Terror Again - 7. TA Chapter 7

“Just one day sir, and even then I was bombarded with missed calls and text messages for not being on base when I did have 3 hours of off base leave granted to me, and I have… just under two weeks remaining sir,” I replied. “I see, and have you had any more threats from these bad men that have been chasing after and threatening you?” the Brigadier asked me, “No sir,” I replied.

“Good to hear. Right now, Colonel, I am ordering Captain Kenrick to begin his separation process right away, and no work is to be given to him from this point until he leaves the base permanently tomorrow, due to the overtime he has put in over the past few weeks. Colonel, I also expect you to issue him with a key so that he may be able to get to his property without any barrier in the way,” the Brigadier said before he stood up, and waited for us all to salute before walking out.

I report to the administration building to complete my separation process for leaving the Army permanently which took all of Thursday afternoon and half of Friday to complete, with 1400 hours being the time that I leave the base for the last time. I had already packed up the majority of my belongings and placed them in the Humvee first thing in the morning on my last day, and shortly after lunch, as 1400 hours arrived, it only took two minutes to get the last of my things and drive to the front gate, where I handed in my Army ID for the last time and drove out.

I did a bit of food shopping knowing that Mark was probably getting a little low on supplies again, although he never said anything about it when I last spoke to him a few days earlier, and I set off for home in the Humvee. I was pleased that the key that I was given did indeed unlock the heavy-duty padlock, and as instructed by the Brigadier in a text message I received earlier in the morning, I closed the gate but did not lock it, and I sent a text message to Mark, “I am at the boundary road gate, Struan”, and I waited for a reply and didn’t get one, which worried me a little.

When I reached the second gate at my boundary, it was wide open, and I continued to the main gate which was also wide open, as I drove in and went straight to the sheds where I parked the Humvee in his spot. Grabbing the shopping and not the luggage, I headed for the house, where I found the door also wide open, which now had me very worried. “Mark are you here buddy, I am home, and for good now,” I called out, but there was total silence, and a chill suddenly ran down my spine, which made me shudder.

I looked around and headed to the kitchen, where I usually find Mark cooking something delicious, and this is where I found signs of s struggle, with broken glass and plates on the ground along with spoilt food, the pantry door was wide open and food had been scattered from the shelves and was now all over the floor in the pantry and the kitchen.

As I placed the shopping on the bench, I noticed the chopping board with a knife sticking upright into it, with a note underneath. “When you get my call, you better answer it or your friend is dead sausage meat.” I quickly looked at my phone again, and for some reason, I had not noticed the two missed calls from Mark’s phone. I dashed upstairs and entered my study, where I sat down, but before I was about to hit re-dial, I decided to send one text message first, “Mr Mahoney to the Train Manager's office”.

I hoped that my younger brother understood what it meant, and I was thankful that I had told my former CO the full story of the incident, I looked in the top drawer of my desk retrieved my mini tape recorder and hit record, before dialling Mark’s number.

“About time, I was just about to carve up your friend here, now you listen and you listen very carefully as if there is one wrong move on your part, like trying to get the police involved, then you will never see your friend alive again… Do I make myself clear?” the gravelly voice said to me, the exact same voice I heard on the train a few years back, and once again I shuddered.

In the background, I heard the faint beeping sound indicating an incoming call, and I looked at the screen and saw that it was from my younger brother Sawney, and I hoped that he would now take action to get help. “Yes, I understand you fully, what is it that you want?” I replied. “Simple… I want you. To pay for putting me and my colleague in prison. You are going to pay for that slowly and painfully,” came the response and I shuddered again.

I was instructed to make my way back to the Adelaide River, but this time at the Arnhem Highway crossing, which is only a 42-kilometre drive from Howard Springs, that would take me about 80 minutes to travel from home, and I told the man how long it would take me to travel that distance.

I was told not to call the police, or else Mark would be the first to be killed, and I agreed to this, as I heard another distant beeping sound and again I looked at the screen and saw that the caller ID was “Colonel @ Robertson” my former Army Corp boss, and I smiled as I continued to listen to the instructions, which included leaving my mobile phone behind and calling into the Humpty Doo Post Office to collect a small parcel that is in my name.

After the call ended, I placed the mobile on silent but kept it turned on, and as soon as I was in my Ute, I plugged it in to get it charged up as much as possible, as I had a plan working in my mind, and quickly I sent one text message to Sawney “Have the Major track my phone to its current location.”

After locking the house and closing and locking the gates, nearly 45 minutes later I arrived at the Humpty Doo post office, which is only a few hundred metres off the main highway, and as with most post offices these days, there is a variety of books, novelty items for sale as well as tourist information, which is what I was looking for, and I found what I needed, a brochure on the Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise.

At the counter deck, I asked for a rubber band, which I was given before I asked for the parcel that was under my name, as I showed my driver's license ID for proof of identity. Inside was a cheap mobile phone, that looked like it had been knocked around a fair amount in the past, and just moments later as I wandered around the shop looking at the different items for sale, the mobile rang, which made me jump in fright.

“Good, you have arrived and collected the parcel in time. Now go to the Jumping Crocodile Cruise car park located on the right just before the bridge and be quick about it,” the man said before the call ended. Pulling out my phone I entered a message, but I didn’t send it, “Jumping Crocs car park, on the right before the bridge. No longer have the phone with me,” and as I continued to casually look around the store, picking up a book to read the cover, I placed my mobile with it wrapped with the brochure and elastic band, at the very back of the pile of books, returning the book I had picked up back to its place, and casually walked out.

Just three minutes later, I felt the wheel tug to the left, as I was approaching the roadhouse and tavern on the edge of town and groaning, I turned off the highway and stopped on the level gravel area just near the roadhouse, and walking around my ute, I saw the back left wheel was flat as a pancake. Retrieving the old phone call, I took a photo of the flat tyre, with the roadhouse in the background, before adding a short message, “flat tyre at Humpty Doo Roadhouse, give me twenty minutes to change tyre,” and pressing send.

A quick response arrived soon after, “You have fifteen minutes so be quick, or your friend dies.” I hoped this delay would allow whoever Sawney has managed to contact to get here quickly. Unknown to me, that was the very case, as the Colonel, Major, Staff Sergeant and other senior NCOs had been spending the past day on a quick fishing and hunting trip on the Mary River, and staying overnight at the local Holiday Park, which is located just off the Arnhem Highway, 45 kilometres east of the Adelaide River, when they received the diverted call from Robertson Barracks.

Apart from them coming from the East, there was now a whole company of soldiers from Robertson Barracks, to assist where needed, and I soon realised this when I saw two Army trucks and an Army Hawkei drive past, just as I was finishing changing the tyre, and I hoped that they were on their way to assist me. I still had a VHF radio in my Ute, so I switched it on and changed the channel that I know is used by the Army when on manoeuvres.

“… any more information from Captain Kenrick on what is happening, over,” I heard over the radio, and I picked up the microphone, “Break on the channel, Struan on the air, over,” I said, “Captain, good to hear from you, we have your mobile, what is the situation and what is your location, over,” came a response. I recognised the voice to be the Colonel. “Sir, you just passed me at the roadhouse and tavern, I had a flat tyre, and I have just finished changing it, I have less time now to get to the Jumping Crocs car park at the bridge, before they kill my chef and caretaker - Mark, over,” I responded.

“That is the rest of the company, a small team is already located east of that bridge, including me, the Major and Staff on a team-building overnight fishing and hunting trip, over,” the Colonel said to me. “Ok sir, what would you like me to do, over” I replied, “Just continue to that location and do as they tell you to do, and don’t provoke them. We will handle things from there, over,” the Colonel said to me, and moments later I was back on the road. About fifteen minutes later, I slowed down and stopped, when I saw a roadblock ahead, and when I saw the Army truck parked across the road, I swerved onto the other side of the road and passed the dozen or so vehicles that had been stopped, and I stopped at the Army truck.

“Captain Kenrick you may continue. Captain Jensen and Staff Sergeant Appleby are in the Hawkei which is parked at the boat ramp to the left of the bridge, which is 4 kilometres from here. The Colonel and his team are located on the other side of the river, and they have the other truck cross over the bridge and park down the road, to stop traffic from getting too close, with half a platoon of men on that side of the river and the other half on this side. Don’t forget hand signals and good luck sir,” the Sergeant said to me.

A few minutes later I rounded the last road bend and slowed as I saw the bridge ahead, I indicated and turned right off the highway and slowly drove down the driveway, where the car park was practically empty, except for one beat-up vehicle and I parked away from the buildings close to the boat ramp. Climbing out of my vehicle with the mobile in my hand, I raised my hands and slowly turned around to show that I was unarmed, and as I faced away from my vehicle again, I saw Mark facing me looking very worried, and he appeared to have been crying at some stage, while his clothing was messed up and torn in places.

Behind Mark were two men, the same two men that had caused the incident on the Indian Pacific a few years ago and who my brother and I saw in Katherine, “Are you ok?” I asked softly and Mark gave a slight nod of his head. “Ok, I am here, what do you want?” I called out to the two men, who were both armed with high-powered rifles and one of them also held a pistol towards Mark.

“I want you and your brother to pay for what you did to us all those years ago, and since your brother isn’t here to witness your death before his own, then he will just have to learn about the death of his brother and boyfriend in the news,” the man with the pistol said to me. “You said that you just wanted me, so how about letting Mark go, he has nothing to do with our previous meetings, he is just an innocent bystander,” I said to the two men.

At that point, I spotted two soldiers at the bottom of the boat ramp and they were both partially wet, which I thought was very brave of them considering that there were saltwater crocodiles in the river. I saw the hand signal for ‘Ready to drop to the ground,’ and I gave a slight nod of my head. “Look, I am prepared to come with you, and you can do what you like with me, but please let him go!” I asked nicely, as I took a few steps forward, with my hands now resting on the top of my head.

“Keep coming forward nice and slow, any tricks and your friend gets it in the head,” the lead man said to me in a growling tone. “Ok, now let Mark go please, he can take my vehicle and drive away, the keys are in the ignition,” I said to the lead man, who said something to Mark softly but not loud enough for me to hear, and I saw Mark take on step towards me and stop, and then another step after I had taken three steps.

When Mark was just a metre away from me, I whispered to him, “Be ready to hit the dirt,” and I saw him smile as an indication that he had heard me, when I was just one step in front of him, in one swift motion, I leapt forward, wrapping my arms around Mark, turning my body as I did to move to make away from direct aim, as a shot from the pistol sounded, and I began to roll away as soon as we hit the hard ground.

Split seconds later, four shots from high-powered rifles could also be heard as well as the thud sound of two bodies hitting the ground. After rolling a few times, I stopped, still holding Mark in a tight hug, and I waited a few moments before I felt a sharp pain in my left arm, I glanced over and saw a red stain coming from under my sleeve shirt, and I realised that I had been hit, just above the elbow.

“All clear, both of them are down, but still alive,” I heard a voice call out, “Struan, you are bleeding… my god! You have been shot… Help, Struan has been shot,” Mark said firstly softly but that soon turned into a shout, when he realised that I was hurt, and by now I had released my hold on Mark, who quickly stood part of the way up, then crouched down to look at my wound, just as five soldiers appeared, and I heard the call out for a medic.

I was raced to Darwin Private Hospital by ambulance, where I had minor surgery on my arm, and the following day I woke up to see Mark and my little brother Sawney sitting beside my bed talking very quietly. “Hey little bro, what are you doing so far away from home,” I asked.

“Someone from the family has to come and find out what trouble you have got yourself into,” Sawney said with a broad smile. “Yeah, I know, you get stabbed and now I get shot, but hopefully that is the end of it,” I responded.