He sensed a presence behind him, turned, and there was darkness with eyes like live coals staring back at him. Voices beckoned. A shrouded figure came towards him.
Lucas screamed.
<°)))><
Mackenzie sensed something.
She looked up at the sky for a second, and then returned her gaze to the police officers. She thanked the Lord for the man on the tractor and the quick response of the police officers. Probably not a lot of excitement in a community this size, but they looked like they knew what they were doing.
One police officer had sprayed the dog with capsicum spray, which was enough to get the dog to retreat and for the officers to get inside the house. The dog lay under a tree, its paws rubbing its face. Mackenzie was told to stay near the police car.
<°)))><
Aaron heard the police officers as they declared their presence.
“This is Aaron. I’m okay and I’m in the kitchen at the end of the passageway. There may be a person in the first room on the right.”
Aaron knew they would take their time getting to him. They needed to move with caution, ensuring there was no ambush waiting.
There was silence. Just the occasional floor board squeak. They entered the kitchen.
“Hi there. I’m Aaron. Love you to get rid of these cable ties.”
“We will. When we can confirm you are Aaron.” He turned to the other police officer. “Go get the girl.”
“No one in the house then?”
“Just a body in the first room. No pulse.”
The other officer returned with Mackenzie.
“Yes. That’s Aaron.”
The police officer cut the cable ties and Aaron gave his wrists a hard rub. He stood up.
Mackenzie ran up and hugged Aaron. “Are you okay?”
“I am, Kenz.”
She turned to the officers. “Thank you ever so much.”
“That’s okay. Look, we will need to do a few things like get details and things like that. There’s a body in the room down there so we need to contact the appropriate authorities. We have also been advised that there is a Department of Defence involvement in this, and we need to wait until they get here.”
Notes were taken while they waited.
The thump, thump, thump of helicopter rotors could be heard above the occasional roar of thunder. One of the police officers commented that he wouldn’t want to be up there at the moment.
They saw the helicopter land and armed personnel jump out, followed by an officer of some kind.
The dog stayed away, still under the tree rubbing its eyes.
Mackenzie stood next to Aaron as more people made their way into the kitchen. It was a dark house, lights needed to be turned on. The rifles on the armed personnel glistened from the kitchen lights.
There were issues that needed to be addressed—they knew that it was possible that the dead man could be brought back to life, because the circumstances were the same as Mackenzie’s. The Defence personnel wanted to know where the other devices were. They had Lucas’s phone, and were tracing a number of recent unanswered calls.
The storm clouds hung over the hinterland. A huge clap of thunder shook the house, and the lights flickered, once, then twice, then the power went out. A soft glow came from one of the bedrooms.
The transfer device displayed a message.
‘Connection to other devices lost. To attempt manual reconnect, press F5.’
<°)))><
Tag sat on a bench at the Nambour railway station.
He had tried to call Lucas several times but got no answer. He watched a gang of boys out of the corner of his eye. They looked bored, as if they were searching for something to do. A man with a shiny briefcase was a good target. He looked down at the briefcase—he knew they were scheming something. He couldn’t let them get a hold of it. There were people on the other side of the platform. There must be another train coming soon, going back to the city. He would be safer if he was on that. Lucas not answering worried him.
A few of the boys were coming closer. Tag reckoned he could probably take out three of them, but there were more than that. And he could not expect help from the other platform.
What about a transfer? Would Lucas have the receiver turned on? But that would mean he would have to leave the device here.
He was still watching the gang as they got closer. All of a sudden a wolf-whistle broke the silence of the night. One of the boys standing guard must have seen something. The boys jumped on the tracks and ran. Tag looked back on the platform and saw two police officers coming towards him, guns raised.
He pushed the transfer button.
<°)))><
Aaron watched as the Defence officer took a call on his phone. He walked out of the kitchen and came back after a few moments.
“We have another deceased person on our hands,” he said. “Apparently, he pressed something on the briefcase he was holding, and then keeled over.”
“Sounds like another transfer gone wrong,” said Mackenzie.
“What do you mean,” asked the officer.
“It happened to me.”
“Are you the girl that . . . came back from the dead?”
Mackenzie nodded.
“But their bodies haven’t been transferred anywhere,” said the officer.
Aaron said, “That’s a good point. I would have expected Lucas, that’s the name of the man down there, to end up at my apartment in the city.”
Aaron watched as the officer raised his eyebrows but continued. “I have a theory. This is a pretty mean storm we’re experiencing at the moment. It must affect the communication channel that the devices use. So one question remains: are they in the same situation that Mackenzie ended up in?”
Aaron looked at Mackenzie.
