Whale Pot Bay by Des Hunt Read Free Book Online Page A

he replied. ‘A few bruises perhaps, but it was worth it. That was awesome. I reckon I could easily become a surfing bum, given half the chance.’
    ‘You could also become dead,’ I said. ‘I think we should give up for the day.’
    He agreed, and we walked up the beach with him raving about his totally awesome ride. He carried on so much you would’ve thought he was a kid.
    We were part-way up the beach when he stopped dead and pointed towards the boats. ‘There’s someone hiding in there,’ he said.
    I looked but couldn’t see anyone. ‘You sure?’
    ‘I’m sure. Come on. Let’s get him. You flush him out, and I’ll cut him off from the track.’ Without waiting for a reply, he dropped his surfboard and started jogging along the beach.
    I kept walking, not at all sure that I wanted to be the one who flushed the intruder out. What if he decided his best escape was over the top of me and up the elevator? While I might be big for my age, that didn’t mean I could deal with an adult. However, I tried to ignore the tightness in my gut and kept on walking, albeit a little more slowly than before.
    It wasn’t until I was almost alongside the boats that I saw him. He was crouching down with his back to me, fiddling with something on the ground. I stopped and stared, trying to get enough courage to confront him. For all I knew it could be a gun he was fiddling with.
    I was about to yell out when he stood and moved away from me. He then looked up and must’ve seen Milt running towards the track, because he turned and ducked around the back of the boat. Next thing he was running towards the elevator.
    Now that he was running away, I found the courage I needed. ‘Milt!’ I yelled. ‘The elevator!’
    Milt turned, saw what was happening, and started sprinting after the man. I followed the path he’d taken behind the boat, telling myself that I was making sure he didn’t double-back. But really I was filling in time so that I wouldn’t be the one who had to confront him.
    I need not have worried. Milt was much faster than me, and caught up with the guy well before he’d got to the elevator. Milt dived and lowered him in a classic rugbytackle that any All Black would’ve been proud of. By the time I got there, Milt was standing over the man, who was still sprawled on the sand, breathing heavily. It was Stuart Weston, the SoilSeek guy.
    For a moment I thought we’d got it wrong, and that all Weston had been doing was collecting soil samples from around the boat. But then I saw the camera, and my stomach started doing flips. Stuart Weston wasn’t a soil-testing man at all. He was a photographer, and the only soil he ever wanted was the dirt he could dig up on the celebrities he photographed.
    Milt bent over, picked up the camera, opened up a slot, and pulled out the memory card. While he looked at it, trying to decide what to do, Weston got to his feet. ‘You take that and I’ll have you charged with theft. Then I’ll make sure it gets published in every magazine in the world.’
    Milt glared at him, before putting the card back. But instead of handing the camera over, he turned it on and began pushing buttons. ‘Then I won’t take it,’ he said. ‘I’ll just reformat the memory and wipe all your photos.’ After he’d done it, he took out the batteries and handed the camera back.
    ‘So now I’ll charge you with stealing the batteries,’ Weston said calmly.
    ‘But I’m not stealing them,’ said Milton, swinging his arm back and scattering them across the beach. ‘I’m just making sure you don’t take any more photos before you leave, which you’re going to do right now. And if you return, I’ll have you charged with trespassing.’
    Weston stuck his chin out. ‘I’m not trespassing. This beach is public land.’
    ‘The beach may be, but you came over private land to get here.’
    ‘Yes, but I was guided here by the owner’s agent.’
    ‘What! My manager led you here? I don’t believe