Page 64 of Stockman's Showdown

Ryder nodded. ‘To stop Bree from running off and doing her own thing, I’ve agreed to keep her informed. But Bree has chosennotto tell Charlie.’ Hoping his brothers did the same with their partners. ‘Bree doesn’t want to give her grandfather any reason to stress. Charlie has enough to worry about.’

‘How is the murder investigation going?’ Ash pointed at the floor to the outline of a body drawn in chalk.

‘Bree and Charlie are going to see Porter this morning at the police station, and they’ll be making arrangements for Harry’s remains.’

‘Are you going with them?’ Ash asked.

‘I told Bree I’d drive them into town.’ Ryder glanced at his watch. ‘I’d better jump in the shower, or Bree will take off without me.’ He pushed the notebook into the middle of the table, along with two handheld radios, the same as the ones Dex and Ryder had clipped into their leather radio holsters. ‘These radios are encrypted. We’ll be using these handsets from here on out.’

‘Do you think Leo is listening in on us, too?’

Ryder nodded. ‘Monet mentioned her plane mechanic, Mickey, listens to the airwaves at the local airstrip and knew the police had come out here when we found those skeletons. I bet Leo is doing the same.’ And they used their handheld radios like a phone, sometimes a group chat with Ash, Dex and Bree telling bad dad jokes.

‘Won’t it tip Leo off if he can’t hear us anymore?’

‘Leo won’t hear anything. Not even static. These handsets operate on an encrypted frequency-hopping system, completely separate from standard channels. We can explain that it’s part of the communications upgrade for our intranet… Lastly, we need someone watching the cameras to note the times and numbers of Leo’s footmen doing their patrols. I know it might sound tedious—’

‘I’ll do it.’ Cap dragged the pen and notebook closer. ‘I’ll take first watch.’

‘Thanks.’ Ryder was glad to see Cap had calmed down.

‘I’ll be in the workshop next door, doing a service on the harvester, if you need me,’ said Dex, readjusting his radio harness.

‘I’ll have the satphone with me while I’m in town.’ Ryder headed for the door. ‘This is our home, and we have every right to defend it. And Cap…’ Ryder landed a heavy hand on his brother’s tight shoulder. ‘Have faith that we will win this.’

Cap nodded. ‘I know we will.’

Ash slipped on his radio harness. ‘I’ll go charge up the batteries on the drone. Mason will be awake soon. It’s my turn to do brekkie.’

Together Ash and Ryder walked across the homestead’s compound. The stars had faded, leaving the sky awash in soft pink and blue hues.

‘You okay, Ash?’

Ash raked fingers through his hair. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to keep this from Harper, when I usually tell her everything.’

‘Can Harper keep a secret?’

‘Harper’s better at it than me. Remember, she worked for the Australian Ambassador to Belgium, she would’ve had some sort of security clearance for that job.’

‘Yet sometimes you need to hide things to protect those you care about, so they don’t worry.’

‘So you and Dex were up all night? I could have helped.’

Ryder patted his baby brother on the shoulder. ‘You needed sleep. But you will be helping. Watching those cameras is a boring job.’

‘I don’t mind, I’ll drag my games down and play while watching those screens. I’ll get Harper to hit the shops to stock up my sugar stash and get us some snacks for the boardroom.’

‘Good idea. Won’t the games distract you?’

‘There is a pause button, dude.’

‘I never got into those video games.’ Then he remembered something. ‘Hey, who is Ghost?’

‘Ghost?’ Ash cocked an eyebrow at Ryder as they paused at the front steps to the farmhouse.

‘Last night Bree mentioned this Ghost. She said to ask you. He’s some British Special Forces guy who wears a mask and goes by the name of Ghost. Is he a character in some movie or something?’

‘Bree must be talking about SimonGhostRiley fromCall of Duty.’ Ash scrolled through his phone as they entered the shade of the front porch. ‘That’s him. He’s a legend in the game. A kick-arse SAS soldier who wears this skull-patterned balaclava and dark sunglasses all the time. No one has seen his face.’

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