything at this time and you should stop voicing your assumptions – big ears and all that.’

122

‘...As Janice said, they are well and safe at the moment. How long that happy state of affairs lasts could very well depend on you and your actions.’

‘...Yes, I am.’

‘...No, you can’t now, but I really need you to stop asking questions which can wait, and pull that very expensive pen out of your pocket and start writing what I tell you on your legal pad!’

‘...Yes, I do know who you are – you’re Janice’s father firstly and a well-connected barrister secondly. That’s all I need to know, and all you need to remember right now .

Apart from the fact that your unnecessary questions are wasting my time and increasing the chances we’ll be overheard.’

‘...Thank you. That’s better! Okay... okay. Accepted. Now, here’s the plan. You should make the bookings as soon as possible, just to be sure, but only do it yourself, on this phone, and well away from the office. Have you ever been followed by bad guys before?’

‘...Excellent. I don’t have to explain then, because you certainly are being followed now.’

‘...Completely serious. Look around on your way back to the office and I bet you’ll see two or more faces you don’t actually recognise, but you’ll think you’ve seen them before. They’ll be pretending not to look at you. Once you start really looking, they’ll stand out like tits on a bull.’

‘...Yes. I know you are and so are we, so we must move on or we’ll never get this situation fixed and like it or not, you’re now a key player.’

Now he’d stopped blustering about being a father and grandfather with his daughter and granddaughters in danger, he reverted to his barrister persona and became very efficient, so I laid out the plan quickly and concisely.

‘...Yep, that’s the plan. Just make sure you use your normal phone to tell Annette about going to have a business meeting with SalTas in Strahan, not just verbally. We need to allow at least three or four hours to bring you up to date, but it could be longer. As outlined, you’d better plan to stay overnight. You’ll understand the secrecy better when we meet.’

‘...Yes, it is very messy, getting worse, and involves a lot of VIPs in high places. To put it into perspective, it could be a Government-toppler.’

‘...Yes, sir. That’s exactly what I said and you really need to bear that in mind.’

‘...So you might understand just how serious this really is. I really mean it when I say that these people will literally stop at nothing to keep the lid on.’

123

‘...Yes, I did mean it. Nothing is sacred to them except their rotten hides and filthy habits.’

‘...Look Robert. We need to meet, but it can’t be until Tuesday. Something else has to happen first.’

‘...Sorry to be so cryptic, but you’ll understand when we’re face-to-face.’

‘...Yes, we’ll be there. I’ll 99.9% guarantee it. In the meantime, think the plan through and refine your end, but keep all the safeguards and diversions in place, no matter what. Let me know if you can’t do as we’ve planned. Have you got all that? We really must get off the phone now.’

‘...Okay, great Robert. I’ll do it. Call this other number to let me know the plan is on track, and use it for all calls after that.’

I read out the boat SatPhone number and checked as he crisply read it back.

‘...Terrific. You’re welcome – bye.’

‘Wow! That was a marathon,’ Sandy commented, as I gave Angie the promised hug from her Granddad.

‘It certainly was.’ I looked at Janice who was still cuddled up to Sandy. ‘He can be a bit stubborn at times, your Dad.’

‘I’m afraid so, but will he follow the plan?’

‘Yes, I think so. He saw the sense in it finally.’

I leant past them to call back to my first mate. ‘Steer a direct course for Three Hummock Island, please, Zoe.’

She only had a minor correction to make and as it was a little more off the wind, I left the sails alone and let Firebird romp steadily on.

After a while, I relieved Zoe at the wheel while Janice and Angie brought her up to date and they had a brief family discussion. I let her take over again, and as the miles swooshed past, Sandy got her first taste of effortless, big-cat passage-making, at least on a minor scale, and the look of delight on her pretty face was a pleasure to see.

Despite the slight diversion to stay in cell-phone range, we dropped anchor back in the same spot in the north end of the pristine and deserted East Telegraph Bay well before midday.

124

CHAPTER 23...East Telegraph Bay/Three Hummock Is...Saturday As we had been, Sandy was absolutely entranced with the beauty and serenity of the place with the stark white sand beach and the barely rippling clear water surrounding us.

‘No wonder you wanted to come back here,’ she breathed, taking in the near-silence once I’d shut off the engines, with just a gentle breeze blowing woody scents off the scrubby island.

The air was warmer than at Wynyard, which prompted the girls to whoop with delight, and forgetting that Sandy wasn’t used to their antics, drop their clothes on the daybed and dive in off the stern. Jasper didn’t hesitate to jump in with them and swam ashore for a brief run on the sand, before returning to play with the girls.

Sandy’s reaction was to laugh at their delightful lack of inhibition, express wonder at Jasper’s apparent love of swimming and carry on helping Janice make sandwiches for lunch. We’d grabbed a few fresh loaves of bread from Mavis at the hotel last night, so that would extend our stocks of sandwich-making ingredients a little longer.

We ate while the girls frolicked around and under the boat, before climbing out, showered salt off each other and Jasper. He promptly bounded up to the cockpit to shake himself over the three of us, while the girls grabbed the last few sandwiches.

They didn’t bother dressing and I could see Sandy happily re-assessing the situation, with two uninhibited 18-year old's aboard.

The rest of the day we just lounged, Sandy visibly relaxing, then went for a long beach walk in the afternoon. Only the girls went naked this time, and Jasper loved having an extra person to play around.

Once back aboard, Janice, Sandy and I sat round to have a bit of a planning session. I invited the girls to sit in, but they said they’d prefer just messing about with Jasper and watching a movie.

‘I’ll catch them up later on what they need to know,’ Janice offered, ‘they’re keen to see their Pop again, of course, but they get bored with adult planning sessions. They’ve not been told of the photos or the nasty ring, of course.’

I nodded approval, and we worked through the complicated actions we’d put in place to make face-to-face contact with Robert, to see if we could find any flaws or loopholes. It was hard to find a problem which we could do something about, because so much 125

depended on the actions of others. For me, however, talking it through eased the feeling of mounting pressure by sharing my thoughts with others. I had a nagging, nasty feeling in the back of my mind that something was about to come unstuck, but with nothing more substantial than a nagging feeling, there was nothing we could do about it.

‘I think we should have a chat from Annette at ACP,’ I said looking at Sandy. ‘What’s the arrangement for contacting her?’

‘I call her on her personal mobile,’ she replied. ‘Do you want to check in so soon?’

‘Yeah. I think we should.’ I looked at both ladies – stray thoughts tumbling through my mind, like leaves blowing in a wind, and just about as easy to latch onto!

By way of explanation, I said. ‘I guess I’m just thinking ahead – after Robert reviews everything, Annette needs to see it all as well.’

I looked at Sandy. ‘You haven’t seen the data either, so we’d better that as soon as.’

‘Yes, please. Perhaps this evening after the girls have gone to bed?’

‘Sure,’ I replied, ‘It’ll take a long time to go through the lot, but you could do what I did the first time and just skim a cross-section. It won’t take long before you get an idea of the scope of this thing.’

She gave a grim nod, clearly not looking forward to the task. ‘Okay.’

Janice said, ‘Are you thinking of trying to get Annette down here to see us, or could we get Dad to go see her?’

I smiled appreciation, ‘Good question, but probably better if your dad went to Canberra to see her. We don’t want to have too many strangers coming to see us. He’d have to be careful not to make too much of a direct connection to Annette, however. Perhaps if they didn’t actually meet in Canberra would be better. It could be somewhere not far away like Cooma or Yass. Both are only around a forty-minute drive out of Canberra, I think, but let’s wait until we’ve spoken with Robert.’

‘Yeah! You’re right,’ Sandy sighed after a few moments thought. ‘I keep forgetting we’re the only ones who know about Luke’s secret life and the real reason he’s chasing Janice and the girls.’

I didn’t comment on that, so she said, ‘Oh, dear. I meant to warn you, Janice, we have to take care when Harry goes quiet. It usually means he’s thinking and that’s usually very dangerous.’

Janice giggled, something she’d been doing a lot.

126

‘Okay, smart arse,’ I grinned, ‘I was thinking, but about what you said. Because even after we let Robert and Annette know everything, that still just makes five of us who know the story. Earlier, to impress Robert, I used the term ‘Government-toppling’. Yet, the more I think about it, the more I believe that’s exactly what this thing is expanding to be. In which case, there will be some very heavy hitters lined up against us. We’d have to hope that when it finally blows up, there are a few Supreme Court Judges still standing who don’t like playing around with little kids.’

Now it was Sandy’s turn to go thoughtful. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but what you seem to be saying is that it would be clever to have some form of insurance.’

‘Exactly!’ Janice came back, looking excited, ‘so what if we went to the press? Pick a reputable newspaper and a reporter with solid credentials. A paper and reporter known to be impartial to Government influence, and with a record of digging dirt .’

‘I like that,’ I said, ‘but what paper and which reporter?’

It was Sandy’s turn to look thoughtful. ‘I read the other day about Hillary Jones receiving an award for being the most objective investigative journalist in Australia.

She’s freelance, but the Age in Melbourne and the Sydney Morning Herald print a lot of her stuff. She was, or maybe still is, a professor at Sydney Uni and has previously received a Walkley Award for articles about police corruption. She made a statement I really loved, where she claims that her stories are, ‘for those who resist power abuse and want social justice, rather than just supporting existing political power structures’.

She also says we should, ‘encourage people to do what is necessary to oppose injustice’.’

I blinked. ‘Wow! That’s heavy stuff. But can she back it up?’

‘Oh, yes,’ Sandy came back, ‘she’s become a reluctant celebrity figure in media circles for her outspoken attitudes, but having created such a high profile, none of the bad guys she exposes dare touch her.’

‘Well, she sounds exactly the right person we should be talking to!’ Janice tossed in.

‘Yes,’ I said, thoughtfully. ‘You’re right. She does sound exactly the right person. But how are we going to manage it? We can’t just dump this whole mess in her lap. I mean, if even a hint of this leaks, there’d be bad guys ducking for cover and getting rid of bunches of kids in five minutes flat, just to protect their pox-riddled arses.’

Sandy commented, ‘I think we should wait until we’ve seen Robert, but in the meantime, we, that is Harry, should come up with a plan to contact and meet with Miss Jones.’

127

We stopped about then and conned the girls into making afternoon tea, which they did happily, and joined us in the cockpit to enjoy it.

‘Do we have a plan of action for the next few days?’ Janice looked at me.

‘Yes, as a matter of fact,’ I was happy to be able to reply. ‘Tomorrow is Sunday, in case anyone is losing track, so I’d like to drag Firebird into the shallows a bit more, and scrub her bottom. If we all get stuck in, it won’t take long. If you four do the sides from just above the waterline down as far as you can reach, I’ll put on the hookah gear and get right underneath where you can’t reach.’

That plan seemed to meet with general approval, so I continued. ‘Then on Monday, we’ll make the run to Wynyard in the afternoon, aiming to get in around 16:30 or so.

The winds are forecast to be in the north by then, so we should get a good run. We’ll stay the night and Tuesday morning at 09:55, Robert arrives and that’s when the fun starts.’

They looked excited by the thought of some water-fun followed by a half-day of action sailing, with a meeting with dear Daddy and Pop at the end.

Somehow, using the Weber BBQ, Angie managed a roast lamb dinner for us, with real roast vegies and greens, and it was a huge success.

Afterwards, we introduced Sandy to what had become a staple evening entertainment, cheating at Scrabble. Finally, the girls were yawning so much, they announced they were going to bed, taking the ever faithful and hopelessly spoiled Jasper with them.

With the three adults left alone, I brought the laptop with the files on it out into the cockpit and set it up in front of Sandy so that even if one of the girls came out, the screen wouldn’t be immediately visible. After showing her where the folders were, Janice and I chatted about nothing much, while Sandy’s muttered curses grew more and more foul.

Finally, she clicked her way out of everything and flipped the lid closed.

‘I could do with something to drink after that lot!’ she exclaimed. ‘What an incredible collection of absolute depravity, and as you said, I recognised quite a few faces. Why didn’t the idiots wear masks at least? Like... how stupid were they to think that those photos would never be seen by anyone outside the circle? They obviously didn’t know Luke was circulating their faces internationally by swapping or selling the stuff.’

I retired to the galley to make NQ teas. When Sandy took her first sip of the steaming, black aromatic liquid, her eyes lit up.

128

‘Yum! This is just as good as the last time,’ she commented.

I smiled, ‘It seems appropriate tonight!’

Both agreed, and even Sandy’s anger subsided as a second round went down almost as quickly as the first. They amused me when they lined up for a third, since I was using a double nip of Bundy rum liqueur in each serve, but after the third, both showed signs of being quite pissed. Giggly-pissed, which was healthy and funny to watch. So when that one was finished, we agreed to head for bed, but not before Janice and I were soundly hugged and kissed by a now very relaxed Sandy.

The feel of her firm breasts jammed tightly against my chest was impossible to ignore and my loins reacted all too quickly, which Janice noticed to her very vocal amusement.

Sandy pretended hard not to notice, while I was just glad that Janice didn’t seem jealous.

As was my habit, I headed straight for our dressing room and peeled off my clothes.

Janice took one look and started giggling again. ‘Oh dear. It really doesn’t take much to set you off, does it?’

I pretended to glare at her. ‘Well, if you were a male and got hugged like that by a very well-built young lady, you just might have that reaction too’

She got as close as she could without getting poked too hard and hugged me.

‘It’s all right. I’m female and I enjoyed it too.’

I looked at her in surprise, ‘Really?’

She gave one of those enigmatic smiles ladies seem to produce at the most maddening moments, instead of a proper verbal explanation and headed for the bathroom. I followed and we had a brief shower together, too mindful of water conservation to fool around in the confined space. Well, maybe we did just a tiny bit.

We weren’t long with the bathroom routine, and soon were snuggled up in bed, my arm around Janice, gently stroking her left breast. She occupied herself by playing with the appendage that had caused so much mirth earlier. We were just fooling around quietl y and enjoying it immensely, when there was a knock at the open cabin door and Sandy said softly, ‘Are you guys decent?’

Janice giggled and replied, ‘I sort of am, but perhaps Harry isn’t, although it probably depends on how you define decent. But come in anyway and we’ll discuss the definition.’

Sandy chuckled and perched on the end of the bed. She wore just a long T-shirt like the girls did, although in her case, it had more to cover and had a tough job keeping 129

things decent. She smiled at Janice, sitting with the sheet down around her waist and erect nipples on display, then looked across at where I was trying, but failing to disguise my rampant erection with artfully arranged folds of sheet!

‘Is he like this all the time?’ she asked, making herself comfortable.

Janice grinned and looked fondly at the tangled mess I’d made of the sheet in my lap.

‘Yeah, pretty much. Although he manages to get down to half-mast sometimes.’

‘Give it a rest!’ I retorted indignantly. ‘I hang down most of the time!’

Janice smiled gently, ‘Yes, dear man. But even pointing down, it’s not exactly shrivelled, now is it? And the only time it’s like that is when the girls and I aren’t in sight and you’re concentrating of some boat stuff. But just one flash of a bare female bum, tit or pussy and you’re right back up again!’

Sandy broke down laughing, so all I could do was sit there, abstractly noting that the object of their attention was not subsiding at all! They noticed it too.

Sandy finally settled and said, ‘Despite the fun we’re having with Harry’s erection, I actually came to see if you had any anti-itch cream. I scraped my back up near my shoulder-blade this afternoon and now I’ve showered, it’s itchy and I can’t really get at it.’

‘Oh sure,’ Janice said, sliding gracefully out of bed and down to the lower floor. ‘I’ve got some great analgesic & antiseptic cream that’s really good on scratches.’

I noted Sandy watching closely as she padded unconcernedly naked through to the dressing cabin, scrabbled through a drawer and returned with the appropriate medication.

‘Here we are. Now, where’s the problem?’

In answer, Sandy dragged the T-shirt out from under her bum, and then pulled it up to her neck, leaving her naked, if only in profile, but which included a delightful view of her left breast and a firm and shapely bum. She looked over her left shoulder.

‘Just inside my left shoulder blade. It feels like a torn area of skin.’

Janice looked, ‘Yup. Just a bit abraded. This’ll fix it,’ as she rubbed the cream in gently.

Within a minute, Sandy sighed, ‘Oh, that’s better.’ She tugged her T-shirt down and turned to go with a cheeky grin. ‘I’ll leave you in peace now. Have fun.’

We did, and since Janice was considerably more amorous than usual, I was unsure if it was due to the NQ tea or the interaction we’d had with Sandy. On reflection later, I felt that it was more likely to be the latter. I was also thankful that the genteel snoring from 130

the girls’ cabin, drifting through the open overhead hatches, suggested th at they had been fast asleep throughout.

CHAPTER 24...East Telegraph Bay to Three Hummock Is...Sunday am Sunday dawned clear, with a soft, warm breeze drifting off the scrubby land from the northwest. I sipped my morning cuppa, perched as usual on the foredeck bow seat and was joined by Jasper, wanting head, back and tail scratches, after he’d performed his usual morning toilet routine without the fuss most cats carry on with. After I’d cleaned his mat, I wasn’t surprised to be joined by Sandy with her mug of tea, and looking terrific wearing a bikini top and a pair of loose shorts. The subtle change in our relationship that I’d drowsily decided last night was unlikely, became reality when I received a very warm kiss in greeting, before she parked herself on the deck at my feet .

‘Good sleep?’ I enquired softly.

‘Oh, yes,’ she smiled, ‘really good. I didn’t stir all night and feel really refreshed. Must be the sea air.’

I grinned back, ‘Yep, it works wonders. Janice and the girls are still asleep. They can sleep in this morning and tomorrow for that matter. There’s no rush.’

‘How so?’

‘It’s only a four-hour sail to Wynyard, so we don’t have to leave until midday.’

‘Oh. That does make it very relaxed.’

After a while she asked, ‘What’s the area like if we get to go down to Macquarie Harbour and Port Davey?’

I smiled. ‘Very different to this – it’s beautiful in its own right, but very wild and rugged.

For a start, there’s so much rainfall, the water in Macquarie Harbour is fresh on top, with normal salt water lower down. Both there and to a lesser extent in Port Davey, it’s also stained a tan colour due to tannin from the heavy forests. It’s a true wilderness, although Macquarie Harbour has a fair amount of traffic with salmon fisheries, tourist boats and fishermen. Port Davey has far fewer visitors, being very remote with no towns and only a couple of very isolated farms. There are a few 4WD tracks for the adventurous souls, and of course boaties and charter boats visit in the summer months.

Winter weather is bad with an almost continuous series of cold fronts delivering lots of rain, gales and rough seas.’

131

Sandy gave a shudder as she looked around. ‘Therefore, we might have to leave this idyllic paradise to go hang out in a remote hellhole?’

‘That’s a maybe not and a no. We may not have to leave here, and Port Davey is definitely not a hellhole. At least not in summer. You’ll like it if we do go, wait and see.

It’s just different. Besides, if we decide we can remain safely below Luke’s radar by continuing to hang around here, there’s no reason to go at all for now. Apart from this bay, there’re others on the other side of the island and on the next island west, Hunter Island. More white sand beaches and crystal-clear water.’

Sandy smiled, ‘That’s sounds more like my idea of a place to hang about and hide out .’

‘True. I didn’t know how good this place was going to be. It really is beautiful. Anyway, at least we don’t have to rush away anytime soon, but let’s talk about it over breakfast.

We can change plans if circumstances make it so.’

Just then, a plaintive, slightly croaky voice floated up from the master cabin hatch.

‘Any chance of a mug of tea?’

Sandy and I laughed as I called back, ‘Coming dear.’ I went to get up, but Sandy waved me back down.

‘Stay there. I’ll get it. I want to have a girl talk with Janice. Do you want another tea? ’

I nodded, slightly puzzled, but resigned to the fact that the females aboard my boat did odd things for reasons a mere male couldn’t hope to fathom, even in the best of times.

I admired the slight swing of her shapely hips and the bounce of her breasts as she rose and took both mugs below, leaning back with a contented sigh as I thought that even with a fairly dire situation looming over us, life was still rather pleasant.

Despite the distractions, I thought through our various meeting schedules. There was an escalating risk in continuing to use Wynyard as a pickup point, despite its convenience.

Strahan was a lot further away, didn’t have an airline service and carried the risk of bad weather trapping us, although our visitors could fly in to Wynyard and drive to Strahan.

I was still mulling over options when Sandy re-appeared with my fresh tea, handed it over with an enigmatic female smile, then went below to chat with Janice.

The very pleasant view of her coming and going stirred things in my groin, just as Janice had stated last night, but I didn’t see any problem with lusting after one lovely lady while sharing a bed with another. Seemed healthy, even!

Angie and Zoe wandered up about then, mugs in hand, which helped divert my attention from thinking about Janice and Sandy. At least for once they were dressed.

132

The girls got comfortable and inquired about what they called ' Firebird’s arse-cleaning’

exercise coming up later. We chatted back and forth until Zoe asked, ‘Where’s Mum and Sandy?’

I grinned at her. ‘They’re down below having a girl talk. Whatever that is.’

‘Oh. One of those. Mum and Dad used to have those all the time. Right before he walloped her again!’

I nodded in sympathy, refraining from any comment.

Janice

She woke slowly – her mind still a bit muzzy from what was for her, the excessive number of NQ teas consumed the previous evening. After padding aft to pee and wash her face and other bits, she returned to bed and called through the hatch overhead for a mug of hot tea. She expected to be told to get it herself, but waited a while, just in case the good fairy came to her rescue. It was then her memory caught up and she blushed a little as she remembered the almost animal passion that had overcome her as she wrestled with Harry the previous evening. He was at least partly to blame, she recalled, if the residual soreness in her groin was anything to go by.

As she lay propped up on the pillows, she ran her hands up and down her bare body, but couldn’t feel any bruises. She also recalled, with pleasure, Sandy’s very provocative visit and the fun they’d had laughing at Harry’s efforts to disguise his erection! Her thoughts drifted over what was said and perhaps not said and wondered where that was all leading.

It was just as some thoughts were starting to gel, when Sandy herself waltzed in, looking disgustingly bright and cheerful, but at least bearing the life-saving mug of hot tea.

‘Here you are sleepy-head,’ she chuckled. ‘It’s a lovely day topside, warming up nicely, so a swim after breakfast will be just the thing to get you going.’

Her breezy attitude needed to be absorbed slowly, so Janice sipped her tea in silence, until she felt the hot liquid working its usual magic. She grinned at Sandy.

‘We played up a bit last night, didn’t we?’

Sandy smirked back. ‘Just a little, but it was fun, wasn’t it?’

Janice had to giggle. ‘Yes, it was. I enjoyed it heaps. But you were an awful tease to poor Harry. His erection wouldn’t go down for ages!’

133

Sandy tried to look contrite, but failed. ‘I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. Especially as you got all the benefit from my efforts. Although I suspect when you did your little naked parade to get that excellent cream, it might have helped somewhat.’

Janice grinned, ‘We both were more vigorous than usual, so I suppose I did get the benefits, and I’ve got the sore spot to prove it. But very nicely so.’

Sandy chuckled again, ‘That’s okay, I’m just jealous. Don’t worry about me.’

Janice looked pensive. ‘Oh, of course. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I do understand.’

Sandy shrugged. ‘So what do you intend when all this nonsense is over? Have you thought that far ahead yet?’

Janice hitched herself up in the bed, the sheet pushed down to mid-thigh, and tossed Harry’s pillows to Sandy to get comfortable with her back against the aft bulkhead.

‘I’m not sure, exactly. I mean, the girls have to resume Uni sooner or later, and I need to provide a stable home life for them to finish. Then presuming Luke gets locked up for a very long time, which is the very least he deserves, I’ll have to sell the house, although the big turd has probably got it mortgaged to cover that den of iniquity he bought. Anyway, I could never live in it again. There are way too many bad memories and to me, it’ll always be tainted by evil.’

Sandy nodded understanding, before gently probing, ‘So based on that, how serious are things with Harry, if you don’t mind my asking?’

Janice smiled, ‘Of course I don’t mind anything you ask. After all you’ve done and are still doing, I could never repay you properly. But to answer your question – so far, I think Harry and I are just having a lot of fun, without getting serious. I desperately needed someone I could trust and relax with and he met that need . He’s very caring, funny and incredibly protective. And the sex is great. It’s lovely to feel a real man inside me again doing nice things. Since he treats the girls really well and respects them, they love him like a favourite uncle and he loves them back.’

Sandy interrupted. ‘But how did the girls take to you and Harry sharing a bed?’

Janice giggled, ‘Oh, there was never a problem. They actually wanted me to, and were concerned that I was waiting too long’

Sandy shook her head. ‘They certainly are amazing girls. So, what started them running around naked in front of Harry?’

‘Oh, they’ve always done that at home, which is where the photos Harry’s told you about came from. They were always very comfortable with being naked. But with Harry, that took about two days, I think.’

134

Sandy smiled, ‘Sorry to interrupt, I just wondered about those issues and what the girls’

attitude was like, but obviously no problems. Please go on.’

Janice resumed, ‘I was going to say that of course there’s Jasper, who’s almost done as much as anything else to help stabilise the girls. I mean, they were getting very edgy with the constant running from Luke’s goons, but there’s something almost surreal about that beautiful cat. He seems to really understand people and knows exactly what they need. And he certainly understands Harry and most of what he says. I don’t know what it is, but he’s a big part of the soothing magic this whole boat seems to lay on troubled souls.’

She looked a bit embarrassed. ‘Sorry for the philosophical observations. I guess I’ve been one of those troubled souls for way too long.’

She paused a moment to gather her thoughts, before resuming.

‘However, I just don’t know how I could work being a full-time mother to the girls, as well as sailing around with Harry. As much fun as that would be. But I’m a bit uneasy about the dark and very serious side to him which I can’t see into. On the surface he’s funny and caring, but deep down, he doesn’t talk about his previous life at all except to say where and what he was. Do you think it goes back to Afghanistan?’

Sandy nodded. ‘Yes. From what I’ve gathered and been told, he had a very rough time there and lost most of his sub-unit in a very nasty fight with the Taliban.’

Janice frowned, ‘I don’t know much about how the SAS work, but a Major wouldn’t normally lead a unit, would he?’

‘Well, no. Definitely not! That's a Lieutenant's job. But on that day, there was some cock-up with the intel a scouting party were given. They were told there were no hostile forces in this little village, so their Lieutenant was sent to play nursemaid to a bunch of Aussie pollies on a junket, while the rest of his guys walked straight into an ambush by a large force of bad guys who were protecting several senior Taliban leaders.

Harry was at a forward base camp, and when he heard about the ambush on the radio, he rounded up the few spare guys hanging around base and went to help.

They found the remains of the Lieutenant’s squad caught in the open behind poor cover, getting steadily picked off by a heavy machine gun and lots of small arm’s fire.

The short story is, he was leading the makeshift crew when he charged in alone from a side street, across the open ground, and drew the bad guys’ fire by running back and forth yelling like a madman, while shooting at them with a sub-machine gun. That gave the remains of the pinned-down squad time to pull back to decent cover where they called in a drone missile strike which finally took out the rest of the bad guys.

135

While he was spraying bullets around and attracting fire, Harry managed to take out quite a few bad guys, including two of the senior tribal leaders they’d been chasing for months. He was also hit a couple of times when he stopped to retrieve a critically-wounded Sergeant from where she’d been isolated from the rest and carried her out over his shoulder while still under fire and managed to shoot back at the same time. He lost most of the small unit he’d scraped together, and only eight of the original unit survived.

He was terribly depressed about losing most of the scratch unit he’d dragged out there, but he was awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia.’

‘Wow!’ Janice’s eyes were wide. ‘I had no idea!’

‘Yeah well, no one does really, ‘cause he won’t talk about it. Being a nosy bitch, I managed to get access to the official citation. He keeps all the war stuff locked away –

which isn’t healthy. Maybe that’s why he needs stress relief and focuses on sex rather than hitting the bottle or drugs like many others had to.’

Janice giggled, and then added seriously, ‘But that hasn’t worked very well until now.

He said he hadn’t had a girl aboard for months, before we lobbed on his doorstep.’

Sandy gave a lecherous grin. ‘So, he’s choosy – and correct me if I’m wrong, but my guess is that he’s been making up for that drought ever since?’

Janice had the grace to blush a bit, the colour of which spread in an intriguing manner down her bare chest, Sandy noticed. She felt some interesting sensations of her own as she gazed at Janice’s well-toned body, mostly revealed as the sheet slipped lower.

‘Yes, you’re right. Maybe that explains why he’s so... very demanding, active and recovers very quickly.’

‘That’s handy,’ Sandy commented with a grin. ‘It’s always good to have a guy who doesn’t need a day to recover.’

‘You know my plans, but what about yours?’ Janice asked. ‘I can see how much you like Harry and he obviously likes you, which is totally fine with me. I mean – I don’t mind sharing his affections if that’s what you’d like. There’s no way I’m going to be jealous about anything you and he want to do, considering that one day soon, the girls and I will be moving on. But also remember the girls sort of expect he and I will share a bed for now and are happy I’m having decent, regular nookie.’

She giggled at Sandy’s questioning look. ‘In my former life, sex was a highly irregular and totally unsatisfying occurrence. My former husband was sexually challenged in just about every way you could think of, although he did just manage to produce enough 136

sperm to help create the twins, but even then, a Doctor had to insert that. The useless shit couldn’t even manage to get far enough in me for the little buggers to survive the swim!’

She looked thoughtfully at Sandy. ‘You know – the girls have really taken to you too, so I’m sure there won’t be any problems if they see you and Harry being rather more affectionate. If necessary, I’ll have a word to them that we aren’t really lifetime commitment-type serious and I know they’ll understand.’

Sandy blinked at Janice’s unexpected candour and took a few moments to reply.

‘I’ve felt close to Harry ever since we last worked together and found we got on very well, but as much as I wanted to, there wasn’t really an opportunity to develop that level of friendship any further. Honestly, I’d very much like to do so now we’re in this very interesting and different environment, and perhaps have the opportunity. Maybe because of the girls, and since you’re being so open and relaxed about this, can we just be discrete about what we do? Would that work?’

Janice smiled happily and felt compelled to crawl over to kiss Sandy full on the lips and hug her as best she could. She was surprised by the intensity with which her affection was returned and what was to be a quick hug and kiss, lasted a lot longer an d started to turn into something rather deeper, yet very nice.

When she regained her breath, Janice replied, ‘Of course we can make it work! It’ll be great fun. We just need to get Harry to play the game. I mean – he can be oddly uptight and way too proper for his own good sometimes. For instance, it took several days before he’d even look at the girls when they first stripped off.’

Turning serious Janice hugged Sandy again. ‘I’m so glad we can be close like this.

Apart from Harry and the girls, I’ve not had anyone I could really talk girl stuff to for a very long time. When I was living with Luke, I had to stop going to visit my old girlfriends because there were always a fresh crop of bruises or breaks I didn’t d are show.’

Sandy nodded her understanding, ‘I can work on Harry now I know you’re happy and relaxed with this... unusual arrangement we’ve discussed. It’s all very strange to me too, even talking about it, but I’m willing to see how things work out. Either way, I’ll be happy, just knowing we have this understanding.’

They separated and Janice crawled out of bed and dropped gracefully to the floor, pleased with Sandy’s continued attention.

137

‘I might as well get up now,’ she said, searching for something to put on. ‘Breakfast is calling and Harry will want us to go clean the boat’s bum after that.’

Sandy chuckled, then wriggled off the bed as well, somewhat less gracefully than Janice and dropped to the floor beside her. She kissed Janice lightly and said, ‘Are we good with this as well as with Harry?’

Janice gave a very positive nod and a smile, so Sandy found the empty mugs and headed for the galley, calling for the girls to start breakfast.

CHAPTER 25...Melbourne...Sunday morning – Luke’s mobile Luke’s mobile phone buzzed and vibrated in a frenzy, crawling over the bedside table until he managed to push the slumbering body that was partly draped across him onto the other side of the bed.

He had severe difficulty in saying anything intelligent at first, but after a sip of water from the bottle on his bedside table, he managed a croak when he finally quietened the buzzing monster.

‘This better be fucking good Jimmy, or your arse is mine!’

Knowing that his boss’s sayings were all too often very literal, Jimmy swallowed before speaking.

‘Ahh... no, Boss. I’m sure that won’t be necessary!’

‘Fuck it, Jimmy, don’t suck up to me! Say what you have to say and let me get back to sleep. Stop buggerising around.’ Given what he’d been trying unsuccessfully to do most of the night, that struck him as funny and Luke chuckled to himself

‘Uhhhh... sorry Boss. What I wanted to say was that I’m still in Eden – remember, where we found out from the motel people your wife and daughters had gone to the Gold Coast with some friends.’

‘Yeah, Jimmy. You told me that last time. Now tell me something new.’

‘Yes Boss. So, I sent most of the boys up there to look around, but I thought I’d stay here to ask around a bit more.’

‘Good Jimmy. Does this go anywhere, or do I have to drag the story out of you with a pair of vice-grips around your nuts?’

‘Yes Boss. I mean no Boss, you don’t have to do that. What it is, I found some chick in the newsagency who said that a blonde woman with two girls had been asking around if someone with a boat was leaving soon and wanted three crew.’

138

‘Okay. A boat – that’s very inventive of my dearest, dumb blonde wife. That’s good, Jimmy, then what happened?’

‘Well. Nothing, really boss. She didn’t know if anything happened after that. She didn’t see the blonde woman or the girls again.’

‘Did she know if any boats left around that time? I mean, come on Jimmy, think for yourself, please.’

‘Yes Boss, I did ask. She said she thought some guy with a cat left town, perhaps heading for the Whitsunday Islands, but she wasn’t sure.’

‘Okay, Jimmy. That’s a good start, but we need just a little bit more information than ‘a guy with a cat left town,’ heading north. I mean, who gives a shit whether he’s got a cat, a dog or a fuckin' goldfish!’

‘Yes, Boss. But I did ask the refueller fella about boats leaving and about a bloke with a cat. It was odd. He laughed when I asked that, but said a boat did leave to go north. He thought the bloke said he was going to Brisbane, then maybe the Whitsundays. ’

‘Did you lean on him a bit to see if his memory improved?’

‘Yeah, well. I started to Boss, ‘cause I know you like me to be sure about things I’m told.

But a few of the local fishing boat fellas rocked up and sort of chased me off. Anyway, the doctor says I’ll be able to use my arm and hand again in about a week, once the cast comes off. Jeez, it’s tough wiping your bum left-handed!’

‘Oh, spare me! You really are a fucking moron, Jimmy. Don’t you know what subtle means? Now you’re got the locals watching out for you, you won’t get any more info out of them. Get the hell out of town right now and get up to the Gold Coast or Brisbane or wherever else he was headed. I don’t suppose you got this bloke’s name, the one with the cat?’

‘Yeah I did, Boss. Just after I bashed this bloke's head against the counter in his office, he said his name is Harry.’

‘ Great! Just fucking terrific! A bloke called Harry with a cat on his boat heading for Brisbane or the Whitsundays. They should be really easy to find, you idiot .’

Luke took a deep breath or two, something he often had to do when talking with Jimmy.

‘All right, Jimmy. I hope you’ve got a crew heading up to the Whitsundays as well?’

‘Yes, Boss. I’ve got all three places covered, and as well, a waitress in the Fisherman’s Club told me a blonde woman with two girls was in there for a meal one night and she said they were waiting to be picked up by two friends in a car to go to the Gold Coast. ’

139

‘Good! It looks like the Gold Coast might still be the place, but still keep checking the other two places, and ask around up there about a bloke called Harry and his fucking moggy on a boat!’

‘On it, Boss.’

CHAPTER 26...East Telegraph Bay – Three Hummock Is... Sunday AM

Breakfast over, Sandy stuck to her word and held another self-defence practice session on the foredeck. From what I could see, the girls were doing really well and I’d hate to be faced with the pair if they had to defend themselves.

While that was going on, I set about getting ready to clean Firebird’s bum. Scrubbing brushes, scotch-brite pads, plastic scrapers and the all-important hookah gear for me.

The shallow-diving gear I had was comprised of an electric compressor mounted in the left stern step locker, and two 35m lengths of floating yellow air-hose connected to two full-face masks that gave much better vision and allowed limited speech underwater.

Moving the boat into shallower water was as easy as winching in the anchor chain until the bows were almost over the anchor and with such a light breeze, I wasn’t worried that we might drag. When the troops were ready, I told them what to do.

‘That looks like fun. Can we try it later?’ Zoe asked, eyeing the tangle of bright yellow hoses and masks which was the Hookah setup.

‘Sure, no problem. We can use two hoses at the same time, so when we’ve finished I’ll show you what to do. It’s fun.’

All the scrubbers would float, so we just stacked everything on the stern platform and jumped in.

Naturally, the twins just dropped all their clothes and with Jasper in attendance, dived cleanly in, on the deep side, grabbed their brushes and set to work, with little screams each time Jasper nuzzled them, a game he quickly learned to love, not having had girls to play with before.

Sometimes I quite envied what he got away with.

Janice and Sandy wore bikinis, of course, both looking very sexy and when I asked Janice about their secret women’s business discussion, she just gave me that Mona Lisa smile thing, kissed me and said nothing.

140

I thought I’d work on the opposite hull, this being better for my blood pressure, so reluctantly dragging my attention back to work, I was pleased the very expensive anti -

fouling I’d had applied last haul-out was still working well. There was some slime and a few small patches of weed, but none of the hard barnacles or coral growth which were so hard to remove. Therefore, work went quickly as I moved along in a cloud of dislodged slime and fine weed. Looking over to check the ladies occasionally, or maybe a lot more than just occasionally, I noticed they too, were making good progress and also surrounded by a green-tinted haze of slime and weed. The usual school of tiny fish gathered to suck up the unexpected feast, darting right in between fingers to get the choicest morsels.

It only took two hours for both hulls to be cleaned and everyone was exhausted when we finished. They also had a lot of fun along the way, with Jasper always in the mix.

At some stage, Janice and Sandy had separated from their bikinis, and it was the first time I’d seen Sandy naked. She was a delightful sight, and also appeared to be a regular user of Mr Gillette’s finest, the same as the twins. We played in the water for a while after we finished the work, just relaxing, although on several occasions I became the focus of Sandy’s attention. I didn’t mind and Janice didn’t seem to either.

Having long given up on trying to work out the mysterious ways of the female mind, I went with the flow and enjoyed the attention. The girls didn’t seem to notice, which I came to realise later is not quite the same thing as actually not noticing.

I showed Zoe how the hookah gear worked and let her swim around to the limit of the hose, while I played safety-supervisor. I had to promise to let her use it more often, to which I agreed, if she did a light bottom scrub each time.

Finally, around midday, everyone’s spring ran down and we wearily dragged ourselves back aboard, each having a quick shower on the way. I waited until last, then put the hookah gear away, before rinsing myself off. I sort of hoped that all the naked females would be dressed before I got out, but that hope was doomed from the start.

Angie and Zoe whipped up a late lunch of sandwiches with mugs of hot tea, as, despite the warm air, the cool water had sucked the heat from our bodies .

I looked around at my weary crew; even Jasper was quiet, stretched out on the daybed.

‘No more work today, crew, just relax.’

That raised a few tired smiles as the girls went for’rard and promptly went to sleep on the trampoline, leaving Jasper with Janice, Sandy and me. We chatted in a quiet, 141

relaxed manner for a while, before the ladies gave each other what seemed to be a significant look.

Janice stretched, yawned mightily, and then announced she wanted to lie down for a while.

‘Do you want company?’ I asked, starting to get up, but she waved me down.

‘No, I’m good. I’m just a bit tired. You stay and look after Sandy – don’t leave her alone.’

So I settled back, getting comfortable again on the cushions and Sandy scooted close beside me as Janice flashed a quick grin before heading below.

I looked at Sandy, now tucked in close against me. ‘Am I missing something?’

She smiled back, ‘I think Janice just wanted us to have some quality time together. She seems very good like that. Don’t you think it’s a good idea?’

I smiled, ‘Sure I do. But only if it doesn’t cause a problem . This boat’s too small to stir up jealousies or hissy fits.’

‘I think you’ll find that as long as we’re discrete around the girls, Janice doesn’t have a problem with whatever we do. Does that help you at all?’

I looked at her – all smiles and an almost innocent look in her green eyes. ‘So, you’re suggesting that if we were to wander off below to your cabin, we can fool around all we want without Janice getting upset? Is that the story?’

She gave a devilish grin. ‘What a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that? Let’s do it!’ And promptly took my hand and dragged me to my feet.

Slightly bemused by the turn of events, I followed and before long and with great enthusiasm, we carried out ‘my’ apparently great idea. Sandy naked in the water was one thing, but rolling around on a bed with her was something else again. She was alternately gentle and playful, then very athletic and the sudden, unexpected nature of our coupling made the eventual outcome truly delightful. I think we kept the noise down sufficiently and didn’t mess around too long in case the girls wondered where everyone had gone. Even so, it was nearly an hour before we made it back to the cockpit to see that they were still asleep on the trampoline, while Janice, when I snuck in to check, was fast asleep on our bed.

I made tea, and as we sipped I grinned at her, ‘That was fantastic, but very unexpected.

Was that what you and Janice were discussing with your girl talk?’

She just nodded and smiled almost shyly now we’d started a new phase in what was already a complex set of relationships.

‘I’ve always wanted to get with you, but it just couldn’t happen last time, so this seemed a good opportunity, so long as it wasn’t going to mess things up with you and Janice. ’

142

‘So obviously she didn’t mind?’

Sandy smiled. ‘No, dopey. She doesn’t mind. She loves having a real man to sleep with for once, but she knows she’s going to have to move on once this all settles down. She has a very pragmatic view of the world when it comes to sex.’

I grinned, ‘Yes. I’ve certainly noticed that. It’s been passed on to the girls.’

‘Wait until Janice wakes up,’ she reassured me, ‘you’ll find nothing has changed.’

At that point, the girls came back from up front and sat chatting, although they gave Sandy and me a few funny looks and exchanged a grin or two between themselves.

She was right – when Janice came out, she gave both of us a kiss and chatted on as if nothing had happened.

CHAPTER 27... Firebird... East Telegraph Bay/Three Hummock Is...Monday

Promptly at 12:00, the anchor came up and we parted company with Three Hummock Island again. Zoe was on the wheel, while I yanked the various strings to hoist and set the sails, allowing us to depart with hardly a sound, ghosting away from the pristine white beach with just a slight chuckle from the tiny bow-waves.

Everyone was well-rested, especially we older crew as the night before we’d indulged in several of the now traditional NQ teas after dinner and once again, the ladies ended up quite pissed, to the great amusement of the twins. I admit I ’d been little merry as well.

No matter what we said, the girls thought it hilarious, which had set the mood for the evening. Tiredness finally set in and we all headed for bed about the same time. I was relieved to find Janice was her usual self or even more tender and loving than before.

Sandy dropped around for another night chat and this time I didn’t bother covering myself, which gave the ladies something to laugh at.

I asked Zoe to steer a straight course to the south-east for a spot just off the Inglis River mouth at Wynyard. The breeze picked up clear of the land, blowing out of the north at fifteen to twenty knots, so with about fifty nautical miles to run, we should be anchored by 16:30. The swell was higher than our last run, but was rolling in onto our left quarter, so it was a soft and easy ride with some good surfing runs to liven things up.

143

As expected, we were off the entrance by 16:30, and anchored in our previous spot fifteen minutes later. Looking around, I saw the little harbour looked as if time had stood still during our absence.

The crew needed no encouragement to get ready for shore leave and ten minutes later, with a lonely Jasper left on guard duty yet again, we were puttering quietly shoreward, tying up beside the carpark where we did last time.

‘Jimmy! You’re back,’ cried Mavis from the cool, dim depths of the bar, as I groped my way in with sun-dazzled eyes.

‘Yup. We’re back. Good to see you again, Mavis. You don’t look a day older! ’

She almost giggled as she swung into action. ‘Two schooners of Cascade and two Lemon Ruskies, wasn’t it?’ she sang out.

‘Yes, it was, but we’ve still got that ring-in bikie chick with us, so you’d better make those three schooners of Cascade thanks.’

‘No problem, Jimmy. Jeeze, she must like boats more than bikes to be still staying with you lot.’

‘Yeah, well. You know how it is. Give ‘em a good feed occasionally and make ‘em work and they’ll stick around.’

‘Yus! That’s wot I say,’ came the same, gravelly old voice from the far end of the bar.

My eyes having now adjusted for the dimness, I spotted old Ernie propping up his corner.

‘Gidday, Ernie. How’re you going old fella?’ I called. ‘Mavis! Better sling Ernie another one when he’s ready, if you don’t mind. I’d better look after the town’s senior citizen. ’

Ernie took the beer payment as his due with a slow nod. Mind you, if he moved it any faster he’d probably get a headache, so I decided to wind him up a bit.

‘Hey Ernie. I guess that Mavis’s beer prices aren’t too bad after all – you’re still here.’

‘Now hang about, you young whappersnipper. That’s enough cheek outta you. And here I was just starting to think you weren’t such a bad bloke after all. Even for someone who needs two bloody boats bolted together to carry all his wimmen around.

Although, if my weary old eyes don’t deceive me, you’ve gone and brought that bikie chicky-babe back for me to perve on. Maybe you can do something right after all! Now I’ve gotta go out and have a close-up look at her, just to make sure you haven’t damaged her. When she’s sick of you, she’s going to come fishing with me , if you haven’t ruined her for a real man.’

‘Turn it up, you silly old fart,’ Mavis yelled as he nearly fell off his stool. ‘You haven’t been a real man for fifty years.’

144

Giving her the finger, he weaved a wobbly path to the door and stumbled over to our outside table.

‘Here I am, darlin’!’ he cried, spotting Sandy and her glowing auburn hair. ‘I’ve still got a spot on my boat for you when you get tired of that sissy boy in the bar. We’ve g ot lotsa fish to catch to support old Ernie in his declining years. You stick with me and I’ll look after you.’

Sandy favoured him with a dazzling smile, before jumping up and giving him a big hug that nearly popped his eyeballs out.

‘Gidday, Ernie. Good to see you again, mate.’

When he’d caught his breath, he swung his rheumy gaze around the table taking in Janice and the girls.

‘Well, bless my soul! All the lovely ladies have come back to see old Ernie. Fairly makes my poor old heart go thump-a-de-thump to see the likes of you again.’ He sketched a little bow that would have pitched him into the middle of the table if Sandy hadn’t had a firm hold of his arm.

‘Oops!’ he burped. ‘Sorry about that. That there then deck’s got a bit of a roll going tonight.’

Sandy sat as I arrived with the drinks, so Ernie stood back, ‘Say Skipper. If you’re staying overnight again, that’s still a good spot. No one will bother you there, I’ll make sure of it.’

‘Thanks Ernie, I appreciate that. In fact, we might even stay for tomorrow. We need to get some supplies.’

‘No problem with that either. There’s a supermarket up the main street, but you’ll need a car to cart your stuff, so you’d better use mine. I never use it. It’s the old white Holden around the back of the pub. The keys are in it, so help yerself when you’re ready.’

I was slightly overcome with his kind offer.

‘Gee, thanks, Ernie. That’s very generous of you. It’ll be a great help.’

‘No problem, young fella,’ he patted my arm. ‘You’ve repaid me ten times over by bringing these lovely ladies back for me to chat to again. See you tomorrow, I hope. ’

With that, he waved and wobbled down the stairs to the street.

‘What a lovely old feller, ‘said Janice. ‘That was really kind.’

‘Yes, it was,’ I replied, ‘cause tomorrow after Robert gets in and you’ve had a chance to catch up, I’d like you and the girls to go shopping.’

I looked around, ‘Ange, can you make up a list of stuff we need? And don’t forget more OP Rum. Damn stuff seems to evaporate in this climate.’

145

The ladies giggled and Angie grinned, ‘No problem, I’ve already done most of it.’

‘I’ve got some cash left, ‘Janice offered.

‘No, that’s okay thanks. Keep if for when we need it. My credit card is healthy and not on anyone’s watch list at the moment. I’ll give it to you with the PIN in the morning.’

She nodded acceptance as we got stuck into the drinks and soaked up the peace of the lovely evening.

After some more drinks and a terrific feed, the crew were ready to head back aboard.

Dusk had draped a soft blanket of friendly gloom over the little harbour, relieved only by small clusters of yellow lights on the wharf, as we puttered quietly across the mirrored surface to Firebird and an enthusiastic welcome from Jasper.

Since it wasn’t late, the girls decided to watch a movie after feeding Jasper, while I made three NQ teas which I served in the cockpit. We’d just settled in when Sandy’s pocket buzzed with a summons from one of her burner phones.

‘Hello?’

‘...Oh, hi Annette! How’re things with you?

‘...Yep. We’re all good thanks. Great to hear from you.’

‘...It’s taken a lot of organising, but we’re expecting a visit from Janice’s dad tomorrow so we can bring him up to speed on all the extra stuff we’ve found.’

‘...No. Not at the moment. We’ve restricted that info for now, as I’m sure you’ll understand, but we were talking about how we really need to get the hard evidence to you somehow.’

‘...Yes, of course. But we weren’t going to do anything silly. Way too dangerous. We considered asking Janice’s dad, Robert, if he could make a visit to deliver it and discuss the whole situation with you, once he’s been briefed.’

‘...We thought somewhere away from the city, like Yass or Cooma, which isn’t too far away. What do you think?’

‘...Great! We’ll ask him and if you want to call this time tomorrow, we’ll have an answer.’

‘...Yes, we thought you’d prefer it that way. But here I’ve been rabbiting on, what’s your news?’

‘...Oh! Oh, really? That’s... very interesting! No, all okay. I’ll pass it on later. Just so long as your tracks are covered, that’s the most important thing.’

‘...Yes, I agree. We’ll have more for you tomorrow night.’

‘...Thanks, Annette. Really appreciate the info. Bye for now.’

146

I’d been trying to read the play of expression on Sandy’s face and didn’t like what I saw, but I waited for her report.

She glanced into the saloon to make sure that the girls were still engrossed in their movie to overhear, then looked at Janice and me. ‘She was just reporting that while she’s still staying under the radar with her Human Trafficking investigations, the ACP

investigator, Alistair Swinford, is still sniffing around to see if anybody is asking anything more than routine questions about paedophile rings. She’s happy to meet Robert in person if he can get up there without drawing attention, and Yass would suit her much better as a meeting place.’

I was certain she was holding something back, but Janice seemed to accept what Sandy had reported. She also made things easy by saying she had to go an d pee.

Once alone, Sandy quickly and quietly said, ‘The real reason for the call was Annette has finally found evidence to support your auction theory. There was a recent email to Luke requesting information on the availability and current condition of the new and unused white goods which had been advertised for sale. It also made reference to negotiating the price of the goods, regarding a previous shipment of ‘Made in Australia’

white goods which arrived in ‘damaged or used condition’ and were not as advertised or as paid for.’

I felt as if I’d been struck in the belly. ‘Ah, shit! Sometimes I really hate to be right!

Particularly now.’

‘Well, you were right and now you’ve got to tell Janice. This is the perfect time, seeing as we actually have some hard evidence. Forget about our previous suspicions for now , just pass this on and let her deal with it.’

I nodded miserably, concerned what this news would do to Janice’s rather fragile emotional balance, but when she returned, I laid it on her as gently as I could. After checking the girls were still totally absorbed in watching Hollywood’s interpretation of how teenage boys and girls behaved, her response was far from what I expected.

She said with almost icy calm, ‘So you think there’s been, or going to be, an on-line auction where the twins have been offered for sale, and some slime-ball in the Middle East or somewhere like that has made a substantial offer?’

‘Yes, we do,’ Sandy answered. ‘The who and where doesn’t matter at the moment, that can eventually be traced through Annette’s Human Trafficking investigations, but the important thing is that this explains why Luke is trying so hard and so expensively to track you down. Or, more specifically, to track the girls. He probably doesn’t want you at all’

147

Janice just shook her head as if the depths of Luke’s depravity and self -interest were beyond expression and understanding. Which they were. ‘Okay. It explains a great deal more. It’s infinitely worse than just selling naked photos of the girls on their website.

This is going to shatter Dad.’

‘Maybe he won’t be too surprised,’ I replied, mightily relieved we didn’t have Janice as a basket case. ‘He’s been trying to work out all along why Luke’s been chasing you so hard, and has possibly drawn his own conclusions. Tomorrow, we’ll share all this information and work on the problem together.’

That seemed to be a good time to pull the pin on the evening, so we washed our mugs and went to bed, leaving the girls to finish watching their epic face-sucking, bed-hopping, teen drama, although it wasn’t long before we heard the movie finish and all lights were out.

CHAPTER 28...Wynyard Harbour – Firebird... Tuesday morning Next morning, everybody was up early, with Janice subdued but the girls very excited about seeing Pop again – while Sandy and I were just keen to get the next phase of the drama underway. With Robert’s plane due in at 09:55 and a diversionary drive involved, Janice and I took the RIB ashore at 10:40 and waited in the car park. We’d just parked ourselves on a seat under a shady tree in the pretty little park, when the SatPhone rang.

‘...Yes Robert, it’s me. How’re things going?’

‘...Okay. That’s very interesting, how certain are you?’

‘...Yes. I understand, but that could be coincidental. Maybe act as though it is. ’

‘...Look. Stay there and walk around for another ten minutes as though you just needed a break, then come back here to the wharf carpark.’

‘...There’s not usually much traffic – you’ll soon see if there is.’

‘...If you aren’t followed back to town, they’re either on their way to Strahan because they weren’t game to turn around or it was innocent in the first place.’

‘...Okay. No problem. I'll see you soon. Bye.’

‘What’s up?’ Janice asked, a worried look on her face.

‘Robert thinks they followed him after he picked up his rental car. He turned onto the wrong road once and a light blue Camry followed, but passed him when he stopped and turned around. It could’ve been coincidence, but just before Yolla Yolla, he thought he saw it behind him again, so he stopped in the village and called. ’

148

‘Now what?’

‘He comes here if there’s no tail and we carry on as planned. If it was the bad guys, they won’t be able to find him in Strahan, but they won’t expect to anyway, since he’s supposed to be at the business meeting at the SalTas base. They know they can’t just drive in and ask for him.’

‘But what if they look around here in Wynyard for him?’

‘We’ll hide his car behind the pub where it’s out of sight, then once we’re on the boat, he’s out of sight again. He flies out in the morning, so we might have to keep him on the boat overnight, I could drop the dining table down and he can sleep there.’

Janice blushed a little, ‘I don’t know how he’ll react to us sleeping together, but that’ll be alright, he’s got a lot of other stuff to get used to.’

I thought for a moment. ‘On second thoughts, it might actually be better if I ask Mavis to look after him tonight. I can run him ashore after dark, and it’ll certainly be more comfortable there. I’ll ask Mavis to keep him off the books.’

She nodded, but her worried frown deepened and her eyes glistened. ‘I know we’ve been chased for weeks, but we didn’t get to see them. Then suddenly, they’re right here and close on Dad’s tail. And on top of that, there’s this hideous auction. It’s all very serious again, isn’t it?’

I hugged her, surprised to find she was trembling. ‘Yes, it is serious, and always has been. We’ve just been isolated from it for a while. When you’re swanning around on a boat, it’s easy to lose touch with the real world. Which is part of the attraction.’

Fifteen minutes later, a white Kia Rio swung off the street into the car park, the driver looking around, but not spotting us at first since we were in the shade. I pressed her shoulder to stop her jumping up, while we looked back up the main street for anybody in a car or on foot who seemed to be taking an undue interest in the Rio. After a few minutes, I lifted my hand and she bounded across the park and banged on the car’s window. Robert jumped violently, but motioned Janice away, before rolling forward to the nearest parking spot.

I left them to have what appeared to be an emotional reunion, before I wandered over to where they were still holding hands and talking flat-out. Janice finally stopped and turned.

‘Dad, this is Harry who’s been playing nursemaid and driving us around.’

Robert was a tall, good-looking man in his mid-fifties, with a healthy tan, a full head of grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed so as not to stand out, in jeans, 149

a neat and stylish polo shirt and joggers on his feet. His bright blue eyes swung onto me and I received the benefit of a beaming smile and a firm handshake.

‘Harry. We meet at last,’ he said in the rich, smooth voice I’d heard over the phone. ‘It appears I’m rather deeply indebted to you for looking after my little girl and precious grandkids!’

‘Hello Robert. It’s good to meet you too. It’s actually been a pleasure to have Janice and the girls aboard, so not much of a chore at all. However, we have much to discuss and we really need your advice.’

‘Understand. But please call me Rob. Much less formal.’

He glanced over his shoulder toward the town centre, ‘I don’t think I was followed back here.’

‘I agree. We checked after you pulled in, but no one was taking any notice. Still, I’ll be happier with you aboard and out of sight.’

‘Can I leave the car here?’

‘No. I’ll stash it over behind the hotel and let the landlady know. We might have you stay there tonight. We're a bit tight for spare beds.’

‘Oh, Okay. That’s a good idea, about the car I mean, and I guess about the hotel room as well.’

He unloaded his fat leather briefcase and left his overnight bag in the boot. I ran it around to the back of the pub and parked it beside what must have been Ernie’s old EH

Holden, still in a very tidy condition, that model being one of GMH’s better products.

Ducking into the back door of the pub, I found Mavis in the kitchen and let her know what was happening and shamelessly practiced a slight deception with Rob’s name.

‘John will pay cash if you can keep his stay off the books, please Mavis. It’s a bit complicated, but it’s all above board and involves looking after damsels in distress and putting down a wife-beating husband.’

She teared up a bit as she patted my arm, ‘Don’t you worry about it, dear boy. Ernie’s already told you we keep secrets around here, as well as respect other people’s business. I know you’re a good man and so does Ernie, so that’s all that matters .’

‘Thank you, lovely lady. We’ll leave the hire car here, out of sight, if you don’t mind, but Janice will be in later to use Ernie’s to go shopping. Oh, and we’ll all be in for an evening meal as well.’

She patted me again. ‘Good on you, love. It’s the most excitement we’ve had around here for years.’

150

I smiled, then re-joined Janice and Rob waiting by the dinghy and handed over the car keys, before we headed for Firebird.

‘That’s an impressive boat,’ he commented with considerable enthusiasm, as we drew closer. ‘I’ve never had a chance to sail on a big cat.’

‘I hope you’ll get the chance, as soon as this rubbish settles down,’ I offered. ‘In fact, we’ll definitely do it!’

His smile was genuine when he replied, ‘Great, I’ll hold you to that!’

Getting aboard, he still had to run the triple gauntlet of the twins and Jasper who needed to meet and greet the new arrival.

The girls smothered Robert for a while then I had to introduce him to Jasper. His first reaction was rather funny, since he’d not spotted the big cat at first, with the twins all over him on the stern boarding platform, but when he was finally released from their exuberant and affectionate embraces, he climbed up to the cockpit, to be greeted by Jasper who had planted himself in the walkway and refused to budge until the introductions had been made. Not that Rob had any intention of forcing the issue. In fact he retreated a step in the face of Jasper’s inscrutable green-eyed stare and daunting size.

I stepped between them.

‘Jasper, this is Rob and he’ll be staying with us for the day. He belongs to Janice, Angie and Zoe.’

Rob looked at me as if I’d gone troppo, but then he noticed Jasper blink a couple of times and saw his lips turn up in what passes with Jasper for a smile. Then without hesitation, he held out his massive right paw to Rob who very carefully took it and gave a gentle squeeze.

‘Well, I’ll be damned!’ he said in amazement. ‘He looked like he understood what you said! And I’ve never seen a cat shake hands.’

‘He actually did understand, Dad.’ Janice confirmed. ‘He’s a pretty smart pussy.’

‘I can see that,’ Rob said with a rueful chuckle. ‘He really had my pulse going there for a few moments.’

Sandy had hung back while the Jasper stuff was going on, but was brought forward and impressed Rob with her beauty, background history and calm professionalism.

With formalities over, we spread around the cockpit table, the girls busy making an early lunch for everyone. While the twins were still present, we limited the discussion to the beatings and the search by Luke’s men, holding back the inspection of the files for 151

later. Even without the bad stuff, there was a lot to talk through, plus Janice and the girls needed to catch up, so Sandy and I let them take their time Finally, lunch was served and once disposed of, I looked at Janice.

‘Would you like to help the girls with the shopping? Use Ernie’s car, it’s the old white Holden behind the pub and the key’s in it.’

She’d been expecting the question, and although Rob raised his eyebrows at the strange request which took his family away at such a time, he fortunately kept quiet.

Once Janice stirred Angie into finding the grocery list, it wasn’t long before the three were heading for shore – Jasper happy he wasn’t left alone on board. I’d already told Janice to take her time so we could bring Rob fully up to date.

I explained my odd actions. ‘Janice has taken the girls ashore so we can tell you in private what this is all about and why Luke’s spending so much money trying to get the girls back.’

Between us, Sandy and I laid out the whole sordid story, fitting Janice’s revelations about the beatings into the supposed reasons why it had all started and included our guesses about the girls’ auction, now confirmed by Annette.

He took the bad news far more calmly than I would have thought possible, but I told myself that a barrister needed to be able to keep his feeling under tight control. While he mulled over my news, I fetched my laptop, Janice’s affidavit and one of the sealed envelopes Janice and I had put together.

I held it out to him, ‘Please read the document and check the seal on the envelope.’

With a questioning look, he read the affidavit carefully, and then looked the envelope over.

‘Okay. As an officer of the Court, I can accept the recording in this envelope has been secure from the time it was made, and it is a true copy of the original which has also been kept secure from the time it was made.’

‘Good,’ I said. ‘Please open it.’

He found the portable HDD which Janice had recorded from Luke’s computer. He plugged it in and opened the main folder.

‘Right. What am I looking at?’

‘The files represent most of the contents of Luke’s Mac desktop computer. Several documents on the desktop show details of property purchases by Luke, and should be 152

useful to help tie things together. The bulk of the files in the Documents folder contain thousands of photos and dozens of videos of the paedophile ring’s activities.

Regrettably, in the photo files, there are many of your granddaughters, going back years. Blessedly, they are happy, innocent photos taken of happy, carefree girls enjoying life. They are not pornography by any stretch of the imagination.

Also, in the collection, which seems to be the main database, are candid, undisguised shots of adults, male and female, enjoying the fruits of their depraved lust. The fact you will recognise so many of these people, you may find quite astounding.

They justify my statement that this affair could easily be a Government-toppler.

I must add that several faces even I recognise, are in high positions in the ACP and several State Police Forces, which is why we’ve been treading very softly and are being careful who we talk to.’

After that lengthy speech, Sandy and I sat back and let him digest it for a few moments, before he started clicking the mouse and the expression on his face grew darker and darker. He only skimmed the files, as I did initially, but finally, he pushed the laptop away and leant back, as if the slight separation was sufficient to make the whole filthy mess go away.

‘It’s almost unbelievable, and would have been if I hadn’t seen it. But there it is, and to top it off, my granddaughters are being auctioned to some overseas scumbag by my son-in-law. Just horrific!’

He rubbed his face with his hands, still trying make it all go away.

Sandy leant forward and gently touched his shoulder, ‘It’s all very real, Rob, but you’ll come to grips with it. Janice, Harry and I have and you absolutely have to. We need your advice and help, and we need a plan to stop this in its tracks. It’s the only way to protect the kids involved, plus Angie, Zoe and the rest of us from what are very powerful and deranged people who’ll stop at nothing to keep doing what they like best.’

He looked up; an oddly, haunted look on his face, but quickly replaced it by one of steely resolve. ‘This is the worst personal mess I’ve faced since my darling wife died, but you’re right, we’ve got to work this out for everyone’s sake.’

We updated him with our plan to get a copy of the files to Annette as soon as he could reasonably arrange it, then told him of our thoughts about bringing Hillary Jones into the know.

153

He thought for a few moments. ‘Yes, I’ll get the files to Annette as soon as it suits her.

Probably later this week, I hope. There’s not much on my calendar for the moment, but this is far more important anyway.’

As a reminder I said, ‘Don’t forget for one moment that you’re under surveillance. It’s important you give every impression of business as usual. That’s why I suggested this elaborate charade today.’

‘Yep, you’re right. I’m a bit green to this side of the business, but I’ll learn. Now, about Miss Jones, it’s a very good idea. I’ve met her and she’s quite a package. Very much the real deal, forthright and guaranteed squeaky clean. She has very high principles concerning corruption. She’ll love to get her teeth into this lot. Did you want me to contact her too?’

‘No, I don’t think so. Just having you visit Annette will be enough of a risk. We’d like to get Hillary down here, if she will, perhaps for a few days so she can see the girls and talk to Janice. Then she can examine the files at leisure if she wants to go on with it.’

Rob gave a feral grin. ‘Oh, she’ll want to go on with it all right. That’s a very good plan of yours to have her talk to the main players in person. Makes it all much more believable. And she will be the best sort of insurance.’

He grinned again, ‘Oh yes... and I believe she loves cats!’

That raised a few quiet laughs, which were sorely needed.

I addressed him again. ‘As I’m not sure how an investigative journalist works, I wondered if we need to emphasise she can’t go public until the whole ring has been identified? And all the kids, including Janice and the girls are safe, of course.’

‘No, you don’t need to, but she won’t be offended if you do.’

He looked thoughtful, then added, ‘As I see it, we need to kick-start independent investigations on three fronts. Annette at ACP, Hillary when she starts digging and Sandy’s boss when she reports back what you’ve found out.

I’d mention the files to Sandy’s boss too. Wait for him to decide what he needs to do, but warn him of the consequences of acting too soon. As you’ve already stated, the whole lot could disappear underground very quickly unless they’re all hit at the same time.’

Sandy nodded acceptance. ‘We’ve been waiting until you were up to speed before advising my boss. We weren’t sure what to feed him, but you’ve answered that question.’

Rob nodded. ‘I’d advise him immediately. He’ll have to work out who he can trust.’

154

We took a break from planning while Sandy made mugs of tea and sat chatting absent -

mindedly while thoughts tumbled around our heads. It was therefore, a surprise to hear the outboard droning alongside and the happy calls of the girls. Two hours had passed too quickly.

Many hands soon had the RIB unloaded of a mountain of cartons of food, booze and other stuff. Janice handed my card back with a smile. ‘Thanks anyway, but Dad gave me a great wad of cash, so we used it instead. The supermarket didn’t mind.’

‘Great. Thanks for chipping in.’

While Zoe and Sandy stowed groceries under Angie’s direction, I took the time to update Janice on what we’d discussed and let Rob fill in any blanks. She was agreeable, but thoughtfully added, ‘I think Sandy should call her boss immediately. If he’s updated and knows his trust in her was justified, he can start gently stirring from his end. I also think Dad should make contact with Hillary Jones since he knows her and she’d remember him. Then you can talk to her, Harry, and make the necessary arrangements. I think we’ll have better protection if some pressure starts being applied to these animals.’

‘But,’ I countered, ‘we don’t want to risk driving them underground. And it may not stop the hunt for the girls, since the sale is a completely separate deal, being for Luke’s private gain, so the pressure will build for us as well.’

Janice looked defiant, ‘That’s true, but what about all the public faces we’ve identified?

Once their photos and videos are in the hands of the press and trustworthy police , it’ll be impossible for them to deny involvement.’

Rob ruefully nodded agreement with his daughter’s assessment, ‘You’re right and that’s well put. It won’t work if they have the fox guarding the chickens. So far, being on this boat is the safest you’ll be until the Queensland Police or the ACP produce some senior persons who aren’t involved in this mess.’

By now Sandy had finished helping the girls and re-joined us. The girls showed zero interest in our briefing session and decided to go sunbake on the bow trampoline.

Fortunately, they also decided to wear bikinis, but given their miniscule size, the nearby golf course soon had a stream of players apparently searching fruitlessly for lost balls, playing out of the rough or just resting in the shade. Thankfully it created a chance for us to make some phone calls on one of the burner phones, where Sandy went first, catching Superintendent Casey on the first try.

155

‘...Good afternoon, sir, it’s Sandy.

‘...Yes, I’m sorry about the delay, but I’ve discovered a great deal and a lot of new stuff has been happening, so I waited until I could lay it all out for you.’

‘...No, I won’t wait so long again.’

‘...Yes sir. I’ve got it. May I make my report, please? Then you might understand why I waited.’

‘...Yes sir – sorry sir. I’ll be careful.’

After the apparent tongue-lashing, she proceeded to lay the whole tangled scheme out for him in a remarkably concise way. He only interrupted three times to clarify a point and even seemed to accept that she couldn’t reveal where she was, apart from being with the star witnesses.

Finally, she’d wrapped the whole thing up for him, knowing that he had recorded the conversation, but would destroy the tape as soon as he’d checked a few items.

‘So that’s where we’re at now, sir. Two of us have the witnesses under unofficial protection, her father is a barrister and has been fully appraised of the situation, the bad guys are on our trail, but not too close at the moment and we’re keeping moving to stay off the radar.’

‘...Yes, he’s an ACP undercover operative.’

I raised my eyebrows at this, but she ignored me and ploughed on.

‘...We believe any further investigation should be very low key, since we haven’t fully identified all the main players and don’t want them to go to ground. Kid’s lives will definitely be put at risk by premature revelations.’

‘...Yes, I understand, but until we work out who to trust, we’re all in very real danger.

These people are playing for their reputations, careers and freedom. They won’t give up without a nasty fight.’

‘...I appreciate that, sir. Yes, we will. Bye for now.’

‘As you might have gathered, he wasn’t happy I didn’t report in every day, but he’s over the moon now he knows what’s going on. I had to promise him a copy of the files, but I’m not sure how to get them to him.’

I looked at Rob. ‘Maybe when you deliver a copy to Annette, you can ask her to make a copy and send it on to Superintendent Casey at Southport. That would isolate us some more.’

He nodded, ‘I can do that all right.’

Sandy asked, ‘How about we try to contact Hillary? Do you have a number?’

156

Rob nodded and dived into his briefcase. It looked worse than a woman’s handbag, but he eventually found his organiser. ‘Yes, I do,’ he held it up in triumph, so I passed him the mobile.

CHAPTER 29...Hillary Jones...Narre Warren East...Tuesday 17:00

The short, slim woman with her long, striking red hair pulled back into a girlish ponytail, sat relaxing in a rocker chair on the wide porch, bare feet propped on the carved wooden railing as she gazed out over the peaceful, rolling countryside. The loudest sound was the chirping, whistling, cackling calls of the various bird types she and her partner had attracted to the house by spreading copious quantities of seed and planting bird-friendly shrubbery. Her partner, Debbie Thomas, was a solicitor and ran a small, very successful and female-only practice in nearby Dandenong, specialising in women’s issues, usually concerning domestic violence.

They both loved the old timber house, with its wide veranda on all sides and the high ceilings. Although it cost a fortune to maintain, the wide hallways passing front to rear and side-to-side kept the house cool during the long, hot summers. It was a bitch to heat in winter, but several fireplaces and wood heaters helped beat back the efforts of the icy winds that roared down off the nearby high country and which brought the occasional flurry of snow.

She sipped appreciatively on a glass of Brown Brothers’ Chardonnay, a wine style she’d come to like over the last couple of years. Though relaxing her body, her mind was as active as ever, mulling over a very strange phone call she’d received less than an hour ago. It was from Rob Jameson, a barrister she’d met socially a few times and a man she respected for his forthright attitude and untainted character. She’d looked up his bio previously and had just finished refreshing her memory.

He’d said he had a story to tell, but before he revealed details, he insisted that she think hard about whether she wanted to or even needed to get involved in something that he described baldly as potentially being a ‘government-toppler’. He’d just tossed out a few tantalising hints of what it was about, while concluding with the statement that it would be an investigation truly worthy of her involvement and talent.

‘The man should be a bloody politician the way he spoke heaps and said bugger-all,’

she muttered to herself.

157

On impulse, she dialled Debbie’s mobile, pleased when it rang which meant Debbie was out of the office and probably heading home.

‘...Hi Hon. Just wanted to know how far out you are?’

‘...Great. No, nothing’s wrong. A bit of a hot potato has just been tossed in my lap and I need to bounce a thought or six off you.’

‘...Thanks. See you soon.’

Ten minutes later, Debbie, a tall blonde in her mid-forties, a handsome rather than beautiful face hiding a razor-sharp mind, was sitting on the porch with her, still in business clothes but bare-footed, a glass of the frosty Chardy in hand.

She gave Hillary an affectionate look, ‘Okay. This sounds a bit mysterious, although by the look in your eye, the ‘hot potato that's been tossed in your lap’ is a big story –

maybe huge. Am I right?’

Hillary’s distant, thoughtful look softened as she gazed at her friend, confidante and lover.

‘Yes. That about sums it up.’ She then related Rob’s conversation verbatim, her total recall memory being a very useful tool for an investigative journalist.

‘So, what do you think?’

‘What was the next step he suggested?’ Debbie countered.

‘If I want to find out more, there is some danger involved in the next step, on account of the high level of corruption involved. I’m to call the same number back as soon as possible and talk to a chap named Harry who’ll pass instructions for the meet.’

‘Does it have to be face-to-face?’

‘Yes. That was a no-argument requirement.’

‘Should I come with you?’

‘I didn’t think of that, but I can ask if they’ll accept it. I’d certainly feel happier having you and your brain along.’

‘Okay. Call him and set it up.’ Debbie responded decisively. When Hillary didn’t immediately respond, after a few moments she added, ‘you’ve been moping around ever since you wrapped up the money-laundering thing. You probably need something fresh to get your teeth into.’ She giggled girlishly, ‘Something else, that is!’

Drawing a chuckle from Hillary, she re-filled their glasses, picked up the phone from the floor and handed it over.

158

Firebird - Wynyard Harbour We had just tied up in our usual spot adjacent to the carpark, when my pocket rang. I looked at Rob, but he just shrugged. ‘If that's Hillary, she'll most likely be taking the bait, at least as far as a briefing, so it’s all yours. Get her here ASAP and get everyone away from curious eyes. I still think you’re all way too exposed here.’

To Janice I suggested, ‘How about you take the girls to the pub and get some drinks organised. We won’t be too long.’

She gave me thumbs up and the four ladies moved off.

‘...Yes, I’m Harry.’

...Oh, great. Hi Hillary, and thanks for calling back, but do I detect you’re on speakerphone?’

‘...Ah, okay. Hi Debbie.’

‘...So, Hillary, am I to take it that you're interested in the offer?’

‘...You are? Good. Yes... yes, all right. I don’t see any problem with that. It’ll be a bit squeezy, but we’ll make it work. Rob is returning to work in the morning, so another legal mind working on this will be very useful right now. And if it makes you more comfortable, that’s even better.’

‘...Yes. There’s quite a few of us here at the moment – each deeply involved in this thing.’

‘...Yeah. Look, I’m sorry to be so dark and mysterious, but this stuff is not for an open line. Face-to-face only. So, are you still wanting to hear more?’

‘...Excellent! Here’s the way it has to work, because there's a bunch of seriously bad guys looking for us and they’re quite close at the moment. We’re just under the radar due to our... let's say, particular circumstances, but we can’t afford to take any more risks. I promise you’ll understand why when we talk.’

‘...Good. First, are you both able to travel and be away for three or four days?’

‘...Great. How soon can you move? Like, first thing tomorrow morning would be really good. We’re physically in a very exposed position right now and need to move soonest.’

‘...You can? Brilliant!’

‘...Oh. Yes, I’d better do that. Do you have a pen?.... Oh, okay. That must be very handy for a journalist.’

‘...Please book seats on the morning flight to Burnie on King Airways. Yes, that’s the Tasmanian one. There’s a flight departing Tullamarine at 08:45 and arriving at 09:55.

Even though the airport is at Wynyard, you’ll be on the correct flight. It’s a bit confusing, 159

but just go with it. Please pack very lightly in soft bags – you won’t be going out socialising and I’ll pick you up at the airport. Do you have all that?’

‘...Great. Are there any questions about the travel side of things?’

‘...That’s good. Save the rest until after the briefing. Oh, one more thing. Would you mind leaving your mobile phone at home? Just use Debbie’s from this time on? Like for the bookings as well?’

‘...Okay. Only call if you have to take a later flight, but try really hard to get the first one.

It’ll be a great help to us.’

‘...Thanks Hillary and you too, Debbie. Tensions and pressures are building with this, so the more we can spread the load the better. We’re really looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.’

‘...Thanks again. Bye now.’

There wasn’t much more to talk about, so by unspoken agreement, we stayed off all business and let Rob enjoy the pleasure of being with his family again. It turned out to be a relatively happy, relaxed time, helped by the knowledge that wheels were turning.

We had some more fun with Mavis and Ernie, as well as enjoying another of Mavis’s wonderful dinners which just got better each time.

The locals accepted us without question, although I feared for Ernie’s blood pressure in the morning when he saw Rob had left and two more ladies were joining the crew. He had very kindly agreed to allow us to use his car again for the airport run, although it wasn’t far, being only a few kilometres from the wharf. Almost walking distance.

We wrapped things up at the pub early and were soon back on board. That evening, I called a final council of war. Since Rob had to be on the 06:30 flight out, it meant a very early rising for him to be able to make check-in time. Once again the girls declined an invitation to join us at the planning session and called up another movie to watch, cuddling up with Jasper in the saloon.

I looked at Rob. ‘Your job is to set up a meet with Annette ASAP. When, where and how is up to you, but you both understand the vital need to be super low-key.’

He nodded his understanding.

‘Next, you or Annette have to send a certified copy of the files direct to Bob Casey at Southport Police Station. I decided we’ll make two more copies of the files tonight.

Janice bought two drives today.’

More nods from both, so I looked at Janice.

160

‘While Rob is still here to certify them, you need to make another two, no, make it three copies of your original affidavit verifying the security of the chain-of-evidence to cover the two new copies we’ll make now, with one spare.’

I looked back to Rob. ‘We’ll only communicate via the burner phones, dumping one each week. Buy some more, and when either of us changes, we’ll send a text message with the new number. With Hillary and Debbie aboard, we’ll head out for the islands immediately. For your ears only, we might go a bit further to the northeast side of Hunter Island. There are a couple of bays that look just as good as those on Three Hummock Island, just in case someone has noticed we’ve there a bit too often.

We might stay there three days, or whatever time it takes for Hillary to get a proper feel of the situation and get to know Janice and the girls.’

This time I looked at Janice.

‘You realise that she’s going to have to ask a lot of questions of all three of you?’

‘Yes. I expected that, so Sandy and I anticipated Hillary’s positive response last night and briefed the girls to expect two more crew and to be questioned, but as they only know about the beatings and none of the rest, their part shouldn’t be too heavy.’

I nodded, ‘Alright, that’s good. But it raises two more questions – firstly, when should the girls be brought up to speed on the paedophile business, and should they be told about the auction?’

Both Sandy and Janice shook their heads, but Sandy replied. ‘I think we can leave them out of that for now, but we must tell them everything soon.’

Janice agreed, and then asked, ‘What’s the second question?’

‘Where are we going to put Hillary and Debbie? I was going to make up a bunk on the dining table, but that’s a bit ordinary at the best of times.’

Sandy smiled, ‘No problem. I’ll move out of the stern cabin and sleep in the bunk in your dressing room. There’s plenty of room for them and I’ll be fine up there for a few days.’

Up to now, I don’t think Rob had given any thought as to where we all were sleeping, but I could see him mentally counting beds and coming to conclusions that he prudently chose not to voice. Or maybe he just knew his daughter’s temper.

At that point, we headed for bed and Janice volunteered to run Rob ashore to let him get to his room and say goodbye because she wouldn’t see him in the morning.

Rob said goodbye to the girls and puttered off quietly with Janice, who returned within ten minutes or so, subdued but happy how things were going.

161

CHAPTER 30...Luke’s mobile...Tuesday afternoon

‘...Yeah Jimmy, this better be good, I’m busy.’

‘Sorry Boss. I wouldn’t have disturbed you at this time but I wanted to report like you told me.’

‘Good dog. Get on with it.’

‘Yes, Boss. Well, we may have a lead on the location of the packages. You know Young Tony, the one with the funny eye? Well, he and Alfie were detailed to follow your wife’s father, regardless of where he went, so they tracked him onto a flight to Burnie. ’

‘Where’s Burnie? I’ve never heard of it.’

‘Umm. It’s in Tasmania, Boss. North coast. Anyway, only Tony managed to get a seat on the plane and he stuck really close to him. When they landed, the father hired a car, so Tony did the same. I mean, he pretended to be just another tourist or worker. He says there were really a lot of workers on that flight, Boss.’

‘Bloody hell, Jimmy. Will you get on with it? I don’t need a lecture on the demographics of airline passengers into Burnie. Who gives a fuck! Just tell me what happened.’

‘I’m trying Boss, but you keep interrupting me and I lose my train of thought.’

‘Jimmy, if your train of thought was still on the tracks, you’d have been my General Manager long ago, but I’m afraid you got derailed some time back. Now! Get on with it.’

‘Yes Boss. Anyway, Tony followed him out onto the highway heading south. That one only goes to Strahan and Queenstown, although you can get to Hobart, but it’s the long way around, if you get my drift.’

‘Yes Jimmy. I’ve got your drift. Now if you could just drift back along the lines of the story, rather than playing RACV tour guide of Tasmania, I’ll be much happier.’

‘Yes, Boss. Oh, I forgot to mention that Tony overheard the old bloke telling the hire car chicky-babe he was just going to Strahan on business for the day and would bring i t back in the morning.

So Tony follows the old bloke and about 8 kms out, he turns onto a side road that heads over to Burnie, but then stops and turns around... ’

‘Hang on a minute, Jimmy. You just lost me. How can a side road head across to Burnie when he’s just left Burnie? Come on!’

‘Well, actually Boss, they just left Wynyard – not Burnie.’

162

‘Jimmy. Are you taking the piss out of me? Cause if you are, I’m gunna rip you a new arsehole when I find you.’

‘No Boss, I wouldn’t do that. You see, it’s like, Burnie airport is right beside this little place called Wynyard, so it’s not at Burnie at all.’

‘Well, why the fuck don’t they call it Wynyard instead of Burnie? Things are confusing enough without bloody airport names being fucked up.’

‘Yes Boss. Well anyway, Tony’s pretty smart, so he just drives past and gives a little wave as he does, real friendly-like, and waits until he sees in the mirror that the old bloke has turned around and got back on the main road. Then he turns around himself.

But this time he hangs way back so he won’t get spotted, but then the dude stops again in the middle of a little town, jumps out of his car and uses his mobile. Tony had to just drive past again, but although he waited in a hiding place down the road, he didn’t see the bloke drive past.’

‘Okay. So, what does Tony think happened?’

‘Well. He's not totally sure, 'cause he had to get out of his car to take a piss, and while he did, some cars went past, but Tony didn’t think the old bloke was in any of them.’

‘You mean Tony wasn’t really watching the road while he was taking a piss, and some cars drove past. Did Tony go to Strahan?’

‘Yes, he did, boss. But he couldn’t see the dude or his car anywhere. What do you think happened, Boss?’

‘I think this ‘pretty smart’ Tony is a fuckwit. Obviously the guy has driven past the idiot while he’s taking a piss. He went to Strahan like he meant to, on business or pleasure we don’t know, except that now you clowns have lost him! Again! It may be innocent, but then again, it’s the best lead we’ve had since you lost them in Coffs Harbour, so we’d better be sure.’

‘Yes Boss. Sorry Boss. Uh... what’d you like us to do?’

‘How about finding my runaway packages, you moron. Get some of these clowns to sniff around Strahan, this Burnie place and maybe send your smart Tony to check out this Wynyard joint as well.’

‘Ok, Boss. I’ll get onto it right away and I might go down there myself.’

‘Good idea, Jimmy. You’re supposed to be directing this clusterfuck. Get in there and direct!’

‘Yes Boss. I’m on it.’

163

CHAPTER 31... Firebird... Wynyard...Wednesday morning Janice and I were up at 06:00, even though she really didn’t need to be, so we had a quiet cuppa on the foredeck while I hosed the overnight dew and accumulated dirt off the decks and lower rigging. It was a glorious morning, the water like polished glass again and not a breath of wind stirring in the soft pre-dawn light. Janice would have gone ashore earlier for a last goodbye to Rob, but I’d firmly dissuaded her from doing that since I was still a bit nervous about Rob maybe being followed the day before.

We’d been here way too long, but it was the best way to make the vital contacts we needed.

Hillary and Debbie weren’t due in until 09:55, so we just soaked up the peace, waving to a couple of keen early golfers and to the skipper of a lone fishing boat chugging quietly out for the day’s work.

By the time we’d finished washing the boat and windows, the rest of the crew surfaced, so Angie was encouraged to start breakfast. Afterwards, I watched the twins have their daily hand-to-hand session with Sandy on the tramp mats, then it was time for me to move.

I’d asked Rob what Hillary looked like and all he could remember was that she was quite short and had flaming red hair.

For a bit of exercise, I rowed the RIB ashore, tying up in our usual spot and was ambushed by Mavis wanting a bit of a chat while she was hosing down the front veranda of the hotel. Consequently, by the time I legged it around to the back of the pub, I was almost late. Thirty seconds later, however, I was motoring sedately up the main street as I followed Mavis’s complex directions to the airport.

The carpark was surprisingly big and a King Airlines Saab 340 was just taxiing in, and despite the early hour, there were quite a few people waiting to greet the arrivals .

I stood at the back and scanned the incoming group.

There were a bunch of obvious workers, some touristy types and toward the rear of the straggle, an attractive woman with bright red hair, who, even at a distance, seemed to radiate energy. A tall, blonde woman who moved with feline grace accompanied her.

They were dressed casually in jeans and shirts and while each had a computer bag slung over their shoulders, to their credit, neither carried the obligatory huge handbag.

164

I stepped in front of them and held out my hand to the diminutive redhead, ‘Hi Hillary, I’m Harry.’

She looked slightly surprised at being recognised so readily, but covered it quickly and shook my hand with a firm grasp. I turned to her companion who was my height and had a gentle smile on her face. She beat me to it and stuck her hand out first, announcing, ‘Hello Harry, I’m Debbie.’ Being a solicitor championing the cause for abused women, I’d expected a severe, militant man-hating type – not this charmingly attractive lady with the direct gaze and blue eyes.

They both scanned my extra casual dress of paint-stained boat shorts, T-shirt and thongs, although I had shaved that morning and applied a liberal dose of anti -stink in all the suitable locations.

With a cheeky grin that belied her fifty+ age, Hillary commented, ‘I gather by your outfit that we’re not heading for the local Mercure?’

I chuckled, ‘I’m afraid not, even if there was one. But you will have a comfortable bed, gourmet meals and hot and cold running water.’ I ignored their raised eyebrows, and chatted the usual crap about weather and the flight, until the baggage was unloaded and set out for collection. The ladies collected two smallish, soft overnight bags and waited expectantly for my lead. The old Holden confused them further, until after I’d parked behind the hotel and led the way around the side to the wharf, thankfully dodging chatty Mavis on the way.

The RIB was a giveaway and their eyes immediately scanned the tiny harbour, latching onto Firebird as the likely transport.

‘It’s a good thing we don’t get seasick,’ Debbie commented dryly to Hillary, who contented herself with, ‘Nice-looking boat, Harry.’

They were reassuringly surefooted and we made the short journey without comment or issue, except when Hillary added as we came closer, ‘ Very nice boat, Harry!’

Zoe was ready to take the painter and the bags, while the visitors hopped out on their own and made introductions.

‘Would you mind hoisting the RIB up and securing for sea, please Zoe? I’d like to leave immediately.’

She nodded, ‘Sure thing, Harry, but you’d better do Jasper’s introductions first. He’s excited about having more visitors and has been watching you all the way from the hotel.’

I chuckled as I led the way up to the cockpit where my beautiful big cat was waiting in his usual greeting position. The ladies’ reaction was predictable and, as always, highly 165

amusing to the initiated, but both were utterly delighted with him from the start and accepted his sniffs and intimate nuzzles as his due. As usual, he won them over quickly by rubbing against them and wanting to be scratched and patted.

Meeting Angie, Janice and Sandy was rather more conventional, so I asked Angie to show the ladies their cabin, and explain the toilet and water arrangements, while Zoe and I got us underway. Angie must have given them the short visitor’s briefing, because by the time I had the engines started, the anchor stowed and Zoe had the RIB

lashed securely to the underside of the daybed, Angie led the two ladies back ou t into the cockpit.

‘Stunning boat,’ Debbie said to me, ‘I take it that you live aboard full-time?’

‘Yes. Normally just Jasper and me, but we do pickup homeless waifs on the odd occasion.’

Janice poked her tongue out at me and smiled, ‘We’ll explain everything once we get settled on our way and clear of the harbour, but would you like a late breakfast or some tea or coffee in the meantime?’

They looked at each other and giggled. ‘We’re not used to such luxuries on a sailing boat, but we’d love a mug of tea and something to eat if it’s no trouble. It was a very rushed early start to make check-in on time.’

‘No problem,’ Angie answered, ‘I’ll fix that. How about toasted crumpets with honey or jam?’

‘Terrific,’ Debbie answered for both. ‘Can I help?’

‘Not for now. But you can watch to see where stuff goes, ‘cause after this, you can help yourself. It’s no big deal really, Harry’s got it set up just like a house on shore so it’s easy.’