by Mark Gordon
Chapter 58
Pursuit
Matt’s ute sped through the early dawn, while Montana surveyed the countryside, hoping for any sign that Gabby and Bill had passed by. Apart from the occasional crow pecking at a dead animal on the side of the road, however, there was nothing. Their chances of finding Gabby were becoming more and more remote because if Bill was heading in any direction other than east, they were on a wild goose chase. They also realised that the beautiful little girl who had become such an important part of their lives might be dead already, although neither of them were brave enough to say it aloud.
“We’ll be in Carswell soon,” commented Matt, as they pushed forward, the tyres humming ominously beneath them.
“What if they’re not there?” asked Montana, in a quiet, faltering tone.
Matt stared at the road ahead, squinting into the rising sun. He paused, and shook his head despondently, “I don’t know.”
“Matt, why do you think he took her? Really?”
He wound down his window and let the fresh morning air rush in before answering. “I’m not sure, but I think that he needs her for something. Almost like she’s precious, or has some value to him. You’ve said it yourself, remember? You think she’s special. So maybe she’s worth having around? Maybe she really is some kind of protection against the feeders.”
“Like a psychic human shield?”
“Maybe,” he replied, realising how ludicrous it sounded. “ I really don’t know, I’m just trying to fit the pieces together.”
Then the car crested a hill and Montana was shrieking, “Matt, look! Under the tree! Is that...?”
The words shrivelled up in her throat. The motionless body of Gabby was lying at the base of a large gum tree. Matt slowed the car down. “Shit!” he exclaimed. “It’s her.”
Montana was sobbing uncontrollably, as they ran to the girl, their hearts filled with anguish and self-loathing. How had it come to this? Why hadn’t they been able to protect the precious life of this child? How could they have failed her? As Montana knelt to lift the limp body of Gabby up into her arms, Matt felt the tears welling up in his eyes as he relived the death of his father. Montana hugged the tiny figure to her chest and was shaking with grief. “Gabby, Gabby, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.”
Montana buried her face into Gabby’s neck, tears mingling with the sweat on the girl’s skin. Sweat? Dead people didn’t sweat, she realised with a start!
“Matt! She’s alive! Quick!”
Matt took the girl from Montana's arms and took her back to the car, where he laid her down on the front seat. He swept the hair from her face and placed his palm on her forehead.
“She’s got a temperature, but she’s alive.”
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Thank god!” Montana exclaimed, shaking all over, but with relief in her voice now. “But why is she here, Matt? Where’s Bill? Why did he leave her?"
Matt stroked Gabby’s forehead as he answered, “Maybe he couldn’t stand being around her. He’s a bad man. He had to get away. Just like the feeders, who wouldn’t go near her."
“My god! It’s true isn’t it? She’s special! She’s charmed or something! She has a gift!”
“It certainly seems like a distinct possibility,” he replied, smiling.
Gabby began to stir. They watched as she wiggled her fingers for a few seconds before her eyes slowly opened. Montana leaned over and rubbed her back. “Hey gorgeous, how are you feeling?”
Gabby’s eyes lit up as she saw the faces of her two guardians smiling at her. “You found me,” she whispered.
“Yes darling,” replied Montana, as the tears started up again. “We found you. Are you okay sweetheart? Did Bill hurt you?”
Gabby looked confused, as she answered, “No. He didn’t. But he was going to do something bad. I didn’t like it. I’m really tired,” she said, as her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.
Matt and Montana looked at each other, before covering Gabby with Matt’s jacket and softly closing the car door.
“What now?” asked Montana.
“We should head home, I guess,” suggested Matt, a little uncertainly.
Matt could tell from her expression that Montana had other ideas. “What are you thinking?” he asked.
“You’ll think I’m silly,” she said. “But I think we should have a quick look at Carswell while we’re so close.”
“What would we be looking for, exactly?”
“I’m not sure. It’s just a feeling I have. Maybe I just want to see what Brock’s up to. Maybe I want to find Bill and ask him why he took Gabby and then just dumped her on the side of the road. I can’t explain it. I feel as if there’s something else we need to find before we head home. Can we go a bit further?”
He nodded.
“Alright then. Ten more minutes.”
-
They had been back on the road for a couple of minutes when they saw Matt’s mother’s car, stalled in the middle of the road ahead, with the driver’s door wide open. Matt stopped and they studied the car from a safe distance.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” asked Montana, as she absently stroked Gabby’s head, who was still sound asleep on her lap.
“Maybe, but I think I can see Bill in the front seat.”
“What’s he doing?”
“Just sitting there, I think. We’re too far away. We need to get closer.”
“What if it’s a trick?”
“Then we’ll have to be trickier,” he replied, sounding more confident than he felt.
Matt peered through his windscreen at his mother’s little blue car. It had taken him many places as a young boy, and even from this distance he could still make out the sticker on the back window that said “Mum’s Taxi”. Now the vehicle appeared menacing and evil as it sat silently in the middle of the road, with it’s door open, like a mouth waiting to be fed.
“Stay here with Gabby. I’m going to check it out.”
Montana grabbed his arm. “No Matt! This was a bad idea. Let’s just turn around and go home. It’s a trick!”
“I have to go and find out what happened,” he said. “You know that. We can’t run from things any more. We have to find out what he wanted with Gabby. If he tries anything, I’ll shoot him, no worries.”
“Promise you’ll be careful.”
“I promise.”
Matt reached down behind passenger seat and pulled out his gun. He flicked the safety off, and smiled at Montana.
“If you see anything unusual, lean on that horn and give me a warning. I’ll come straight back, and we’ll get out of here, okay?”
“Sure,” she said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. “We’ll be waiting here for you.”
Matt surveyed the surrounding farmland before getting out of the car. The fields were grazing pastures with no obvious hiding places to launch an ambush from. Matt figured that Bill was either in the car, or nowhere near here at all. He opened his door, climbed out. When he was sure that there was no movement, he starting walking.
Matt kept his gun trained on the car. The risen sun was directly in his eyes as he moved forward, but there was no sign of movement up ahead. The cold and calculating way in which Bill had betrayed him, had left Matt feeling angry and bitter, but he still hoped that he wouldn’t need to use his weapon. He’d seen enough death to last him a thousand lifetimes, and now that Gabby had been found safely, Matt just wanted to satisfy his curiosity about Bill’s motives and move on. Sure, he would shoot the man if necessary, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
He was almost halfway to the car and could almost make out the figure in the driver’s seat. Yes, that was definitely a person, and just for a second Matt thought he saw a flicker of movement within the car. He stopped walking and squinted into the sunlight. There it was again, a sudden flash of something moving in the driver’s seat! What was Bill up to? There was no indication that Matt, has been spotted but just to be safe, he crouched down and, for the last
twenty metres or so, snuck up to the rear bumper of the car. Because he was almost crawling, Matt couldn’t see into the car any more, but was close enough to hear something inside moving furtively, secretly, as if someone was doing something they shouldn’t. He couldn’t hear any voices, but every now and then there was a sound like sheets on a clothesline blowing in the wind. He looked back towards his car where Montana was waiting for him. She had not sounded the horn, so it was probably as safe as it would ever be to check out the inside of the vehicle. Matt kept low and crept around to the open driver’s door.
Still in the crouch position, Matt braced himself by leaning his left shoulder against the rear passenger door of the car, and raised his weapon, ready to shoot. He took a deep breath, counted to three, and stood up, swinging the gun around into the open door, with his finger firmly on the trigger, prepared to shoot. A black shape lunged at Matt’s face. He close his eyes and fire the weapon blindly, as the wings of a crow burst out of the car on its flight to freedom through the open door. His heart was galloping like a runaway horse, and when he opened his eyes he was confronted with the dead body of Bill in the drivers seat. In the background Matt registered the beating of wings, as the bird flew away, into the clear blue sky. He took a moment to study the violent tableau before him. The top of Bill’s skull was gone, blown away by the handgun that dangled limply in his right hand, and the kidnapper’s brains were now plastered to the white vinyl roof of Matt’s mother’s Daihatsu, like a crazy modern painting. The crow, that had almost scared Matt to death, had made short work of Bill’s eyeballs, and the now hollow sockets and open mouth made him look like somebody who had just been given a big fright. With the sound of flies buzzing furiously in his ears, Matt turned his gaze away from the grisly scene and walked back to Montana and Gabby.
Halfway back, he saw Montana and Gabby climb out walk around to wait at the front of the car. His panicky gunshot had probably woken the little girl, but standing there in the early dawn light, Matt thought she looked okay, and didn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects from her abduction. When he reached them, he hugged them both. “Sorry, I freaked out a bit there. It was just a crow. Bill’s dead.”
Montana looked at him, concern written over her face. “I’ve changed my mind, can we just go home now please? I don’t want to go to Carswell any more.”
He smiled at her. “Absolutely, I’ll tell you about it later.”
They climbed tiredly into the car and sat Gabby up between them. As Montana was buckling her seatbelt Matt held a finger up and cocked his head. They all heard it. Matt wound down his window, and Montana followed suit. She looked at him worriedly.
“That’s a car!”
“Yes,” said Matt. “Coming from Carswell!”
They watched through the windscreen, down the straight stretch of road where an engine droned, just out of sight. For a few tantalising seconds time seemed to stand still as they waited for the vehicle to appear. Then on the horizon, like an apparition, a single dot appeared and grew in size as it drew closer to the exposed trio.
“What will we do?” asked Montana, now nervous again.
Matt looked around. There was nowhere to hide, and no time for that anyway. The car continued to speed towards them.
“Get down on the floor!” he barked, as he picked up his gun and stepped out of the car.
The sound of the vehicle was louder now, and Matt knew that it would only be half a minute or so before it reached them. He cocked his weapon and let it hang, unthreateningly by his side, as he took a deep breath and waited in the middle of the road.
