Conspiracy at World's End Read online

  “So, how do you get clients out here?”

  “I have connections.”

  Marlin scooped porridge into a bowl, sitting down with them, “It was such a glorious dawn. It makes you feel great to be alive.”

  Santanna licked her spoon, contemplatively, “So, you think you can rescue your sister?”

  “Yeah, it’s better than doing nothing.”

  “And you plan to walk all that way?”

  “How else am I going to get there?”

  Santanna smirked, “Well…what if I was to tell you I had some transport.”

  Marlin smiled, “I’d fucking kiss you!”

  Santanna rose from the ground, “Then meet me out front in half an hour. I’ll bring my lip gloss.”

  She went inside to finish her breakfast leaving the boy’s alone.

  They felt suddenly vulnerable, unable to forget about last night’s intimate moment between them. Marlin needed his help so had to break this awkwardness between them.

  “Ahh...Sam, I was wondering if you thought any more about my request? That’s if you’re not doing anything. I could use the help in finding this cook. It’s not for me, it’s my sister.”

  “Well...I am at a loose end. I wonder how long before the Enforcers come for me?”

  “They can’t find you if they have no idea where you are.”

  Sam felt apprehensive being in this man’s company for too long. He was stirring long forgotten desires.

  The two men stood on the curb waiting for Santanna’s surprise. They saw the yellow beast lurch around the corner causing smiles to form on their faces.

  The old school bus screeched to a halt before them, the door sliding open, “Well don’t just stand there admiring the scenery, grab a seat and hold tight.”

  “You’re coming with us?”

  “You white fellas will be fucked without me.”

  Sam smiled, boyishly, “So how did you get the bus?”

  “There is a motor museum around the corner. We’re lucky this heap of shit was converted to solar power.”

  The boys joined her on the bus.

  Santanna put it into gear and drove away.

  Marlin and Sam were sent flying down the aisle landing on the floor. Their eyes locked together, feeling their heaving chests and expanding groins, touch.

  Sam leapt off him, scuttling into a seat as far away from Marlin as possible.

  The bus had been hurtling down the highway for over two hours, the heat of the sun causing the inside to feel like an oven, the only respite was the breeze coming through the open windows.

  Santanna slumped in a seat, in bra and panties, dozing. Marlin was making a diary entry in the I-Pad, bare-chested, just wearing his pants.

  Sam had taken over the driving, casting a glance in the rear view mirror in Marlin’s direction, watching beads of sweat drizzle down his chest.

  Santanna opened her eyes, gazing across at Marlin, “Playing Tic-Tac-Toe?”

  “No. I’m keeping a journal. I want someone to know what happened to us,” spoke Marlin. “I guess you can’t kill the old journalist in me.”

  “Great! That’s all we need, a fuckin gossip columnist.”

  “I was a highly regarded investigative reporter.”

  “You’re all gossip columnist to me with ya half-truths and sensational facts.”

  Marlin snarled, “Okay then, what was your illustrious career before?”

  “Sorry...didn’t mean to get ya knickers in a bunch.”

  “So, were you always a hooker?”

  “No smart-ass! I was a mother,” spat the woman, bitterly.

  Santanna turned away from him looking out the window as the world rushed by, not daring to shed a tear in front of a stranger.

  She had lost babies, to live without your kids, was enough to make anyone angry.

  The bus halted by the side of the road for a pit stop, the shadow of the beast gave some shelter from the sun. Marlin had found a tree to sit under, some feet away, to meditate. While Santanna got a fire going to cook up some more porridge. Food was becoming addictive.

  Sam sat gazing at Marlin wondering why he was drawn to him; perhaps his kindness had blurred reality.

  Santanna, of course, noticed everything, “I can see why you’ve taken a shine to that fucker...he has one hell of a wash board stomach.”

  “What! No! I...am not like that.”

  “That boner in ya pants says something else.”

  Sam looked down at his crotch, mortified. Santanna cackled, “I’m only fuckin with ya.”

  Sam sighed with relief, he didn’t have an erection, “I’m not gay you know.”

  “I don’t give a fuck either way but here I am in my bra and you haven’t once looked at my tits.”

  The young Enforcer felt as if someone had slapped him across his face, “I don’t know what the fucks wrong with me.”

  “It’s called freedom. Those Enforcers will convince you the world is flat if ya stick around long enough.”

  Sam’s head was suddenly filled with old memories of life before. There was a boy who came to mind like a mirage. They were just experimenting. There was lots of cuddling and caressing. It was tender and sweet. The boys were innocent explorers.

  Then, the world went to shit, and he went off to boot camp. They taught him it was wrong to be with another man.

  Same sex couples were wasting their potential as breeders. So the government began treatment to change that. It was for the good of the human race. They must procreate.

  Commander Roth had been his only woman; she would seduce all the male virgins for her own pleasure. She had absolute control over them once she had popped their cherry.

  He was so confused.

  The yellow school bus crept carefully across a rickety bridge into New South Wales. They were making great time. The sun was setting in the west, the dark of night casting aside the day.

  Marlin was at the wheel when the beast began to cough and splutter edging closer to death. He spotted an abandon petrol station just ahead managing to steer the vehicle off the road. The beast gave a final sigh, and died.

  Santanna lurched toward him, “What the fuck did you do.”

  “Nothing! It just began to die all of a sudden.”

  “I should have known not to leave a fag in charge of machinery.”

  Marlin was sick of her insults, “Will you shut up! It has been a long day...I can do without your bitchiness.”

  Marlin opened the door, marching out of the bus.

  “Well there is no need to be so fuckin moody,” spat Santanna.

  Sam descended the steps going after him.

  Marlin was swallowed up by the growing night as he ventured toward a relic of a polluted age. The petrol pumps were now empty, the parking bays cracked, weeds emerging.

  He looked through the window gazing at the decaying stock within, failing to hear foot steps behind him.

  Marlin felt something hit him from behind, a blinding pain assaulting his head. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Chapter 2

  After the boys had disappeared into the night, Santanna lit a lantern, venturing toward the back of the bus.

  She stumbled over twigs and stones, almost twisted her ankle in a hole, cursing to the ascending moon.

  She opened the rear of the bus, gazing into the silent interior, “I have no fuckin idea what I am looking at...we’re screwed.”

  Suddenly, she heard the thunder of approaching vehicles. She turned around spotting head-lights coming toward her.

  As they approached, she could make out they were motor bikes. The riders were a pack of thugs and misfits.

  Santanna hurried back inside the bus, grabbing her shot gun, prepared for any aggravation.

  Marlin woke with a splitting headache, lying on a mattress upon a bed; his wrists were tied with rope to the wrought iron bed-head.

  He glanced down at his body, relieved that his underwear was saving his modesty. It was the only stitch of clothes s
till on him.

  He heard a key rattle in the lock, the man began to struggle.

  He was surprised when the wizen, old woman entered the room, wielding a butcher’s knife, “Struggling will only upset you, my pet.”

  “What do you want with me? I wasn’t going to steal anything from your shop.”

  “It has proved such a perfect trap over the years.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m afraid, my pet, you should have kept driving,” replied the old woman. “I’m Aunt Pat, the local butcher.”

  Marlin struggled feverishly, as the woman approaching, “Shush! Calm my pet, it will be over quickly, a slit across your throat is all I need to do.”

  “No! You don’t have to do this...it is lunacy.”

  “We all must do what we can for self-preservation.”

  “How will killing me do that?”

  The old woman sneered, “I’ve got to keep my customers happy. They love my meat sauce.”

  Aunt Pat got close enough for Marlin to strike out at her with his feet, knocking the woman to the ground.

  Before she could rise, they heard a door bell ring. Aunt Pat went to investigate, in her rush she failed to lock the door.

  Santanna marched out into the middle of the road, aiming her shot gun at the approaching bikies. They instantly came to a halt, their hogs rumbling impatiently.

  The leader got off his bike, “Pointing a gun in my face is no way to be hospitable. I prefer a kiss on the cheek.”

  Santanna studied his form; a short, broad shouldered, tattooed Asian with the grin of a sly fox.

  The man seemed molded into his leather pants, his vest revealing a well-built chest. His long, jet black hair cascaded down his back.

  “This is much safer for me because I have no fuckin idea where that cheek has been.”

  “I like your spunk. I bet you howl in bed too.”

  “Well you’ll never find out.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’ll have no fuckin nuts to use.”

  The man leered at her, “The name’s Joh Kincaid.”

  “Santanna...bit western for a slant eyes.”

  “I adopted it.”

  “Why?”

  “A new life needed a new name.”

  Joh’s right hand man came forward, his gentle, child-like face instantly disarming her. He was built like a hulk, “Missus, he doesn’t mean any harm. So, why are you out here? It’s not safe.”

  “The bus shit itself. What is the danger?”

  Joh frowned, “Haven’t ya heard the stories about this place?”

  “I wouldn’t be asking if I did.”

  “This place is like the Bermuda triangle, people disappear into thin air.”

  Santanna felt a chill run up her back, thinking about her travelling companions out there in the dark.

  Aunt Pat opened the back door to find the young Enforcer standing there, still ringing the bell suddenly stopping as he noticed her.

  The man beamed a warm, infectious smile at her, “Sorry to disturb you. We’ve broken down out the front of your petrol station.”

  Aunt Pat smiled, like his old grandmother, “Oh you poor boy, do come in out of the dark you never know what disagreeable folks are out there.”

  She moved to one side to let him pass by her.

  Sam suddenly jumped, startled when she pinched him on the ass, “Mighty plump and tender.”

  Sam ignored it, “I wouldn’t have known you lived here accept for the lantern by your window.”

  “I try to leave a light on for any lost strangers,” spoke the old woman, as she guided him into her candle lit kitchen.

  He spotted the lantern that had attracted him to her abode. He frowned, was that red paint smeared about the base? Well that was what it looked like to him in this dim light.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a friend of mine, tall and lanky, lots of hair?”

  “No, my pet, afraid not,” spoke Aunt Pat, going over to the stove to stir the content of a pot, a skinless face bobbed to the surface. “Are you hungry? We’ll have to fatten up a skinny boy like you.”

  Sam sat down at the kitchen table, oblivious to the content in the pot as his stomach began to rumble, “Yes, please, I see you’ve succumbed to food as well...The Enforcers always said it was bad for you...now I’m not so sure about a lot of things.”

  “Enforcers you say?”

  “Well, technically, I still am.”

  Aunt Pat stirred the pot with concern written on her face, was this a sting to catch her out?

  Santanna sat on the steps of the bus while the hulk looked over the engine.

  Joh returned with a thermos of coffee, pouring the lukewarm liquid into the lid of his thermos, passing the drink to Santanna, “I thought you could use this while you wait.”

  Santanna accepted it, dubiously, “You do know this shit is illegal.”

  “Do we look like the type to be law abiding? We live to break rules.”

  “I can believe that, you reek of it.”

  Joh’s eyes twinkling mischievously, “You don’t know what ya missing. I can do things with my tongue that’ll rattle your knees.”

  “You’re awfully fuckin confident.”

  “I always get what I want.”

  “Not this time but I’m sure there is some slut out there somewhere who’d jump on your pencil dick at the click of your fingers.”

  “I’m bored. I could use a challenge.”

  Santanna threw the coffee in his face, the man bellowed from the insult, “I am not an amusement park ride.”

  Joh raised a fist to strike her. Santanna prepared to defend herself, just as the hulk interrupted them, “Sorry missus, but your storage banks are stuffed without those you’re not collecting any solar power for the night.”

  “Is there anything you can do?”

  “It is the electronics…so I might be able to bypass those circuits that have burnt out…though that won’t last.”

  “Fine, do what you can. I just wanna leave this place with my head still attached.”

  Joh sneered, “See, his not as dumb as you think.”

  “Oh I agree. He is more useful than a man with a big fuckin ego.”

  A red headed biker chick appeared at Joh’s side, “Hey boss, ya gotta see this.”

  Santanna joined them, as the woman lead the group through the bush, finally coming to a clearing.

  Santanna clutched her chest, as the moon light shone upon a grave yard of rusted out, smashed vehicles dumped haphazardly.

  She thought about the lost lives that each one represented. It left her cold.

  “Now I’m beginning to believe those stories.”

  Marlin stopped his struggling, hearing more than one voice in the house, letting out an all mighty cry for help.

  He heard scuffling from outside his room which was followed by the door being forced open.

  Sam stood in the entrance, “Marlin!”

  The old woman came up behind him, a little dazed, giving, Sam, a hefty push in the back. He fell into the room.

  She quickly slamming the door shut, and locked it.

  Sam rose from the floor, “That old bitch is stronger than she looks.”

  “Try and get me free. She can’t stop both of us,” called out Marlin.

  The young Enforcer remembered his dagger, removing it from the inside of his left boot. He lent over Marlin to cut the ropes. Marlin could smell his scent; mixture of sweat and soap. He’s lust began to take over from the fear.

  Santanna emerged from the bush at the rear of the petrol station. The bikers followed after her. They spotted a shed adjacent to the main building.

  Santanna being a curious sticky-beak couldn’t resist a look inside.

  She slid open the shed door, it seemed to be a small factory; there were vats, a conveyer belt and packing boxes.

  Someone had a black market operation going on, right within this Bermuda triangle.

  Joh came up behind her, �
�There’s a light on in the back of the petrol station, you wanna check it out?”

  “Fuck yeah. My mates have probably got their feet up, chowing down on a hearty prohibited meal while I bust my ass fixing that bus.”

  Joh laughed, sarcastically, “You did nothing. Boofhead was the only one who got his hands dirty.”

  “They don’t know that.”

  Santanna scowled at the dirt-bag, barging passed him.

  In the room, both men stood before the entrance, anticipating the return of Aunt Pat. They were going to rush her once she was clear of the door.

  Sam clutched his dagger, crouching down preparing to pounce.

  They heard the key turn in the lock. Their veins coursed with adrenalin, fists clenched.

  The door was flung open, the barrel of a rifle appeared in the gap.

  Marlin grabbed the barrel, forcing the weapon toward the ceiling. He struggled for possession of the gun, accidently letting of a shot. Plaster rained down upon them from the roof.

  Sam launched at the woman, dagger slicing through the air.

  In a darkened control room, a female technician studied a map of the Victorian/New South Wales border where a blip on the screen, flickered rapidly.

  She turned to the inky depths of the room that lay behind her, “Commander, another wave of ectopic signals detected. It’s as if he is experiencing trauma. Should we send in troops to retrieve the operative?”

  Commander Roth appeared behind her chair, “Negative, Frazer, I am sure that Parry is competent to handle any situation. I trained him myself.”

  “You’re ploy worked. All it took was one man to draw out the dissident. Will you be moving in?”

  “Not yet, we’ll give Parry more time to snare Marlin Vickers in our trap. He will be stopped by his own perversion. Quite Apt,” sneered the woman, relishing the ambrosia of victory against an enemy.