Page 27 of Lost In Kakadu

“You don’t have a choice. The company’s emergency plan has been activated and your father made specific instructions regarding you. It’s for your own safety.”

She’d heard enough. To show him she had no intention of moving she reached for her magazine.

Thomas snatched it off her and tossed it aside.

“Hey!”

“Get up. I’ve finished with your games.”

“Get stuffed.”

She squealed as his fingers bit into her upper arm.

“Get up!” He dragged her to her feet, sending his chair flying.

“Let go of me,” she screamed.

His fingers squeezed tighter.

“Let me go!”

He shoved her toward the gate. “Get to your room and pack a bag. Mrs Mulholland is waiting for you.”

Krystal rubbed her arm and knew it was going to bruise. “I’m not going,” she yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted along the path.

She ran upstairs to her bedroom, locked the door, dived onto her bed and punched Tina’s number into her phone. “Tina, it’s Krystal. Have you heard?”

“I know, it’s horrible. They don’t know where he is.”

Krystal heard her sobbing and it suddenly hit her what Tina was talking about. “Dad will be okay. I’m talking about me. They’re sending me to Grandma Mulholland.”

“Oh. Well, they have to follow?—”

Krystal couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I can’t live with her. Tell them you’ll look after me.”

“I can’t … They won’t let me.”

“You bitch.” Krystal tossed the phone onto her bed. Moments later, someone banged on her bedroom door. “Go away.”

“Open the door or I will,” Thomas barked.

Krystal kept quiet and as the knob turned, she smiled, knowing it was locked. Footsteps retreated from the door, and she turned her thoughts to who to ring next.

The door slammed open, and Thomas stepped into the room.

“Get out!” She jabbed a shaky finger at him.

Thomas strode to her wardrobe and yanked her suitcase from the top shelf. “Do you want to pack it or shall I?”

ChapterEleven

At the first glimmer of sunrise, the birds began their morning ritual of calls and a kookaburra laughed so loud Mackenzie expected to see it right beside him. The animals were out there, but so far, he hadn’t seen any of them. Careful not to wake Abigail, he quietly rummaged through his suitcase and changed his clothes.

The sun gilded the wet leaves as wisps of smoke pirouetted upward from the fire. As he followed its progression upwards, he realised their critical mistake.

Smoke was the only way rescuers could see them.

Dashing into the bushes over and over, he stacked the fire with layers and layers of wood. The billowing smoke dispersed in the breeze, but he prayed that some of it managed to escape the dense bushes.

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