More Questions Than Answers

[Skykat]

Amazing! Fantastic chapters Wyn100, superb stuff. Really can't wait to see what happens next!

[ldscott]

Great chapter!

Please post again soon!

[I love music]

Loved the description of Kane's interview! Poor Kane, wonder who the mysterious caller is?

[WYN100]

**PART 28**

Martha's mind had been bubbling with troubled contemplation as she'd returned to the hospital that evening to see Jack. The half of Tony's cloak and dagger phone call that she'd stumbled upon just an hour or two earlier was troubling her deeply. Under normal circumstances a long and thorough heart-to-heart with Jack would have been the natural course of action for them both in such a situation - but this was hardly normal. It was a little fanciful to maintain that Tony would have invitingly tapped a sofa cushion , beckoned her in and poured her a slow-filtered cappuccino while conducting that kind of phone call, but explaining to Jack that she'd over-heard it with her ear pressed to the door crack inside HIS bedroom - moreover while standing on a floor littered with his own private documents that she'd scattered around like summer grass clippings amid her bout of private investigation was another major complication. Anyway, she consoled herself as she wandered up the hospital corridor towards Jack's room, at least THAT part could be rectified with another quick undercover return mission to the Holden house, possibly later on.

Shock number one.

"Oh great, taxi's here - and I bet the meter's running too - she looks a money-grabber !!" It's doubtful whether Jack's attempt to deliver a killer one-liner at the nurse exiting the room as Martha came in even registered in his girlfriend's mind. Instead, what had delivered the stun-gun type blow that had her frozen momentarily to the spot was the fact that he was fully dressed, clutching a bag and giving every indication of heading for home ! This hadn't been in the script at all -"Ah, Mercury calling Martha -have we a problem ?"

His index finger gently tapping her forehead finally cut through the purple mist of panic slowly gathering around her. "Martha, are you actually HERE or what...?" he was saying...She was in point of fact in a bedroom around 15 minutes drive away, staring with mounting frenzy at a chaos of private, personal and some highly confidential work documents almost entirely obliterating the carpet. Meanwhile the "Plausible excuses and explanations department of her brain had conducted a thunderously rapid audit of the situation before providing her only with a bold readout that read only "HARD LUCK GIRL - YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN !"

Martha adored her relationship with Jack - it distilled all the ingredients of any romance novel or glossy magazine had ever inspired in her and improved them a hundredfold. BUT - the one area she knew was a nailed-on certainty for getting her fingers burnt was interfering in areas of his work he didn't want to be interfered in. That had been proven all too graphically within the previous days when they'd hit screaming pitch over the mysterious guy in the cinema, and despite a rapidly descending migraine he'd lept in the car and embarked on the ill-fated trip that had ultimately left him here in the hospital. Little wonder then that she was beginning to feel decidedly faint at the prospect of him now witnessing the scene of total upheaval that awaited in his very own bedroom. The sight of Jack pushing and punching his arms into the sleeves of his casual over-jacket finally spurred her into much-delayed speech mode

"You can't be going home can you....? Surely it's way too early for that - you only came in yesterday ! - and besides - ... er , well it's way too early." She'd failed by an embarrassing distance to deliver the knockout reason that could have delivered the albeit very unlikely scenario of him being rooted to the spot before disrobing and climbing back into bed.

"Doc says I'm fine but for bruising and that one little crack on the rib .." but even as he waved aside her objections he was examining her closely - noticing the flushed cheels and hunted eyes flicking nervously from one side to the other. "Is there something up Martha ? Is it Ric...? or...what ?" An ominous internal shiver kick-started it journey from the base of her spine spreading up and over her shoulders before exploding into a little but very visible shudder. Horror of horrors, he wasvsuspicious of her - exactly and precisely what she HADN'T wanted to happen. Not for the first time, she reflected on the twist of fate that had produced a policeman as a boyfriend for someone that - as her grandfather would put it - "couldn't lie straight in bed" - not in a bad way, merely that time had shown that convincing falsehoods didn't leap easily to her lips , just a bare one or two she could ever remember having had any success to speak of. Mentally she was fast running out of options, Jack's "car headlights " having singled her out as the transfixed rabbit and beginning to home in. "Are you....ok Martha ?" It was the pregnant pause before the "ok" that told her she was in real trouble. Her last tactic was a dip of the head, a grab up of Jack's bag and a lunge for the door throwing a fake careless " oh well, better come on then..."Her plan - such as it was -would have been to bustle on and hope something occurred to her on the way - but she was to be denied even that. Jack had moved expertly across the door, closing it and saying, "Martha, I'm getting a sense there's something I should be told here.."

And, looking to head off the inevitable denial, added "and don't give me any of that 'its nothing' stuff - you tell me what's going on, or we can be here this time tomorrow as far as I'm concerned, you hear me ?" Normally such a challenging ultimatum would have brought forth a very fiery response from Martha. Now - she moved - slowly - towards the chair by the window and flopped down in it, having an angst-ridden sigh as she did and burying her face in her hands amid her randomly tumbling hair. After a delay thick with unspoken words and thoughts , after a significant gap she peered up a little apprehensively through the hair - sighed again and ventured "Well......it all started with that guy at the cinema...."

Immediately she heard him snatch an involuntary intake of breath and his brow tightened - she gulped inaudibly. He was NOT going to like this - he was not going to like this AT ALL...............

Ric paused at the door of the hospital office where Harper and latterly McGrath had been firing questions at him like a pair of hyper-zealous quiz show hosts for substantial proportions of the day excepting only his ill-fated pursuit of the "beach-house /ambulance" gang member when the misguided (though Super 12 quality) flying rugby tackle from the policeman had not only ruined a better than even opportunity of nailing and bringing in the target, but had also led to the sickening car-park collision with Barry Hyde who at that moment remained at high risk status in the intensive care ward just down the passage, time having already ticked well into the ominous zone as far as his hopes of receiving the all-important and life-preserving kidney transplant were concerned paused at the door, looked back at the two middle-aged uniformed officers and stretched his arm almost down to floor level in an elaborate bow, "Gentlemen, I'd like to say it's been a pleasure.." pausing before adding "but I wouldn't want you to arrest me for lying, now would I ..!" He consulted his watch, continuing "Now how many hours has that low-life had to get away - three ? or is it FOUR ?" elevating his eyebrows to highlight the scorn in that last observation along with the frustration he felt at just how long they'd kept him there chafing and hurling pointless questions at him about why he might have wanted to kill Kim !

"Now thats quite enough of that Master Daulby - we've only let YOU go on police bail remember !" snapped Harper - clearly terrified, Ric clicked his finger and thumb in a gesture of mock annoyance, calling back over his shoulder "And there was me booking that getaway plane to Europe, too !" Spotting McGrath from the corner of his eye rising from his seat complete with grim "affronted policeman" expression, he cut his losses and trotted off towards the back stairs down which he'd earlier unavailingly pursued the gang member. He exited the hospital car-park, jogged along the reasonably long grass verge linking it with the west side of the Summer Bay area, and made the short jump down to the traffic lights adjacent to the array of bushes that began the narrow-lane descent down to the beach area. He pressed the button to cross - then flinched violently as a pair of hands was placed across his eyes. He swung round ready for trouble - but saw only - Belle. She'd been out of the Bay for around three weeks staying with her technical maternal grandmother and had clearly just returned. Angry words sprang to Ric's mouth, but he bit them back - with all that had happened, and all that stuff with Cassie and Kim too, he realized he was actually very pleased to see her. And she looked genuinely shocked at his reaction to her reasonably playful re-greeting. "Wow - what IS spooking YOU ?" Nodding, he apologized and sat her down next to him on a bench alongside the traffic signals. He discovered suddenly just exactly how keen he was to let loose all the details of what had been happening, and she listened - willingly - with her mouth growing ever-wider as he let up to his crescendo.

"WELL .." said Belle eventually, and slowly. How dumb was that of those cops not to belirve you AND then to end up losing that guy...!"

"Sure was, " mused Ric thoughtfully, "and it leaves me with so much to do as well in finally nailing that guy and any others there may be for once and all...."

"I'll help !..." immediately shot in Belle...

"NO NO NO - not one chance in a hundred!!" was the uncompromising reply.."These people are hard-core psychos Belle - I'm not risking you anywhere near that, you hear ?"

A little like Martha, Belle wasn't best pleased when having decisions made for her, replying quickly "Oh yes, so you don't think a mere GIRL could help you AT ALL - that's it, isn't it !!..."

He looked a little resigned as he began replying in heavy flat tones.."No Belle, you know it's not that, it's just...." He stopped, his face betraying the unmistakable signs of an internal light switch just having been thrown.."UNLESS !! - there is ONE thing......"

They talked longer., deeper and with greater animation, sealing their unsigned partnership[ agreement with a high five. "We'll DO it !!" she said eventually and triumphantly "Yes, we'll DO it, he nodded , only slightly more reservedly, but still smiling and nodding. They rose as one to go in search of the early evening diner "Cappuccino and cake" special offer combo.... as they did, a camera lens within a very familiar white van concealed in the overhang of a thickly leaved tree at the head of the lane just behind the surged into rapid click mode - and the shadowy photographer was left looking down at half a dozen rapidly developed photos of Belle as she moved away in the other direction - fingers and thumb closing round one of them - features and background distorting together on the print as it was screwed tightly into an ugly and ill-fitting ball.......

"Well it really doesn't take too much working out WHO's behind this, now does it ?? " Had the carpet in the Sands business suite been anything less than the high quality thick pile that it was , it would have risked becoming thin and threadbare in extremely short order as Danni paced and turned with military style symmetry along the same roughly 12 step line, smiting the offending front page of the Summer Bay evening newspaper with an extended four finger jab more or less at the point of every turnaround. She launched vehemently into reading out an article the patiently listening Todd was by now convinced he could have recited by heart and in several different languages he'd heard it so often. But he was a polite. well-bred person, was enjoying this particular job, and his stocks of patient goodwill had been amply replenished by the highly enjoyable encounter with Rachel earlier in the day, plus the hope and possibility of maybe more to come. So he listened....again....

"Prominent Bay personality and self-styled 'jail angel' Danni Sutherland.. - I have NEVER called myself that- EVER ! -... ...anyway - - Danni Sutherland has seen a large part of the funding and advertizing budget for her planned next book NO CELLING OUT dramatically withdrawn. Its after her American publishers received an anonymous email outlining a succession of details and events concerning the private lives of her and her family . I t outlined how Ms Sutherland (31) ..."

Her nostrils flared and cheeks flushed the deep crimson of fury..

"THIRTY-FREAKIN ONE ??!! I'm not twenty-FOUR yet !!! ... how Ms Sutherland was arrested and charged with attempted murder after knocking a man down and leaving him for dead at the side of a road. As many here will recall , the man was her brother-in -law Kane Phillips who years previously had been charged with a serious assault on her. We understand shareholders of New Start books have a strong Christian element, and were shocked also at revelations in the email about Ms Sutherland's sister Kirsty having been previously caught up in the night-club drug scene, plus the fact that on the night Phillips was knocked down, the author had been returning home to her then-partner Scott Hunter after a late-night liaison with a married college lecturer . Amongst other red-hot revelations were disclosures about her father, former Sydney Swans football star Rhys...... blah blah blah......it's just so...OOOOH !!! she clenched her right fist and described a descending spiral of aerial circles as she searched for a suitably venomous word, giving Todd the chance to soothingly interject

"Look, I can TOTALLY understand why you're upset about this, of course I do....."

The intended oil on troubled waters connected rather more like an inaccurately-tossed match at a petrol station ,

"UPSET ?? Oh I'm not upset - I'm ANGRY - VERY angry - and when little Miss angelic Hayley Lawson-Smith or whatever she's called these days finds out just HOW angry...."

Todd waved to catch her eye - indicated the forgotten cup of coffee, Danni's first sip of which seemed to have been in a different lifetime given all that had happened since and said

"Have a seat Madame -look, don;t get mad get even is something my father always drummed into me - and -.." he took a deep breath...

"..talking of the old man.... I may JUST be able to help you with all this...."

For the first time in half an hour, the Sutherland engine of outrage began to crank down a fraction. She looked at Todd with a renewed interest, realizing suddenly just how little she actually knew about him. She squatted down on the sofa, poured hot water on the coffee , saying curiously "Go on then, do tell....." He did, and as he did , she began to smile again...

Flynn had out-sprinted Jesse as they made their way up the hill away from the policeman's house . As he paused and glanced back he saw Jess with hands on knees, his breathing heavy and laboured - part of him wanted to pause and lend moral support, but the long-chiming alarm bells inside his head were now thundering a cacophony of warning. A combination of gt instinct and some of the fairly woolly information eked out of the far-from-dynamic officer of the law now had his eyes and instincts locked firmly towards the hilltop and the so-called Gate man's Cottage - that having already made a thorough search of the remainder of the village - for which even a description of petite would have made it sound far too big.

And - gut-wrenchingly, that instinct seemed to have been proved correct. As Flynn once again turned his eyes away from Jesse - for the first time on the near high skyline, smoke was becoming visible. . First thin, wispy outriders. then more general and intrusive dark, then pulling away free, imposing and chillingly ominous , the deep, acrid, soot-black clusters as Flynn uttered a silent curse then opened his stride, grimly thrusting away his mounting fatigue to reach the brow of the hill and very quickly the cottage itself. Quickly and expertly assessing the situation, he ripped a cushion cover from a many-decades old garden chair leaning near the wall outside, doused it under the tap of a standpipe near the wall and holding it over nose and mouth forced his way in through the door. Aware by the heat and growing thickness of the smoke that the seat of the blaze must be very close by his eyes were caught by the coloured-red phrase "IT HAS TO HAPPEN....." scrawled just above what appeared to be a fireplace area near the corner.

Surging raw apprehension blended with intense fatigue and growingly profound physical discomfort burst into a one-word cocktail of vocal emotion.

"SAL-LYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!"

His ears strained above the sneering crackle of the flames, - a second passed - an eternity.. then another... and then - miraculously - almost belief-defyingly, from behind the door in the corner, now becoming visible as the eyes re-tuned he heard a muffled but distinct enough cry - almost certainly his name, most definitely called by his wife . Eyes widening and mouth setting straight with determination beneath the quickly re-applied seat-cover, his eyes flicked quickly in trying to map out how best to get there. He took a step forward, then halted at the sound of a noise behind him. Ever aware of the risk of Diesel, he swung round to see Jesse, face drained of colour, holding the inside frame of the open door.

"Flynn mate, I don't think I..... he called before lurching alarmingly to one sdide, attempting an unavailing grasp at the wall before tottering briefly and collapsing face down just inside the room and perilously close to the onset of the flames. He lay, words increasingly "Jess !!...Oh my LORD.." gulped Flynn indistinctly, swivelling instinctively towards him - the swivel accompanied by a deep , sonorous grinding from above - as one of the antique-style beams from above the fireplace-area detached with a raucous groan , headed downwards straight and direct, crunching into the back of Flynn's head as it did. As the flames gathered pace and one body lay unconscious and one almost so on one side of the back-room door - from the other side of it came another muffled and - and increasingly heartfelt cry for help.......

[SfanS]

I will read it all later, it sounds good, just, uh, haven't read it yet!!! Just expect a new fan when I get back on this thing.

[ldscott]

Great chapter, Please post again soon!

[WYN100]

**PART 29 **

The day had dawned with infectious promise across the Bay. The stretching and unfurling sun's rays were beginning to win their good-natured jousting contest with the modestly-sized white puffy clouds that were beginning to take flight north to Mangrove River, seemingly perennially unaware that their genial opponent would be along to harry them further before the morning was much older.

That mischievous smile on the face of the unfolding day was mirroring itself very faithfully in the garden outside the Hunter house. Two gabbling seagulls perched expertly on the thin, puffy apex of a small tree , all but slapping each other on the kneecaps as they throatily savoured what were presumably the glittering nuggets from the previous night's main event act at the seagull comedy club - while at ground level a little further across a marmalade tabby looking to enjoy a peaceful doze in a prime sunspot was having to occasionally elevate one eyelid to monitor the gambolling of a honeyed Labrador pup, presumably on one of his first ever solo ventures outside. He bore the cat no malice whatsoever and would indeed have loved her as a play companion - the cat though was following the feline rulebook of prioritizing food and sleep above all else. It had had one this morning , now it wanted the other - and high-voltage energy-rich puppies were not on the script !The garden bonhomie was however sadly not replicated inside. Two taut, tense faces reflected the standoff situation that was being played out - the third was trying bravely but largely unsuccessfully to take the role of negotiator between them. Tasha though was starting gently to despair of her chances of ever diluting the concrete-thick prevailing atmosphere between Beth and Robbi.

"Tash could you please tell my mother - if indeed she actually IS my mother , that Kit went out early and says expect her when you see her.."

Beth - who had worked her way through feelings of guilt to reach a plateau of combative annoyance, flashed a look at Tash daring her not to repeat what had been clearly audible from her son sitting less than five feet away, shot back "And could you tell my son - because if he was anybody ELSE'S son I'd have quite likely cracked him over the head with that serving spoon by now - that growing up rather quickly mightn't be a bad idea !"

Robbie was about to fine-tune another acerbic observation to travel the 30 or so inches to Beth, but as his lips formed the cutting response, there came a rebellion from the reluctant delivery girl - "NO - I'm not doing this ANY more -now I don't know the real truth with this Jed guy - whoever he is, whatever he may and may not have said - and I don't necessarily want to - but you two behaving like a pair of infants isn't going to solve anything !! Now - I'm, going to see that woman today Rob, are you going to come like you said ?"

Robbie was by now settling into the role of the brooding. martyred hero and was reluctant to let Tash's reality-check blast of fresh air on the situation deprive him of centre-stage. Another considerable silence ensued, before - without once lifting his eyes from the chocolate breakfast cereal floating somehow rather appropriately in his bowl, he asked "What woman would that be ?" Tash's fingers flipped the table edge with exasperation "Oh Rob, do you NEVER listen to anything I say ? She advertized in the paper about turning home jewellery making into a business and I said to you as I enjoy doing it anyway, it may be worth.... oh Rob I've already TOLD you all this..!!"

"Thinking about it, I may just decline " he replied a little pompously , " ...who knows if I did, my apparent mother may sell up and move away !"

With the apparent mother's resembling that of someone who'd bitten deep into a lemon, Tash rolled her eyes before giving one final "So it's No then Rob?"

"It's no"

Had he possessed 20/20 foresight on what the day held in store, that's a decisiom Robbie would most certainly have reversed........

" Look, why don't we just admit it - we tried, we failed - no shame in that, is there ?" Brodie'd been fretting for almost 24 hours since their spiky encounter with Paris Burnett at Alf's flat the previous day. Fretting both at the insane bidding war for the diner building into which Alex had entered without the remotest reference to her , and also at the prospect of what he might do next now that the famed Poulos mist of battle had descended upon him. Noting meanwhile Alex hadn't been listening to a word she'd said, a third reason for fretting struck her - if they continued skulking around the town with their collars turned up and looking over their shoulders , it was certainly only a matter of time before they were spotted in this virtual goldfish bowl, and the questions that would assuredly follow would relegate anything they'd encountered so far to the level of a vicarage picnic - she knew that much.

They were in face seated in exactly the same spot that Paris had moved to after the bidding sparks had started to fly - a small car park about thirty yards away and slightly behind the line of the diner walls. Brodie's discomfort was further heightened by the fact that Alex had chosen to wear a pair of dark sunglasses he fondly imagined made him indistinguishable from Timothy Dalton's James Bond. Brodie sighed as she increased her rate of tapping on his shoulder - more like Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar she thought - but hey, what the heck !

"What are we actually DOING here Alex ?" she demanded wearily. It wasn't quite 9-30am yet somehow she felt as if she'd been up for around 36 hours or more. Alex retracted his head like an unusually inquisitive tortoise retreating inside its shell. "You know this place NEVER changes" he said . shaking his head in a slowly disbelieving - and ever so slightly patronizing - way. "Ten minutes we've been here , that's all, and ALREADY some drama with Colleen, screaming about how she's had to keep Pippa all night because neither Sal nor 'Doctor Saunders' came home last night.."

"Oh..?" I hope they're alright...?" from Brodie.

"Oh you bet they will - they probably just had a romantic dinner that - ah .-went on a little longer than planned, and they knew the old buzzard would look after the kid - but everything here has to be such a nailed on CRISIS, doesn't it !!"

"Alex- what are we DOING here ??" Brodie's patience levels were teetering precariously like a bucket of water balanced above an ajar door in anticipation of a practical joke victim.

Alex heightened the likelihood of him receiving the verbal drenching by further procrastinating - "Oh, fine tuning, I'd like to call it -making absolutely A grade, 200 per cent sure that the building you see in front of you will very soon be ours - all ours .....!!"

"Oh yeah right - as if Paris Burnett is just going to lay down and let us walk all over him !"

Alex smiled, used the tip of his forefinger to push the sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose and smiled complacently. "Oh I wouldn't worry too much about Monsieur Burnett, Ms Hanson, he chuckled "In fact round about now , I fancy Mr Burnett could just be receiving that could keep him busy for quite a long time !! With a flamboyance and overall decibel level more than a little excessive for someone wanting to keep a low profile, Alex flung the car into a gravel-spraying half-turn and out into the narrow adjacent road - leaving Brodie to continue the arduous search for an answer.....but this time to a very different question......

Alex's unthinking throwaway possible explanation as to why Flynn and Sally hadn't returned home overnight was of course inaccurate. Neither Flynn, Sally or indeed Jesse had been anywhere near restaurants, bars or romantic music in the last fifteen hours or so - their collective evening had rather been characterized by anguish, exertion and ultimately danger cut squarely from the "zero margin for error " template.

Of the tiny chunk of the Auburn Cove population Flynn and Jesse had encountered during their panic-driven sweep of the hamlet, Police Sergeant Arthur Randall was one for whom they'd reserved some of their choicest unspoken words of frustration. Sgt Randall's external demeanour spoke of someone who may consider the pace of life in a public library on a slow Thursday afternoon a little breakneck for his liking. But Arthur was in fact methodical and extremely thorough. He saw no point wasting time in the gathering of information - the information itself was the crucial element as far as he was concerned. So - here were two young men seeking a woman and a possible hostage-taker. They'd covered almost all the Cover, only the old " gateman's" cottage seemed to remain a possibility. And - as he returned up the path to his cottage-cum office, the first tell-tale ribbonry of smoke had just begun to encroach on the high skyline. In the Arthur handbook that had meant a call to his brother-in law Brian who was based at the tiny cottage hospital eight minutes or so away down the main access hill and whose ambulance doubled of necessity but also fairly ingeniously as the local fire engine depending on the exact nature of the emergency involved. With the flames beginning to swipe and rear ominously , there was a very limited window of opportunity open to Arthur and Brian when they had arrived at the cottage, Fortunately one of the men had collapsed very close to the door and so wasn't difficult to ease away, while the worst extent of the other's injury was a nasty concussion from the falling beam. It had been forcing access to the back room where the problem had lain. The blaze had clearly been laid in that corner of the room, and while Brian quickly and efficiently linked his hose appliance to the tap outside, Arthur - clad in one of the scarcely state-of-the-art but adequate protective jackets and hat from the ambulance was viewing the door concerned with a practised eye.

Seeing Brian return he shouted quickly and precisely above the rasping concerto around him "Seat of fire's HERE - THAT room's got a back door - we break THAT down, buys some time, right ?" Nodding affirmation, Brian launched into vigorous combat with the flames, pausing only to hand the other man a small axe from his equipment belt As Brian seemed slowly to be gaining the edge over the fire Arthur had needed three meaty shoulder thrusts at the door to begin loosening what he'd rightly believed to be early-stage decaying wood anyway. Spurred on by increasingly frantic sounds from within and aided by well-selected assistance from the axe he made entry, performed the much more straightforward task of releasing the locked back door and easing the bound Sally out into the nearest that locality could currently provide to fresh air. And so it was here they all were at the cottage hospital - Flynn as the first to complete examination wandered out into the reception area, taking what was effectively his first chance to really greet and thank the two men of rescue, adding "So , what about the other body ? Any indication there ? Not that I'm in the grieving game THERE ! of course !" He noticed the men exchange puzzled looks before Arthur replied slowly " There...um....WAS no other body, Dr Saunders...." Flynn felt his stomach grip tight...he'd just assumed....? He ploughed on " Guy... about 18....tall for his age....fair hair !!"

"No corpse at all."

"But that means....that means the freak's still out there !! And he could come after Sal...us...again - at any moment !!"

"I really wouldn't worry too much . I've seen a lot of this TYPE of situation, " said Arthur " it gives them a kind of reality check, - shock to the system, that kind of thing ?"

"Well whatever you do, don't tell Sal, will you ?" he implored,, "...but yes, I think you could be right..."

However...at almost that very moment, a knock on a door at a place very familiar to Flynn was confirming with great and ominous clarity that on this occasion Arthur was most definitely NOT right.....

Only a threadbare selection of protesters had been mustered, given the short notice, but what they lacked in number, they were determined to compensate both vocally and via any disruptive action they could concoct.

News had filtered back early that Dylan was planning an official boat trip circling from the Marina into the Bay joining the exact pipeline route where the liquefied natural gas was due to be brought ashore. It was aimed at courting investors in the scheme, and also had the slightly less credible ambition of mollifying local opinion. But - what the protesters might have lacked in manpower on this occasion, they certainly compensated for in terms of their resilience and vocal eloquence as they gathered and waited at the strategic end of the sands where the boat was expected -

"MONGRELS OUT !"

"6-5-4-3 WE DON'T WANT NO L.N.G."

"DYLAN'S THE VILLAIN..."

Were just some of the varied and variable quality of chants that were being loosed upon the breakfast-time sea air. while Kane, Scott and Alf were taking the lead in organizing a mini-flotilla of small boats to provide some token physical resistance to the ship whenever it did ultimately arrive. A number of simmering agendas were meanwhile being played out among those who had made it, Leah saying a little huffily to Morag "Well why aren't I surprised that Dan hasn't made it ! I left VJ at the hospital to have an hour here - but oh no, he's clearly far too busy - and..." wrinkling her nose " no Peter either...now that IS more strange...."

Scott meanwhile was enjoying the chance of distancing himself from the frosty atmosphere that had sprung up between himself and Hayley over the last 48 hours or so - Kane wasn't the ideal person to be discussing the reasons for that with of course, but nonetheless this felt good - the original Blackslund trio back together and uniting against a common cause - far better than those tense silences which had been providing the Beach House backdrop in recent days, along with the occasional heavily loaded comments about the many and various demerits of Danni. of course.

That kind of bonhomie must have seemed like a distant dream to Dylan at that moment. Evem as Scott, Alf and Kane were preparing and rigging the protest boats. he was standing in the most secluded spot the upper deck of his ship had to offer, spitting urgent words into his cellphone " Well GET it sorted then, and quickly ! How ? How is what I pay YOU to decide, you hear me !" With a troubled scowl he jabbed his thumb at the "finish" button, turning round to hear "Is there a problem Mr Russell ?" One of the potential investors Dylan was aiming to woo, Matt Murray, an American in his early forties with a growing fortune from energy industry investments had detached himself from the main group up towards the corner where Dylan had been talking, though it wasn't clear how much of the conversation he'd heard. Covering his bases, Dylan seamlessly donned the widest of smiles, clapping Murray on the back, and saying "Naaaah -problem ? - what's one of those then ?" The unfortunate call-maker back at his firm's technical an monitoring department where concern levels were spreading by the minute could certainly have given him chapter and verse about that question at that very moment though. Mr Murray was led back to the laden hospitality table by Dylan, while back at the Bay, the 3 small protest vessels, loaded with banners and Alf's with a treasured loud-hailer from the Surf Club store cupboard were now pushing out to sea. Their small band of supporters on-land had been swelled a fraction by the arrival of Belle and Ric. but the cheers to send them off turned to a torrent of boos and catcalls as the "LNG Investment" ship rounded the cove and slowly came into view. Those noises were joined by another in assailing Dylan's peace of mind - what came over as an ominously strident blast on his mobile . He slipped away again, the battle to keep looking nonchalant growing ever harder as he unleashed his irritation on the hapless caller "Look - ONE demo I wanted to give these people. one lousy demo - is that too much to ask ?an we're nearly there - what do you want me to do. ditch these people out in the sea ? "

It was quite likely the unseen unfortunate actually WAS suggesting that drastic course of action, but as his increasingly urgent tones grew still more frantic, Dylan's eyes and ears were taken by the sight and sounds of the three protest boats pulling alongside and chants such ads the "6-5-4-3, we don't want no LNG !" began rising lustily to the ears of those on the upper deck. Gasping with horror at this ultimate in bad PR Dylan again hung the phone up and began to call as powerfully as possible, "Gentlemen, perhaps if you'd all now like to come to the rear of....."

His sentence was cut savagely short by the sound of a thunderous explosion from somewhere just below them...then silence....and the first threatening crackle of flame.....

[Skykat]

wow great update! Superb opening description. Please write more soon...I'm on the edge of my seat!

[ldscott]

Great chapter, love the way you write your descriptions.

Please update again soon!

[Danifan]

Loving Dani in this story, so tough and powerful walking over anyone who gets in her way. Go Dani Sutherland! Towards her last few months on the show they tried to turn her into a victim rather than the fiesty go getter she was.