The helicopter pilot nodded and pointed down at Mr Drew. “What about this joker? He’s got a bullet in him. How we gunna explain that?”
“Ve put anozer bullet in him so he don’t talk and ve make the body disappear too,” Mr Dragovisic answered.
On hearing that Willy gasped with horror. He could not believe that the man could so cold bloodedly propose such a thing. But he knew from horrible experience that men were capable of such acts. Through his mind flitted ghastly images of his murdered Uncle Ted, and of the drug growers shot in cold blood by the Columbian gang in the Lamb Range only four months before. Now, even as he hoped it wasn’t true, he saw Mr Dragovisic hold the rifle barrel down near Mr Drew’s head.
He’s not going to surely? Willy thought, appalled at the idea.
Bang!
Willy gasped and then stared aghast as he saw Mr Drew’s body twitch. Then the stunning reality of what he had just seen swamped Willy and he shook with horror and terror.
That is what they will do to me when they catch me, he thought. As the terror almost overwhelmed him he began to panic and he experienced a frantic urge to run. But some shred of self control kept his muscles still.
Mr Dragovisic then looked around and said to the helicopter pilot, “Go back and get Mr Carter to get some trucks and der front-end loader here. Guide zem through these verdamt hills. And bring back Zoltan and a couple of his men so ve can find zis boy. While you are gone I vill have a look for him. Be quick. I want zis place cleaned up before any search planes spot it.”
“How you gunna hide the crash site boss?” the helicopter pilot asked, staring down at the body of Mr Drew.
“Tell Mr Carter to bring some of those prefab cattle yards. We will build a set of temporary yards and put some cattle here. They will soon trample out any signs. Now get going. I need men here and fast.”
“Yes boss.”
Willy bit his knuckles and tried to stop himself shaking as he watched the helicopter pilot start walking back towards his machine. Then Willy saw Mr Dragovisic turn and look in his direction.
Now he is going to look for me, he thought, the terror all but paralysing him.
Chapter 5
APPALLED
For a few seconds Willy was so scared he could not move. He kept thinking, This can’t be real! But he knew with a sickening certainty that it was.
We have stumbled into some criminal activity here and they are ruthless, he thought. But thinking about what that might be was pushed aside by the fear for his own survival. Mr Dragovisic was only fifty metres away and holding the rifle that he had just demonstrated he had no compunction in using.
I must get away, Willy told himself.
He risked another glance and was relieved to see that Mr Dragovisic was looking in the wreckage of the aircraft. That gives me a few seconds, Willy thought. But he knew he could not stay where he was. The piece of wing he was hiding under was both the nearest and the most obvious piece of wreckage and the man was sure to search it.
But that gave Willy a cruel dilemma. The helicopter was about to take off and his white shirt would be really obvious against the green of the grass—but if he waited he might not have time to reach cover before Mr Dragovisic arrived. As he turned the options over in his mind Willy clenched his fists and shook almost uncontrollably. Fear and pain swamped him. Sweat and blood trickled into his eyes. With a hand that was shaking so much he could hardly control it he wiped the blood away. He tasted more blood but ignored it.
I’ve got to go or I am dead, he thought. But which way?
Twenty-five metres to his right was the gully but what he had seen of it did not give him much hope. It was shallow, only a metre or so deep with a dry, sandy bottom. The sides were typical of all streams in that part of the world—mostly vertical. Worse still there were almost no trees or bushes along it. Almost frantic with fear Willy lifted his head and looked around. The other choices were to crawl directly away and stay low in the grass; or go diagonally away across the floor of the valley to the limestone ridge. The base of this was about a hundred metres away and had patches of dense green vegetation on it.
The ridge, Willy decided after thinking about the fieldcraft training he had received as an air cadet. By then the helicopter was starting up again and Mr Dragovisic had pulled his head back out of the wreck and was now fingering the bullet holes in the rear of the fuselage.
Shirt, thought Willy and he set to work with fumbling fingers to undo the buttons. But he was shaking too much so he gave that up and in desperation tore at it. Within seconds he had ripped the shirt open and rolled on his back to shrug it off. Rolling in the grass covered his sweaty body with grass seeds and dirt but he barely noticed.
Knowing that he was running a terrible risk Willy bunched the shirt up into a tight ball in his right hand and started wriggling through the long grass using a leopard crawl. As he did he heard the helicopter’s engine note change and he froze and cringed, then glanced back. To his horror, Mr Dragovisic was already ten paces closer. But the man then stopped and looked back as the helicopter lifted off.
I must risk it! Willy thought.
He started crawling quickly, knowing that there was a risk of the pilot spotting him as the machine rose. All Willy could hope was that the man’s attention was focused on making sure his rotors did not strike a tree.
Gasping and sobbing with pain Willy continued to crawl. Sharp stabs of agony lanced through his right arm and shoulder and his whole left side seemed numb and unco-operative. But desperation gave him the strength to ignore the pain and to drag and push himself along.
Then another thought came to him. If I crawl directly away I will leave a trail of flattened grass that Mr Dragovisic can see along.
Willy immediately changed course and began crawling diagonally away. The effort of moving and keeping as low as he could really hurt but he forced himself to do it.
Almost as nerve wracking Willy found, was not knowing where the man was or what he was doing. Driven by absolute fear Willy dragged himself to a tree and then summoned the courage to carefully raise his head. He knew it was a risk but felt it was one he had to take.
I must know! he thought.
And there he was! Mr Dragovisic was only twenty metres away and looking at the broken wing Willy had just hidden under. Willy froze in fear and hunched lower, tensed to run. If only I had a weapon, he thought. The idea of finding a piece of wreckage he might use flitted across his mind but he knew that it would be just pure luck to find such a piece while crawling away.
Now there was the danger of Mr Dragovisic seeing the trail of flattened grass. All Willy could hope was that it would look as though the grass had been crushed by the crash. Even as he thought this Willy heard the man start walking, muttering in some foreign language as he did. Willy risked a glance—the grass was not tall enough to hide him properly anyway. The man and his rifle seemed to grow and shimmer in his sweaty vision but he saw with relief that the man was not looking in his direction and was still walking across behind his left shoulder about twenty paces away.
He is focused on some other piece of wreckage, Willy thought. Now go the other way.
Willy squirmed around the tree and began to crawl diagonally back towards the main wreck while still angling upslope. In his haste, he knelt on a dry stick that gave an audible snap as it broke. He paused and silently cursed. His heart hammered wildly and he berated himself.
Watch where you are going, you bloody fool!
But Mr Dragovisic had not heard the sound. Probably because he is making more noise himself, Willy thought.
He now set off crawling