Page 90
It hadn’t been in her head; she felt foolish, but relieved.
‘Quick, we’re almost there. Even if they don’t see us, I can see Standley Chasm ahead. We can walk there in about half an hour.’
‘Yes, I could see those low serrated peaks from where I was sitting.’ Calm kicked in as Sandra started to feel normal again.
The thudding got louder, and the air seemed to vibrate around them as they reached the bank at the top of the incline. Graysen held out both hands to help Sandra up the last step to the trail.
As she lifted her head, a yellow helicopter approached, hovering low and moving closer to them every second.
Sandra squinted as she looked up and she put her hands up to shade the sun from her face. ‘What on earth? It’s Ellie’s helicopter. Not hers, I mean. It’s the one she flew at Yellow Water. At the lodge where she worked.’
‘There’s probably a few up there now,’ Graysen said. ‘It looks like they’ve started searching for us.’
‘That’s the only one we’ve seen, and we haven’t heard any the rest of the time we’ve been out.’
The helicopter came lower, hovering over them, and a man leaned out of the passenger side, gesturing ahead along the trail.
Sandra’s mouth dropped open and she yelled and jumped up and down, waving her arms. ‘Connor!’ She grabbed Graysen’s arm. ‘I don’t understand it, and I can’t believe it but that’s my son-in-law. In fact, I think it’s my sons-in law and stepson. Kane’s a pilot, like Ellie.’
‘Your sons-in-law? Don’t they live in Darwin?’
‘Yes. I have no idea what’s happening.’ The sound was deafening now and they had to yell over it to hear each other speak.
‘The company must have contacted our families when we didn’t turn up last night.’
‘It’s too quick,’ Graysen said. ‘They wouldn’t have had time to get here. Look, they’re landing a bit ahead where the track widens out. That’s what he was pointing at. I still think we need to keep out of sight. If anything is going to draw attention to where we are, and Zed and Miska are still around, that helicopter will have got their attention.’
***
‘She looks okay.’ Kane brought the bird in to land on the wide flat section of the trail he’d spotted about five hundred metres away from Sandra and the man. ‘Connor, get on your sat phone and let the girls know she’s okay.’
‘Right, I’ll be brief.’
‘Hang on a minute, we need to find out what’s happened first and who he is. And maybe we need to make sure she’s safe with him,’ Ryan said.
‘Let’s give it five minutes, and we’ll see what’s going on.’
‘We don’t know who he is, so keep your wits about you when we get out of the chopper,’ Connor warned.
Kane killed the engine and they waited until the rotor slowed. Connor jumped out and ran in a half-crouch, followed quickly by Ryan. Kane wasn’t far behind them, and he kept his eyes on the man that Sandra was clinging to.
They hurried along the track towards them, and Connor was the first to reach her. Sandra let go of the guy and fell into Connor’s arms; Kane could see the smile on Sandra’s face from where he was.
‘What an earth are you all doing here? How did you know that we needed help?’ She reached for Ryan and he held her until Kane reached them.
Sandra hugged Kane, but the guy behind her spoke. ‘It’s not safe here. We need to get out of sight. Maybe one of you can stay here with me while I explain what’s going on, and you can take Sandra back to safety at Standley Chasm.’
Kane looked at Connor as Sandra turned.
‘Graysen, this is Kane, Connor, and Ryan. Boys, this is Graysen Hughes, who’s kept me safe since—’
‘Good to meet you all,’ Graysen interrupted Sandra. ‘Look we really have to get off the track. We’ve got a badly injured guide down there, and there’s a guy with a high-powered rifle.’
‘It’s okay,’ Kane reassured him. ‘We’ve been up the trail another three kilometres, and back as far as the Old Telegraph Station, and up to the old Homestead. There’s no sign of anyone on the trail at all. It’s busy with police down at Standley Chasm, and we saw them carrying someone out about a kilometre back.’
‘Look, to cut to the chase, we need to get back to safety,’ Connor said. ‘We know what’s going on and you’re right, it’s dangerous. The main thing we need to do is to get you pair into the chopper and away from here.’
Graysen shook his head. ‘No, I’ll stay here. I have to show you where to go. We’ve got another couple, and one of our guides with fairly serious injuries about four kilometres into the bush.’ He paused and looked at Kane. ‘I think the best thing would be if you take Sandra back to Standley Chasm, and one of you stays with her to make sure she’s safe, and then you come back, and I’ll guide you to the others.’
