‘Yes, sir.’Amara tapped on her tablet.
‘I like your hat, Amara.’Wishing she had one for this weather.
‘Really?It’s a new style.I call it the gambler’s hat.’Amara removed her hat, showing it off to Romy.‘I’m waiting to see how long before Stone or Craig say something about it not being a cattleman’s hat.’Amara’s voice deepened as if mimicking Stone and Craig, ‘You’ll fry your brains out here wearing a wool hat with a low crown, Missy.No sheep stations out here.’
It had Romy giggling.‘I’ll stick up for you.It’s nice.’
‘Thank you.’Amara gave a nod, sliding it back on her head.‘I’d better call that sparky before those two create a blackout.’With phone in one hand, tablet in the other, she stepped away, while watching Finn and Stone, standing on top of the police van, inspecting a metal box the size of a small letterbox.
Griffin came up beside Romy and peered at the drone’s controls.‘I’ve been thinking of getting a drone to take out hunting with us.’
‘What do you hunt?’
‘Pigs.They’re a feral pest out here.’
She remembered Stone talking with Porter in the police station earlier about the same thing.‘Aren’t you a pen-keeper?Isn’t that like a zookeeper.’
‘More of a dogsbody who feeds and cleans the crocodile ponds.I’ll repair fences, pens, or whatever is needed.With a drone it’d be handy to inspect the pens, especially when the salties get older.’
The thought was terrifying, as her thumbs shifted the controls to adjust the drone’s altitude, to steadily hover above Finn and Stone.
‘Hey, is it true that Northern Tides and Mudlands croc farms found some strange juvenile crocodiles this morning?’Doug pointed down the long fence line, with its lethal row of barbed wire sparkling under the sun like a prison.
‘Who told you that?’Amara spun around to face Doug and Griff.Even Finn and Stone paused, having successfully removed the box’s cover to expose a bunch of wires.
‘Their managers rang here.Malcolm was going to collect them, but I told him to call you guys first.Celeste agreed, she said it’d be a risk to the stock, that they’d need to go into quarantine.So did those other croc farms call you lot?’
Finn nodded, before returning his attention to the metal box.‘What do you think, Stone?This hasn’t been here long.The internal wiring is pretty clean.It’s not weatherworn, and the serial numbers are still legible.’He tapped on a shiny label stuck to the box.
‘Oh, good, I can use that serial number to tap into it.’Stone pulled out his satphone and entered the numbers into the keypad.
‘And?’
‘If it’s a security relay, run by remote, I should be able to pick it up on my Bluetooth…’ Stone aimed his phone at the box, then grinned.‘Well, hell, look at that, Bossman.’He held up the phone to Finn.
‘That was easy.’
‘What do you see?’blurted out Romy.Only to wince at Amara.‘Sorry, can I ask that?’
‘All good.I was about to ask the same thing.’
‘I’m with her,’ said Doug, with Griffin nodding.‘What do you see?’
‘Your security cameras,’ said Stone, sharing his phone with Finn.
‘Which ones?’Doug asked.
‘All of them.Including the hatchery.’Finn wasn’t happy as he jumped down from the police van.‘Constable, get that sparky out here ASAP.This needs to be removed for the security of this farm.I want it dusted for fingerprints and a trace done on the serial number to see where it came from.’He nodded at Amara who nodded, while busily working on her tablet.‘And if I were you, Doug, I’d be calling in your entire security team to comb every inch of this property, to see if there are more of those boxes, or anything else out of the ordinary.’
‘Good idea.’Doug nodded hard and fast.‘Anything else you’d like me to do?’
‘I’d be taking a peek at everyone’s phone to see if any of them have that app,’ mumbled Stone.
‘Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower or the time,’ said Finn.
‘Or the warrants to do so, sir,’ Amara whispered under her breath, only Romy heard it.
But it was clear Finn was working on another angle.‘As the head of security, Doug…’
