‘He has another two hours. Get on that radio and tell them there’ll be another high dive every thirty minutes if the money’s not here! Next time it’ll be that little lady behind you.’
‘Do something Nick!’ Alex pleaded wringing his hands. The thought of Karen being thrown from the roof terrified him.
Nick felt his hands shaking as he called Dave. ‘He say’s you have two more hours. He’ll throw Karen into the sea if the money’s not here in thirty minutes, and a hostage every thirty minutes after that until you get the money here. For Gods sake Dave where is it? Over.’
‘We’re trying our best but the communications are stuffed up. It’s being flown in from Amberley RAAF base west of here as we speak. Over.’
‘Iknow where Amberley air base is. He has eighteen hostages, including five children and us. There’ll be a lot less if he doesn’t get it.’
‘I know, I know. Any idea who these people are Nick? Over.’
‘Christ Dave. No! Does it matter?’
‘Do you have a plan B?’
‘What do you mean do I have a plan B?’ Nick snapped. ‘Just get it!’
‘You know I will.’ Dave answered cautiously. ‘I’ll keep you up to speed. Over.’
‘These bastards have nothing to lose Dave. Over’
‘I wouldn’t say that. Over.’
‘Yeah, maybe. It doesn’t look like that from where I’m standing. I want to know everything that’s going on. Don’t let us down Dave. Over.’
‘Just stay calm. Don’t do anything rash. Okay? I’ll be back to you soon. Stand by. Out.’
The next two hours passed interminably slow and the hostages, despite being petrified about who would be killed next, were angry and arguing among themselves. Nick made no attempt to intervene, letting them vent their fears on each other.
The looters kept their distance whispering among themselves. Nick could see that they, too were becoming agitated. He was trying to think of a way to stop them carrying out their threats should Dave fail to get the ransom. He was going to stop them, one way or the other.
Karen busied herself telling the children stories. Alex had attended to those who had wounds and now that he had less to do, his gaze followed Karen’s movements, which did not fail to get Nick’s attention. Good luck mate. He thought.You had your chance and failed, it’s time for someone else, someone who can give her the love she deserves. He surprised himself with those thoughts. He thought about Laura and days gone by, but she had hardly entered his mind since he had seen Karen again. He kept glancing at his watch ticking off the passing minutes.
True to his word, Dave called almost on the deadline. His voice was sombre, even and unemotional. ‘It’s on the way. Graham just radioed in, he’ll be overhead with it in a minute. Over.’
‘Graham? I thought he was in Brisbane. Over’
‘Yes, but when he heard of the situation here, he insisted in flying to Amberley to get the ransom. Over.’
‘I warned you Nick. There’d better not be any tricks, or she goes.’ Bobby sneered. He beckoned Jilly who shoved her gun under Nick’s chin while he grabbed Karen and pushed her toward the door. She looked back at Nick with terror written all over her face, and he felt his heart pounding as his eyes locked onto hers. She whimpered quietly as Bobby forced her onto the landing then up the stairs to the roof. Nick had never felt so helpless in his life.Oh God,he pleaded. Please don’t take her.
They watched breathlessly as Liberty approached rapidly, to hover like a giant wasp before them and a cheer went up from some of the hostages. Nick realised now how important Karen had become to him, how she had relit the strong desire he had when he first met her, she was the most exciting woman he had ever known and he panicked now her life was threatened. He had been given this chance only by suffering the loss of his brother. He had loved Laura but not with the intensity he felt for Karen, she was someone he would die for and he felt almost like he was on that roof alongside her. Somewhere, somehow, his spirit had become entwined with hers. He could feel her terror, her courage. He hung his head and felt the gun jab into his neck.
On the rooftop, Bobby held Karen’s wrist in a vice like grip, watching as the bag was lowered from the Veto, all the time threatening to throw her off. They bent against the downdraft from the Veto that threatened to hurl them both from the roof. ‘Pick it up! He ordered Karen. She lurched forward and grabbed the bag as he watched the Veto bounce and rock dangerously high above their heads.
Bobby looked at Karen and something about her defiant stand earned his respect. ‘Get downstairs!’ he growled, pushing her through the doorway. ‘Before I change my mind.’
She ran down the stairs stumbling, shivering, head full of pain, outwardly brave, dying inside. ‘I wish youhad thrown me off!’ She screamed back to Bobby.
When she entered the lobby she ran to Nick who clutched her to him. He felt her heart beating so fast against his chest. He wanted to kiss her when he saw the warmth in her purple eyes. Could she be falling in love with me? He thought. What was it that created an awakening of strong feelings for another human being? A sudden rush, a reddening of the skin, a tingling unexplained? What was it that stunned the senses? Everybody remained still, wondering what the looters would do next, new hope of rescue gleamed in their eyes.
Jilly snatched the blue duffle bag Graham had delivered to the roof. They whooped and hollered as their hungry hands skimmed greedily through the contents, their attention diverted from the hostages.
A loud scraping, grinding noise snapped everyone’s attention to the east and Nick opened a door to an apartment that was confining them to the lift foyer, in time for them to witness the nearby south-west tower begin to crumble and fall. They filed into the room and watched it disintegrating in a shroud of dust and spray and foam before their eyes. It tilted and slowly, agonisingly, slid down into the sea. A sixty metre pile of rubble was all that remained of the south-east tower. Great waves created mini tsunami radiating out in all directions from the ruins. The walkway connecting it to their building had snapped, flinging steel girders through the air like cannons, some crashing toward them, others spearing into the ocean below.
‘Shit! Let’s get the hell out of here!’ Bobby screamed. ‘Before this building goes down too.’ He gathered up the money and as they left Bobby grabbed a pale fragile-looking girl who had been cowering beside an older man near the door. ‘Just for insurance!’ He sneered at Nick. ‘We’ll let her go when we get to land.’
‘No. Take me instead.’ Nick said, believing Bobby would kill the girl.
‘Now why would I want to do that? No-one’s going to let an innocent girl die, but you? I think they’d shoot you in a minute. Jilly grab some ropes, chuck the rest into the sea.’ He ordered.
‘Please.’ An older man cried. ‘She’s my daughter. Don’t take her. Margaret!’ He called after her.
Nick knew they would kill the girl and his heart went out to her father but there was nothing he could do. He didn’t know how they planned to reach the speed boat and he really didn’t care. The others were safe.
For now.
Nick flicked the two-way radio. ‘Dave, they’ve gone! We’re okay. They took another hostage, a young girl called Margaret. He said if you leave them alone they’ll release her once they get ashore. They took all the ropes. Over.’
There was a brief pause before Dave answered and Nick sensed something odd in his voice. ‘Yeah, they’re no idiots, they’ll need the ropes to drop from the building to the speedboat, it’ll be very dangerous it’s quite a jump to the sea.’