Overkill : Pure Venom Read online

  OVERKILL

  Pure Venom

  Lawrie Jordan

  Published by Lawrie Jordan

  Copyright 2021 Lawrie Jordan

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  The characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Please note: The words, thoughts and actions of the racist characters in this book of fiction definitely do NOT reflect my views. I support a multi-cultural Australia and I welcome migrants and refugees from all nations. I also have utmost respect for my First Nation brothers and sisters and I am genuinely sorry for the murders, thefts (of people, status and land) and gross mistreatment of aborigines perpetrated by early white settlers, their descendants and State and Federal governments. I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land where much of this story takes place, the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people, the Anangu of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

  This book is dedicated to my ever-supportive wife Lynda,

  my partner in crime and love of my life.

  Cover design by Kevin Goldwater

  Come now,

  my child,

  if we were planning

  to harm you,

  do you think

  we'd be lurking here

  beside the path

  in the very

  darkest

  part of

  the forest?

  Kenneth Patchen

  But Even So (1968)

  Prelude

  ‘Lirru to the Rescu’ it had said on the poster in the camp kitchen, but the longer he took, the more Emma thought that she might have to go in and rescue him.

  Seriously, how had she expected an old guy in his late 70’s to be of any help? It was just that she, like most people on the planet, had severe ophidiophobia – the fear of snakes – and had been desperate.

  It had been quiet – way too quiet – in her tent for the past two minutes. What was he doing in there? Was he still alive? Should she run for help? Where to? It was almost sunset; most people at the camping ground were out watching the sun set on the Rock. Emma would have been there too, if it weren’t for the…

  Suddenly, Lirru burst through the Velcro flaps on her tent holding a massive, writhing snake! It had to be over 4 metres long!

  “Gotcha! You little bugger!” he exclaimed, before holding it right up to Emma’s face. “This one’s deadly.”

  “Eeeeeeek!” she squealed. “Get it away! Get it out of here! Now…please.”

  Lirru obliged by putting the snake into an old hessian sack.

  “Thank you,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief when it was finally out of sight. “W-where was it?”

  “In your sleeping bag, Miss,” Lirru replied.

  “My sleeping bag!?”

  “Yeah, he was probably looking for scorpions.”

  “Scorpions!?”

  “Yeah, anyway,” he said handing her a dog-eared business card:

  ‘LIRRU TO THE RESCU. Snakes removed $20. Ph. 0455 555 287.’

  “That’ll be fifty bucks please, Miss…?

  “Emma. But wait, your card says twenty.”

  “It’s an old card.”

  Emma opened her purse. Inside was a $100 note.

  “I’ve only got a hundred.”

  “That’s mighty generous of you, Emma.”

  “But…” she began, then relented. “OK, I guess. You did save my life, Lirru. But hey… have you lived out here all your life?”

  “Not yet, but so far so good.”

  “Well, I’m writing a novel set in Uluru and it’d be great for authenticity if I could pick a real local’s brains.”

  “Pick away. Whaddyawanna know?”

  “OK, well let’s start at the very beginning,” she replied, “with your take on the Dreamtime.”

  “Nah, you don’t wanna start with that crap.”

  “What! Why not?”

  “Ah, it’s all bulldust this Dreamtime. It’s a plurry stupid name, got bugger all to do with dreams.”

  “But…”

  “Makes it sound like we dreamt it all up,” he continued. “We call this time the Tjukurpa. That’s when the land was created. The mountains, rivers, oceans, the sky, the sun, moon and stars, all the animals… us.”

  “Created by who? God?”

  “Nah, by the Ancestors. Very powerful supernatural beings.”

  “Supernatural in what way?”

  “In every way. For example, they had some human traits and some animal traits. They could change from human to animal and back again…” He clicked his fingers loudly… “like that! They passed on the knowledge.”

  “What knowledge?”

  “All knowledge. Like how the world came to be, how to behave like a human, and how to relate to the land, the animals and each other. The plurry works.”

  “I see. So the Ancestors created Uluru in this Tjukurpa?”

  “Hell yeah. And Uluru has been one of their favourite hangouts for the past 65,000 years, give or take a few weeks. Most, if not all, of the Ancestors have visited this sacred site. In fact…”

  Lirru looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and beckoned her closer..

  “…some of them are still here. You just never know when you might run into one.”

  He winked conspiratorially, before grabbing the hessian bag and making to leave. He was very nimble, despite his age.

  “Wow. Thanks Lirru,” Emma said, “for getting rid of the snake and for telling me all about the Tjukurpa.”

  “No plurry worries, Emma. ‘Lirru to the Rescu’ and all that. Make sure you give my number to your friends…this camping ground is crawling with huge snakes.”

  Lirru walked away quickly, but as soon as he was out of Emma’s sight, he slowed right down. As he passed an open tent with no one around, he stopped and let his pet carpet snake out of the sack.

  “There ya go, Deadly. I’ll be back to pick you up again soon.”

  Chapter 1 .

  Driven to distraction.

  Robert Murray was dead quiet.

  Had been since he got home yesterday evening from his weekend away with the boys, inexplicably two days early.

  And still hadn’t even come close to explaining why, despite Fiona’s rapid-fire interrogation that had started as soon as he’d walked into their plush Brisbane riverfront apartment.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you home already? Are you sick? Were you hurt?

  Oh no…is your dad alright? It’s not his heart again, is it?”

  Robert, who had helped himself to a very large scotch and plonked himself down on the pristine white leather lounge, just shook his head and held his fingers to his temple, as if he were trying to ward off the mother of all migraines and failing miserably.

  “I’m fine ok,” he said irritably as he watched the Brisbane River snake its way around the reaches. “Dad’s fine. Everyone’s just dandy. I just didn’t want to be there. Just wanted to come home and forget all about the bloody thing.” As if I ever could.

  “But why?” she continued. “What did…

  Her question was cut off by the shattering of the glass coffee table as he slammed his whiskey tumbler down with a deep-throated snarl.

  “FOR FUCK’S SAKE, WOMAN! ENOUGH!”

>   The outburst echoed throughout the large open-plan apartment, shocking Fiona with its volume and its ferocity. Robert rarely lost his cool, but when he did it was best to give him – and his backhand – a wide berth.

  The seconds of silence that followed before he spoke again seemed more like minutes as Fiona, the dutiful housewife, started picking up the shattered glass, a dozen further questions on her lips.

  Robert studied the bloody gash at the base of his thumb as if he wondered what had happened to it, before continuing in a controlled voice.

  “I’m sorry, Fee. It’s a long story that I am not in the mood for telling. I just want to have a long hot shower and a sleep. End of.”

  ***

  And now here it was almost a full day later and she still wasn’t any the wiser. Clearly it was all secret men’s business and didn’t concern her.

  But surely something must have made him come home early. He loved those weekends away with the boys, drinking, smoking, sprouting bullshit, snorting coke, whoring and whatever else they got up to that she would never know about.

  It must’ve been something pretty major. As an ex-army drill sergeant, and former bodyguard to a stack of celebrities including an outspoken True Australia Party senator, there wasn’t much that fazed him, nothing he couldn’t deal with.

  Still, after twenty years of marriage Fiona had learned that all nagging got you were black eyes and split lips; maybe he’d tell her what the problem was, maybe he wouldn’t. As always, it was his call. His way or the highway.

  Of course, there was always the possibility that he’d confide in his old man, and Royce would give her the heads up. She had a pretty good rapport with both her in-laws; in fact Royce’s new trophy wife Sienna – 18 years his junior – had become a close friend and confidant. There had even been one time, when the menfolk were away fishing, when they’d got drunk, got horny and got naked.

  One way or another, she was going to get to the bottom of this, even if it killed her.

  ***

  They were on their way to Royce’s place now for a surprise visit; no sense wasting all this new-found spare time…and much better than having Robert mope about the unit muttering to himself and punching walls, like he’d done all morning. She made a mental note to call a plasterer when they returned.

  It was quite a long trip. Mega-rich Royce had decided a few months ago to sell his stately home on Hamilton Hill and get away from it all. He’d succeeded in spades.

  His new abode – grand as it was – was literally miles from anywhere, tucked away in deep rainforest outside the tiny village of Ferny Glen, south of Canungra high in the Gold Coast Hinterland. You didn’t need a Landcruiser, like the top of the range model they were in now, but it helped. Especially now that it had started raining again. Their Series-8 Beamer would probably have been out of its comfort zone ten kilometres back, when the asphalt segued into gravel.

  Fiona only wished they hadn’t left their spur-of-the-moment decision till after four in the afternoon before hitting the road. “At least the traffic will have cleared,” Rob had assured her. And it would have…if they hadn’t got caught up in the aftermath of a 5-car nose-to-tail outbound on a wet South East Freeway.

  And even though sunset was still officially thirty minutes away, with the drizzling rain and the wall of tall trees on either side of the winding mountain road blocking out the setting sun, it was already dark enough for Robert to have to switch the Cruiser’s lights on.

  He'd been super-quiet for ten minutes. He was either paying attention to the treacherous mountain twists and turns, or still brooding over whatever had happened with the boys. Maybe both.

  Suddenly he thumped the steering wheel hard with his bandaged right hand, winced slightly and looked across at her.

  “OK, I’ll tell you why I came home early.” Luckily I’ve had time to think up some believable bullshit…

  Oh good. He was about to explain. Finally.

  “It started well enough and had all the makings of a top weekend.” He smiled as he reflected back on catching up with his mates.

  “Ten of us had made the trip out there and we were…”

  “LOOK OUT, ROB!”

  They had just gone round a blind hairpin bend when Fiona saw the tree branch, lying across the rutted road.

  Wait, not a branch…a snake! A frigging huge snake!!

  Robert saw it too as it raised its triangular-shaped head in the headlights, but there was nothing he could do about it. The road was wet, plus he was driving faster than he normally would to make up for lost time. If he braked hard here, there was a damn good chance the Cruiser would aquaplane across the waterlogged gravel and sail right over the edge of the mountain. They really should think about goddam guard rails on this road, he thought. Not that many cars used it; in fact he couldn’t remember the last car they passed.

  WHUMP! WHUMP!!

  3.3 tonnes of four-wheel drive and at least two chunky all-terrain tyres went straight over the top of the poor creature.

  “Snake,” said Fiona, belatedly stating the bleeding obvious.

  “Yeah, whopping great Carpet Python,” replied Robert slowing down and leaning forward to scan his side mirrors. His heart was pumping fast. “Biggest I’ve ever seen. Non-poisonous, but it’d give you a friggin’ nasty bite, especially one as humungous as that.”

  “Did…did we k-kill it?” asked his shaken wife.

  “Too dark, can’t see,” he replied, “but there’s no way it could’ve survived that shitfight. You heard how hard we hit the fucker. Hey, but just to make sure, let’s check.”

  Robert slowly brought the big fourby to a stop and reversed back. Back to just past the spot where they’d run the four-metre long snake over. All they could see ahead of them in the blurry beam of the headlights and the steady sweep of the windscreen wipers were their fresh wet tyre tracks.

  “That’s bullshit,” he said, “I expected to see chunks of snake everywhere, or at least some squished guts and heaps of blood, but there’s bugger all. Maybe it bounced right over the edge.” Had to be that. Surely. What else could it be?

  Nothing to see here folks, they continued their journey.

  Eyes peeled for other serpents with a death wish, they drove on with nightfall fully upon them. Luckily, there was only ten minutes to go before they’d be enjoying a well-earned drink after this stressful drive along the Great Dividing Range.

  “So…you were saying?” Fiona prompted, keen to finally hear what had happened on the trip.

  “Well, yeah, like I was saying there were ten of us and…”

  He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening and his ears pricked. What was that? That thump from under the hood?

  “Did you hear that?”

  “No, not really. What am I supposed to be listening out fo..?”

  “There it is again!”

  This time Fiona did hear something, over the sound of the V8 turbo diesel engine and the whoosh of the wipers, some sort of metallic clunking, bumping sound.

  “Do you think hitting that snake somehow damaged the motor maybe?” she asked anxiously.

  “Nah, doubt very much if that could’ve happened. If it got past the bull bar, it could’ve dented the grill at a pinch, but I can’t see it doing any damage to the donk, especially when it…” What the..?

  As if to spite him, right then the engine started running a bit rough, missing a beat or two here and there, then revving erratically. And now that strange clunking noise seemed to be coming from underneath the car, mere millimetres from their shoes. They both raised their feet involuntarily; Robert even moved his right foot up the accelerator pedal.

  “I sure as shit don’t want to pull over here,” he said, glancing over at the thinnest of shoulders and at the 100-metre drop-off beyond, “but I guess we have to.”

  Once again he stopped the car, as close to the edge as he dared and hit the hazard lights. Popping the bonnet lever and switching on the light in his iPhone, he got out and walked in the
drizzling rain to the front of the car. A gust of wind sent a shower of tiny red leaves down around him as he opened the hood. He noticed that the grill was intact and there were no signs of a run-in with a snake anywhere.

  No sign of engine trouble either. Everything looked A-OK to the naked eye. Nothing out of place. No wires hanging loose. That he could see at least. Besides if anything were amiss, the onboard computer would definitely have picked it up. The joys of modern motoring.

  “Everything looks right as rain,” he told Fiona, climbing back to his seat and smiling at his unintentional little pun. As he eased back in the seat, Fiona started picking the little blood red leaves off his rain-splattered jacket.