August (19 page)

The guy in the ski-jacket jumped backwards, shielding his eyes from the high-beam brilliance!

They were here!

‘He has a gun!’ I shouted as the car screeched and skidded to a halt beside me.

Nelson and Boges exploded out of the car–the engine still revving–and Nelson sprang at the man with the gun, smashing him down onto the roadway, the gun skittering out from his grasp. Boges ran to pick it up.

‘Watch the other guy in the car!’ I shouted to him. Boges held up the gun and pointed it at the kidnappers’ car, moving it shakily, unable to lock onto the target’s position. I spun around to Gabbi and Winter.

‘Get her in the car!’ I hissed as Winter lifted Gabbi from the roadway, struggling with her inert form. Before I had the chance to help her, the
second
man from the car materialised between us.

He ran towards Boges in a black blur and kicked the gun from my friend’s hand, before hurling him heavily to the ground. Next he took a swing at Winter and wrenched Gabbi out of her arms, flinging her tiny, fragile body over his shoulder like it was nothing but a sack of grain. Winter tumbled to the ground.

The driver stood tall and menacing, wearing a black fedora, pulled low, and a black trenchcoat.

I lurched at him, but he held Gabbi high, out of my reach. ‘Get back, you crazy little punk!’ He spat at me as he retreated, and reached behind his back with his free hand.

‘Stay down!’ I ordered my friends, thinking this guy was reaching for a gun. Sharkey was still fighting and rolling around with the other gunman in a desperate struggle nearby. All my focus was on Gabbi.

‘Let her go, you scumbag!’ Winter yelled from behind me.

‘You want her? Then get in the car and tell your friends to rack off!’

I leapt towards the car, but as I did the
fedora-wearing
man sidestepped to the edge of the bridge, still holding my sister aloft. His trenchcoat flapped wildly in an eerie, sudden gust of wind.

‘Here, catch!’ he screamed.

We all watched in horror as he lifted my sister over the bridge railing and threw her off.

I fell to my knees. Everything around me went hazy and I felt like throwing up. I barely heard the splash as Gabbi crashed into the wild river below.

‘Gabbi!’ I screamed. ‘No!’ I scrambled to my feet and raced towards the edge of the bridge, climbing up the railing. I had to save her!

‘Cal, no!’ I heard Winter cry, desperately.

I stood up and dived head first into the
fast-running
, freezing water, without a care for the jagged rocks below.

Under the water I felt like I was in a dreamworld. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I fought the surge and kicked my legs, finally emerging and breaking through the surface.

‘Gabbi!’ I screamed into the darkness as the water thrashed me along. How was I going to find her? The river quickly carried me further and further away from the bridge.

I desperately twisted around, searching for my sister. I hoped the sleeping-bag would have cushioned her fall a little, and that it would help keep her afloat … just long enough for me to find her.

I couldn’t see anything as the river carried me down, just the chop on the flooded river’s surface and the banks looming black on either side.

‘Gabbi!’ I screamed at the top of my voice, half-choking. ‘Gabbi!’

I dived repeatedly, finding calmer water underneath the surface. With every plunge, I reached out into the murky blackness near the bottom of the river, hoping to touch her. I was
frantic. In her unconscious state, Gabbi would have no chance–no survival instincts would kick in. Once the sleeping-bag became saturated, it would drag her down to her death.

I groped around in the water, but all my scrabbling fingers could find were stones and mud, decaying timber and leaves.

The cold was getting to me. My ears and head were aching.

I made another panicked dive and collided with a large, submerged log. As I pulled myself away from its clutches, my hands touched fabric! Thick fabric! A sodden sleeping-bag!

I had found her!

I grasped around, pulling at it, looking for her arms so that I could pull her out and take her to the surface with me. I was counting on her still being alive!

But I couldn’t find her arms–or her legs. I couldn’t find her at all. The sleeping-bag was empty. My sister had been washed away in the torrent!

As I resurfaced, a terrible shriek ripped out of my body. I kicked at the log at my feet, and tore at the empty sleeping-bag, screaming into the night air, howling like a wolf.

Gabbi was gone.

She was gone!

I swam to the edge of the river. It took me five attempts to scramble up the bank.

I had failed in everything. I had lost the Ormond Jewel and the Ormond Riddle.

And now I had lost my little sister’s life.