Murphy heaved Madison off the back of the tilting tray, throwing her like a haybale, and she grasped onto the very edge of the cliff, one leg dangerously over the precipice until she scrambled all the way up.
The back tyres of the Landcruiser met the brink of the cliff.
Murphy was ready.
This was it.
He was going to see Sara again.
Already the wind of the cliff whipped his plaid shirt, his beard, his tear-filled eyes. Just like he had dreamed.
The tray tipped further.
‘Jump, Murphy!’ Con’s voice broke through his trance. He reached across the back of the tray, raised up on his toes. ‘Jump!’
Murphy ran to the tailgate and jumped towards him.
Time froze.
Wind all around him.
Sky above.
Sharp rocks way below.
The cliffside.
Adrenaline.
The dream.
Madison.
Jasmine.
He hung suspended, afloat, pitching forward – this is it, Murph – and then Con’s sweaty palm grabbed his wrist.
And time sped back up.
Con heaved and Murphy’s whole body slammed against the cliff face, his feet dangling free, the wind knocked out of him.
Con was dragged forward, flat on the ground, his chest digging into the rocks at the edge. He looked down at Murphy, teeth gritted, wind ripping at his hair.
Murphy’s feet scrabbled against the cliff. He couldn’t find purchase. Their sweaty hands were starting to slip. Murphy gripped Con’s forearm with his other hand. Con slid forward another inch.
‘My weight is gonna pull you over,’ shouted Murphy. ‘You have to let me go.’
‘Shove your heroics up your arse!’
‘You have to find Jasmine.’ Murphy slowly took his hand off Con’s forearm.
‘You absolute cockhead!’ Con reached down with his other hand and gripped Murphy’s shirt. ‘Don’t let go!’ Murphy let go of him, but Con held tighter. ‘Don’t you bloody dare!’
A strange, detached peace had swollen in Murphy’s chest.
And then Madison was there, hair blowing in the wind, her arms reaching down and pulling on Murphy’s shirt. ‘This is not what Jasmine wants. Jasmine needs you!’
Murphy’s peace grew tattered at the edges, a ripped white flag. The terror of the drop began to fill him. A long fall and a painful end. Never seeing Jasmine again.
Sara wouldn’t ask me to do that, would she?
He scrabbled for purchase again, grabbing Con’s arms, suddenly hooking his boot over a small rocky spike that hadn’t been there before.
Wind and sky, rock and death. Lichen, a feather caught in a spiderweb.
‘Push, Murphy!’ shouted Con.
‘I am bloody pushing!’ shouted Murphy.
His hand landed on another rock, he found more purchase for his boots, and with Con and Madison’s help he scrambled until his forearms were over the edge. His fingers dug into the earth, his strength pulling him up to his armpits.
The wind; the bluffs; the laugh of a kookaburra.
Gunfire in the distance.
Con grabbed one arm, Madison the other, and Murphy slid forward, grazing his belly on the sharp rocks.
He rolled the last little way on his side, away from the fall, pressed down into the ground. Gravity was his comfort again, the red dirt home.
The wind blew past his ear. He looked up.
Con lay on his back, his scraped and bloody arms over his eyes, chest rising and falling rapidly. Madison was in a ball beside them, bawling, blood running from her nose, bruises down her arms, her black school shoes broken at the strap.
Silence.
Then fury from Con, sitting up. ‘You gave up! We’re this close to finding Jasmine and you were giving up?’
‘I dreamed about falling from a cliff,’ said Murphy. ‘Over and over. I thought it was my time to die.’
‘That’s the thing about dreams, mate,’ said Con, panting, slumping back onto the ground. ‘They’re not bloody real.’
CHAPTER 53
CON
Con let himself have a minute more to relive the terror of all three of them almost dying. Then he pulled himself upright.
Gabriella and Eliza were nowhere to be seen, but the earlier gunshot had come from deep in the trees.
Murphy was on his feet, standing over Madison. ‘Where is Jasmine?’ He looked fierce, blood in his beard, his clothes torn and filthy.
‘I don’t know . . .’ said Madison. ‘But Miss Ellis didn’t know, either. I think that means she’s safe.’
‘You have to find her!’
‘I c-can’t. We have to wait for her to contact us.’
Con came over and kneeled by the girl. ‘What about Cierra? Are they together?’ said Con.
‘They’re supposed to be,’ said Madison. She trembled, and whispered, ‘I want my mum.’
Con looked towards the trees. ‘Okay, Madison. You’re okay.’ She clung to him, weak on her knees, and he helped her to her feet. ‘We’ll get you away from here.’
They walked up the dirt track, back to where they’d parked the car. Con had called the commander on the drive there, the moment Gabriella had received the directions from Jack Michaels, and he knew she would be waiting for an update.
The screen on Murphy’s phone was cracked, but it still worked.
‘Con! Are you okay?’ said Agatha.
He gave her a brief rundown, adding, ‘I don’t know where Gabriella and Eliza are, but they’re both armed. We’ve heard gunshots. We need the chopper here now. How far away is back-up?’
‘Doble’s thrown a massive spanner in the works. He’s used all his crooked buddies here to run interference: saying you’re unhinged, that I’m out of my depth. I’ve finally managed to get things moving, but the squad cars have only just left. Once I regain the situation, he is finished. What kind of state is Madison in?’
‘She’ll survive.’
‘Be kind to her, Cornelius,’ said Agatha, hearing his tone. ‘She’s still just a child.’
He looked over at Madison walking alongside him, staring straight ahead. She was clearly in shock from the trauma. Despite everything, she had helped to pull Murphy off the edge of the cliff, had probably saved his life.
Just a child. What a world we live in now, that a child with a camera can cause all of this carnage.
‘I assume I’m back on this case now?’
‘Don’t be smart with me, detective, it doesn’t suit you. Wait for back-up.’
‘Okay.’
The commander sighed expansively. ‘Cornelius, I know you’re not really listening and are likely going to go and give back-up to Gabriella the moment I hang up. Please make sure Madison is safe first, and get Murphy to stay put too. We can’t afford any more civilian casualties in all of this.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘I’ll be in touch.’
Con hung up the phone and handed it back to Murphy. Madison had gone quiet, retreating into herself.
Gunshots in the trees. Shouting.
Con and Murphy were running back down the track instantly, but Con stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t leave Madison behind, but with Eliza about, nowhere was safe for her, not even the car.