Page 140 of The Island

“Matt wants to speak to you,” Olivia said.

She nodded and took the walkie-talkie. “Matt?”

“We need to get this sorted today. Now. Where are you, Heather?”

“We’re north of…we’re somewhere.”

“Can you walk to the farm?”

“Yes.”

“Are the kids healthy enough to walk or should we get a car for them?”

“The kids are healthy.”

“OK, so just walk to the farm. Come in with your hands up. We’ll see you soon.”

Her head was throbbing.

“No,” she said.

“No, what?”

“I’m not going to do that. You killed Petra, you tortured Hans. You’ve got Tom over a barrel, and I don’t trust you, Matt.”

“You’re going to screw everything up again, Heather,” Matt said.

“I want…I want…”

“What do you want?”

“I want to talk to Tom in person. I want him to tell me it’s OK to trust you.”

“Nah, mate, a deal is a deal. It’s done. You come to the farm.”

“I won’t do that deal. Tom is under duress; I don’t know what you’re threatening him with. I have two conditions. First, I want to talk to Tom in person, alone, with none of you around, before I agree to give us all up. Second, I stay here as your hostage, not the kids. Me. Tom takes the kids with him when he goes to get the money. The kids leave this island with Tom and they never come back. When you get back here with the money, you let me go.”

Matt took a long while before coming back on the walkie-talkie.

“We agree to the second condition,” he said. “Tom can take the kids to Melbourne as long as you stay as a hostage. But we can’t agree to the first condition. Tom can’t be moved.”

“I’ve got to meet with him, I have to talk to him, I need to know it’s safe. I need him to convince me to trust you after everything I’ve seen,” Heather insisted.

There was another long pause before Matt came back on. “OK. Tell you what—northeast of the farm there’s an area of burned heathland. The grass has been completely torched. No places for anybody to hide there. There’s a black, dead eucalyptus tree.”

“I know it,” Heather said.

“You can meet Tom there. We can get everything prepared for later today. Six p.m.”

“I’ll be there,” Heather said.

43

After strapping the Lee-Enfield over her shoulder, Heather gave Owen the binoculars and Olivia the canteen.

She held Olivia’s and Owen’s hands and they walked south through the blowfly grass and the spinifex and the kangaroo grass and the bladygrass.

She didn’t feel the blades or thistles anymore.