by Mark Mann
“We’re ... I know it sounds mad, but we’re telling the truth Blaster. Honestly,” I stammer. “And we’ll do anything you say to get the necklace back.”
Blaster stares at us. I look down to avoid eye contact. Blaster’s sudden changes of mood are unnerving. Plus he’s just battered a man to death.
Finally Blaster breaks the silence.
“You’ll do anything I say, will you?” he says slowly. “That’s what I like to hear. We’ll see if you mean it.” He moves up close to us. “If you won’t tell me how you do your invisible thing, that’s fine. For now. You’ll tell me eventually, of course. Everyone does. But I like your guts. You kids might have a future in my organisation. Just like Noah and Sara.”
Blaster’s voice softens. “I know the score. Sentimental value, ain’t it. Belonged to your mum, now deceased, or whatever.” He pauses, like he’s thinking about something private. “We’ve all lost people,” he says. Then the moment passes and he’s back to his normal self.
“Maybe I’ll give your precious crystal back,” he says, “if you do a little job for me. Call it a sign of good faith. How does that sound?”
“Yes, yes, that’s fine,” Jack blurts out. Well, we’ve got no choice. Without the crystal we’re dead.
Blaster smiles like we’re all best buddies. “Good boy. That’s what I like to hear,” he says. He puts a giant tattooed arm around Jack’s shoulders. “Right, then. There’s a gang down in South Bay. Call themselves the Spiders. Stupid name, eh? They all got spiders webs tattooed on their ‘eads, ain’t they. Just a bunch of kids, really. But kids grow up, think they can play with the big boys. Been givin’ some of my clients a hard time.”
Blaster frowns. “Now a little birdie tells me they’re havin’ a party. But I ain’t been invited. That hurts my feelings. I like to be invited to parties, see. Makes me feel popular. They’ve got some interesting guests, too. The D-Daze Crew. More kids. But my little birdie tells me they’re talkin’ about joining forces. Against me.”
Blaster spits out this last word, and suddenly smashes his fist hard against the palm of his other hand. He stops to let his words sink in. No one else dares make a sound. Eventually Blaster continues.
“Anyway, I’d like to give ‘em a little present. To welcome them to the big league. But seeing as I’m not invited, I need someone to deliver it for me. The thing is, it’s a surprise present. Needs to be dropped off without them knowing. And seeing as Jack here is the Invisible Man, I reckon he could be just the man to do it. They got security, see, but if you don’t show up on their cameras you could walk straight in the back gate. Because, as it happens, we got the keys to that gate.”
“What if they catch me?” Jack asks.
“You just get in, drop off the parcel and run back out the gate. They’ll be too busy enjoying my little present to worry about you. And if anyone does come running after you, Noah will be waiting just outside the gate with another little ... gift.”
“When is this party?” Noah asks Blaster.
“Saturday. The night of the full moon.” He snorts. “Full-moon parties ... like bloody hippies, ain’t they.”
My heart thumps. The full moon. “But ... but we need the necklace in time for the full moon, to go through the portal,” I stammer.
Blaster stares at me like he’s just noticed me for the first time.
“You’re a bit demanding aren’t you, young lady? When your brother’s done my little delivery, come back here and I’ll give you the necklace. Now get out. All of you.”
***
We’re in shock all the way home.
“That didn’t go too well, did it?” Noah says.
“It’s a bomb, isn’t it?” Jack asks. Or says, really, because we’ve all figured that one out. Noah nods anyway. We walk in silence for a while.
“How many people will be at this party, or meeting, or whatever it is?” Jack says eventually.
Noah shrugs. “Twenty. Maybe thirty.”
“I can’t do it,” Jack says.
“But we’ve got no choice,” I point out. “We’ve got to get the crystal back—and in time for the full moon too. I might not last another month. If you’re scared, I’ll do it.”
“Of course I’m scared. But that’s not what I mean. The thing is, it’s a bomb. It will kill people. Thirty people. That’s murder. I can’t do that, even if it is the only way to save ourselves. They’re still real people, even if they do live in a different reality.”
“If it helps, they’re pretty nasty people,” Noah says. “You’ve already met a few of them, remember. And they didn’t seem too worried about you, did they?”
My heart sinks. Why did Jack have to complicate things? Because immediately he says it, I know he’s right. We can’t do it. I mean sure, we can do what Blaster wants then disappear through the portal and never hear about it again. We’ll never open the newspaper or turn on the television and see dead bodies being carried out or victims with horrific injuries. Back in our world, nobody will even know what we’ve done.
Except us. We’ll know.
“You’re right. Of course you’re right. But where does that leave us?”
“We’ll just have to ask Blaster again. Appeal to his better nature,” Jack says.
Noah snorts. “Blaster hasn’t got a better nature.”
“I’ll ask him,” Sara says. She doesn’t sound too hopeful.
***
Sara comes home and shakes her head. “Blaster’s not interested,” she says. She’s been at Blaster’s since the morning.
“I’m sorry,” Sara says. “I tried. But Blaster runs Baytown because he’s a hard, ruthless bastard. You saw what he did to Frankie. He says if you want the crystal you’ll have to do what he wants. But he’s obsessed with how you don’t show up on cameras. He can’t stop talking about it. He reckons you’ve stolen some secret new military technology, like an invisibility cloak. He wants it for himself.”
“I guess he doesn’t believe our story then,” Jack says.
“It was a mistake to let him see how much you want the crystal,” Sara continues. “Maybe if we’d been all casual about it he might have just given it back. Now he can use it as a bargaining chip. To make you tell him how your invisibility thing works.”
“Although,” Noah says, “if you don’t tell him he’ll probably just beat it out of you anyway.”
I feel like crying. I curse myself for not leaving the necklace at Noah and Sara’s house.
“There is one other way,” Sara says. She hesitates. “But it’s dangerous.”
“What choice do we have? Without the crystal we’ll die anyway,” I say.
“Okay, then. We can steal the necklace. Noah and I discussed it last night. We think it’s possible. But your portal better exist. Because when Blaster finds the necklace is gone and you haven’t set off his bomb, he’ll be furious. He’ll be coming after you.”
Sara outlines the plan. Noah will collect the bomb from Blaster. He and Jack will detonate it somewhere safe. Meanwhile Sara and I will go to Blaster’s. I won’t show up on the security camera so I can simply walk in the front door beside her. I’ll hide downstairs. Sara says there’s never anyone downstairs. It’s just used to store stuff. Sara will go upstairs and distract Blaster and the security guard while I sneak upstairs into the back office, steal the necklace, go back downstairs and wait for Sara. Then I simply walk out the front door with her. Then we run for the portal.
Walk in, pick up the necklace, walk out. Yeah, right, like that’ll work. If you ignore the fact that Blaster’s a bear-sized armed-and-dangerous psycho murderer who will most likely bash us to death if he catches me. Which he probably will.
On the other hand, I haven’t got a better plan.
Sara turns to me. “Once we’re in I’ll show you where to hide. I’ll keep Blaster busy. When you hear me sing, that’s your signal.”
I’m puzzled. “But how will you keep Blaster busy? By singing?”
Sara looks at m
e like I’m a simpleton. “Let’s just say I’m a bit more than Blaster’s cleaner.”
“You’re his girlfriend?” Jack says. Of course. That explains why Sara always seems to know what Blaster is doing. Why she spends so much time at his place.
“Girlfriend? I wouldn’t say that, exactly. But ... well, you don’t say no to Blaster.” Sara’s tone is neither warm nor angry. It gives nothing away.
“Anyway, the necklace is in the safe in the back office. I’ve got the combination. I’ll be in the bedroom with Blaster. When you hear me sing, you slip past to the office. But keep your ears open. I’m not going to be singing an entire opera. Just a random line of some pop song, like I’m just in a good mood.”
She leans forward. “And you’ll need to be quiet. The office is only one room from both Blaster’s room and the security guard in the control room.”
“What about the rest of Blaster’s men?”
“At night he just keeps one security guard on the premises. I’ll make sure the guard’s door is shut before you come upstairs.”
“Blaster knows no one would dare attack him,” Noah explains. “Besides, the place is attack-proof—high walls, electric fence, cameras, only one way in and out.”
“At night the rest of Blaster’s men are out and about, collecting payments, doing deliveries, protecting clients’ properties,” Sara adds. “Most of Blaster’s business takes place at night, you see.”
Noah hesitates, then leans forward. “If we do this,” he says, “you’ve got to help us. Blaster is no fool. He’ll know we helped you take the necklace. That means we need to get out of Baytown too. You don’t cross Blaster and live to tell the tale.”
“Even though you’re his ... girlfriend?”
Sara shakes her head. “That won’t help me. You’ve seen Blaster’s temper. He hates being scammed.”
“Anyway,” Noah says, “this isn’t only about you. It’s also a test for us. For me. In fact, I’ve been waiting for something like this. You see, everyone who works for Blaster has to carry out a hit—has to kill someone—before they work for him. Until now I’ve just been a smart kid running errands. I guess now he thinks I’m ready to take the next step. He wants to know if I’ll kill when I’m ordered. If not, I’m no use to him.”
Noah pauses.
“And I won’t do it. I won’t become a cold-blooded killer like Blaster.”
“Why don’t you just tell him you can’t do it?” I ask.
“Because that’s not an option. We know too much about Blaster’s business for him to let us walk away. If we try to get out now he’ll have us killed for sure.”
Noah adds another log to the fire and watches it catch and crackle.
“So we’re going to run for it. Try to find Sanctuary. But Sanctuary is Inland, so if we’re going to look for Sanctuary we need to get through the checkpoints. And to do that we need Inland Permits. And to get those we need to break into the Security Department office in the Plaza. And to do that we need you, because ...”
“... because we don’t show up on security cameras, right?” Jack says.
“Right.”
***
Noah tells us about Sanctuary. It’s a place deep in the Wollemi Wilderness. Not even a place, really, he says. More like a tribe. People living off the land, hunting kangaroos and possums and wild pigs. Coasties escaping the Coast. Some Inlanders too. They move camp all the time and the country up there is dense forest, vast and wild and remote and full of deep gorges, with no towns or roads, so the government leaves them alone. Noah says the Wollemi is one of the few wild places left.
“It’ll be tough to survive there,” Noah says. “We’ll have to live off the land. They say the heat is almost unbearable in summer. Bushfires are a big danger too. It won’t be easy, but you’re free and it’s off the Coast.”
“How do you even know this Sanctuary exists?” I ask.
“It doesn’t,” Noah admits. “Not officially. They never mention it on the news. But you hear rumours. And there’s one guy in Baytown who’s been there. He told us about it.”
“You mean, he came back again?”
“Yeah. It was too tough for him. He walked out of the Wollemi then got picked up Inland and sent back here. He didn’t have the skills to survive. You’ve got to be able to hunt, find bushtucker.”
That gives me an idea. “Hey, maybe we can help you. We learnt some of those things with the Dunjini. You know, which plants you can eat, healing plants. How to make rope and fire. We can teach you.”
“You can?” Noah sounds excited.
“I mean, obviously we’re not experts. We were only with the Dunjini for three weeks. But they showed us a few things.”
“I can teach you how to make a spear,” Jack says. “Pullawarra showed me.”
“But we’ll need to get up to the High Plateau,” I point out. “To find the right plants and stuff.”
Noah nods eagerly. “We can do that,” he says.
***
It’s already hot when we wake up. It’s going to be another baking day. Noah says he wants to get the Inland Permits as soon as possible so Leo has time to fix them up with their photographs. We’ll have to break in to the Plaza at night when everything is closed, but first Noah wants us to go and look around, so we’re familiar with the layout. We can’t afford to waste time finding our way around when we break in for real.
We walk down to the Plaza. It’s familiar, because it’s the same shopping centre as in our Baytown, a big windowless concrete slab surrounded by parking lots. But of course it’s different too. The car parks are almost empty, except for one fenced-off section at the end, which Noah says is reserved for people from the Fortress. Weeds grow through the cracks.
As we get close, Noah points to a metal ladder fixed to the concrete wall of the shopping centre. “That’s the maintenance ladder. Gives you access to the roof. There’s an air-conditioning shaft that goes from the roof into the building. Big enough to climb through. That’s your way in. And out.”
Two armed guards stand at the doors. They fix us with cold stares as we enter.
Inside, it’s refreshingly cool. A few dozen customers wander around a supermarket with half-empty shelves, and a handful of tatty smaller stores. Other shops are boarded up. A woman in a fairy costume is painting children’s faces at a table.
Sara buys a bag of flour in the supermarket and a loaf of reduced-price stale bread in the bakery.
As we walk, Noah points things out. Like, the far end of the mall is cordoned off. There’s a checkpoint and guards. Noah says the Security Department office is down there, past the checkpoint.
“The government moved the Security Department in here a few years ago,” Sara says. “It makes sense. The Plaza still has electricity, and it’s secure. Concrete walls, no windows, only one entrance.”
Noah turns into a side corridor, which leads to the toilets. As we pass, he points to what looks like a large grill or air vent in the wall.
“That’s where the air-conditioning shaft from the roof comes out,” he says. He stops walking. “Shit,” he mutters. He glances around to check no one is watching. “The screws.”
Noah sees our blank looks. “Don’t you see? The screws are on this side of the grill. When you climb down the shaft, you’ll be on the other side. You won’t be able to undo them.”
It’s obvious, really. The screws are on this side because maintenance workers would come from this side, from inside the Plaza, whereas we’ll be coming from the other direction, from the roof. But if we can’t get the grill off then Noah’s plan collapses. There’s no other way in except the front entrance, which is guarded.
“What if we unscrew it now?” I say. “Then replace the screws loosely without tightening them. It should hold in place but we’ll still be able to push the grill out tonight.”
Noah considers my suggestion. He examines the grill.
“Yeah, it might work, as long as no one bangs into it. Anyway, I can’t think o
f a better plan. So ... first we need a screwdriver.”
Noah buys one in the two-dollar store and puts it into Sara’s shopping bag and we stroll back to the toilet corridor, trying to look casual. Noah nods at the ceiling.
“Security camera,” he says. “Keep walking. One of you two will have to come back and unscrew it.”
“I’ll do it,” I say. “Jack, you be lookout.”
Noah hands me the screwdriver. We’ve tested this in the mirror at home. If Jack or I are touching something it becomes invisible like us. There’s a weird moment where things seem to disappear into thin air as we pick them up.
The corridor is empty so I drop to my knees and set to work. The first screw loosens easily. And the second.
Jack hisses to me. Someone is coming. I jump up and slip the screwdriver into my pocket. A fat bald man walks past us and goes into the men’s toilets at the end of the corridor. He nods as he passes. I smile back.
Once he’s gone I drop down to work on the next screw. Now the door of the women’s toilet opens. Jack hisses again. I spring to my feet and pocket the screwdriver.
“Oh, hello Kaya.” I start at the sound of my name. It’s Mrs Peterson, walking towards us.
I glance down. Behind me, the grill of the air vent is hanging away from the wall, half-open.
“Hello Kaya. Fancy bumping into you,” Mrs Peterson says. She looks at Jack. “And you must be Kaya’s brother.”
Jack confirms he is. “Are you following the news?” Mrs Peterson asks. “India and Pakistan are on the verge of war. Pakistan has bombed the Indus River dam. Worrying, isn’t it?” I nod and mumble something about how terrible it is. Jack has noticed the grill too. He edges in front of it so Mrs Peterson can’t see it.
“Well, I’d better be getting on,” Mrs Peterson says. “I’ve got a Residents Association meeting. We’re demanding the government finish building the sea wall.” She starts to walk away. Then she stops. She’s spotted the half-open air vent. She tuts. “That cover is coming undone. The maintenance in this place is going downhill. I’ll report it to the desk on the way out.”
“No, don’t ...” Jack blurts out.
Mrs Peterson looks at him curiously.
“No need, Mrs Peterson,” I say quickly. “What Jack means is, we told them already. Someone’s coming to fix it. That’s why we’re waiting here, to show them which one it is.”
