October

PREVIOUSLY

Believing my sister has drowned, I pass out on the banks of Spindrift River. A dream of Gabbi suddenly becomes real—she’s alive and she’s awake! Sharkey, Boges, Winter and I drop her off at a nearby police station.

A message about the Ormond Riddle, from the Keeper of Rare Books, Dublin, convinces me I need to go to Ireland. In the meantime, with Boges’s help, I make plans to spy on Oriana de la Force to get information on the whereabouts of the Jewel and the Riddle.

Winter and I search through Sligo’s car yard for the wreck of the car that killed her parents. Just as Winter believes she’s found it, we are sprung by Zombie Two, and barely get out of there alive.

In search of a safe place to stay, I go to see Repro.

I steal Ryan Spencer’s bus pass and leave it for my mum in Rafe’s letterbox with the words ‘Who am I?’ written on the back.

I return to Repro’s to find Three-O waiting for me—ready to call the cops and claim his reward money. Repro’s place has been exposed and trashed, and they’ve tied him up. Within minutes, I’m trussed up too. We manage to free ourselves and escape through an emergency tunnel that collapses and almost crushes the life out of us.

Boges and I set up near Oriana’s house, and using an air-rifle I shoot a ‘mothified’ listening bug into her study. From our post across the street, we overhear her talking about a lodgement with Zürich Bank—are the Riddle and the Jewel in a safety deposit box?

Retrieving the contents of Oriana’s safety deposit box seems impossible, knowing that access requires fingerprint recognition and a PIN. After
some online research I decide to try and get Oriana’s fingerprint so that Boges can make a duplicate.

Winter and I successfully collect a copy of Oriana’s fingerprint, but I’m caught by one of her thugs. After trying to choke me, Oriana sends me out into the desert—to Dingo Bones Valley—with Kelvin, who has been ordered to kill me. After long hours in the boot, Kelvin makes me get out and kneel on the ground. A shot rings out…

I wake up lying face down in red dust. I’m aching and thirsty, but alive. I discover some mysterious letters and numbers written on my ankle—SDB 291245.

An old prospector picks me up and gives me life-saving water, before taking me to an eerie, isolated town. He and his friend convince me to stay for a night and catch a bus out in the morning, but I soon discover that they plan on turning me in to the police for the reward money! After a violent struggle, I run into the desert while the two bounty-hunting prospectors and their vicious dog—Sniffer—hunt me down.