Blood at Yellow Water Read Online Free PDF Page B

Let’s see how he
handles a fast ball,” said Jake as he swung his arm over a bit
quicker before letting the ball go. Gillie giggled shyly and hit
the next ball clean over the fence. They played for the next ten
minutes while Lizzie finished hanging out the washing.
    “O.K. That’s enough now Gillie, Jake’s gotta
get going.”
    Lizzie gave Jake a huge hug. “You come back
real soon Jake, your father has missed you heaps. He talks about
you all the time and although he wouldn’t say so, he really is very
proud of you.”
    “I’m so glad to have met you Lizzie. Thanks
so much for making Dad so happy.”
    Jake walked with her to the back door and
went into the house to say goodbye to Bill. Bill shook his hand and
gave Jake an affectionate hug, something he had never done
before.
    “Take care of yourself son, it’s been good
to see you. Come back soon.”
    “If I can manage it I just might come back
after the conference but it will depend on whether there is much
follow-up work.”
    “That’d be great son. You know you can take
the old Stockmen’s Track up to Kakadu which is a rough ride but a
much shorter and more interesting trip than the highway. No one
uses it these days. There’s an aboriginal site half way along the
track called the Lost Temple which is just a magic place.”
    “Thanks for that Dad, if I have time I might
take it on the way back. In the meantime, you look after yourself,”
Jake said as he jumped into the car and drove back to the junction
of the Stuart Highway, veered left and headed straight north
towards Kakadu National Park.

CHAPTER
FOUR
    MONDAY AFTERNOON - KAKADU
    Jake settled into the long drive north up the Stuart
Highway thinking about Shoni and how well the old man had settled
into outback life with Lizzie. He was suddenly jolted out of his
thoughts to see in the rear vision mirror a large Ford truck
tailgating him. He eased off the accelerator pedal to let the
vehicle pass thinking the driver must be in a great hurry. The
truck roared up level with him and he looked out the window to see
the angry red face of Blakey sneering at him from the window of the
truck and Skinner sitting in the passenger seat pointing a rifle
straight at him.
    Blakey shouted at him, “I’m going to teach
you a lesson, city boy, you ain’t going to no conference.”
    Blakey swerved in front of him, forcing him
to veer to the left side of the road. Jake gasped trying to hold
the station wagon on the side of the road and braked sharply
allowing the truck to shoot ahead of him. Blakey slowed right down
again blocking the side of the road, forcing Jake to swing into the
middle of the road to avoid being bumped. Blakey immediately swung
the truck back into the middle of the highway ramming the side of
the Land Cruiser. Jake was trembling wondering whether the idiot
was trying to kill him as he veered to the other side of the road.
He heard the blast of a horn and looked up and saw a B-Double
semi-trailer charging down the highway only seconds from crashing
into him. At the last instant he saw a dirt track on the right hand
side of the road and swung the wheel violently to just miss the
B-Double. The B-Double swung into the centre of the road to avoid
him but was then heading straight towards Blakey’s truck, forcing
him to drive into a ditch on the side of the road where the truck
did a tailspin and ploughed into a barbed wire fence.
    Jake fought the steering wheel to stop his
wagon from tipping over during the sharp turn, eventually bringing
it under control. He stopped the Land Cruiser, peered out the
window to see Blakey stomping out of the wrecked truck, shaking his
fist at him. The semi-trailer had just continued on. He reversed
the Toyota, turned back onto the highway and floored it to escape
from the scene.
    Jake kept driving fast until he thought he
was far enough away from Blakey. He then slowed down to wipe the
sweat off his face and breathed deeply to calm his nerves. What
would possess Blakey