The Golden Mouse by Mike Dixon

Author:Mike Dixon [Dixon, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780987117298
Published: 2013-06-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Dogleg Creek

There was no sign of a creek and little indication that there had ever been one. It wasn't the sort of country for creeks. The ground was too hard and the catchment too small to produce the rush of water needed to gouge out a creek during a flash flood. Yet, Greg had chosen to call his place Dogleg Creek Mine.

David was there with Greg, Alice, Melanie and Joseph. Kate had gone off to collect Harvey. He had spoken to her from a phone box and she had used the phone at Anna's restaurant. The local communities were connected by landlines and didn't rely on microwave dishes or any of the other technological innovations that made it easy for technical-savvy people to listen in.

Anna had arranged a plane for Kate. The plan was for her to bring Harvey to the disused airstrip beside Greg's mine. He had fitted a blade to his tractor and was driving backwards and forwards, preparing the strip for landing. Joseph was filling buckets with rags soaked in kerosene.

David unzipped Greg's tool bag and inspected the gun he kept there. Strictly speaking, it should have been surrendered when the gun laws were tightened following a mass killing at Port Arthur in Tasmania. Greg chose to ignore the new laws. In his view, criminals would ignore them and he wasn't going to give them an advantage if they turned up on his patch with evil intent.

The gun was semiautomatic and designed for close combat. David figured he could cope with that sort of weapon. His fast reactions gave him an advantage which few could match. Greg's other gun was intended for shooting wild dogs and was fitted with a night-vision scope. David knew he was hopeless with anything that required good eyesight and left it for Greg to use.

Their only other weapon was a panga designed for cutting down banana plants. The fearsome-looking blade could slice through a stem as thick as a man's thigh. Joseph had honed it to razor sharpness. David wondered if the mildly spoken man was capable of using it in a fight. He had no such doubts about Greg. He was a practical man who got things done quickly and efficiently.

Greg made a final run down the airstrip and drove to where David was standing. He was covered in dust. White patches surrounded his eyes where they had been protected by sunglasses. He took off his hat and shook it.

'That'll do. I've got it flat and firm. John says his daughter has landed small planes on bush strips in Africa. If she gets here before dark she won't have any problems.'

'And after dark?'

'We'll use Joseph's flares.'

It was an hour before sunset.

David looked around. He had a nasty feeling they weren't alone. The area was littered with spoil heaps and abandoned machinery. Shafts, covered with corrugated iron and termite-infested wood, showed where old workings had once been. Apart from Greg's mine, there was no sign of activity.

'Is anyone else mining here?'

'I'm the last,' Greg said.

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