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Indy was shocked at the way he spoke to his wife. But Rosie didn’t seem to notice.
“Grab some rope from the box over there.” Brian gestured to the neatly stacked storage containers beneath the annex. Strangely, Rosie did as she was told, not questioning Brian, and not questioning the fact he was holding a strange man atgunpoint. She scuttled toward the box, her bare feet not making any sound in the red dust.
What the hell was going on here?
Why wasn’t Finn speaking? Why didn’t he just tell Brian who he was? And why were Rosie and Brian acting this way? Almost as if they knew what Finn was up to. Almost as if they’d been expecting this to happen. Indy couldn’t stay hidden any longer. She stood and began walking out of the bush. This needed to be sorted out. Once Brian knew it was Finn, he’d put away the gun, and—
Finn suddenly dove sideways while Brian was distracted watching Rosie. He hit the dust and then crawled as fast as he could toward the rear of the truck.
Brian swore and plunged after Finn, grabbing him around the waist just as he was about to turn the corner, knocking him to the ground. Thank God he hadn’t tried to shoot Finn.
What did Finn think he was doing? The two men sprawled in the dust, grunting and straining. Brian must’ve dropped his flashlight when he went after Finn, and now it rolled on the ground, making crazy, flickering shadows.
Indy ran toward the scene. “Brian, get off him,” she yelled. “It’s Finn, you idiot. Get off him and let him explain.”
But Brian ignored her. Instead, he rolled over and managed to get on top of Finn, putting his elbow against Finn’s neck.
“Stop that,” Indy yelled again, really frightened this time.
“Shut her up, will you?” Brian hissed, staring past Indy’s shoulder.
Before she had a chance to turn around, Rosie had her by the throat, and was trying to pull her to the ground, one hand covering her mouth to stop her from calling for help. What the fuck? Mild-mannered, softly-spoken Rosie was trying to squeeze the life out of her? Indy suddenly forgot about Finn and began to fight for her own life. She might be small, but shewas strong. Rosie was taller than her, thin and lean, but she wasn’t as desperate as Indy. Instead of clawing at Rosie’s arm in an attempt to dislodge it, Indy reverted to the dirty fighting tactics she’d learned working with the jackaroos over the years, watching them scrapping and fighting. There’d been one man, the manager of the station she’d been working at one time, Andy, who’d also shown her a few tricks—to help her protect herself, he’d told her. She brought her booted foot down on Rosie’s bare toes, eliciting a muffled howl from the other woman. Rosie’s hand slipped from covering her mouth, and Indy began to yell at the top of her lungs.
Even if no one in the camp had heard Indy when she called out the first time, they must’ve heard that. Now she suddenly understood why Brian and Rosie were trying so hard to keep quiet. If no one else came to investigate, then they wouldn’t be any the wiser when Finn and Indy disappeared without a trace.
A shaft of clarity hit Indy like a bright light going off in her brain. Finn had found something incriminating underneath their truck. A link perhaps to the drug trade, and perhaps even Wombat’s death. And now Brian and Rosie would do anything to keep him quiet. Which meant keeping her quiet, as well.
The blow to Rosie’s toes hadn’t completely set Indy free, and the other woman still hung on for dear life, her other hand clawing at Indy’s face.
Indy landed her elbow into Rosie’s ribs, letting out another scream when Rosie's nails bit into her cheek. The bitch was trying to rake her eyes out. Twisting her head back and forth, she grabbed a handful of Rosie’s hair and yanked as hard as she could. Indy had never been in a true fight before. Certainly not a fight for her life. But if she could wrangle a wild bush micky bull to the ground for branding, then she could handle this one little woman.
With another vicious kick, she scraped her boot heel down on Rosie’s shin. It wasn’t enough to dislodge her completely, but she stumbled backward, and her grip on Indy’s throat loosened just enough for Indy to turn and face her opponent. She lashed out with all her might, punching Rosie in the face. Once, twice, three times, until Rosie let her go to protect her face. More of Andy’s long-ago tuition came back to her, and Indy grabbed Rosie by the wrist and twisted it up behind her back, the way he’d had shown her how to do all those years ago. She never thought she’d ever use this move. But it seemed to work like magic. She’d turned the tables, and now had Rosie at her mercy. All the fight seemed to go out of the other woman, and she sagged against her, sobbing.
She’d won. She could hardly believe it, but she’d won her first-ever fight.
Indy had lost track of what was going on between the two men rolling on the ground, but when she turned around, what she saw froze her blood in her veins.
Finn and Brian were still wrestling, the gun lying a few feet away in the dust, as if it’d been knocked out of Brian’s hand. As she watched, Brian broke free and lunged for the weapon, rolling on his back and bringing it up to aim it directly at Finn’s chest. Finn also froze midway to standing. His balaclava had come off sometime during the scuffle, and she could see his handsome face clearly in the beam from the flashlight.
“Stop it!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Brian, stop this lunacy. It’s too late. If you kill Finn now, you won’t get away with it. You’ll go to jail for the rest of your life. And so will Rosie.”
Brian snarled, but didn’t take his eyes off Finn.
“She’s right,” Finn panted. “I’m a cop, Brian. If you shoot me, you can rest assured my team won’t stop until they catch you.”
“Fuck,” Brian yelled. The gun wavered, and Indy hoped their words were getting through to him.
The sound of pounding feet announced the arrival of Dale and Mack, who rounded the back of the truck in a flurry of dust.
“What the hell…?” Dale stopped dead, taking in the scene in front of him, Mack pulling up short behind him.
“There are too many witnesses, Brian. It’s over.” Finn got to his feet and took a few steps toward Brian. “Give me the gun,” he demanded, waving at Dale and Mack to stay where they were.
Indy’s heart leapt into her throat. Brian could still shoot him; he was taking an awful chance.
Then Brian did something completely unexpected. He sat up and pointed the gun at his own temple.
“I’m so sorry, Rosie,” he said quietly.
