‘And through M.T.Spiker Co,’ continued Taryn, clicking through a series of emails, ‘Red and Bob would get emailed tasks or requests overseen by Drew.Everything from livestock orders, to digging up dirt on people they could exploit to become potential truck drivers, like Tooley—the guy who had a clean record, two kids and a crippling mortgage.’
Craig leaned forward, his brow creasing.‘What about Sawyer Dixby?Is he SW?’
Taryn shook her head.‘SW Rural Contracting is Bob’s.His real name is Samuel Ward.The red pickup Sawyer drove was leased under Bob’s company.Even though it’s under the parent company ofTemp Roicks Pty Ltd, which owns the quarry, it’s Bob who’s in charge of that area.’
‘I knew Bob was related to the Dixbys, I just didn’t realise he’d be helping Sawyer,’ said Craig.
‘Well, from what we saw in the paper trail, Bob was Sawyer’s cousin, and he knew that the overseer needed to stay hidden.Based on the emails, Red knew Sawyer had a debt and was desperate for a way to make money.Only Red used that to control him.And, maybe out of guilt for the obvious manipulations, Bob got his cousin, Sawyer, what he called...’She flicked down through her notes and said, ‘the red yank-tank.’
‘The Ram?’Porter asked.
She nodded, holding up one of her files.‘I found the paperwork for it, even the receipts for tools that Bob got for his cousin to help him find those missing deeds out at Dixby Downs station.’
‘Did they kill Sawyer?’Porter asked, who was the same as Craig, both men had always wondered if it wasn’t murder, when they’d first found Sawyer’s dusty grave.
‘I don’t know.’She gave a shrug.
Amara asked Taryn, ‘And the quarry?’
‘The quarry was always their backup if Dixby Downs was ever shut down.Because of the logistics, Dixby Downs suited them better, until the paperwork went through on the quarry.’
Taryn clicked again and showed more documents, linking them to companies and places.‘And just in case the quarry got too hot?This past month they’ve been prepping the paperwork for Noonamah Rise.Another remote rural NT holdings that is still connected to the same logistics web.’
Finn’s stomach turned.Was that where Red and Bob were hiding out now?
‘So how are they moving stock?’Stone asked, ‘The road trains, the gear?How do they get it in and out without raising flags?’
‘Corkspite M.Group.They order the trucks.Handle all the land logistics.Their invoices are legit—on paper.Again, registered for feed, grain and livestock logistics, useful for moving bulk goods.And I’ve found, through interstate data, that their trucks are always in the area thesame daysstock thefts are reported.But here’s the kicker…’
She paused, forcing Finn to prepare for another kick in the guts from this PowerPoint presentation.
‘I suspect it’s the same trailer swap scheme, just like that truck you busted on the Spinifex Highway.Good stock swapped out for second-rate stock.Or the truck shows up light.’Taryn looked at the team and said with a layer of heaviness, ‘And it’s not just here, guys.This is happening in three other states: Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland.’
The murmur, and the shoes shuffling under the table, demonstrated the enormity of the situation all being laid out before them.Each screen.Each new layer.It was like swallowing broken glass.
‘As for the high-value hauls, the specialised stock like those elite equestrian horses, crocodiles, banteng, the rodeo bulls… Those are taken purely for frozen genetic material and shifted up north to those way stations—like Dane Carter’s property he’d sold to Everlight, then Dixby Downs, and now the quarry.’She clicked to a map on the screen.‘Excluding Everlight’s property, Dixby Downs and the quarry have airstrips, where they use chartered jets to carry those cryogenic containers inside simple cardboard boxes.Every shipment has customs paperwork filed throughMerc Topski.A registered international livestock exporter, that gives the impression that it’s Eastern European, but it’s a front for offshore transfers with lots of legitimate looking paperwork wearing a fake Customs rubber stamp.’
She then paused, putting down that clicker that was going to give Finn nightmares every time he heard it.And how she looked at him didn’t help either.
‘It was all in your Gaps File, Finn.All of it.You just didn’t know the names of the companies, but you had it all there, on the wall in your home.’
‘What’s with all those company names?’Stone muttered at the table.‘They sound like someone shook a Scrabble bag and made-up those names and logos.’
And that’s when it clicked—the right kind of click…
The pattern.
‘Have you got a list of those company names?’Finn demanded, standing now a few inches off the wall.‘Just the names.’
‘Sure.’Taryn swiped through her laptop, then clicked to an image on the screen behind her, where the logos vanished and were replaced by a list of names, some he hadn’t seen before:
STOKEMIR PC
M.T.SPIKER CO
MERC TOPSKI
CORKSPITE M
