Flight to Coorah Creek Read Online Free PDF Page A

easy.’
    â€˜Do you want me to take a look at him?’ Adam asked.
    â€˜It’s all right, Doc,’ Dave said. ‘Sister Luke came down and sorted him out. She says he’ll be hunting again in a few days.’
    â€˜Sister Luke?’ Jess asked.
    â€˜Her order works with the Aboriginal people,’ Adam explained. ‘That’s why she’s here.’
    â€˜Oh, I thought she worked for you.’
    â€˜No. I’m just her charity case.’
    She almost smiled at that. Adam wondered if she would smile if she knew just how close that was to the truth.
    â€˜By the way,’ he turned his attention back to the stockmen. ‘Where’s Blue?’
    â€˜Gone walkabout,’ was the reply.
    â€˜Walkabout?’ Jess said.
    â€˜It’s something they do,’ Adam started to explain. ‘The Aborigines have always been nomadic. Sometimes they just walk into the wilderness – particularly the young men. It’s like a rite of passage for them.’
    â€˜I know what it is,’ Jess said. ‘I just didn’t think in this day and age …’
    â€˜We still do it, Missus,’ the cook said. ‘To talk to the spirits of the Dreamtime.’
    â€˜Oh.’ Jess looked very serious.
    â€˜It’s better than a sickie to get off work,’ Dave explained, his teeth flashing white in the dim light as he grinned. ‘I like to go fishing. Pete over there is too lazy to go into the desert proper. He just likes to get away from his wife and kids.’
    The men around the camp laughed loudly.
    For a brief moment, Jess looked uncertain. Then it came. A slow smile that spread across her face like the light of the sun peeping over the edge of the desert at daybreak. Adam watched her in the gentle glow of the fire. Again he wondered what had brought Jess Pearson to this remote place on the edge of nowhere. Whatever it was, at this moment, he was glad she was there.
    The flickering of the fire dragged his eyes away from Jess. Flames curled around the dead tree branches. Sinuous. Seductive. Dangerous. Adam rubbed his shoulder, feeling remembered pain. Beside him, one of the stockmen leaned forward to drop more wood on the fire. Glowing red and orange sparks flew high into the night sky to mingle with the brilliant stars. The harsh crackling of the flames drowned out the ongoing conversation around him. Adam could feel himself being drawn into the flames. Losing himself as the flames reached for him. Then a sound pulled him back. A soft gentle sound. The sound of Jess laughing.

Chapter Three
    Jess was trying to fight her way through a wall of noise and flashing light. Leering, lusting faces in front of her.
    â€˜Jessica, how does it feel to send your lover to jail?’
    â€˜Jessica, shouldn’t you be charged, too?’
    She raised her hands to fend off the microphones waving just inches from her face. She ducked her head so her long dark hair fell forward, covering her face as the cameras flashed. Hunching her shoulders, she started to push her way through the crowd, but she made no headway. Then a man appeared in front of her, using his body to shield her.
    â€˜Thanks, Dad,’ she gasped.
    But his brow furrowed. ‘You ignored the signs? Why Jess? Why?’
    There was a boy. So young. His face so pale. His body painfully thin. Then Jessica heard a scream.
    â€˜It’s your fault. You killed my son!’
    A grey-haired woman. Her lined face streaked with tears.
    â€˜This was my son!’ The woman held a photograph in her hand. She thrust it at Jessica. ‘You killed him with that poison you brought here. It’s your fault my son is dead.’
    â€˜No,’ Jessica’s voice came out as a croak. ‘I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know the drugs were on the plane.’
    â€˜Didn’t you?’ the woman said, in a cold harsh voice. ‘You were the pilot. How could you not