Frontier - 54. FR Chapter 54

When my alarm went off at 4.30am we quickly changed and finished packing and we caught a taxi to the domestic airport, as our flight departed at 6am. When we picked up our tickets, Simon discovered that I had booked first class tickets, and we headed to the 1^st class lounge, where we were able to get some breakfast before boarding the plane. While waiting, I made an enquiry about getting a chartered flight from Perth to Jurien Bay, and I was able to arrange for a flight as soon as we had collected our luggage at the Perth terminal.

By 10am, we were in the air again, heading north homewards. Before taking off I sent a text message to Jasper.

“Sending a parcel to you via air. It will arrive at Jurien Bay Airport at 10.15am today. Anton,” and I showed the message to Simon who chuckled.

“You are a cruel man, Anton Hamilton,” he said to me. When we landed at Jurien Bay, my phone beeped to say I had a message.

“Ok, I am on a charter. I will arrange for Anita to collect it, Jasper,” I read. I looked out the window to see that there was no vehicle waiting, so I called the Jurien Bay Police Station.

“Good morning. Jurien Bay Police. How can I help you?” I heard Anita say.

“Hello, Anita. Do you have a spare twenty minutes to collect the parcel from the airport now,” I said with a smile.

“I think I can do that for you, Anton,” came the reply.

“That’s good, because we don’t want to be stuck here without transport into town,” I responded, ending the call before Anita could say any more.

“That is so cruel,” Simon said to me with a wicked grin and I just laughed. Less than ten minutes later, just as the plane took off to return to Perth, we saw a police vehicle approach the airport, and stop beside us at the small terminal.

“Ok, you two wise guys, what are you doing here when you supposed too be in Fiji?” Anita said as she climbed out of the vehicle and opened the back area for our luggage.

“We found some information that is most likely the reason why we have been having all this trouble. Officer Kyle Davies recommended that we travel to Sydney to pass the information on to the AFP. We were grilled for about two hours last night, as soon as we arrived, and once it was all over, I organised for Kyle to return home to Portobello, and we decided to come home, and spend some time with the family,” I replied, as Simon and I loaded our luggage into the vehicle and climbed in.

“Jasper is going to spin out when he learns that you guys are home. The charter finishes today, so he will either sail straight home and be back real late, or he will stay overnight in Fremantle and sail back tomorrow,” Anita said to us.

“I suggest that we not tell him straight away, so he can get a good nights’ rest before coming home,” I said to Anita, as she drove up Jurien Road East towards my house.

“Isaac, Marcus and the boys are at Leeman at the moment. The boys are still doing distance education, with Jasper’s aunt supervising them. They should be here tomorrow afternoon, as they come down every Friday afternoon at around 1600 hours, to spend the weekend at the family home,” Anita informed me, as we turned onto the road that the house was on.

“Jurien Base to mobile, come in, Anita,” came a voice on the police radio.

“Anita receiving you, Sergeant. I’m out on Cambewarra Drive, corner of Jurien East. Over,” Anita responded.

“Return to base right away. Over and out,” Anita’s boss said.

“Sorry, guys, I have to drop you off at the gate,” Anita said to us as she stopped at my driveway. As soon as our luggage was offloaded, she raced back to town.

With our suitcases in hand, we walked up the driveway towards the house. “Wow the trees and vines have all grown a lot,” Simon said as we neared the house. I pulled out my wallet, and retrieved my house key, and unlocked the front door. The house was clean and after a quick look, I determined that the boys had been staying in their room, Gramps in his room, and someone had been using my room, while Mum’s room remained empty, but all of her belongings, including shoes and clothes, had been removed.

“Ok, Si, you can stay in Mum’s room, I think I need to talk to Gramps to see what their plans are for tomorrow,” I said to Simon.

“Are our utes in the shed?” Simon asked me, and we both headed out the back to have a look in the shed. I was pleased to see my vehicle parked there, but Simon was a little disappointed to not see his there.

“I guess Isaac has your vehicle up at Leeman,” I said to Simon, and I saw Simon nod his head as he looked upset. I walked up to him and gave him a hug. “It’s ok, mate. Let’s go and get my vehicle keys, lockup the house and we will go for a drive up to Leeman to see your grandfather,” I said with a smile.

Just over half an hour later we arrived at Isaac’s property on the edge of town, and I tooted the horn. Moments later we saw the door open and Jedd appear. He stopped and shouted into the house, before running towards the vehicle. As soon as I was out of the vehicle, Jedd was jumping into my arms. I wrapped him in a tight hug. “Hey, little brother, how are you going?” I said to him as I saw Neale sprinting out of the house and racing towards me. Moments later the speed of him reaching me knocked me off my feet, and both of my brothers were hugging me as we rolled on the ground.

Simon just stood there and smiled. “Simon and Anton, it’s good to see you both. Boys, get off your brother so he can get up,” Isaac said as he stepped out of the house, with Gramps following soon after.

“Yes, Uncle Isaac,” the boys chorused, and I stood up and brushed the dirt off me. Gramps walked up to me and gave me a hug.

“Hello, Anton. This is quite a surprise,” Gramps said before motioning us to go indoors.

Once we had sat down in the lounge, I began to explain that we had travelled to Sydney to speak to the AFP, before catching a flight to Perth early that morning. Then we chartered a plane to fly us up to Jurien Bay, where Anita picked us up and dropped us at home.

“Jasper is on a charter at the moment, with Toby and Finn being his only crew. They will be back late tonight or tomorrow,” Gramps said to us.

“Yes, Anita told us about the charter,” Simon replied with a smile, and we chatted a little more before Simon and I stood up.

“We have most of our luggage at the house, so we will be staying at home for now. If you want Gramps and boys, you can stay here or come back with us,” I announced.

“We will come down tomorrow, just for the weekend, once the boys have finished their school work,” Gramps announced.

“Your vehicle is in my shed. Marcus has been using it between here and Jurien Bay, so you can take it with you, and I will drive them down tomorrow,” Isaac said to his grandson happily.

Half an hour later as we arrived back in Jurien Bay, with just my vehicle, we headed to the shops to get some food for the house, as the fridge was empty, and the pantry had very little in it. Once we had put away all of the shopping, we walked over to the side of the shed to check out the hydroponics, where we found a huge vegetable garden, with most at various stages of ripening. I picked a ripe tomato and took a nice big bite, and smiled, as it tasted really nice. I could see celery, cucumbers, capsicums, tomatoes, sweetcorn, leeks, onions, and lots of herbs, in the garden, which looked amazing.

After parking the ute in the shed and locking it, we went for a walk through the vineyard and orchard, which was doing very well, as were the trees around the boundary. Returning to the house just as the sun was setting, we sat on the verandah and watched the sun going down, before heading inside to prepare some dinner.

After we had eaten, we sat down and watched a little television, before retiring for the night. I was pleased that I fell asleep almost straight away, and slept very well. When I woke up, I was feeling refreshed and relaxed for the first time in a long time, and after having a shower, I headed to the lounge. “Good morning, Boss. Did you sleep well?” Simon said to me.

“Very well actually, thanks bud. We need to sit down with Jasper when he gets back, to work out what we are going to do,” I said as I sat down at the table, and Simon handed me a cup of tea. I Looked up at the wall clock, and was a little stunned that it was nearly 11am. “Woah, I didn’t realise it was so late,” I said a little shocked that I had slept so long.

“Speaking of Jasper, I had a call from him at 7am. They left Fremantle at 5am, so they will be home at 1pm, if the winds are favourable. He said he is annoyed that we didn’t tell him we had arrived home,” Simon said.

“Well, I guess we will just have to deal with his disappointment when he gets home,” I replied, and Simon just laughed, before handing me a plate of toast for my breakfast. “Two hours eh, well we better get organised before they arrive,” I said as I continued to eat. Once I had finished and helped to clean up, we headed into town to wait for the arrival of the catamaran. We parked at the marina, where we waited for them to arrive, while watching cray fishing boats arriving and unloading their daily catch.

We were a little surprised when we saw the police wagon approaching us at speed. It came to a skidding stop near my vehicle. Seeing this put me into immediate alert mode. We saw Anita and her work partner jump out of the vehicle and come running towards us.

“No questions, Anton. Get into your vehicle and we will go into the rear police compound right now,” Anita said to us. Simon and I both stood there stunned at her sudden demands.

I wanted to ask what was going on, but before I could Anita grabbed me and forced me into the back seat, while her partner did the same with Simon. Anita jumped into the driver’s seat of my vehicle and floored the accelerator. Quickly Simon and I put our seatbelts on, as the police car raced past us. Anita kept close behind, and less than five minutes later, we were in the rear carpark compound, with the security gate closing. Quickly we were rushed through the back door of the police station, and into an interview room.

“Stay here. I will be back in a minute,” Anita said to us, as we sat down in the fairly bare room.

“What the hell has just happened,” I said to Simon still in shock with the sudden events.

“Could it be to do with what we had found and handed into the AFP?” Simon suggested. After a few moments of thought, I nodded my head agreeing with his guess. A few minutes later Anita returned with two cups of tea, which she handed to us before sitting down.

“Ok, now to fill you in on what’s happened. But before I do, Isaac, Marcus and the two boys are in the same situation as you guys, up at Leeman. They are all safe. I have contacted my husband, and told him to go out to sea, and stay there till the all clear has been given.

“The information that you gave to the AFP in Sydney, do you have any copies?” Anita said to me in a serious tone.

“Yes, in a large yellow envelope, still in my suitcase in my bedroom, second last room on the right,” I said to Anita as I fished out my car keys, with the house key on it, and handed it to Anita.

“Ok, we will go and get it. Stay put and we will see what happens when we have some more information,” Anita said as she dashed out of the room, leaving the door open.

After finishing the cup of tea, I stepped out of the room, where I saw a man with sergeant stripes on his uniform on the phone. When he put the phone down, he saw me standing at the door. “Where is the bathroom please, Sir?” I asked nicely.

“If you and Mr Adamson will follow me, I will take you to a more secure location,” the police officer said to me, and we were lead through a door into a corridor, then another door, where there were four cells, and an enclosed outdoor exercise yard.

“I will lock you into the cell block, but you have access to the cells and yard, plus I will open the small kitchen, so you can get hot drinks and some food,” the officer said to me. We nodded our heads as we entered the cell block and the door closed and locked behind us.

“Well, this was not how I had planned to spend my stay back at home,” I said to Simon, who went to one cell to use the toilet, and I did the same in another cell, before I lay down on the thin foam mattress, on the concrete bed. We heard the cell block door open, and then Anita looked into the cell I was occupying. “I have the photograph. Very damning evidence, and a drug cartel at that. No wonder the AFP ordered for your immediate protection,” Anita said as she handed me that morning’s state-wide newspaper – “Crew of marooned yacht Last Frontier hold key evidence to South American Drug cartel” was the main headline on the front page.

“Oh, that is just great,” I said in a loud angry manner, which brought Simon to my cell. I handed him the paper.

“Oh, that is not good, not good at all,” Simon said after reading the headlines, and he sat down to read the rest of the article.

“That’s a nation-wide thing. It’s in all the major capital city newspapers in Australia and New Zealand,” Anita said to me.

“So, what are the plans now?” I asked Anita.

“Well, it’s up to you guys. You can stay in here until it is all sorted, or we can come up with another idea. We have AFP agents in transit to speak to you guys again,” Anita said to me with a smile.

“Does Jasper have any more bookings at the moment?” Simon asked.

“No he doesn’t, and since speaking to him this morning, about all this drama, he has put a hold on all future bookings,” Anita replied.

“So, we could maybe hide out on the catamaran off shore if need be?” Simon asked.

“You better ask your boss about that one?” Anita said with a smile, looking in my direction before she left, closing the cell block door on the way out.

“Well, technically Jasper officially owns the catamaran now, even though he is a long way off to paying it all off, so we will have to have a chat with him about it. Let me call him and see what we can come up with,” I said to Simon.

I pulled out my phone to make the call. “Hello, boss. Good to hear that you are home, but not happy about being put in danger by a drug cartel,” Jasper said to me as he answered.

“I’m the same, mate. I just want all of this to go away for good. Anita has us locked up in the cell block, and I think the same has happened to the rest of the family to the north,” I responded.

“Oh, that’s not good. Anita threatened me with a dirty weekend locked up in the cell block, but when she showed it to me, I said a definite ‘no’,” Jasper replied, which had me and Simon laughing loudly.

“What no frilly handcuffs for you, mate?” Simon suggested, which had both of us rolling on the floor now. Suddenly the cell block door opened and three officers walked in with concerned looks.

“If that is my darling wife, and her work colleagues, tell them to wait till you two have calmed down so we can discuss this matter,” Jasper said.

“What did you tell them that has them rolling around on the floor, and us in panic mode when we saw them like this on the video cameras?” Anita asked sternly.

“Nothing that can’t wait till I am with you, dearest,” Jasper replied as Simon and I stopped laughing and sat back up on the hard bed.

“Ok Jasper. It’s your tub, so it is your decision. Simon is suggesting that we hide on the yacht at sea until this clears up,” I managed to say with a straight face.

“Firstly, it is not a tub, and secondly, I think that it would be the best option for all of us, and I mean that includes my grandfather, stepson, plus your gramps and brothers, Anton. We need to offload two crew members who shouldn’t be at risk. We will have plenty of supplies,” Jasper replied.

“I will organise everything at this end with Anita. Where do we meet, and when?” I responded, looking at Anita for confirmation that she would be assisting, and she nodded her head in acknowledgment.

“You will need 4-wheel drive to get there - 30.183666 and 114.997292. We will be there at 2100 hours, so that gives you time to get sorted with your approaching visitors. See you all then. Bye for now,” Jasper said and he ended the call.

“Did anyone write down those coordinates?” Simon asked.

“No need. I know where that is. Its Sandy Cape, just south of Green Head,” I commented with a smile.

“Good choice of location. There is a good gravel road into the place, and plenty of sandy tracks, if there is a need to escape,” the sergeant commented, just as we heard a plane fly over the town.

“That will be our visitors. Do you want me to go and collect them, Sergeant?” Anita asked, and her boss gave her the go ahead to do that.

“Anita, we will need some clothes. Just grab our suitcases, which we haven’t unpacked yet. Maybe some books, games and DVD movies for the boys?” I asked Anita as she was walking out of the cell block, closing it shut once more. “I wish we had the trimaran over here. It would make it more comfortable for all of us,” I said to Simon, just as my mobile rang.

“Yes, Jasper?” I said without looking at the caller ID.

“Sorry, Mr Hamilton. It is Mike from the boatyard. We just wanted to let you know that your trimaran yacht is completely fixed and ready to go. The staff and I took it on a test sail last night, to check that all was fine. She is a beautiful yacht to sail. You are one very lucky young man,” the caller said to me.

“Thank-you, Mike, that is good news. I am currently in Western Australia, and we have some delays, so just keep it safe for us, and we will get there as soon as possible. Bye for now,” I replied and ended the call.