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BREE REACHES Torua first. She scrambles up the side and dives through the hatch, her anxious face lingering above the rim like a watchful a possum, as Mika and Stan race to catch up.
‘We’re here. It’s okay.’ Mika groans as she struggles inside. She hasn’t had time to check for damage, but already she’s aware she’s in for some serious muscle pain tomorrow.
As Stan moves to follow her, Mika hesitates. ‘I’m not sure I can help you any more than I have.’
Frozen halfway up the side of Torua, Stan drops his eyes, the cybernetic prosthesis wobbling. ‘I’m sorry. I had no idea they’d come to my place. But I’m begging you to let me go with you.’
Behind him, the large reinforced doors of the warehouse swing closed. A heavy metal beam slides into place, securing the residents from further intrusion. There’s no welcome for them here. After today, perhaps not even for Stan.
‘Who were they? What did they want?’
Stan shakes his head. ‘I can’t tell you.’
‘Then I can’t let you come.’ Mika moves to close the hatch.
‘Wait! It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I’m not ashamed, or anything. I do what I have to do. It’s just that you’ll be safer if you don’t know.’ A window is closed, internal shutters clicked shut, the noise quieted. The warehouse is in lockdown. ‘Look, you’re not from here,’ Stan goes on, a hint of desperation in his voice. ‘It’s evident you don’t know this place. I can help.’
Mika feels Bree’s gentle tug on her pant leg. Sighing, she turns, leaving the hatch open, and descends into the control room.
Stan closes the hatch behind him. ‘Thanks.’
‘Just so you know, if taking you in means I don’t complete my journey, I’ll make you regret it.’ Mika knows the threat is meaningless. If she doesn’t complete her journey, the regret will kill her.
Stan sinks into one of the empty seats. Bree, still holding her small captive in one arm, grabs the first-aid kit, delivering it to Stan with a shy smile before joining Mika at the front of the waka. Ignoring her own injuries, Mika pulls Torua away from the warehouse, heading in no particular direction, just one she hopes will confuse anyone with plans to follow.
‘Calculating...’ The warm tones of Kuia’s voice break the quiet. Eyes drooping low, Bree strokes her prize until it falls into a contented sleep on her lap.
‘Can you take the wheel? I need to put Bree to bed.’
‘No probs. Just give me a moment to screw my leg back on.’ Mika tries to hide her shock as Stan gives his prosthetic a final check, ensuring there are no bent rods or clogged cogs, then twists it back into place, mid-thigh on the left side. ‘Cheap parts. The joint always gives me trouble.’ There’s a click and a whirl, and Stan gives a satisfied grin as he rolls down his pant leg and moves to take Mika’s place at the controls. ‘Las Vegas, right? Mind if I let your GPS off the hook? I know the way.’
‘Okay.’
Mika gathers Bree into her arms, the dog cupped in the girl’s lap. She stomps to activate the lower hatch, and descends. Below, she tucks Bree into bed, the dog curled beside her. Bree’s expression flickers as Mika tucks the blankets under her chin, as if she’s walking somewhere between dream and nightmare.
‘Sleep well, sweetie,’ Mika whispers. She leaves the light on low and returns upstairs.
‘So?’ Stan’s question reminds Mika that she’s lost and alone here. Even the ghost of her kuia in the GPS is quiet.
She inhales deeply. ‘My name is Mika Tāura. Mauao is my mountain, Tauranga Moana is my ocean and I am far from home. Ngāti Ranginui is my iwi, and Aotearoa is my tūrangawaewae. My people need me to get to Las Vegas. There is no choice. I have to meet someone, someone who knew my father. I have to give him a message.’ Mika pulls her jacket tighter around her shoulders, and folds her arms across her chest. ‘But when I arrived, the storm meant I missed my connection. And without a guide, I don’t know who I’m supposed to meet.’
‘Maybe your guide’s still waiting for you?’ Stan suggests. ‘We could check, and if the person is still there, then I’ll leave. But...’ His voice trails off and Mika can’t tell if he’s making a decision about what to say next or if he needs all his attention on the road. He narrowly misses a rubbish tin rolling in the strong winds.
‘You can help me get to Las Vegas?’ Mika needs to be certain.
‘If I can’t find your guide, I promise to get you close.’ Stan moves into the co-pilot chair and Mika seamlessly takes the driver’s seat. She scans the saved lists in the GPS and chooses her first destination. The place where she was supposed to meet the guide.
‘Calculating. Go straight five hundred yards. Take the first left,’ says the confident voice of Mika’s kuia. Mika doubts she would have found her way back without the GPS, the storm has caused so much damage. The rain has slowed to a continuous drizzle, but dark clouds still swarm in the heavens, leaving little chance for the last of the day’s light to penetrate. When they approach the meeting point, Stan and Mika strain for a sign of her guide.
‘Wow, that looks serious,’ Stan says, indicating the wreckage on the traffic island. It’s the transport Torua collided with earlier. The transport carrying Bree. The remains of the vehicle have been shunted to the side of the island. No other vehicles are in sight.
‘That’s where I found Bree,’ she whispers, the words loud and careless in the cab.
‘The little girl? She’s not yours?’ Stan says.
‘No...’ Mika pulls up, stopping the transport close enough for them to examine the wreckage. A faulty power pack. Petals of twisted metal burst outward from the centre of the hood, the fire long since extinguished by the storm, leaving a blackened husk of smouldering steel. It’s a shock to see it again. Mika’s relieved that Bree’s asleep.
‘It was an accident,’ she says. ‘I didn’t see the vehicle in time. We collided, and their transport couldn’t withstand the strength of my waka. I didn’t want to leave Bree with the body of her father. I was taking her for medical treatment. I wasn’t prepared for the storm. I didn’t know what else to do.’ The words tumble like a prayer waiting to be answered.
‘No one’s here.’
‘That’s not surprising. I’m a day late.’
‘Yes, but if your guide was local, they would’ve known about the storm. They would have expected you to be late. So, why didn’t they wait?’
‘After we collided, and I discovered the body, and Bree, I just wanted to get the girl away from here, somewhere safe. Maybe when the guide saw the collision, he thought the same thing.’
Stan’s eyes widen. ‘Hey! Do you think maybe Bree’s father was your guide? Maybe they were coming here to meet you?’
Mika slumps. If that’s the case, not only has she destroyed Bree’s life, but she may have ruined Huia’s chances.
‘Hey, sorry. Look, let me check it out. Maybe there’s something inside the transport that will tell us.’ Stan gives Mika’s shoulder an awkward squeeze, and before she can protest, he’s outside Torua, waving at her from the traffic island.
Numb, Mika watches Stan through the windscreen as he struggles against the wind. He leans inside the twisted transport and moments later the hatch clangs and he’s back inside, shaking the rain from his hair and coat, and re-joining her at the front.
‘Well, do you want the good news, or the bad news?’ Mika looks at him, dazed. ‘Right then, let’s start with the bad. I think our man there was waiting for you, but not for the reason you think.’ He lets his words register, then passes over a series of renditions. Faces of people about Mika’s age: mostly women, some men, all of them resembling Mika, and Huia, but none of them an exact match.
‘What are these pictures? Where did he get these? Why would he have them?’
‘You recognise them?’
‘They could be my family, but they’re not, not quite.’ Mika flicks through the faces, peering at each one in turn. It’s as if someone has made genetic models of what Mika might look like.
‘I think they wanted to be sure.’
‘Sure of what?’
‘That you were the right person. The person they needed taken care of.’ Mika’s jaw drops as understanding dawns.
‘You mean, an assassin?’
‘I’m only guessing, but I think they only wanted half the deal. Whatever it is you brought with you.’
‘I didn’t bring anything with me...’ Mika protests. But then she has another thought. ‘What about Bree?’ She sucks in the name, as if to hide the girl from danger.
‘A side business?’ Mika’s incomprehension must show in her face because Stan extrapolates: ‘Organ donation. Big business here in the United States. Especially over the past couple of decades, since B-Cell’s miracle cure for diabetes backfired.’ Stan’s face twists into a sneer. ‘Of course, it’s all fine and dandy if you’ve got money – you can replace limbs and eyes, get yourself the best prosthetics you can afford, the corporate giant does a nice line in top-end artificial limbs – but once you reach organ failure, that’s it. Unless you can source a living organ, you’re dead...’ He trails off, his voice softening. ‘Some parents, if they’re down on their luck, will sell their kids on. You know, you probably saved your own life as well as that little girl’s. You’ve both been pretty lucky. Maybe you have a guardian angel.’
Mika thinks of Huia, sending her aroha across the ocean, and nods. Right now, she feels fairly floaty herself. All this, it’s unreal. Her guide sent to kill her? Bree an organ donor? How is it possible? But then, if she considers the evidence...
‘I checked Bree over after the accident,’ she replies. ‘She’s covered in needle pricks and bruises. Old bruises.’
‘Yeah? I guess that confirms it. Explains why the kid’s so quiet. Poor thing has been kept as a living spare part. Well, that settles it,’ Stan announces. ‘You’ve saved us, so now we’re going to help you. Shall I drive?’ Stan’s enthusiasm seems slightly misplaced – doesn’t he realise that Mika’s killed three people today? Okay, so she did it by accident, or in self-defence, since it turns out all of them had intended to kill her, but still, it’s small comfort.
Suddenly, Mika feels heavy. The voyage, her mission, Bree, Stan, even the dog. It’s all too much. Mika just wants to curl into a ball and sob. Exhausted, she lets Stan take over.
The thrum of Torua’s heart lulls her into a fitful sleep, full of intangible images and whispered warnings. Through it all, Mika hears Huia begging her to be strong.