The Tesla Legacy (28 page)

‘It’s a corona discharge,’ said Mick. ‘It’s caused by gas ionisation. Like you see in those old Frankenstein movies.’

‘Whatever it is, it’s beautiful,’ said Jesse, watching the lightning swirl around her other hand.

Mick was watching one particularly bright discharge zapping from the four brass wall panels over to the machine and up the girders into the
ceiling, when the static was interrupted by a hissing sound, then a dull thump.

‘Mick, look,’ shouted Jesse. ‘The door’s open.’

‘What?’ Mick spun around. ‘Shit! You’re right, Oz, it is. Come on. Let’s get to buggery out of here.’

‘Brother! You don’t have to tell me twice.’

In a mad rush, Mick and Jesse gathered up their things and made a beeline for the entrance. Just before they got down to crawl under the door, Jesse subconsciously turned off the light and the erratic glow from the corona discharge saturated the darkened room with its wild, intense radiance. Mick snatched a quick look to make sure Jesse was behind him, then they scrambled through the tunnel and out into the open.

After gasping out one huge sigh of relief, they sat on the ground with their backs to the granite and the tunnel on their left, while they got their breath and composure back. Alongside them, the light from the corona discharge shone under the doorway and flickered through the tunnel.

Mick rolled his eyes and put an arm around Jesse. ‘Oh, bloody hell!’ he cried. ‘Daylight never looked so good.’

Jesse rested her head on Mick’s shoulder and they stared across the valleys up to the bright blue sky.

‘Jesus! I didn’t think we were ever going to get out of there,’ said Jesse. ‘God! I never want to go through anything like that again.’

‘Reckon.’ Mick turned to the light flickering in the tunnel. ‘Hey. We left the door open.’

‘Yeah? Well, you can close it if you want to,’ replied Jesse. ‘I’m staying right here, thank you.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Mick. ‘But I’d better close it.’ He was about to move when there was another dull thump and the light stopped flickering in the tunnel. ‘Well, I guess that’s that,’ he said.

Mick sat back for a moment, then absently patted his pockets before shaking his backpack. ‘Shit! I’ve left the bloody keys inside.’

‘Good,’ said Jesse. ‘Leave them there.’

‘What about your story? How are we going to prove the thing’s in there if we’ve got no keys?’

‘Dynamite,’ said Jesse. ‘I don’t really give a stuff, to be honest.’

‘Okay,’ said Mick.

They sat there for a few minutes and had a drink of water, just happy to be alive. Jesse still had a roll of film left in her camera, so she took a few photos of the tunnel and a couple on ten-second delay of her and Mick sitting next to the entrance. And got Mick to take one of her holding up the old wagon wheel.

‘Well what do you reckon, kiddo?’ smiled Mick as Jesse put her camera away. ‘We make a move?’

‘Yes, let’s get going,’ said Jesse. She returned Mick’s smile. ‘You know inside the cave when you were talking about us dying in there?’

‘Yes, Oz, I do,’ replied Mick seriously.

‘Well, there’s no toilets or anything in there. Can you imagine what the smell would have been like before we both carked it?’

‘Ohh, Jesse,’ said Mick. ‘You’re off.’

‘I know,’ laughed Jesse. ‘And they would have been the last words I’d ever hear you say.’

Mick shook his head. ‘Come here, shitface,’ he said. Mick took Jesse and kissed her passionately. Jesse returned Mick’s kiss with love and affection. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of here,’ said Mick, when they’d finished.

‘Yes. Let’s,’ smiled Jesse.

They climbed into their backpacks and set their caps and sunglasses, then picked up their staffs from where they’d left them and started back along the old trail.

Commander Sisti was starting to get a little concerned. The spectators and the polo teams had packed up and gone into the house and he was about to give Agent Sierota the hint that it
might be time for them to leave. Sitting beside him, Agent Sierota’s eyes never left the scanner while his face got darker and darker. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he nudged Commander Sisti with his elbow.

‘Jesus Christ! They’re moving,’ said Zimmer, stabbing a finger at the scanner. ‘I’m getting a profile. It’s flickering a little, but it’s them, all right.’

‘Yeah? Where are they?’ Commander Sisti asked, trying to hide his lack of enthusiasm.

‘Right where we lost them. And they’re coming this way.’

‘Okay.’ Commander Sisti reached to start the engine. ‘Here we go.’

The Kiowa’s powerful engine roared into life and the four rotor blades began to spin. Commander Sisti checked his doppler and directional gyro, gave the helicopter the necessary throttle, then lifted off from the helipad and banked towards Burning Mountain. Agent Sierota reached behind him, took the AR 18 from the ziplock bag and pushed the magazine back in.

Mick’s headache had cleared up and the relief he and Jesse now felt as they walked along the trail was immeasurable. They sang a few choruses from a couple of songs. Mick poked Jesse in the backside
with his staff and they stopped for a quick game of Darth Vader versus Luke Skywalker using their staffs as laser swords. Several curious bush turkeys appeared out of the scrub, so Jesse took their photo and further along she stopped to take a photo of another willy-willy. Jesse put the camera back in her bag, then stopped, sniffed the air for a second and looked up at the sky.

‘Hey Mick,’ said Jesse. ‘Remember back at the tunnel I said I thought I heard a helicopter?’

‘Yeah,’ replied Mick.

‘Look up there,’ pointed Jesse. ‘What’s that coming towards us?’

Mick stared up in the direction Jesse was indicating. ‘You’re right,’ he said, above the noise. ‘It’s a helicopter. Shit! I’ve never seen one like that before. What’s that big bubble under the rotor blades?’

‘I don’t know,’ replied Jesse.

They slowed down to watch the approaching helicopter as Agent Sierota opened the door and poked the barrel of the AR 18 out of the hatch.

‘There they are, Roy,’ said Zimmer. ‘Coming along that trail right out in the open. Jesus! They’ve even slowed down to take a look. Okay. Bring the ship around so I can get a good clean shot.’

‘Roger that,’ said Commander Sisti.

Mick held a hand up over his eyes as the helicopter banked then he stopped and put an arm out in front of Jesse protectively.

‘Hey, Oz,’ said Mick. ‘Look at the colour of that helicopter and the markings on the side.’

‘Yes,’ said Jesse. ‘It says US Army.’

‘And what’s that poking out the door. It looks like a gun barrel.’

‘A gun barrel?’ Jesse turned to Mick, wide-eyed. ‘Mick. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’

‘Bloody oath I am,’ shouted Mick. ‘Come here.’

Mick grabbed Jesse roughly by the arm and dragged her behind a nearby gum tree as puffs of smoke chattered from the helicopter and a long row of bullets tore noisily up the trail, spattering rocks and dust from one side to the other.

A second later another burst of bullets stitched up the trail, ripping an unsuspecting bush turkey into a bloody mess of feathers, bones and entrails.

‘Mick,’ yelled Jesse as several long black feathers fluttered down onto the trail, ‘it’s the NSA. They’ve found us. Now they’re trying to kill us.’

‘Yes. I gathered that, Oz,’ replied Mick. ‘Keep behind this tree till we figure out what to do.’

‘Keep behind the tree?’ said Jesse. ‘Mick, it’s not much thicker than a bloody pencil.’

‘I know,’ said Mick. ‘But it’s all we’ve got for the time being.’

Agent Sierota silently cursed his poor marksmanship. ‘Damn it,’ he snarled. ‘I missed them. Can you take it in a bit closer? They’re behind that tree on the right. And try and keep it steady.’

‘I’ll do what I can,’ replied Commander Sisti. ‘But there’s all these weird little wind swirls. Like mini tornadoes. I’ve never come across anything like them before.’

‘Okay. Well, do what you can.’

Mick poked his head around the tree as Agent Sierota emptied the magazine at it, stripping away huge pieces of bark and several small branches that fell into the dust and rocks kicking up round the tree’s base. Agent Sierota quickly removed the first magazine and banged in another, emptying the entire clip at the tree as Commander Sisti did his best to keep the helicopter stable. The bullets ripped up the ground and tore into the gum tree almost chopping it in half. Mick stared at the bark and splinters falling into the dust, then turned to Jesse who was holding onto him for dear life.

‘Jesse,’ said Mick. ‘In another couple of seconds this tree won’t be here.’ He motioned to a small ridge of granite over to their right; it was sheltered by trees and the rocks had formed two short, uneven walls. ‘You see those rocks over there. Take your backpack off, run over and shelter behind them. And wait for me. I’ve got an idea.’

‘All right,’ said Jesse. ‘But your idea better be a good one.’

Jesse dropped her backpack, took a deep breath and sprinted for the outcrop of rocks. She’d barely left the tree’s shelter when a hail of bullets ripped up the trail around her. Jesse screamed, staggered about for a second, then pitched drunkenly forward and fell amongst the rocks. Agent Sierota fired another burst into the ridge, spattering the dust and sending pieces of rock whizzing everywhere. Jesse kicked once then rolled over onto her back and lay still.

Mick couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. ‘Jesse! Oh no!’ he screamed in horror.

Mick tore off his backpack and, oblivious to his own safety, sprinted across to the ridge. He knelt down and picked Jesse up, cradling her in his arms. Jesse’s chest and stomach was covered in blood and gore and a trickle of blood was
running from a cut in her forehead down into her left eye. Mick peeled her right eyelid back and Jesse looked straight through him. Apart from Aunt Nina, Mick had only ever seen one dead body before. His partner, Mark, when he got electrocuted. Mick didn’t have to look twice to know Jesse was dead.

Absolutely grief-stricken, Mick closed Jesse’s eyelid and howled at the sky. ‘Ohh no. No. Not Jesse. No.’

Mick’s eyes filled with tears and a huge lump formed in his throat as he gently placed Jesse’s inert body amongst the rocks. While he was bent over, another burst of machine-gun fire banged and pinged into the ridge spraying dust and shrapnel all around him. But apart from the burning in his eyes, Mick didn’t feel or hear anything. Mick Vincent’s world had stopped turning and he was trapped in a void of whirling emptiness. Then the tears stopped and Mick’s face turned to stone as a surge of ice-cold hatred filled his body. Jesse was gone and he’d never get her back. But he’d make the bastard responsible pay for it. Mick stared at Jesse’s torn body for a moment while another fusillade of bullets smashed into the ridge, then, heaving with rage, he got up and raced back behind the bullet-torn tree.

His face a mask of callous satisfaction, Agent Sierota whipped the empty magazine out of the AR 18 and pushed in a full one, as Commander Sisti did his best to keep the Kiowa steady.

‘I got the girl,’ said Zimmer. ‘I saw her go down behind that spur.’

‘Nice shooting,’ acknowledged Roy. ‘You used enough bullets to waste Afghanistan. Where’s the guy?’

‘He ran back behind that tree, the idiot. Take me in a bit closer and I’ll chop the tree down and him with it.’

‘Whatever you say,’ replied Roy.

Sitting with his back against the tree, Mick unzipped his backpack. He rummaged around inside then took out a small white calico bag containing his slingshot and a plastic container full of lead sinkers, each the same diameter as a twenty-cent coin. Before they left Newcastle, Mick had told Jesse he was taking his slingshot with him in case they came across any feral cats or wild dogs out in the bush. Jesse had agreed that was a good idea. Mick grabbed several sinkers, then picked up a piece of branch and put it through the straps of his backpack. Sensing the helicopter coming closer, Mick poked his backpack out from behind the tree. A second later a burst of machine-gun fire
tore through his backpack and into the ground, angrily kicking up more dust and rocks. Mick pulled his backpack in and poked it out the opposite side of the tree. A longer burst of machine-gun fire from the helicopter tore through his backpack and stitched up the ground, then abruptly stopped. Taking his chances, Mick rose to his feet and stepped out from the tree as Zimmer removed the empty magazine and fitted in a full one. Mick only got one look at the sinister figure sitting in the open door of the helicopter. But that was all the young cane toad terror of Maryborough caravan park needed. Mick loaded a lead sinker into his space-age ging, drew the spear-gun rubbers back as far as he could, and let fly.

Smiling along the gun barrel, Agent Sierota had a perfect bead on Mick and was about to squeeze the trigger when the lead sinker slammed into his left eye like a musket ball. Zimmer had never felt pain like it. He dropped the AR 18 on the floor of the Kiowa and screamed in agony as his eyeball exploded and dribbled down his cheek. The pain was so intense, it sent Agent Sierota into immediate shock. Clutching at his bleeding eye socket, he started thrashing wildly around the cockpit, shaking and babbling incoherently.

Commander Sisti turned urgently to Agent Sierota. ‘Jesus Christ, Zimmer!’ he shouted. ‘Watch the freakin’ controls.’ Roy took a closer look at Agent Sierota’s face and grimaced. ‘Holy shit! What happened to your eye?’

Roy was holding the controls and trying to aid Agent Sierota when another heavy lead sinker whizzed into the cockpit and hit Commander Sisti in the face, tearing straight through his cheek, smashing his teeth, ripping a piece out of his tongue and fracturing his jaw. Roy gagged and swallowed a mouthful of blood, causing the sinker to lodge in his throat. Clutching his jaw with one hand and trying to control the Kiowa with the other, Roy went into a coughing fit, spraying blood all round the cockpit. Gagging and battling the pain, Roy was barely managing to keep the chopper under control when another lead sinker flew into the cockpit and hit him in the neck like a rabbit killer. Commander Sisti grunted with more pain, then his eyes rolled shut and he slumped forward over the controls, unconscious. As he did, his hand hit the Automatic Thermal Imaging Sensor, and in a split second the computer took over, causing the Kiowa to bank rapidly. It levelled out and with Commander
Sisti jamming the throttle and Agent Sierota convulsing alongside him, the helicopter sped towards the most prominent heat profile in the vicinity.