With the departure of these ten men, and the fateful loss of the seven when we struck ground, my crew numbers 35. This is one less than the original crew assigned to the San Lesmes in La Coruna. I sail with a heart full of hope because the men gained at the misfortune of the other ships are of higher rank and knowledge than the seamen who have been taken from us. We should make the Moluccas as planned.
CHAPTER 23
‘You have arrived at your destination. Your destination is on the left,’ the GPS stated matter-of-factly.
Matt leaned over the passenger seat of the car and looked at the front window of Aimee’s house, just in time to see a gap in the curtain close. Aimee was waiting for him. He checked the clock. No, he wasn’t late. As a matter of fact he was fifteen minutes early. She was keen! Very professional, Matt corrected himself. Walking up the garden path he inhaled the fresh aroma of the garden. Thyme. Blending with something he couldn’t quite place. It smelt wonderful though. He racked his brain trying to think of what it was as he waited for her to answer the doorbell. The opening door snapped him back to reality. Aimee, standing in the hallway, wearing beige shorts, loafers, and a buttoned blouse took his breath away. The aroma of the garden was replaced with something even better. Matt smiled.
‘Good morning.’ She returned his smile.
‘Morning. Nice looking place you have here,’ Matt said, sweeping his arm and trying not to look at her legs.
‘Thanks. I’m always a bit embarrassed that I live in a granny-flat but it beats putting up with flatmates.’
‘I live in a granny-flat too, nothing to be embarrassed about at all. I love my privacy.’
Aimee’s smile widened.
‘So you like your privacy? Not a big party animal then?’
‘Not really. OK, not at all.’ Matt hoped he didn’t put her off by being so boring.
‘That’s great! It’s refreshing to meet a man who doesn’t feel the need to waste all of his waking hours boozing with friends and watching rugby.’
‘Oh, that’s definitely not me,’ Matt said, excited by the prospect that Aimee found his style so acceptable.
‘Cool.’ she said, looking over her shoulder and indicating her single bag. ‘I think I have everything. Shall we go then?’
Matt looked down at her luggage. She travelled light. Her bag was smaller than his.
‘We might be gone a week or more.’
‘No problem, I’ve got enough here to get me by for at least a month.’
‘Impressive.’
Matt reached through the doorway to take Aimee’s suitcase before she could protest. She didn’t anyway. He waited while Aimee slung a little day-pack over her shoulder and locked the door. Walking back down the path, Matt enjoyed the blend of Thyme, mysterious aroma, and Aimee. He could definitely get used to her. Definitely.
His high crashed down to the ground as he walked towards the back of the car and saw the black Corolla parked a hundred metres up the road. It was occupied. Just one man. Matt said nothing, and loaded Aimee’s bag into the boot.
‘Fuck a tar knee.’ Matt said, taking care to pronounce the name of Aimee’s hometown exactly as she had taught him. The sign at the beginning of the bridge spelt out the Maori name more politely: Whakatane.
‘Home sweet home.’
They drove over the bridge and turned left towards the main part of town, as Aimee guided Matt with plenty of pointing. She directed him through a shopping area and past her high school before taking them over a large hill to a beautiful long beach on the other side.
‘My parents only moved here after I left home. Not fair really. I grew up back in town. The beach kids were one of the cooler crowds.’
‘They all would have moved on now though, right? Like you.’
‘Some. But a lot of them stayed here too. Those that managed to get on the property ladder are laughing their arses off now. The value of a place here has gone up massively. Ten-fold in most cases.’
Matt pulled into the driveway of a tidy looking two-storey place that Aimee pointed out. Getting out of the car, he was relieved to stretch his legs again following the four and a half hour drive they had just undertaken. He turned to look from the gently sloping hill the house was on and was greeted with a view of the ocean and the familiar scent of salty air. When he turned back to the car to see what was taking Aimee so long he had to stop himself from laughing.
‘Are you cold or do you have other motives behind your special fashion choices?’
‘Other motives, of course. My Mum will be so proud that I’m still wearing her purple creation. You’ve got no idea how special it can be to a knitting addict to see your grown children proudly wearing your pullovers.’
She was right. The front door of the house opened and Aimee’s parents warmly greeted them, her mother commenting on the pullover and how lovely it looked on, before inviting them in.
As Matt walked through the door, he confirmed that indeed the Corolla was still parked within line of sight. There was no question they were being watched. He smiled at himself as he imagined how bored the occupant must be.
Hemi was far from bored. Arriving in Whakatane had been a trip down memory lane. A trip that started when Matthew Cameron stopped to pick up his travelling companion. It was when he saw Aimee come out of her house that it hit him, his realising just how small a place New Zealand can be. Bloody hell, Aimee Kingsbridge. Don’t tell me you’re tied up in this mess.
He hadn’t seen Aimee for years. Since their days together at Whakatane High School in fact. She wouldn’t remember him, but he remembered her. Hemi had a massive crush on Aimee for years. They were in English and History together. She was a real history buff, so maybe she went on to University. Hemi, on the other hand, was the fat Maori kid in the back corner of the room. No one noticed him, except for a couple of his cousins. Of course the army had changed him. Even if she did remember little fat Hemi, she wouldn’t be able to pick him out in a line-up. Not in a million years. Had Warren set this up too? Hemi decided to keep it to himself to see how it panned out. If Warren didn’t already know, he didn’t need to. Until she proved otherwise, Hemi would treat Aimee as an innocent bystander.
When they drew closer, Hemi realised he would have to confront his hometown. He tapped the steering wheel faster with each mile. Fifteen years stood between Hemi and Whakatane. As they drove down King Street it fully struck him. His old haunt. As a kid, he would hang about with friends outside the Kope Four Square dairy, stuffing themselves with lollies or greasies from the fish and chip shop, where the 20 cent spacies were. But then the Maori Wardens came along and ruined all of that. Bloody wannabe cops. It was even more embarrassing for Hemi though, when his dad would come along. The other kids hated him. As he drove past the Four Square his eyes flooded with tears. Thank God he knew this place like the back of his hand. Otherwise he might not have been able to continue driving. Seeing his school pissed him off even more. If it wasn’t for his father’s death, Hemi would have gone on to greater things. He could have gone to uni. Instead, here he was working as a spy. Not that he minded, it gave him a chance to seek his justice. Now, as he sat on Pohutukawa Ave and watched Matthew and Aimee enter her parents house, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. Mr. Kingsbridge had been Hemi’s favourite teacher. He would have loved to have gone up to say hello. But he couldn’t. Having realised who Matthew Cameron was travelling with, Hemi now had another dimension to his mission. Aimee had to be protected, and that probably meant protecting Dr. Cameron too.