The Peco Incident (22 page)

Then the light came back on.

A couple of minutes later, we heard noises; not the noise of creaking concrete — people noises.

We began yelling. Then I climbed the ladder and bashed on the trapdoor as loudly as I could.

‘OK, OK!’ came a male voice from outside. ‘Hold off for a moment!’ I did.

The door swung up. It was Nigel, the security guard we’d been watching with earlier. Behind him was Nick.

‘Who are you?’ asked the guard staring down at Roost.

I didn’t wait for Roost’s answer. Instead, I scrambled up the ladder into the space above, and started running.

‘Danny!’ Dad called out after me, but by then I was far enough away to pretend I hadn’t heard.

I raced towards the tunnel that exited into the colony. Partway along, I heard footsteps running behind me. It was Nick!

‘Hang on!’ he called.

I didn’t, knowing that he’d catch up anyway.

The gate was locked. I shook my head in despair. Brio might think we were easy beats, but nobody could ever say the same about her.

‘Is she out there spraying?’ asked Nick.

‘Yes.’

He stared at me for a moment, before turning to go back down the tunnel. ‘We can climb the gun!’ he yelled over his shoulder. ‘That’ll be better than going the long way around.’

It would be, too. That’s if we could lift the cover over the bunker. I ran after him.

There was no sign of the others as we raced past the storeroom by the magazine. I assumed they’d gone out the main entrance. They probably thought we’d gone that way, too. It could be ages before they got to the area where Brio would be spraying. Our way had to be quicker.

The lights went out as we climbed the steps up into the gun pit. Fortunately, some shafts of moonlight shone through a clear-plastic cover at the top of the steel ladder beside the gun.

Without pausing, Nick climbed up and bashed at the cover. Nothing gave. Nearby was a padlocked wooden door in the cover over the gun.

‘Try that!’ I said.

Nick swung across like a monkey and punched at the plywood. It cracked on the first hit, and moments later was splintered enough for Nick to climb through. As soon as his legs disappeared, I followed.

The sight that greeted us was amazing. The sky was full of
exploding fireworks. They were shooting up from the cruise ship, one after the other. It was past midnight and they were celebrating big-time. For a moment we just stood and gaped.

Then there was a lull, and we remembered why we were there. Finding Brio was not going to be easy. The moon was now close to the horizon, with its light creating long shadows of blackness. Where it did still shine, we could see bundles of white sitting amongst the grass. They were the roosting albatrosses, seemingly unconcerned by the fireworks that once more were exploding out at sea.

‘C’mon,’ I said as our eyes were yet again attracted to the sky. ‘We’ve got to find her.’

We moved onto the slope that led down to the edge of the cliffs. At the same time a bright, multi-coloured flare burst overhead, lighting up the land in front of us.

‘There she is,’ hissed Nick

She was less than a hundred metres away. Without the light from the fireworks overhead, we would never have seen her. No longer was she wearing the coloured clothes I’d seen in the fort; now she was clothed entirely in black.

As we moved forward, the light from the fireworks faded until we were walking in near darkness. We dared not run for fear of stumbling onto an albatross. After a time I couldn’t be sure if we were still moving in the right direction. Then I heard the diseased-barking sound I’d first heard at Allans Beach: the sound of a spray pump.

I grabbed hold of Nick. ‘Stop!’ I whispered. ‘She’s right there.’

He stopped, and together we listened to the pumping.

‘What are we going to do?’ I asked.

‘Attack her!’

‘We don’t have the gas masks,’ I said.

‘Doesn’t worry me’ came his reply.

‘OK. But we’ll need her out where we can see her.’

The pumping stopped. Next, there was a brief hiss from the spray jet. And then we could see her. She’d moved out of the shadow of the hill to approach a couple of albatrosses on the slope just below us. Now we could see that the black outfit was a wetsuit. Apart from the spray unit she was carrying, she had what looked like a stick slung over her back.

That was the moment when we should have attacked.

We didn’t. Instead we watched in shock as she walked up to an albatross, aimed the spray nozzle, and fired. The bird never moved as it was coated with the misty spray. She moved on to the next one and did the same thing.

Her actions were so heartless that it was beyond scary. Already the virus would be inside the lungs of each bird. It might take a week before they died, but they were effectively dead from the moment the spray hit their nostrils.

I had no doubts that Brio knew exactly what she was doing — she just didn’t care. In her mind, the deaths of the albatrosses were necessary: they had to die, because her twisted mind thought it would make a difference.

For a while, the horror of what we were seeing stopped us from attacking. And by the time we recovered, it was too late.

She’d finished that set of birds and was looking around for
more when she saw us. Without knowing it, we had shifted out of the shadows into the last of the moonlight.

‘Well, hello, boys,’ she said in a sexy-sounding voice. ‘I thought there was somebody nearby. Why don’t you step a little closer, so I can see you more clearly?’

Nick and I looked at each other. This could be our chance. We moved forward, separating so that we could attack her from each side.

‘Stop!’ she ordered. ‘Get closer together or I’ll shoot.’

We stopped. The object I’d thought was a stick slung over her shoulder was now in her hands. It was not a stick; it was a rifle — one that was pointed directly at me.

Y
ou’d better believe me,’ said Brio, ‘I
will
shoot.’

Nick and I moved closer together as she had ordered.

‘That’s better,’ she said, but she didn’t shift the rifle any. It was still aimed at my chest.

‘Sit down!’ she demanded.

‘No,’ said Nick.

I stared at him. This was not the time to argue with her.

She swung the rifle until it was pointed at Nick. ‘I told you to sit!’

‘No!’ Nick repeated. Then he stared straight into her eyes and said, ‘You won’t shoot.’

‘I will,’ she responded, showing signs of anger.

‘No, you won’t,’ said Nick. ‘That rifle doesn’t work. It’s one from inside the fort and they’ve been disabled.’

An evil smile spread over her face. ‘But I’ve enabled it.’ She then lifted the bolt on the rifle and moved it back before slamming it shut again. ‘And now it’s loaded,’ she added.

Was it a bluff? Had she fixed the thing so it could shoot? I certainly wasn’t prepared to take the risk.

‘Then prove it,’ said Nick. ‘Shoot it into the air.’

Brio shook her head. ‘No — I’m not falling for that. If I shoot, it’ll bring everyone. I’ll shoot only if I have to.’

Nick took a step forward. ‘Then you’re going to have to,’ he said.

‘Stop!’ she shouted.

When Nick took another step, I felt as if my heart would jump from my chest. ‘Don’t, Nick!’ I cried. ‘She’ll kill you!’

He took another step. And another.

Then Brio stepped backwards. He’d called her bluff and won.

As he took another couple of steps, she reversed the rifle until she had it by the barrel. Now it was a club and almost as dangerous as if it had been loaded.

‘I’ll smash your head in,’ she said in a way that left no doubt that she would.

Nick stopped.

‘Now, move back.’

He hesitated for a couple of seconds. Brio raised the rifle higher until Nick finally got the message and moved back, much to my relief.

‘Now what?’ he asked.

‘Now we—’ The sentence was never finished. Her head
snapped towards the hill behind us. I turned and saw several torches approaching. It was the reinforcements. I smiled: now we had her.

But when I turned back, I saw the rifle lying on the ground and Brio sprinting towards the cliff. Nick was following a few metres behind.

They raced down the steepening slope without any regard for personal safety. I followed, but without the courage to move in the same reckless manner.

It was probably just as well, because suddenly both of them were on the ground and sliding towards the edge. A moment later I, too, felt my feet slipping on the dew-wet grass. I slowed to a crawl, wondering if I should go on.

Somehow Brio stopped herself. She was so close to the top of the cliff that her feet dangled over the side. Nick was several metres above her, still sliding down. If he held that path he would hit her. Then I realized that he wasn’t trying to stop. He was using his arms to get more speed. He wanted to crash into her. He wanted to force her over the edge.

I cried out, trying to stop him: to warn him that he would go over, too. But it was wasted breath. He was hearing nothing. And anyway he was past the point where he could stop in time. The collision had to happen.

He hit head-first, with his hands raised to give her an extra push. Brio lifted her arms in a last attempt to save herself. It made no difference. Nothing could change things. An instant after the collision, she silently disappeared from view.

Nick ended up parallel with the edge. His hands and feet
scratched at the surface, clutching at anything that might hold. Nothing did, and soon he, too, was over the side. But not silently. I heard two grunts, and then the screaming started. Piercing screams of pain that lasted long after he’d reached the bottom.

I crawled across the slope, keeping well clear of the place where they had gone over. Instead, I headed towards the lighthouse where the cliff face was mostly rock. For some of the time, that area was well lit by the flashing light.

By the time I started my descent, Nick’s screams had been replaced by groans. There was still nothing from Brio.

They’d gone over in the centre of a curved cut into the headland. From my position at the side, I could see that the drop was far from vertical. Ancient lava flows had formed layers, some harder than others. The drop where they’d disappeared was just a few metres to another slope. This one was bare rock and much steeper than the grassy slope above. It ended in another short drop to a ledge-like layer. That was where Nick seemed to be. Below that was a very steep fall of several metres to the rocky platform that formed the shore.

The climb down was uncomfortable rather than difficult. The sharp rocks cut my hands and pierced my clothing. But I’m sure my pain was far less than Nick’s. He’d stopped groaning and was now expressing his pain using words — many of them unrepeatable. Strangely, I found the swearing reassuring: at least he was alive and conscious. Then he must have caught a glimpse of me in one of the flashes of light.

‘Danny!’ he called. ‘Over here!’

I waited until the next flash, hoping there was enough light to see him. But the ledge remained in shadow.

‘I’m coming,’ I said. ‘I’m almost on the ledge. Keep talking so I can find you.’

‘What do you want me to say?’

‘Where’s Brio?’

‘I don’t know. It’s absolutely black here. She could be right beside me and I wouldn’t know. Not unless she stinks, which she probably does, because she’s such a rotten person and rotten things usually stink, don’t they? Maybe she is beside me, because there is a smell of some sort. If it is her, then I think she should …’ And so he continued, rambling on about Brio, her body odour and how rotten she was, until I was close enough to make out his shape in the faint light.

‘You can stop now,’ I said. ‘I’m here.’

I felt his hand touch my leg. ‘So you are,’ he said, more brightly than I would have expected.

‘What’s the damage?’ I asked.

‘My leg is broken.’

‘You sure?’

He gave a little laugh. ‘Oh yes, I’m sure. I’ve done it before.’

‘Does it hurt?’

‘Not anymore. It’s numb. It feels as though it’s not there.’

I didn’t know whether that was a good sign or not. I lowered my voice to a whisper. ‘Do you really not know where Brio is?’

‘Haven’t seen her, heard her or smelled her,’ he replied.

‘Do you think she’s dead?’

He gave a snort. ‘Not her! She’s probably—’

A voice interrupted us, calling from above. ‘Danny! Nick!’

It was Dad.

‘Down here!’ I yelled back.

A spotlight came on, shining from the side opposite the lighthouse. A circle of light moved along the ledge. Just short of us, it stopped. No more than five metres away, in the centre of the circle was Brio, sitting with her back to a rock.

‘Let there be light,’ she said in her little-girl voice. ‘And there was. And it shone all around.’ Then in her normal voice, ‘Which is just what I need.’ She crawled to the edge to peer at the drop down to the shore platform. ‘Bye, boys. This time we won’t meet again.’ With that, she stretched a leg over the edge, and within seconds had gone from view.

‘You’ve got to go after her, Danny,’ said Nick, urgently.

‘Why? She can’t go anywhere from down there.’

‘Yes, she can,’ he said. ‘Why do you think she’s wearing a wetsuit?’

I closed my eyes, annoyed at my stupidity. I’d thought she was wearing it for camouflage.

‘She’s going to swim around the coast,’ said Nick. ‘You’ve got to stop her!’

‘How?’

‘I don’t know,’ he cried, shaking his head. ‘Just do it! You’ve got to go now!’

‘What about you?’ I asked.

‘They’ll find me,’ he said nodding in the direction of the light. ‘I’m not going anywhere. Go and get the bitch.’

So I went.

A
lthough the climb down to the shore platform was steeper than the earlier slope, the smooth rock and many cracks made it much easier. It got even better when the spotlight began following me.

I looked up and saw that there were now two lights. The original and a smaller one that was being carried across the grassy slope; hopefully it was a group going down to rescue Nick. I waved my arm to indicate that I was all right and was going down to the shoreline. In return a hand gave the thumbs-up in the beam of the spotlight, suggesting that they approved of what I was doing.