Read Online The Lost Tohunga by David Hair - Free Book Online Page B

tried to speak but couldn’t remember how. Sirens blared from the direction of the shopping precinct half a kilometre away. Ronnie looked up, and then flung himself in the way of a long-haired youth who had launched himself at Brutal. All three went down in a rolling, flailing flurry.
    She sat up, her vision swirling. Evan followed Mat and kicked again, but this time Mat rolled aside, and sprang to his feet, moving like an athlete. Evan’s fists flailed, but Mat ducked away. Beside them, the blond man cried out and fell to his knees, clutching his face. Brutal spun and surged toward Mat from the other side. Someone in the crowd yelled ‘Watch out, kid!’ and Mat glanced just in time as Brutal closed in, arms spread. He dropped low and kicked out. His sandshoes connected with Brutal’s groin, and the big man grunted and fell towards Mat like a toppled building. His big hand fastened on to Mat’s jeans, pinning him tight. Evan closed the distance and smashed another boot into the smallof Mat’s back, connecting solidly. Mat’s body arched as if he had been shot.
    Hine tried to stand, but a middle-aged woman with a sunburnt face grabbed her. ‘Stay down, girl. They aren’t going to stop for you.’
    Evan kicked Mat again, and again, while Brutal got to his feet. He roared and lifted a huge boot, poised to stamp down on Mat’s midriff as the boy writhed beneath him. Suddenly a black-and-white dog erupted out of the crowd, and sank its teeth into Brutal’s leg. The big man howled and toppled. The dog, Godfrey, Hine realized, darted away and showed his teeth.
    The sirens blared louder now, and tyres screeched on the road. Ronnie stiff-armed the long-haired youth, clambered upright and grabbed Evan’s shoulder. ‘Cops!’ he yelled. Evan glanced back, then down at her. ‘Come on, let’s go!’ he yelled at her.
    She sat there, utterly numb. The face she had kissed, the man she had given herself to, the devil she had sold her soul to, demanded her obedience. Her body moved to obey, but the woman holding her didn’t let go. ‘Stay here, girl. Don’t go with that animal.’
    â€˜Get up, Hine!’ Evan took two steps towards her and reached down.
    The woman holding her looked up defiantly. ‘You stay away from her,’ she snapped, like a school teacher. Hine was frightened Evan would deck her too, but then he looked towards the cop cars, and backed away. He pointed his finger at them both.
    â€˜I won’t forget this,’ Evan told the woman, then lookeddown at Hine. ‘See you soon, Hine. See you at home .’ Then he turned and ran, Ronnie and Brutal pelting at his heels. A huge Alsatian swept past, and Godfrey seemed to yip advice to it. Light-blue uniforms filled the lawn around her.
    Evan and the others fled along the lakefront. Four cops were sprinting after them, and, as she watched, the Alsatian brought down Brutal in a flurry of limbs. Blue shirts dived onto him, and the police dog surged on again, past Ronnie who had turned to see what had happened and then thrown up his hands in a gesture of surrender. The Alsatian closed in on Evan. At the last moment, Evan stopped and turned. The dog stopped also, and circled behind him. He raised his hands in surrender also, too cunning to resist arrest.
    A policewoman fell to one knee beside Hine. ‘What happened here? Are you okay?’
    Hine took a deep breath, suddenly feeling that this moment was crucial. She felt her nerve cracking. If she lied or said nothing, Evan would probably get away with it again, and then he would beat her, and punish her, and life would go on. But at least it was a life she knew.
    â€˜Those guys …’ Hine waved her hand towards where Evan was being cuffed, along with Brutal and Ronnie, ‘…they attacked him.’ She pointed to where Mat lay, a medic kneeling beside him. More medics were tending the blond foreign guy and his