Tooley sucked in his bottom lip as he hesitated.
But Taryn just waited patiently.
It was Finn who sniffed with impatience.
‘I’ve got kids and a mortgage…’
‘I’ll make a note of that.’She flicked a page, as if she were making up a list of plus and minuses, that if the driver gave her enough pluses, he’d win some lucky door prize.But she never actually said it, just implied it, giving the driver enough hope.
Oh, she was good.
‘So…’ she said with that buttery voice, followed by that click of the pen.‘You work for Two-bob Bob.How?’
‘Said he’d call when he needed a job, like all my other customers do.I’m just the truck driver.’
‘How many times have you done this for Bob?’
‘A coupla times.Always in the early hours, just before Train Day’s cut-off time.’
‘Where do you come from?’
‘All over.’Tooley shrugged.‘It’s muster season, so I’ll take whatever driving contracts I can this time of year.’
‘I meant, where and when do you meet this guy, Bob?’
‘Depends.Today it was one click south of Billycan Corner.Once it was at this makeshift holding yard just outside of Tinderflats, just twenty clicks shy, along the Spinifex Highway.Another, down that old Ridgeback Road that links out toward the Black River mouth.’
Finn’s brow lifted.‘Where the old cattle barge used to load?’
Tooley gave a series of nervous nods.‘I overheard Bob’s mate natter on about flying some boxes out from the airfield tucked behind the old quarry from here on out.Swear one of ‘em cannisters was smoking, had this misty appearance to it like dry ice gets.’
Cryogenic canisters.Did Taryn realise the importance of this?
Finn clocked the way Taryn didn’t react outwardly, but he caught the flicker of interest.
Please ask the right questions, Fed.
Her pen barely made a sound, but every tick was like a clock, winding tighter.‘So how big were these things, the canisters?’
Tooley squinted, unable to lift his hands from the flex cuffs.‘Um…’
Taryn moved without hesitation, tugging a cutter from her fancy police vest and sliced through Tooley’s plastic restraints.‘Don’t even think about walking out of here,’ she said lightly, ‘not with a six-foot wall of law blocking the only exit.’
Finn didn’t move.Didn’t need to.
She flashed Tooley a grin.‘And trust me, you don’t want to try your luck with him.’She sat back in her seat, swapping the tool for the pen and clipboard.‘So, where were we?The cannisters…’
Tooley held his hands apart, roughly just over half a metre.‘They were silver.Cylinder-shaped things.’
Taryn tilted her head at the distance of his hands as if seeing it differently.‘So, like a gym junkie’s water bottle on steroids?Made of metal, about five litres.The bulky ones you know they’re never going to drink, but carry to look good.’
Finn didn’t move from the doorway, fighting the twitch of an eye roll trying to break free.
Tooley gave a vague nod.‘Kinda, I guess.To me, they look like them welder’s gas bottles.Only much smaller.And shinier.They had these weird nozzles and labels all over ‘em.’
Taryn nodded slowly.‘Do you think those canisters could hold biological material?Semen?Embryos?’
Tooley’s eyes went wide.‘Like… bull semen?’
