Circle of Flight by John Marsden Read Free Book Online Page A

easily, but the truth is I knew you’d never let anyone else go.’
    I nodded. I’d already thought about the possibility of Lee going with me but realised his little brothers and sisters needed him too badly to risk him on something as deep into enemy territory as this.
    He smiled at me again. It was the saddest smile I’d ever seen from him. ‘I know Gavin’s yours, and I know you’ve only got each other, in a family sense anyway. It’s right that you go. That’s assuming anyone goes, and I’m guessing there’s not much chance that you won’t.’
    ‘You got that right,’ I said, although the unfurling flower in my chest was now growing from a cold, wet black swamp in my stomach.

C HAPTER 6
    W E WALKED BACK to the house. Coincidentally the police were just leaving. Henry was looking for me. He emerged from the kitchen just as we got there. ‘Ah!’ he said. ‘Found you. Now look, Ellie, we can’t keep a police presence here any longer. We haven’t got the resources, and it’s become a pointless exercise, given that we’ve found no trace of the little fellow. But what you have to do, and I’m afraid this is an order, is pack a few things and move into town. This is not a safe place for you to be.’
    I surprised him then. ‘OK,’ I said, dropping my eyes.
    ‘OK?’ he said. ‘Well, I didn’t think it’d be quite that easy. But I’m glad you’re showing some sense. Now, have you got someone you can stay with? My wife said you’re very welcome to –’
    ‘No, I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll go back with Lee and stay at his place in Stratton.’
    He peered at me more suspiciously. ‘I hope you’re not cooking up any silly plots. You realise there’s nothing you can do to find Gavin?’
    ‘No, no,’ I said quickly. ‘It’s fine. I really want to get off the place. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies at the moment.’
    He seemed satisfied with that, and five minutes later I was shaking hands with the police, and thanking them, and then waving them goodbye as their cars headed down the driveway.
    I went back into the house to start packing. The first things I grabbed were the firearms and all our ammunition, although I didn’t imagine I’d be able to carry them with me to Havelock, if that’s where I was heading. But I wasn’t going to leave them in the house either.
    I’d just laid the shotgun on the dining room table when the telephone rang.
    Since the kidnapping the ringing of the phone had been the most powerful sound in my life. It tingled through me like I was wired to it and we were both live. And I guess I must be psychic because I knew this was The Call.
    I said to Lee, ‘Grab the phone in the kitchen.’ As he headed across there I called after him, ‘We’ll pick them up at the same time.’
    He nodded, and when he reached the phone looked back at me. We nodded at each other then, and picked up the phones simultaneously.
    ‘Hello, Ellie Linton speaking,’ I said.
    The line was crackly, and the voice was hoarse and had a heavy accent. It was a guy, probably only twenty or so. I felt I knew everything that he was going to say before he said it. A great heaviness came over me. ‘We have him,’ the man said.
    ‘Is he all right? Are you looking after him?’ I asked. I wanted to say, ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t get him back here within the next five minutes.’ But I held myself back.
    ‘He is all right. We don’t want. You have him back.’
    For a moment I hoped Gavin had been so obnoxious and difficult that they were desperate to get rid of him. There was a movie where that happened but it was a comedy.
    ‘Where is he?’ I asked. ‘’I’ll come and get him.’
    Lee frowned at me and I realised what a dumb comment I’d just made. No way were they going to let Gavin and me both go if I turned up at someone’s place to pick him up. We’d already discussed this. If they wanted me they’d be delighted to have me arrive at their front door, but there’d be no