Nature of Ash, The (24 page)

‘They do, yes, but … I guess you’re right. It’s more likely to be the officials.’ She shudders out a sigh. ‘My nerves are shot.’

I laugh. ‘No kidding?’

We agree to turn off the TV — there’s nothing we can do and it’s too stressful to watch. Instead we all get stuck into cleaning Dad’s office — if Jiao’s parents are rescued, they’ll need somewhere to stay for a while. I take on all his papers, trying to decide which ones will be needed by the union and which ones I can safely chuck. Jiao sorts the overflowing bookshelves, more interested in flicking through and reading bits than cleaning off the dust, and Mikey’s supposed to be on skirting-board and window-sill wiping duty. Instead, he spends his time stalking flies for Winston Churchill. Nevertheless, a couple of hours later we’ve vacuumed and the room looks almost presentable.

We’re just sitting down to a late lunch (of sorts) when there’s a knock on the door. It’s Jeannie, in uniform. She looks so drawn and tense, I immediately assume the worst. Nerves knot my gut.

‘Okay,’ she says. ‘We’re ready to roll. Grab your jackets and we’ll be on our way.’

‘Now?’
This is way too fast.
‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. You’re flying up to Eltham. Don’t ask me how they organised it so quickly — you
really
don’t want to know.’

‘They’ve rescued Ma and Ba?’ Jiao’s so bloody excited she’s bouncing — and, with tits like hers, that’s quite a sight.

‘They will have by the time you land.’ She rubs her face, drawing the skin tight against her skull. ‘Have you ever been in a helicopter, Mikey?’

Mikey’s smile swallows up the rest of his face.

She drives us to the airport, Mikey so bloody wired even I have trouble deciphering his jabber. I try to get in some questions about the details of the rescue, but Jeannie blatantly ignores me. It’s not until we’re about to board that she draws me aside.

‘I need you to give me a rough idea where to send our interception team. We can’t work completely in the dark till your say-so.’

‘Tell them to have some people out of sight near Owhango,’ I say. ‘Up past National Park.’

‘So they
are
near Maungaroa …’

‘Not close enough that you’d ever find them on your own.’ Jeannie’s about to walk away. ‘But that’s not all — the actual meeting’s about twenty ks south of Eltham. The other place is their home base. I’ll reveal all the details once I know for sure that Jiao’s parents are free.’

‘You’re playing a very dangerous game here, Ashley. Commissioner Hargraves is not a man to dick around.’

‘Give me a break. I promised Jiao I’d help them. You know you’d do exactly the same thing.’ I like Jeannie. I hope she knows it.

‘Even so, I’m starting to get the feeling we’re just pawns … I want you to keep your eyes open wide.’

‘What the hell does that mean?’

But she doesn’t answer. She climbs back into her
patrol car, presumably to relay through the information I’ve given her, and flaps her hand at me to hurry up and join the others boarding the helicopter.

Even if I weren’t spooked by Jeannie’s weird remarks, I wouldn’t share Mikey’s excitement about this machine at all. It’s totally unnatural to travel through the air in a craft that feels so flimsy and is powered by flammable fuel. Despite our ear muffs, it’s so noisy that when Mikey presses his nose to the window and prattles on, there’s no way I can hear him. But as the cone of Mount Taranaki looms ahead, a flutter of hope rises up in me. I take Jiao’s hand and squeeze it, grinning at her as we start our spiralling descent. I can see the haze of smoke that surrounds the farm now. My heart hammers in time with the beating blades.

We land not far from where we were supposed to rendezvous with Travis in the car, just through the trees beyond the bridge. Returning here’s unnerving — it’s like my body’s having flashbacks on its own. My knees are weak, my pulse racing. I have a dry, dry mouth.

A top-brass army guy comes out to meet us, and he guides us towards a waiting ambulance.

Jiao starts to run. ‘Ma! Ba! It’s Jiao! Are you all right? I’m here—’

The back door flies open and a man and woman scramble out. Jiao squeals and runs into their arms. I’m so goddamned pleased for her, tears well up unbidden. I watch her parents stroke Jiao’s hair, kiss her, embrace her …

I have to turn away. Their happy-ever-after hurts like crap.

But now she’s pulling me around to meet them, and
they’re so thin and worn, so scrapingly, grovellingly grateful, I’m swept up with relief they’re free. Jiao’s mother shyly kisses both my cheeks and her father shakes my hand off as he stammers out thanks. They do the same to Mikey, and he beams right back. Claps his hands and does his happy dance right here in front of all the army dudes who’re standing round.

Jiao’s come alive — she positively glows with joy. She throws her arms around my waist and lifts me off the ground. Nearly bloody drops me. Winces. ‘Shit, my ribs!’ She laughs and smacks a sloppy, happy kiss on to my cheek. ‘I’ll owe you for the rest of my life,’ she says. ‘You have no idea how much this means, no idea …’

I don’t bother replying, just shoo her back towards her parents.
I have no idea?
Of all the people in this place right now, I reckon Mikey and I do the most.

One of the army guys directs Jiao and her parents towards the helicopter, then comes back to pull me aside. ‘You’re to come with us,’ he says. ‘Will your brother be all right to return to Wellington with them?’

I nod. ‘He should be. I’ll just go and check.’

I chase up Mikey, who’s already in the helicopter, keen to fly. ‘I’m going to help here,’ I say. ‘Can you look after Jiao and her parents for me till I’m back?’

The joy leaches from his face. ‘No. You come home too.’

‘I can’t, mate. But I should be back later tonight.’

Jiao clicks into classic diversion mode. ‘You can help me cook a celebration feast,’ she says to him, all confidential. ‘We’ll surprise Ash.’

He’s wavering, but his jaw’s still out. I grab my wallet and peel off one of the precious twenty-dollar bills.
Hand it to Mikey. ‘Here — you choose the pudding, mate.’

He takes the note and stuffs it in his pocket. I hope like hell Jiao gets her hands on it before he loses it. ‘Okay.’

I hug him, holding on a few more precious seconds than I need. If things go wrong, he’s all alone.

I hug Jiao too, as an excuse to whisper in her ear. ‘If anything happens, get hold of Lucinda. I’ve written up a will — it’s on the table by Dad’s bed.’ I quickly pull away, giving her no chance to answer back. What would be the point?

As I watch the helicopter rise from the ground, my mood tumbles.
I must be fucking mad.
But the wheels are in motion now, and one of the army guys escorts me to another helicopter that will take us to the police station in Hawera, where we’ll wait until it’s time to rendezvous with Mum. It’s so bizarre — oil might have peaked decades back, yet these guys act like it’s more plentiful than water. We live in two completely different worlds.

At Hawera police station it seems Commissioner Hargraves is heading operations. They’ve brought in all the big guns, that’s for sure. He insists I tell him where Mum and Ray will be.
Dream on.
If the cops flock there now, the two of them could already be on the road and spot them — then they’d run, for sure.

‘Come on, lad. You don’t really think she’ll wait around to speak to you?’ he says. ‘They’re far more likely to have done a bunk.’

I’m ready with an answer. Have rolled this very question around inside my head. ‘I reckon she won’t be able to resist fronting up. She’ll either want to get me
under her control or take revenge.’
How weird is it to say that about your mother? Fucking weird.

‘You think you’re so clever, don’t you, sonny?’ Hargraves’ tone is way more menacing now. He’s used to being in charge. ‘Well, let me make it clear that if you don’t reveal your information by six tonight we
will
arrest you.’ He fingers the gun at his hip.

‘For what?’

‘It doesn’t really matter. We have the power to lock you up then think that through.’ Something I read when I was sorting through Dad’s papers pops into my head:
Freedom has a very thin veneer if you look too close.

I glance up to see Jeannie in the doorway. Her lips are pressed together in a rigid line.

‘Smith, what are you doing here?’ Hargraves’ words sound like a feral snarl.

‘I came up with the dog squad,’ she says. ‘I thought I’d help keep Ashley company until it’s time.’

‘You’re very close to overstepping the line again.’

‘Yes, sir,’ she says. ‘Thank you, sir.’ Her face has turned very pale. He makes a big show of ushering her in, then leaves the room without further word. For a moment Jeannie and I do nothing except listen to his footsteps. Then she blows out a breath and grabs my arm. ‘Come on,’ she says. ‘Let’s get some air.’

She signs us out and hauls me down the street as if we’re manic shoppers, all the time talking at me in a low, emphatic voice. ‘Okay, I want you to give them the coordinates and leave. You understand? It’s all got way too dangerous.’

‘Look Jeannie, I know it’s your job to—’

‘For god’s sake. Listen to me, Ashley, please. I’ve done
more digging round. This whole business is far more convoluted than I ever could’ve guessed.’

‘What’s going on?’

‘Do you know who fired that missile at Niún
i Farm?’

‘I thought it was Muru.’

‘They’d
like
us all to think it was some random anti-UPR attack. But here’s how it worked. Your mate Simon got a message to Jiao’s folks. Told them to wait at a precise point along the perimeter fence south of the gate. But what he didn’t know was that the WA secretly planned to fire a missile off so our army boys could charge in all gung-ho to offer help. They snatched Jiao’s parents up and hid them in a waiting ambulance …’

‘You’re bloody kidding me? Our government agreed to that? Just how many people are they prepared to kill?’

‘It turns out their strings are pulled by the WA.’

The fact I’ve always suspected as much is not the same as having such blatant proof. ‘You’re absolutely sure?’

‘Lucinda and I joined the dots.’

‘I don’t know … I mean … what are you really saying?’

‘Lucinda’s tip-off was right. Bill Chandler, our esteemed PM, really
is
working on behalf of the WA. You know those State-siders your friend Ana talked about? We’ve got it on good authority they’re Secret Service operatives working for the WA.’

‘You’re certain? You think Mum knows?’

‘I imagine so. The clever part is that Chandler conveniently gets to blame anything he wants on Muru. He and bloody Commissioner Hargraves can look like terrorist-busting heroes when the truth is it’s all about taking pot shots at the UPR. All you did by making your demands was hand them yet another chance.’

This can’t be true. The dirty rotten bastards.
‘Why don’t you say something? Leak it to the press?’

‘Because, like it or not, I need to keep my job. And it’s already hanging in the balance …’

‘What about Lucinda?’

‘She’s still collating evidence.’

‘Hold on. Shit. Does that mean it was the WA who wanted Dad dead?’

‘It certainly looks like it. Your father was an expert at his job. I’m sure they’d view him as a threat. But whatever the answer, your mother would’ve known about the plan, even if she didn’t carry it out herself. It’s even possible her visit to him was meant as some kind of warning. Who knows?’

I have to stop walking. Support myself against a wall. I don’t know which would be worse: Mum killing Dad for money and drugs, on the orders of some bastard foreign spies, or for revenge because Dad told her to piss off. ‘Does Simon Chan know he was set up?’

She shakes her head. ‘Absolutely not. The poor man’s going to be appalled.’

‘We should get back inside,’ I say.
Have to focus on the meeting with Mum or I’ll fuck that up as well.
‘I need to keep tabs on what’s going on.’

‘But you can’t possibly go through with this. I don’t trust what’s being planned.’

‘I’m in too deep now,’ I say. ‘I have to see it through.’

‘But you can’t afford to put yourself in danger — god knows what’s about to happen. You have Mikey to think about. Let me help you …’

‘How, Jeannie? Give me a new identity? Just tell me how the hell you expect me to hide with Mikey and Grandma?’

‘I don’t mean that. Mikey and you could come live with Travis and me. I can help support you, and I know Travis would like it too. We’re not the same as family, but give us time. Please don’t throw your life away because you think there’s no way forward. Let me help.’

I’m gobsmacked. Frozen to the spot. ‘Why would you do that?’

Her face flushes crimson. ‘You’ve touched my heart, okay? I feel like I know you better than you know yourself.’ She gulps down air. ‘When Grace first disappeared, I helped with the search. I was a rookie cop. And I’d just had a miscarriage. He would’ve been near Mikey’s age. The sight of you and your father caring for that poor motherless baby always stayed with me … So when I heard about your dad’s death I volunteered to go down to Christchurch. I’d heard some of the conversations between you and your dad—’