Flight to Coorah Creek Read Free

It meant woman. At the time she’d thought that might be a good omen. Of the town that bore the same name, she could see little. The Goongalla Mine, however, was another matter. The open pit was far larger than she had expected. As the plane dropped lower she could see machines moving slowly on the sides and base of the cut, carrying their load of uranium ore to the surface. It took a few seconds for her to realise how huge the machines must be to be visible from such a height.
    She banked the plane and dropped even lower. Now she had a better view of the town which had grown up on the banks of the creek, in the shadow of the escarpment. It sat where two roads met in a giant Y shape to form a single track heading south-west towards the desert. A railway line ran parallel to the east-bound road and turned south to its terminus in the mine compound. A short spur led into the town itself. The houses were set in large blocks of land. In a place where rain was more common, there would be gardens around those homes. Instead, Coorah Creek had just a very few small green patches of carefully tended lawn. The rough red of the outback soil predominated. Near the middle of the town, Jess blinked at the incongruous sight of a square of brilliant blue.
    â€˜You’ve got a swimming pool?’
    â€˜The school does. Courtesy of the mine.’
    â€˜Like this aircraft.’
    â€˜You got it,’ Jack replied. ‘Without the mine …’
    â€˜There’d be no town.’ Jess finished for him.
    â€˜Pretty much. Before the mine came, this place was just a pit stop on the Birdsville Road. A petrol station and pub and half a dozen houses. Now look at it.’
    A population of almost three thousand, Jess recalled from her reading. With a police station, shops and a town council. There was a church and a hospital too, small but very well equipped. The mine looked after its own. Jessica circled the town as she reduced her height, trying to get a feel for this place which was going to be her new home. The mine was south of the town and the airstrip was right next to it, which made sense if the mining company was paying the bills. They’d no doubt use it for flying company executives in and out. The strip itself had an all-weather surface, not that rain would be much of a problem out here. There was a single large building made of corrugated iron, with a flat roof and a large round metal water tank at the side. Jess guessed that was the hangar for the plane she was now flying.
    Jess brought the Beechcraft in for a gentle touchdown. Following Jack’s directions, she taxied the plane towards the large corrugated iron shed that served as the air ambulance hangar. She was still some yards from her destination when a car shot at high speed around the corner of the building and began sliding towards them as the driver stood too heavily on his brakes.
    â€˜What the …’ Jess jammed her brakes on and brought the plane to a halt, its spinning propellers just a few yards from the car.
    She was about to shut down the engines, when a man leaped out of the car, waving his hands.
    â€˜Get back,’ she yelled, knowing as she did that he couldn’t hear her. The lunatic was running forward, in very real danger from the spinning propellers.
    Jack said something as he ducked between the seats into the back of the plane, but Jess didn’t hear him. She watched horrified as the madman on the tarmac dived under her wingtip. A few seconds later, she saw a woman in some sort of strange headscarf follow the madman. That’s when Jack flung open the aircraft door.
    Jess’s heart started to pound as she heard booted feet race up the aircraft stairs. It was as if she had stepped back into her nightmare … Flashing lights and sirens … Angry men with guns, shouting and threatening. Knives tearing into the seats of her beloved jet, to reveal the packets of white power hidden