by Frank Tayell
“The code for the plane,” Pete said.
“What code?”
“Liu told me,” Pete said. “The plane’s locked. There’s some kind of code needed to get inside.”
“How does Liu know?”
“She went to look,” Pete said.
“Why didn’t the pilots know this code?” Qwong asked. “Surely they would have been the ones to enter it.”
“Not necessarily,” Corrie said. “It could have been reset remotely.”
“Do you know the code?” Qwong asked.
“I don’t know it,” Corrie said. “I might be able to guess, but until I try, I don’t know if it’s correct.”
“Why would the code be reset?” Qwong asked.
“I don’t know,” Corrie said. “And take that as a blanket response to explain any of this. They were tortured for hours, right? They would have said absolutely everything they know, yes? Then they know Pete was just some guy who sells carpets. I can’t think of anything we know that they would want.”
Chapter 25 - Joining the SASR
The Airport, Broken Hill
Pete sat by the office window, watching the clouds scud across the sky above the airfield. Doctor Dodson said that the rains were coming. Pete had no idea if that was good news. He didn’t know if it was an official weather report or a guess. He didn’t know anything anymore. Every time he thought that things were as bad as they could get, they got worse. He wanted to talk with Corrie, to get her to explain, or at least share what she knew. Clearly she knew a lot more than she’d already said. He hadn’t had the opportunity. As soon as they’d returned to the airfield, she and Liu had gone straight to Kempton’s plane. Pete hadn’t gone with them, but had retreated to the office, seeking comfort in being inside.
He’d still not found it when, half an hour later, Corrie and Liu entered.
“I’m going to find Bobby,” Liu said. “I’ll be with you in a bit.”
Corrie sat opposite Pete. “The code works,” she said. “We got into the plane. Here.” She held out his phone.
“My phone. Thanks. Oh, it’s out of power. You used the code Sorcha Locke told you over the sat-phone?”
“I did, and I think that code was just for us. Or not for the pilots, anyway. The code was remotely changed to lock the pilots out of the plane.”
“Why?” Pete asked.
“Because we were bait,” Corrie said. “Or I was.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Kempton didn’t need to send you to come find me,” Corrie said. “She could have sent me the phone through the mail and I’d have called her. Probably from a harbour just before I caught a cab to a train station to take me to an airport, but I’d have called. She said she wanted me to activate some old code, but she could have found someone else to do that. It’s been years since I wrote it, and she must have hired hundreds of programmers since then.”
“What code? What was it she asked you to do?”
“That’s really not important,” Corrie said. “That’s the entire point. You met Kempton, and Tamika, and you spoke to Sorcha on the phone, and Rampton and Jackson flew you here, right? They’re all in the inner circle. This was a trap, specifically set to catch Rampton and Jackson, or perhaps just one of them. Considering what we saw at the golf club, probably Jackson, but Kempton didn’t know precisely who was betraying her. No doubt she set other traps for other members of her inner circle, but this is the one we were caught up in. Because she didn’t trust them, and with everything that was about to happen, she wanted to get Rampton and Jackson as far away from her as possible.”
“So she sent them to Australia?”
“Yep. To transport some random guy to persuade his estranged sister to reactivate a mysterious piece of old code. You’ve got to admire the simplicity of it. And the complexity.”
“You do?”
“You didn’t even know I used to work for Kempton, so there was no way you could know a thing about what she supposedly wanted from me. That meant they, or he, had no choice but to do as ordered. Bring you here, let you travel onward to hand me that phone. I don’t know what Kempton planned to do next, but the outbreak changed everything. And that’s why Sorcha Locke left that message with the new master code.”
“Assuming that message was for us,” Pete said. “Maybe it was meant for Jackson. Maybe Locke’s another one of the traitors, if that’s the right word.”
“Maybe she is, but we’ve got the code, and so we have access to the plane,” Corrie said.
“The outbreak changes everything,” Pete echoed. “So Kempton bought the carpet store just so she had an excuse to get the pilots out of the way? That’s extreme, isn’t it?”
“Not for her,” Corrie said. “It’s not like she’d miss the money. Besides, if you’re going to bluff, always bluff big.”
“She was planning this for a while, though,” Pete said. “Mrs Mathers sold the company to her before Christmas.”
“She’s probably been planning it for longer than that,” Corrie said. “She didn’t know who among her people she could trust, and thought she was preventing a nuclear war, but couldn’t go to the authorities. Just because they really are after you, doesn’t mean you’re not paranoid.”
“I don’t think that’s quite the saying,” Pete said. “Mikko said he was waiting for me when the plane arrived.”
“Because Jackson told him,” Corrie said. “You might not have known where you were going, but the pilot had to. And maybe that’s why you and I were chosen as bait. I bet Kempton has a ton of burned-out former employees she could have used for this. But I lived somewhere remote, hiding in plain sight, somewhere you can see people coming for miles. Somewhere strangers get noticed. Jackson couldn’t follow you into the outback, and that gave Kempton time.”
“Time to do what?” Pete asked.
“No idea, but the outbreak came first. Of course, that’s why she sent her plane. Not just so she could get rid of those two pilots, but a plane like that on an airfield like this, it’s bound to be noticed. It was meant to be seen. She wanted everyone looking at the jet in one hand, while wondering what the pilots were up to in the other, while the real trick was being played out thousands of kilometres away.”
“In Manhattan?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. Even for Kempton, the outbreak seems too much.”
“It’s a different world,” Pete said. “Throwing millions of dollars around like it means nothing, using people and private jets as props in a secret war. I want to know the rest of the story. All of it. From when you started working for Kempton to when you disappeared, right up until I arrived. All of it.”
“That’s fair,” she said. “But can it wait a little longer? I still haven’t told you the bad news.”
“You mean what you just said was the good news?”
“Clearly the pilots were told a story about me, that I know something important. They were tortured for a long time. I bet they shared every secret they knew. Whatever they said, it was enough for Mikko to take an absurd amount of risk, sticking around Broken Hill after everyone left. Then, today, he must have seen Liu and Tess arrive with us, but they sprang that trap anyway.”
“I don’t know he would have if that guy hadn’t started shooting,” Pete said.
“Maybe not,” Corrie said. “But if the outbreak changed everything, why is Mikko still here?”
“He said something about bunkers and mountain-top retreats,” Pete said. “That’s what he’s after.”
“No. He works for the cartel, and the cartel has been working with Kempton. I quit years ago. Anything I know is out of date. He’s probably chasing a lie, a story, something told to the pilots that made it seem bringing me back from Australia was worth Kempton sending the two of them halfway around the world. Either way, whether he’s chasing a lie or some fragment of truth, Mikko won’t give up. We have to leave. We found him by chance today, but we won’t get lucky again. You heard what Tess said, this man is a serial k
iller the police thought they’d stopped. If he can evade the police, he can escape the soldiers, no matter how many are sent to look for him. Remember the other two bodies in the golf club, that couple he shot? Remember Josie? That’s what’ll happen to anyone who gets in his way.”
“We’ve got to leave,” Pete said. “Of course we do. As fast as we can, getting as far away from here as we can.” He stood up.
Corrie smiled. “I hoped you’d say that, but sit down. We’ve got to wait for Liu.”
“You mean we’re flying?” Pete asked.
“Like you said, as far and as fast as we can.”
A soul-grinding half-hour later, Liu returned. She sat opposite. “It took a while to get through, but I spoke to Anna. We’ve got the approval for a flight to Canada.”
Pete frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“Anna Dodson,” Liu said. “Mick’s daughter. The politician. Mick placed the call so I could speak to her. She approved the mission on the spot. We’ve just got to wait for the pilots and soldiers.”
“What soldiers?” Pete asked.
“For the flight to Canada,” Liu said. “Like I told you in the van earlier. Wait, did you think we were going alone?” She laughed. “You did! You thought it was just you two and me! Sorry, but compared to everything else that’s happened today, that is funny. But, of course, you turned in early last night, so you don’t know the other half of the conversation. They want staging grounds across the Pacific. Places we can bring in supplies and troops while evacuating refugees. British Columbia is perfectly placed for moving people to Alaska, which is ideally situated due to the lack of roads and impassable terrain. Before you get your hopes up, this isn’t a plan for an immediate offensive. It’s after the zombies die, and that could take weeks, but then they’ll need to bring in aid, and troops to protect it while it’s being distributed. They’ll need to hold the airfields between now and then. Airfields and ports. Hence why they need to send someone up to Canada. And I already knew about four airfields in British Columbia, thanks to Corrie. I used the location of the airfields and me being a co-pilot, and that we have a plane, to bargain my way onto the flight.”
“So this is going to be a proper expedition?” Pete asked.
“Very much so,” Liu said. “We lucked out with that jet. There are hundreds of planes and pilots, of course, but not with a clear runway, with fuel in the storage tanks, and with the range for a direct flight while retaining the capacity to land on a short runway.”
“And what about Corrie and me? We’re allowed to come?”
“It’s agreed that you two should leave with the plane. Whatever this psycho wants, if you’re gone, and the plane’s gone, he can’t get it. They’re sending more soldiers up to search for him, but they’re also sending some Marines from your embassy in Canberra. You’re going to lead them east to get some solid information about what’s happening inland and in the U.S. I might have fudged your knowledge of the Western United States, its terrain, and backwoods trails. After persuading Anna that I should be allowed to go on the trip, I needed a reason that you should go other than you were chasing down your one true love. You can tell the Marines the truth when we’re in the air.”
“They’re not planning to go to Indiana?” Pete asked.
“I don’t know,” Liu said. “I can’t see why. It would make more sense to find out what’s happening in Seattle or Portland. Once we’re in the air, we won’t turn around. And once we land, I doubt they’ll mind if you two head off on your own. And maybe it would be useful to know what’s actually happening in the Mid-West.”
“And when we land, they’ll protect the airfield?” Corrie asked. “That solves another problem. I don’t know how long it will take us to get to Indiana, or to find Olivia, let alone get back, but we won’t need to rush, not if they’re securing that runway. If we miss the flight back with you, we can wait for the next plane. But how do we know the jet can refuel there? For that matter, how do we know it can land?”
“Military intelligence,” Liu said. “By the time we land, they’ll have the Canadian military securing the runway, and with a beacon set up so landing will be a piece of cake. This isn’t going to be a suicide mission.”
“And when are we leaving?” Corrie asked.
“When the soldiers arrive,” Liu said. “It should be some time tonight. There’s a price to pay for this flight. I promised Anna I’d send her dad back to Canberra. Bobby’s going with him. I can hardly take him with me, but he’s not happy about it, so I better go see if he’s calmed down a bit.”
Pete looked out at the clouds. “I’m going home.”
“We’re going home, though it hasn’t been that for me for a long time,” Corrie said. She stood.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“We’ve got ourselves a flight back to North America,” Corrie said. “And we’ve got a way back here afterwards. That just leaves us the small matter of travelling from British Columbia all the way to Indiana. I’m going to see what gear is on the plane, and what else we’ll need. A rifle for one thing, I suppose. Ammunition, too.”
“And clothes,” Pete said. “It was snowing when I left.”
Chapter 26 - Fire from Above
The Airport, Broken Hill
Pete opened his eyes, and realised he’d fallen asleep in the office chair by the window. Corrie had gone, and the room was otherwise deserted. The airfield looked deserted, too. His stomach told him it was a mealtime, while the shadows suggested it was around midday, so he went in search of lunch.
Outside, on the edge of the runway and in the shadow of a hangar, Mick Dodson was playing chess with Bobby.
“Did I miss a meal?” Pete asked.
“I’ve cake, if you want some,” Dodson said. “It’s the last of it. That’s something we’ll not get in Canberra. Checkmate in three moves, Bobby.”
“Can I play next?” Pete asked.
“No,” Bobby said.
Dodson leaned back in his chair. “You’re mad because your mum is flying north without you,” Dodson said. “But that’s not Pete’s fault.”
“It’s his plane,” Bobby said.
“It’s Lisa Kempton’s,” Dodson said. “Or it was. It’s your mum’s now. But be mad at Kempton.”
“I know I am,” Pete said, pulling up a chair next to them. “She turned my entire life upside down and I still don’t understand why. On the other hand, I found my sister, so there’s some good that’s come out of it. Isn’t that one of your rules, Doc?”
“Nope,” Dodson said. “My rules are there to keep you alive. Being grateful for what you have is more general advice for how you live afterwards, but Pete raises an interesting point, Bobby. If that plane wasn’t here, your mum wouldn’t be going north to get your sister. Good things can come out of the shadows. Just remember rule ten, recognise when something is beyond your control.”
“I thought you said that was rule eleven,” Bobby said.
“Did I? It’s a good rule,” Dodson said. “One I tell my patients, the archaeologists, my daughter. I told it to the prime minister, too. Not the current one, the one before the one before that, about this time last year when Anna took me on a tour of Parliament House. Think I should have told him rule twelve instead. Always accept responsibility for those things within your control.”
“How do you tell the difference?” Pete asked.
“That’s the trick, isn’t it?” Dodson said. “Now, mate, if you want to play, spin us a yarn. Tell us a story about life in America. Make it a good one.”
Three stories and two games later, Inspector Qwong walked onto the runway, a bag over each shoulder. “I bring gifts,” she said.
“For me?” Bobby asked.
“Don’t get too excited,” Qwong said. “It’s your clothes. For Canberra.”
“You put my smart clothes in here,” Bobby said, checking inside. “And a tie.”
“Of course,” Qwong said. “You’ll be representing Broken Hill. You ha
ve to look your best when you meet all those politicians. The other bag is for your mum. Where is she?”
“On the plane,” Bobby said.
“Then be a help and take her this bag. You can leave yours here. Can you manage?”
“No worries, it’s not heavy,” Bobby said. Clearly struggling beneath the weight of the blue holdall, he staggered off across the runway towards the jet.
Qwong waited until he was out of earshot before continuing. “There’s no sign of that Mikko bloke and his crew.”
“Didn’t he go into the outback?” Dodson asked.
“We think so,” Qwong said. “I think so. We’ve moved all the soldiers to the barricades at the edge of town, but they can turn around to look for danger inside the barriers as easily as watch outwards. Every road and alley is covered, and before dark, will be protected by barbed wire. No one will get in or out before the reinforcements arrive.”
“When’s that?” Dodson asked.
“Hopefully before this evening,” Qwong said.
“Then they won’t be able to help with the search until dawn,” Dodson said.
“So we hope Captain Hawker finds him,” Qwong said. “Or that Mikko sees what we’re doing here and leaves.”
“I doubt he will,” Pete said. “Not until the plane has left.”
“Possibly. Time will tell,” Qwong said. “Those pilots, Rampton and Jackson, they told you they wanted to go to Melbourne. Did they tell you why?”
“Not really,” Pete said. “Just that they had offices there, colleagues, that sort of thing.”
“The cartel has a presence in Melbourne,” Qwong said. “Somehow, I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
“Corrie thinks one of them was maybe spying on Kempton for the cartel,” Pete said.
“There are too many games within games going on here,” Qwong said. “What I do know, I tried getting in touch with the detective handling the serial killer case. He disappeared around the time of the outbreak.”
