The Five Gates of Hell by Rupert Thomson Page A

face.
    â€˜Nothing’
    â€˜OK, this is the thing,’ Vasco said. ‘He does the shark run. If he gets taken, he’s innocent. If he survives, he’s guilty. Right?’
    â€˜Right,’ shouted the Womb Boys.
    â€˜That’s not fair,’ Nathan said.
    Jed stretched his head out on his long, reptile neck and leered into Nathan’s face. ‘Who the fuck said anything about fair?’
    Vasco lifted one arm towards the water. ‘See that?’ He was pointing at a warehouse that had the words VENUS ISLAND CONTAINER TERMINAL painted across its metal roof.
    Nathan nodded.
    â€˜What you got to do is, you got to swim to it,’ Vasco said. ‘That’s the shark run.’
    â€˜I still don’t get it,’ Nathan said. ‘Why’s it called the shark run?’
    Sniggers from the gang.
    Vasco led him down to the waterline and showed him a sign that was mounted on a metal pole. On the sign was the silhouette of someone swimming freestyle with a red bar drawn through it. Below it were the words DANGER SHARKS.
    â€˜That’s why,’ Vasco said.
    Nathan looked round, caught Tip’s eye.
    â€˜PS did it,’ Tip said.
    â€˜You told me that,’ Nathan said.
    â€˜Wore his headphones,’ Jed said. ‘So he wouldn’t hear the sharks coming.’
    PS was nodding. Though he might just’ve been nodding to the imaginary music in his head.
    â€˜This is different,’ Vasco said. ‘This is a trial.’
    â€˜If a shark gets you,’ Jed said, ‘you won’t feel anything. Just cold.’ He leered. ‘Just cold where a piece of you’s gone.’
    Vasco nodded. ‘Yeah, I heard that too.’
    Nathan stared out into the bay. A few weeks before they’d found a girl’s body floating six miles off the coast. She’d been swimming on Moon Beach and a shark had taken her. Her name, he remembered, was Shelley. According to her mother, Shelley had always been ‘real strong in the water’.
    Vasco pulled his sleeve up and pointed at the tombstone tattoo on his bicep. The name on the stone was Scraper O’Malley. No dates. ‘Just think,’ he said. ‘You could be next.’ His teeth shone in themoonlight. ‘That’s what you’re here for, in this shit-forsaken town. To die. To end up on my arm. I’ll carry the lot of you before I’m through,’ and he tipped his head back, and his laughter was so dry it was like sticks snapping in his throat, and his shoulders shook under his famous leather coat.
    There was a hysteria to Vasco, and it was the first time Nathan had been close enough to notice it. The members of Vasco’s gang, they followed him because they couldn’t follow him. Nobody could go where he went, but seeing someone do that, it made you want to try. They got as close as they could, and when people did that it looked like some kind of worship. Nathan felt the power of this, the blast, like heat from a furnace, and for a moment he forgot to feel scared.
    Tip took the bottle off PS. ‘Here,’ he said to Nathan. ‘Have some, it’ll keep you warm.’
    â€˜Yeah,’ PS said, ‘kept me warm,’ and he opened his mouth to laugh and left it open, but no laughter came out. So he closed it again and went on listening to music that didn’t exist.
    Nathan didn’t bother looking at the label. He just raised the bottle to his lips and swallowed twice. Handed the bottle back again. Nothing at first, then the whole of his insides lit up. He stripped down to his shorts and felt the breeze move curious fingers across his skin, as if it was blind and trying to work out who he was. He climbed over the cold, slippery rocks, climbed down to the water’s edge. So black it looked, just like its name, with bits of smashed gold from the lights on the highway. Feel your way in slow, Tip had told him. There’s all kinds of shit in there. The