‘I know that!’ Matt exclaimed. ‘But who shot Warren?’
The sirens stopped wailing as the police car and two black 4WDs arrived at the small car park. Beyond the hill above them, a helicopter was approaching. Aimee pulled at something in her pocket and showed it to Matt.
‘I imagine that it was one of our agents,’ Aimee said, as Matt stared at her DCI identity card in stunned silence.
The world was spinning. Voices were muffled and noises blurred together in a muddled mess. Hemi felt like he had been on a drinking binge. He shot me, Hemi thought. Warren, that bastard shot me. Twice. Hemi had counted the shots. He felt sleep coming, but fear told him to stay awake. You sleep, you die. He felt the warmth of the sun on his face. He felt the warmth of the bullet. Hemi had to live. He had to tell Matt what he knew. Matt didn’t know who he was dealing with. That is, of course, if Matt lived through the day.
Hemi tried to hear what was being said around him but couldn’t make out any words. He couldn’t even tell whose voice belonged to whom. There was just that muffled drone. He concentrated on his pain. Why did he only feel the one wound? Did Warren shoot him twice in the same spot or did the second bullet miss? He knew he felt the first one as it ripped into his chest near the shoulder. ‘Drew?’ Hemi’s father said to him. ‘Drew?’
That was it. Hemi knew he was dead. It felt terrible. He punched his thoughts to his father, because he couldn’t speak. I’m sorry Dad. I couldn’t get justice for you. I failed you.
His head thumped. At first it was a gentle thump, but in the minutes that followed the thump got louder and harder. The sleep came on stronger now. The thumping was so present he could feel it on the outside of his body. The world around him trembled and the warmth of the sun disappeared from his face. He started to feel cold. The wind had picked up considerably. Hemi lay listening to the thumping, the only thing he could hear now. His father’s voice was gone. He was alone, again. Thump, thump, thump. He tried to open his eyes, but the sleep came instead.
CHAPTER 52
They came up the path in a steady flow. There was a mixture of uniformed police and men in coveralls that had NISO printed in large writing on them. Leading the pack was the hard, unsmiling and familiar Colin Wolfe, whom Matt had met at Warren’s dig site. He nodded at Aimee and offered Matt his hand, as two of the NISO team ran to look over Hemi and another two set up abseiling gear to climb down to Warren. Matt didn’t know who the enemy was any more, so he took Wolfe’s hand and shook it.
‘Hello again, Dr. Cameron. Are you alright?’
‘I guess I am.’ Matt said, half-heartedly. ‘But I’d love to know what’s going on.’
‘And you, Aimee?’ Wolfe continued, practically shouting now, to be heard over the noise of the rescue helicopter that thumped the air above them.
‘I’m fine Hank, thanks.’ Aimee shouted through a smile.
Matt watched the exchange with interest and distrust. How can he have been so blind and stupid as to let Aimee come along with him? He didn’t know her, and now she turned out to be working for the DCI, the very people who had tried to hinder their research. First Warren, now her… how could he trust again?
‘OK, Dr. Cameron,’ Wolfe said, turning to Matt. ‘Let’s go with Agent Peters from the NISO for a chat. He can debrief you on the case.’
Matt followed Wolfe a few paces away to a group of men that stood around the body of Hemi, guiding his stretcher upwards towards the helicopter which winched him up. Wolfe put a hand on the shoulder of one of the men. The handsomely featured Maori turned and smiled reassuringly as the helicopter veered and thumped away over the hillside, the two bodies now both on board.
‘Will he live, Peters?’ Wolfe asked the man.
‘I hope so,’ Peters responded, his face showing signs of emotion blended with determination, ‘He’s a strong man.’
Matt saw what looked like a real glint of respect in Peters’ eyes when he spoke about Drew.
‘And Rennie?’
‘No, we shot to kill.’
Matt thought he might throw up again. Wolfe turned to Matt.
‘Dr. Matthew Cameron, this is Agent Peters, Deputy Director of the NISO.’
‘Pleased to meet you Dr. Cameron,’ Peters said, extending his hand.
Matt wasn’t sure if the pleasure would be shared, but he took Peters’ hand anyway.
‘And this is Aimee Kingsbridge,’ Wolfe continued. ‘She’s one of ours.’
Peters faced Aimee to shake her hand, but Aimee didn’t take it. She stared at him, horrified.
‘Are you OK?’ Peters asked.
‘You’re Constable King!’ Aimee said. ‘Drew’s father, you’re supposed to be dead.’
Matt watched, bewildered, as a look of sorrow mixed with frustration dressed Peter’s face. Agent Wolfe looked confused.
‘I guess we have some explaining to do,’ Peters said. ‘Let’s go down here to the bay and I’ll fill you in what has been going on.’ He led the way down the path.
Matt glanced across at Aimee. She looked as confused as he felt but it didn’t soften his hurt. She had betrayed him. Was this all a game to her? Did she care about him at all, or was that just part of her cover? They followed Peters, or King, whatever his name was today, down to the beach. When they got down to solid ground again, Matt turned to Peters and waited to be ‘filled in.’
‘The first thing you need to know.’ Peters said, ‘is that Warren Rennie was not what he seemed. We’ve been watching him for over eight years now, waiting for him to make a mistake. He made it today.’
‘But why were you watching him? Just because you don’t want to have to rewrite New Zealand’s history?’
‘No, no.’ Wolfe jumped in. ‘This has nothing to do with rewriting history. I know Warren Rennie pedalled that crackpot conspiracy theory, but believe me, the DCI is just as ready to rewrite history as the next man, if plausible evidence comes to light.’
‘It’s true, Matt, I kept trying to tell you but I couldn’t tell you how I knew,’ Aimee said.
‘Warren believed he had plausible evidence,’ Matt said, not wanting to give too much away about the Spanish Helmet, if his findings weren’t already common knowledge. Aimee had surely seen to that though.
‘And therein lies the problem with Warren Rennie,’ Peters said, rejoining the conversation.
‘How so?’ Matt asked.
‘The mirror.’
Matt was shocked. How did the DCI and NISO know about the mirror? Aimee?
‘What about it?’
‘The mirror, that ancient Celtic relic that Warren used to bring you all the way here on his wild goose chase, is a stolen artefact from a museum back on your home turf, England.’
‘It can’t be. You must be mistaken. Warren would never do something like that!’
‘Would Warren pull a gun on you?’
Matt stood silently in thought. Peters had a point. Matt had no idea what Warren was capable of… had been capable of. Warren Rennie really wasn’t what he had appeared to have been.
‘If you knew he had stolen that mirror, why didn’t you arrest him already?’
‘We didn’t know for sure, not until yesterday when Hemi, I mean Drew, reported in. It was then that he also called us in for backup. He was worried about what Rennie might be capable of and knew you were coming here today.’
‘But Drew, your son, was working for Warren. He told us that.’
‘No, he had to make it look that way, for Warren’s sake. He’s been undercover, investigating Warren. But Agent Davis has also been trying to protect you from him.’
‘Unbelievable, I don’t know what to think anymore. First I discover the man I looked up to as a father for the better part of my life is nothing he appears. Then I learn that the woman I just fell in love with is spying on me for
