Claws of the Crocodile

by Bear Grylls

  And yes . . . maybe Beck did remember an Aboriginal man being around too. He remembered because he had been young enough to feel jealous of anyone else who heard these stories, which were special to him and his dad alone.

  ‘Yeah, I think I remember.’ He looked at the other guy. ‘And what about you?’ He felt he was owed an explanation.

  ‘I’m Ganan,’ the other man said, ‘and my father is the chief of the Jungun. Barega, tell him what this is all about.’

  Chapter 6

  Barega held out his iPad so that Beck could see the picture on the screen. It was a stretch of river valley. Beck recognized the red sandstone walls of the Australian Outback, but the water was a strange yellow colour and the bushes along the banks were black and withered.

  ‘Believe it or not, this is the Kimberley. This river is so polluted, nothing can live here.’

  Barega touched the screen to zoom in on a cluster of dead fish that floated belly-up on the surface. ‘Plant and animal life were wiped out for miles. The local Aboriginal people, the Yawuru, were forced to abandon these lands. Their livelihoods had disappeared. They tried to get compensation, but the company blamed it on an act of God: What could they do? they asked. It wasn’t their fault there was an earthquake. Wasn’t their fault the Yawuru had decided to live there.’

  ‘What company?’ Beck asked.

  ‘An outfit called Lumos,’ Ganan told him.

  ‘Lumos . . .’ said Beck as the memories came flooding back. ‘I’ve come across them before. They tried to destroy my friend Tikaani’s village in Alaska so they could build an oil refinery. I didn’t expect to run into them on the other side of the world.’

  Ganan nodded gravely. ‘Big, big corporation – got a finger in every pie. This was the spill-off from a uranium mine in the Kimberley. There was an earthquake and it wrecked the water-containment pools. Thousands of gallons of chemically poisoned water leaked out.’

  ‘But . . .’ said Barega. He swiped the screen again, and Beck gasped.

  He saw a white man he didn’t recognize, but more importantly, the man was standing next to Beck’s parents. There they were, smiling at the camera, like they were in the same room, so close he could have touched them. But Barega zoomed in on the stranger before Beck could study the photo properly.

  ‘This guy worked for Lumos and he blew the whistle. He contacted Green Force and said he had evidence that the pools were badly constructed. If the builders had followed the proper design, they would have been earthquake-proof. This man had the paper trail that proved Lumos had used cheap, unqualified builders who didn’t know what they were doing. The pools would have been inspected to check that they were up to the right standard, but he also had proof that Lumos had faked the positive reports. So our man handed the evidence over to your dad. Next day, he turned up dead.’

  The picture changed for the last time. A burned-out Jeep lay upside down at the bottom of a dry river gorge. Above it was a bridge, the rails shattered where the Jeep had burst through.

  ‘It could have been an accident, but your mum and dad weren’t taking any chances. They copied the evidence onto a USB stick and gave it to your old friend Pindari for safe-keeping. Then they took the original to show to the media in Sydney. And you know what happened next.’

  ‘The plane crashed,’ Beck whispered. Tears pricked behind his eyes. This was all new to him; it was re-opening wounds he thought had healed.

  ‘The plane crashed,’ Ganan agreed, ‘and Pindari disappeared with the stick into the Outback. End of story.’

  Beck stared at him. ‘And it just ended there? You couldn’t do anything more? You couldn’t tell the media, you couldn’t tell the police, you couldn’t—’

  Ganan shrugged. ‘Sorry, mate. We needed evidence. We didn’t have it. Even if we had the evidence on Lumos’s water pools, there was nothing to tie it in to your parents’ death.’

  ‘But you think Lumos caused the crash,’ Beck whispered. It was one thing to suspect it hadn’t been an accident. It had crossed his mind many times. But now, to have someone as good as tell him . . .

  ‘There’s no doubt at all,’ Barega confirmed. ‘Lumos murdered your parents. I’m sorry, Beck. There’s no other way to say it. They are dangerous, dangerous people.’

  Ganan continued while Beck took this in.

  ‘Meanwhile Lumos launched a massive PR campaign to paint themselves whiter than white. Green Force could have fought back, but they were in a state of shock following the death of your parents. They decided—’

  ‘Reluctantly,’ Barega butted in.

  ‘They decided, reluctantly, that they weren’t going to win this one. It’s one of the few cases Green Force have lost, and they’re not proud of it.’

  Barega switched off the iPad and put it in his pack.

  Beck looked from one man to the other. ‘So what’s changed? Why are you telling me this now?’

  ‘Lumos are back in the game,’ Barega told him. ‘They want to build another uranium mine.’

  ‘On our land,’ added Ganan. ‘On Jungun land. My father, the chief, gets to decide whether to allow it, and he doesn’t know what I’ve just told you.’

  ‘So tell him,’ Beck said with a shrug.

  Ganan pulled a face as if there was a bitter taste in his mouth. ‘He wouldn’t believe me. If this goes ahead, then it will make him fantastically rich. And that’s all he cares about.’

  ‘We don’t want to be fantastically rich,’ said Barega. ‘This is more important than dollars. We want him to keep the lands for our people. It’s our heritage. We’ve been there for thousands of years, and money in the bank won’t bring that back.’

  ‘Basically,’ said Ganan, ‘we need that evidence. We need that USB stick. To convince the old man and to sway public opinion.’

  Beck’s head hurt. There was so much to take in. He just wanted to find a corner to curl up in and think for about a million years. He didn’t want to pick holes in the men’s story – but there were things that still didn’t quite add up.

  ‘So . . .’ he said slowly, trying to work out what the problem was. ‘Find Pindari. Ask him for the stick back.’

  The men exchanged exasperated glances.

  ‘Pindari doesn’t make appointments,’ Ganan said. ‘He doesn’t have a phone. He doesn’t do email. He’s barely been seen for years. If he wants to be found, he’ll be found.’

  ‘And it’s the finding that’s the problem.’ Barega looked embarrassed. ‘Look, Ganan and I, we both made our choices when we were young. We decided we were going to learn the whitefella’s ways, not our own. I went into law. He’s an engineer. We went to university and we forgot whatever we knew about our own traditions.’

  ‘He means,’ Ganan said bluntly, ‘we don’t know the old bushcraft ways. We wouldn’t know where to begin looking for Pindari. You would.’

  ‘Me?’ Beck said in surprise.

  ‘Pindari said you were the best pupil he ever had. He said you had the Dreaming in you. There’s no higher compliment he could have paid.’

  Beck felt faintly embarrassed by the praise, though he couldn’t deny it felt good. But he was still confused.

  ‘But me? There must still be some Jungun who know how—’

  ‘We don’t want to use anyone from our tribe,’ Ganan said abruptly. ‘Lumos’s money is too tempting. We don’t know that one of our people wouldn’t track down Pindari, find the USB and just hand it over to the corporation.’

  ‘And there’s no guarantee Pindari would let them have it anyway,’ said Barega. ‘It takes a lot to earn his trust, but you . . .’

  And just as he said ‘you’, there was a noise at the door. Beck’s senses and emotions were already tuned to max and it was like a rifle shot echoing inside the warehouse.

  Chapter 7

  He whirled round to face the door. Both men moved more quickly than Beck would have thought possible. Ganan darted off into the gloom at the edges of the warehouse; Barega leaped over to the wall and swiped a
t a light switch. The warehouse was plunged into darkness. While Beck was still rooted to the spot in confusion, a rectangle of light appeared as someone pulled the door open. Two silhouettes struggled together, and angry shouts echoed around the walls.

  ‘Let me go! Let me . . .’

  Beck recognized the voice. ‘Hey, that’s Brihony! It’s all right!’

  The figures stopped struggling. There was a click, and the lights came on again. Barega kept his hand on the switch. Over by the door, Ganan and Brihony were still locked in each other’s arms. They stared suspiciously at each other, then slowly backed apart.

  ‘Miss Stewart,’ Barega called. ‘Come on in.’

  ‘How much did you hear?’ Ganan asked brusquely.

  She turned to face him, hands on hips. ‘Lumos, parents murdered, USB stick, Beck the best tracker you’ve got . . . Did I miss anything?’

  ‘No.’ Barega’s friendly grin was a sharp contrast to Ganan’s scowl. ‘I think you got it all.’

  ‘And is Lumos really that dangerous?’ The question was aimed at the two men, but she glared at Beck as she said it.

  His mind was still dazed with everything he had learned and he couldn’t meet her eye. He just looked at the floor while the others talked around him.

  ‘It really is,’ Barega assured her.

  ‘We have contacts inside the corporation,’ said Ganan, after a pause. He was evidently struggling with how much to tell her. ‘Lumos have been keeping tabs on Beck ever since his parents died. Now that he’s in Broome, they’ll think he’s come in search of the hidden evidence. They’ll never allow that – and remember, they’ve already killed at least once.’

  Beck opened his mouth to speak; Brihony interrupted him.

  ‘If Beck’s in danger in Broome, it’s only because you guys brought him here.’

  ‘Um . . .’ Beck began, and she turned on him.

  ‘Oh, please, don’t say you came here to see me!’ Back to the men: ‘If you really cared, you’d have left him alone and found someone else to do your tracking.’

  Beck was growing tired of being talked about as if he wasn’t there. ‘Brihony, thanks,’ he said, ‘but this really isn’t your problem. I’m in it because of my parents. But you . . . No, you’re not involved, and I’m sorry I got you into it this far. The best you can do is—’

  ‘The best I can do, Beck Granger, is stand by my friend – if you’re going along with this. Are you?’

  Three pairs of eyes settled on Beck and he felt his face burn. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to rush out into the Outback and bring his parents’ killers to justice. On the other hand . . .

  ‘It’s kind of a lot to take in. And I promised my uncle I wouldn’t get caught up in any more adventures.’

  Ganan looked as if he was about to remonstrate, but Barega just patted him on the shoulder.

  ‘It is a lot to take in. You two, get yourselves back home. Beck, think about it. Jim Rockslide will get in touch to ask what you decide.’

  ‘But,’ Ganan added harshly, ‘you cannot tell anyone about this. Got that? Anyone. Lumos have stooges in the police, in the government . . . they are everywhere.’

  It was quite dark when they left the warehouse and walked back towards the town.

  ‘Well, I got you that hotdog,’ Brihony said tightly.

  Beck felt his face begin to burn with guilt again. He knew he had treated her badly. He hadn’t told her the truth about why he had come to Broome, and then he had deserted her. But he knew that even though she was hurt, she had heard enough to understand that he had been presented with some hard choices.

  Beck had almost forgotten there was a festival going on. The parade was over now, and the crowd was dispersing. No one paid any attention to the teenage boy and girl walking along in silence.

  ‘There you are!’ Mia was pushing her way towards them through the crowd. She didn’t seem to notice their silence. ‘Come on, or we’ll miss it.’

  ‘Miss what?’ Brihony asked.

  Mia gave her a look of fond exasperation. ‘The staircase to the moon! Come on!’

  Beck followed along behind. Staircase to the moon? What was that about? Brihony had said something about it earlier, but right now he really didn’t care. He had so many more important things to think about.

  Mia drove them to Town Beach. This was on the southern, Roebuck Bay side of town, and they weren’t alone. It wasn’t as crowded as the festival, but there were still plenty of people about. The delicious smells from the food stalls reminded Beck that he hadn’t had a proper meal yet. The tide was out, revealing a series of mudflats that sloped down to the water. The moon was low on the horizon to the east, but it was hidden by clouds so all that could be seen was a glow.

  ‘I hope it comes out,’ Mia worried. ‘It would be a shame to miss it . . .’ Then she spotted a friend, and hurried over to have a chat.

  For a moment Beck and Brihony were alone together. Beck knew it might be his only chance to say what he had to say. He looked Brihony in the eye. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t straight with you.’

  She just stared back and let him talk.

  ‘Look, I’ve decided. I’m going to tell Al about all this, and he can talk to the guys. He’s involved too – I mean, my dad was his brother. And he knows people. He could get a proper professional tracker in to find Pindari – and then, if they still need me to ask him to hand the stick over, they can come and get me. I made Al a promise and I’m going to keep it.’

  Slowly, Brihony smiled, and Beck knew he was forgiven. He also felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He couldn’t be expected to solve all the world’s problems.

  She turned towards the silver glow in the sky. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘It’s coming out.’

  The clouds had drifted away and a full moon shone down on Broome. The crowd gasped and cheered, and then Beck saw it.

  The mudflats weren’t completely smooth. They ran in ripples, parallel to the shore. They were wet, and the moon picked out a golden path across them towards the onlookers. But only the tips of each ripple caught the light; the dips were in shadow. And so a series of golden stripes ran out from the shore towards the moon across the bay. It really did look like a staircase.

  ‘Wow,’ Brihony breathed. ‘Isn’t that amazing?’

  Despite everything whirling around in his head, Beck felt a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. ‘Yes, it is.’

  It was spectacular. It was one more example of the amazing things that the Earth could do. There were still evil men out there, and his parents had still been murdered, but right then he was just glad to be alive and well on this amazing planet, in the company of a good friend.

  Mia was standing behind them now. ‘I’m so glad you got to see that, Beck! Come on, let’s get something to eat . . .’

  They bought some boxes of freshly cooked, spicy noodles and carried them away to a quiet spot in the dunes: a hollow surrounded by scrub grass, cut off from all the sights and sounds of Broome.

  ‘OK,’ said Mia, ‘sit down, make yourselves comfortable . . . Oh, hello.’

  Two men were coming down the other side of the hollow. They were just dark silhouettes against the light sand – Beck couldn’t make out their features.

  Then one of the men flashed a torch straight into Mia’s face and spoke in a harsh voice: ‘One chance, lady. Where’s the USB stick?’

  Mia blinked angrily against the light. ‘Do you mind . . .? What are you talking about—?’

  Something whistled through the air. There was a dull thud, like the sound of someone kicking a block of wood. Mia cried out and dropped to the ground. In the torchlight, Beck saw red blood streaming down the side of her head.

  The man stood over Mia. He was powerfully built, with wide shoulders and muscles that strained against his clothing. He and his colleague both wore balaclavas and twirled baseball bats.

  Beck was dazzled as the torch was turned on him and Brihony. They clung together as the two men m
oved closer.

  ‘Same question,’ the first man said. ‘Where’s the USB stick?’

  Chapter 8

  The men advanced. Beck and Brihony, hearts pounding, slowly retreated. Mia lay on the sand, unmoving. Beck strained to see through the darkness. Did her head just twitch? He wasn’t sure. She was probably only unconscious, not dead, but he knew something about blows to the head. It wasn’t like on TV, where you woke up after a few minutes and felt as right as rain. Anything with the power to knock you out was serious, and if she had been hit with a baseball bat, then she could have a fractured skull, internal bleeding . . .

  The man slapped his bat into a gloved hand with a slow, menacing beat. ‘Right, kids – we can do this my way or we can do it the hard way. Just give us the USB stick and we’ll be gone.’

  Beck swallowed to clear his dry throat. There was no doubt who these men worked for, but they had got their facts wrong. Pindari had the USB stick; he didn’t. But if he told them that, the men would just think he was trying to bluff again.

  ‘Look,’ he started to say, ‘we don’t—’

  ‘OK.’ The man sounded resigned. ‘Hard way it is. My friend here will start at Dr Stewart’s feet and work his way up until you tell us something interesting.’

  The second man strolled over to where Mia lay, raised his bat over her feet and started to bring it down.

  ‘OK!’ Brihony screamed. The bat stopped a centimetre from Mia’s ankles. ‘OK. OK.’ She bravely took a couple of deep breaths. Her voice trembled, but she made a good effort to control it. ‘It’s in my mum’s handbag.’ She pointed. ‘Over there.’