Aaron thought it best to bring the girl back to assist with discussions with the Professor. At this point in time, he didn’t think Lucas Fell would add any value to their discussions, so he advised the police Lucas was their man.

<°)))><

James needed space. His place of escape was well concealed where he could watch the world pass by. And he wished the world to pass by quickly. He was perched on his favourite rock, taking deep breaths and calming himself down. It seemed to be working.

He noticed a hiker heading up the path. The hiker was puffing a bit and had stopped to get his breath.

A flapping noise caught his attention. James looked up and saw black shadows gliding through the greenery. He watched as the ravens landed on branches. James looked back at the hiker.

The hiker stood still and was looking up at the two large black birds. He leaned against a tree trunk and lifted one foot and gave it a stretch. He did the same with the other foot.

Those boots looked new.

Ah-ah-ah-aaaah

One of the ravens flew down ahead of the hiker and started exploring the ground ahead of him. Ravens had a reputation of being smart and confident birds. The raven had discovered something and was now using a twig to try and get to whatever it was. Another raven sat on a branch nearby, watching his inquisitive friend.

As the hiker moved closer, the raven on the ground sensed the man’s presence and turned towards him. The bird flew off with a few loud squawks and arched and dropped his twig as though dropping a bomb. James smiled.

The hiker stopped and looked down to where the raven had done its digging. James watched as the hiker picked up something. A glint of silver reflected through a covering of litter. The hiker held it up, rotated it, and started to remove the debris from his newly found treasure. The hiker was trying to work out what it was.

James was distracted by another sound coming towards him fast, its camouflaged metallic belly now over the top of him.

He looked towards the hiker whose initial reaction was to duck and then looked for a clearing and ran towards it.

James had a good view from his rock. The helicopter landed in a grassed area between the two properties. He watched as armed men disembarked and surrounded the people. The girl they pointed towards the helicopter and moved her in that direction. The man they signalled to stay put. An armed guard watched over him.

The lady? Where did she go? He’d never meet anyone like her before.

James returned his view to the hill. The hiker was gone. He wondered what the treasure was the hiker had found. A feeling of isolation swept over James and surprised him. What’s going on? He stood up. His legs felt heavy. He best go back.

<°)))><

Isabella looked back at her soldier sitting down on the steps.

“Lucas,” she yelled.

He looked up at her.

“Thank you. I’ll be coming to see you soon. I’ll tell them all what a lovely man you are.”

Her cheeks were wet. She rubbed the tears. The device—what have I done with it? I’m sorry, Lucas. I would’ve used it.

She walked between two soldiers, confused, heading towards the helicopter. Loneliness crept over her. No Gramps. No Lucas.

She saw pesky things jump off the helicopter’s landing bars.

The pesky things were running towards her now. They were smiling. She shook her head. They were gone. But it was time for her medication. She needed her backpack. She reached for the straps. But they were not there.

She turned. The backpack sat on the steps, next to Lucas.

“Could someone get my backpack, please.”

A large pesky figure stood behind Lucas. Isabella shivered.

40 – Getaways and strategies 

JAMES WALKED INTO THE BEDROOM and sat on the bed. Still too much stuff going on—his head was spinning, not from drugs, but from everything else. His encounter with that lady did something to him. She brought long-suppressed feelings to the surface. His wiring wanted him to respond to her beauty, but he didn’t understand how to respond to the feelings. Now she was gone, he wanted these feeling to go as well.

It was the contrast. He lived in this run-down shack and in walked this lady. Of course he was making her out to be something she wasn’t, because he was comparing her to his environment.

Hogwash.

She was beautiful and it was best that he stopped thinking about her.

He looked down where the blanket touched the floor. Something was sticking out. He bent down and picked up some kind of device. It was black and fitted into the palm of his hand—the girl must have dropped it. He was too tired to be bothered with it for now. He heard the retreating sound of a helicopter, but the soft thumping sound was drowned out by some ravens squawking.

There was a tap on the door. “Hello, anybody home?”

It was a female voice, but not a familiar one. He’d hoped everyone had gone. He quickly placed the device under the mattress and headed out of the bedroom. He wondered where the other lady was—she worried him, scared him, but also fascinated him.

“Yes, I’m here.”

It was a police officer with her baseball cap tucked under her arm. Her hair colour and style reminded him of Isabella.

“You okay? As there have been a few things happening around here, I thought I’d check on you. We have the man in custody and will be taking him back to the station for transfer back to Melbourne.”

“The girl?”

“That’s a Defence matter. She went with the helicopter. She’s in safe hands. You related?”

“No. Just curious. I’ve only just met her. She’s the granddaughter of my neighbour who also is in Defence custody—they must be spies or something.” He paused. “Sorry, that was a feeble attempt at humour.”

The police officer smiled and gave a nodding approval. “There are still defence personnel next door. I’d think they’ll be here until whatever it is they’re up to is completed, so if you need anything or have any concerns, let them know.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“Well, I’ll be off then.” She turned and headed towards the front door.

James watched her as she departed and wondered how heavy the belt around her waist was. It seemed to hold every disarming device known to mankind. He went back and sat down on the bed again. So much for peace and tranquillity but he wasn’t even sure if that was what he wanted. Another joint would be good now. He thought of smoke swirling its way up to the ceiling and then his thoughts went to people floating up the sky to be with the Lord. It would be good to be raptured now, because he was confused about many things. But would he be one of those floating? He didn’t think so.

He put his hand under the mattress and located the device. Surely this wasn’t what they used to do the transporting? He needed to get out of here. Maybe he could use the device. A close inspection didn’t reveal any means of using it—there were no buttons, only ports to connect things into. He decided it was something else but he’d take it with him anyway.

Thoughts of the woman jumped into his head again. She was trouble, and he needed to get away.

He quickly packed his bag, throwing in plenty of snacks because he was super hungry.

He knew a place he could go to.