Читать книгу Manipulation - D.K. Wilde - Страница 2

Darwin, the northern most city of Australia, considered the gateway to the Australian outback and therefore a prominent area to find aboriginals. Wade Ross the half cast aboriginal, adopted and raised by a full blooded aboriginal mother had always called Darwin home. He had spent a youth enjoying the fruits of learning the aboriginal beliefs and ways, whilst having the opportunity to be educated in the white man system.

Wade, his mother Martha and adopted sister Camira had not been afforded the creature comforts of wealth but they had experienced the happiness and joy, as a family, that money could not buy.

Since the murder of his family Wade had decided he would never return to the family home so he made his way to the harbour to meet up with his old friend Stefan. The French Foreign Legionnaire, who lived on a disguised, high powered, floating armoury, ratty looking fishing boat and operated his undercover missions out of the Darwin harbour, throughout the Timor Sea and into Indonesia. Wade and Stefan had worked together on numerous occasions whilst Wade was on temporary attachment from the SAS.

At six foot eight and two hundred and sixty pounds Stefan is a wall of muscle. This works to his advantage in most situations but not on the one particular night they had been instructed to eliminate two Egyptian males, who had been suspected of leaking classified French documents. The five man assassination squad had come ashore at a marina, sixty kilometres south west of Alexandria, Egypt. Part of the mission required them to crawl through a boat repair area. The area was extremely tight. Stefan became trapped and in turn that alerted the guards. Whilst trying to escape he was shot in the hip and only through Wade’s skill and strength were they able to rescue him. A strong bond had since developed and Stefan felt he owed Wade his life.

Halting the car on the concrete hardstand of the derelict area within the harbour, Wade watched as the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the distant horizon. Darkness, in the ‘Topend’, the colloquial name given to that area of Australia, comes over like a blanket shrouding every ounce of available light and within minutes it had gone from a sunset to complete darkness. Wade waited until his night vision had focused and then started the onerous task of searching for Stefan’s early warning detection devices.

Disabling a tripwire activated flare, an electric current to the wharf access ladder and a movement sensor; he stepped up to the side of the boat.

“Hello you big ugly critter,” said Wade as a surprised Stefan swung around. At the same time pulling a Heckler & Koch 9mm pistol from his rear waistband.

With the gun aimed straight at Wade’s head he cried out, “Oh mon Dieu … Wade you could have got yourself killed sneaking up like that.”

“I think I was fairly safe,” he replied stepping on to the boat.

The mention of Wade’s name caused an almighty scream, and the dropping of aluminium plates, as a gorgeous brunette scampered up the galley ladder.

“Hello Crystal,” said Wade as she wrapped her arms around his neck like a spider that had caught its prey.

“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you so much,” she said in her Mid Atlantic Virginian accent, while not letting go with her head buried against his chest.

“Well it’s good you two are excited to see me and it’s nice you waited around,” he said easing Crystal from her grasp.

Kissing her gently on the lips, and shaking hands with Stefan, all three sat down.

“I’m surprised you’re still here. I would’ve thought you would have returned to the states by now?” asked Wade looking at Crystal.

After nine weeks living in the tropics, on a boat, with limited showering, spending most of the day swimming, eating, reading and dressed only in a sarong and bikini top; Crystal had become very tanned and Bohemian looking. Wade had missed her gorgeous emerald eyes and continually smiling face.

Stefan answered first, “Buddy, let me tell you that was never going to happen. In the time you’ve been gone I’ve had HQ contact me with three missions that I’m supposed to be on and each time, this young lady has told me I’m going nowhere. So here we have waited,” replied Stefan, with an exasperated look but smiling all the same.

With his arm around Crystal, Wade said, “Well even so, I’m glad you’re both here.”

Crystal, the US Navy helicopter pilot had been assigned to deliver Wade into Sierra Leone whilst serving aboard the USS George H W Bush, stationed off the west coast of Africa. Approaching the drop off zone they were attacked and shot down by a SAM (Surface to Air Missile). Wade utilized his remarkable hunting, jungle and survival skills to rescue her from the burning and sinking Viper and lead her to safety. After saving her life, a further two times, as they forged their way back to the Mediterranean an attraction had developed. The nature and secrecy of Wade’s work caused Crystal, unintentionally, to become embroiled in his latest mission.

Now madly in love with this handsome Australian she was happy to be held in his strong arms and hoped the moment would never end. Sitting with her eyes closed, she remembered all the adventures and scary, nerve racking times they had spent together over the last five months.

“So … how was Walkabout?” asked Stefan.

Unsure how a question like this was answered Wade replied, “I’m glad I went and I’m now ready to move on.”

“I know it’s something you don’t talk about much but what do you do on Walkabout?” asked the big affable Frenchman.

Thinking for a moment Wade looked at them both. “As the name implies it’s walking about. We do it in the middle of the outback,” pointing south to the vast Australian desert, “and we go alone. It gives us a chance to reconnect with our spirit world.” He stated as he lowered his head. “We go to areas of tribal significance. We study the cave paintings. It helps us remember the Great Ancestors of the Dreamtime. To us, all life is interrelated; everything exists for a reason. There is no distinction between man and nature, life and death, past, present and future. By doing this we can remain focused and at one with ourselves … It gives us peace. To an outsider it probably appears that we are wasting time or oblivious to our surroundings, when in fact we are very much focused on what ‘mother nature’ is doing. We watch how the animals and birds interrelate. How they survive. What significance they hold in how plants prosper. We can spend hours watching a group of lizards only to see them build a nest or rummage for food. It is a beautiful experience that gives us great peace.”

Crystal and Stefan sat there quietly until Wade raised his head and asked, “So what’s happened while I’ve been gone?”

Stefan, switched to military mode and explained how they had a visit early one morning, four nights prior, from two divers who were intent on planting explosives under his boat. His early warning devices enabled him to pick them off and they were left to the salt water crocodiles.

After Stefan was finished explaining the details Wade told them of what happened that day in the desert. Crystal sat in awe as Wade removed the makeshift bandages and Stefan applied a compound field dressing.

“Is that going to be alright?” asked a concerned Crystal.

“Guaranteed. You won’t believe what concoctions he can come up with. This will heal in no time,” replied the smiling Stefan in his broken English.

Wade showed them the photos he had taken from the shooters and after discussing they decided it was time to give General Forest a call.