She looked up when a voice carried down the corridor, and through her open office doorway.
It wasn’t loud, but she’d heard it once in Elsie Creek police station.All smooth and polite while talking to Amara about Finn in the Batcave by video link.
Drew Bannon.
The Federal Agricultural Commissioner was in the building.
She sat higher and peered through the glass windows.
It was him.Drew.The one Stone calledBig Daddy.
The Commissioner was a formidable figure, dressed in a tailored suit that fitted his tall frame perfectly.His sharp gaze assessed the surroundings with practised ease before glancing at his wristwatch while talking with her director, Russ Colgrave.
Why was Drew here?
She sat back, pressing two fingers to her temple.The lights felt brighter now.
Her boss walked in a minute later, oblivious to the storm still spinning behind her eyes.
‘Taryn.Your draft’s raised a few flags.It’s been suggested it implies a lack of oversight.Commissioner Bannon wasn’t exactly thrilled with the tone.’Russ flicked through a few pages of the report itself.
‘The Federal Agricultural Commissioner read my preliminary report?’Of course, Drew would show an interest.After all, he was the one who’d backed the Stock Squad’s creation to get the funding for this test case.On paper, he had every reason to watch the data roll in, waiting for proof it worked.
And now that she’d delivered exactly that, she had to ask, ‘Was there a problem?’
Russ dropped onto her couch, like he did every time he came into her office.‘I think he was expecting something else.Is it because you only had six weeks?I know that’s a hell of a turnaround—not the usual three months.Maybe something slipped?But then I thought, hey, I sent in a pit bull when a shih tzu would’ve done the trick.’
‘Hold on…’ She sat higher in her chair.‘Are you saying the Commissioner was the one who requested I be sent out there—knowing exactly what I do?’
She’d never have questioned it, not until Finn asked her to find out who’d sent her.
And now, after a month of chasing dead ends and clean paperwork, did she have her answer?
Russ gave a curt nod.‘Drew thought the NT would fold, as they had no infrastructure to carry them, and figured you’d come back with a list of failures.’He paused.‘Instead, you’ve given him a blueprint for the squad’s permanency and expansion.’
Drew sent her to Elsie Creek?To tear down his own trial program, when it was working.That made no sense.
From his spot on the couch, Russ flipped through the folder.‘I think it’s brilliant work, for what it’s worth.What you’ve presented and what they’ve done up there?Solid.Smart.Field-ready.’He gave her a half-smile.‘And that’s the reason why I keep saying you should take the promotion.You’ve got the receipts to show for it—same as this Stock Squad does.And the numbers don’t lie.’
‘Um, thanks, but I’m still considering it.’Taryn nodded slowly, as her mind ran at warp speed.What was the Commissioner doing, sending her in to shut down his beloved Stock Squad?And why?
O-oh…
‘Did you do any fishing while you were up there, in the Territory?’
‘No.Sorry.’She glanced at her department-issued PC screen with its cursor blinking.Her fingers pushed the mouse to hover over the search bar, just beckoning her to type in those two words:Andrew Bannon.
But she knew better.
Drew had started his career as a cop to become a master government manipulator.A public official with the power of a politician, but without the inconvenience of needing votes to keep his job.Which meant if she typed his name on her office PC, there was a 99% chance it would trigger some internal flag—maybe even an automated alert that’d go straight to him.
That’s how Meghan got caught.
And why Izzy almost didn’t make it out alive.
Taryn fake-smiled at her boss, who was halfway into a yarn about fishing in the Territory, as she reached into her trusty workbag.
‘When I was up north, they say you don’t just catch barra, you race crocs for ’em.’Russ leaned back on her couch, hooking his bad leg over his other knee to rub the joint that had landed him a permanent desk job.‘I’d never seen anything like it.Big salties sunbaking on riverbanks like they were British backpackers on holiday, waiting on you to catch the fish so they could steal it from you.And some of them crocodiles were bigger than the boat we were in…’
