Calypso's Mast

Chapter 5 - Cave Hideout

The track curved steadily to the north and Banning left his parallel path to the road and cut through the bush in a straight line toward the creek crossing. He figured they would probably save a kilometre by tracking in a direct line to the destination.

He and Suzi were about five minutes from their destination when he heard an engine. It sounded like another microlight approaching.

"You've got to be joking," he murmured. "They've got a second one. These people have too much money."

Suzi, heel." They ducked under a thick bush to stay concealed from the air. "Where's it coming from?"

He looked out to see the microlight was approaching from the south and following the track. It finally started circling up ahead, about five hundred metres away. 

"He's found the four wheel drive, Suzi."

Staying under cover, Banning and Suzi carefully worked their way closer. After a few moments there was a different sound. It was someone tearing along the track from the south-east, in a vehicle. It was driving hard.

It passed Banning's position and the noise stopped up ahead. Then came the shouting and the screaming after which the microlight headed south and disappeared in the distance.

Banning stealthily eased closer until he could see what was going on.

It was not good.

The four wheel drive vehicle, in which the girls had been driving, was bogged in the middle of the creek. Both doors were open. The second four wheel drive vehicle was a Toyota Landcruiser wagon and looked like a hire vehicle. It was stopped at the edge of the creek, blocking the road.

The vegetation in the area was fairly dense but he could see what he guessed was Charleton. In a clearing adjacent the creek, was  Pitcher. Her arms were over her head. Banning squinted. O'Grady was nowhere to be seen. Pitchers hands appeared to be bound. Charleton had passed a rope over a branch and had tied it to her wrists. He had his back to Banning and he was shouting into her face.

"What! Are you trying to make me look like a fool?"

Pitcher was crying quietly. She shook her head.

"Well, that's exactly what you're trying to do!" he shouted barely a couple of centimetres from her face. "I'm going to teach you a lesson." He was carrying a large knife in his left hand and he transferred it to his right hand. "No-one does this to me and gets away with it."

He reached out and flicked off the buttons of her shirt with the tip of the knife. The shirt fell open.

"No, no, Franklin, don't do this," she cried.  She turned her head away from him.

The sharp edge of the knife eased up between her breasts and cut the string of her bikini top in the centre so that it fell apart.

"This is going to be so sweet," he said.

At that moment, Pitcher hung all her weight on her hands and kicked Charleton soundly in the groin with her right foot. He yelled, then gagged and bent over on the ground in great pain, just out of reach of her feet as she swung to try and kick him again.

Slowly he straightened up. His face was contorted in rage. The satisfied smile on Pitcher's face was quickly replaced with fear.

"Mark my words," he hissed, "You are going to pay dearly for that."

As the knife started to move again, Banning's first arrow hit him in the right buttock at a range of forty metres. Charleton didn't even hear it coming. His look of rage turned to surprise when his right leg collapsed under him. He looked around, not sure of what was going on. The arrow had gone straight through the cheek and into the water of the creek. He couldn't work out what was happening.