Deception - 18. Dec Chapter 18

Once I had unpacked the car fridge and loaded the washing machine with all my dirty clothes from the weekend, I made a light dinner, and watched some television. Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to drag on forever, I was missing Tom enormously, and only the daily text message from him, eased the loneliness slightly.

On the Thursday morning, I was happy because I knew that Tom would be home this evening, and I eagerly set off to work, and leaving when I was stopping work for my half hour lunch break at noon, I received a text from Tom, “Bus had mechanical troubles, just about to leave Coober Pedy now, teachers arranging for overnight stop at Port Augusta tonight. Love Tom”.

I was very upset when I read the message, and didn’t feel like returning to work after lunch, but a made an effort to eat a little bit, and returned to work at the required time, and I put the radio on, to have some background music while I worked on the computer. About half an hour later there was a news bulletin, which I tried to ignore until I heard the words “Navigator College”, that’s when I raced to the radio to listen more carefully but all I heard was “… more on that story as it comes to hand”.

It was almost straight after that when my mobile beeped, I didn’t look at it right away, as I was trying to think why the school was on the news, and I was about to telephone the school, when I looked at the message – “Isurava”. I nearly dropped the phone as it started to ring, with the caller ID being the school, and I pressed the answer button. “Hello Mr Langdon, I just got the distress message from Tom, just after hearing the news broadcast” the headmaster said.

“I only caught the name of the school on the news, nothing else, what has happened, tell me what is going on?” I asked urgently, “From what I can gather from the brief call from the Coober Pedy Police is that, a big gem robbery took place this morning, and the thieves used the school bus as their means of escape with hostages. They warned the police to stay away from the bus, not to follow them, or someone will get shot each time they see a police car” the headmaster said, “Let me check something, I will call you back” I said and I hung up before the headmaster could respond.

I opened the phone tracking app on my phone and entered Tom’s mobile number and pressed search, moments later came a reply – “Mobile you are searching, is not in mobile range”, and I stared at it for a moment and realized that Tom must still have his phone with him, and that he must have it hidden. I checked the time that Tom has sent me the first message – 12.10pm, then I looked at the current time – 1.19pm. Just over an hour between messages, going to my work computer, I quickly had the Google maps, and I typed in “Stuart Highway, South Australia” in the search bar.

After a while I managed to find the first roadhouse south of Coober Pedy, called Glendambo, which is 2.5 hours south of Coober Pedy, which meant I still had over an hour to wait, before I had a chance of seeing if Tom was in mobile range or not. I made a short call to Sam and Lucas to let them know what was happening, and that I was in contact with the headmaster. Just less than 45 minutes later my phone beeped again, and I looked at the screen right away.

“Just arrived at Glendambo Roadhouse, I have managed to keep my phone hidden, Jake and I are frightened but ok, one of teachers has been beaten up by gem robbers for trying to protect us, we can have a rest break, one teacher is organizing food and drinks for all of us. Love Tom”. I was so pleased to hear that Tom was ok, “I heard briefly on radio, soon after you sent alert to me and headmaster, stay safe. Love Gres” I sent back to him, hoping Tom had the phone on silent.

I struggled with my work, hoping that no one will noticed how much of a wreck I am right now, and I jumped with fright, when my phone beeped half an hour later. “Bus forced to stop and two robbers got into a car and headed east, we are continuing south now, Love Tom”, I was thrilled and relieved that the drama was finally over.

I rushed to my supervisor and said I had an emergency to go to and I dashed out the building, not waiting for a reply to my urgent statement. I quickly fueled up my car, grabbed some snack and drinks and headed north. I just wanted to have Tom in my care again, and I didn’t care how far I had to drive to do it. I estimated that the school bus had at least 3.5 hours, before they arrive at Port Augusta, and it is about the same travel time for me to get there from Port Lincoln, so I just drove. An hour later I received another text, and I pulled the car over to read it. “Arrived at settlement called Pimba, we are stopping for half hour meal break. Love Tom”.

I sent a reply to him, “I am driving north to meet you at Port Augusta. Love Gres”, and moments later, “Great, see you then. Tom” and I smiled at this message before continuing my driving, stopping a few minutes later as I drove into Arno Bay, where I got out and stretched my legs, drank some juice and ate an apple before I continued on. Looking at the car clock which read 4.02pm, I concentrated on the road ahead, knowing I still had over two hours of driving to go. When I arrived at Cowell about twenty minutes later, I stopped to make a call to a hotel in Port Augusta, and after a few calls, I managed to secure overnight accommodation for Tom and I, before I set off again.

Just after 6.10pm, I received from Tom, “On outskirts of Port Augusta, how far away are you? Tom”, I had pulled over to read the message and I sent a reply, “Passed Whyalla, about 20 minutes to go, I have booked us into a hotel tonight, Gres”, and moments later I received a reply, “Ok, I will let the teachers know”, Tom”.

When I arrived in Port Augusta, I spotted the school logo on the bus parked outside a motel, and I parked on the opposite side, and walked over the road toward the bus, which was being unloaded of luggage. “Hey Uncle Gres” Tom said as soon as he spotted me approaching, and a teacher that I recognized smiled and signaled Tom to go. Tom picked up his suitcase and walked over to me, and gave me a hug. “I am so glad you are safe and well, did those bad men hurt you?” I asked as we crossed the road and loaded Toms luggage into the car.

“Nope they didn’t, but I don’t have my sports bag any more” Tom admitted to me, “Oh why is that” Did you accidentally leave it behind? I asked concerned, “No uncle, and it only had a change of clothes, my books I were reading and some souvenirs that I had bought in Coober Pedy, before arriving at Glendambo, Jake noticed that I had the same sports bag as the robbers, so while we were stopped at Glendambo roadhouse I did a sneaky switch of the bags.

After the robbers left the bus and headed east, I told the teacher what we had done, she looked inside and saw three cotton bags tied with string around the neck, and it was heavy. When we got in mobile range at Pimba, the teacher rang the police to let them know of the switch, and police from nearby Woomera came and picked it up, took a statement from me and Jake and left us to continue our journey” Tom said proudly.

“Well that was a very risky thing to do, if they had discovered the gems missing earlier, you could have got into real trouble, please don’t take those risks again” I said sternly and Tom smiled, shook his head and gave me another hug. Not long after, we arrived at the hotel that we were booked into, and I let Tom take a shower first, since he had been travelling all day. I sat in the room and turned on the television, just in time for the 7pm news.

“First on tonight’s news, a bus load of school students and three teachers from a school in Port Lincoln, were about to make their return journey home after 5 days in Coober Pedy, when they became hostages to three Gem robbers, who had just robbed a jewellery story in the town. Police recently released a description of the three men, who were wearing overalls, and masks, gym shoes and leather gloves. They have also announced that the robbers left in a getaway car south of Glendambo, which is over 2 ½ hours south of Coober Pedy, and were last seen heading east.

The police announced that all of the gems stolen have been recovered, the result of a remarkable switch performed by two of the students, one of who had an identical sports bag to the robbers, and they swapped the bags during a rest stop at Glendambo…” I was laughing as the story came to an end, and Tom came out of the bathroom.

“What’s so funny uncle?” Tom asked with just a towel around his waist, “Only that you have made the news headline, no names were mentioned, only that two students did a switch of the bags at Glendambo. I would hate to be near those robbers around about now” I said with I smile, and I made my way into the bathroom for a shower listening to Tom giggling at my last comment, and once both showered, we went to the restaurant for a big meal, before heading to bed for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, being a Friday, there was no need to rush, so we had a nice sleep in and a late breakfast, before checking out at 9.30am. We didn’t rush the journey home, and as we neared Louth Bay just after noon, Tom suggested that we stop for lunch there and spend a few hours on the island, so we had a quick lunch at a local café, before driving onto the barge and making the trip to Louth Island, where Tom was looking forward to seeing what we had done while he was away. This time I went around to the eastern side of the island, landing on the southern end of the large beach, where Tom could see the stairs that lead up to the gazebo.

When we reached the top, Tom said he was amazed at how good the stairs and gazebo look, with the bench seating and the central table, minus the gas BBQ, yet to be installed, from there we walked along the boardwalk to the toilet block and shed, and Tom tried out one of the operational toilets. From there we unlocked the shed, and with just the quad bikes we went up the small ramp and onto the boardwalk, and we rode the distance of where the construction of the boardwalk has stopped so far.

“This is so awesome Uncle Gres, you guys have done a great job so far” Tom said to me as he stepped off his quad bike to give me a hug. After spending some time enjoying the beautiful surrounds, we drove the quad bikes to the shed, and we walked down to the barge to return to the mainland. As we were making the final stage of the journey home I glanced over to Tom briefly, thinking of how I had become his guardian, and I thought of a number of homeless people that I had noticed during my last visit to Adelaide.

“Tom, I have been thinking about something for a while now, about us and about our future, and how lucky we both are…” I said as I continued to drive, “Yeah it’s been awesome, I still miss mum very much and I think of her quite a lot, but I am so happy that you are looking after me” Tom said to me with a smile. “When I was in Adelaide last, I noticed quite a lot of homeless people, and I am wondering how you would feel, if we could some-how help them” I said cautiously, unsure how Tom would respond to the idea, and Tom remained silent for some time, as he thought about what I had said.

“I think it is a good idea, do you know what you want to do?” Tom asked me eventually, “No not yet, I will have a chat with Sam and Lucas, maybe get them in as part of this idea” I replied as I kept thinking of ways to make it work. When we arrived home, Tom went to put his clothes in the wash, while I looked in the kitchen to see what to plan for dinner, I also opened up my computer to check for any emails.

“From Sam Yeoman – Gres and Tom, I have some amazing news, I have just accepted a new job based in Adelaide, but I may be required to work in other parts of South Australia, which means I will get to see you guys more often, oh and the job is…” I groaned when I saw that Sam had left us hanging for more information, not telling us what the exact job is, that he was starting, so I picked up my phone and dialed his number. “Hiya Gres, how things in Port Lincoln” Sam said cheerfully, “Ok Mr, spit it out, what is the job?” I said in a semi annoyed tone, which made Sam laugh.

“You may address me as your honor – I have been appointed to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, based in Adelaide, but I will be travelling to places like Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Ceduna and Woomera, as that will be my appointed zone” Sam to me, and I was stunned at what I just heard. “Well your honour, when you get your arse over here, make sure you come and visit us” I said cheekily, and Sam laughed, “Oh by the way, I made that enquiry on your behalf, and they said they will get back to us within a month” Sam said to me, reminding me of an earlier conversation that we had a few weeks ago.

“One other thing Sam, when I was in Adelaide recently, I noticed that there is still a fair few homeless people around, I have had a chat to Tom and he is keen on me looking at a way to help them, we just have to work out which is the best way, I was thinking we could use the island in some way” I said to Sam about my idea. “Ok mate, we will have a more detailed chat about it when I move over there in a two-week’s time. I got to go, cheers for now and say hi to Tom for me” Sam said and he ended the call.

I rang the headmaster at Tom’s school, and was informed that Tom and his classmates would be having tomorrow off, due to the incident on the bus, and when I told Tom this he cheered loudly, and I went into my room, to make a few more phone calls. I called Jack to check if he was set to spend the weekend on the island, and he said they would be ready to go first thing in the morning, I had received emails from two Adelaide companies to inform me that the steel convex dome and staircase had been delivered to Louth Bay, as have the solar panels and their stands plus the converter and extra batteries.

I didn’t want to put the steel dome into place yet, as I had to get the house lowered down that main cavern shaft, so it would remain nearby till all the other items for the cavern are in place, the staircase would be the first thing that I wanted into place, so as to make it easier to get down to the cavern, with the stands for the solar panels to be secured to the top railing, and the 7 solar panels will be fixed into place on the stands around the staircase, standing half a metre off the ground and on a 40 degree angle, to catch as much solar energy as possible.