Finn shifted in his seat, effectively blocking her view.‘Look, I’ve told Lydia that if she needs an out, or if she’s worried about anything, she can come to my place or the station.I mean it.Lydia knows this already.’
Brodie’s shoulders eased a fraction, as he took a deep breath.
‘You don’t need to do this, Brodie.I won’t risk you or Lydia.That was the deal.’She could tell from his voice that Finn didn’t just say that to cover his arse because Taryn was in the car, hemeantit.
Who was this man?
Not the prick she’d been sparring with since the day she’d landed, but someone who also had a backbone and was full of quiet loyalty.It was unexpected.
‘Yeah, I know.But what they’re doing is wrong.’Brodie’s spine straightened as if filling with courage as he leaned in closer, so much surer of himself.‘But the reason I called you is that I’d just overheard Red talking on the phone about the trucks.SW trucks.He mentioned Billycan Corner.You know it?’
SW—SW Rural Contracting?She squeezed the file Finn had slapped on her desk, as her mind rushed to fill in the blanks on this conversation.
Finn gave a single nod.‘Yeah.I know it.’
‘They’ve got a truck coming in.Early hours, I reckon.To meet the train.’Brodie tapped the side of his temple.‘I know their pattern now.’
‘What’s that?’
‘They come in on the rush, when the last trucks race to get loaded to meet the train.’
‘Hoping you’ll be too busy to notice the switch.’
‘Yeah… It’s that or early dawn, hoping we’re too wrecked from pulling an all-nighter unloading and feeding cattle, because we all know the train’s deadline and it waits for no man on Train Day.’The kid jerked his chin back over his shoulder.
Taryn twisted in her seat.Train Day.
She’d heard that somehow Train Day made this sleepy outback town come alive.Billy, from the pub, had warned her when he’d escorted her across the road for breakfast at the food van:‘Hope you’re not expecting any sleep the next two nights, luv.It’s Train Day tomorrow.’
Now she understood why…
A line of road trains—massive, rumbling beasts—snaked around the edge of the yards, stretching along the highway like a steel-backed convoy.Some were parked, others were crawling in, with stock mewling from inside the double-decked trailers, as dust curled through the air like smoke.
But it wasn’t just trucks and cattle.
There were horses tied up under lean-tos, along with cattle dogs ready to muster, as drovers passed around battered mugs, and kids darted between the rails under their watchful eyes.
Retired stockmen sat along the fence line in wheelchairs or walkers, wearing their old stockman hats and sun-faded shirts, watching the action like it was a footy final.Some shouted advice.Others just smiled and nodded at an old mate or two.
Much younger men and women moved through the yards, some nervous, while they were being guided by quiet murmurs and sharp whistles from the older hands.
Altogether, there was a rhythm to it—even if it was rough, dust-choked, and loud, it still held an unspoken elegance to it, like a song every person here knew by heart.
Taryn had never expected this.Not the scale.Or the chaos.
Most of all, notthe heart.
It was as if the town itself was breathing, and the lungs of it were right here, in these stockyards on Train Day.
Now she understood why they defended it so fiercely.Why Finn was fighting so hard.And why a kid like Brodie would risk himself to protect it.
She just wasn’t sure who they were defending it from.
‘They’ll be flat out until midnight,’ Brodie told Finn.‘I’ll be up all night, for sure.’
She glanced at Brodie—so young, so tired, like he’d already lived three lives.
Then her gaze shifted to Finn, who hadn’t said a word.
