‘Switch to the secure channel, Stone.’Finn changed channels.Waited a beat, then said: ‘Go ahead, Stone.’
‘Romy and I are inbound.We’re going to set up on the western ridge, like you suggested.Do you want me to run a flyover on the way through, or go wide?’
‘Wide.Don’t want to spook them.What’s Romy doing?’
‘Calibrating her drone for night vision.While I’m in charge of snacks and hillside setting.Almost sounds romantic for a stake-out, huh.’
Hmph.
Taryn wiped a hand over her mouth, gulped down her coffee and dragged her chair closer to the paperwork as if redrawing that line in the dirt, as if distance might cool their blood.
‘Copy that.Radio if you have news, and stick to the secure channel from here on out.’He set the radio back down on the troopy’s dashboard with a click, grabbing the handheld radio.
Scooping up his binoculars, he turned to the east and spotted Porter’s police ute towing the trailer that held the Hellhound.‘Good.Amara and Porter are inbound.Craig will come in at four in the morning, because he’s not leaving Izzy alone.’He tossed a glare at Taryn, tucking her back into the mindset ofthe enemy, never mind that he’d just kissed her.
Taryn ignored him, flicking through the pages like she hadn’t just returned that kiss like a woman full of fire, now behaving colder than steel as she sorted out his life’s work with surgical precision.
Finn keyed the radio, needing to get his head back in the game, too.‘Listen up, you lot.Keep your lights off before settling into position, and that includes torches.Out here, beams travel like Min Min lights.And forget starting a campfire, or you’ll have every stockman within a hundred k’s watching the ridge for bushfires.’He glanced at the dry scrub, brittle as old bones.A tinderbox full of fuel.‘Keep your eyes on the road.Report anything out of the ordinary.’
Amara and Romy responded, as their partners were either flying or driving them into position for the night.
At the back of his troopy, Finn dug around in his kit and pulled out the spare headlamp, flicking it on to the red filter.He handed it to Taryn, who was busy with her outback office set-up with rocks for paperweights, and red dust for carpet.Good thing he had no markers, or she’d use the side of the troopy as her whiteboard.
She took the torch with a nod.Flicked it on, and adjusted the headband, and went right back to reading like nothing had happened.
He grabbed his radio, binoculars, his mug of killer coffee, and set his chair a few paces away—close enough to keep her in reach, but far enough to keep the line clear.
Looking down at the road below, he scanned the area.Stone and Romy were covering the west.Amara and Porter had the east.Craig would swing in from the north.Finn had the south.
Four points of a compass, where all roads led to one place—Billycan Corner, the heart of the Spinifex Highway, and the black marketeers’ backyard.
It was going to be a long night.
Eighteen
The first road train’s plume of dust that rose to greet the dawn was the giveaway, with the second one coming from the opposite direction.It had Finn muttering a low command into the radio.‘Up and at ‘em, team.’
It was time.
Taryn crouched by her workbag and dragged out what her dad calledthe Kevlar’s kiss.Her armour.
Not your standard-issue ballistic beast like the one Finn was sliding on.Hers was custom-made, lightweight, and reinforced in all the right places.She wasn’t sure if it came from her mother’s old military unit, sourced off-grid—or from her father’s world of classified procurements and black-budget favours.
Either way, it was a gift from two parents who believed in safety through preparation, and who had the contacts to provide it.
She slipped it on, the weight settling more like a memory.
The holster came next.Sleek.Balanced.Also a gift for her side-arm, that she clipped into place—a Sig Sauer P320, just like the one her Uncle Ray, a Lieutenant Colonel in the SAS, had taught her to field strip blindfolded at fifteen.
‘Most kids got fairy bread and pool parties,’ she muttered.‘I got babysitters who ran toy box threat assessments and intel rundowns on my closet layout, like we were breaching top-secret clearances that came with sniper drills and ten ways to disarm a teddy bear using a pen.’
Behind her, she could feel Finn watching.
‘Figures…’ Finn just gave her that look.The quiet one.
She squeezed back her smile.
‘Remind me not to tick you off with a ballpoint lying around.’Giving her a slow nod, as if a little impressed.
