by Des Hunt
‘One of them has lost half his freakin’ face,’ added Bryan. ‘The other has scratch marks all down his front.’ He mimes a claw scratching from his forehead to his neck.
‘They see us,’ said Sean, ‘and are not happy. We took off. Then when we got back to the ute we see the leopard again. It’s heading back. When we went after it, the thing turned around and ran through the stream and over here.’ Another pause. ‘You know the rest.’
‘What happened to the Russians?’ asked Crawford.
They didn’t follow,’ replied Sean. ‘They’re pretty badly injured. I guess they went for help.’
‘No, they didn’t,’ said Zac. ‘There’re still lights over there.’
The others turned to where he was pointing. The lights were the headlights of the pick-up and they were moving. As they swung around, the beam lit up the deck for a moment. Zac nodded to himself. That’s what he’d seen during the night: the beams of the two vehicles arriving.
‘Looks like they’re leaving now,’ said Crawford.
All five watched in silence as the vehicle made its way down to the beach and out of view. They were just starting to relax when the engine of the pick-up suddenly roared.
The lights of the vehicle were now visible as misty beams angling up across the homestead terrace. The roar got louder as the headlights swung around towards the house.
Bryan swore.
‘They’re coming up here,’ said Sean.
Jess looked to Zac. ‘What do we do?’
‘Nothing yet,’ replied Crawford, before his son had a chance to speak. ‘Everybody inside, and we’ll lock the doors, sit down, and wait.’
Chapter Twenty-two
The noise from the Neanderthals’ vehicle increased as it climbed through the homestead paddock and into view. The group in the house sat around the lounge, watching through the locked French doors.
‘They won’t be able to unlock the gate,’ said Jess.
‘Won’t need to,’ replied Zac.
A moment later, bull bars smashed into the gate. The hinges and chain ripped from the posts as the giant machine charged through. A piece of the gate remained stuck to the bull bars until the pick-up hit a pothole. Then it became instant kindling as it passed beneath the the spinning wheels. The pick-up powered on as if nothing had happened.
For a time it seemed the driver was going to do the same to the fence around the house. Only at the last minute did the brakes come on and the vehicle skid to a halt. The driver was out of the cab before the gravel had settled. It was Ivan.
Four red tracks stretched down his face where Tasha had scratched him. Shreds of skin hung from his chin, dripping blood onto his clothes. His whole body told of pain and fury.
Without speaking, he smashed through the French doors into the lounge. He stalked over to the chair where Bryan sat, hauled him up by the arms and glared into his face. Then he punched him in the stomach, hard.
Bryan collapsed, gasping and clutching his middle.
Ivan was ready for another attack when a light flashed.
‘Stop!’ yelled Crawford, holding up his phone ready to take a second photo.
The Russian stopped, but remained standing over Bryan.
‘Leave him alone!’ ordered Crawford.
Surprisingly, Ivan obeyed. Bryan dragged himself back into the chair, holding his chest and still gasping for breath.
‘He shot at us!’ said Ivan. ‘He did this to my face. And that!’ He pointed out to the pick-up where Yuri was leaning against the open door. It was difficult to make out the other man’s injuries because he was holding a cloth up to the side of his face. However, judging from the amount of blood on his clothes, the wound was serious. He looked as if he could pass out at any time.
‘No, he didn’t!’ said Sean.
Ivan turned on him. ‘He got Tasha mad.’
‘No,’ said Sean, ‘he didn’t shoot until after you’d been attacked.’
Ivan took a step towards Sean. ‘Then it was you. With the light.’
The phone flashed again. ‘Stop! Both of you shut up and listen to me!’ Crawford’s voice had an authority that was hard to ignore.
When all eyes were on him, he continued. ‘More injuries aren’t going to help.’ He turned to Zac. ‘What did you say his name was?’
‘Ivan,’ said Zac.
‘Ivan Tarasov,’ added Jess. ‘The one outside is his brother.’
All eyes turned to Yuri, who was now slumped against the vehicle.
‘Well, Ivan Tarasov,’ said Crawford. ‘Instead of attacking these people, you should be taking your brother to hospital. He needs help.’
Ivan snarled.
Crawford held up his phone. ‘If you don’t leave, these photos will be sent to the police. I think they would like to know about you.’
‘Police!’ said Ivan. ‘I’m not scared of police.’
‘Then do it for your brother.’ Crawford pointed to the vehicle where Yuri had fallen to the ground. ‘And you’d better do it quickly.’
Ivan moved to the door, but instead of leaving, he turned back and glared at Bryan. ‘This is not over. We have lost Tasha because of you. You will pay.’
Then he went.
Everyone relaxed a little as they watched the pick-up move away.
When it was out of sight Crawford turned to Sean. ‘You didn’t quite tell us the truth, did you?’
Sean shrugged. ‘Everything happened so quickly; it’s hard to remember what came when. Anyway, they’re the ones who brought the leopard here.’ He turned to Zac. ‘It came off that boat, didn’t it?’
Zac said nothing.
‘Whether it did or didn’t is immaterial,’ said Crawford. ‘What’s important is that the thing is now running loose around the place because of you.’
Bryan stirred in his chair. ‘We’ll find it,’ he said, hoarsely. ‘We found it the first time. We’ll find it again.’
‘No, you won’t,’ said Crawford. ‘You won’t be coming on this property again.’
‘Yes, we will. You can’t stop us.’
‘Maybe not, but the police will.’
‘You won’t call the police. See, I’ve worked out who you are.’
Crawford’s body stiffened.
Bryan smiled. ‘That shut you up, didn’t it, Stanley Morris!’
Crawford breathed deeply for a time. ‘I’m not Stanley.’
‘Then you’re his brother. Same difference. I could get a lot of money from telling people where you’re hiding.’
Again Crawford took his time in answering. ‘I don’t think so.’ His voice had a ruthless edge to it that hadn’t been there before. ‘You mention anything about what happened here tonight, and I’ll make sure Ivan knows where you live.’
Bryan tried to look defiant, but it just made him look more fearful.
Crawford saw it and continued his attack. ‘Anything! On the internet, in the papers, on TV, radio. Anything about the leopard, the Russians, Zac, Jess, me … Anything, and Ivan will pay you a visit. And I can guarantee you next time it won’t be just a punch in the stomach.’
Zac dared not move. Never before had he seen this side of his father. This person was seriously scary.
After what seemed like an eternity, Sean stood. ‘Come on, Bryan; let’s go. I’ve got to work today.’
‘Wise move,’ said Crawford. ‘And remember, what I said applies to you too.’
Sean gave a little nod and left. A moment later, Bryan followed.
Crawford let out a long sigh before turning to Jess and Zac. ‘Now, you two, it’s your turn. You’re going to tell me everything about this Tasha. If we’re going to find her, then you’d better leave nothing out.’
The sky was lightening by the time Zac and Jess had finished telling the story. Crawford had mostly listened in silence, although his body language had said plenty. To Zac it wasn’t clear whether his father was angry with him, or with himself for not seeing what had been going on — after all, Zac had tried to tell hi
m and he hadn’t wanted to know — but one thing Zac did know: his dad was angry.
When they’d finished, Crawford continued the silence for a time, his elbows on the table with his hands clasped in front of his face. ‘So, if I’ve got this right, she should be easy to find because of the tracking device.’
Zac nodded. ‘That’s if she’s within range of a signal.’
‘Then what are we waiting for? Let’s do it.’
Jess held up her phone. ‘There’s no signal.’
Crawford pulled a face. ‘What! Not again. What is it about this place?’
‘She might have gone back to Hermit’s Hole,’ said Zac. ‘That’s where Alex must be.’
‘Then let’s go,’ said Crawford. ‘Unless you want to have breakfast first.’
No one did.
They took the beach route, pausing only to look at the damage to the gate. It was a mess. Fortunately, there were no animals in the homestead paddock so there was no rush to repair it.
There was no longer any need for caution as they walked across the terrace towards Hermit’s Hole. For the first time they could be reasonably sure no one was watching.
The place where the attack had happened was marked by lots of darkening blood.
‘No wonder that Russian collapsed,’ said Crawford. ‘He’s lost a lot of blood.’
Neither Zac nor Jess commented. They’d already entered the hideaway.
Zac swept the spotlight around the interior. Everything was still there: the bed, the food and water bowls, the candle. Everything except for living animals. No Tasha or Alex.
‘The Neanderthals must have taken Alex,’ said Jess. She sounded close to tears.
‘Or Tasha came back,’ said Zac.
‘I don’t think those mobsters can have taken anything,’ said Crawford, who had picked up the food bowl. ‘This thing is worth a lot of money. If they were taking things out of here, they would have taken this as well.’
‘If Tasha has got Alex,’ said Jess, ‘then she won’t have gone far. We should go looking for her with the Roldee.’
Zac agreed.
‘You two can do that while I get breakfast,’ said Crawford. ‘Then after that we’d better go and see your parents, Jess. It’s time for a serious discussion. Whether we’ve found Tasha or not, we need to plan for the future.’
Chapter Twenty-three
Tasha had not been found, which meant the meeting at the McGonagalls’ house was not a happy one.
It didn’t help that the TotalCom mobile network was still not working. Zac was angry that they had the means to locate Tasha but were being let down by a dumb telephone company. Jenny used the landline to contact TotalCom, whose response was that ‘the company is aggressively investigating the outage’. Will reckoned that meant they didn’t know what was wrong, how to fix it, or when the network would be going again.
Both parents showed no anger when told about Tasha. They did give Jess a few funny looks as the story was told, but they made no comment about her earlier lies. Instead, they were more concerned about a dangerous cat being loose in Wellington’s suburbs.
‘She’s not dangerous,’ argued Jess. ‘Both Zac and I could cuddle her. She attacked the Neanderthals because she knew they were going to harm her.’
Jenny shook her head. ‘She’s a big cat and she has a kitten. She’ll do anything to protect her baby. We can’t be sure that she won’t attack others. What happens if a child tries to pick up the kitten? She could cause some really serious damage.’
‘Then what should we do?’ asked Jess.
‘I think we should contact that lawyer,’ said Crawford. ‘The one you spoke to last time. There’s little doubt that the animal belongs to Mikhail Popanov. Therefore, he should know what’s going on. Ultimately, he and his lawyer are responsible for whatever might happen.’
‘They might go to the police,’ said Zac.
‘And they’ll shoot her,’ said Jess. ‘Why can’t we wait until we know where she is?’
The discussion went round and round for a while, with the parents concerned about what Tasha might do to others, and the kids more worried about the cat herself and Alex. In the end it was agreed that Will should call the lawyer to see if he was prepared to accept some responsibility.
This time he put the phone on speaker right from the outset.
Alexei Berezovsky made them wait even longer this time.
‘What do you want?’ he asked, rudely, when he finally came on line.
In contrast, Will was ultra-polite. ‘Mr Berezovsky,’ he said, ‘we have had an incident involving a large cat by the name of Tasha. This is the animal that came ashore from the Anastasia. The animal you said was a dog — a Dalmatian. It is not. As you well know, it is a white serval. A very rare white serval.’
Will paused for a breath, and for the lawyer to acknowledge hearing what had been said. He didn’t, so Will continued.
‘Unfortunately, Tasha was confronted by Ivan and Vassaly Tarasov. Both were attacked and received moderate injuries.’
There was a grunt of satisfaction from the speaker.
Will smiled to the others before continuing in the same formal manner. ‘While some might say the injuries were deserved, it is disturbing that people are being attacked. For we believe that Tasha may now be heading for the suburbs. She could already be roaming around housing areas where children are at play. There is a strong risk that she will attack again. We want to know what you and your client are going to do about it.’
The silence from the speaker stretched so long that Zac thought the man had disconnected.
He must have been thinking because he eventually said, ‘I’ll call you back in fifteen minutes.’ Then he hung up before Will had the chance to respond.
‘Well done!’ said Crawford. ‘You should have been a lawyer yourself.’
‘Not on your life,’ said Will in his normal voice. ‘They’re a bunch of parasites, the lot of them.’
‘Morning tea time,’ said Jenny, getting up from the table. ‘How about some scones with jam and whipped cream while we wait?’
Zac was on his third scone when Alexei returned the call.
‘I have consulted with my client,’ he began, ‘and it appears I was mistaken.’
‘Rubbish!’ said another voice. ‘All the time you knew Tasha was a serval. Now, let us get on with this business without any more nonsense.’ A pause. ‘Good morning. I am Mikhail Popanov, Tasha’s owner. Could you please introduce yourselves?’
They looked at each other in surprise before Will said, ‘Good morning, Mr Popanov. I’m Will McGonagall.’
‘And I’m Jenny, his wife.’
When it came to Crawford’s turn, he shook his head vigorously.
‘Jess, the daughter.’
‘And I’m Zac.’
‘Good morning to you all,’ said Mikhail. ‘Except it’s evening here in Florida. Now, I understand that you found Tasha. I am very, very pleased that she is alive; she is very special for me. Tell me: is she all right?’
Will indicated Jess should answer. ‘She was when we were last with her, but since then things have gone wrong. Two men tried to take her away.’
‘Ah, yes: the brothers Tarasov,’ said Mikhail. ‘I would call them animals, but that would be insulting all the wonderful creatures I have met. These two are a much lower form of life.’
Zac smiled to himself. He already liked this man.
‘So she is now missing?’ asked Mikhail.
‘Yes,’ replied Jess. ‘We put a tracking device on her, but the mobile phone network is down so it doesn’t work.’
‘A tracking device. How very clever of you. I gather we do not know when the phone system will work again?’
‘No.’
‘Mmm. Before I left New Zealand, I suspected that Tasha was pregnant. Did you see any signs that indicated this could be so?’
Jess smiled. ‘She had two kittens. One was dead. The other was very much alive when we last saw it.’
> ‘Ahhh,’ said Mikhail. ‘That is wonderful! Was the kitten white or yellow?’
‘White.’
‘Ahhh, even better.’ A pause. ‘Did she take the kitten with her?’
Jess hesitated, so Zac stepped in. ‘We think so.’
‘Good! Good! That means she will not travel far.’
‘How far could she go in a night?’ asked Will.
‘Without a kitten? Maybe ten kilometres. With a kitten? I think less. How long since you last saw her?’
Zac answered. ‘Four o’clock this morning. Um, six hours ago.’
‘Then she could still be quite near. It is unlikely she will move during the day. Are you in a suburban area?’
‘No,’ said Will. ‘The nearest suburb would be about five kilometres away.’
After a few seconds of silence, Mikhail said, ‘Here is what I think we should do. We wait until you can use the tracking device. When you have located her, please try very hard to recover her. If you cannot, then we will have to modify this plan. Can you do that?’
Will said that they could.
‘Good. Good. Then I will leave it in your hands. Thank you for being so helpful. I will be in contact again. Goodbye for now.’
‘That’s the first time I’ve ever talked to a billionaire,’ said Jenny, after the phone was back on its cradle. ‘He seemed quite nice.’
‘He was to us,’ said Crawford. ‘But I think that lawyer of his is in for a hard time!’
‘So he should be,’ said Will. ‘If he had taken some responsibility the first time we rang, we wouldn’t be in this mess.’
Jess nodded. ‘And Tasha and Alex would still be safe.’
The rest of that day made it one Zac would rather forget.
It went bad right from when Jess said she’d stay at home and not go back to Terawhiti. Zac was left with the impression that their friendship had not been as important to her as he had hoped: without Tasha, he was nothing.
He moped around the house until after lunchtime when he decided to search for Tasha further afield. The Waiariki Valley was a good place to try. It was where they’d first found her, so maybe that was where she was now.
