I  WON'T  LET  YOU  DOWN

                                                                      by Beej

Chapter 1


The room was dark, almost dark, the only source of illumination
glowed weakly from the monitors by one wall.

The room was silent, almost silent, broken only by the insistent
beep from the monitors and the sibilant hiss from the ventilator.

The room was empty, almost empty, apart from a dark form lying
on the bed.

The form was still, almost still, the chest rose and fell in time with
the hissing ventilator, forcing air into the unresponsive lungs.

A chair was placed near  the top  of the bed, and on it  there was
another silent, still form, asleep with its head resting on the edge
of the bed.

Slowly the form in the chair moved. First, a slight twitch in an arm
as if objecting to the angle it had been held in for hour upon hour.
Then the head moved. An eye slowly opened, blinking a few times
to try and focus in the darkness of the room.

The head lifted from the bed. The form stretched and reached out
for the light above the bed, turning it slightly to keep it from shining directly onto the occupant . The light clicked on revealing a tousled
red head. Pale blue eyes looked out from world weary face. Dark shadows attested to the lack of sleep.

 

The redhead slowly rubbed his hands over his face and stretched, grimacing at aching muscles, longing for a comfortable bed.

"I'm getting too old for this," he thought.

The door opened quietly, admitting a man in a white coat and a
young  woman who  looked  extremely attractive  in her nurse's
uniform. Trust the redhead to notice that even after so many days
of worry and sleep depravation.

"We just want to check on his vitals," said the doctor. "Could you
wait outside for a few moments?"

"I'm going nowhere doc," The redhead answered.

The nurse gently touched his arm. "Your friend is in no danger here,
and you look like you could do with a cup of coffee," she said. "Take
five, and I'll come get you when the doctor has finished."

He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the kinks out. "Okay darlin'. Just for you. Don't forget to come looking for me," he said, heading for the coffee machine.

The nurse returned  to the  room and  switched on the overhead
light. Looking at the patient she let out an involuntary gasp. She
still couldn't get used to the things men could do to other men, the
pain and suffering they could inflict.

Pulling herself together, she went towards the doctor, ready to take notes as he read off figures from the monitors, and any changes that were evident.

True to her  word, five  minutes  later she headed  out to fetch the
redhead back to the room.

As he entered, the doctor looked round and smiled slightly.

"Any change doc?"

"Well, the bad news is that there hasn't been any change during the night."

The red head slumped into the chair and sighed.

 

"The good news is, he has remained stable. In his condition that can
only be a plus. Your friend must be very strong. A lesser man would
not have made it this far."

"He's one in a  million  doc,"  replied  the  redhead.  "He's strong
physically and mentally, and he's a fighter."

As the doctor  turned to leave, the  redhead  stopped  him with a
question.

"Do you know when he's likely to wake up doc?"

"He's under heavy sedation at the moment. He needs his body to
be completely relaxed to enable the ventilator to do its work... I
know you want him off the machine, but the damage to his body is
so great that I think if we left it to him, he would find it too painful
to take a breath and may just give up altogether.  Be patient  with
us please, and we will try to ease up on the medication in a couple
of days."

"That's great news doc,"  he replied,  smiling for the first time in
nearly two weeks.

"Don't get too excited yet, young man," the doctor replied. "If he
seems at all distressed or in too much pain when we try this, we
will have to deepen the sedation and keep him on the machine a
bit longer."

The red head's face fell on hearing this and his body shuddered as
he let out the sigh he just couldn't hold on to any more. The doctor
came over and placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

 

"Keep the faith, son,  I'm quietly confident that things  will work
out fine."

The doctor and nurse left him alone with his friend and his thoughts.
He moved back to the bed, sat down in the chair and took his friend's hand in both of his own.

The hand that was usually so strong felt limp and cold. He squeezed
it hard and talked softly to his unconscious friend.

"Come on Tio, you Aussie bastard. This is one fight you have to win without backup, mate."

The only reply was the beep and hiss of the  machines surrounding
the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bar was crowded, noisy and filled with smoke.

"Strewth, trust that bloody Seppo to pick this place to meet up on
a Friday night," the man thought.

As he walked further into the bar, he either didn't, or chose not to, notice the heads turn his way, both male and female patrons giving
him the once over.

"TIO!"

On hearing the shout, he turned.  His eyes swept over the throng
until he spotted an arm raised above the heads of the crowd. He
made his way to the small table in an alcove inhabited by a red-
headed man of around 40 who was guarding the only vacant chair
in the place.

 

A path  seemed to clear  before him  making it easy to  navigate
through the Friday revellers. Perhaps it was due to his stance or
the confident way he moved. There was an aura about him that
seemed to say, *Don't mess with me.*

In  no  time  he  stood  before the red  head in the booth.  Saying
nothing,  he raised one  eyebrow  and tilted his  head in a  silent
question. The seated man rose from behind the table and enveloped
him in a crushing bear hug. After about 30 seconds, he freed himself, smiled, and greeted the man.

"G'Day Dino, how the fuck ya going, mate?"

"I'm good Terry, even better now you're here. You wanna drink?"

"Ta mate. I'll have a green one."

Dino laughed and headed through the crowd to the bar, shortly returning with two bottles of ice cold VB.

Terry gulped down a mouthful and pulled a wry face, sighing in appreciation.  Only Dino  would pick the  Aussie bar to meet up,
knowing Terry had just been through a tough couple of weeks far
away  from  life's  comforts.  After spending  a few  minutes in companionable silence, Terry looked over at Dino.

"Okay, mate, tell me what's on your mind."

"Drink up, Terry, then we can go to the hotel and I'll fill you in on
the situation."

Terry glanced over at him sensing something was up. "Fuck that
mate. You don't need to stay at a hotel. You can doss down in my
guest room."

Forty-five minutes later, Dino was sitting on the sofa in Terry's
lounge room, looking at the view out over the Thames. The flat
was made up of the entire top floor of a converted warehouse on
the south bank of the river. The unrestricted view of the river and
the city beyond at night always took Dino's breath away. He could
hear Terry clattering crockery in the kitchen before he appeared carrying a huge mug of steaming freshly brewed coffee and handed
it to Dino. In his other hand he carried an equally large mug of tea
for himself.

Kicking  off  his  shoes  and loosening  his tie before  sprawling
comfortably  in a  huge armchair,  he  looked  at Dino,  waiting
patiently now for him to speak.

He cleared his throat ."I can never get enough of this fantastic
view, Tio," he said, rising from the sofa and heading towards the
huge French doors leading out to the wrought iron balcony.

"You didn't call  me home  just to chat  about the view from  my
bloody windows, mate. What's up?"

Dino turned back to face Terry.

`"We have a new job, Ter," he said

"And?" asked Terry, sensing that there was a lot more to this 'job'
than Dino was letting out.

 

"The client is at the hotel."

"Okay," said Terry. "Make a call and tell them that you'll bring them
over here."

"Terry, I don't think that's such a good idea. It might be better to
meet at the hotel."

"Why is that, Dino?" asked Terry. All of a sudden the hairs at the
back of his neck were beginning to tingle.

He took a deep breath, letting it out very slowly before answering.
"Our new client is Penny."

Terry opened his mouth to speak, but no sound would come. He ran
his hand through his hair, looked up at his partner, and finally said, "What the fuck?"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They  drove to  the  hotel  in  silence,  each  man  lost in his  own
thoughts. At a red light, Dino glanced over at Terry. He was staring unseeing out of the passenger  window,  absently chewing on his
thumb nail. Dino thought he looked so vulnerable and wondered,
not for the first time, if he'd made a huge mistake agreeing to take Penny's case.

At the hotel they made their way across the lobby and were about
to call for the lift when they were halted by an authoritative voice behind them.

"Terrence."

Terry and Dino turned as one and came  face to face with Terry's
ex wife, Penelope.

"G'Day, Pen," said  Terry  through  gritted teeth.  Despite  his
reservations at the meeting he  inwardly  smiled at the  look of
disgust that  flashed across  her face at Terry's  misuse of the
"Queens English".

"I thought we would all feel a bit more comfortable if we met down
here instead of my room," Penny said. "Shall we get a drink?" she added, leading them to the bar.

Following behind, Dino whispered to Terry, "Still the sergeant
major ,"  hoping  to help his  friend  relax.  Terry  half-smiled,
shrugging his shoulders as he stared at the back of his ex.

They found a quiet booth and all sat down. An uneasy silence fell
over the trio as the waiter took their order.

Penny sat opposite Terry sipping her G&T, watching him take a
swig from his stubbie. 'Would he ever learn to use a glass?' she
thought. Her gaze roamed over his face, noting a few more battle
scars, but  admitting to  herself that  he was still an  extremely
attractive man. Continuing her appraisal, she admired his athletic
form trying to  hide  beneath  his business suit.  Once again she
wondered *what if?*

What if she hadn't been so much her father's daughter?

What if Terry had tried to conform a little more?

What if she had listened to her heart and not her head, and realised
that deep down she had always loved him the way he was?

Ah well, water under the bridge. She was happy with Michael, and Terry......she tried to look into his eyes. Was he happy?

He looked tense, but that was to be expected.

She was roused from her thoughts when Dino coughed discreetly.

"So Penny, would you like to tell us what we can do for you?"

Penny took a sip of her drink and tried to slow her breathing down before she began. Looking at Terry, she said, "It's my father."

Terry let out the breath he had been holding. In the back of his mind
he had thought this may have had something to do with Henry in
some way. He leaned back in his chair, silently waiting for her to
expand the statement.

"He's gone missing!"

"What do you mean, missing?" asked Terry. "Bit late back from a
round of golf is he?"

 

"I know you don't like my father, but sarcasm is low, Terrence, even
for you," Penny snapped. "I think he's been kidnapped."

"Who would want to kidnap a retired soldier?" asked Dino.

"That's just it. He isn't retired, and you both have to admit that he
isn't just any old soldier."

The two men looked at each other. So okay, Penny's father wasn't
just some old soldier. He was in fact a Brigadier General, and the
former head of the SAS, and therefore of interest to quite a lot of
people.

Terry leant forward in his chair, his arms resting on his knees. He
looked intently at Penny. "What's going on, Pen?"

Penny  took a deep  breath  and began to relate her  story.  She
explained that although 'officially' her father had retired from the service, he was still working as an intelligence advisor.

"He heard about an 'old boys' outward bound course, and being the fitness freak that he is, decided that he would take part. When he
found out it was in Australia, he thought it would be a good way to
show 'those Colonials' that the Brits' are better at survival in the
wild than anyone else."

Penny looked apologetically at Terry, realising she had reminded
him what her father thought of Australians.

He had last been heard of in Cairns and had not been in touch for a couple of days.

"Why call us?  It's only  been a couple of days,  and if anything is
going down, it's a government problem," Terry said.

"Oh, Terrence, don't be so naive . You know the score. They won't
bail him out. He was wasn't under orders, he was doing this on his
own time. They won't do anything until or unless they get concrete evidence that he has been taken. But I know him. He's a creature
of habit. He always stays in touch when he's away from home. If
he doesn't call at his regular time, mum knows something is wrong.
The regiment won't listen, they've hung him out to dry."

Penny looked at her ex-husband with tear filled eyes. "You're my
only hope," she whispered.

Dino looked over at Terry waiting for his response. Would he agree
to help a man he neither liked nor respected?

One glance gave him  his answer. Terry  was already in business
mode. Dino could almost hear his brain mulling over all the possible pitfalls of extracting his former father- in-law.

"Okay, Pen," he said. "We'll do what we can, but with conditions.
You keep your opinions to yourself and let us get on with our job."

Penny bit down the wave of anger that was threatening to engulf
her at Terry's remark, and slowly nodded her head in agreement.
"Just tell me what you need and let me come along with you."

"NO!" Terry barked. "You need to stay here with your mother and Henry."

 

"Mother is fine. She's an officer's wife remember, and Henry has Michael."

Looking at Terry she caught the pain in his eyes at that last remark
and realised that she had hurt him. She reached across the table
placing her hand on his. "Terrence, I didn't mean that to sound like
it did. You are Henry's father and always will be. Michael can never
take your place. I just meant that if I came with you, Henry wouldn't
be alone."

Terry raised  his face  to her allowing her  a rare glimpse of the
melancholy he always carried at their failure as a couple, and
nodded  in  understanding.  Then as  she  looked at  him, his
expression  changed  as if a  mask had been put in place.  She
realised he was once again in 'work mode'.

"Okie dokie, let's get this show on the road then," he said, giving Penny's hand a squeeze while finishing his drink and rising from 
his chair all in the same move. Within the hour they were back at
Terry's place pouring over what little information she had been
able to provide, trying to formulate a plan, working out which
personnel to call on and what equipment they might need whilst arranging flights.

Meanwhile Penny was trying to keep busy and out of their way
by fussing about in the kitchen making coffee for Dino, tea for
Terry and herself and food for all of them. She paused to look
around.  It  was a  modern, stylish,  well-equipped  kitchen.
Stainless steel replacing the usual white appliances, granite
counter tops. It was an impersonal place, no flowers, no notes
held up by fridge magnets, just a white board with scribbled appointments. Somehow it smacked of loneliness.

The sudden ringing of the doorbell startled her, nearly causing
her to drop a cup on the floor.

"I'll get it," called Terry.

As he opened the door he was almost bowled over by his son
rushing into his arms. Terry hugged him tightly and looked over
his head at Henry's step father, Michael who smiled sheepishly
as he held his hand out to Terry.

"Sorry, Terry, as soon as he found out where his mum had gone,
he insisted I bring him over to see you. Hope you don't mind."

"G'Day mate, no worries. Thanks for coming over. Penny is busy
'being mother' in the kitchen, but I think what she really needs
is a hug and a shoulder to soak," Terry said, winking at the man
who had replaced him.

"I'll go see her," said Michael, nodding. "You spend some time
with your son, I think he needs you right now." He patted Terry
on the shoulder as he went past to find his wife.

Terry led Henry into the den and sat down with him, amazed that
as big and grown up as Henry was becoming, he still clung to his
father like a limpet- to him and not to Michael.

"Dad, will everything be okay?" he asked haltingly.

 

"Mate, Dino and I are going to get your Granddad back. It's what
we do all the time and we're good at it. You can count on me son,
I won't let you down this time."

Henry loosened his grip on his  father and said quietly,  "You've
never let me down on purpose, Dad, no matter what you think or
what anyone has told you."

The boy got up and went to the kitchen to say hello to his mum.
Terry stood up and watched him go, wiping his hands over his
face. He turned to see Dino leaning on the door frame, sighed
and said, "Christ, mate, what a fucking mess!"

Chapter 2

Terry and  Michael had  ganged  up on Penny  and had  finally
managed to persuade her to stay at home which was a relief to
Dino who knew that Terry would need to focus on the job in
hand, and not have to worry about her safety. They all piled into Michael's car and headed out for the airport in time for the late
night flight.

Amidst a lot of hugging, kissing and handshaking, Penny, Michael
and Henry saw Terry and Dino off. She tried to keep her spirits up
by waving them  off as if they were just  off on holiday, and  not
trying to get her father back from some unknown enemy with a
grudge that was holding him who knew where.

The flight to  Bangkok  was long  and boring.  "Thank Christ for
Business Class," thought Dino, looking over in annoyance at Terry,
who, as usual, had crashed as soon as they had taken off. He once
again marvelled at the way Terry could just drop off at wheels up
and not wake until touch down. He had long distance flying down
to a fine art, and never seemed to get jet lagged. Dino was always
too hyper to sleep, playing around with the entertainment system
for hours and eyeing up the cabin crew.

Terry woke up alert and refreshed just as they began their descent.
They had a four hour wait for their connection to Sydney and then
it was a  quick  sprint across  to the  domestic  terminal for their
connection up to Cairns. From there they would be met by their
man on the spot, Anton. He would have their base all set up by the
time they arrived, and hopefully he would have been able to make contact with whoever had the General.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The general  sat on the  low bunk  bed staring at the bare  walls
around him. He frowned as he felt the rivulets of sweat make their
way slowly down his back. He hated heat, hated humidity and he wondered once again what the hell had he been thinking about
when he decided to come to this god forsaken country. He hated Australia and all things Australian.  He was officially retired for
pity's sake and should have turned down this jaunt at his age. It
was about time he started to accept his limitations. Was he just
pig-headed?  Did he think he could  storm in and  cope with any
situation these damned boys from the outback couldn't handle?
Had it been a poke in the eye at his ex son-in-law? Whatever it
had been, he was paying for his arrogance now -- he had made
himself a sitting target for some enemy of his. And, he ruefully
admitted, he would be more than happy for the talents of his
daughter's former husband now.

He shook his head at that last thought. How the hell would Thorne
get to find out about something that had happened to him? The
man was now a civilian! If he did hear of his misfortune then he
would probably be delighted. The man hated his guts. But what
did he care what Thorne thought of him anyway? He leaned his
head back against the wall and took a deep breath. He was going
stir crazy!! He decided to try to work some things out in his head. Always best to keep the brain busy in a sticky situation.

The first question that needed answering was 'What do they want?'
and 'How are they going to get it?' He then began to think about
the men that had taken him. One thing he knew from their accents
was that they were Americans. Americans? How had he crossed Americans? Why were Americans in the north of Australia, taking
an Englishman of no substance hostage? Light dawned in his mind .....they knew who he was! They must be military, and from the way they were acting they were most likely special forces, or at least ex-special  forces.  He rubbed his hand over  his face and  thought to
himself, "What now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terry and Dino were met at the airport by Anton. With only carry
on bags they  sailed  through  arrivals,  although  Dino was still
muttering about the way he was left in the line for immigration,
while Terry, being an Australian national, had waltzed straight
through. Squeezed into Anton's Ute (when was the boy going to
get a decent set of wheels ?) they headed out for the industrial
unit which would be their base for the duration.

Terry and Anton set about stowing the gear, while Dino crashed
out on the nearest soft surface, jet lag hitting him as soon as his
feet touched the ground, as usual. When he began softly snoring
Terry looked over his shoulder at him and smiled. 'You rest up
mate, I've a feeling we're all gonna need all the sleep we can get
before we start,' he thought as Anton ran through all the info he'd received, including demands and radio frequencies complete with
times for contact.

"I don't understand it, Mr. Thorne," he said. "All this came directly
to me at my place. How did they know we were on the case? They almost knew before I did!"

"That's a good question,  Anton, and for  fuck's sake, how many
times do you have to be told, it's Terry!"

"Sorry Mr.....Terry, it's still hard for me to get it into my head that
it's okay to call the boss anything but sir or Mr!"

"No worries mate, we'll soon train you up." quipped Terry, swatting Anton lightly on the back of his head.  He liked the younger  bloke.
He was reminded of himself  at the  same age when he looked at
Anton. They had both been larrikins when they were young, and
could both have ended up on the wrong side of the law. Joining up
had been Terry's  salvation, and joining  Terry and Dino had been
Anton's.

"So, the  bad  guys have  been  expecting  us then.  That's  very
interesting. We've got time to try to figure things out before the
first contact, and who knows, Sleeping Beauty over there may
even be in the land of the living again soon and give us a hand."

Anton visibly relaxed and laughed along with Terry. He worshiped
him and was amazed at how approachable he was for a man in his position. He had never worked for anyone like Terry or Dino before,
and would willingly lay his life down for either of them, especially
Terry.

By the time Dino woke up, Terry and Anton had all the equipment
set up and were sitting  drinking coffee  while  pouring over the
sparse information they had in front of them. "Is that fresh coffee
I smell?" asked a less-than-alert Dino.

"Yeah, ya lazy  bastard,  get over here  and have a cup,"  Terry
replied, grinning at his dishevelled friend.

 

Revived by the strong coffee, Dino joined them as they took the
tape Anton had received out of the plain brown envelope and put
it into the VHS. They saw the general sitting on a hard  wooden
chair behind a plain table. He was looking straight into the camera
with a look of defiance in his eyes. He looked in a reasonable state,
no cuts or bruises.

"Well, here's your 'proof of life'. The old guy is in fighting form so
now we can get down to business. We'll make the first call at 20.00 hours tonight. Don't make us wait!" a voice-over commented.

Dino looked across at  Terry for any  reaction to seeing  Penny's
father again after so many years. His face was closed and stern.
He returned Dino's glance.

"They're American, mate," Terry said quietly.

 

"They sure are,  buddy.  What the hell are they doing  playing the
hostage game out here?" Dino replied.

"Dunno, mate, but hopefully it won't be long before we find out."

The first contact went less than smoothly.  The kidnappers were demanding $10  million  US,  would take  no notice of  Terry's
reasoning that they had just picked up an English tourist, and a
senior citizen at that, who had no ties with any large corporations,
and who wasn't independently wealthy. In fact, they took hardly
any notice of Terry at all, insisting that they would not negotiate
with a 'kangaroo'.

 

Terry ended the first encounter by flinging the mike  across the
table and spitting out, "Fucking  Seppo!" before storming out of
the unit, slamming the door behind him.

Ten minutes later the door slowly opened and a red head poked
out. Dino watched Terry pacing up and down muttering to himself.
He suddenly stopped, turned to face Anton's Ute, and punched the
side hard.

"Is it safe?" enquired Dino, getting ready to dodge back inside if
needed.

Terry turned round to face his friend, rubbing his hand absently.
"Do you feel better now, Ter?" asked Dino with a wry smile.

Terry looked at his friend  sheepishly. "Yeah  mate, did me block
there, didn't I?  Sorry about that."

 

At that  moment, Anton  stuck his head  round the door. "Wanna
brew, Terry?" he asked.

"Yeah mate, ta. That'll be great."

They sat around the small table drinking tea and mulling over the
first radio call.

"Maybe tomorrow I can make contact?" Dino said.

"No mate, you know the drill. We can't keep changing negotiators.
We need a bit of continuity. If they don't like the sound of my voice,
it's their tough luck; it's the only one they're gonna hear. We need
to show them that we won't be messed around."

Chapter 3

Hours  dragged  into  days, but  they were  still no  closer  to a
settlement. Anton was kept busy in the background trying to dig
up any Intel he could on the group holding the general. They had claimed to be an environmental group fighting to save the northern
rain forests.

Of course  this didn't ring true as  Australia was  committed to
preserving their rain forest both for environmental and economical reasons. The tourists flocked there in droves each year and the government had no intention of stemming the flood of foreign
money into the country. There had to be something else behind
this business. Terry had felt uneasy from day one. How had they
known his company was on the case? How had they known that
Anton was working for them?

Six  days  into  the  negotiations  Anton hit pay dirt.  His  local
connections had paid off and they finally had the possible location
of the group's camp. Following another fruitless hour or two on
the radio, Terry made up his mind.... "We're going in," he said.

Four hours later they were deep in the lush undergrowth, relieved
that finally  they  were doing  something  positive instead of the
frustration of waiting around.

It was almost dark by the time they reached their objective. Time
for a quick recon, and then a choice of going in under cover of
darkness or waiting until first light. Dino was all for charging right
in, but Terry was wondering how the general would manage through
the undergrowth in the dark. They settled down to check the lay of
the land when all of a sudden...... "FUCK!"

Dino dropped the bins he was looking through and just stared down
into the camp.

"Dino?" Terry stared at his friend, wondering what he'd seen to
cause such a reaction.

"Terry, I know those guys!!



Terry pulled Dino back to the relative safety of a clump of trees and
just sat looking into his eyes, waiting for an explanation.

"Terry, they are ex-special forces. I was their training officer. I got
them thrown out of the unit."

"Why?"

"They were unstable. They enjoyed the kill. Fucking wack jobs.  I
didn't think they would take orders under pressure. I thought they would just cut loose and do some real damage."

"Mate, I think the fog is clearing. This is nothing to do with Pen's
Dad, is it? It's bloody personal."

"How?" asked Dino.

"Think mate. Ex-special forces would probably know who the old
boy is. If they know who he is, then they know he's my ex dad-in-
law. If they know that much, they know about us being partners.
They also  know  that if they  take the old bastard,  Pen would
contact me to try get him back..."

"...And if you are in the field, I'm likely to be close on your tail,"
sighed Dino. "Ter, I'm so sorry."

"Mate, how could you know? Let's get the general out and then try
to find out what the fuck is going on."

A low whistle took them back to Anton, who was keeping watch on
the camp below.

"They just took some food into the hut at 3 o'clock. I think that's
where our guy is," said Anton.

"Right, this is how we play it. Wait until they settle down for the
night, then we move in slow and get the general out. We get him
away, then we can worry about what those arseholes really want
...."

 

"I'm with you, Ter," said Dino

The general lay on the bunk staring up into the darkness of the
hut. He couldn't sleep. He didn't know what they wanted him for,
and he was getting  tired  of their  stupid  games.  Just then he
thought he heard something outside his door. His ears strained
to pick up a sound, but it was all quiet. He relaxed again and
wondered what things were like at home.

Suddenly he had the  feeling he was not alone.  Had the door
opened? It was as dark outside as it was inside- hard to tell. He
held his breath hoping to hear any breathing coming from near
the door...... nothing!

He nearly left the bunk in  shock when  something grabbed his
shoulder. "C'mon general. Let's get you outta here."

He said nothing, but obeyed instantly. As he was led through the darkness, one thing went through his mind, "I know that voice."

A few minutes later he found himself being eased down to the
ground. The hand that had guided him let go of his arm, and he
sensed the body moving away. Then he knew there was another
person in front of him.

"How are you, general? Any damage anywhere? Can you manage
a trek through the woods?"

"An American," thought the general, but not the one who got him
out.

"Can we have some light here?" he asked.

"Sorry mate, no can do," Anton said quietly. "When we get to the
truck it will be safer."

He heard a slight movement off to his left, and a whispered, "Let's
go."

Rising up from where he was sitting, he steeled himself for the
difficult journey through the forest in pitch black conditions.

Two strong arms on either side of him kept him upright more than
once on the trek to the transport. After what seemed like hours,
they stopped as a shape loomed up in front of them.

"Here ya go, General, your transport awaits."

Dino and Anton helped him into the back of the truck they had
acquired from Anton's friends, and they piled into the cab. As they
pulled off, the general heard a click, and a faint light appeared in
the back of the truck. He looked into the yellow glow and let out a
slight gasp.

"Thorne!!"

"G'Day General," Terry looked at him with his usual expression of insubordinate challenge.

"I always said if I ever saw you again it would be too soon - but I owe you my thanks."

Terry shrugged, turning away from the man he had always disliked. "Don't bother, I did it for Pen and Henry, not for you."

The rest of the journey  was  silent.  The General  spent the time
examining the man he had first set eyes on as a young undisciplined Aussie, so full of himself. The man who had nigh on broken his daughter's heart. When did he become the man he now saw in front
of him? Years on, that brash selfish boy had become a man confident
in his capabilities, battle scarred, proud, resourceful.

He saw a man who looked like he was still able to kill silently with
his bare hands. Well, why wouldn't he? They had trained him well
all those years before. He also saw a man who was alone and maybe lonely. When he had looked him in the eyes he still saw dislike, that
was understandable, but he also saw sadness deep down. This man
had grown, changed, and was no longer the arrogant young soldier
he had come to hate. He decided that when they got back to safety
he should  speak to Terry, if  he would let him.  It was  time they
resolved the rancour of the past.

It was dawn by the  time they  had made it back to the  base unit.
They left the truck and filed into the building in silence. Anton went away to make a brew. The three remaining men sat around the table looking at  each other,  saying  nothing.  Anton brought the tea  and
they all drank thankfully.  Slowly they began  to unwind and Dino
slapped Terry on the shoulder on a job well done.

The General cleared his throat, "Do you have any idea why they
took me?"

Dino looked at Terry  and began to answer.  Terry cut in. "It was
nothing to do with you, General. They were using you as bait."

"What do you mean?"

"We think they are after me General," Dino said. "I got them thrown
out of special forces and I guess it's payback time."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"NO!" snapped Terry.  "We fly you out later today.  You are going
back to England. The other problem is ours."

It was obvious that he would not be crossed on this.

Quickly working out  the time  difference,   he gave Penny  a call.
Henry answered.

"G'Day, son, put your mum on for me, will ya?"

"Dad! Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Henry,  I said I  wouldn't  let you down," Terry smiled as he
waited for Penny.

"Terrence?"

"G'Day, Pen, got someone here you may want to talk with."

He handed the  General his cell  phone and moved  away out of
earshot.

Five minutes later he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned and the General held out the phone.

"Thank you, Thorne.  I mean it. Can we talk?"

"No time for that, General--- Anton is getting ready to take you to
the airport. We have your passport and bags, you'd better hurry,
don't want you to miss your flight. Some other time, huh?"

 

With that, he turned and walked out of the unit, and he hoped out
of the General's life forever.

Chapter 4

The camp was in an uproar. Any form of discipline had gone straight
out the window. When they realised their hostage had been sprung
they began running around like headless chickens in panic. O'Leary
must have been so close the night before, and they had missed their chance of getting even.

One of  the  kidnappers,  Johnson, said, "I think we should get out
while we can. Is it really worth it?"

"We all agreed we wanted payback," said Collins, the leader.

"It was years ago, Collins, why can't you move on?" asked Johnson.

"I was born to be in special forces; my life was over when he had
us dropped. I thought you all felt the same."

"At the time I did," said  Johnson.  "I guess  I've mellowed.  Who
needs this shit? I thought this was gonna be easy, but these guys
are top notch. Do we really want to tangle with them?"

"Well, we've come this far, if he saw us he'll recognise us, so we
have nothing to lose by carrying out the original plan to make him
pay." Collins replied, defiantly glaring at the group.

With a  collective  sigh the  men  began  clearing up the camp in
readiness to get back to civilisation in order for Collins to form a
revised plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the base Terry, Dino and Anton were getting ready to pack
up the  gear  before  heading out.  An early  morning 'copter
reconnaissance trip had confirmed their thoughts that the kidnappers had already made good their escape. They decided that they could
put out feelers better from their office in Sydney than from their makeshift base up in the sticks. Anton was to fly down to join them
after he'd taken the gear back to their warehouse.

He took them both to the airport, promising to get the first flight he could to take them up on their  invitation to the big city,  eager to
work with them again. It had been quite an experience working with
the bosses. Life would seem pretty dull when they left Oz..

Terry woke up just before they arrived back in Sydney and rushed
Dino  through  arrivals in double  quick time and  into the first
available taxi. Thirty minutes later they were in Terry's Sydney
office overlooking the harbour. For once Dino had no time for the
view.

"So, what next, big guy?" he asked.

"We put out the word amongst our ex SF contacts, see if we can
find out where the fuck these morons are hiding," Terry replied.

"Ter, these guys were totally out of control when they were in
the service, that's why I had to recommend their removal from
the squad. There's no telling how much worse they are now that
they are civilians with no restraint at all."

"I know, mate, but all the time they're running around loose it's
not only you that's at risk, who knows what they might do or who
they might grab the next time they want to get our attention? Sure
as shit they won't be leaving it at that..."

Terry had always kept an apartment in Sydney and it was common practice for Dino to have the spare room on the rare occasions they
were both in town. Apart from the  occasional fling,  Terry rarely
shared his life with anyone these days and seemed to welcome his company.  He really  needed the  company right now,  his mind
working too fast for him to be alone.

There wasn't too much they could do until their contacts reported
back to them, so Terry decided to take Dino round some of the
local watering holes to calm him down a bit. A hyper O'Leary, like
a leprechaun on speed, was the last thing he wanted right now.

With no initial positive  sightings of  any of the  kidnap suspects,
Terry took the opportunity to catch up with paperwork leaving Dino climbing the walls.

Only one thing happened to break the routine Terry and Dino had
finally fallen into. Terry's car was stolen. Dino had offered to
collect Anton from the airport, and while he was waiting at the
domestic terminal the car vanished. Terry was less than pleased
because the car was his pride and joy --a vintage Jaguar, lovingly restored. He made a quick call to the local police, but didn't hold
out too much hope of ever setting eyes on it again. These cars
were collectors' items and usually stolen to order.

A few hours later all three men were about to demolish their
steak dinner when Terry's cell phone beeped. On answering the
call, he was surprised to find it was the police letting him know
his car had been  spotted, and was in one piece.  It was being
taken back to the police yard for examination and would be ready
to pick up the following day.

With that  positive  news the dinner  became more of a  mini
celebration, and they ended the evening checking out the girls in
a city centre nightclub before staggering back to Terry's place to
sleep like the dead well into the next morning.

Dino woke first, as bright as a button, thanking the powers above
once again for favouring him with a cast iron constitution. He knew
the other two would wake feeling like death, especially Anton, who wasn't the world's best drinker.

He was fixing strong coffee when the phone rang. Terry's car was
ready for collection.

Knocking, he got no answer from Terry. The elegant masculine
bedroom was in darkness and there was no movement from under
the tangled mess that had once been a well-made bed. Opening
the curtains, he let in the bright spring sunshine- but still no sign
of life from under the doona. He grabbed hold of the bed sheet
and wrenched it off the inert form laying underneath. Placing his
hand on Terry's shoulder, he gave a gentle shake, quickly followed
by a more less than gentle one.

The form on the bed grunted, turned over and slowly opened his
eyes, gasping at the bright light in the room.

"Rise and shine, Tio, the day awaits."

"Rack off, ya bastard," he growled back.

"Come on, man, the cops called to say your car's ready for collection downtown."

"Yeah, yeah, two ticks mate."

"I'll give you five, my man," said Dino. "Grab a shower, the coffee's
hot and the toast is on its way."

Terry groaned as he sat on the edge of the bed, trying to stop the
room from spinning before he gingerly stood up and made for his bathroom. Exactly five minutes later he was sitting at the breakfast
bar of his kitchen sipping scalding black coffee and trying not to
chunder at the thought of a slice of toast.

"How's Anton?" he asked Dino.

"Still in an alcoholic dream world," he replied. "You want me to
wake him?"

"No mate, we'll leave him a note before we head out for the car.
Most likely we'll be back before he wakes up anyway."

Dino laughed in agreement while he slathered butter thickly onto another slice of toast. Terry grimaced at the thought of his friend's relentless appetite.

Ten minutes later they hit the street, Terry deciding that he needed
the walk to revive him from the previous night's excesses.

"You may need to drive us back mate, I think I may still be a little
over the limit," Terry admitted. "We drink that club dry last night?
And I suppose I picked up the check?"

 

"You think I'm any safer than you, pal?" Dino laughed.

"Well, at least you look more sober than I do," Terry quipped.

They finally arrived at the police yard. After Terry flashed his I.D.
they were shown over to his car. The officer hadn't exaggerated
when he said it was in good condition. Rather than looking like it
had been taken out on a joy ride, as suspected, it actually looked
like it had just come from a showroom. Odd. No fingerprints had
been found, and it hadn't been hotwired. The thieves somehow
had a key. Dino and Terry exchanged looks. What was going on?

 

Following mountains of paperwork, they were finally given the
okay to take possession of the car. Terry threw the keys to Dino
and followed him out, accompanied by the officer in charge who
knew Terry slightly. He was using the opportunity to explore the possibility of moving from the force into K&R.

As they emerged into the  spring  sunshine,  Terry still couldn't
believe his luck. His pride and joy was untouched. He looked over
the bodywork once again, just to convince himself that there really wasn't any damage.

"Okay, Dino, me old mate. Let's take her out for a road test shall
we?"

Dino smiled, he loved Terry's car, and even if he wasn't behind the wheel, he loved the feel of her.

Terry turned back to the  officer in charge,  shook his  hand and
thanked him for his help. Dino was already at the passenger door,
eager to be out of there.

"Where to, big guy?" he asked.

"Someplace out of town, where we can open her up a bit, mate,"
Terry replied.

 

They were soon over the harbour bridge and headed north. As the
city fell away behind them, Terry put his foot down. They'd been travelling about twenty minutes when he broke his silence.

"She seems to be okay, mate. It's a bloody mystery why anyone
would take her and just dump her. If it was a joy rider, I would
have expected a bit of damage somewhere."

Dino was about to reply when Terry slammed on the brakes.

"What the fuck?"

"There's something up ahead on the road."

Dino looked ahead and saw what looked like a body in the middle
of the road, a bike laying off to the side.

"Shit, guess we'd better go see what's happened."

"Yeah, mate. Hang on while I call 000. We might as well get the emergency services on the way, eh."

Terry made the call and  headed up the road  after Dino.  He had
shortened the gap between them when he spotted movement off
to the side of the road.

"DINO!"

His partner turned to see what the problem was and was met with
the sight of Terry launching himself towards him. Suddenly the air
was filled with the sounds of gunfire and at the same time Terry
made contact with Dino, bringing him down with his own body in
a flying rugby tackle.

The gunmen were walking towards the unmoving bodies when
they heard the sirens.

"Fuck! Get to the car, quick."

They headed back towards their hidden car and roared away just
as the police and ambulance arrived at the scene.

Dino groaned at the weight of Terry on top of him and squirmed to
free himself.

"C'mon big guy, the shooting's stopped, you can get off me now."

Terry neither moved nor made a sound. Dino managed to get his
arms free and gave him a shake.

"Terry......TERRY!!"

Then he felt it, warm and sticky...blood.

"Oh my God! Somebody help me, man down over here!"

One of the police officers raced over to Dino to give assistance,
shouting for the paramedics to get their arse's in gear as he did so.

Dino pulled himself up to his knees and gently cradled the limp body
in his arms.

"Hang on, buddy, help's on the way."

As he knelt there all he could feel was Terry's life's blood seeping
out onto him.

Chapter 5

The door slowly opened and the pretty nurse looked in. Dino turned
from watching his friend to follow her out of the room when she beckoned.

"I think there's someone here you should see, Mr. O'Leary," she
said.

"Uncle Dino!!"

Dino turned to see Henry running down the corridor straight into
his arms. Shit! He forgot that Henry was coming, and felt guilty that
noone was at the airport to meet him.

"Henry! I'm so sorry I wasn't there to meet you. How did you know
I was here?"

"Someone called Anton was there to pick me up. He dropped me at
Dad's place with my bags, then he brought me over here. He said
Dad is here. What's happened?"

"Henry, I need a cup of coffee, wanna come along for a chat?"

"I think I'd rather see Dad, please," replied Henry.

"Please, Henry, I could really use the company."

"Okay, Uncle Dino, then you'll take me to see Dad?"

"Yeah, of course I will," Dino replied, putting his arm round Henry's shoulder and leading him to the café.

Over a drink -- Dino a coffee and Henry a cola -- the older man had watched the young man for a while before he finally spoke, trying
to work through how he would tell him about his father's injuries.

Dino finally, gently, told him:

"Henry, your Dad is hurt pretty bad. He's connected to machines
and you'll see wires and tubes all over the place. I don't want you
to feel scared."

On hearing this, the colour began to drain from his face.

"Is he going to die?"

Dino could tell that Henry was trying to keep the tears at bay. He
left his seat and went round to Henry, dropping to his knees and wrapping his arms round the boy, so he could tenderly rock him.

"Henry, your Dad is not going to die. For one thing he's in the best hospital in Sydney, and for another - he's too stubborn to let go."

Henry forced a little smile at that remark and quietly asked Dino if
he could go and see his father.

Dino took him  by the  hand and led  him down  to Terry's  room,
stopping outside the door. Henry took a deep breath and opened
the door.

Inside the  room, they stood  silently  while their  eyes  grew
accustomed to the dim light. Henry looked up at Dino for support
and  when he  got a  nod in reply made  his way top  the  bed
containing the figure of his father.

He wiped away the tear that was slowly creeping down his cheek
and  put  a  hand  out towards Terry,  pausing  midway to take
another deep, shuddering breath. Finally, he touched his father's
hand, pulling away quickly at the  coldness he felt  while  Dino
placed a hand on his shoulder encouraging Henry to try again. He
sat in the chair by his father's side and slowly picked up the hand
resting on top of the covers. This time he kept hold of it and held
it in both his own. Lifting it close to his face he kissed it lightly
then just held on as the tears flooded down his face, falling onto
Terry's unresponsive hand.

Suddenly Henry jumped, as he felt his father's fingers move in
response It was just the faintest twitch, but definite movement.
Henry looked into his father's pale, wan face, stubbled with an unfamiliar growth of beard.

"Dad, it's me, Henry. I'm here Dad, everything's going to be fine.
Please wake up, Dad, please don't die. Don't let me down."

A slight groan escaped from Terry and his forehead wrinkled in a
frown. Dino rushed out of the room calling for the doctor. A few
minutes later they both returned, quickly followed by the young
nurse.

"What's the problem Mr O'Leary?" the doctor asked.

"He moved his fingers Doc, and when his son spoke to him, he
groaned."

The doctor turned up the lights a little and walked over to the
bedside to check the monitors. "Speak to your Dad again, son,"
the doctor said gently.

Henry pulled the chair up closer to the top of the bed and put his
hand on Terry's shoulder. "I can't wait for you to get better dad,
there's so much I want to do with you. First stop Bondi Beach so
you can teach me to surf." The figure on the bed made a sound
that could only be described as a snort. Dino laughed.

 

"Guess your Dad doesn't fancy that idea, Henry," he said.

Henry looked up at him and grinned, looking more like Terry in
that moment than Dino had ever noticed before.

The doctor took Dino aside and spoke softly to him.

"I think we may try  easing up on  the sedatives  and see if  Mr.
Thorne can manage without the ventilator. It seems that his son
has given him the kick start he needed to keep fighting."

He squeezed Dino's arm and smiled before leaving the room. The
nurse  tucked  Terry in and  smoothed down the  covers before
following the doctor out.

Chapter 6

He was drowning, drowning in a sea of writhing tentacles. He
knew he had to reach the surface but no matter how hard he tried,
they kept pulling him down. He sank back down, feeling strangely
safe and at peace. He realised he was dying, and he welcomed
death. Far away in the distance were voices. He couldn't under-
stand what they were saying, but he was certain he had to reach
them. He began to swim again. As the voices became clearer his
feeling of warmth and safety began to fade and a new sensation
began to appear...fear, and along with the fear came pain, white
hot pain, searing through the entire length of his body. He let out
a heart rending scream in panic, and slowly sank back to his place
of warmth and safety.

Henry watched as his Dad's head tossed on the pillow, his eyelids fluttering. He was convinced he was about to wake up when he
saw the frown appear, but with a deep sigh his father became
still again.

Terry had been off the machines for a couple of days now and
Henry had decided that meant he would wake up at any time.
The look of disappointment on his face when Terry continued to
stay unconscious was tearing Dino apart. He didn't know how
much more he or Henry could take before they gave up.

Taking a reluctant Henry out into the corridor and heading off
to the café, he looked closely at Henry.

"We need to do something to kick start your dad again, Henry."

"What do you suggest we do? I've talked to him and read to him
until I'm hoarse!" Henry exclaimed in frustration.

"I think we need to stimulate him a bit more, maybe bring some
of his favourite music in to play him. What ya reckon?"

"That's a plan, Uncle Dino. Can we go back to Dad's place now?"

"You're on, kiddo," Dino replied, and five minutes later they were
in the car and heading for Terry's flat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was getting annoyed. The same irritating tune had been going through his head for what seemed like years. He had to put a stop
to it before it drove him mental. He forced himself to follow the
music until it was so loud he felt he was going to scream, then it
dawned on him what he could hear....Waltzing bloody Matilda.
Anything but that, he groaned.

Henry quickly placed the guitar on the floor and reached out for
Terry's hand.

"Dad?"

Terry's head moved to the sound of his son.

"Dad, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

Henry felt Terry move his fingers and hold his in a weak grip. Just
then Dino and the doctor came into the room.

"Dad, it's me, Henry, can you hear me?"

"Who'll come a Waltzin' Matilda with me?" was the only reply.

Henry looked at Dino  and beamed.  "He heard  me playing and he
woke up."

"Probably wanted to tell you to shut up," winked Dino.

"Bloody oath." was the weak reply from the bed.

Terry  slowly  opened  his eyes and  tried to focus on  something,
anything. Where the hell was he and why couldn't he move? Why
could he hear his son-- was he back in the UK?

"Dad, you're in  hospital in  Sydney. You  got  hurt after  you got
Granddad back."

"Dino?"

"Uncle Dino is here Dad, and he's fine. You're going to be fine as
well."

Terry turned his misty gaze to his son and tried to smile.

"Was that you making that god awful noise, mate?"

"Yes Dad, I've been teaching myself to play your  guitar while I
was waiting for you to wake up. I can now play..."

"Waltzin' bloody Matilda. I heard..." Terry said from the bed.

"Yep, over and over as many times as you want to hear it," replied Henry.

"Fuck!" said Terry, closing his eyes and falling into a healing sleep.

Two weeks later:

Dino and Anton were heading for the main entrance of the Royal
Prince Albert Hospital. Anton was eager to see his boss, not really believing the reports from Dino. As they headed up to his room
Dino warned Anton not to expect too much, Terry was still very
weak and in a lot of pain.

"I just want to see his 'proof of life' boss," said Anton, shyly grinning
at Dino. "I promise I won't stay too long or tire him out."

They reached Terry's room and Dino opened the door but found themselves staring at an empty bed. No Terry, no Henry sitting by
his side.

"What the fuck?" spat Dino.

Just then, his favourite nurse came in the room behind the two men.
She looked at their stunned faces. "Are you alright Mr. O'Leary?"

"Where's Mr. Thorne?" he replied.

"Follow me," said the nurse.

Anton and Dino silently followed the nurse, worrying where they
were going and what they would find. Had Terry taken a turn for
the worse-- were they headed back to ITU?

Before they realised it they found themselves out in a tiled courtyard. They scanned all the patients sitting out in the sun, then they spotted Henry. He was sitting on a stone bench, and next to him, wrapped up
in a wheelchair, was Terry.

They both rushed over, grinning widely.

Terry looked up and saw them approaching.

"G'day, Blue, g'day, Anton!"

"Boss, how ya going? I didn't expect to see you up so soon," said
Anton.

"You're not the only one," Terry replied, a tired smile crossing his
face. "I think my keeper is about to take me back to my cell any
minute now."

 

Henry looked at his dad and smiled. "You're not wrong there, Dad,
you know the doctor said just a few minutes."

He got up from the bench and went round to the back of the chair, grasping the handles and starting to push.

Terry looked up at Dino and Anton. "Walk with us," he said.

As they headed back inside, Dino told him that the police thought
the kidnappers must have followed them when they picked up the
car, and somehow managed to get ahead and lay the trap for them.
He also let Terry know that they had tried to charge a check point
on the Parramatta road. It was just a routine licence check, but they
had panicked and made a run for it. The car went off the road and
ended up on its roof. Everyone inside was dead. Dino placed his hand
on Terry's shoulder as if to say ' It's all over my friend.'

A few moments later they were back in Terry's room, and with the
help of all three, he managed to get back into bed.

Dino noticed he tried  not to show  how much pain  he was in.  He
glanced at Henry, not wanting him to worry about his dad, and was happy to see that he seemed not to have noticed.

Once settled, Terry wanted to be brought up to speed with things
in the office. Anton started to tell him all about the new secretary,
trying to keep things light and not worry him about the workload.
He  tried  to pay  attention,  especially  when Anton  went into a
detailed description of the new member of staff, or rather her vital statistics and the length of her legs, but he soon found his attention drifting, and before too long  he gave up the  ghost and was fast
asleep.  But he was on the mend. It was only a matter of time now.

Three months later:

"Dad, c'mon, we'll never get there on time at this rate."

"Go bite yer bum," Terry grumbled under his breath. He was going
as fast as he could. Looking around for his elbow crutches, cursing
the need for them, he grudgingly admitted to himself that they
were better than the chair he'd come home in anyway.

Finally  he was  ready to go,  and  Henry  herded  him out  of  the
apartment and down to the parking garage where Dino was waiting
by Terry's car.

Henry helped his dad slowly lower himself into the front passenger
seat and buckled him up. He took the crutches and tossed them into
the boot, then jumped into the back seat behind Dino, so that Terry could see him to talk to without too much movement.

"Okey dokey, where we headed then?" Terry asked.

"Bondi first, Dad, then Doyle's for lunch."

Terry groaned; as much as he loved to swim, he hated the beach,
but knew Henry was dying to go there.

 

"Okay, mate. If that's what you want, let's go."

Dino manoeuvred slowly out of the  parking area and  headed off
towards the sea. Twenty minutes later he and Terry were sitting
on the breakwater, watching Henry showing off on his board.

"Where did he learn to surf like that?" Terry asked, unable to hide
the pride he was feeling watching his son.

"I taught him." a voice answered from behind the two men.

Before Terry could twist round to see who it was, Anton jumped off
the breakwater onto the sand in front of them.

"You've done a bonzer job mate, 'ppreciate it," Terry said looking
down at his employee.

"It was my pleasure, boss, you've got a good kid there."

"Don't I know it," replied Terry. "Join us for lunch?"

"Where we eating?" asked Anton.

"Doyle's" Terry and Dino answered together, "Our treat."

"Good job too," said Anton. "You don't pay me that well!"

He dodged the shoe that Dino flung at him and ran off to get Henry, laughing as he went down to the surf line.

They were soon sitting out on the balcony of Doyle's looking out into
the bay seated at a table for six. Terry noted that but thought nothing
of it. Doyle's was popular and this must be the only table they had available.

They ordered drinks and sat there pondering over the menu. Dino tapped his glass with a knife asking for their attention.

"Tio, once again I thank you for saving my life. I'll always be in
your debt. Thank you also for deciding to stay alive to enable me
to repay that debt."

Terry felt a slight heat in his cheeks and realised he was blushing. *Strewth*, he thought. *I'll never live this one down.* "You'd have done the same for me mate, no worries."

 

Suddenly a pair of arms snaked round his shoulders and he felt a
kiss on the top of his head. Looking up, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Pen!"

"Hello, Terrence. It's so good  to see you up and  about again; we
were so worried about you."

"Terry, good to see you again my friend."

"G'day, Michael, and mate, feeling's mutual. Ya don't mind if I don't
get up do ya?"

Penny and Michael took the two empty places at the table, and they were soon ordering their meal.

The talk flowed easily between everyone, Terry assuring Penny and Michael that he would soon be fit enough to get back to work, if only
in the Sydney office for a while, Henry telling his Mum and Michael
how much he was enjoying being in Sydney, how well he and his
Dad were getting on, how he had learnt to surf.

Dino and Anton were  quietly  chatting about  business, like true workaholics.

Penny stopped eating and took Terry's hands in hers. "Are you sure
that you're going to be alright, Terrence?" she asked.

On hearing his affirmative reply she let out a  long sigh  of relief.
"That's such good news. I was hoping that would be the case as I
have a great favour to ask you."

Dino stopped talking to Anton to pay more attention. *This is where
we came in* he thought with an inward groan.

"What can I do for you Pen?" Terry asked slowly.

"I would like your opinion on a little idea Henry and I have. Would
you agree to letting him transfer his university course to Sydney?"

Terry wasn't certain that he was hearing her correctly.

"You want Henry to come over here to study? Why?"

"I've seen such a difference in him since he's been over here with
you, and I think it's about time you got to know each other better.
What do you think?"

Terry eased himself back in his chair and looked around the table
at everyone as they awaited his reply. He ran his hand over his
face, trying to stem the tears he felt might escape any minute. It occurred to him that despite everything that had happened in the
past few months, things were finally looking up in his life.

Taking a deep breath, he looked  at Penny  and Henry,  and said,
"That will mean him living with me."

"Of course! That would be one of the stipulations. You don't think
I would agree to let our son run riot over here with no parental guidance, do you?" she grinned.

A smile slowly made its way across Terry's face. He leaned forward
to give his ex-wife a kiss on the cheek.

"You can trust me, Pen, you know I won't ever let you down..."

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