Page 29

Seated on the backseat of the police van Amara busily tapped away on her tablet, beside her sat Romy, while Finn occupied the front, with Stone driving them along the fence line.

‘We’re here, kiddies, welcome to the north pole.’ Stone pointed to a simple power pole, that was just like all the others.

Romy wanted to ask questions, but didn’t even know where to begin, except follow instructions.

As they climbed out of the police van, Doug, the security guard, rolled up in his buggy.

His passenger jumped out, wearing a beaten cowboy hat where the sweat had created a salt line circling above his hatband.

The guy’s rolled up shirt sleeves showed off his deeply tanned arms, looking more like a stockman who dealt with cattle, than crocodiles.

‘Hey, Stone, did you speak to The Vegan yesterday?’ Doug hitched up his uniform trousers, his belt hidden under his protruding belly.

‘I did. Why?’

‘She’s gone.’

‘What do you mean gone ?’ Finn’s gruff tone was enough to get everyone’s attention.

‘I mean packed up camp and skedaddled.’

Finn glanced back at Stone in a look that made Romy step back.

‘Don’t worry, Bossman, I know where she went. Raven didn’t do this. She’s flat out using her mobile phone to answer a text message or forgets that the red light in her van is for checking her oil.’

‘Whatever you did,’ said Doug, patting Stone’s shoulder, ‘I should have gotten you to do it a while ago to give me some peace.’

‘Why? Don’t you two have a love-hate relationship?’

‘Crazy woman nearly killed me with her paint bomb. Gave me a mongrel of an asthma attack, it did. When I’ve never reacted like that to paint before.’

‘You’re okay now, aren’t you?’

‘Yeah. And I hate to admit it, but Raven was good. She drove me to the hospital straight away and stayed there until Celeste showed up with my boy. Raven even volunteered to watch him, but Celeste took good care of us. You should’ve seen Raven dobbing herself in to the police, holding out her wrists, telling Policeman Porter to arrest her.

You know,’ said Doug, rubbing the back of his thick neck.

‘Raven was more worried about my health than the boss. She even baked me cookies and everything.’

‘Are you aware that Raven’s cookies come with a warning label, right?’ Stone murmured quietly, just out of earshot of Amara and Finn.

‘Celeste warned me.’ Doug gave a low chuckle, as Romy pursed her lips together.

‘But then we had to put up with Malcolm complaining about paying your medical bills and the time off to recover,’ said the guy who’d arrived with Doug.

‘Who are you?’ Classic Finn. No hello. No small talk. Just straight to the point.

‘Sorry, fellas, this is Griffin McBayne. Griff’s the fella who put in the hatches in the hatchery roof.’

‘Roof traps, I call them. Jed helped me, with his father, Malcolm, supervising, of course.’ Griffin folded his arms over his chest to lean his hip against the buggy. ‘I’ve been meaning to put in a handle. Bastion’s always complaining about getting burnt lifting them.’

‘Now, shortcake, if I know Finn, he’ll want you to film the next part of this daytime tour to the dead zone.’ Stone dragged out Romy’s drone case from the back of the police van. ‘Bossman? Where do you want us?’

‘Constable, park the police van as close to that power pole as possible. Romy, get your bird in the air. Stone, you’ll come with me.’

Stone carried the drone into a clear space for Romy as she activated the control panel. As a pilot—who’d done this a few times for her now—he instinctively set it in the perfect spot: flat, with plenty of clearance, free from trees and sheltered from the wind.

On her nod, Stone switched the drone on and stepped back. It soon came to life, buzzing like a high-pitched swarm of mechanical bees as it rose steadily into the air.

‘That take-off is almost as good as mine in the helicopter.’ Stone peered over her shoulder to check out the image on the control panel.

‘Got any flying tips?’

‘You don’t need them. You know what you’re doing.’

‘Thanks.’ She rolled her shoulders as the pride brush over them.

‘What are you guys doing?’ Doug asked.

‘Stone noticed this strange relay box,’ Finn said, while directing Amara to steer the police van close to the pole. ‘It’s not on your security plans, or the architectural plans. As the head of security, did you know this was here?’

Doug looked downright uncomfortable, tugging at his shirt’s collar that suddenly seemed too tight.

‘It’s okay, Doug, you’re not in any trouble,’ said Stone, while Finn remained stony-faced.

‘Yeah, but…’

‘But what?’ Finn was scary when he stared down a suspect, especially when he had his shirt sleeves rolled up, exposing his heavily tattooed arms, and even over the back of his hands and neck. The man had some serious presence.

Doug swallowed, tugging again on that collar as sweat beads trickled down the sides of his face. ‘I’ve never noticed that or know what it is.’

‘Hey, take a deep breath, mate. We don’t need you having an asthma attack.’ Stone patted Doug’s shoulder. ‘When were you sent to the hospital over that paint bombing incident with The Vegan?’

‘A few months back. Why?’

Stone then mumbled to Finn, ‘I bet you a new pair of crocodile boots that’s when they installed that box.’

‘Who was in charge when you were off ill?’ Finn asked Doug.

‘Macca. He’s been leading the night-shift team for years.’

Stone squinted up the pole. ‘The way I see it, if this other security guard was so used to working the night shift, he wouldn’t have noticed something that small. At night, the top power box would cleverly shade the smaller relay box to not notice any difference.’

‘Good point.’ Again, Finn slipped on his leather gloves, then hoisted a small toolbox onto the roof of the police van, with its massive four-wheel-drive tyres, and big bull bar. ‘Come on, Stone, let’s open it and see if your theory is right.’ Finn climbed up the back cage of the police van.

Romy gripped the back of Stone’s shirt again. ‘You’re not climbing up there.’

‘What is it with you grabbing my shirt like that? Do you want to see me shirtless again? Is that it?’ He grinned at her. ‘You know, you can take another shot of my arse while I’m up on that roof.’

‘Excuse me?’ Romy stepped back. Her cheeks had to be glowing a pomegranate red because the heat was steaming out from under her shirt collar.

‘Your camera took an awful lot of footage of my backside yesterday. Did you do that on purpose?’

‘I-I-I was following you through the scrub. I film everything. A lot gets cut out in the editing process. This is raw footage.’

‘Well, hell, Romy if you want raw footage of my—’

‘Stone, get up here!’

‘Yes, Bossman.’ Stone chuckled as he easily climbed to the roof of the paddy wagon, displaying his athleticism—which, of course, she had to film.

‘Sir, do I need to explain the risks in this situation?’ Amara slid on a different hat from yesterday. This hat was made of dark green felt that featured a flat, oval-shaped crown with a wide brim that provided excellent sun protection.

‘We’re not unplugging it, constable. But find us a sparky to give us an independent report.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Amara tapped on her tablet.

‘I like your hat, Amara.’ Wishing she had one for this weather.

‘Really? It’s a new style. I call it the gambler’s hat.

’ Amara removed her hat, showing it off to Romy.

‘I’m waiting to see how long before Stone or Craig say something about it not being a cattleman’s hat.

’ Amara’s voice deepened as if mimicking Stone and Craig, ‘ You’ll fry your brains out here wearing a wool hat with a low crown, Missy . No sheep stations out here.’

It had Romy giggling. ‘I’ll stick up for you. It’s nice.’

‘Thank you.’ Amara gave a nod, sliding it back on her head.

‘I’d better call that sparky before those two create a blackout.

’ With phone in one hand, tablet in the other, she stepped away, while watching Finn and Stone, standing on top of the police van, inspecting a metal box the size of a small letterbox.

Griffin came up beside Romy and peered at the drone’s controls. ‘I’ve been thinking of getting a drone to take out hunting with us.’

‘What do you hunt?’

‘Pigs. They’re a feral pest out here.’

She remembered Stone talking with Porter in the police station earlier about the same thing. ‘Aren’t you a pen-keeper? Isn’t that like a zookeeper.’

‘More of a dogsbody who feeds and cleans the crocodile ponds. I’ll repair fences, pens, or whatever is needed. With a drone it’d be handy to inspect the pens, especially when the salties get older.’

The thought was terrifying, as her thumbs shifted the controls to adjust the drone’s altitude, to steadily hover above Finn and Stone.

‘Hey, is it true that Northern Tides and Mudlands croc farms found some strange juvenile crocodiles this morning?’ Doug pointed down the long fence line, with its lethal row of barbed wire sparkling under the sun like a prison.

‘Who told you that?’ Amara spun around to face Doug and Griff. Even Finn and Stone paused, having successfully removed the box’s cover to expose a bunch of wires.

‘Their managers rang here. Malcolm was going to collect them, but I told him to call you guys first. Celeste agreed, she said it’d be a risk to the stock, that they’d need to go into quarantine. So did those other croc farms call you lot?’

Finn nodded, before returning his attention to the metal box. ‘What do you think, Stone? This hasn’t been here long. The internal wiring is pretty clean. It’s not weatherworn, and the serial numbers are still legible.’ He tapped on a shiny label stuck to the box.

‘Oh, good, I can use that serial number to tap into it.’ Stone pulled out his satphone and entered the numbers into the keypad.

‘And?’

‘If it’s a security relay, run by remote, I should be able to pick it up on my Bluetooth…’ Stone aimed his phone at the box, then grinned. ‘Well, hell, look at that, Bossman.’ He held up the phone to Finn.

‘That was easy.’

‘What do you see?’ blurted out Romy. Only to wince at Amara. ‘Sorry, can I ask that?’

‘All good. I was about to ask the same thing.’

‘I’m with her,’ said Doug, with Griffin nodding. ‘What do you see?’

‘Your security cameras,’ said Stone, sharing his phone with Finn.

‘Which ones?’ Doug asked.

‘All of them. Including the hatchery.’ Finn wasn’t happy as he jumped down from the police van.

‘Constable, get that sparky out here ASAP. This needs to be removed for the security of this farm. I want it dusted for fingerprints and a trace done on the serial number to see where it came from.’ He nodded at Amara who nodded, while busily working on her tablet.

‘And if I were you, Doug, I’d be calling in your entire security team to comb every inch of this property, to see if there are more of those boxes, or anything else out of the ordinary. ’

‘Good idea.’ Doug nodded hard and fast. ‘Anything else you’d like me to do?’

‘I’d be taking a peek at everyone’s phone to see if any of them have that app,’ mumbled Stone.

‘Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower or the time,’ said Finn.

‘Or the warrants to do so, sir,’ Amara whispered under her breath, only Romy heard it.

But it was clear Finn was working on another angle. ‘As the head of security, Doug…’

‘I could do it.’ Doug nodded eagerly. ‘Just tell me what to look for?’

Finn nodded at Stone.

Stone scrolled open his phone and showed Doug the screen. ‘For this security setup, there’s only one app that works with it. I’ll download it to your phone so you’ll recognise the icon. They might change the name, but the app image stays the same.’

‘Yeah, okay.’ Doug handed over his phone to Stone.

‘Here, you can check my phone out.’ Griff tugged free his phone from his belt. ‘I’ve got nothing to hide, and I know how upset Lenora is over losing those crocs. I’d do anything to help recover them.’

With Stone guiding Doug, the security guard scrolled over Griff’s phone, comparing the apps. ‘Nothing.’

‘Let’s hope for the sake of the rest of the staff that you don’t find it,’ mumbled Finn. ‘It’d kill the morale in this place.’

‘You know, Bossman, they’d have to shut down the power to put that box in… Know of any recent blackouts, Doug?’

‘We get them all the time,’ butted in Griff. ‘Like most properties out here, this place mostly runs on generator and solar power. Sometimes we forget to fill the generator tanks, especially with the weather cooling down, and how the hatchery draws down a lot more power just to keep it warm.’

‘For a self-described dogsbody who built the roof hatches, you seem to know an awful lot about the hatchery’s power load. Don’t you?’ Amara gave him a polite police smile. ‘Do you have an electrician’s background too?’

Amara’s question had Romy keenly listening in for the answer, as she packed away her drone.

‘Only the basics, like most people do when growing up on a cattle station. But then,’ Griff said, with his easy grin widening, ‘you pick up a thing or two when you’re dating the boss’s daughter, and Lenny’s favourite subject is that hatchery.

’ He gave a sweet smile. ‘Heck, that woman would move her bed in there if she could.’

Aww, Griff was in love.

‘Right, let’s go children, Daddy Stone has a batch of baby crocs to collect before lunchtime.’ Stone opened the back door of the police van for Romy. ‘All aboard the outback’s crocodile express.’