Black Ice (19 page)

'Is she seriously injured?' Kirri asked.

'I hope not,' he replied, anxiety tightening his jaw. 'She's four months pregnant.'

Kirri's heart wrenched in empathy for the woman. She knew what it was like to be injured and alone. But at least she hadn't known she was pregnant. 'Could I fit through the opening?'

'Probably.'

'Kirri, we don't know how stable the house is. Stay here until I check it out.'

The concern in Daniel's voice stopped Kirri's angry protest. 'Daniel,' her voice was gentle but firm, 'Even a few minutes might make a difference. I'm going in.' Then she began to climb up the slope towards the back of the house.

Daniel turned to the young man and saw the panic in his eyes. He would need his trust if they were to work together. 'I'm Daniel. What's your name?'

'Aaron.'

Daniel clasped him on the shoulder. 'Aaron, do you have any rope?'

'In the ute.'

'Get it.' Daniel hoped it would be enough. He followed Kirri.

 

It was the only road off the highway that Brand could have turned off, Brett fumed as he drove down the steep incline. The forest suddenly petered out, and he braked. As he surveyed the chaos before him, he saw Brand walk into a house perched on the edge of the mudslide. Seconds later another man followed.

Brett noted the downward tilt of the house, the narrow metal poles preventing it from sliding down the hillside. The frustration that had gnawed into him since he'd arrived in Sydney suddenly dissipated.

A smile curved his mouth.

Luck had finally turned his way. Finally presented him with a opportunity to get rid of Daniel Brand in a way that
no-one
could dispute was accidental.

He reversed back until he could safely turn the car, then he parked it well off the road and hurried to the SES truck.

He glanced around. There was no-one else in sight. The overalls he took from the truck were a little tight, but, together with the hard hat, provided a certain degree of anonymity. He searched in the back of the truck until he found a sledge hammer, then hurried over to where the metal poles had been placed.

For a minute he stood and gazed at them.

Voices drifted out from the house above him.

 

The house creaked as it settled a little further onto the Acroprops.

'In here.' Aaron led the way down the sloping hallway, holding onto some of the more stable walls to keep his balance. The kitchen and bathroom walls were intact, but a pine table and chairs huddled against the cupboards. Shards of blue-patterned crockery crunched under their boots.

When they reached the bedroom, Daniel's heart sank at what he saw. A large bed had slid across, partially blocking the doorway. The interior wall had fallen so that there was only a small gap between it and the bed. Hunkering down, he peered through the opening.

Kirri had managed to squeeze through to the other side of the bed. She was kneeling down in the small triangle of space, holding the hand of a fair-haired woman. A large antique wardrobe had fallen on the woman's legs and the wall had collapsed onto that. The woman was quiet, her face white.

'Kirri, how is she?'

Relief flooded Kirri at the sound of Daniel's voice. 'I think her leg is broken and she's in shock. Can you get her out?'

'Is there any way you can free her legs?'

'If you could give me something solid to prop under the wardrobe, then take the weight of the wall off it somehow, I could try to drag her out.'

Daniel looked around at the room where he stood. A wooden divan and a wall unit had slid into the lowest corner, a colourful rug crushed between them; the television set in the unit amazingly still intact. The divan had also smashed into a brick and plank bookcase, scattering magazines and books across the floor.

Working his way gingerly across the room, he picked up two bricks and a plank. As he carefully traversed the rising slope back to Aaron, he heard a sound like metal banging on metal, but was concentrating so much on retaining his balance that the full import didn't register in his mind.

He passed the bricks and the plank through to Kirri. 'Push the bricks under the wardrobe as hard as you can. Aaron and I will try to pull the wall back to relieve the pressure. Jam the plank in on top when we do, then drag her out.'

'Okay.' Kirri did her best to sound confident, but fear ate into her stomach. She saw the worry in Daniel's eyes, then his hand touched hers in a brief caress, and he was gone.

She quickly slid the bricks under the wardrobe, readied the plank in position, and smiled at Angie. 'You'll be out of here soon,' she reassured the young woman. Angie nodded, but her face betrayed the terror she was trying to contain.

In the next room, Daniel punched a hole halfway up the paneling of the fallen wall and tied the middle of the rope around the framework. The metallic banging sound came again. He frowned. Surely the SES people weren't tightening the Acroprops further? Maybe they were putting more up.

'Take one end of the rope,' he told Aaron, 'I'll take the other, and when I yell to Kirri, we'll carefully haul up the wall. Okay?'

Aaron nodded. Daniel waited until he'd steadied himself, then called out. 'Kirri, are you ready?'

At her reply he nodded to Aaron, and they pulled steadily on the rope. The wall moved, slightly, slowly. Chunks of plaster fell from the broken ceiling, dusting them with pale flakes.

'Have you got her?' Daniel called out.

'Not yet.'

Suddenly the house reverberated to an even deeper ringing of metal on metal.

Daniel and Aaron froze.

Clang. The floor beneath their boots tremored.

'What's happening?' Aaron looked to Daniel for reassurance.

Clang.

Fear clenched Daniel's stomach. Who the hell was hammering the Acroprop? 'There's people in here!' he roared.

Clang.

The house shuddered, settled a little further.

Daniel wanted to rush out and make them stop, but was afraid to relinquish his hold on the rope. If he let the wall settle back again, it could move the wardrobe harder onto Angie.

'Kirri! Try again,' he called, nodded to Aaron, and pulled strongly on the rope. The wall creaked as timber splintered and panelling broke away.

Clang.

Kirri yelled, but her voice was drowned out by a loud groaning sound.

The house shuddered violently.

And ripped off its stumps as it dropped down the mountainside.

Brett ran back to the SES truck. He tossed the sledge hammer and hard hat in the back, stripped off the overalls, and threw them in too. Then he sprinted back to the forest.

 

Angie screamed. A high-pitched scream of pure terror.

Kirri held her tightly, and pushed against the wardrobe with her feet as the house crashed onto the earth. The smell of mud and freshly split timber splattered browns and ochres through her mind. Noise and movement assailed her senses.

Furniture crashed, glass shattered.

Timber splintered, cracked.

The house shuddered, tilted crazily as it rumbled downwards.

Suddenly, like a movie stopped in mid-scene, all was still.

'Kirri!' Daniel's voice was loud in the sudden silence.

Kirri took a deep breath and steadied herself. Pain shot through her shoulder. She moved it cautiously. More pain, but at least nothing appeared to be broken. 'We're all right.'

'Angie?' Anxiety laced Aaron's voice.

'I pulled her out just before the house fell.' Kirri looked down at the woman in her arms. 'But she's fainted.'

'Don't move until I see where we are,' Daniel ordered.

Kirri searched for Angie's pulse. It was weak and thready. 'Hurry!'

 

Daniel stood up very, very carefully, and signalled for Aaron to do the same. The floor had pulled apart, and he could see the mud a couple of metres below. He moved into the hallway and looked back up the hill.

He'd thought it might have happened, but the sight still filled him with dread. Through what was left of the hallway, he could see the back half of the house still attached to the first row of stumps. It hung precariously, and he realised it could fall any minute and send them hurtling down the mountainside.

He edged out through the living-room to the verandah doorway.

And froze.

The front section of the house had fallen about twelve metres from its original site. A natural ledge in the hillside and two large eucalyptus trees had arrested its plunge to the bottom. But the trees had given with the impact, and stuck out from the ledge at an unnatural angle. Now the house teetered on the edge, the verandah hanging out over a steep drop to the valley below.

How much longer it would balance there Daniel couldn't be sure, or even if the earth underneath was stable.

He moved back inside to the bedroom door and called out to Kirri. 'Can you move Angie onto the bed so I can pull her through?'

'I'll try.'

In the cramped space it was awkward for Kirri to grab Angie under the arms and drag her to the bed. The house made small noises, as though the timber were settling - or trying to move again. Fear gave her strength, and she ignored the pain in her shoulder. She hoisted Angie onto the bed.

Angie moaned, and Kirri was grateful she was unconscious. Her lower leg bent at an unnatural angle, but no blood seeped through the young woman's slacks. Aaron's head appeared beside Daniel's in the doorway opening. He looked at his wife, anxiety stark on his face.

'Bring her closer,' he said to Kirri.

Her muscles ached from the strain of lifting Angie's inert body, but somehow Kirri managed, and Aaron soon held his wife in his arms.

As she crawled through the small space after Angie, Kirri saw Daniel coiling up the rope. Their eyes met, and she read his trepidation. She looked up the mountain to the gaping remnants of the house, then back to where she could see only blue sky and the distant slopes on the far side of the valley. A wave of dread washed over her.

'If we're very careful, we should be able to get out the back,' Daniel said softly, as though even the sound of his voice could start the house on its fatal slide once more. But the quiet strength Kirri could hear there eased the trembling in her hands.

They gingerly traversed the damaged hallway, Aaron carrying Angie, Daniel helping him and Kirri over the debris that hampered their progress. The slope of the floor wasn't quite as steep now, but Kirri could feel its instability.

One of the stumps in the middle of the house had broken off and acted as an anchor, dragging against the pull of the house as it ploughed down the hill. The jagged hallway floor hung about two metres in the air.

Daniel slid the rope from his shoulder, and quickly tied a loop in it. 'After I get you both down,' he said to Kirri and Aaron, 'I'll lower Angie to you.'

Within seconds Kirri and Aaron were standing on the ground. Daniel looped the rope around Angie's waist and over her shoulders.

As he lowered the injured woman down to Aaron, the earth seemed to tremble. He quickened his movements, watched with relief as Aaron grabbed Angie's unconscious body.

He positioned his boot on the edge, ready to jump.

The house lurched violently, throwing him back into the hallway.

 

Kirri screamed Daniel's name as she watched him disappear.

In horror she saw the house tilt forward as the eucalyptus trees finally gave way.

'Come on, before we go with it!' Aaron yelled, struggling through the thick mud towards a rocky outcropping.

'But Daniel -'

The earth shook as the house plunged over. Kirri stood, stunned by the sight and the realisation that the man she loved was going to die. Aaron, Angie across his shoulder in a fireman's carry, pulled at her arm, but she wouldn't, couldn't, move.

Just as the last room pitched over the ledge, a form hurtled from the gaping hole that had once been a hallway, and landed on the muddy edge.

The thick ooze began to move, and Daniel clawed wildly, trying to get a hold on anything that would stop him sliding over.

Kirri picked up the rope that Aaron had taken off Angie, and laboured towards Daniel, putting the looped end around her waist as she went. Terror gripped her as she realised that Daniel was losing the battle to stop his inexorable slide.

In desperation she threw the other end of the rope to him. His right hand caught it. As he continued to slide, the slack went from the rope, and Kirri was nearly jerked off her feet.

Strong arms suddenly reached around her and grabbed the rope. 'Back up,' Aaron breathed as he took the strain from her.

They moved backwards, slipping and grunting as they gradually eased Daniel onto less treacherous ground. He trudged up to them, and Kirri allowed herself a moment's relief as she hugged him quickly.

Aaron moved back to pick Angie up off the ground. 'Thank God,' he breathed as he straightened up, 'the Police are here. And an ambulance.'

As the vehicles drove in and parked next to the SES truck, another rumbling sounded. The three of them looked up to see the last half of the house begin to tear away from its foundations.

'Run!' Daniel yelled. He took Angie from Aaron's arms. 'Take Kirri! Go!'

His long strides more than matched Kirri's and Aaron's shorter ones as they tried to run through the ooze. The rocky outcropping ahead of them appeared maddeningly distant.

The ground began to vibrate.

Suddenly Kirri realised they were no longer running through mud. They were on firm ground. She cast a quick glance uphill. Her feet faltered as she saw the wreckage of the house ploughing closer.

Then Aaron was pulling her with him again, and they all scrambled onto the outcropping.

They watched the last part of the house crash, tumbling and fragmenting, into the valley floor, as the SES workers scrambled to safety.

 

Brett stayed in the cover of the trees as he watched the front half of the house slide down the mountainside.

He turned to leave when, from the corner of his eye, he saw the movement slow. His incredulity rising with every second, he stayed hidden as he watched Brand's escape.