The Hunting (18 page)

Gemma dragged her upstairs with a broad grin on her face.

This would be fun.

E
ven Moucher didn’t recognize her. She didn’t even smell like Genie.

Rian had been standing by the ferry foot-passenger entrance with Moucher on a string. Renée was lying back against a truck waiting to load. Cars and trucks were already streaming into the ferry.

‘Are we going or not?’ Genie asked.

Moucher sniffed at her suspiciously. Rian did a double-take. Renée laughed she was so surprised.

‘Wow. Super
Hairspray
retro look. I like it.’

Rian checked her hair and the outfit. She looked like some rich kid – perfectly turned out ready for her first important date or church on Sunday. He was quite taken aback. Genie was truly beautiful.

‘What do you think?’ Genie asked.

‘You don’t look as though you’d be going out with me.’

‘Yeah,’ Renée said. ‘You look like you’re slumming it with us. The shoes. Flatties. Neat. Oh my God, they have to be Italian leather. How much? Do we have any money left at all?’

‘The shoes are second-hand, the cardigan came off the girl in the shop and I paid two hundred for the dress. You think that’s too much? Oh and fifty deposit on the wig. She wants it back. It’s hot under here. How do people wear wigs without passing out?’

Renée took her arm. ‘They took real good care of you. You either held them up at gunpoint or they really liked you.’

Genie grinned. ‘Yeah, I did good, I think.’

Rian produced the tickets and shepherded them towards the woman checking them off. ‘I hope you have a plan for when we get the other side. It’ll be dark by the time we get there and—’

Genie cut him off. ‘It’s all good.’ She picked up Moucher and carried him under her arm. He wasn’t keen and struggled a little in her arms.

‘Be good now,’ Genie scolded him.

They walked towards the ferry. There was a guy in a brown hat handing out flyers by the stairs. He put one in Renée’s hands.

‘You seen this girl?’ he asked, talking a good look at them all. Renée looked at the picture of Genie and pulled a face.

‘Do I look like the kind of girl who’d hang out with a punk? Who shaves their head any more? It’s so weird.’

They moved on, left the guy slack-jawed and frowning at the flyer.

Genie waited until the ferry had left Gibsons Harbour before telling them her news. They sat around a table and drank tea. Renée didn’t rate the coffee.

‘Gemma, the girl in the shop, let me use her cell to call Marshall. He said he’s working on something. We have to meet him at Radspan Station Three. If we get there late, he’s going to be on Level Fourteen.’

Rian looked at her. ‘That’s it?’

‘That’s it.’

‘Level Fourteen?’ Renée asked. ‘What is that? Not the Fortress. I’m not going back there for anyone. I have been in Fourteen. It’s cold and dark and—’

‘Not the Fortress. Radspan Three.’

‘We don’t have a map, Genie. We have no idea which is Three or where it is,’ Rian protested.

Genie closed her eyes and concentrated. She willed herself to read the map on the wall she’d seen in the tunnel. Everything was still vivid in her mind – all she had to do was go there, see it, shine the torch on it, read it …

She opened her eyes. Rian was asleep. Renée reading a magazine. Mouch was spread out on the floor fast asleep.

‘I …’

Renée looked up at her. ‘Welcome back. We’re docking in ten minutes. I truly have never seen anyone sit so still in all my life, girl.’

‘But, I only just closed my eyes for a second.’

‘Uh-uh, I don’t think so. You’ve been gone nearly two hours. Ferry had to stop for ages for a school of whales. I thought they were going to ride right over them, but it stopped and everyone ran up on deck to see, but it was getting dark and—’

‘I missed the whales?’ Genie was quite upset.

Rian woke, saw Genie was back and smiled.

‘You find the map?’ He was getting used to her going now.

‘Yeah.’ Genie nodded. Annoyed that something that seemed to her to have only taken five seconds had been two whole hours. ‘Whistler. We have to go to Whistler.’

Rian and Renée exchanged glances. ‘Whistler?’ They both protested.

‘I’ve got to go to the—’

‘I’ll go with you,’ Renée said, standing. ‘Ri, take care of Moucher. He probably needs a pee too.’

Rian moved to an upright position and Moucher was already up, stretching his legs and watching Genie walking away.

‘Walkies?’ Rian asked.

Moucher looked at him with definite interest, wagging his tail.

‘You know they don’t like dogs on the ferry,’ Genie called back. ‘You’ll have to be discreet.’

R
everend Schneider sat on a huge leather sofa on the enclosed patio and stared out at the sunset shimmering on the water. At the end of his lawn he could see Strindberg’s yacht. All seventy metres of it moored at the dock and beside it, his own
Lord’s Business
, which looked like a flea next to his host’s showboat. He felt uncomfortable as Strindberg stood next to some valuable glass object staring down at him, his boosted heels showing on his leather boots. Strindberg’s house was simply excessive, especially for such a small man. Belonged in Vegas, not here on the Sunshine Coast. Had he no shame?

‘Like the house? Sweet deal. Bought it for cash just when the economy went belly up in 2008. Famous actor owned it. You might have seen his films. I forget his name. Ended up on TV, had his own series as a washed-up football player. Turned out he hadn’t paid his taxes. I paid three million under the going price.’

Schneider didn’t know the actor, but was sure Strindberg had made his teeth meet on the deal.

‘He had no taste, but this much waterfront is pretty good on the Sunshine Coast at this price. Always a good lesson that – pay your taxes, Reverend, or someone might snatch it all back.’

‘It’s impressive,’ Schneider said reluctantly.

‘Yes, I believe it is,’ he smiled.

Schneider hated it when he smiled. Made him feel very uncomfortable. He felt his palms sweating.

‘Unlike this situation, Reverend,’ Strindberg remarked, bringing his hands together. ‘Leaving aside how you milked us dry to build your little church in Spurlake and somehow found something spare to buy yourself a little pleasure craft. I would like some explanations. You talk of coincidences, Schneider. But I ask you again, how did she know about me? How did
you
know to come here? What was her purpose? To kill me, perhaps? I wouldn’t blame her, but I’m just surprised she doesn’t want to kill you first, considering you’re the one who stole her life …’

Schneider felt a constriction around his collar and he was sweating everywhere now, he felt so tense. He’d always detested this little man, neither a scientist nor a visionary. Made all his money shorting stocks or by snapping up companies that had gotten into difficulties. Everywhere he went he got richer but thousands were made poorer. Now he had control of Fortransco. Just when it needed a person of vision to run it, they had allowed this cheap sleazeball to seize control. They’d had this amazing breakthrough, success was coming, and yet Strindberg had chosen this very moment to pounce. He probably didn’t even believe in eternal life.

‘They stole my yacht. It was only half full of fuel. They have no money. I calculated they could get no more than forty or fifty ks under power, if that.’

‘Sailing a direct line from the city to here, that’s about right,’ Strindberg mused. ‘So you
are
thinking coincidence.’

‘Yes.’

‘Do we know who the others are with Genie Magee?’

‘One is her boyfriend, Rian Tulane, I am pretty sure of it. Your Mr Yates lives with his mother.’

Strindberg looked momentarily surprised. ‘He does? He hadn’t mentioned this to me. What other secrets are there? Spurlake is so damn incestuous, it makes me sick.’

‘There’s a dog too, but I have no idea—’ Schneider went on.

‘I don’t care about the dog. The thing is, Reverend, where are they now? Why do they continually slip through our fingers so easily? Any ideas? What can this girl do to us?’

Schneider shrugged. ‘I told you she was clever. She has gifts.’

Strindberg snapped a pen he was holding in half. His face was red with anger, but he held himself in check. ‘
We
are clever.
We
built the world’s most powerful and only teleportation centre.
We
spent over two billion dollars doing this.
We
are clever; she is just a girl, a simple girl from the hicks. I want to know why she was here and what else she did in my house. She’s a menace to the whole project and I want her stopped. No one is taking this seriously. But I am going to make them take it seriously. Mark my words well.’

Schneider felt awkward and uncomfortable. ‘We’ve dealt with this. I am sure it was a coincidence.’

‘No, we have not,’ Strindberg snapped. ‘She’s dangerous. I am going to stop her antics. She is making fools of all of us. Do we have any leverage with her mother?’

Reverend Schneider shook his head. ‘She has disowned her.’

Strindberg looked disappointed.

‘I want her found – and fast. I will not let this child interfere with our investment.’

‘I thought her body was important for research?’

Strindberg turned on his heels and walked towards the door. ‘That was before she came here and tried to kill me. It was clearly her intention. She’s dangerous and I want her eliminated.’

Strindberg turned at the door looking at Schneider with utter contempt.

‘Get that thing you call a yacht off my dock, Reverend. I don’t mind you ripping off the good folks of Spurlake with your little religious nonsense, but when you rip off Fortransco, it’s coming out of
my
pocket. Find that girl or, I warn you, you’ll lose everything.’

R
enée was running out on the deck, her eyes wild with panic as she searched for Rian. Moucher barked and Rian caught her as she nearly ran by.

‘What? Where’s Genie?’

‘She’s collapsed in the bathroom. Come on. We have to get her out of there. This ferry’s going to dock soon.’

Rian ran after Renée, Moucher at his side, ducking and weaving around passengers getting ready to leave.

There were two women standing by the female toilet doors pulling faces and making remarks.

‘Disgusting, shooting up on the ferry. Disgusting.’

Renée barged through them and Rian followed, Moucher left outside, puzzled and trying to stay clear of the women who backed away, scared of him.

‘You can’t leave your dog off a leash, y’know. Shouldn’t let dogs on the ferry.’

An announcement sounded for passengers to go back to their cars and the women walked away still muttering.

Genie was lying on the cold tiled floor unconscious, her head bleeding from where she’d fallen.

‘She was talking to me, laughing about something, and suddenly she just fell down, cracked her head,’ Renée stated, feeling guilty she hadn’t caught her.

‘She didn’t eat,’ Rian said, cradling her head in his arms. Her wig had come loose, but she was breathing normally at least.

‘Come on, help me get her out of here.’

‘She going to be OK?’

Rian ignored the question. Together they got her standing and he picked her up in his arms and carried her out. She felt even lighter than before, if that was possible.

He laid her down on a long seat as Renée went to get some water.

Moucher reappeared and lay down beside her, clearly worried, letting escape little concerned whines, and Rian tried to rub her to get her warm. She was so unbelievably cold.

Renée came back with the water and Rian tried to get Genie to drink. It dribbled right back out and he just let her lay there.

‘She’s really gone this time.’

Renée was worried. ‘We’re going to have to get off soon. It’s docking.’

Rian nodded. ‘There was a wheelchair on the next deck level. See if you can find it. We might be able to wheel her off. It might stop questions.’

Renée ran, the worried lines in her face pronounced. She was praying Genie wasn’t heading into a coma.

One of the crew came back with Renée and the wheelchair.

‘He had to unlock it. People steal them, can you believe that?’

‘What’s the problem?’ the officer asked, keen to get off shift.

‘Epileptic fit,’ Rian told him. ‘I thought she was over it but …’

The officer looked at Genie with some sympathy. ‘She looks like Sleeping Beauty. Poor kid. OK, listen, you can wheel her off, but someone has to go with you. Company policy. She fall?’

‘Bumped her head. Don’t worry, we aren’t going to sue. Can you help us off the boat?’

The officer was making a call on his cell. He nodded at Rian.

‘Someone is coming. I need you to sign a release form. We have to go by the rules when someone has a fall. If you sign the waiver you realize that you are consenting to no company liability … We’ll need the wheelchair back. Anyone meeting you?’

‘We’re catching a local bus.’

‘Oh … Well … She’ll bring forms and see to it that you get off safely. I’m sorry. You’ve got ten minutes before she comes.’

The man left. Problem delegated. He could go home.

Rian watched him go, looked up at Renée and said, ‘Get her up. We’ll get her out now. I don’t want to sign any forms. They’ll need ID and stuff.’

Renée was on it. They levered Genie into the wheelchair, grabbed Moucher and followed the stragglers to the exit. The fewer questions asked, the better. Rian was looking at the bottle of water Renée had brought and left lying in Genie’s lap.

‘Was the water frozen?’

‘No. I filled it from the tap in the washroom; the café was closed already. I rinsed it out,’ Renée added, in case he thought she’d brought him a dirty bottle.

Rian held it up. ‘You didn’t put ice in it?’

‘No, I told you, I …’ She looked at the plastic bottle and stared amazed. ‘That’s impossible.’

They both looked at Genie and she was blue. She was absolutely freezing.