Yet Finn saw it—Drew didn’t think he was the villain.Drew actually thought he was fixing a broken system.One backdoor deal at a time.
‘And what about the farmers you stole stock from?How were you making their lives better?’
Drew lifted his hands, the chain of his cuffs clinked, as he loosened his tie, opening his crisp shirt wider as if really getting it off his chest.
The man always did like a podium, and Finn also knew Drew liked to fill in stretched out silences with words.But for once, the politician didn’t have an answer for that.
Finn’s jaw twitched.‘And you used my Gaps File to do it.’
Drew didn’t even flinch.‘You needed a purpose, so I gave you one.’
Finn stepped forward.‘No.You gave me a lie.’
The plane dipped.A subtle shift, but Finn felt it in his chest.Landing prep.
Drew stared at the cuffs around his wrists.‘You wouldn’t understand,’ he muttered.‘You still believe the law can fix things.Please.It’s as broken as the government is.Pretending they’re defending the people, when they’re only there for the corporations lining their pockets.And I—’
‘No.You’re not a hero, Drew.You didn’t save anything.All you did was exploit the system, bleed it dry, then called ithelpso you could sleep at night.’Finn glared at the man, his mentor of over twenty-years.
Stone’s voice crackled over the speaker.‘Prepare for landing, peoples, we’re home.’
‘That was quick,’ said Taryn.
‘Stone told me Darwin to Elsie Creek, in a jet like this, takes less than twenty.’
Enough time for Drew to open one of his boxes and get arrested.
To confess.
And fall.
The drone of the engines hummed low as the wheels kissed the runway with a low bounce, enough to rattle the boxes occupying the spare seats.
The jet rolled to a stop, as the hum of the engine slowed.Out the window, the sky lit up in flashing red and blue from every police vehicle in town, lining the Elsie Creek airstrip.
He turned to Drew.‘Time to go.’
Drew looked down at his cuffed wrists, then out the window as if looking for a rescue or some sort of applause.
The only audience was a scowling Mickey.Waiting in his grease-stained, grey coveralls, with his arms crossed like he owned the runway.Which, technically, he might do.
Stone opened the hatch, and the steps hissed down, winking at the Commissioner.‘Hello, Big Daddy, welcome home.’
Outside, Marcus, the OIC, Tanisha, their ACPO, and the rest of Elsie Creek’s tiny NT police force were waiting.
And at the base of the stairs stood the Stock Squad.
Craig.Izzy.Amara and Porter, with Stone rushing to Romy’s side.All wearing their badges and vests.
They didn’t wear a uniform that matched.Wearing different boots, vests, hats and histories.They weren’t trained the same, but they all had unique skills and personalities that may clash—but when united, they were a force.
And this was more than just another arrest, because this might bethe last onethey ever did together as a team, in the same place where Drew had once handed them their badges and shook their hands at the start.
After what Drew had done to them, they were going to finish this right.
Finn’s boots hit the tarmac like a punctuation.He turned back to face Taryn, her hand firmly around Drew’s arm.
She didn’t gloat.Didn’t smile.With badge gleaming at her hip, she escorted Drew down the steps to face the squad he’d betrayed.
