Heart's Passage

by Cate Swannell

  "Because he asked for me. If anyone else shows up, he'll kill Josh."

  Cadie looked skeptical.

  "Cadie," Jo stepped forward and lifted the blonde's chin with her fingers, "these guys don't fool around. They're the real deal. You're from Chicago. You should know about these things." She smiled slightly, hoping Cadie would accept the mood-lightener for what it was.

  Cadie tried to smile back, but her eyes were full of apprehension and worry. "What were you?" she whispered.

  "Trouble," Jo replied softly. "And now I have to be trouble again. I can't think of anything else other than stopping Marco and getting Josh, and hopefully myself, out of there in one piece. I can't be worrying about anything else, Cadie." She looked deep into the blonde's anxious green eyes, hoping she could convey what she was feeling with just a look. "Do you understand?"

  Cadie nodded silently. She's asking me not to give her cause to be distracted, thought Cadie. Okay. I can do that. "Is there anything I can do to help, Jo?" she asked quietly.

  "Yep. Get me down on the ground and then let Bill get you somewhere safe and dry for the duration of the storm. Give me a couple of hours and then call the police, okay?" She undipped her cell phone and gave it to the blonde. "In fact," she thought carefully for a moment, "remember how you accessed Jenny's number?"

  Cadie nodded.

  "Do the same thing, but look for a guy called Ken Harding. He's a cop in Sydney. He known the whole story and he'll be able to organize some back-up. Just give me time to get Josh the hell out of there first, okay?"

  Cadie took the phone and looked up at the dark-haired woman. "Okay," she said quietly.

  Bill's voice crackled in their headsets. "Coming up on your place, Jo."

  "Right. Bill, circle round and approach from behind the hill. With luck they will hear the chopper but won't be able to see where you're hovering."

  "Roger," he replied, swinging the helicopter around and away from the front of Jo's house.

  Jo moved to the door of the passenger compartment and looked back over her shoulder at Cadie. "Brace yourself. It's going to get a bit windy."

  Cadie knelt behind the winch and held on to its bulk. Jo cracked the door and pulled it aside, air rushing in as the chopper leaned into its turn around the hill. She slid down till she was sitting on the floor, her legs hanging out of the compartment. She looked down and double-checked the harness one more time.

  Jo found her mind drifting for a few seconds. I can't believe this, she pondered glumly. I thought I was done with this shit. It took me so long to put that life behind me. And now, in the space of an hour, it's all come back. I haven't changed at all. I'm still that animal. A sudden aching tug in her throat threatened her composure, and the animal inside shook itself fully awake. Get over yourself, Madison. Get in, get Josh, and get out. Save the sentiment for later.

  Cadie had been still, watching Jo quietly as Bill maneuvered the helicopter into place above the dirt track leading up to the skipper's home. She watched as a world of emotions swept back and forth across Jo's face.

  She looks so lost. Cadie felt her heart breaking for the tall woman who seemed to be fighting for control of her emotions. And there's nothing I can do but follow her instructions and pray. This is so unreal.

  Just then Jo turned her head towards the American. A cold, ice-blue stare sliced through her and Cadie felt herself flinch away from the intensity of the gaze.

  Whooooaaaa. I almost feel sorry for the asshole she's going after, Cadie thought as she took one more look at the winch control panel.

  "We're there, Jo," came Bill's voice. "We're at 65 feet. That's as low as I can go in these winds." He grunted as a strong gust buffeted the chopper. "Get down as quick us you can, will ya?"

  "Okay, Bill. Hold her steady." Jo looked up at Cadie. "Put the brakes on at 60 feet. I can jump the rest." She slid down until she was standing on the helicopter's landing strut, the downdraft whipping around her. She lifted off the headset, throwing it back inside the cabin, and turned towards Cadie.

  She raised a thumb and Cadie nodded, flicking the winch switch forwards. The thick steel cable began playing out and Jo allowed herself to go with it, trusting her full weight to the harness wrapped around her. Stepping off the strut was an exercise in faith, but she gritted her teeth and let go. Soon she was swinging under the chopper, the harness pulling under her arms painfully.

  Another wind gust pushed the chopper sideways and Jo was jerked around even as she continued to drop. She went into a spin, the ground beneath her circling wildly.

  Christ, I hope I get down before I throw up, she thought with grim humor. She felt Bill correct for the wind gust and slowly the world righted itself. Bill's doing a fine piece of flying, she thought to herself. He was managing to keep the chopper lined up with the road and she drifted down between the treetops. Please, God, just don't let me get tangled up in the trees.

  Cadie watched the gauge intently. 20... 25... 30. The chopper rocked wildly as the storm pushed the wind ahead of it. Suddenly she was slammed against the wall of the cabin as a strong gust caught the tiny craft. She grunted and pulled herself back upright, refocusing on the gauge. 35... 40... 45. She heard Bill cursing mightily in her headsets.

  "We okay, Bill?" she asked nervously.

  "If the fucking wind would just decide which direction it's coming from we would be," he replied, grunting as he strained to hold the helicopter steady. "Is she down yet?"

  50... 55... 60. Cadie flicked the switch back to the middle position, watching the cable stop unraveling from the reel.

  "She's at 60 feet now," she answered. Quickly the blonde scrambled on her stomach to the open door of the chopper, pulling herself forward till she could look down. What she saw made her heart jump into her throat. Through all the noise and buffeting from the wind and rotors she saw Jo, flailing about on the end of the cable. "Jesus, Bill, you've got to hold it steady, she's being thrown around down there."

  "Doing my best," he muttered through what she guessed were gritted teeth.

  Jo fought the spinning cable frantically, trying to give herself the best shot at landing without hurting herself. Her arms felt like they were close to being ripped from their sockets by the strain on the harness.

  She arched her back and looked up through the small gap in the canopy of trees, seeing Cadie's anxious face gazing down at her. She gave the blonde a thumbs-up signal and got one back in return.

  Well, I guess this it, she thought to herself. All I've got to do now is figure out how to get out of this fucking thing. She fumbled with the harness attachment for a minute but grabbed on hurriedly as the helicopter once again slewed sideways. Jo just had time to duck her head slightly as she was slammed into a tree-trunk with sickening force. All the air was forced out of her lungs as the left side of her back caught the full impact. She didn't have long to think about it however, as she was quickly swung back into the middle of the path as Bill corrected for the wind gust.

  Jesus Christ, she thought, trying to catch her breath. I've gotta get out of this thing. Again she reached for the metal clasp holding the harness together and fumbled with it as the world spun around her. Finally it released and the belt slipped off her, dropping her to the ground with a painful thud.

  Jo tucked and rolled as she fell, moving as quickly as she could away from the cable which was now flailing around in the swirling wind. Again she looked up and saw Cadie, their eyes locking. She waved them off and the American waved back, clearly talking into the headset's microphone. Soon the chopper climbed and banked away as the cable began to retract. Jo stood staring at the retreating craft for a few seconds, imagining that she could still see the worried look in the blonde's soft green eyes.

  The helicopter disappeared over the rise of the hill, and suddenly Jo felt very alone.

  I want to see her again, she thought to herself. Even if it is Just to hear her say she wants nothing to do with me, I still want to see her again. She fought back tears. Goddammit. Gott
a concentrate. Gotta focus on getting Josh out of there. No matter what it takes.

  "No matter what it takes," she repeated out loud, hardening her resolve. She took a deep breath and allowed the cold deep down inside her to envelop her once again. "No matter what."

  She took a moment to look around at her immediate surroundings. She was at the bottom of the hill behind Shute Harbor, on the landward side. Her house was on the ocean side, out of sight. She hoped that, and the height of the trees all around the house, had prevented the occupants from seeing where the helicopter had been hovering. She had an inkling that Marco did not know where she was coming from or how long it would take for her to arrive.

  So, she thought, at least I have some element of surprise working in my favor.

  The dirt track up to the house was too obvious a route so she took to the bush, making her way through the thick undergrowth as quickly and quietly as she could. There was at least a half hour of walking and climbing in front of her, she knew, and there was always the chance Marco had men out here looking for her.

  She glanced up at the thick, black clouds rolling in from the southeast. A slightly feral grin split her face, though her eyes remained cold and hard.

  That might just work in my favor as well, she thought. Nothing like a tropical thunderstorm to wreak a little havoc and create a little diversion.

  Even from their height Cadie could see the brilliant blue of Jo's eyes looking up at her. She waved back at the tall Australian when she saw she was all right and then keyed the microphone on the headset.

  "Jo's down okay, Bill," she said, reaching for the switch on the winch and starting to retract the steel cable.

  "Roger," he replied. "Let's go find somewhere quiet to land, so we can figure out what the hell to do next." He banked the chopper steeply away and headed in a wide arc around the hill, back towards Shute Harbor.

  Cadie wasn't arguing. Once the cable and harness were back on board she clambered into her seat and refastened her seatbelt. She reached for Jo's cell phone and switched it on. The power came on just fine, but the indicator showing the strength of connection sat stubbornly on zero.

  Goddammit. "Bill."

  "Yeah?"

  "I can't get a line on Jo's cell phone."

  "Not surprising. There's too much electronic equipment and interference in here. And the storm won't be helping. Wait till we get on the ground and I can shut this thing down."

  Double God dammit. "So where to?" she asked.

  "Shute," he answered shortly. "There's a helipad at the end of the pontoon. Keep your fingers crossed that there isn't anything else already there."

  Cadie sat back in her seat, trying to will her heartbeat to slow. She didn't mind admitting that she was scared witless. Whatever Jo was mixed up in, there was no question the tall Australian was in danger. Something inside Cadie told her Jo was more than capable of looking after herself, though.

  But still, she thought, I've never seen her eyes so hard. Like there was someone else looking back at me. I want to see my Jo back again. She laughed at herself. "My Jo?" Who am I kidding? She sobered up quickly. I want to see her face again. I don't know how it's happened but she's important to me now. Very important.

  Ken Harding was a frustrated man.

  He was standing on the pontoon outside the Cheswick Marine office at Shute Harbor, gazing through the locked glass door at the unoccupied building. He was soaking wet, thanks to the drenching tropical downpour that had hit just as his helicopter was landing. And there wasn't another human being in sight. Clearly everyone had seen the storm coming, battened down the hatches, and made for dry land.

  He wished he'd thought of that before the police chopper had dropped him off before disappearing inland for safer air.

  "Son of a bitch," he grumbled aloud. Just then a huge bolt of lightning crackled on the near horizon, grounding somewhere out to sea. "One elephant, two elephant, three..." he muttered. The resounding crack of thunder made the glass door behind him rattle and Harding found himself hunching his shoulders in a protective response. "Fucking goddamn weather."

  The rotund detective flipped up the collar of his jacket in a useless gesture against the driving rain which was coming in almost horizontally as the storm built towards its peak. As quickly as he could for a fat man in a suit and street shoes on wet wood, he hurried back along the pontoon, hoping there would be somewhere open on the main pier where he could shelter.

  And if the gods were really smiling on him, there would be someone there who knew where the hell he could find Jo Madison.

  The woman in question was almost unrecognizable. Jo was drenched, mud-covered and crawling on her belly through the undergrowth near the small clearing in which her house was nestled. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of Marco or any of his goons, but she knew if they were out here at all, they would be patrolling the edges of the clearing.

  Slowly Jo crawled forwards, ignoring the scrapes and scratches she was accumulating on her knees and elbows, until she came up against a large, half-rotten, fallen log. She knew exactly where she was. The log marked the top of the track she usually took on her morning runs and just beyond it, she knew, was the large patch of grass that served as her back lawn and beyond that again, the back entrance to her garage.

  Jo opted not to extend herself beyond the cover of the log just yet. For now she just wanted to listen. Not that the storm was making it easy. Cracks of thunder and the pelting rain rattling off the foliage all around her made hearing anything else an exercise in concentration.

  Come on, Madison, she thought. This used to be like breathing for you. Focus, damn it.

  Jo took a deep breath and closed her eyes, allowing the sounds around her to fill her senses. As she had done since she was a hungry teenager on the streets of Sydney, she pictured the noises arranged almost like an orchestra inside her head.

  Okay, she thought. Rain, and thunder, all around in the background. Crickets, tree frogs, she smiled quietly at the familiar creaking of the small, green creatures, toads. There's something alive inside this log. She registered the slow, deeper rustling under her fingertips. Let's hope it's friendly. And over to my right...

  She held her breath and tried to place the unfamiliar sound. Her eyes opened wide as she finally figured it out. Someone taking a drag on a cigarette. She listened again, and caught the slow intake of breath and the faint crackling of burning paper and tobacco.

  Carefully Jo crawled to the right-hand end of the log, moving like molasses, slow and steady. She risked a peek, staying low to the ground. In front of her was 30 feet of lawn, and there, in the shelter of the overhanging verandah, stood a man, his cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, and a sawed-off shotgun resting casually over his arm. He gazed off into the half-distance blankly, clearly unimpressed by his current assignment.

  Jo smiled the feral grin of an assassin who recognized an easy mark.

  Marco would have your balls on a plate if he knew you were more interested in staying dry than in keeping an eye out for me, arsehole.

  She withdrew back behind the cover of the log and contemplated her next move.

  Weapons, her mind answered. Cot to get some weapons.

  She backed slowly down the hill until she was once again well hidden by the trees and undergrowth. Then she turned and headed for a place she had planned on never visiting again after the last time.

  Cadie had never been happier to be on solid ground than she was the moment she stepped out of Bill's helicopter onto the pontoon at Shute Harbor. The last few minutes of their flight had been a nightmare as they'd found themselves deep in the teeth of the storm. The blonde had a bump on her eyebrow, a bruise already developing where she had had a close encounter with the chopper's internal bulwark during one particularly wild wind gust. She clambered out on shaky legs as soon as Bill gave her the all clear and waited until the pilot joined her. They ran together through the pouring rain towards the Cheswick Marine pontoon.

  "No offence, B
ill, but I'm in no hurry to get back in that thing again," she said breathlessly.

  "None taken," he replied.

  They arrived at the door of Cheswick Marine only to find the office locked and empty.

  "Well, I guess that figures," Bill said. "They would have seen the storm coming, secured the boats, and buggered off for the day. They're not going to do much business in this weather."

  "Oh great," Cadie grumbled. She tried again to get Jo's cell phone to connect to a network, any network. "And this goddamn thing still won't work. Damn, Bill, I've got to get to a phone." She looked up at the big pilot and noticed his bottom lip was bleeding. She reached up and gently wiped the blood away with her thumb. "What did you hit?"

  "Huh?" She showed him the blood. "Oh." He laughed humorlessly. "I guess I bit my lip trying to get us down onto the pontoon." He caught her eye somewhat sheepishly. "One of my hairier landings. Sorry about that."

  She patted his arm reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. Given the circumstances I was just happy to be on the ground in one piece." She looked up at him again. "Come on. Help me find a phone. We've got to get Jo some help."

  He gestured in the direction of the main pier. "Well, there's a coffee shop just over there that should still be open. Let's give that a whirl."

  They both looked bleakly out at the torrential rain as a large crack of thunder rolled around the harbor.

  "Last one there's a drowned rat," Cadie said, sprinting off into the downpour.

  Jo came upon the huge paper bark gum tree suddenly. She hadn't been sure she would be able to find it, but here it was, tall and imposing, the only one of its species in this part of the forest. She circled it carefully, looking for the mark she had placed on its trunk five years earlier.

  There. A barely visible arrow scratched into the bark.

  Jo dropped to her knees and quickly swept away layers of leaves and twigs. The rich, damp smell came on strong as she disturbed years' worth of mulch and debris. Finally she was down to the loose, dark topsoil and she began digging in earnest.