On hearing the news, Sylvia’s shoulders slumped, her body language suggesting that all remaining hope had been lost. Arthur’s resolve, however, held firm. Fronting a hastily arranged press conference he stated his intention to continue the search, informing the reporters that the police might have abandoned Martin but that he and God wouldn’t and that he was going out again, with his own plan of attack this time.

This revelation worried everyone involved, but there was little the police or anyone could do to stop him, thwarted as they were by a combination of public land and free will. So Bill dragged Chandler and Mitch aside and asked them to stay on, to ensure nothing else went wrong and to try and persuade Arthur to stop. To prevent the family from jumping down the mineshaft to save Martin, only to succumb themselves.

But Arthur wouldn’t be entirely alone in his search, the stipend of a hundred and fifty dollars persuading some of the remaining ‘volunteers’ to carry on. Those that were fit, able and had the guts to continue. This brought out the weird and the wonderful, some there for the adventure, some there for the money, but all definitely some form of crazy. So Chandler and Mitch, the two rookie cops, were left with this burden, babysitting a gang of unstable mercenaries and a slowly imploding family in the midst of forty-five degree heat.

Huddled in the shade of some eucalyptus trees, Mitch ran through the instructions to the group. There were only nine in total now, five being paid for the privilege, seven if he and Chandler were included. Seven mercenaries, an old man and a child to search for one lost boy. The orders, relayed by Mitch, were to stick close together, and included the warning that he would call back the chopper and airlift everyone out by force if he was disobeyed.

The threat was immediately ignored by the more experienced bushmen who believed they knew better than some rookie cops. This was their land and they would lead Arthur to his son by their own means, no matter how disparate or vague. Privately, Chandler warned them against that kind of over-optimistic dialogue but up here he understood he really had little authority over anyone. Up here, nothing was respected more than the ability to survive, the rule of law an unwelcome obstacle this deep in the outback. They had the uniform but no clout. They were bodyguards with shiny badges, nannying the family and the others, their own search taking a back seat to maintaining a watchful eye on their charges.