Page 72 of Stockman's Showdown

Marcus glared long and hard at Ryder as he swung in his director’s chair. His eyes then flicked to the closed door, where they heard Charlie’s muffled voice from the other side.

Marcus let out a deep sigh while rubbing a rough hand over his face. ‘If you can deliver those weapons to me, anonymously, no one will get into trouble.’ He then reached out and turned the bottles around to read their labels. ‘You know my wife owns a bar.’

‘You’d be hard-pressed to find those particular brands of bourbon out here.’

‘I know.’ Marcus swivelled around in his chair and put them on the shelf behind him. ‘I talked to Finn.’

‘And?’

‘You were right. Leo works for a fairly well-known crime organisation down south. They have their finger in everything: smuggling, racketeering, you name it. Normally they stay down south, but Finn discovered that Leo is branching out, with their blessings.’

‘Which is who Leo must be supplying.’

‘I’m assuming so, which would make sense with your theory about Leo using his property as part of some money-launderingscheme, too.’ Marcus sat back in his chair, raking fingers through his hair. ‘This is big.’

‘I know.’

‘I’ll talk to my supervisor—’

‘Do you trust him?’

‘I do. Back in the day, I worked for the drug squad in Melbourne, and our biggest haul was for ten million. This…’ he said, pointing at the paperwork, ‘… this makes me, and my team, look stupid.’

‘How do you think I feel when the prick is right next door stealing my water and taking pot shots at my cousin in her plane. I will not let Leo get away with this. It’s why I’m here telling you everything, to help you catch this prick. And I intend to share any information we learn, including tape footage to use as evidence.’

‘I guess I’d better rustle up some paperwork to get around the illegal surveillance. Will we find any cameras that can be traced back to you when we make our bust?’

‘No.’

‘Good. I’ll write this information off then as an anonymous tip.’ Marcus began scribbling down some notes.

‘Will you keep me posted?’

Marcus frowned, his pen pausing. ‘You’d better keep me posted.’

‘I said I would.’

‘Good. And, once I’ve calmed down, I might come out and have a squiz at your surveillance set-up. Is it at the farmhouse?’

‘No. Bree’s made us a boardroom and a bar out there now. Said we needed to learn about work–life balance.’ Although his world didn’t feel very balanced.

‘My wife does the same for me. It’s what we agreed on when we got married, that there was more to life than work.’

It’s what Ryder had hoped for at the station, his home, which was now in danger.

‘Hey, does this new bar of yours keep the good stuff?’

‘Only the lower-shelf stuff for my brothers. But I promise to break the seal on a few bottles worth tasting should you visit.’ He owed Marcus that much.

‘It’ll take me a few days to organise things. Red tape will be slow, especially if we want to keep this as in-house as possible.’

‘Do you trust your team?’

‘Absolutely, or I would’ve transferred their arses out of here. If what you’re saying about Leo having contacts in the government is true, we’ll have to act fast once that search warrant is signed off.’

‘How long will it take to get that warrant?’

‘First, I’ll need to legitimise your surveillance, that’ll help me get a warrant. We don’t want Leo getting off on some technicality, or have him coming back at you—’

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