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Graysen’s command was low and urgent and Sandra dropped straight to the ground, Graysen beside her.

‘I think there’s someone near that gap in the gorge,’ he whispered close to her ear. ‘I’m sure I saw someone moving.’

‘Do you think they saw us?’ She kept her voice low.

‘I don’t know. I’m not even sure it was someone but I’m not taking any risks. Stay flat to the ground and keep your head down and we’ll get over to those rocks. Can you follow me and drag yourself over as quietly and fast as you can? It’s only about three metres away. There’s a big enough rock to give us cover.’

She turned her head so her whisper was against his ear. ‘I can do it.’ Sandra’s heart was thumping and a sharp rock beneath her was pressing into her right breast. Her elbow was stinging where she’d scraped it when she’d dropped to the ground. Luckily her pack was on her back so she didn’t have to worry about it dragging on the ground or her water bottle making any noise.

‘Go!’ His voice was low and urgent.

Sandra put her head down and used her elbows in a commando crawl to follow Graysen. They crawled around to the back of the rock. There was a narrow space between the high rock and the jagged cliff face behind them.

He sat up and Sandra lifted her head and Graysen nodded, holding out one hand to help her. ‘You’re bleeding.’ His breath was hot against her ear.

‘I’m fine. I’ve just grazed my elbow.’

‘I want you to wait here with my pack. I’m going to stay behind these rocks and make my way over there to see if there was someone. It’s quiet, but they could be waiting for us to come out into the open.’

‘No! It’s not safe. He’s got a rifle.’

‘Ssh. I’ll be careful. Stay here. I won’t go far. I promise I’ll come back. I won’t take any risks.’

Before Sandra could reply. Graysen dropped a quick kiss on her cheek, slipped his pack off and dropped it quietly to the ground. She pushed her knuckles to her mouth, holding back the cry for him to come back, and not to leave her alone.

Trying to focus on the external, Sandra looked down at her T-shirt. Blood was splattered on the bottom right side where her elbow had bled. She pulled her handkerchief from her shorts pocket and quietly took out her water bottle and unscrewed the cap. Carefully she tipped a tiny amount of water onto her handkerchief, and then lifted the bottle to her mouth and took half a mouthful, moistening the inside of her mouth before she swallowed it.

She dabbed her elbow and then folded her handkerchief into a pad and pressed into against the graze. The process kept her focus on where she was and kept her fear at bay. Her leg muscles were tense, and she breathed slowly, trying to keep her senses at full alert.

The wind whistled through the gorge and she shivered. There was no sunlight in the small gap between the rock and the cliff.

Small stones rolled along the ground on the other side of the rock and she froze as slow footsteps crunched on the rough ground. She waited for Graysen’s voice, but the only sound was shuffling footsteps on the small rocks. Sandra slipped her pack onto her back, and pushing her hands to the ground, rose to a crouch ready to run.

Chapter 19

Harbour View Apartments, Darwin

Dru stepped out of the lift, and pushed her hair back with her free hand as she juggled the takeaway container and her handbag. It was her turn to cook tonight and she’d cheated—as she did more often than not these days—because she was tired. She’d never slept as much as she had in these first months of her pregnancy. She knew that Connor wouldn’t complain about the takeaway from their favourite Thai restaurant; he hated cooking as much as she did, and in the low season they ate out most nights. There were some excellent restaurants within walking distance of their apartment.

Their apartment.

Connor had hated the thought of not contributing when he’d moved into her apartment overlooking Darwin harbour.

‘I feel like a kept man,’ he’d said often.

‘Good.’ Her response was always a cheeky grin. ‘I love having a kept man.’ But she hadn’t been able to say that after Connor had paid off her mortgage the week after they’d come back from their honeymoon two years ago.

Dru smiled as she tapped the security code into the pad beside the front door of their top floor apartment. The best time of the working day was coming home to Connor; he’d taken over the study and ran their security business from home. The security business that had led to their meeting when he had been investigating a diamond heist at the Matsu Diamond Mine where Dru had been employed as the chief rehabilitation engineer. She had been his chief suspect, but thankfully it hadn’t taken him long to find the guilty parties, and fall in love with her.

Now Dru worked part-time as contract consultant to the Department of Primary Industry and Resources, and once this contract was over, she was going to take a couple of years off to be home with the baby, and become more involved in Connor’s business.

As she walked to the kitchen to put the takeaway container on the benchtop, she could hear his voice coming from the study.

‘I’m home,’ she called out when she heard him disconnect the call. Taking out a packet of microwave rice, she waited as his footsteps padded down the hall tiles.

‘Dru.’ Connor’s usual greeting of a kiss on her lips and then a gentle hand on her pregnant tummy, and a ‘Hello, little bump,’ was noticeably absent. He stood in the doorway, his chiselled face set in a frown.

‘Hi, sweetie.’ She set the microwave to cook, and crossed the kitchen to kiss him before she went to have a quick shower. ‘Can you watch I don’t explode the rice while I have a really quick shower?’