Read Challis - 01 - Dragon Man for Free Online Page A

of her life: shirt buttoned to the neck, no tie,
expensive baggy suit, costly Italian loafers, oiled hair scraped back over his
scalp.

    Hes calling someone, she said.

    Let him.

    Where are you taking me?

    Weve got a backup seat reserved
for you on another airline. It leaves in fifteen minutes.

    Six-thirty, early evening, a dinner
flight, a seat in first class. Clara ate steak and salad, and palmed the knife
and the fork. They werent much, but at least in first class they were
stainless steel, and theyd give her an edge if she needed it, the kind of edge
shed come to rely upon in her short life.

    That had been eighteen months ago.
She had herself a new life in a quiet corner of south-eastern Australia, close
to the sea on a peninsula where nothing much happened. The locals accepted her.
She had answers for their questions, but there werent too many of those. Her
nearest neighbour in Quarterhorse Lane was half a kilometre away, on the other
side of a hill, a vineyard and a winery separating them. If she walked to the
top of that hill she could see Westernport Bay, with Phillip Island around to
the right. She lived on a dirt road that carried only local traffic and half a
dozen extra cars to the little winery on days when it was open, the first
Sunday of the month. No-one knew her. No-one much cared.

    So how had she been found? Was the
fire a signal? And why a signal in the first place? Why not just barge in and
finish her off? Unless they wanted to wind her up first, a spot of mental
cruelty. Her hands were shaking. God, she could do with some coke now, just a
couple of lines, enough to ease the pressure in her head. She stared at her
fingers, the raw nails. She clamped her left hand around her right wrist and
dialled the number of the Waterloo police station. Above her the ceiling fan
stirred the air. God it was hot; 35 and not even Christmas yet.

    * * * *

    Danny
Holsinger, twisting around in the passenger seat, peering back along
Quarterhorse Lane, said, Burning nicely.

    Boyd Jolic felt the rear of the ute
fishtail in the loose dirt. Baby, come and light my fire, he sang.

    Danny uttered his high, startling, whinnying
laugh. He couldnt help it. He swigged from a can of vodka and orange, then
stiffened. Theres one, Joll.

    Jolic braked hard, just for the
sensation of lost traction, then accelerated away. The mailbox outside the
winery was a converted milk can, all metal, not worth chucking a match into.
Not like that wooden job back down the road.

    They came to an intersection. Left
or right, old son?

    Danny considered it. Left, you got
a couple of orchards, couple of horse studs. Right, you got another winery, a
poultry place, some bloke makes pots and jugs and that, lets see, a woman does
natural healing, some rich geezers holiday place, then you got Waterloo and
the cops. He giggled again. His day job was driver of the shires recycle
truck and he knew the back roads like the back of his hand.

    Left, Jolic decided. Right sounds
too fucking crowded.

    He planted his foot and with some
fancy work on the brake and wheel, allowed the ute to spin around full circle
in the middle of the intersection, then headed left, away from Waterloo.

    The first mailbox was another solid
milk can, but the next two were wooden. The first didnt take, kept starving of
air or something, but the second went up like it was paper. Sparks shot into
the sky, spilled on to the other side of the fence. Soon they had themselves a
nice little grass fire going.

    Where to now, Joll?

    Jolic blinked awake. He realised
that his mouth was open, all of his nerve endings alive to the dance of the
flames.

    Joll? Danny tugged him. Mate, time
to hotfoot it out of here.

    They climbed back into the ute,
slammed away down the road just as torchlight came jerking down the gravel
drive from a house tucked away behind a row of cypresses.

    Mate, where to?

    Other side of the Peninsula, Jolic
decided. Well away from here. New territory.

    Danny settled back