Page 29 of Stockman's Sandstorm

‘We need to fix it first. And I think we should only lock it when no one is home.’ Ryder tapped away on his tablet. ‘But I’m adding the repairs to the list.’

‘You’re sounding like me, Ryder.’ Ash grinned as he steered the drone high to watch the courier’s dust trail, leading to the main road.

‘No freaking way.’ Cap scowled at the paperwork.

Dex snatched the letter. ‘What the flip! Those mothers—’ He let off a load of expletives.

‘What’s going on?’ Ryder put the tablet back on the table.

Ash landed the drone safely on the dead grass. Scooping it up, he went to join his brothers as they gathered at the table.

‘We’ve been served for water violations and ordered to produce an environmental impact study on the property.’ Dex passed the paperwork to Ryder.

‘What?’ Ash asked.

Charlie pushed back the brim of his hat. ‘You fixed the dam, that’s what.’

‘Now we know why they wrecked it.’ Dex scowled. ‘It’s for the mine.’

‘There is no mine on this side of the highway,’ said Charlie. ‘There’s one on the other side of the highway. But not this side. It’s all cattle country out here.’

‘Well, according to this letter from the government, we’re encroaching on the water rights of some mining lease.’ Ryder dropped the paperwork onto the table and tapped away on his tablet. ‘It’s a new lithium mining lease.’

‘What’s that, a new gold?’ Charlie asked.

‘They use lithium for lithium-ion batteries,’ explained Ash. ‘You’ll find those batteries in nearly all of today’s tech, from phones, computers, electric toothbrushes and power tools, even electric cars. Almost everything that can get recharged has a lithium battery, like Ryder’s tablet there, and my drone.’

‘Please tell me we don’t have a mine setting up shop at our back door?’ Cap dropped into his seat, as the fear grew in his eyes. ‘Mines destroy the land, poison the water, they create a horrible impact on the environment, and on the wildlife—’

‘Calm down, Cap.’ Ryder dragged out his phone. ‘I’ll make a few phone calls and see what we can do.’

‘Well, brothers, we only have a few weeks to comply. Or we’ll be copping fines up to one million dollars or two-thousand dollars. Per. Day.’ Dex tapped on the paperwork.

‘For our own water? You’re kidding.’ Ash snatched up the letter and tried to make sense of the mumbo jumbo. He didn’t read government documents, he read instructions for tech tools. Not this. But he understood it was official, with a very threatening undertone to show they meant business.

‘So now we know who wrecked the dam,’ said Dex. ‘And they’re coming for us.’

Fourteen

Ever since the government had served notice over the water rights, the tension on Elsie Creek Station hung like a thick and cloying blanket, smothering the oppressive outback air.

With a heavy boot tread, Ryder constantly paced the verandah while speaking to lawyers over the phone. Dex just wanted to kill something. Cap shook his head, full of doom and gloom while going on about the impact on the environment. And Ash tried to pretend everything was okay as he played with his drone.

If Harper didn’t dislike them so much, she might have felt sorry for them.

To be honest, they hadn’t told her anything. It was only from their arguments that Harper had been able to piece together what was going on.

It was also none of her business. After all, she was just the nanny, doing her best to avoid them all. Lately she’d even been ensuring she took a water bottle to bed, so she’d never bump into Ash alone in the dark again. She was only here for Mason.

Who was gone, again!

‘Mason?’ She peeked down the corridor of closed doors that led to the bedrooms and bathroom. The lounge room was a maze full of boxes, but the small boy was nowhere in sight. ‘Ruby?’

The labrador gave a short sharp bark, but it was coming from outside.

A tremendous crash of aluminium cans splashed across the verandah, followed by a boyish giggle.

Mason.

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