‘I hated it.It bored me to tears, chasing time for paperwork and filing.’
For an adrenaline junkie like Stone, who was right at home calmly steering a helicopter after the bad guys, she just couldn’t picture him being in an office at all.‘You said you met Two-stroke in that bar when you were skipping work, hating your job.Was that…’
He nodded.‘I quit my job the day I met Two-stroke, twelve years ago.Well, actually, it was a week later that I formally quit, because Two-stroke and I partied pretty hard.It took us a while to sober up and make some solid plans.Two-stroke missed his cousin’s wedding during our binge session.But our ugly mugs made the gossip section of the local paper, and his mother didn’t speak to him for a year after that.’Stone chuckled as trees bowed under the force of the rotors, leaves tearing from branches and swirling into the air like confetti caught in a whirlwind.
Romy’s drone lagged behind in its automatic chase mode, so she bumped its altitude higher—far enough to clear the dust and debris from Stone’s chopper as it skimmed close to the ground.
The drone’s feed stabilised, but only just.Definitely not steady-cam smooth footage, but more like a handheld horror film shot by a terrified intern still in school.Yet, she kept it rolling as she gritted her teeth.Shaky or not, Finn said they needed the footage.
She also had to keep talking to distract herself from her stomach pitching in a way that made it hard to keep her breakfast down.‘And your father?’
‘He sent lawyers to find me, refusing to let me quit the empire he’d sacrificed his soul for.’
What sort of company had his father run?‘I’ve heard you talk a lot about business figures, industry awareness… Do you still work for the company your father founded?’
Stone said nothing, choosing to focus on flying.
That’s when it hit her.‘You have the backpackers looking after the house when you go away.Is that for company meetings?Like, are you on the board or something?’
‘I couldn’t quite give it all up.’
‘What sort of company are we talking about?Mining?Agribusiness.’
‘You mean you haven’t googled me yet?’
Oh, she wanted to now.On land.Somewhere slow and safe.‘How rich are you?’
‘Rich enough to enjoy the toys, but smart enough to not let my job rule me.There is more to living than a job.’He tapped on the drone’s screen in her hands.‘It pays to put that down once in a while and look around with no filters.’
‘I love my job.’But she was too scared to look closely at her drone’s imagery, not at the speed they were travelling.
‘Me too.’He grinned.‘Now, hold on, shortcake, we’re going in hard and fast, and let’s hope no birds fly out and hit the blades.’
She wanted to scream, gripping her seat on the scariest ride of her life.‘You’re going to kill us.’
‘Not today, I’m not.’
‘I hate you right now.’And she hated that confident grin.
But then that studious look washed over him.It was the same look he’d given that crocodile who’d dared to attack her… Stone was going in for the kill.
Thirty-two
It was textbook brilliance—and one of those moments Stone deserved that pat on the back for his skill.Flying low enough to track the van along the dirt road while keeping the scrublands between them, that when the helicopter burst over the top of the trees, its skids barely missed the top of Bastion’s van.
The noise would have been deafening.
And the surprise tactic had the van shuddering, to then dangerously careen close to the side of the bridge, skidding across the sandy road—only to get dumped with a load of dirt and debris.And with the windows open, due to the heat from those crocodile boxes, Bastion would have been given a proper dust bath behind the wheel of that van.
Stone laughed, turning the chopper around to land on the other side of the bridge with a slow running river below them.
‘You are such anarsehole!’ Romy gritted her teeth.Her knuckles were white as she gripped her seat, with her drone control box hanging by the straps around her neck.
‘I told you what I was doing.’He peered around for the drone, spotting it on the far side, automatically hovering above the trees waiting for the next command.
The bridge wasn’t long, but high enough for Stone to spot a large bask of crocodiles sunning themselves on the riverbank, just below the large sandbar, that had created a swirling pool on one side of the river.
‘I want to throw up.’
