Page 115 of Stockman's Stormcloud

It wasn’t hard, when Finn was skulking around the beer tent.

‘You will not believe this…’ Dex informed Finn of what had just happened, nodding in the direction they’d left.

‘What are you going to do?’ Finn asked.

‘Fight.’ He was looking forward to it, too.

‘You can’t fight for cattle stations.’

‘This is the Northern Territory. It has happened before. It’s why they call it the final frontier.’

‘You know who Leo is?’

‘Do you?’

‘Leo was a legit boxer who used the sport as a hobby, to prove himself to his bosses that he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. His family is said to be connected with the mob in Sydney and Melbourne.’

‘So what?’ Dex was a well-trained, highly experienced bare-knuckle boxer. He’d gone up against other fancy professional fighters in his time, and always had them kissing the dirt when he was done, because this place had no rules. ‘I can take him.’

‘Leo won’t fight fair. Trust me on that one, because his day job is smuggling.’

‘Smuggling what?’

‘Drugs, through the docks for his bosses.’

That explained the lethal edge to Leo, but also his patience to play the long game. It still didn’t scare Dex off. ‘And he’s here to be legit?’

Finn scoffed. ‘Rumour is Leo scored that cattle station over a debt he collected.’

‘Do you really think someone like that is out here to start a lithium mine?’

‘No. I’m not sure what his reasons are, but Leo is after you guys. From what Bree’s told me, he’s toying with you guys—’

‘Like a cat with their prey?’ It was enough for Dex to give a hard swipe over his dry mouth. ‘As a betting man, I’d wager that Leo is not the type of man to keep his word. Like this bet we made for cattle stations.’ That even if Dex did win, Leo wouldn’t cough up his station, or would he? ‘Leo said he knows the organisers.’

‘Leo’s probably getting a cut from these fights, and he always plays to win.’

Just like Dex.

‘Let’s hope the bust goes down before you enter that ring.’ Finn patted Dex’s shoulder and took off, leaving Dex to walk back to his fighting gear, being babysat by Sophie.

He spotted her standing on a crate beside Charlie. She climbed down and walked towards him, his dear, sweet Sophie. Without a thought, he dragged her against his chest and hugged her.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Everything…’ He quickly explained the situation of how he was now being asked to face Leo for the future of their cattle station.

‘Who is Leo?’

‘The guy in the black hat standing near the referee.’ He nodded slyly in Leo’s direction.

Sophie’s eyes widened, as her jaw dropped. ‘You can’t fight that guy.’

‘Don’t you think I can win?’ Dex believed he could. In fact, he relished the chance to beat the crap out of Leo’s smug face.

‘I didn’t say that. You need to buy time.’

She was right. ‘But how? I can only stall for so long, or I get penalised.’

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