Chapter 40 #2
‘And yet you were in a position to fix at least some of it,’ Finn said, his voice like dry gravel.
‘But instead, you chose to rip off the farmers and landowners who trusted you. So stop playing politician and say the real reason why you did this.’ He glared at Drew, daring him to finally tell the truth.
‘I told myself I was preserving something,’ continued Drew, lifting his chin in defiance.
‘I was the one holding the line when no one else would. And when the system fails completely—which it will—I’ll be the one to help replace it.
I tried to keep families on their cattle stations and crop farms. I swear I did.
I’ve helped pay their bills, put fuel into their generators, and built a supply chain that actually worked, and wasn’t controlled by the supermarket giants.
Sure, I profited. But so did everyone else.
You weren’t chasing villains, Finn. You were dismantling the only thing keeping the Australian livestock industry alive for Australians. ’
Yet Finn saw it—Drew didn’t think he was the villain. Drew actually thought he was fixing a broken system. One backdoor deal at a time.
‘And what about the farmers you stole stock from? How were you making their lives better?’
Drew lifted his hands, the chain of his cuffs clinked, as he loosened his tie, opening his crisp shirt wider as if really getting it off his chest.
The man always did like a podium, and Finn also knew Drew liked to fill in stretched out silences with words. But for once, the politician didn’t have an answer for that.
Finn’s jaw twitched. ‘And you used my Gaps File to do it.’
Drew didn’t even flinch. ‘You needed a purpose, so I gave you one.’
Finn stepped forward. ‘No. You gave me a lie.’
The plane dipped. A subtle shift, but Finn felt it in his chest. Landing prep.
Drew stared at the cuffs around his wrists. ‘You wouldn’t understand,’ he muttered. ‘You still believe the law can fix things. Please. It’s as broken as the government is. Pretending they’re defending the people, when they’re only there for the corporations lining their pockets. And I—’
‘No. You’re not a hero, Drew. You didn’t save anything. All you did was exploit the system, bleed it dry, then called it help so you could sleep at night.’ Finn glared at the man, his mentor of over twenty-years.
Stone’s voice crackled over the speaker. ‘Prepare for landing, peoples, we’re home.’
‘That was quick,’ said Taryn.
‘Stone told me Darwin to Elsie Creek, in a jet like this, takes less than twenty.’
Enough time for Drew to open one of his boxes and get arrested.
To confess.
And fall.
The drone of the engines hummed low as the wheels kissed the runway with a low bounce, enough to rattle the boxes occupying the spare seats.
The jet rolled to a stop, as the hum of the engine slowed. Out the window, the sky lit up in flashing red and blue from every police vehicle in town, lining the Elsie Creek airstrip.
He turned to Drew. ‘Time to go.’
Drew looked down at his cuffed wrists, then out the window as if looking for a rescue or some sort of applause.
The only audience was a scowling Mickey. Waiting in his grease-stained, grey coveralls, with his arms crossed like he owned the runway. Which, technically, he might do.
Stone opened the hatch, and the steps hissed down, winking at the Commissioner. ‘Hello, Big Daddy, welcome home.’
Outside, Marcus, the OIC, Tanisha, their ACPO, and the rest of Elsie Creek’s tiny NT police force were waiting.
And at the base of the stairs stood the Stock Squad.
Craig. Izzy. Amara and Porter, with Stone rushing to Romy’s side. All wearing their badges and vests.
They didn’t wear a uniform that matched. Wearing different boots, vests, hats and histories. They weren’t trained the same, but they all had unique skills and personalities that may clash—but when united, they were a force.
And this was more than just another arrest, because this might be the last one they ever did together as a team, in the same place where Drew had once handed them their badges and shook their hands at the start.
After what Drew had done to them, they were going to finish this right.
Finn’s boots hit the tarmac like a punctuation. He turned back to face Taryn, her hand firmly around Drew’s arm.
She didn’t gloat. Didn’t smile. With badge gleaming at her hip, she escorted Drew down the steps to face the squad he’d betrayed.
‘You built them.’ Finn said to Drew. ‘Look at them. See what you could have been proud of.’ He gripped Drew’s shoulder and shook him. ‘LOOK AT THEM!’
Drew raised his head. Yet, the once-pompous prick, couldn’t even look them in the eye. He was done.
Then Izzy stepped forward and her hand swung back, unleashing a mighty wallop.
Whack! The crack echoed across the tarmac.
Drew’s head snapped to the side, wincing at the sting from the lawyer who usually fought with her pen, not her fists. ‘What was that for?’
Izzy stared him down, her voice tight with fury. ‘That was for daring to shake my hand. For lying to my face about Everlight. And for pretending you were sorry, when you tried to have me killed.’
She then swung again, hitting his other cheek with a crack! ‘And that was for Meghan.’
Izzy didn’t wait for a reaction. She just stepped back in line beside Craig and gave Finn a quiet nod.
Finn’s heart may still be heavy, but something in him finally stilled. Justice wasn’t perfect. But it was done.
Drew stood handcuffed in his fancy suit, his tie askew, with his pride unravelling. The man who had once handed out badges and shaken hands, was now the one in chains. The team he’d sent to catch criminals had caught him instead.
It had come full circle.
A man who once held the country’s agricultural industry in his palm was being led away by Marcus, flanked by two NT uniforms. All done without any media to tape his long walk across the floodlit airstrip.
Stone muttered to the team, ‘There goes Big Daddy and his walk of shame.’
Craig snorted.
Amara huffed a laugh.
Even Romy cracked a smile, with her chin tucked low.
But it didn’t lift the weight. Not completely.
Because now, as the flashing lights were turned off and the police vehicles drove away, they stood there…
One ex-con who’d become a federal sergeant.
One federal inspector.
One Northern Territory senior constable.
One South Australian constable.
One lawyer.
One cowboy and stock inspector.
One crocodile wrangler and pilot.
One videographer.
And one tiny outback town.
None of them were sure if they’d still have their jobs tomorrow. Well, except Porter and Taryn.
Yet, Taryn stood beside Finn, while Izzy watched the paperwork literally walk away, with Craig’s hand resting lightly on her hip. Stone held Romy’s hand, and Porter slung his arm around Amara’s shoulders. All standing side-by-side as a team.
It was done.
But would they still be the Stock Squad tomorrow?