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His phone’s satellite navigation picked a fight with him five painful minutes later. The irritating female voice told him he’d reached his destination, her tone becoming more hysterical with each reminder.
“I haven’t!” he complained. His mind flicked back to the email from his new boss in which he’d given rough directions. “He said fifteen minutes out of town and on the left.” He slowed the truck to a crawl and peered through the darkness. His headlights lit up the road ahead, crossing to a point in the distance. Switching them onto full beam provided little relief, showing another stretch of empty road identical to the last few kilometres. Headlights shone on the horizon, tiny pinpricks from an approaching vehicle.
“You have reached your destination,” the soft voice intoned.
“I haven’t!” Wiri ground his teeth until his jaw ached. The screen zoomed out to show a dense green area, a lake and the narrow, snaking road south. Wiri closed his eyes and imagined the algorithms rationalising the information. When he looked up, he found the view hurtling towards the bright red pin stuck into the road on the screen as though attempting to prove the narrator spoke the truth. He wondered if a secret club of artificial intelligence navigation narrators ever got together in an alternate reality and laughed at the stupidity of their drivers. He pulled the truck onto the narrow verge and retrieved the mobile phone from its cradle, cursing as his wallet fell from the passenger seat to the floor and bounced against the carpet.
“You have reached your destination.” The female voice added more emphasis, as though pleading with him. Her heavy twang hurt his teeth and jarred with the softer vowel sounds of home.
“Let’s check the email,” he muttered, pressing the icon on his screen. He groaned at the complete lack of a signal as the app refused to load. The map worked on a stored memory of the route which he’d set the day before in secret.
Headlights flared like a sunburst in his peripheral vision and a diesel engine slowed. Wiri glanced up to find the police car stopped next to him. “Are you lost?” the cop asked.
Wiri’s reluctant nod oozed failure and defeat. “Yeah.” He sighed.
“You have reached your destination.” The sentence contained hope as though appealing to the police officer for affirmation.
He smiled, displaying perfect white teeth. “I don’t know why that always happens here.” A light laugh slipped from his chest. “But Vaughan’s place is about two kilometres further on and to the left. It’s not signposted but look for the lights on the hill and turn into the gateway. You’ll go over a cattle grid and onto a dirt road. Drive up to the house and he’ll hear you if he’s around.”
“Thanks.” Wiri dropped his useless phone onto his jacket. He exhaled and viewed the road ahead. “Again.”
“No worries. Catch you later.” The cop waved a hand through his side window at the same moment his dashboard radio crackled. He pressed on the gas and eased the patrol car along the road towards the town.
“Not if I see you first,” Wiri whispered under his breath. He pulled onto the road and increased the truck’s speed, raking the view ahead for signs of a gateway. The forestry block ended with such abruptness, it took Wiri’s breath away as the Milky Way burst to life overhead. The contour of the road flattened and the breakneck bends gave way to a gentler camber.
Lights twinkled as though suspended in the air as Wiri pushed the truck along a straight piece of road. Unlike the glaring whiteness of the stars, these held the yellow hue of man-made bulbs. He slowed in time for his headlights to catch the glint of a metal pole to the left and a wide gateway yawned over a cattle grid.
Nerves vied with relief as he made the turn and clanked over the heavy steel poles. The truck juddered and shook and his phone joined his wallet in the foot well. His headlights bounced over post and rail fencing. A cool breeze filtered through the open window and stroked dry the sweat on his brow.
The house grew in size as Wiri followed the steep driveway through the foothills of the mountain. It lifted its chin with pride at the valley below, though as he drew closer, Wiri spotted the tell-tale signs of neglect. The chimney sagged, not lining up with the front door next to it. An outside light cast the lines of the house into sharp relief, exposing all its faults with the combination of glow and shadow. Wiri ground his teeth, choosing not to care as he parked behind an ancient truck with an old-fashioned number plate. He’d made his choice and he would walk in it, no matter what looming disaster befell him.
Like a reprimand, the GPS blocker he’d plugged into the cigarette lighter flashed once, the telling red light stopping his uncle from tracking the fleet vehicle. He’d been unable to refuse Logan’s generosity without making a scene and so he’d relied on the internet purchase to provide a temporary solution.
Killing the engine and taking a deep, fortifying breath, Wiri climbed from the driver’s seat. He left his fallen phone and wallet and activated the central locking, tucking the key fob into the front pocket of his jeans. A sleek Mercedes saloon blocked the path he should have taken. Squaring his shoulders, he navigated it and walked the short distance towards the front of the house. A ranch slider lead onto a new deck, the pine still fresh and untreated. Wiri frowned at the stark contrast with the dilapidated building. Ghostly net curtains fluttered through an opening in the ranch slider and he paused and debated whether to knock on the window or continue towards the front door. “Door,” he whispered to himself, channelling the English woman who’d raised him. “It’s politer.” He angled his boots towards the peeling blue paint, the flickering porch light creating crawling shadows over the neglected surface. The scent of fresh wood filled his nostrils as he sprang up the two new steps and onto the deck.
He jumped aside as the ranch slider drew back with a hiss to create a yawning mouth. The net curtains made a bid for escape. A dark shape appeared, moving at speed sideways as it tangled with the flimsy material.
“Get out!” a male voice yelled. “And don’t come back or I’ll break your bloody legs! Then I’ll shoot you in the face!”
The shape became a person, shunting against Wiri in its attempt to remain upright. He released a grunt of pain and shoved with both hands, tipping the man’s balance and sending him off the edge of the deck. The man landed with a wail and sprawled in the dirt, the yellow glow of the porch light picking out the highlights of an expensive suit fabric. The net curtains lifted in the breeze and a briefcase flew beneath them before the boot which had drop-kicked it settled back to earth. “Take your crap and go,” the same voice growled. The case sent up a puff of dirt and the man grabbed it before turning onto hands and knees and using it to push himself upright.
“That’s assault! I’m calling the cops.” He dusted filth from his knees and closed his fingers around the handle of the case. Rising, he jabbed a finger at Wiri. “He’s my witness. You saw him assault me.”
The barrel of a shotgun poked through the gap in the ranch slider and the man gasped. A giant fought his way past the net curtains, his feet encased in boots heavy enough to have glued Wiri to the floor. The butt of the gun rested between the man’s shoulder and collarbone as he stepped over the metal frame of the ranch slider. Relaxed fingers supported the barrel and Wiri noticed what the panicked man didn’t. An index finger caressed the trigger guard without slipping inside it. He planned to scare but not to injure, despite his verbal threat. “You saw nothing, did you boy?” The gunman addressed Wiri without looking at him, his steps pausing for a reply.
Deciding he’d already told enough lies to send him straight to hell and into his ma’s bad books, Wiri added another, bigger one. “No sir,” he replied. “I saw nothing.”
“Liar!” the other man wailed. “Just you wait!”
“Go away Hendricks!” The giant ducked his head to sight his prey, and the man yelped and skittered backwards.
“You’ve done it now!” he called over his shoulder, though he didn’t elaborate on what the gunman had done besides kick his briefcase and threaten him with a gun. Wiri winced and his mind flicked back to the police officer just a few kilometres away. The giant snorted and swore. He lowered the shotgun, and the jointing clicked as he used the break-action to disable it. The other man fumbled with his car key before unlocking the Mercedes. Lights flashed both outside and inside the vehicle, illuminating it like a Christmas tree as he hurled himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the door. The engine fired, but he stalled it twice in his haste. Wiri held his breath as the man reversed at speed, narrowly missing swiping his truck as he performed a messy nine-point turn. Dust and grit peppered the deck as he stamped on the gas and careened along the bumpy driveway towards the road.
With a snort of disdain, the giant set the shotgun over his shoulder before wiping his hand on his jeans. Then he held it out to Wiri. “Wiremu Kingii?” he asked.
Wiri nodded and accepted the huge fingers in his hand. The man’s bulk made him feel like a child again, his hopes and fears overwhelming as they whirled around his head. An inner voice begged him to go home, confess, ask for mercy, and take his punishment. The voice sounded female, and he hardened his heart against her pleading. “Yes sir,” he replied. “I’m looking for Vaughan Hōiho.”
The giant smiled to reveal even teeth marred by a chip in the front left incisor. Glittering hazel irises held humour, crow’s feet creasing to join the curve of his cheekbones. “Well, kid, you found him,” he stated, dropping his hand to his side. “Welcome to Horse’s Farm in the ass end of nowhere. I hope you brought some wet weather gear with you, because the forecast says we’re in for a doozy of an autumn.”
He didn’t give the teenager a chance to reply. He yanked the net curtains to the side and pushed the gun through first, holding the fabric open for Wiri to follow.
