The travellers awoke early the next morning.
"Oh, God, what an awful night!" Jess moaned, reaching around to rub her stiff neck.
"Well, I slept like a log," Hannah said, smiling sleepily.
"You had a pillow," Jess said, indicating to Jimmy. "I just had sand."
"We have to get going early," Patrick said, rising from the sand.
"And trek through that?" Jimmy asked, pointing to the bush ahead of them.
"Oh, God," Jess moaned, collapsing back onto the sand. "I'm beginning to wonder if Steve Coogan is worth all this. Steve Pemberton, maybe, but—"
"Who the hell is Steve Coogan and the other one?" asked Jimmy, confused.
"Doesn't matter," said Hannah, "you'll meet Coogan soon, but it won't be of much consequence."
Luckily, Jess didn't hear any of the conversation.
Suddenly they heard a far off swooping noise. They looked around but couldn't see anything.
"Oh my God!" screamed Patrick, falling to his knees. "Giant eagles!"
Nobody noticed him cowering because they saw where the noise was coming from – a big helicopter appeared over the expanse of bush in front of them. It hovered over the beach for a while and then slowly lowered itself, blowing sand over everyone.
Peering through the swirling mist of sand, Jess read out the initials on the side of the helicopter. "ALD?" she read, squinting.
"What?!" Jimmy asked, his shoulders tensing. He suddenly looked very afraid.
"I said 'ALD'." Jess repeated, shouting above the noise.
Jimmy scrambled to his feet and ran behind the nearest sand dune.
"Jimmy?" Hannah called, turning to face the sand dune. "What's going on?"
"They've come for me!" he cried, trying to bury himself. The blades of the helicopter slowed; the noise slowly decreased. "Don't tell them where I am, please!" Jimmy begged. Hannah turned back to the helicopter as two men in black suits jumped out.
"G'day, we are from Australian Laboratory Developments," said one man.
"We believe you have someone we want," said the other.
Hannah blushed.
Jess was curious. She looked at Patrick. He certainly couldn't be who they were looking for. Cartman was out of the question. Hannah hadn't done anything wrong that she was aware of… that left Jimmy. Jess tuned around but couldn't see him anywhere.
"Who is the person?" asked Patrick.
"A man in his early twenties called Jimmy Joannou," One of the men in black suits replied.
Patrick and Cartman burst out laughing.
"Ha! Stupid name!" Patrick sighed.
Jess stared at Hannah. Hannah was cut up between doing the right thing and turning Jimmy in, or doing the wrong thing and ignoring them. "If we hand him in, what would you do to him?" she inquired innocently.
Jimmy was shaking with nerves behind the dune.
"Have you got him?"
"Theoretical question," Hannah replied.
"Oh."
"Well?" said Hannah, "what has he done?"
"We'd poke him with sticks and inject him with a mind numbing chemical," said the other man, clenching his fists.
"How come? What's he done?" reiterated Jess.
"He found out a government secret and escaped from the NASA department he was working in."
"Oh," said Hannah. "Well, no, I haven't seen him."
The men looked disappointed. "What about you?" one of the men asked Jess, Patrick and Cartman. "Have you seen him?"
Patrick and Cartman shook their heads.
"Actually, he sounds a lot like our Ji—" Jess was silenced by Patrick placing a hand across her mouth.
"We haven't seen him," he concluded. "Honest."
The men looked around suspiciously. "If you're sure."
"We are," said Patrick.
Jess mumbled and struggled to get free but Patrick grabbed both of her hands with his free hand to hold her still.
"Right. Well, remember," said one of the men, "we'll be watching."
"Sure," said Hannah.
The men hopped back into their helicopter.
"See you," Patrick said, smiling nervously.
"Mmm! Hmm mgh mmm!" Jess shouted from behind Patrick's hand.
"Oh, my God!" laughed Cartman. "She sounds like Kenny!"
The helicopter started up once again and blew sand over all of them. Once it had cleared away from the ground, Patrick let go of Jess.
"ARGH!" she cried, before slapping Patrick. "That's for preventing the truth."
Jimmy was still hiding behind the sand dune.
"You going to come out from there, Mr Jimmy - I'm - A - Government - Agency - Official - But - Nobody's - Supposed - To - Know?" Hannah said.
He crawled out of the sand dune looking sheepish.
Cartman laughed at him. "Your name sucks, man."
"I quite like it," said Hannah. "J-J."
Jimmy smiled.
"So what's this secret?" asked Patrick, curious about the flaws of the government.
"Why didn't you turn him in?" Hannah asked Patrick.
"I wanted to know what he knew."
Jess started throwing sand at Jimmy. "You bastard! That was our ride through the forest of hell!" she yelled.
"I wasn't going to turn you in because you know where they live." Hannah said, absent-mindedly.
"Eh?" asked Jess, in mid-throw.
"Never mind," said Hannah, sighing, "we'd better get going."
"It's too dangerous," Jess moaned. "What if there are snakes in there?"
"Well, there probably are," said Hannah, matter-of-factly.
"Right, well, that settles it, then," said Jess, sitting down, "I'm not going."
"Jess, you've got to!" exclaimed Jimmy.
"No, I don't! If we're not bitten by snakes then we'll die of heat stroke. I'm not doing it!" She wriggled deeper into the sand stubbornly.
"Fine, we'll go without you, then," said Jimmy, determinedly.
"What?!" Patrick asked, looking up at Jimmy in surprise. "We can't just leave Jess here!"
"Why not? We can't stay here and she's not coming. I say we're better off without her."
"That's my friend you're talking about!" said Hannah, exasperated.
"You can pick up another friend on the way; there are masses about, come on." Jimmy turned and walked towards the bush.
"I saved you life back on that dinghy, you b*st*rd!" Jess screamed. "Or have you forgotten that already?"
"Actually, you were gonna blurt out about me if you'd had the chance."
"Yeah, and looking back at it now I wish I had!" snapped Jess.
The two gave each other death stares until Hannah came up with an idea, which broke the silence. "I know, you betrayed us all…" Hannah said, looking at Jimmy. "…so I suggest we set fire to your body to attract help."
Jimmy's jaw fell open.
"Well, it's punishment and SOS at the same time."
"I second the idea," said Jess, raising her hand.
"You would!" Jimmy spat, scowling at Jess.
"People, can we please concentrate on the matter at hand?" asked Patrick, pointing to the bush.
"I've told you once, I'm not going." Jess repeated.
"OK, you're just going around in circles now." Patrick said, frowning at her.
"What do you suggest? Stay here or go out there and get eaten by snakes?" Jess shouted, putting her hands on her hips (which was difficult, as she was sitting down). "I know what I'd rather do!"
The others all sighed miserably. It didn't look like they were going anywhere.
"Is there a road around here?" Hannah suggested, desperately. "We could hitchhike."
"We're on a beach," Patrick commented. "By the Great Barrier Reef – somehow I think this site is protected."
"That's it!" said Hannah.
"What?" said Jimmy, brushing sand off his clothes.
"This site is a place of natural beauty… it must be patrolled or kept an eye on to make sure that animals don't get poached." Hannah pointed over at a huge turtle making its way up the beach towards Jess.
"Guys… what is this turtle doing to my leg?" Jess asked, fearfully.
"Oh boy." Hannah said, turning away and closing her eyes.
"Hey, look!" Patrick shouted over Jess' disgusted screams. "It's a beach hut or something – there could be a beach… patroller or something there!"
"Let's go and see," said Hannah.
They left Jess and the turtle alone together and headed for the hut.

<< back to Book 1.2

� Jess and Hannah 2001