Page 36 of Outback Skies


Font Size:  

Indy gasped in dismay.

“No!” Rosie screamed. “Don’t you dare do it. Don’t you leave me. I love you.” Rosie struggled in Indy’s grasp.

“This isn’t the right way to do it, man.” Finn took another step towards the man sitting on the ground.

“You don’t understand,” Brian ground out. “I was only doing it for Rosie. For the extra money we needed to buy our property. No one was supposed to get hurt. But he tried to double-cross us. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. I don’t want to go to jail.”

“Please,” Rosie pleaded with her man. “Please don’t do it. I need you. You can’t leave me alone.” The woman was almost hysterical in Indy’s arms. Indy wasn’t sure what role, if any, Rosie had played. But her heart went out to her. No wife should have to witness her husband like this. No wife should have to plead for his life.

Brian looked up and saw Rosie collapsed in a heap at Indy’s feet. He lowered the gun and began to sob. In two strides, Finn was by his side, removing the weapon, disarming it, and tucking into the waistband of his jeans.

Once Finn had the gun secured, Indy let go of Rosie. She got to her feet and flew into Brian’s arms, both of them sobbing like children.

“Holy fuck,” said Dale. “Do you want to let us know what’s going on now?”

“Sure,” Finn replied, putting his hands on his knees and bending over. “As soon as I get my breath back. And as soon as you call Nash and his boys to come and arrest these two. Keep an eye on them, will you?”

Indy made her way over to Finn and flung her arms around his neck, not caring who was watching. She could hear more people approaching, but for now, her focus was on Finn. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and held her close, perhaps realizing how badly she needed to feel his warm, very-much-alive body against hers.

“Why can’t you ever do what you’re asked?” he chided softly into her ear.

But she wasn’t going to react, instead, tipping his chin up with her fingers, so she could look directly into his face. “Please tell me you’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” he replied. “A few bruises, nothing broken.”

“Jesus, Finn,” she breathed. “You nearly gave me a heart attack when Brian pointed that gun at you.”

“I nearly gave you a heart attack?” His face took on a look of absolute shock. “When you turned up my heart jumped clean out of my body,” he growled. “I’m a trained police officer, Indy. I can look after myself.”

“Didn’t look that way to me tonight,” she responded, staring up at him, daring him to argue.

He clenched his teeth, but Indy saw the moment he decided to drop the topic, when he rolled his eyes and asked, “What about you?” He touched her face tenderly. “I can’t believe you followed me. I can’t believe you took that risk.”

“I couldn’t just sit there.” She knew she was trying to justify it to herself. Would she have done the same thing if she’d known what was going to go down? Probably. Giving a shrug of detachment, she raised a cheeky eyebrow. “Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

“I’m going to change your name. To something like Spitfire, or Firecracker, or Captain Marvel,” he mocked gently. But she could see the pride shining in his eyes.

This was turning out to be one helluva night. In the small recesses of her mind, Indy felt regret settle. There would be no hot sex for her and Finn tonight.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

FINN WATCHED THE convoy of police cars wind their way up the dirt track, away from the stock camp. It’d been a wild twenty-four hours, and he drew in a deep breath for what seemed like the first time since he’d discovered the methamphetamine hidden under Brian’s truck. The sun was just setting over the horizon, bringing darkness hurrying to cloak the outback.

Nash and Constable Willow had left hours ago, taking Brian and Rosie Wagner with them, to be formally charged at the Dimbulah station. Forensics had been out to inspect the crime scene, and impounded the truck and all of Brian and Rosie’s belongings, which had been packed up and driven back to Cairns for further investigation. Detective Sampson and his supervisor, Detective Sergeant Coldwater, were the last to leave, taking the rest of the phalanx of police officers with them.

Standing at the end of the road, Finn could actually say he was glad to see the last of them. It’d been a long, intense day. Emotionally and physically draining. A great catch, according to Coldwater; a huge coup, according to his boss. But his body ached in places he didn’t even know existed after his fight with Brian, and now exhaustion was taking over.

Indy came up to stand beside him, slipping an arm around his waist. “Dinner’s ready. You must be starving.” It was true, he’d hardly eaten all day. He felt a powerful urge to bury his face in Indy’s hair, draw in the smell of her, the essence of all that was good in this world.

“How are you feeling?” she asked quietly. “You should be celebrating, you just caught the bad guys. But you seem…a little down.”

Finn wasn’t sure how he felt. This seemed like a hollow victory. He’d come to know and like the married couple, and found it hard to reconcile the fact they were drug dealers, living right under their noses the whole time. That Brian was an accessory to a murder. It was the hardest part of his job as an undercover detective. Trying to maintain distance was sometimes impossible. To understand your target, you had to get close to them. And he had got close and was now feeling the backlash.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “I’m not in the mood to celebrate. It doesn’t feel right. Even though Brian and Rosie are criminals, they’re also our own people.”

“It’s interesting to hear you say that.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Does that mean you consider yourself one of us now? A lowly cattle musterer?”

She was trying to lighten the mood, but there was a grain of truth to her words. He was caught between two professions, and he wasn’t sure he could even answer her question at the moment. He would always be a detective; it was his calling, his bound duty, but he also felt an affinity for the land. For the simplicity and satisfaction of hard work and long days.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like