Book of Dreams (14 page)

‘I’m so sorry,’ Zoe repeated as she shook Kyle out of his deep trance. Lifting his eyelids she could only see the whites of his eyes. She knew he was way out of his body and that it was dangerous to drag him back to reality this abruptly, but what choice did she have? ‘Come on, Kyle.’ She rocked his whole upper body and the intense pain shocked him awake.

‘Ahhh!’ he roared, angered by the torture and at being forced to break his vow yet again. When he came to focus on Zoe, Kyle found an outlet for his anger. ‘You promised me!’

‘I’m so sorry.’ Zoe struggled to stop her tears as she cowered away from Kyle, startled by his fury.

‘It’s not her fault,’ Max said. ‘I told her to wake you. The police are on their way down the driveway. I don’t know why they’re here and the less I know the better.’

The news was a rude slap in the face for Kyle; he’d never solve this mystery from a jail cell. ‘My mistake.’ He apologised as he rolled out of bed, keeping his subsequent moaning to a whisper.

‘We’ve packed all your belongings in your bag, along with some extra bandages and painkillers,’ Max advised him. ‘You can get out the back. Zoe knows the way.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Kyle searched the covers on the bed for his book, and then, although causing himself pain, got down to look underneath the bed, but it was not there either.

‘Kyle, we have no time!’ Zoe insisted, frustrated by the delay. ‘The rest of your clothes are in the bag.’

The doorbell rang and startled them all.

‘I won’t be able to hold them long,’ the doctor advised.

‘Damn it.’ Kyle was forced to give up the hunt.
Every decision you make will be the right decision; every path you take is the one that leads to your destiny.
Adreana’s wisdom lessened his frustration.

‘Please, Kyle,’ Zoe begged, as she gently took hold of his arm. He allowed her to lead him away.

‘Good luck, kids.’ Max waved as they parted company in his hallway.

Through the back door, Kyle and Zoe stumbled down the path to the gate. When he grabbed the handle to open it, Kyle discovered that it was locked. ‘Christ!’

‘Yes, my child.’ Zoe reached into the ivy-covered wall and produced a key.

‘Good old Uncle Max.’ Kyle smiled as they passed through the gate and Zoe locked it behind them.

‘I’ll post him the key.’ She placed the key in her bag and headed off down the road with Kyle.

‘Stop! Police,’ yelled an officer from behind the gate.

Fortunately, the doctor’s walls were designed to keep people out and due to the long spikes along the top of the fence, the police officers would be forced to go around the block to get to them. Nevertheless, Zoe and Kyle knew they only had a small window of opportunity to make good their escape.

‘We need a miracle.’ Zoe panicked; she’d never been in trouble with the law before.

‘No.’ Kyle calmly considered what might be of aid. ‘What we need is a cab.’ He looked up the street, hoping to will his solution into being.

When a ‘Vacant’ cab appeared at the crossroads and turned down the street towards them, Zoe squealed happily, tears of relief flooding her eyes as she hugged and kissed Kyle while waving down the cab.

Kyle could only laugh at the coincidence. Or had he willed it into being? It didn’t matter; all that mattered was that they were in luck. Still, speed, travel and communication were all gifts of the air. Maybe Adreana had had something to do with this happy twist of fate?

A couple of blocks away, they ceased peering over the back seat and relaxed.

‘So now what?’ Kyle pondered aloud.

‘Well, the first thing we need is a bank.’ Zoe exposed a secret compartment in the bottom of her handbag which revealed a keycard and a passport.

‘Your uncle has probably frozen all your accounts and he’ll trace us if you use that thing,’ Kyle warned.

‘Not this little treasure.’ Zoe smiled. ‘Money can buy anything, even a fake ID.’ She handed him the passport, showing a totally different name. ‘No one has total control of my life, not even a man as powerful as my uncle.’

‘You are a woman with unexpected foresight … Lisa Roberts.’ Kyle read the name on the ID and grinned at his love interest’s devious and clever thinking. ‘How much is in here?’

‘More than enough to get us to north Queensland in comfort,’ she assured him with a wink, and Kyle realised that Zoe was way ahead of him in planning their next move.

‘There’s something I need to get from home first,’ he told her, knowing it would throw a spanner in the works.

‘You can’t go home, Kyle. The police will be watching it for sure,’ Zoe whispered. She didn’t want her voice to carry over the cab driver’s football broadcast.

‘You know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was important.’ He tried to plead with her. ‘We’ll have to figure something out.’

When Kyle got that puppy-dog look on his face, Zoe just couldn’t argue. ‘Well, first things first. Let’s get some transport, some new clothes and some supplies.’

‘You’re the brains of this operation,’ Kyle conceded happily, ‘I’m just the muscle.’ He moaned as he straightened up. ‘At least, I think I am.’

‘How is your bod doing?’ Zoe asked sympathetically. She took a peep at the wound inside his shirt and noticed the blood seeping through.

‘Actually, I feel better to be on the move,’ Kyle lied. Mentally, he did feel good, but his body was cold and weak. Now that he’d lost Book and the chance to meet his fire element, perhaps his chances of staying alive were still in doubt.

Kyle wasn’t surprised that Zoe was a long time in the bank; large cash withdrawals were no doubt checked and double-checked. She had been very confident when departing to deal with the financial side of their operation, and Kyle, having a fear of large institutions, was more than happy to sit and eat a full breakfast inside the cafe across the road.

‘Kyle?’

Kyle nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up to find the old security guard from the Nivok building standing over him, looking very displeased. ‘Jeez, Charlie, you scared the life out of me.’

‘Not any wonder, with the trouble you’re in,’ he grouched, albeit quietly.

‘Do you want to sit down?’ Kyle asked. The old bloke was obviously dark on him, and wasn’t going anywhere. He had something on his mind.

Wary of being seen with Kyle, Charlie scanned the area in a glance and reluctantly pulled up a chair. ‘What have you done with Nivok’s niece?’ He leaned over the table to quietly discuss the matter.

‘Well, nothing yet.’ Kyle assumed he was referring to their romance. ‘I’ve only just met the girl.’

‘Kidnapping is no joke,’ Charlie whispered harshly. ‘I lost my job because of you, and if I’m to have any chance of ever working again, you’ll tell me what you’ve done with her.’ The guard grabbed hold of Kyle’s shirt and yanked Kyle towards him, battering Kyle’s wound against the table in the process.

Kyle released a quiet groan. Then Zoe arrived and pried Kyle’s shirt from the security guard’s fingers. ‘I’m right here,’ she said, stating the obvious as she placed a comforting arm around Kyle. ‘What gave you the insane idea that Kyle had kidnapped me? You saw us leave together the other day,’ Zoe pressed on with her attack. ‘Did it look like I was under duress?’

‘Well, no.’ Charlie was gratified by this turn of events, because he had felt the charge was a little fishy in the first place. ‘Your uncle told the police that you’d been kidnapped by Kyle and Matt. I must confess I didn’t believe it … but when I was fired for letting Kyle in and out of the building after he’d been dismissed, well …’ The old bloke shrugged, bemused. It seemed he was not the only one who was being used as a scapegoat by James Nivok.

‘That seems to explain why the police are so keen to find us.’ Kyle regained the ability of speech, the pain of the knock ebbing away.

‘Oh, Jesus!’ Zoe’s eyes widened in shock. ‘Matthew’s got my car!’

‘Not good,’ Kyle conceded. ‘Please god, don’t let him return to the doc’s house.’

‘He promised me he would,’ Zoe fretted.

‘It’s way too dangerous for us to go back there.’ Kyle had learnt his lesson — a soul as wilful as Matt could take care of himself. Zoe agreed. ‘We have to stick to our own plan now.’

‘So what is going on?’ Charlie inquired. ‘I mean, as I’ve been done out of my retirement fund and a means to earn a living, I would like to know why.’

‘We’re still trying to figure the answer to that question ourselves.’ Kyle felt sorry that he couldn’t help the old guy.

‘Please don’t be concerned.’ Zoe placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. ‘I actually own two-thirds of the company that just fired you … you won’t be out of a job for long, I swear it.’

Kyle read so much more into this statement than just words of comfort for their hard-done-by friend: ‘Is that a business tone I hear in your voice?’ Kyle teased, knowing how much Zoe detested the world of big business. ‘If I didn’t know better I would think that you were planning to challenge your uncle.’

Zoe merely smiled, and made no comment.

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Charlie offered his services.

The couple were shaking their heads to decline the offer, when Kyle suddenly thought more of it. ‘Actually, there is something you can do.’

Charlie made it past the gate at Kyle’s place, but by the time he reached the front porch there was a plain clothes policeman crossing the road to question him.

‘The occupant of this house is being sought for questioning.’ The man flashed a police badge at Charlie. ‘Do you know anything of his whereabouts?’

‘I wish I did,’ Charlie said angrily. ‘The little bastard just got me fired!’ His hands implied that he’d like to wring the suspect’s neck. ‘And since we’ve had this falling out, I’m here to pick up an old chest Kyle was storing for me. It’s just here.’ Charlie reached in under the house and pulled out a slim, reinforced metal case, that was padlocked twice.

‘What’s in there?’ The policeman didn’t really suspect anything underhand was going on, but he was curious. ‘Why the padlocks?’

‘Just some old junk really,’ he explained. ‘I used to have a key for the padlocks, but my kids lost them ages ago. You’d be doing me a favour if you bust them off and check inside,’ Charlie said.

‘Thanks. I’ll mind not to hurt the chest.’ The policeman thought it best to know what he was allowing to leave an area that was under surveillance.

Charlie smiled as he watched the policeman return to his car for some tools. Everything was going to plan.

‘You got it?’ Kyle pounced on Charlie the minute he got home. ‘And you got them to bust the locks off, you total legend!’ Kyle hurried to place the chest on a table and open it up.

‘Yep.’ The old fellow grinned. ‘The policeman was rather bemused by the contents. And so was I,’ Charlie confessed.

Zoe moved closer to see what had been so important it had delayed their escape.

Inside was a faded blue baby blanket.

‘Was that yours?’ Zoe went all gooey and sentimental.

‘I guess,’ Kyle shrugged, pretending not to remember how he’d once dragged the piece of cloth everywhere. He unwrapped the blanket to expose a boomerang. Seeing the depictions of a large ape-like creature on the weapon, Kyle felt an immediate affinity with the object; memories of learning how to hunt with the tool came flooding back.

His young feet were running over a field in pursuit of a target; entering the bushland, he stalked his prey, his heart pounding in his chest as he took aim at the feral cat that had scampered up a tree and let his weapon fly. The death screech of the animal rang in his ears.

‘Kyle?’ Zoe gestured at the item, wanting him to explain his connection to it and its importance.

‘I don’t know,’ he confessed. ‘I just know it will be crucial to our success.’ He knew he wasn’t making sense, but he also knew he had no hope of doing so at present. ‘We should go.’

‘Yes, we should,’ Zoe wholeheartedly agreed.

‘Thanks for this, Charlie.’ Kyle wrapped the boomerang and placed it in his bag for safe cartage. ‘And thank your missus for the cake.’ Kyle motioned to the kitchen he’d raided.

‘Can I give you kids a lift somewhere?’ Charlie offered, not having anything better to do.

‘We’re going to an airstrip out of town.’ Zoe thought their destination was probably further afoot than Charlie cared to go.

‘We are?’ Kyle was surprised and excited to learn this fact.

Zoe nodded and grinned, pleased to surprise him yet again. ‘I have friends there.’

‘I thought you said you didn’t have any close friends?’ Kyle queried.

‘These are the paid kind,’ she advised him, and Kyle looked perplexed. ‘They taught me how to fly,’ she enlightened further.

‘You have a pilot’s licence?’ Now Kyle was definitely in love.

Zoe shrugged as if it were nothing. ‘Part of my well-spent youth alone.’ She was gratified to finally find a silver lining to her life. ‘And flying is just one of the numerous solo pursuits of the disgustingly rich and shameless.’

‘Well, how about I take you out of the city and you can get a cab the rest of the way?’ Charlie suggested. ‘That way I’m home for supper and I don’t know your final destination.’

‘Thanks, Charlie.’ Kyle accepted, filled with emotion by Charlie’s gracious offer. ‘I’m real sorry I got you fired, but I’m going to make it up to you.’ Zoe nodded to show that she agreed. ‘I count you among the only three true friends I’ve ever had … human friends that is.’ The comment made Zoe smile, and although Charlie wasn’t sure what to make of it, he was warmed by Kyle’s apology.

‘You didn’t get me fired, son. It was my own mistake that got me fired,’ Charlie acknowledged. ‘I’ve always had a good feeling about you, Kyle. I know you and this lass here well enough to trust you. If you say there’s something fishy going on, then I believe there is. I’ve worked security at the Nivok building since it was built. Your grandfather,’ Charlie motioned to Zoe, ‘Halifax Nivok, hired me himself. The Nivoks have always been good to me and I’d hate to see the company that your grandfather built, and that your good father poured his all into, fall into disrepute.’