Читать книгу Through the Devil’s Eye - C.R. Cummings - Страница 14

Chapter 8

A TERRIFYING SHOCK

The dog was on a long leash and appeared to be dragging its handler behind it. The savage animal dashed to the fence near Willy and sprang at the wire mesh. It snarled and barked and Willy cringed against the tree trunk in terror. He heard the sound of shouts and running boots.

So great was his fear that he could not bring himself to run, even though his racing mind told him that he must have been seen and that every second counted. Then his fear was ratcheted up a notch when he heard a man call out from close by. It was Zoltan.

“Lights! Turn off the lights!” Zoltan commanded. The house and patio lights were doused and for a few seconds Willy could see almost nothing.

He will have his rifle. If I run I will be shot down, Willy thought.

It was all he could do not to lose control of his bowels and bladder and he bit his lip so as not to whimper aloud. His heart hammered and he tensed in anticipation of a desperate flight.

Out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed movement and he flicked his eyes to look. Through the wire mesh he glimpsed a human shape but it had a strange misshapen head. Then Willy saw what looked like a single green eye and he knew a whole extra level of terror.

He’s got a night vision device, he thought.

Meanwhile the dog continued its barking and scratching at the wire netting. Willy flattened himself against the trunk as far from Zoltan as he could get.

Then his fear was sent up to a bowel watering level when Zoltan cried out exultantly. “It is him! He is here! Turn on the spotlights.”

They’ve seen me! thought Willy.

Desperate thoughts of stepping out with his hands up fluttered in his panicking mind.

Suddenly three floodlights on the rear of the patio roof came on. They were so bright that, even though he was in the shadow of the tree trunk, Willy was momentarily blinded. All he could do was stand shivering with his back to the tree.

Zoltan added to this by calling, “There he is general! See him? Isn’t he a beauty?”

Willy heard women scream in horror and he flinched. The men all called out and began to talk excitedly. Zoltan cried excitedly, “Will I shoot him?”

At that Willy almost collapsed with terror. He cringed and when he heard the dog jump against the wire close to him he flinched.

General Tambo called out, “No, do not shoot the beast. He is one of my creatures. My, he is a good specimen.”

What on earth is he talking about? Willy thought in bewilderment. And then his eyes focused on the shape halfway up the lawn and he experienced yet another level of fear. Oh my God! he gasped.

Facing him about ten paces away, mouth wide and rows of teeth showing, was an enormous crocodile.

Waves of fear washed through Willy. He saw the monster’s eyes glint red and then yellow in the light and he was sure it was looking at him. The reptile’s stare transfixed him.

Then more fear was added when one of the men cried, “There are more of the beasts, look!”

Willy did. In the bright light, he clearly saw at least half a dozen sets of red eyes glinting from among the trees at the bottom of the bank. As the implications of what he was looking at sank in his hair seemed to stand on end with fright and he gasped with shock.

Holy bloody hell! Those things must have been there in the billabong when I was lying in the water drinking, he thought.

But what to do? Willy was sure that the monster croc—it looked to be four or five metres long and so fat around the middle he was sure that if he had sat on its back (Perish the thought!) his feet would not have touched the ground.

That bloody thing has been stalking me, he told himself. And it was still looking in his direction although its head was waving from side to side and it was letting out little grunts and hissing noises that sent his blood cold.

But how to escape? If I move the men will see me. Then I am dead for sure, he told himself.

The people had all moved closer so Willy could hear every word. General Tambo chuckled with delight and said, “He is a magnificent specimen. Do not harm him. I have often found crocodiles to be very useful creatures.”

“How is that General?” Mr Dragovisic asked.

“They make sure there is no inconvenient evidence,” General Tambo replied, then he chuckled again. As Willy understood what he meant he shuddered.

That might be me, he thought.

His terror was added to by hearing Mr Dragovisic say, “That will be what happens to you Carla, if you try to escape again.”

Willy heard a woman sob and say, “I won’t Mr Dragovisic, I won’t.”

Carla? Willy wondered. Is she the woman who tried to escape?

Another man commented. “The crocodiles certainly guard your back very well.”

“They do that,” Zoltan agreed.

A woman then said, “I hope this fence is strong enough.”

“It is,” Zoltan replied. He then belted the dog around the head and snarled, “Shut up, you stupid mutt, or I will let you out.”

“I hope there are no holes in the fence,” the woman went on.

“There aren’t. I check it every day,” Zoltan said.

Willy then realized that the fence was more to keep creatures out than to keep people in. And I am on the wrong side of it!

But how far did it extend? He cautiously turned his head and looked to his right. The fence went on out of sight into the darkness. It can’t go too far. I didn’t run into it when I went between the houses, he reasoned. He presumed the fence enclosed the house and garden.

Suddenly the crocodile moved. It slithered a few metres closer and Willy almost fainted with fear. The sight of those huge fangs glistening in the light was almost more than he could bear. The people all gaped and cried out and the dog went into a frenzy of barking.

What will I do? Willy thought. If I don’t get away from here it will get me and those people won’t do anything to save me. Through his mind raced things he had heard about crocodiles and how fast they could run. They are very fast for a short distance, he remembered but could not recall whether it was fifty metres or a hundred. He tensed and nerved himself to start the sprint of his life

Mr Dragovisic called loudly, “Zoltan, take the dog away. It is attracting the creature. This is disturbing our dinner. Carter, throw something at the beast to scare it away.”

To Willy’s enormous relief he heard Zoltan drag the snarling, barking dog back up the lawn and around the side of the house. Carter threw several large clods of earth from the garden at the crocodile. One of these burst close to the crocodile, showering it with sand. It raised its head up and hissed and opened its jaws wider. Willy got ready to run.

Then he heard Mr Dragovisic calling on everyone to move back up to the table. “We can watch it from there,” he said.

This might be my chance, Willy thought. Knowing that Zoltan was gone he risked a peek and saw the backs of the people as they strolled back up the lawn. A few were glancing back from time to time but their focus was the croc, not him. But should he run or crawl?

Willy remembered reading or hearing that a crocodile could outrun a horse for fifty metres. But if you can keep ahead for a hundred metres you are safe, he thought. But was it true? And can I outrun that monster? he worried. He decided that zig-zagging was probably the best tactic.

But crawling seemed the safer option. I will run if I have to but if I don’t go now they will all settle at the table and look back this way and Zoltan will come back, he thought.

So he cautiously lowered himself to his hands and knees and then slid out onto the lawn on his belly. As he did he kept looking at the crocodile. To his dismay, he saw that it was watching him and its head swivelled to follow his progress. To his horror, the reptile raised its head and looked to be preparing to run. For a few heartbeats, Willy froze but then he decided he must get further away.

Fear now lent him strength and he dragged himself diagonally off to the left. And he needed the fear to help him move for as he did shards of pain lanced through him from his injured left arm. These were so severe that he almost blacked out and had to bite his lip to keep from groaning aloud. The agony was so intense that he had to nerve himself to make each move. The effort left him sweating and trembling within seconds.

I hope I don’t pass out, he thought in panic.

The idea that he might faint and then be grabbed and dragged unconscious into that black water sent new stabs of terror through him. So he kept on crawling and using all his willpower to do it.

Along the base of the fence was a row of longer grass that the mower had missed. It wasn’t much cover but it was better than none so Willy used it, keeping as low as he could.

On reaching the fence he glanced back over his left shoulder—and almost wet himself. The crocodile has raised itself up on its forelegs to keep him in sight and even as he watched it took a couple of steps in his direction.

Now Willy really moved. Ignoring the searing pains from his injuries and using his elbows and toes he pushed and dragged himself along the fence using a desperate version of the caterpillar or kitten crawl. At every second he expected to hear a voice cry out in alarm but apart from a babble of chatter about the crocodile’s behaviour there was nothing to indicate he had been seen.

Suddenly he found himself at the end of the fence—or rather at a corner of it. Off to his right ran a mowed strip about two metres wide with the fence on the right and long grass and bush on the left. After one last anxious glance back towards the crocodile, Willy almost scuttled around the corner.

He did not stop or even look back but kept on crawling. Instead he shifted his awareness to his right. This is the side of the house Zoltan dragged the dog to, he thought. He could still clearly see the diners at the table and the two servants but there was no sign of Zoltan.

Willy crawled another ten metres then had to stop as the dust he was stirring up was tickling his throat and threatening to make him cough.

I’m going to sneeze! he thought.

In desperation, he pushed up with his thumb on the base of his nose until the pain made his eyes water. It hurt but he did not sneeze. Once again, he thanked his cadet instructors for teaching such a useful little skill.

After a short pause to glance over his shoulder Willy resumed crawling. There was no sign of the crocodile behind him and now he was moving out of the arc of the floodlights and was in a semi-shadow beside the house.

Do I crawl off into the long grass and get out of here or do I try to save this girl? he wondered.

To his right, only ten metres away across the side lawn, was a lighted window. Even as Willy wondered what to do next he saw the girl. She came into view carrying some plates and placed them down at a sink. Then a man dressed as a chef appeared and made some comment to her. Willy could not hear what was said but it was obvious that the chef was ordering her to do something. She moved out of sight then reappeared carrying a tray loaded with covered plates. She went out of sight towards the back patio.

I will save her if I can, Willy decided. But how?

It was obvious to Willy that any attempt would involve enormous risk. Zoltan is there; and there are dogs, he thought. And all of that presumed he could get inside the fence. Is it electrified? he wondered.

By crawling a few more pain-wracked metres he was able to roll on his back and look up at a section of fence that was lit better by lights coming through the side windows. He saw that the bottom four metres was ordinary heavy gauge chain link wire netting. After seeing the dog jump against it he was sure that wasn’t electrified or alarmed. But above that was barbed wire and what looked like ribbons of flat black tape. Then he noted glass insulators securing the tape to the steel fence posts.

That looks like electrical stuff, he thought.

After crawling a few more metres, Willy stopped and studied the house. He saw that it was a long, low building and that it was larger than he had originally thought. Next to the kitchen windows were two smaller windows.

Toilets or bathrooms? Willy wondered.

Then there was a side door and several more windows. These, like the kitchen window, were covered by insect mesh and security screens. The front half of the house appeared to be in darkness.

Parked beside the house was a work vehicle, a light truck with tools and boxes in the tray. Seeing that made Willy wonder what the front gate must be like. That area was all in darkness and even as he looked it got suddenly darker as the floodlights at the back were turned off.

To see if there was any change to the fence, or perhaps a gate, Willy slowly and painfully crawled on along the mowed strip. After a few painful minutes of crawling he was level with the next corner of the house. As he reached it and looked along the side furthest from the river he sighed with satisfaction. There was a front gate and a driveway which circled in through quite a pleasant looking garden to an obvious front door to the house. Two brown SUV type 4WDs were parked at the front.

Willy rolled on his back to again study the fence. He saw that it was still about four metres high and topped with razor wire and electrical tape.

So how do I get in? Willy wondered. Or should I just try to save myself?

Having decided that the wire meshing was not electrified he crawled over and gingerly touched it with the back of his hand. Nothing happened.

Not electrified, he told himself, sighing with relief.

Thoughts of perhaps digging under the fence were now considered. But what with? Willy remembered crawling across a fallen branch so he moved back about ten metres and groped among the deadfall. After a minute or so he found what he sought—a length of dry branch about half a metre long and just too big to grip comfortably in his fingers.

This will do, he told himself.

Using it he did some tentative digging. The soil was soft enough and he thought he might be able to get under it after an hour’s work.

Then he bit his lip and shook his head. Not if that bloody dog comes along. It will smell me for sure.

That idea got him all anxious and he berated himself for a fool. Quickly he stuck his finger in his mouth to wet it and then held it up to check the wind direction. To his relief the wind was blowing from the river.

I need to move around to the front of the house so that the breeze doesn’t carry my scent, he thought.

Then other chilling thoughts came to him: was the house covered by other electronic surveillance, such as infra-red cameras or beams?

With his heart hammering with anxiety, Willy lay and looked up, searching the fence posts and the eaves of the house for cameras or similar devices. He could see none but that did not mean they were not there.

I need to think about this, he told himself. But first I need to get upwind. Then I need a rest.

With that in mind he turned and slowly and painfully began crawling towards the front of the house. But as he did there was a loud crash and the tinkle of breaking glass and crockery from inside the kitchen. Willy froze and stared towards the house. Through the kitchen window he caught a glimpse of the woman Carla. She was shaking her head and sobbing and as he watched she backed out of sight. In her place appeared the cook, angrily waving a finger and then another woman who alternately looked down and then up at the woman. Then Zoltan’s angry face passed the window, followed by that of another man.

There was loud shouting which revealed to Willy that the woman had dropped some plates and glasses. Zoltan’s voice added the description: “Stupid, clumsy bitch!”

Willy was left wondering what he could do. Suddenly the side door was flung open and light streamed out. Willy cringed and froze, wishing he was back in the long grass. But it was too late for that so he just pressed himself flat and hoped as the doorway was only ten metres away. To his horror, Zoltan walked through the doorway, rifle in hand.

Then the woman was shoved through the doorway by the other man. He gripped her by the arm and dragged her to the passenger door of the vehicle. Willy now noted that the vehicle was parked nose in so that door was closest to the house.

The man opened the vehicle door and pushed the woman, snarling, “Get in, you dumb bitch!”

The sobbing woman did as she was told. The door was slammed and the man walked around the front of the vehicle to the driver’s door. As he did Zoltan called from near the doorway.

“Take the silly bitch back to the main house and lock her in until the Boss decides what to do with her. Bring Natasha back. The general might like a juicy Russian blonde.”

“Righto,” the man answered.

He opened the door and climbed in. A moment later the engine roared into life. As it did Willy lay watching in frightened frustration.

Damn! They are taking her away. How can I possibly save her? he wondered.