Icefall

by Hallowes, Guy

  'You have nothing to say about that accusation?'

  'Ask the silly bugger who picked him up off the ground, who got him onto his horse, and who flew him to hospital in Sydney. He was on an operating table within three hours of the accident. I did not plan on spending my day doing any of those things. Anything else?'

  There was embarrassed silence.

  Tanya now took the opportunity to go on the attack. 'Look, Demetriou is a very nasty piece of work. While I understand you thought we were up to no good, we have proven otherwise. Demetriou's cover is blown anyway and he is a most unsuitable settler. Maybe you should consider moving him somewhere else.'

  'Why do you say he is an unsuitable settler?'

  'He doesn't believe in the science and his wife is the most unrural person I have ever come across. She is terrified of snakes and until she joined us she thought that milk came out of cardboard cartons.'

  'What wife?'

  'Her name is Fiona. She has two kids.'

  They looked at each other, and changed the subject. 'What science?'

  Tanya explained the concept behind The Settlement. 'So we set up this place, funded by the family. When the Ice Shelf collapses we will be in a position to isolate the community. We are already more or less self-sufficient, and we have a plan in place to survive. When the wider community, which we think will be much smaller by then, is ready to re-engage then we will be able to open up again. We are about half full at the moment, but there are people coming in every month.'

  'And if the Ice Shelf fails to collapse?' The smirks around the table betrayed their scepticism.

  'It will. Maybe quicker than we think,' said Tanya. 'Look, if you have any real interest come up for the weekend and we can show you round. I can pick you up in the helicopter.' She didn't expect a rush to accept her offer.

  As Tanya was collecting her papers she asked casually, 'Do you know of a man called Harold Monckton?'

  Quickly, before any of the others could say anything, the senior man said, 'No, we have never heard of him.'

  The others all looked away and pretended not to have heard.

  'What was all that about?' asked Jonathan, once they had left.

  Tanya explained what she meant, 'We know there has been a concerted effort by the Government to discredit us. They want to close us down. Harold and Demetriou are strings from the same bow. I just wondered who was really running the show. I'm still not sure.'

  Within a week, Tanya had provided the information to ASIO. A month later, Tanya received the promised e-mail. Demetriou, with his leg still in plaster, returned to The Settlement to recuperate. Tanya visited him and his family on one occasion. As always he was quite charming and Tanya almost forgot how dangerous he was. Tanya had turned to talk to Fiona. In an unguarded moment, she glanced back in his direction and caught Demetriou glaring at her with such pure hatred it was almost as if he had struck her. Shaken, she left quietly saying that if they needed anything just to ask.

  The Smiths all left late one night a few weeks later. They did not even inform Fred.

  'I wonder if we really have heard the last of them,' mused Tanya. She phoned Jonathan. 'If you can, see if you can find out where they went.'

  'Could we do a check on our explosives?' Tanya asked David. 'I don't trust Demetriou just to walk away. He will have left some sort of footprint here and he will want to exact his revenge.'

  Over two weekends, David and Tanya did an extensive check. All seemed to be in order until they reached the very last boxes in the store. They seemed complete until they were opened, but when scrutinised, they found each of the last one hundred boxes had one pellet removed.

  'Fifty kgs of high explosive. That'll blow a mighty hole in anything. I wonder where the bastard has put it. Let's check his house and ask Fred,' said Tanya.

  Fred knew nothing; Demetriou's disappearance was as much a mystery to him as anyone else. Jonathan sent a sniffer dog to Demetriou's house, but there were no signs of explosives in the house.

  'I have managed to track Demetriou down,' Jonathan told them.

  'Oh, good, somewhere in North Queensland I hope?' answered Tanya.

  'No, he is with your immediate neighbour.'

  'Oh, shit! Two days' ride away. We've never contacted them before, but we'll have to pay them a visit and find out what has happened to the missing bloody explosives.'

  Tanya spent extra time looking for the explosives. She concentrated on the area where the fuel depot was planned. It took several weekends of painstaking search, but eventually she unearthed some wires and, digging down a metre, found one of the missing pellets attached. Covered in mud, she hurried back to find Mark, David, and Fred.

  'There are another ninety-nine of these little buggers buried here. When Demetriou hears we have installed and filled the fuel store he will come here and, if we don't submit to his blackmail, he will set off the charges. We need to find all of them.'

  The four of them dug and dug.

  'We must keep all this to ourselves,' advised Tanya. 'We don't want the community worrying. We'll tell them if we find anything.'

  'Here,' said Mark excitedly. 'I can see some sort of pattern. It looks as if the charges have been laid around the future base of the tanks. The bastard! His intention is to destroy the village and all of us with it.'

  After another two weekends of searching, the four of them had found a total of ninety-eight charges.

  'I wonder what the hell he's done with the other two charges? When the fuel tanks are full, one kilogram correctly laid could do just as much damage as all these.' She waved at the pile of explosives. She had noticed Fred searched less enthusiastically than the others, but tried to disregard her unease.

  Without Fred, who made an excuse, they spent another fruitless weekend looking for the missing charges. David returned the well-preserved explosives to the store, separating them from the detonator. All had been enclosed in individual waterproof plastic bags.

  Mark and Tanya carefully planned an expedition to the neighbouring property.

  'We need to find out whether Demetriou is actually there and also to find out how secure their establishment is. If it is secure and well-funded then it will provide an eastern buffer. If not, we may have to find a way to help them.'

  They thought of going by road. 'We must establish a route through the bush,' said Mark. 'Once we're isolated it may be important.'

  They selected four men and four women to accompany them.

  'Not Fred,' Tanya said to Mark firmly.

  He wondered why she was so adamant.

  All ten, well mounted, set off with provisions for a week. They left one person at the eastern gate of The Settlement with provisions and his horse. All the members of the group were armed with the 30.06 Savage rifles.

  Tanya and Mark had decided to stay in the background, so Mike and John were sent ahead as an advance party since neither of them had had anything to do with Demetriou.

  'The person who set this place up is called Bill McLoughlin, according to Jonathan,' said Tanya. 'Ask for him. Jonathan says he is a reasonable person just wanting to be left alone, so he may be a bit prickly to start with.'

  They rode into a scattered array of buildings, seemingly deserted, not even a dog was visible. Unlike The Settlement, all the buildings had a different configuration and cars were scattered about. Mike dismounted and slowly walked over to the nearest house, knocking at the door. There was no answer. John then dismounted and tried another house, with the same result.

  'There must be someone here,' said John doubtfully. 'The place is obviously well cared for.'

  'Hello,' shouted Mike, 'anyone home?'

  Ten men walked out of the shadows, all armed and pointing their rifles at the pair.

  'What the fuck do you want?' asked a large bearded man, who seemed to be in charge.

  'We are looking for Bill McLoughlin.'

  'Who wants him and what is your business?'

  'We are your neighbours and just came to m
ake contact.'

  'We know who you are. We have been following you since you crossed the boundary. You have been where you are for more than six years, have built a fucking great fence to keep all and sundry out, and have made no attempt to contact us before. Why now?' asked the bearded man.

  John shrugged, 'We had nothing to offer. We have been very busy creating our own settlement.'

  'What do you have to offer now?'

  'Technology perhaps; I see you have no solar power. We might want to trade horses, or sheep, or even medical facilities.'

  The rifles were lowered. 'How'd you learn my name?'

  'Dunno, the boss out there told me.'

  'Maybe you should call the rest of them and then we can talk.'

  Mike went off to call the others.

  John approached Bill McLoughlin and said quietly, 'A person who left our place under a bit of a cloud was rumoured to have come here … '

  'We've had no new people here for more than a year. Who told you that?' Bill said, rather too sharply.

  They were invited to unsaddle their mounts and leave them in a nearby paddock. The horses all rolled in the soft grass and had a long drink.

  'Very good stock,' observed Bill.

  He showed them around. There were about thirty dwellings, as well as well-bred cattle and sheep. The vegetables garden seemed to be feeding the local kangaroos as much as the human population.

  'We built a fence to protect our veggies,' said Tanya.

  She was ignored.

  Then Bill said to Mark, 'We kept an eye on what you were doing until you built that fence. Since then we don't know what you've been up to.'

  Mark replied, 'Tanya actually designed and had the fence built.'

  They were invited into a large open area with a thatched roof and no walls; the floor was rough concrete. It was evidently used as a community centre. A semi-circle was created from tables and chairs. Women started to lay out cups and saucers and a cake.

  Bill said pointedly to Tanya, 'The ladies are over there.' He indicated a small hut fifty metres away, from where it appeared refreshments were being prepared.

  Tanya tipped her hat back, looked Bill straight in the eye, and said, 'I and all the women in our group will be quite comfortable right here, thank you.'

  Mark went over to Bill and said within everybody's hearing, 'Tanya is a director of our company and frankly without her we would not be as far along as we now find ourselves. She is the most senior person here.'

  Bill looked surprised and uncomfortable. 'Where does David Bower come in then?'

  The local women were smiling and fussing over Tanya and the other women in the visiting party, making sure they were served first.

  Tanya waited for the women to finish. 'David sends his compliments and wishes you well. We would like to explore mutual cooperation. There may be some areas where we can genuinely help each other. If not, we can hopefully continue to coexist as we have done.'

  'How do you think you can help us?' asked Bill.

  'We can tell you about our place for a start. If you are interested, you could pay us a visit.'

  'Tell us about your place,' said Bill.

  Tanya spent fifteen minutes talking authoritatively. 'Of course if one believes in the science, we will block the road we built, preventing access until we are ready to re-engage with the wider community.'

  Tanya noticed the local women had all quietly joined the group and were listening intently while she was speaking. She was assailed with questions.

  'Who runs the school?' asked one of the women.

  'My sister-in-law started it. We now have a headmaster from a leading school in Sydney. What do you do here?'

  There were some wary glances. 'I run the school, but it's not really up to standard. I took it on because nobody else wanted to, but I am not a teacher,' said one of the women. Bill looked uncomfortable.

  'Well you could come and have a look at what we have and we could transfer what is appropriate over the net,' replied Tanya.

  'We don't have any Internet here,' said Bill aggressively.

  'No matter, come and tell us what you want. We can make copies for you,' said Tanya, without looking at him.

  Bill was surprised. He was expecting a lecture on the merits of the Internet.

  'What about this solar power?' asked Bill.

  'All our houses have no other source of power. We also have several tractors and a couple of utes which run on solar,' said Mark. 'We only allow fires for barbecues, and the wood is provided by The Settlement. We do not want people running around chopping down trees at will.'

  Bill grunted disapprovingly.

  'What happens when it is cloudy?' asked a voice.

  'We have cold baths,' said Mark good-humouredly. 'It almost never happens though. Brother-in-law Joe is an expert on solar energy.'

  Bill was now determined to show off some of his achievements, so he happily showed everyone around "The Bandstand" as they had named their place. Mark and Tanya were really impressed with the cattle and sheep.

  'These seem to be better than anything we have,' said Tanya. 'Perhaps we could swap breeding programs.'

  'Yes, of course. You help us with the solar stuff and the education and we could certainly help with the breeding programs,' said a now more expansive Bill.

  The atmosphere had relaxed.

  'I'll show him Demetriou's photograph,' said Mark, looking at Tanya for approval.

  'Okay.' Tanya pretended to be looking at something that one of the women wanted to show her.

  'Just wondered if you had seen this man?' asked Mark.

  Tanya noticed a brief flash of recognition on Bill's face. He pretended to take a close look. 'Nope, we get very few people round here, I would recognise any visitors.'

  Bill tried to change the subject, but Mark said, 'This man is very bad news—murder, drug running, money laundering, you name it. He now works for ASIO.'

  Bill shrugged as if it was of no interest, but he unwittingly gave the impression that he knew a lot more than he was letting on.

  Tanya walked off with one of the women towards the school room and Mark engaged Bill in a subject with which he was entirely comfortable—cattle breeding.

  Tanya saw a house in the process of construction. 'New settler?' she asked, making conversation.

  'Yes, someone called Smith, and his wife and two children arriving within a couple of months. We've not had any new people in here for more than a year. He's been around for a couple of years, helping us with some of the financial issues I think, but is now going to settle here.'

  Tanya proceeded calmly, but her pulse quickened. The plot thickens, she thought.

  The group had naturally scattered around the property and most of the visitors had learned something which they thought would be helpful when they returned home.

  'We don't have anywhere to put you up,' said Bill, 'but if you would be happy to camp out, you are welcome to stay.'

  They had a very jolly evening using some of the provisions they had brought with them, but, noticeably, there was no alcohol. They were all in their sleeping quarters before ten in the evening.

  Tanya woke at three. She had heard a familiar activity in one of the sleeping bags at the far end of The Bandstand. Earlier, Tanya had noticed the youngest member of the party from The Settlement, James, barely eighteen, making eyes at one of The Bandstand girls. She waited until the activity had stopped and then crept over to the sleeping bag. She tapped them on their shoulders and they both looked up like frightened rabbits.

  'Shh, maybe you should go now,' she said to the girl. Looking around the sleeping forms, she said, 'I'll take you back to your house.'

  The girl looked up gratefully. 'It's okay. The house is just over there.'

  Tanya waited until the near naked form disappeared through a window into the nearby house.

  'Did you use a condom?' she asked James. He shook his head. 'Well there is nothing we can do about that now. I will not say anything, but t
here may be consequences. I hope you understand that.' The boy just looked terrified.

  The group woke before six. Their new friends were busy herding cattle in for milking. They had a hasty breakfast and disappeared into the bright fresh day, heading back to The Settlement.

  As they made their way carefully down the steep slopes from the eastern gate they were able to admire the picturesque cluster of houses nestled close to each other, with the stream just beyond. Further away to the west, cattle grazed comfortably in a large paddock of planted pasture with an extensive horticultural area nearby. Tanya took in the scene with a fierce pride.

  After seeing to the horses and their own ablutions, Tanya held a meeting for all the settlers. 'We will see what happens, but we can use their stock breeding skills and help them with their school, solar power, and a few other things.'

  Privately, Tanya and Mark told David that Demetriou would almost certainly be settling next door. 'Bill McLoughlin didn't want to admit it, for some reason. But one of the women confirmed it and I saw the house they are building him. One other thing, I found young James in the sack with one of their girls. He did not use a condom so we may have an unexpected event in nine months or so.'

  'How did you know he didn't use a condom,' asked Mark.

  'I asked him,' she said rolling her eyes in amusement. 'By the way nobody else knows.'

  Chapter Twelve

  Sabotage?

  2017

  Tanya never found the final missing explosive charges. In the end she decided that Demetriou still had them with him. Under David's supervision, sufficient rock had been blasted and three tanks had been delivered; one large enough for helicopter fuel and two smaller ones for regular petrol and diesel.

  Tanya watched progress and concluded if Demetriou was going to act it would have to be soon. There had been two visits from selected Bandstand people and useful information had been exchanged, but Tanya was still suspicious of Bill McLoughlin's motivation. She knew Demetriou had established himself at The Bandstand but he hadn't appeared in any of the visits and when Settlement people visited, there was no sign of Demetriou or his family.