‘You built them.’Finn said to Drew.‘Look at them.See what you could have been proud of.’He gripped Drew’s shoulder and shook him.‘LOOK AT THEM!’
Drew raised his head.Yet, the once-pompous prick, couldn’t even look them in the eye.He was done.
Then Izzy stepped forward and her hand swung back, unleashing a mighty wallop.
Whack!The crack echoed across the tarmac.
Drew’s head snapped to the side, wincing at the sting from the lawyer who usually fought with her pen, not her fists.‘What was that for?’
Izzy stared him down, her voice tight with fury.‘That was for daring to shake my hand.For lying to my face about Everlight.And for pretending you were sorry, whenyoutried to have mekilled.’
She then swung again, hitting his other cheek with acrack!‘And that was for Meghan.’
Izzy didn’t wait for a reaction.She just stepped back in line beside Craig and gave Finn a quiet nod.
Finn’s heart may still be heavy, but something in him finally stilled.Justice wasn’t perfect.But it was done.
Drew stood handcuffed in his fancy suit, his tie askew, with his pride unravelling.The man who had once handed out badges and shaken hands, was now the one in chains.The team he’d sent to catch criminals had caught him instead.
It had come full circle.
A man who once held the country’s agricultural industry in his palm was being led away by Marcus, flanked by two NT uniforms.All done without any media to tape his long walk across the floodlit airstrip.
Stone muttered to the team, ‘There goes Big Daddy and his walk of shame.’
Craig snorted.
Amara huffed a laugh.
Even Romy cracked a smile, with her chin tucked low.
But it didn’t lift the weight.Not completely.
Because now, as the flashing lights were turned off and the police vehicles drove away, they stood there…
One ex-con who’d become a federal sergeant.
One federal inspector.
One Northern Territory senior constable.
One South Australian constable.
One lawyer.
One cowboy and stock inspector.
One crocodile wrangler and pilot.
One videographer.
And one tiny outback town.
None of them were sure if they’d still have their jobs tomorrow.Well, except Porter and Taryn.
Yet, Taryn stood beside Finn, while Izzy watched the paperwork literally walk away, with Craig’s hand resting lightly on her hip.Stone held Romy’s hand, and Porter slung his arm around Amara’s shoulders.All standing side-by-side as a team.
It was done.
