Into the Fire (8 page)

Ling reached the forked part of the road, panting heavily. For an instant she was confused about where to go, but then she noticed two sets of vehicle tyre marks leading onto the smaller track to the left. She ran along it for a minute and saw the car parked beside the bark hut. Next to that was a four-wheeled motorbike.

Ling ducked out of sight while she considered what she should do next. Mrs Hastings was here already and Gabby might be in the hut. She probably needed help, but now that Ling was here, she really didn’t know what to do.

Voices came from inside the hut—shouts and cries—then before Ling could move, the door of the hut flew open and Mrs Hastings and a man came out, carrying a briefcase. The man
bent over the motorbike and did something to a back tyre. Then they both got into their car and drove away.

Ling stayed where she was for a moment. Her heart was beating fast and she had to wipe away the sweat that was pouring down her face. ‘Come on, Ling,’ she said firmly to herself. ‘Go and get Gabby.’

She crept forwards, listening intently for any noise of the car returning, but there was nothing to hear. No more sounds came from the hut. She was at the door when a loud grunt made her look to the left, through the trees. To her astonishment, she saw two horses standing at the edge of a dam, snorting at flies. Ling shook her head. ‘King? But that means…’

She pushed open the hut door.

Gabby and Angus were on the floor, their hands tied to the table. E.D. lay on his stomach, his head on the wooden floor and hands and feet tied roughly together. They all turned to look at Ling. ‘Well, it’s about time,’ said E.D. ‘You were missing all the fun.’

‘Ling!’ said Gabby, and burst into tears again. Ling undid her binding first and gave her cousin a long hug before untying Angus. Angus went to release E.D. as Ling helped Gabby to her feet.

‘Hannah’s on her way too,’ said Ling. ‘We rode bikes up the hill.’

‘How did you know we were here?’ Gabby asked, drying her face on her T-shirt.

It was time for Ling to tell her story. She made it as short as she could but it still took her a few minutes to fill them in on her adventures.

‘We’ll tell you what we’ve been through on the way down the hill,’ Angus said, ‘but we need to be quick. Mrs Hastings is getting away.’

‘But where’s Hannah?’ Gabby said.

‘We’ll pick her up on the way down,’ Ling said. ‘We just followed the road.’

‘It’ll be fast on my motorbike,’ said E.D., stepping outside.

‘No, it won’t,’ said Angus.

The bike was where E.D. had parked it but now it was tilted to one side. One back tyre was flat.

‘That man did that,’ said Ling. ‘I saw him.’

‘Great,’ said E.D. ‘It’s back to basics.’

‘Don’t forget the horses,’ said Angus.

‘And we’ve got two pushbikes,’ said Ling.

‘Fantastic,’ grumbled E.D. ‘Horses and bicycles—just my style.’

‘We’ve got no choice,’ said Angus. ‘I’ll get the horses.’

The horses were easy to catch and Angus led them to the motorbike. He took a piece of rope from the back of the bike to fashion reins for King. He paused and tilted his head.

‘Can you smell that?’

E.D. turned. Ling looked anxiously down the road. Gabby shrugged. ‘What?’ she said.

‘Smoke,’ said E.D. ‘Maybe the fire is coming this way.’

‘I’m going to get Hannah and the bikes,’ said Ling, starting to run down the track.

‘Gabby,’ said Angus. ‘You ride King. I’ll get on the young horse.’

‘What about you?’ said Gabby, looking over at E.D.

‘Looks like I get to walk.’

‘But you’ll take forever.’ Gabby handed King’s reins to him. ‘
You
ride King, I’ll run. I’m fitter than you.’

‘But—’

‘She’s right,’ said Angus. ‘She is the fastest runner.’

‘But—’ E.D. looked at the big chestnut horse in front of him. ‘It hasn’t got a clutch.’

‘King’s an automatic,’ grinned Angus. ‘Come on, I’ll help you on.’

By the time E.D. struggled onto King’s back—with Angus pushing and heaving from behind—the girls had disappeared. Angus swung up on the colt and followed them, leaving a palelooking E.D. hanging on to King’s mane, trotting behind. They found Ling and Gabby at the side of the road holding two bikes. Angus pulled up suddenly and King stopped too. E.D. toppled off, landing heavily on his bottom on the dusty road.

‘That’s the last time I get on anything with four legs,’ grumbled E.D. as he stood up.

‘Hannah’s not here,’ said Ling quietly.

‘The car! Maybe they saw her and threw her in with them.’ Gabby bit her lip. ‘Now she’s their captive instead of us!’

‘Okay,’ said Angus, ‘now we really have to move.’

‘I’ll take the pushbike,’ said E.D. ‘That was the worst experience of my life.’

‘You only rode him about half a kilometre,’ said Gabby.

‘The worst half a kilometre of my life.’ E.D. threw King’s reins to Gabby, took the bike from her, and set off down the hill.

Downhill was easy. The horses cantered ahead, Gabby and Angus flying down the edges
of the road, where it was smoother. Ling and E.D. rode behind, Ling going gracefully around the bumps and E.D. going straight over the top with teeth-rattling bounces.

Angus was in front. The smell of smoke was becoming worse and the air was getting hazy, but he knew that it didn’t necessarily mean the fire was coming this way. Still, being trapped in the bush on a hill in a fire was no way to spend your weekend, especially knowing that thieves had captured your friend. He urged the colt on.

They reached the bottom of the hill where the road flattened out through the paddocks. There were now no potholes so the horses could really gallop. Gabby drew up alongside Angus and the horses raced neck and neck. Angus glanced at Gabby and saw a grin on her face. He smiled as well. Despite the trouble they were in, riding a fast horse along a flat road was a great feeling. The horses, free of the bush and the flies, pricked their ears forwards as if they were enjoying it too.

Along the road, in the distance, Angus noticed flashing lights. He slowed the colt, looking behind him. They’d out-run the bikes—they were nowhere to be seen. As the horses got closer to the lights, Angus worked out what they
were. ‘It’s a roadblock, Gabby,’ he yelled. ‘Maybe they’ve stopped Mrs Hastings.’

Another minute and they were on it. The roadblock had been set up at the T-intersection, stopping people getting into town. Angus looked anxiously towards his home but everything seemed okay. Police were directing any traffic from town past Brookwood Stables. One car was stopped at the roadblock: a four-wheel drive. Two adults and a girl stood arguing with the police.

‘Hannah!’ screamed Gabby, pushing King right up to the group of people and jumping off to give Hannah a hug.

Mrs Hastings turned pale. ‘What…?’

‘Hannah, are you alright?’ Angus rode up as well, his excited colt spinning around, making Mrs Hastings scream and step back into a police officer.

‘I’m fine,’ said Hannah. ‘I had a ride down the hill.’ She indicated the back of the four-wheel drive.

‘You came down the hill hanging on to the back of
that
?’ Gabby grinned at her friend.

Hannah blushed. ‘I’m not totally useless, Gab. I had to hold on as tightly as I could: it was pretty scary.’

‘Good on you, Han,’ said Angus, still circling around on his horse. ‘That was a really brave thing to do.’

Hannah tried not to look pleased. She turned back to the policemen. ‘I was just trying to explain how Gabby was missing and we went to find her.’

‘And that the stolen brooch is in the car,’ said Gabby.

‘Stolen brooch?’ said a police officer. ‘Where?’

‘In the briefcase.’ Gabby opened the door of the car and pulled out the case. She flicked it open, displaying the wrapped parcel. Slowly, the police officer unravelled it and soon held a golden brooch in his hand.

‘These children are lying,’ said Mrs Hastings. ‘They stole the brooch and we have just retrieved it. My husband and I were in the process of safely transporting a valuable artefact away from the fire region. As the head librarian, I am the custodian of the exhibition.’

‘You weren’t keeping it safe,’ said Gabby. ‘You stole it from the library in the first place.’

Mrs Hastings frowned. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘You see, there’s no proof to anything you are saying.’

‘Except what I saw. And the fact that you kidnapped me!’

‘Kidnapped you! And so how have you turned up on a horse?’ Mrs Hastings turned to the police. ‘I hope you’re not entertaining for one moment the possibility that her story is true.’

The police officer raised his hand. ‘Stop there, everyone. There’s obviously more to this than meets the eye but our first priority is to get people away from the fire area. Then we’ll investigate your claims.’ He stopped, looking down the road. ‘What the…?’

Coming along the road, pedalling for all they were worth, came E.D. and Ling. E.D. was in front, his knees up around his neck on the toosmall bike. The group watched in silence—Angus and Gabby grinning—until they arrived. Ling was red in the face but E.D. was purple, his black hair sticking to his head. He gave Angus a high-five. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘that was a
mad
ride.’

‘Are there any more of you?’ said the police officer, raising his eyebrows.

‘That’s all,’ Gabby said.

‘We had a profile for a missing girl—Gabby Hunter—and you look like you fit the description.’ Gabby nodded. ‘Which leaves us with one more to find,’ the policeman muttered, turning away and reaching through his open window to grab his microphone.

‘One more?’ Hannah whispered, for some reason suddenly thinking about Sean.

‘Young bloke’s done a runner from the community centre.’ The policeman pressed a switch on the small black control in his hand.

‘Sean?’ Hannah said loudly. She didn’t know how, but in that instant she just knew he was talking about Sean. He’d been keen to go to the library and extract the security tape. Hannah had just assumed that because he was with friends, he’d be safe. But what if he’d left? The police officer paused, staring at Hannah.

‘You know him?’ he asked.

‘He’s my brother. And I think I know where he would have gone.’ Quickly she explained what had been happening at the library. ‘I couldn’t get the security tape out but he could’ve. He knew the code.’

Behind her, Mrs Hastings gave a short gasp. The policeman looked at her suspiciously, turned away again and spoke briefly into the small speaker. A gust of wind swept dust and grit into everyone’s faces and Hannah missed hearing the radio reply. It was clear what it was though, when the officer turned back to them, his face grim.

Hannah sagged at the knees and Gabby put her arm around her. ‘I thought he was safe,’
Hannah muttered. ‘I wouldn’t have left him at the community centre otherwise.’

‘Come on,’ said the policeman, taking Mrs Hastings by the arm. ‘I’m taking you all in.’

‘Officer, the truth of the matter is that we caught these children up at Derwent’s Hut with the brooch. That one there,’ she said, pointing an accusatory finger at Gabby, ‘was skulking about the library just before the exhibition opening.’

‘No!’ Hannah shouted. ‘That’s not true. I heard you talking on the phone about Gabby.’

‘Really and truly, officer. Must I put up with this?’ No one appeared to be paying Mrs Hastings any attention. The police officer was talking on his radio again, nodding his head slowly. He cleared his throat and looked at the group.

‘Now, listen to me, everyone. You lot,’ he said, pointing to the children, ‘are going to wait here. Do you understand? DO NOT MOVE! I’m sending around a van to pick you up and get you out of town. Ash and embers have started a fire very close to the library.’

He said the last sentence almost as an afterthought. Hannah went pale. Mrs Hastings suddenly put her hand to her mouth. She turned to the officer and stared at him. ‘Are you sure?’

‘That’s the latest report. The firefighters are moving back to try and protect the council offices.’ Mrs Hastings’ mouth was opening and closing but nothing was coming out.

‘I appreciate that it’s a shock for you,’ the policeman said. ‘Come on, the pair of you. I don’t think you want anything in the library to burn.’ He ushered Mr and Mrs Hastings into the car. ‘The van will be here in three minutes,’ he said, looking at each of the four children in turn.

‘What about Sean?’ Hannah said desperately.

‘We’ll find him. It’s alright.’ The police officer turned quickly and climbed into his car.

‘Three minutes,’ E.D. muttered, watching the police car disappear around the corner. ‘That means we’ve got one minute to make up our minds what to do now.’

‘Guys, we’ve been told to wait here.’ Gabby looked to Hannah for support. Hannah was looking pale and sick. ‘They’ll come and get us. They’re already looking for Sean.’

‘Sean’s in the library,’ Hannah whispered. ‘I know it. If someone doesn’t go there straight away, he might get burnt! Or worse. Why didn’t I look after him better?’

‘Hannah, you didn’t know that he’d get out of the community centre. It’s not your fault. The police will find him.’

‘We’re sort of jumping to conclusions, guys,’ E.D. said. ‘Sean might not be in the library, anyway. He probably thought you guys were missing and just ducked outside to have a look. He would have been worried.’

‘Hannah, we should have told him we were going,’ Ling said softly.

‘I know, I know,’ Hannah replied, shaking her head. ‘But I thought he’d just stay with his friends.’

‘Angus? What do you think? Ling?’ Gabby asked.

‘Quick decision, guys,’ E.D. said. ‘We’ve got about two minutes left before the police come back.’

‘I’m thinking I wish I’d stayed home these holidays.’ Ling looked at Hannah’s distraught face. ‘But since I didn’t, then I think we have to go back to the library.’

Angus smiled at Hannah and reached for her hand. She blushed. ‘Ling’s right. We have to go back. Just in case.’

E.D. sighed audibly. ‘Ling and Hannah, take the bikes. I’ll jog. You guys take the horses. Meet you down at the library.’

‘I love a guy who can make hard decisions,’ Gabby grinned.

E.D. gave her a quick look. ‘Yeah?’ He grinned back at her.

‘I’m coming with you, Angus,’ Hannah said. ‘It’s faster on horseback.’ For some reason she had a feeling that if Angus was close by, everything would be alright.

Angus came over to Hannah and gave her a quick hug. ‘You’ll have to ride behind Gabby, Han. This young one won’t take it.’

By the time Hannah got on King, E.D. and Ling were well down the road towards Teasdale. The horses outpaced the cyclists though, even with Hannah bouncing around behind Gabby. It took 15 minutes for the three on horseback to get to the library.

The situation there was vastly different to the one Hannah and Ling had left earlier that afternoon. Black and scorched tree trunks were dotted around the park. Some of them were very near to the library. Firefighters were everywhere, dousing cinders as well as hosing down the rear and front of the building.

The only part of the library that was unattended was the smaller east section where the grill still lay on the ground. Hannah slid off King and raced towards it.

‘Hannah, you can’t go in!’ Gabby cried, trying to hold King steady. ‘The library could be on fire at any moment. We have to go and talk to the firefighters.’

Hannah stopped, unsure of what to do, but suddenly she didn’t have a choice.

‘Hey! What do you think you’re doing here? Get out!’ A fireman was roaring at them, waving his arms angrily.

‘Someone’s in the library,’ Angus shouted.

‘Impossible. We’ve had the all clear from the library staff as well as the police.’

‘My brother’s in there!’ screamed Hannah, nearly hysterical. ‘You have to get him out!’

Sean had waited until there was no one outside the community centre before he sprinted the block to the library. Smoke swirled around him but he couldn’t be sure where it was coming from. The park nearby had patches of black in it, like the fire had been there and been doused. Firefighters were gathered at the back of the building, pointing at various places around the area. Their backs were to the building and no one guarded the front. Sean slipped in easily through the front door.

Getting the tape was no problem. Sean remembered numbers—he knew his friends’ telephone numbers, the combinations of their locks at school and the distance from Earth to the moon—and so it was a simple business to type in the security code. The tape slid out and Sean put it in his backpack. It was when he
turned to leave that he realised he was in trouble. The door to the office had swung shut and locked. Sean jiggled the handle but something seemed to be wrong. He was trapped.

For a long time, he shouted and rattled the handle but no one came. Then he tried the phones in the office but they weren’t working. The office didn’t have a window and there was no other way out. After an hour—or was it more?—he sat on the floor and leaned against the door to wait.

But then it started getting hotter. Sean couldn’t work out exactly where the heat was coming from. He checked and re-checked the heating vents, but it wasn’t coming from there. It appeared to be coming from the very walls and ceiling of the room he was stuck in.

Outside, the wind was howling. The room was getting warmer and warmer by the minute, and Sean found himself continually looking back to the door, desperately hoping someone would suddenly appear and release him from his prison. He was sick of shouting and screaming. His throat hurt and he’d have given anything for a drink.

In desperation, he leaped up, grabbed the door handle again, and rattled it violently. When
that didn’t work, he started kicking the door. ‘Open up!’ he shouted, his voice raspy. ‘Let me out of here!’

Finally the wood panel broke and a small hole about the size of a 50 cent piece appeared. Sean went berserk, kicking and kicking until he’d gone right through the two layers of wood in the door. He dropped to his knees and put his hand through, reaching for the door handle on the other side but the hole was too low and he couldn’t quite get his arm out. He pulled at the wood, splinters tearing into his hands. It was a small hole, and it wasn’t getting bigger very quickly. Sean started puffing and sweat ran down his face. The heat was intense and he began to feel sick.

Suddenly he heard a voice. It was inside the library, maybe coming from just up the corridor.

‘In here!’ he called, putting his face to the hole and yelling as hard as he could. He could hear the voice again, but it was no closer to the door. ‘I’M IN HERE!’ He poked his hand through the hole and tried waving it. No one came.

If I could just attract their attention, Sean thought. Maybe if I threw something out into the corridor for them to see…

It only took a millisecond for him to remember the gyroscope. He pulled it from his
backpack, threaded the rip cord into it, and pulled. As it spun, he thrust it through the hole and let it clunk down onto the floor outside the door. Keep spinning, he begged it. Keep spinning!

And it did. Sean watched as the gyroscope spun, a grey blur of movement. Then he heard a voice shouting from somewhere up the corridor. Someone had noticed!

Footsteps ran towards him and stopped outside the door. ‘Is someone there? Can you hear me?’ a man’s voice shouted.

‘Yes!’ Sean cried, his heart surging.

‘Stand away from the door. I repeat, stand away from the door. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, I understand,’ Sean replied, backing away and sitting down on the floor. It was getting hard to breathe in the hot room.

‘I’m going to break open the door,’ the voice said.

‘Okay,’ Sean called, licking his lips in anticipation. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest.

CRASH!

The door shuddered. There was another heavy blow and the blade of the axe pierced the wood, sending the lock and door handle flying into the room. The door swung open.

‘Cool!’ Sean panted.

‘Leave the bag, son. Come on,’ the firefighter yelled, holding out his arms. But Sean gripped the bag even tighter as he was lifted into the air and onto the fireman’s shoulder.

‘Cool,’ he whispered again, as the firefighter carried him up the stairs and out of the building through an emergency exit.

‘They your friends?’ the man asked, gently putting Sean down and indicating the group of children, horses and bikes. ‘They weren’t budging until we’d done another search of the library for you.’

‘They sure are,’ he whispered. ‘Thanks for rescuing me,’ he added, looking in awe at the plastic mask covering the firefighter’s face.

‘You’re welcome. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?’

‘Okay.’ Sean extended his hand. The firefighter, smiling again, quickly took off his glove and shook the boy’s hand before leaving.

An ambulance officer bent down to Sean and applied an oxygen mask. ‘We’ll take you to the hospital, son, so they can keep an eye on you for a while. They’ve let your parents through the roadblock and they’re going to meet you there.’ Sean closed his eyes for a
moment and when he opened them again he saw his sister.

‘Hannah,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry. I saw you go so I went to the library.’

‘Sean, thank goodness you’re okay. But how did you get out of the centre?’ Hannah asked, not sure whether she should be angry or not now that she’d seen that her brother was safe.

‘The toilet window,’ Sean grinned. ‘I squeezed through. No one saw me, Han. It was cool. I knew I could get the tape from the security system that Dad installed and I knew where it was and I needed to get it before the whole library burnt.’

‘So you got it?’ Hannah asked, giving him a hug.

‘It’s in my backpack.’

‘Sounds like you’ve got it all stitched up, mate,’ E.D. said from behind Hannah, patting Sean on the shoulder.

‘Good job,’ said Angus, grinning at the boy.

‘I’ve gotta go,’ said E.D. ‘Mario and Dad might be needing me.’

‘So should I. I’ll take these horses home.’ Angus looked at Hannah and Sean and then at Ling. ‘Is that okay?’

Ling smiled at him. ‘Everyone’s alright now. The police said that Gabby’s mum and dad are
on their way to the community centre and we’ll meet them there. You go.’

Angus walked the horses to an officer, spoke briefly, and swung up onto King’s back. Hannah waved goodbye to him as he set off on the road to Brookwood Stables, a police car following slowly behind. E.D. swung his pushbike around.

‘I’ve got to get home before they stop me. Hannah, distract them for me.’

Hannah didn’t have to. Emergency workers were fussing around Sean, giving him drinks, and didn’t see E.D. pedal off quietly.

E.D. rode fast, trying not to think what might have happened to his house while he’d been away.