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

in his seat. This
was ace, out with his mate, a bit of damage by nightbut thats all it was. He
couldnt say the same for Jolic. The bastard was pretty flame happy. Maybe it
came from being a volunteer fireman for the Country Fire Authority.

    The Peninsula was deceptive. There
were places, like Red Hill and Main Ridge, where the earth was composed of wave
after wave of deep gullies and folds and knuckles of high ground. Later on in
the new year the vines on the hillsides would be encased in fine bird mesh,
like long, slumbering white slugs at night. Jolic drove them to a twisting road
above the bay. Suddenly pine trees swallowed the moonlight, the headlights
boring into funnelling darkness as they roared down the hill toward the coast
highway.

    At the roundabout inland from
Mornington they turned right, into a region of small farms, then right again,
on to another system of back roads.

    Check this.

    A large wooden mailbox, mounted on
an S-bend of welded chain, the number 9 on it in reflective enamel. Jolic
slowed the ute. Glossy black paint job; small brass hinges; a sticker
stipulating no advertising material.

    Fucken A, Danny said.

    They got out, stood a while in the
windless lane, listening. Only the engine ticking. It was a long night, and
very hot, and Danny began to wonder why he was out here with this mad bastard
and not slipping one to Megan Stokes, in her bed or in among the ti-trees down
the beach, with a plunge into the sea to cool down after. Well, he did know:
she was pissed off with him because hed forgotten her birthday and it was
going to take plenty of sweet-talking and presents to bring her around. Mate,
lets just pack it in, call it a night.

    It always caught you unprepared, the
way Jolic could explode, if explosion was the right word for a fist gathering a
clump of T-shirt, choking you, and a face hissing in yours, so close you got
sprayed with spit.

    Youre not wimping out on me, are
ya?

    Danny coughed it out: Its just, Ive
got work in the morning. Start at five. I need sleep.

    Piss weak, said Jolic, shaking
him. Danny was small, skin and bone, and felt himself rising to the tips of his
runners as Jolic absently lifted him by the bunched T-shirt. Jolic was built
like a concrete power pole, slim and hard. He wore grease-stained jeans that
looked as if theyd stand unaided if he stepped out of them, a red and black
check shirt over a blue singlet, and oily boots. Tattoos up and down his arms,
and a bony skull under crewcut hair. Danny had been hanging around Jolic ever
since primary school, needingso Megan reckonedthe big cunts approval all the
time.

    Mate, I cant breathe.

    Jolic released him. Piker.

    Danny rubbed his neck. Gis the
matches. Ill do it.

    He opened the little flap on the
front of the mailbox, stuffed it with petrol-soaked paper towels, tossed in a
match, stepped back. The flap swung down, choking the flames. They waited.
Danny raised the flap again. The interior of the box was scorched, still
glowing red in places, but it wasnt alight. He leaned close, blew. God, what a
stink, varnish, wood preservative, whatever.

    Come on, Jolic said. Better take
you home to your mum.

    Home was a new estate on the
outskirts of Waterloo, houses crammed together but facing in all directions
because they sat on madly looping courts and avenues, not a straight road in
the whole place. Danny watched Jolic leave, the ute booming to wake the dead,
the brake lights flaring at the turn-off. He lit a cigarette. He didnt want to
go inside yet, hear his mother yell at him.

    Danny gnawed his lower lip. The last
thing Jolic had said was he needed help on another break-and-enter sometime
after Christmas. Im waiting for word on when the ownersll be away, hed
said. Danny laughed now, without humour. Why should Jolic care if the owners
were away or not? His idea of a break-and-enter was to smash the door down and
bash the occupants before tying them up and rampaging through the house.
Aggravated burglary, no fun at