New Atlantis Bundle, Books1-3 Page 19

  ‘No, I know the basics. He is a good kid who does not deserve to drown in Sydney Harbour when he is pushed overboard by his psycho cousin. End of story.’

  ‘We do not know for sure that is what happens. Until we looked more closely at him, we could not be sure he would be suitable for extraction. Historical records do not tell the whole story, you know.’ Her tone was condescending.

  ‘Really? I did not know that, Dorothy. Although it might stand to reason, that the cousin who grows up to be a rapist and murderer, probably was not an innocent bystander in the events.’ He let his voice drip sarcasm.

  Dorothy huffed her displeasure and quickly collected up the scattered paperwork. ‘I’ll leave you to your Television, then. But I will be reporting your attitude to higher authorities on our return.’

  ‘Knock yourself out, as they say in this time!’

  Chapter Two

  Jane was in a state of high anxiety. It was well past 9.30 and, although the bell had rung several times since then, there had been no sign of Julio. The idea that she would never see him again was glaring at her like the neon sign advertising topless waitresses down the road: Repugnant, scary, and impossible to contemplate.

  She should have known something was going to happen. The nightmare had come to her again last night, in all its terror: water everywhere, drowning in its salty embrace; reaching for someone; unable to tell which way was up to the surface; her lungs ready to explode; and then the excruciating pain that shot her upright and to full wakefulness in her bed, gasping for air.

  When she’d had that recurrent dream in the past, something bad usually happened shortly after. The ‘uncle’, with the painful, encroaching hands she’d dealt with so extremely, had been the first. She’d washed herself over and over, after what she did that day. But that feeling of being dirty would not go away. How old had she been? Eight, possibly nine? Not old enough to know how to handle such liberties.

  After that day, to stop the guilt and self-loathing, she had pushed down the part of her that could do such a thing, and learned instead to hide in shadows, like a little mouse, never attracting attention. It was better than the alternative. Far better. And mostly it had worked. Except for the occasional drunken fumbling, she’d escaped the worst such men could do.

  But the dream was back, and because there were no men in her mother’s life at the moment, she didn’t need to look in that direction for the coming disaster. That left Julio or her mother. And, although it would be horrifying for anything to happen to either of them, she couldn’t help wishing that if there were a choice, it would her mother, rather than Julio, that met with some catastrophe.

  Maude was busy gossiping with the old lady from Number 19. The topic, as it so often was at this time of year: the oppressive heat. They complained about the weather almost as much as they did the government, or the rumours that developers were going to flatten The Rocks and turn it into cheap accommodation.

  Tuning out their chatter, she dutifully unpacked more of the boxes Maude had collected the day before. It seemed to take her a full week to get everything unpacked and priced, between serving customers. Then, just when she saw an end to her task, it would be Thursday again, and Maude would be off to restock. And the process would start once more.

  The bell above the glass door to the shop tinkled again, but she didn’t allow herself to hope that it was Julio. It was getting up to the midmorning rush. Even if it was him, she wouldn’t have the time to talk. He’d lose interest, waiting for her to be finished, and would go on his way.

  But at least if he came in she’d know he was all right.

  Bending down to get the cartons of cigarettes out of a box, she didn’t look up until the familiar voice drew her attention.

  ‘Hard at work, Jane, as usual?’

  Snapping to attention, her face flushed with excitement, she turned to soak in the wonder that was Julio. His surprised expression told her that he must have been able to read the joyful relief on her face.

  With a quick glance in Maude’s direction, Julio gestured for her to move further up toward the far end of the counter, as far away from the eavesdropping ears of Maude and her crony as they could get. Baffled, Jane followed his direction, and moved away to begin unpacking an unopened box sitting beneath the shelves closest to the display window.

  ‘A little bird told me it’s your birthday on Sunday. As I won’t see you then, or tomorrow, I thought I’d bring your gift today.’ He spoke softly, leaning over the counter to get as close to her as possible.

  On the glass counter he’d placed a small box. Flustered, Jane looked from the plain, navy jewellery case back to Julio. Was this a joke? He couldn’t have bought her a gift could he?

  ‘Why…’ she started to stammer. He cut her off with an impatient gesture.

  ‘It’s not much. Don’t get excited. I didn’t think anyone else would be giving you a birthday gift, so I thought I would. That’s all. Open it.’

  His voice was gruff and annoyed, telling her she wasn’t to make more out of it than that. He probably gave girls little gifts all the time. They meant nothing.

  To her, it seemed more like a gesture of pity. Part of her wanted to refuse the gift, to assuage her pride.

  That he was right, about her lack of gifts for her birthday, only hurt her more. She’d never been given birthday presents, over the years, except at primary school when the teachers would give each child a card and present for their birthday. She doubted her mother even knew when her birthday was, anymore.

  With trembling fingers she lifted the lid off the box and revealed a gold, teardrop locket and chain sitting in a bed of tissue. A small stone, which looked surprisingly like a diamond, shone from the top of the drop. Tears stung her eyes as she stared down at the beautiful object.

  ‘Put a picture of your parents inside,’ he told her, as he moved away to look up at something on one of the higher shelves. Was he giving her time to recover? Was he embarrassed by her tears?

  ‘Thank … you. It’s … it’s beautiful.’ The tears were falling now, and she couldn’t stop them.

  ‘It’s waterproof. You can wear it in the surf or in the shower. If you wanted to, you need never take it off,’ he said without looking at her, his head still angled up toward those top shelves.

  The thought of wearing the locket in the shower, when her body was naked, brought flames to her cheeks. There was nothing suggestive in the way he’d said those words. He hadn’t meant to infuse them with sexual awareness. But that was what she felt, right down to her toes.

  ‘Put it away, quick. Here comes the hag, sniffing around for her pound of flesh.’

  Jane wanted to point out that it was the Merchant of Venice who wanted his pound of flesh, not a fairy tale hag. She’d be more likely to want a length of her hair. And as Jane’s hair was not long enough for such a purpose, the danger was moot.

  But the locket was another matter entirely. Maude could make it impossible for her to accept such a gift.

  Hastily, she replaced the lid and dropped the box into the pocket of her apron. Then she grabbed a packet of Malboros, and put them on the counter in front of Julio.

  By the time Maude reached them, Julio was handing over the money for the cigarettes, and Jane was ringing up the amount on the ancient cash register.

  ‘A lot of whispering going on up this end, Jane. I don’t like my employees flirting with the customers. Want to do that sort of thing, you can get a job working the bar at the topless pub down the street. If they’d want you, that is.’ Maude looked from her to Julio, her beady eyes challenging him.

  ‘We didn’t want to interrupt your fascinating conversation down your end with something as trivial as my purchases. A discussion on the weather is far more important than work, isn’t it, Mrs Robbins?’ Sarcasm dripped like acid from Julio’s tight lips, as his eyes flashed fire.

  Like the bully she was, Maude knew she’d met her match. With a loud huff, she walked away.

  ‘You shouldn�
��t do that. She’s just as likely to tell you to take your custom elsewhere,’ Jane whispered in terror.

  ‘Doesn’t matter if she did. I won’t be back here again.’ He was still watching his enemy, like a panther watched its prey – waiting in predatory stillness for her next move.

  The sudden onslaught of nausea almost crippled Jane. Not be in again? That was the worst news she‘d ever heard. Worse even than when her mother had told her she’d have to leave school and get a job as soon as she turned fifteen. Her widow’s pension, her mother had told her, didn’t go far, and child endowment would be cut off soon. So she may as well get used to the fact that she had to start paying her way. All Jane’s dreams of writing for a living had gone up in smoke that day.

  But this news was far worse. And her heart felt like it was being squeezed by a cruel fist. Her breath was hard to find, and painful when she did.

  Julio seemed to have decided Maude was going to cause no further trouble, and he turned back to Jane. Unexpectedly, he reached over and claimed her hand, drawing it up to his mouth to drop a kiss on its back. Too startled to react, Jane gawked at him.

  He stared up at her with fixed intensity, from beneath his raven wing hair. ‘I want you to remember something, my dear young friend. You are a remarkable young woman. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise. Do something special for your birthday, because you deserve it. Nineteen is a special age…’

  ‘How did you know…?’ she started to ask. But he let her hand go, as suddenly as he’d taken it, and turned to leave.

  She couldn’t let him go out of her life without some parting word. But what? How did you convey the gratitude his off-handed interest had meant to her? There weren’t words.

  ‘Julio,’ she called after him, shocked by how loud her voice seemed to her ears. Both Julio and Maude turned to her.

  ‘I will miss you,’ was all she could think of to say.

  He nodded fiercely, his handsome features radiating some intense emotion she couldn’t interpret.

  ‘Who knows, maybe we will meet again someday soon. Have courage, Querida. Your day will come.’

  Jane ran to the door as soon as she heard it close, wanting to catch a last glimpse of him as he walked away. She barely heard Maude’s offended, ‘Well I never!’ All focus was on the muscular back as it disappeared down George Street.

  ‘I will miss you,’ she had said, as loudly as he had ever heard her speak. Defiant – knowing she was stepping out of the shadows that protected her, intentionally drawing his attention. How devastated she had looked, as if he’d torn out her heart, and offered it to her on a plate. He would remember those sad, tear-filled eyes forever.

  What had possessed him to buy her that locket? An impulse had waylaid him on his way to the corner shop that morning. The pawnbroker’s window displayed gold pendants. The teardrop locket had attracted his eye. When he thought of her, he thought of tears. That the shopkeeper had pointed out the seal, which protect any precious pictures placed inside, it seemed significant. He wanted her to be wearing it on Sunday. He wanted her to have something to help remember her mother.

  He’d never had such a memento. His mother’s face had faded from his memory hundreds of years ago. And though she hadn’t been a good mother, she had been all he had. When she’d died in the plague, he was left with nothing.

  Sometime during the purchase of the locket, Julio had made the decision. If it was within his power, he was going to save Jane’s life. He was going to give her a new life in a world far gentler than the one she was used to. In such a world, she would learn to step out of the shadows, and become the person he had glimpsed beneath the protective façade. She would become a force to be reckoned with.

  Later that evening, he and Dorothy went over their plans. They knew a wild storm called a ‘southerly buster’ would break over Sydney Harbour just as the Ferry left Manly Wharf. They would go to the marina below Taronga Park Zoo, steal one of the half cabin cruisers with a good size engine, and make their way the short distance out to the Ashton Park Point. That would be where the North Head Steamer Ferry would pass shortly after 7.15 pm.

  They would set up a false buoy, to make it look like the craft was moored, and then hide as the Ferry passed. They’d then watch for their Target when he went overboard, pull him out of the water, and head for the shore. It would be difficult, with no lights on a stormy night, but they couldn’t risk detection.

  The Ferry would turn, a mile past the spot where the boy and his rescuer went overboard, and come back to look for them. They had to be back on land, making their way to the already calibrated Exit Point just inside the tree line of Ashton Park, by that time. The cruiser would be set adrift, and would be found the following day, presumed to have broken its moorings during the storm.

  It was a very tightly choreographed Retrieval with no assurance of success. Both Tommy and Jane might be dead, if and when they were found. All they could do was make sure their plan went like clockwork, and leave the rest to fate.

  ‘I am worried I will not be able to steer the craft in the storm. We might capsize and be lost, too.’ Dorothy was fiddling with the biro she’d been using to take notes, pressing the top in and out as her thoughts circled their plans like a dog chasing its tail.

  ‘Stop with the pen, already. It’s driving me crazy! You knew what the plan was before you volunteered for this Jump. You knew all the risks. Why start worrying now?’ He reached over and collected all the maps and paperwork, neatly packing them up. He found it interesting that he spoke in the informal speech of this time now, even when he was with Dorothy.

  ‘I know, but it was not real then. Now it is, and I am not sure I am up to it. I think I need to go back and get you someone else. I have done my part. You needed a suitable Australian who could infiltrate the school, and that is what I did. I am not physically up to this.’ Her voice was getting higher as her panic increased.

  ‘Dorothy, calm down, you’re working yourself up. I’ll steer the cruiser to the pickup point. All you have to do is hold it steady while I bring the Targets on board. I’ll take over again then, and get us to shore.’

  ‘Targets? We have one Target, Julio!’ Dorothy’s face was a twisted grimace.

  ‘We’re going for them both, if we can. I’m not about to stand around and watch an innocent girl drown because she didn’t fit the criteria. And I know Cara and Jac would agree with me. I’ve made a point of getting to know the girl over the last week. She’ll make a worthwhile citizen.’

  He glared at his partner, staring her down. His trump card was Cara and Jac, the couple in charge of the Child Retrieval Project. They were well known as mavericks, more interested in just outcomes than sticking strictly to Protocol.

  That no one had considered the girl in the prep leading up to the Jump was an oversight. And until he’d met her himself, Jane had only been a name on a dossier, a peripheral concern, while the true spotlight was trained on young Tommy. But, somewhere along the way, Julio’s focus had shifted. Yes, he was getting their Target. But he was also determined to get Jane, too.

  ‘We will barely have the time to find the boy. We cannot risk the added time it will take to locate and rescue the girl, too!’

  ‘They’ll be close together. You’ve read the records. She went over less than a minute after he did. And she’ll have tried to get to him. I’m sure we’ll find them together, and I can fish them both out at the same time.’ He tried to placate her, fighting his instincts to just lay down the law. Teamwork meant co-operation. If he wanted this to go as he planned, he had to have her co-operation.

  ‘If that is the case, all right. But if not, we do not waste time trying to find her.’ She was digging her heals in, and he saw the light of combat in her eyes. He forced himself to take several deep breaths to calm down. He would do his cause no good by escalating this battle, when they had no idea what would happen on the day.

  ‘I’m sure it won’t come to that,’ he said, to defuse the situation. There was no w
ay he was going to agree to her plan, but she didn’t need to know that. Time for such a battle would come, if the situation warranted it.

  Seemingly mollified, Dorothy nodded and climbed to her feet. ‘I am going down to the restaurant for dinner. Then I may have an early night. This heat is exhausting me. Are you coming?’

  ‘I’m not hungry. I’ll watch a bit more television before I turn in. Have to make the most of the last few days. No more Bonanza and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour after Sunday!’

  ‘You really need to grow up, Julio. You really do. This is not play time. This is serious business.’ Yet again with the age thing. It was more than time he pulled rank on her.

  He stood up and walked right up to her, looking down at her from his impressive six feet three inches. She was a tall woman, her long steel grey hair knotted on the top of her head giving her added height. But still she was nowhere near his height. Fear and confusion reflected in her eyes as she looked up at him.

  ‘I am old enough to be your great, great grandfather, Dorothy. I had already had my hundredth birthday before you were even born. This young man’s body? It is my third. Please pay me the respect my senior years deserve.’ He spoke very quietly, in formal English, each word soaked in venom.

  The seemingly older woman blinked rapidly and drew in a strangled gasp. ‘I… I had no idea!’

  ‘You newcomers never do. You will have to be with us a lot longer before you start to value a person for who they are, rather than the age they appear. Maturity is the common denominator of our world, Dorothy. It grants no one special rights. Try to remember that.’ His eyes were still hard, as he used them to pin her in place.

  After a moment, he stepped away and made for the couch in front of the TV. ‘And if you will excuse me, this old man would like to enjoy his shows while he still can. You know the way out.’