2042: The Great Cataclysm (12 page)

‘I can’t believe they did this. What’s the matter with them? I’d a thought they’d have more to worry about than this leaking out before they’re ready. Bastards!’

Josh put his hands of Nick’s shoulders. ‘Look, calm down buddy. They won’t harm her, they just want to shut her up, until the press conference.’

Nick paced and Maxime’s eyes followed him back and forth. ‘Do they expect me to wait here until they decide I can leave? I can be back in Australia in less than two days. Before this gets out. I need to be there.’ He walked to the window to gaze at the fog rising around the city buildings. His mind just as fogged.

‘How do you plan to get out of the country? They’ll be watching you.’ Josh said.

‘Just let them bloody well try to stop me. I’m not saying any more. If you don’t know you can’t tell anyone.’ He snapped. Then was reminded of his remorse when he had snapped at Josh at the airport. ‘Sorry. I don’t blame you. I know you didn’t expect this to happen. From now on we’d better watch who we talk to.’

Josh rubbed his forehead and sighed. ‘Yeah. I was going to call you late last night, but I didn’t know how to tell you. If we get through this I’ll make it up to you and Laura somehow.’

‘You can start now, tell those bastards at the Capitol I fell for their bait.  I’m looking for Laura, give me time to sort things out.’

Josh headed for the door. ‘I’d better get out of here, they’re probably watching me too. Good luck buddy. I’ll keep looking for Laura, make sure she’s okay.’  He saluted and was gone.

***

Nick trembled and he felt the anger rising. If this was how people were going to react, things were going to get rough. He had to get away, but how? His normally structured mind churned like that damn concrete mixer again! He’d wanted to find out where Laura was, but that could take more than a few days! A few precious days..
.
Christ what’s happened?  This’s crazy
!
  He hurried to the bedroom, opened drawers, moved papers, looking for any clues Laura may have left, then to her small office to repeat the exercise, but found nothing.

His mind flashed to their last conversation when she had said she wanted a man around all the time
.
He wondered what he would have said if this situation had not existed
.
There was no way he would give up his life at sea, he needed a woman who would want to share that with him, and Laura was not that woman. He went to the bathroom and the face in the mirror told him it was just as well, she would never leave Washington for anyone, least of all him, even though she had said she loved him. For a moment his anxiety over her safety was replaced by sorrow when he realised he did not love her that much either. It was over.

He also saw he wasn’t going to find her and decided to leave the country anyway. Frustration welled inside him. Josh would look for her as he promised, that was the least he could do. His nerves jumped like tight strings rebounding when his sat-phone phone buzzed, alarming him more than it should have.

‘G’day Nick. How y’ going mate?’

Nick sighed. It was good to hear a fellow Aussie’s voice, best of all Graham’s welcome rumble.  In his state of funk he’d almost forgotten about him.

‘Not so good pal, where are you? I need to call you back.’

‘I’m in LA. The Airport Hotel. Why? What’s up?’

‘Can you get over to Jerry’s place?  I’ll call you there in forty-five minutes.’

Jerry’s was a restaurant where Nick and Graham had often dined when they were both in LA, a popular intimate place in Venice Beach, where they served the best steaks in town.

‘Jerry’s? Sure,but why the mystery?’

‘Can’t explain now, I wouldn’t ask unless it was important.’

‘Okay mate. You’re lucky, I’m between flights and I could do with a good feed. How’s Laura?’

‘She’s fine.’ The words hung in the air. ‘I’ve gotta run. Jerry’s. Forty-five minutes, and keep your bloody eye-phone on!’

Nick threw the sat-phone on the table and stared at it wondering whether it was bugged. It was still early morning, he could go out and call Graham from a phone check station. These were service booths located in all the parks and public areas where people could recharge their eye-phone, get city directions, order a Trancab and many other options, and he worried that they too could be bugged, but figured this would be the safest option, as people did not use them to carry on conversations when they had their personal eyephones, which he was sure would be bugged. He fumbled around in Laura’s robe and found his jacksuit. It was not as stylish or as functional as those worn by executives and government officials, but wearing this he would blend in with the crowds on the streets. He plucked the eye-phone set that Laura had bought him from the shelf where he had tossed it, and jammed his hair under a baseball cap. He felt ridiculous.

Graham would need about 30-40 minutes to get to Jerry’s from the airport, so he calculated he should wait 15 minutes. He glanced at is his TAG wristwatch impatiently waiting. While he waited plans formed in his mind. If he moved fast he could be in LA today, and off with Graham to Hawaii before they knew what he was up to. It would be easy to get out of Hawaii, especially if he could talk Graham into taking the flight back to Australia.

Nick wished he was back in The Alice now where he first met Graham. Things were so uncomplicated then. Brian and he were young, and Graham was so sure of himself. Brian had nagged Nick into going on a balloon flight, and it turned out to be the most fantastic week of his life. He thought Graham was the most reckless character he had ever met. Higher, higher, faster, faster, he never seemed to get enough.

It was Graham who persuaded him to push ahead with oceanography. ‘The world needs the odd sane scientist.’ He’d said, laughing at his own joke.

Nick loved his sense of adventure, the devil-may-care attitude that matched his own, and they were very much alike. Underneath the gentleman facade Graham was a tough cookie. He’d built his airline from small beginnings, moving cargo through the outback of Australia, to carrying passengers and then on to international passenger flights. His ambition was boundless and Nick admired him more than any man alive. Graham would help him. He looked at his watch it was time to go!

Chapter Fifteen

Nick sensed a presence, but did not look behind as he walked briskly away from Laura’s building without looking back, letting anyone who may be following think he was unaware of them. He headed for the nearby Lincoln Park two blocks from Laura’s apartment, thinking how the scenery differed from his usual walking area on the deck of the Platypus. Trancars buzzed three lanes deep in every direction, and until he reached the park he found himself dodging jack-suited business people heading for their mundane jobs in the tall glass houses that lined the streets blocking the sun. He found the jacksuits men wore to be dull and boring colours of grey, black and brown. The women however had managed to turn the jacksuits into fashionable clothes, wearing various styles of jackets and colourful accessories over the body suits. If the weather was mild most people wore normal clothes.

The air was cool as Washington enjoyed the spring season, and the park, one of fifty-nine triangular parks designed by Pierre L’Enfant, that provided urban green spaces for locals to relax in the beauty of the outdoors. T
he Lincoln park, s
even acres in size, featured many monuments, gracious lawns and gardens, and Nick wished he had time to enjoy the atmosphere and the calm it engendered in those fortunate to spend time here. He smelled the fresh cut grass and the perfume of prolific flowers as he walked, stopping now and then to steal a furtive glance toward the people walking behind him.

He made his way to the boundary of the park where he spied a phone check station. People were coming and going in all directions, but none appeared to pay him any attention. He punched the connection service for Jerry’s number and waited while a flustered waitress on the other end looked for Graham.

‘Now you’ve got that waitress curious.’ Graham rumbled. ‘She’s wondering why someone would call for me on this phone. She’s not the only once curious, so am I. What’s up?’

‘Listen pal, I don’t have much time, I want you to do me a big favour.’
Nick wheezed from his fast walk.

‘Anything mate.’ Graham answered.

Nick glanced around. ‘How long are you going to be in LA?’

‘As long as I like. Why? Are you coming over? That’d be great. It’s too bloody long since we got together.’

‘Yeah, I am, but I um, don’t want anyone to know. I’ll get on the first flight I can. Can you to check in at Jerry’s every couple of hours?  I don’t want to use our sat-phones. Um, I’ll leave a message where to meet me.’

‘Oh, so it’s okay now for me to turn my phone off. Why all the cloak and dagger? Why can’t you just come to my hotel?’

‘I think I’m being watched. I can’t explain now. Just do as I ask, okay?’

‘Bloody hell Nick, what have you done now? Killed somebody?’

‘No of course not! But I could be in trouble.’

‘What again? Never a dull moment with you is there? Okay, I’ll call Jerry. I’ll see you when you get here.’

‘Thanks, mate.  See you soon.’

Nick hung up. If he wanted to get out quickly, he would have to call and get on the first available flight. He pushed the connection button for a domestic airline and was able to secure a seat on a flight out of Ronald Reagan airport to LA at 1pm. He flipped his watch, he had four hours to fill in.

He needed something to settle his nerves, but even he would not take alcohol this early in the morning, so he opted for coffee.

A group of people milled around on a nearby corner, making it impossible to determine if someone was watching him, so Nick briskly retraced his steps, nonchalantly swinging his arms. He turned a corner and was relieved to see a café on the same side of the street just one block away. H
e strode into the café f
umbling in his pockets for change, and selected a seat at a table near the front window where he could see if anyone suspicious approached.

He ordered a black coffee from the waitress, who looked like she was at the end of a twelve hour shift, and glanced around the room briefly noting the shabby décor, and the two men propped at the counter. They did not appear to notice his presence as they argued over the latest baseball game. Josh’s warning that the CIA may be watching him came back to him, and he wondered what they would do if they saw him going to the airport. The coffee failed to revive his energy or calm his nerves so he left, uncomfortably suspecting a presence somewhere in the background. He marched back to the Trancab station at the park, climbed into one and gave it directions to Laura’s apartment building.

The
spacious
lobby here was typical of upmarket apartment buildings,
housing a coffee shop and boutiques,
with various areas of seating arranged around lush indoor plantings. Nick didn’t recognise the desk clerk, who was eyeing him suspiciously, wondering why a visitor or guest would wear a business jack-suit in this building. Nick could read his mind
.
Who was this interloper off the stree
t
? He struggled to keep calm as he assessed the people around him, most eyeing him with the same suspicions as the desk clerk. It was not the right time or place to be dressed as he was, reeking of body odour. A family approached the front desk and while the clerk was distracted, Nick slipped around to the nearest lift and impatiently punched the button to the Penthouse several times.

The apartment was quiet, cool and deserted when he entered. He found Maxime curled up asleep on Laura’s bed. He’d have to do something about that cat, it would break Laura’s heart if she came to any harm. He decided to call Josh from Los Angeles and have him collect Maxime. Meanwhile he’d ask the manager to check in on her, he’d have to leave the key for Josh with him anyway.  Then another thing crossed his mind. What about the animals? Those trapped in zoos. It didn’t bear thinking about.

He showered, changed his underwear and climbed back into his distasteful jack-suit. Then he selected one of Laura’s briefcases, threw in some underwear, his favourite moleskins and some T-shirts, patted Maxime, and quietly left the apartment. He dropped the key off to the surprised desk clerk, with instructions for the manager, and strolled into the restaurant off the foyer. The place bustled with the late breakfast crowd finishing coffee. The staff recognised him from his many visits with Laura and took no notice when he wandered casually into the kitchen. Without pausing, he darted through the service door onto the street, where he broke into a run for the nearest Trancab station.

***

Nick slumped into the front seat of a Trancab feeling a little smug, certain he had given anyone following the slip. The cab’s air-conditioning was not working and he screwed up his nose as the lingering smell of cigar smoke disgusted him. ‘Ronald Reagan airport.’ He commanded.

Trancar traffic was building up and the ten kilometres to the airport was going to take at least thirty minutes. He had no sooner left the station than he spied a black Trancar behind him that carried a government identity plate. His pulse rate quickened. He glanced at his watch and saw he had plenty of time. Seeing the only way to shake the government car he guessed was following him, was to get out of the Trancab, which he could not do as it was programmed to take the shortest route to any destination. He wished for the days when he could have ordered a cab driver to ‘lose that car behind us’ instead he commanded, ‘Capitol South Metro.’