Sherlock smiled. “You’re OK?”
Brandon swore. “Yeah. Bastard got me with a taser.”
Sam’s eyebrows raised and he moved closer.
“We think they might head here,” Sherlock said. “Nhiari’s trying to find out whether Lucas’s plane is still in Carnarvon.”
“The Yardie Creek road,” Brandon said, understanding. “It’s low tide.”
“Does Rodney’s team have a four-wheel drive?” Nhiari asked.
“No. Let me get Dot.” His voice was more distant as he said, “Dot, I’ve got Sherlock and Nhiari on the phone.”
“What’s happening?” Dot demanded.
“I think they’re coming here,” Nhiari said. “Are any of Organised Crime still in Coral Bay?”
“No,” Dot said. “Rodney pulled all of them to Retribution Bay and now they’ve taken off after Lucas.”
“Can you call them back?”
“Rodney wouldn’t give me their details, but I’ll try Doug.”
Hampering them at every move. Getting shot almost served Rodney right. Her phone rang.
“Yes?”
“The plane is gone,” her contact said. “Departed just as the team pulled up at the airport.”
“Can you track it?”
“Its flight plan was set as Singapore. No passengers. Just the pilot.”
With a stop here on the way, no doubt. “Thanks.” She hung up. “Plane is on its way.”
Dot swore. “Where’s Lee?”
She checked the tracker. “Near Yardie Creek.” Lucas must be doing about a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. Dangerous. The road was bumpy and at this time of night dingoes and kangaroos would be out.
She hoped Lee would be all right.
Unless he’d been playing her. Her gut clenched.
“I’m calling Doug,” Dot said. “My guess is Rodney didn’t give them a full run down of all exits from town. They might not know Lucas can cross Yardie Creek.”
Sam went over to the map they’d been examining earlier when they made some contingency plans. He tapped on it. “There’s another airstrip here.”
Shit. Nhiari strode over. “There’s an airstrip at the station north of here.” Maybe Lucas turning up here was a red herring. They’d thought the truck would come in from the Coral Bay road, not Yardie Creek, so they hadn’t considered that airstrip an option. But this changed everything. The other station had a strip which was closer coming from that direction.
Dot swore. “How long will it take you to get there?”
“It’ll be close. We should get there about the same time as Lucas.” If Lee was telling the truth and wanted to stop Lucas, he would delay, but if not, it would be tight. “Has Lee got a weapon?”
“Yeah, he took my gun,” Brandon said.
The tracker dot still moved towards them. Lee hadn’t used the gun to stop Lucas yet, but Lucas was also armed and with Lucas behind the wheel, it would be too dangerous. “We’ll head for the airstrip,” she said. “They can’t pass us because there’s only one road. We’ll be out of phone range, though. I’ll turn my police radio on when we get there.”
She had little battery left.
