Monkey Business (25 page)

We carried Jack down the stairs using a blanket as a stretcher. Lucy held the IV bag above him.

‘Pretty lady!' said Bruce Willis, looking astonished as he took in the scene. I wasn't surprised to see him there, leaning on the bonnet of his car, smoking. Joe and Lucy loaded Jack into the back. I pulled Kitty into a tight hug.

‘Thank you,' I whispered. ‘I'll never forget you.'

‘I'll never forget you either, my friend.' Her eyes became misty. She handed me something. It was the framed photo of Jack and me. Kitty had nicked it from my backpack. I almost laughed out loud. She turned and ran back up the stairs to her flat.

I clutched Bruce Willis's T-shirt in both fists. He pressed himself into his car, trying to escape the mad woman.

‘You take us to the airport and you drive fast! Got it?'

He nodded, ran around to the driver's side. Joe and Lucy sat in the back with Jack draped across them, his legs curled to fit in the car. I wondered how Lucy was breathing with all that dead weight on her. Dead weight.

I sat in the front with Bruce Willis, who was very quiet as he drove. He kept glancing at me, nervous.

‘Faster,' I said and he accelerated.

As we approached the airport I could see the rock-throwing kids ahead of us. Some of them were stumbling onto the road as they hurled their missiles. Bruce Willis slowed and I shouted, ‘Faster!' leaning across him and hitting the horn, holding my hand on it as we blasted past the kids.

As we approached the airport I said to Bruce, ‘We need to go where the Australian military planes are. You know where that is?'

‘Yes, lady!' He drove past the terminal to a tall cyclone-wire fence that marked the end of the road. A fence that reminded me of crocodiles. But beyond this fence were planes. Beautiful Australian ones. I leapt from the car as a man in uniform trotted over to us.

Joe and Lucy got Jack out of the taxi. Bruce Willis got my backpack from the boot.

The air force man shouted over the aircraft noise, ‘Are you the people for urgent transport?'

‘That's right!'

‘PM said we've got an injured soldier.' He looked past me at Jack. He unlocked the gate and swung it open.

‘Yes, that's him,' I yelled, pointing. The Prime Minster? JD had come through. But I still hated him.

‘Follow me, ma'am. We'll take you on
Clarissa
over there.' He indicated a Hercules aircraft. Two more soldiers arrived with a stretcher. They transferred Jack and continued on to the plane; Lucy ran alongside them holding the IV bag high.

I said to Bruce Willis, ‘All right, then. How much do you want?' Which was pointless because I had nothing – no money. My bag with my wallet and passport was probably still at Rupert Berringer's camp, or on its way to Identity Thieves R Us.

He grinned broadly. ‘Free ride today for pretty lady.'

I hugged him. ‘Thank you. And I hope your wife gets better.'

I ran to catch up to the others and as we boarded the aircraft, the air force guy said, ‘Let's get you folks home.'

It was fascinating inside the giant Hercules and I would have been enthralled if Jack wasn't dying. Joe, Lucy and I were seated along one side of the plane and told to wear the harnesses. Joe showed Lucy and me how to fasten them.

Jack was on a stretcher against the far wall, strapped in with his bag of fluid hanging from a hook above him. Lucy had checked him before we settled in, and given him another injection. I made a mental note to leave all my worldly possessions to Lucy in my will. Except Axle, because hopefully he'd be dead before me.

I said to Luce, ‘How is he?'

She took a moment to answer. ‘I'm not really sure. He's breathing. His heart's beating.' She shrugged. ‘Septicaemia's dangerous. We won't know for a couple of days how badly his organs have been affected. That's the biggest concern.'

I asked her what happened at the hospital in Seni.

‘Kitty knows absolutely everyone,' she said. ‘There was an Aussie surgeon there and she told me he's one of her clients. I think he was drunk.'

‘Was he on duty?'

‘Yeah. Kitty told him she'd get Samson to pay him a visit if he didn't do what we wanted.'

‘Good old Kitty.'

Lucy nodded. ‘Yeah, I liked her.'

The plane took off and I was reminded of Phil's barge. The Hercules was like an airborne version of it – great lumbering beasts, both of them. I thought about Phil and how sad I was that I didn't get to thank him or say goodbye. I could probably send a letter to the Bum Crack Bar.

I also thought about my conversation with John Degraves. I'd now have no jobs at all, I supposed. No job at Dega Oil and no job with the Team. JD might even take out a contract on me, in case I decided to follow through on my threats. I thought maybe I should take some precautions, like writing a letter blaming him in case I turned up dead, and posting it to someone with a note on the envelope that says, ‘Open only if Erica Jewell dies'. Maybe he'd hire Jack to do it. Nah. Jack wouldn't kill me. My mother would make his life hell. Then I thought that I shouldn't be focusing so much on my own death in case the Law of Attraction got the wrong idea.

But anyway, I was still angry with JD, sitting there in his cushy office. If JD was able to get the Prime Minister to organise a Hercules, and do it so quickly, why couldn't he have organised some blokes to rescue Jack in the first place? I scowled at the floor. I wasn't so sure I could look JD in the eye after this. It also made me wonder if the PM knew about the Team and just turned a blind eye to it all. If I were the PM, that's what I'd do.

All the way to Darwin, Joe leaned against the wall of the aircraft with his eyes closed. I offered him my shoulder, but he shook his head slowly. Lucy was quiet, watching Jack across the way. We'd been in the air less than an hour when we started the descent into Darwin airport. The air force guy had told us we'd be taken straight to Darwin hospital because it was an emergency. And sure enough, as the ramp at the back of the plane lowered, there was an ambulance, lights flashing.

Only one of us was allowed in the ambulance with Jack and of course that had to be Joe. He probably needed medical attention anyway. Lucy and I said we'd meet them at the hospital.

Joe quietly asked me to bring him something to eat.

I said, ‘Oh, God, of course. You poor thing.' The boys hadn't been fed. No food, no water. What was Samson thinking? Maybe he hoped they'd just drop dead and he could throw them into the croc pen? Psycho. He and Kitty were perfect for each other. I wondered what Emeline saw in him and I wondered if Emeline liked her special Tupperware. I was sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye to her either.

In the taxi, Lucy said, ‘I'm starving.'

‘Me, too.' I thought about the meals at the Bum Crack Bar and how I wouldn't mind one now. ‘When did you last eat?'

She shrugged and stared out the window. ‘I had toast on the barge this morning. I can't even remember. It seems like such a long time ago.'

At the hospital we went to the cafeteria and bought Joe three sandwiches, plus one each for ourselves. I thought I should probably call Mum at some stage. She would have been trying to get hold of me to tell me about the latest burglary. God, she'd be devastated about her special-edition lettuce crisper. I decided to wait. Besides, I had no phone. A great excuse for delaying the inevitable conversation with Mum about my wedding. We went to find Joe.

Jack had been taken straight to Intensive Care and Joe was in a private ward. He was sleeping when Lucy and I found him. I stood next to Joe and gave his hand a squeeze. He half-opened his eyes, whispered, ‘Kate?'

‘It's Erica. I've got you some food.'

He struggled to sit up, took the food and scoffed the first sandwich down.

‘Do you want me to call Kate for you?'

He nodded. ‘Yeah.'

Kate started crying on the phone, and that made me cry too. It wasn't easy to have a conversation, but I managed to tell her where we were, that Joe was okay, and that Jack wasn't. She told me she'd come as soon as possible.

That afternoon I checked into a motel near the hospital using Lucy's credit card, which she told me to keep and use while I was in Darwin. She flew back to Melbourne after a very emotional farewell from me. That night I went back to the hospital, but I wasn't allowed to see Jack, and Joe was asleep.

I lay in bed in the motel staring at nothing until visiting hours started again the following morning. When I arrived at Joe's room, Kate was sitting on his bed, holding his hand. I wanted to feel excited that I finally had proof they were an item, but it kind of didn't matter any more.

Kate and I hugged. She was Jack's doctor so she'd been allowed to see him, and he was stable, she said. But in a coma.

Did that mean he might never wake up? Just lie there on a machine for the rest of his life?

‘It's an induced coma,' said Kate. ‘Temporary, to keep his body stable.'

They'd operated on his leg, and didn't think he'd lose it. And he was alive.

Kate suggested I go back to Melbourne, that she'd call me if there were any changes and that she'd try to get Jack relocated as soon as they could move him.

I knew I should go home. God, I'd been missing from work for . . . how long? Well over a week now. But I didn't want to leave Jack. I needed to call Rosalind. I needed to buy a new phone. I needed Jack to wake up. I told Kate I'd come back later and left.

I pushed open the door to Yvonne's hairdressing salon and waited for her to notice me. She was snipping a blonde head, focused on the gossip.

‘Won't be a minute,' she called out and glanced in my direction.

I smiled, gave her a little wave.

She put down her scissors and rushed across the room, crushing me in a hug.

‘Kitty called me,' she said, shaking her head. ‘I can't believe what you've been through.'

‘Well, if it wasn't for you and Kitty, I wouldn't have been able to do it.' Bloody Kitty, whom I both loved and hated, with a passion.

She looked me over. ‘I'm speechless.'

‘I know.' I ran a hand over my head. ‘I can't work out how to style it.'

‘Not that!' She laughed and glanced back at her client. ‘Can you wait ten minutes?' she asked me.

‘Sure.'

I took a seat and picked up a magazine. It was a gardening magazine and that made me think of Phil, which gave me an idea.

‘Yvonne,' I called out. ‘Is there a bookshop near here?'

‘Yes, just up the road.' She pointed.

‘I'll come back later.'

At the bookshop I found a gardening book for tropical gardens, and on the way back to Yvonne's salon I passed a jewellery shop that had all kinds of gold trinkets in the window, including tiny gold crocodiles, and that gave me another excellent idea. I went in and asked the woman behind the counter if they were able to dip something in gold, and if they could do it straightaway.

‘If you can drop it in today and come back tomorrow, no problem.'

I caught the bus back to my motel, and then back to the jewellery shop. It took forever, and I was impatient, but I reminded myself that I had nothing to hurry for. I had a new phone now, my old number cancelled, and on the bus I made some calls. All Rosalind could say to me, her voice chilled beyond recognition, was that I clearly didn't value my role at Dega Oil and we'd be discussing my future with the company. I wished I'd called Mum instead. Maybe not.

I plonked the monkey foetus on the jewellery counter and the woman poked it.

‘What on earth is it?' she said.

‘You probably don't want to know.'

‘Okay. Well, we can dip it for you. Don't know why you'd want it though.' She screwed up her nose. ‘It looks like a lumpy golf ball.'

I caught a bus to the wharf. The Saint Sebastian barge was there. I walked up the ramp and caught a guy's attention. I asked him if he would make sure Phil Collins got a parcel, but he pointed over his shoulder and said, ‘Give it to 'im yaself if ya want.'

And there was Phil, standing there looking embarrassed. I ran up to him.

‘Here you go, Phil. A present.'

He opened the bag and peered in, then quickly looked around to make sure none of his mates were watching. He turned bright red and didn't know which way to look, so I hugged him and whispered in his ear, ‘Thank you for everything.' I released him and stepped back.

He looked down at his feet. ‘How's ya bloke?'

‘Alive.'

He looked at me. I shrugged.

‘See ya, Phil.'

‘Yip. See ya.'

I ran down the ramp and to the bus stop without looking back. I went to Yvonne's and she showed me how to style my hair and it looked fantastic. Well, not really, but it was much better. She wanted to catch up that night, but I just wanted to go to the hospital. Which I did, and I was allowed to see Jack through a window. He lay there with all kinds of things hanging out of him. A tube out of his mouth, needles in his veins, not to mention all the machines beeping and huffing. He looked so sick and vulnerable. But he wasn't dead, and that's what mattered. He was in good care now, recovering, and I knew there was nothing more I could do. I'd done my job, the one I'd set out to do. I'd found the boys and brought them home. And now I needed to resume my life.

I decided that it was time for me to do exactly that.