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‘I was so out of it, I slept for most of the hour until Jenny felt safe enough to come and lie beside me.’

‘I was worried about you, love. You were crook, we had no phone, and Zed was up there scanning the countryside with a high-powered rifle with a telescopic sight.’ She turned back to Graysen and Sandra. ‘I was terrified the whole time he’d spot us and come down, but eventually they headed west. Every hundred metres or so, they’d stop and he’d look around through the telescopic sight. When he did that, I’d pull back a bit.’

Graysen interrupted. ‘You said they were heading west? You’re absolutely sure of that? They kept going west after they didn’t find you?’

‘Yes. And then they disappeared so the trail must have gone down off the ridge. I assumed they were heading to the camp site at Birthday Waterhole. I was terrified for Jodie, and I worried where Maggie was after I’d heard that shot. Plus, we worried where you pair had got to when you didn’t appear on the trail either. When I went back to Clive and told him what I’d seen, we decided to stay put until he felt better and then head back this way and try to get back to Standley Chasm and report what we’d seen.’

‘Plus, we also knew there was a risk they were hiding up there and sitting us out.’

Sandra couldn’t imagine what that would have been like.

‘It must have been dreadful for you.’

‘In all my years in the police force I don’t think I was ever as scared as I was in those three hours. Eventually we made a move and took off into another gorge that hid us from the track. We decided to walk in the dark to keep warm.’

‘And to get closer to safety,’ Clive added. ‘It’s lucky we found you. We got lost a while back and went down a couple of gullies that led nowhere.’

‘That’s why we decided to stay here for the night,’ Graysen said. ‘Without the sun I’d be lost.’

‘Clive’s got a compass on his watch, so we knew if we kept heading east, we’d get there eventually. It’s so good to be here with you.’

‘I was so scared when Graysen said he saw your light, but it was such a relief when we recognised your voices. I feel like there’s safety in numbers,’ Sandra said.

In the dim light, she saw Graysen and Jenny exchange a look, and she realised there was actually no safety when there was a rifle involved.

‘We’re still not sure of the way back and the fact that we stumbled on you is unbelievable. There are so many gullies and gorges. We haven’t seen half of it from up on the trail. When we saw this narrow gorge, we decided it was a good place to rest and head out in the morning. We hoped it was out of the wind a bit.’

‘I was starting to feel a bit crook again,’ Clive said. ‘I don’t know what Miska gave me.’

‘Something to knock you out,’ Graysen said.

‘Yes,’ Jenny agreed. ‘And that was another reason we stayed away from the trail. Whoever they are, and whatever they are doing, is well-planned. They’re after someone and they’re making sure that there’s no-one left to witness what they’ve done.’

Graysen stiffened and Sandra stared up at him. His forehead was creased in a frown.

‘I assumed that Maggie was their target,’ he said.

‘Never assume, Graysen,’ Jenny said. ‘It could simply have been an opportunity to remove her as a witness.’

Chills ran along Sandra’s limbs, and her shiver was more from fear than the cold wind that still gusted along the gorge. ‘But who could they have been after and why?’

‘Any one of our group,’ Jenny said. ‘And the why is the payment they’ll get. I don’t think they were personally known to anyone on the trek, but for the right money, killers can be hired. If you knew how often it happens, you’d be shocked. Assassins are even brought in from overseas, and they fit that mould.’

Sandra shook her head. ‘Even after my experience, I can’t understand the inherent evil in people who will do that for money.’

Jenny’s expression tightened. ‘Some also do it for the power and the thrill of a kill.’

Sandra nodded as she recalled the year that Fairweather went after them. ‘The guy who was hired to kill Peter and make it look like a suicide, the one who then went after my daughter, Ellie, and then kidnapped the Chief Magistrate’s wife, was apparently a cold killer who would do anything for the thrill of killing. Fairweather had him in his pocket. He met a timely end in the jaws of a crocodile.’

‘There can be natural justice,’ Jenny said.

Andrew moaned and stirred, and Sandra reached for the water bottle. ‘A drink, Andrew?’

His head dropped a small nod.

Graysen and Clive moved behind him and propped him up as he drank three capfuls of water, and then lay back, exhausted.

‘How are you going, Andrew?’ Sandra asked quietly. ‘Is the pain manageable? It’s another couple of hours until your next Panadol.’