Ernie were already heading away. Lauren panicked as she realised that her brother would be out of sight by the time she walked down the corridor, through the fire door and down the metal staircase. There was no way she’d be able to contact him once he got into the school area, which was strictly segregated by sex.
Lauren grabbed the CDs and crammed them into the pocket on the front of her shorts. As she turned to run out, she remembered the chute used to drop bags of post down to the truck. The flap made a racket as she pulled it open, and she clambered on to a polished metal ramp that looked like an oversized playground slide.
The chute was dark, except for a few streaks of light breaking through the fat rubber strips dangling at the bottom. Nobody had bothered smoothing out the joins in the metal for the benefit of mail bags and Lauren’s bum juddered over each one as she clattered down. After pushing through the warm rubber strips, she sprinted into the subdued light under the canopy and yelled out:
‘James!’
He was a couple of hundred metres away, walking across a stretch of dirt alongside Ernie.
Lauren waved her arms and sprinted off towards her brother as he looked back curiously.
James realised Lauren probably had some information that wasn’t for Ernie’s ears, so he said a quick goodbye before jogging back towards his sister.
‘Hey,’ James grinned. ‘Are you OK? What’s going on?’
34. SILENCED
Dana helped Nina make vegetarian bolognese for dinner, but everyone was on edge and Barry was the only one who managed to eat more than half the food on his plate. Eve enthusiastically volunteered to do the washing up, but Barry just smiled.
‘Heroes don’t wash up,’ he grinned. ‘And we won’t be back here, so why bother?’
Nina reached out for the hands of the two girls sitting on either side of her. ‘I think we should all say a final prayer.’
Eve held out her hand to Barry and grinned at him. ‘Come on, and your other hand with Dana’s. Let’s make a circle to ward off devils.’
Barry looked unenthusiastic, but they all squeezed hands tightly and closed their eyes.
‘We thank you, Lord …’
Dana felt like she was floating as soon as she closed her eyes. She shut out Nina’s prayer and tried to calm herself down.
She’d radioed John from her bedroom before sitting down to eat. He’d said that ASIS would be tailing every move they made. They’d managed to sneak a tracking device underneath the Subaru and there were police officers stationed at every major harbour along a thirty-kilometre stretch of coast.
Ideally, Barry’s team would be intercepted as they boarded the boat and caught red-handed with the explosives and equipment required to complete the bombing. In the unlikely event that they managed to get the boat out, there were three Australian coastguard vessels and an Australian navy patrol boat ready to intercept them before they arrived at the LNG terminal.
All of that ought to have been reassuring, but the spaghetti still refused to settle in Dana’s stomach.
‘Amen,’ Eve and Nina said happily.
Dana’s hands were released and she joined in, ‘Amen.’
‘OK,’ Barry said, belching loudly as he stood up from the table. ‘Nice meal that, thanks Nina. It’s time we shipped out, so if you girls want to use the toilet or anything.’
‘I’m OK,’ Dana smiled. ‘Do you need any help loading our equipment into the car?’
Barry shook his head. ‘Everything on the boat is being set up by our support team. All we’ll have to do is climb aboard and set off.’
This was a disappointment to Dana, because loading up the boat would have given the police more time to move in and arrest them.
Barry looked at the two girls. ‘I need one of you to come with me and sort out a little problem. The other one can stay here and help Nina set up the incendiaries to burn out the house.’
‘Do you really think they’ll track us back here?’ Eve asked.
‘Can’t be too careful about leaving fingerprints and DNA behind,’ Barry said. ‘We’ll set the timer for twenty minutes after we leave. This house is ancient and it’s got a wooden frame. It should burn up nicely.’
Eve smiled at Dana. ‘I’ll help Nina, if that’s OK.’
Dana shrugged and looked at Barry. ‘Seems like I’m with you.’
While Nina and Eve grabbed petrol cans, detonators and a bundle of industrial explosive sticks from the garage, Dana followed Barry into the hallway. He was tall