Chapter 37 #2
They stared at each other, trying to work out if Drew had the time to fly back to Canberra and get on that other jet? Or was Drew on the jet coming from Adelaide?
‘What I don’t get is why Darwin?’ she murmured. ‘Both jets are headed there. If he’s escaping, why not disappear from somewhere bigger, like Sydney or Melbourne?’
‘Because Darwin’s the perfect exit point.
Always has been.’ Finn took over her laptop and brought up a map of Darwin.
‘It’s remote. Quiet. With lots of international traffic, and not just tourists.
There are plenty of private hangars that run flights to the Indigenous communities, islands, deserts, and mine sites.
There are FIFO locker services, and long-term car parks no one monitors—especially with miners coming and going 24/7.
Perfect for someone like Drew to walk right through without even getting near a security camera. ’
‘Among his many fishing stories, my boss called Darwin the gateway to Asia.’
‘And for good reason. You don’t need to vanish in a big city. You vanish in a city so small and forgotten that no one’s watching.’ He looked at her. ‘And around here? The NT’s so small, half the Federal jobs are covered by local cops playing dress-up for the Commonwealth.’
‘Would Drew know this?’
Finn nodded. ‘He’s been in and out of Darwin plenty of times to fly overseas.
I’m sure he’d know every loophole in the system.
After all, it’s where he’d sent all that high-end stolen stock, like the equestrian horses, to get their genetic material to smuggle out of the country.
He didn’t keep that livestock down south, he had them all brought up here. ’
‘I’ve got his flight logs for the past three years.’ She tapped at her laptop. ‘Might be worth checking how often he dropped into Darwin. And if he’s rented out any long-term car parks under his bogus company names.’
‘Yeah, well, if he’s as rich as you say, Drew wouldn’t have just one exit plan. He’d have a dozen. Some stashed in capital cities. Some offshore. All of them quiet.’
‘Seriously?’
He glanced at her. ‘Drew wouldn’t run. He’d tighten his tie, smile for the cameras… and vanish in a fancy suit like it was all part of the schedule.’
‘Well, then, we’d better ruin his schedule, huh?’
Stone’s voice cut in over comms: ‘A jet has just been picked up on my radar… I’ve got eyes on it. Circling. Pilot hasn’t dropped his landing gear yet.’
Taryn’s mouth thinned. ‘That’s not Drew’s ride in—it’s his backup. He’s not on that plane. He’s sending someone else in to collect the freight, and to clean up loose ends. You said those names, what were they? The only others who knew about this quarry?’
‘Clancy and the pilot.’ Finn’s brow tightened.
She tapped her screen again. ‘I bet Drew’s split the trail. A smuggler’s trick. Leave one flight obvious, and let the real one vanish in the noise.’ Her mind reeled. ‘Just like there’s nothing on paper about Drew ever visiting Elsie Creek.’
Finn looked at her as the weight of it sat heavy in the space between them.
Drew might already be gone.
Or he was still coming.
‘Do I have time to text Marcus? He’d have the contacts to send someone to Darwin airport, to watch for that other plane.’ She could only hope.
Finn nodded. ‘I’ll be fifty-fifty… Drew’s either on that jet, or halfway to a beach with clean boots and cold beer.’
‘Let’s make a bet…’ Taryn smirked as she sent the message to Marcus, who was busy coordinating from the Batcave, with Izzy helping him draft warrants, prepare charges, and trawl through her files for anything they could use to make legal arrests.
‘If I’m right, which I am, we’ll find Drew on the other jet, you’ll be learning how to make real coffee.
The kind that doesn’t taste like river sludge.
Oh, and you’ll be wearing an apron for the tutorial. ’
‘Apron?’
‘And a new kettle that whistles. Maybe a new gas cooker for the troopy, too. We’re doing this properly, Sergeant.’
Finn grunted. ‘Fine. But if I’m right… you’re giving Cecil a bath.’
‘Absolutely not!’
‘You made a bet.’
‘Cecil is a water buffalo who tried to eat my hair.’
‘He likes your perfume.’
‘He hunts me with his big wet nose and flower crown like some snorting Valentine’s Day mascot who got the date wrong.’
Finn smirked. ‘Cecil likes you, and he deserves a spa day.’
‘First, I never expected the words spa day to ever come from your mouth.’ Taryn groaned. ‘Second, he’s a water buffalo, not a bridesmaid.’
‘Still counts. Bet’s a bet, lady.’ He held out his hand.
‘Fine.’ She shook it.
Below, the quarry jet cut through the sky like a scalpel. Its shadow streaked across the cracked basin as it dropped toward the compacted earth, aiming for the rough runway where Red and Bob waited for their escape.
Finn held her hand a second longer than seemed necessary.
Taryn felt the spark dart up her spine like a live wire. The words were there, right on the tip of her tongue, ready to be said.
Then Taryn’s phone buzzed.
She flicked it open, her eyes flaring at the news.
‘Not more bad news.’ Finn groaned.
‘The second jet from Canberra, it landed in Darwin. Empty. Drew was never on that jet.’
Finn looked at her. Then they both turned to watch the jet circling the quarry’s runway. ‘We’re on.’