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“If that’s what you want,” he agreed.
They were agreeing to ignore their problems, for now. It didn’t mean they’d magically go away. All Indy wanted was to enjoy Finn as long as she could.
“Now, I still count three more condoms lying on the floor over there.” His serious eyes turned mischievous.
“Already?” she queried, returning his cheeky smile with one of her own. “You want to go again, huh, stud?”
“That’s me.” He tapped her nose with his finger and reached over to grab another foil packet. “Just call me stud, from now on.” He wasn’t kidding, she could feel his rock-hard erection pressed into her thigh, letting her know just how ready he was.
All her fatigue washed from her bones. Taking the chance to spend the next few hours with Finn would be worth the hours of lost sleep. She would keep this gorgeous man in her heart for the rest of her life, even if she could only have him in the flesh for a few more days.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
FINN BLINKED HIS bleary eyes. Rubbing them did no good. The only thing that’d fix his blurry eyesight was sleep. But he wasn’t counting on getting much tonight, so his eyes would just have to suck it up. He’d run undercover ops before, where he’d gone three to four days on very little sleep, so this was nothing new.
Dave nudged his elbow and said, “Too much nocturnal activity last night, huh?”
“Yeah, the missus keep you awake all night?” Carrot sniggered. At least Carrot seemed to have come around and forgiven Finn for his sins, for which he was grateful.
Finn merely raised an eyebrow and went back to listening to the banter around the campfire, waiting for the dinner gong to sound. There was no way he was giving out details of his exploits with Indy. At least everyone had accepted he and Indy were a couple without any fanfare. Almost as if it had been a given. A bit of friendly ribbing was to be expected. He’d even seen Beth smile encouragingly at Indy, giving a wink and a nod in Finn’s direction. Which made him wince inwardly, but he didn’t blame the crew for needing something else to talk about besides death and mutilation.
He’d been avoiding turning his sat phone on all day, avoiding Mike at all costs. After their conversation last night, Mike would probably still have steam coming out of his ears. Finn had practically overruled his supervisor’s command to return fromthe field, refusing to leave until Friday night, when the muster would be over, and everyone would go their separate ways.
Like he’d predicted, Mike wanted everyone back in the office to work non-stop on bringing these guys down. Mike thought they had a solid lead as to the man in charge of the whole operation. The GPS tracker they’d planted in the drugs, which’d been sitting in the port for the past few days, was showing the drugs had moved. It’d led them to a house in the outer suburbs of Townsville, where they’d arrested a man who turned out to be a courier; a middleman who would distribute the meth to various dealers. But the courier had broken down much more easily than they expected and given them some names. Most of them were dealers he worked with, but one he’d assured the cops was the name of someone big in the drug ring. An Italian businessman living the high life in Broome, but with rumored connections to the underworld, as well as mafia connections back in his home country. The team was making connections and talking to sources to confirm the details. But if the lead proved correct, they’d be launching a raid, possibly within the next few days, and definitely within the week. Mike wanted Finn there to take part. Finn wanted to be there, also. Not wanting to miss his chance to be part of such a historic takedown.
Finn had argued back and forth with the sarge, trying to come up with a concrete reason he needed to stay and see out the end of the muster. Mike had eventually grudgingly agreed, but made it on one condition. If the raid was scheduled to take place sooner, then he wanted Finn’s ass back ASAP.
Two cattle trucks, both with double trailers, had rattled into camp just as everyone was taking their seats around the fire. Bindi had sighed and laid out two more plates for dinner. “They always seem to manage to time it just right,” she grumbled.
But who could blame the truckies? Bindi’s cooking seemed to be getting a good reputation out here. And perhaps thatreputation was overturning the rumors and innuendo caused by two murders at the camp. Finn had no way of knowing if these truck drivers were clean or dirty. Now they had garnered the information they needed, the task force was letting the drug gang continue to run unhindered, until they were ready to pounce. So, these trucks could well be loaded with methamphetamine. It was no longer Finn’s duty to check, however, and he was glad about that. All he was doing now was monitoring the crew’s safety and making sure nothing untoward happened in the next two days.
Which was good, because all Finn could think about right now was grabbing a hot shower to finish off this long day, and falling into bed with Indy.
The two truck drivers joined them, introducing themselves as Brandy and Clive. A husband-and-wife team, who often drove together. Interesting. Finn had to keep reminding himself it took all types to make the world go round, and it was very different out here in the country. Brandy was a tiny woman who at first glance resembled a child, walking along beside her large, hirsute husband. Until she finally turned around to face them all, and her large breasts seemed completely out of place on her petite body. The question,were these two hauling drugs tonight?ran through his brain, but he was so tired that, for once, he didn’t really care.
It was nice to have two fresh faces in the mix. They brought in news from the outside world. But they also said that Stormcloud Station was the talk of the outback, with speculation flying about the two bodies found so close together. Very little information had been released to the public. And luckily, they were so remote that the media had pretty much ignored them. Preferring instead to get their updates directly from Senior Sergeant Johnson in Cairns. Except for the few brave souls who’d ventured out to Dimbulah to try and track down the story.They hadn’t lasted very long in the heat and flies and the lack of information being sent their way. So far, it seemed there’d been no hint of the true nature of the crime, or that drug smuggling was involved. Which put Finn’s mind at ease.
Indy plonked herself down in the chair next to Finn, fresh from the shower. He couldn’t help it, he lifted his nose, and breathed in deep. “You smell good,” he whispered.
“I know,” she whispered back, touching the tip of her tongue to her front teeth and giving him a seductive smile that only he could see.
They still had one condom left from last night. But after that was gone… Finn considered asking Carrot if he had any to spare. Not for the first time, Finn berated himself for not bringing any protection. But it’d never crossed his mind he’d need them out here.
“I borrowed something from Bindi,” she said quietly in his ear, and his heart leapt. He knew exactly what she was talking about.
“Nice,” he replied with a wink.
They chatted over dinner, and of course the truckies wanted to hear all about the double murder. Finn listened as the rest of the crew were only too happy to fill them in on the details. He was bone tired, and all he could think about was sleeping next to Indy. This might be sacrilege, but he may have to forego the sex for some sleep. But at least if he was doing it next to Indy, it’d be the next best thing.
While everyone was still discussing the intricacies of how a man could be murdered in such a gory manner, but yet no one in the camp had heard anything, Finn leaned over and spoke to Indy. “I’m just going to take a shower and do a quick tour of the camp. Then I’ll be over to you in half an hour or less.”
“I’ll be waiting,” she said, lowering her gaze coquettishly. He didn’t need any more invitation than that.
With a renewed bounce in his step, he gave his plate to Bindi and made off for his tent to collect a set of clean clothes. He hadn’t done any washing for over a week, and was running low on things to wear. Washing facilities out here were basic, at best. An old wringer washing machine had been set up near the shower, plugged into the generator that supplied the pump for the water. But you had to stand and watch it the whole time, otherwise it chewed your clothes and Finn hadn’t found the time. Perhaps he could do a couple of shirts and some boxer shorts in the shower with him.
Quickly visiting his tent, he grabbed his flashlight, some clothes and his shampoo, and headed for the shower. He really should’ve done it earlier, the air had a decided chill in it, now the sun had gone down. Using his flashlight to find his way in the dark, he whistled something happy as he rounded the back of the water tank.
A rusty old spotlight had been set up above the shower, but when Finn flipped the switch, nothing happened. Bugger, the bulb must have blown. He needed to tell Dale to come and fix it. But he was here now, and his flashlight would do the trick. The shower was a small cupboard like structure, open to the sky, with a foot-high gap running around the bottom where the water ran off into a gulley. He stepped inside and shut the door. Maneuvering in the small, cubicle-like space wasn’t easy, but he found a spot on top of the wall where could rest his flashlight. Stripping off quickly, he folded his clothes and pushed the pile underneath the bottom of the cubicle, placing his hat on top, then turned on the tap and stood back, waiting for the hot water to flow through.
