And then I see a ute in the distance behind us. It could be anyone, but whoever they are, they are really setting a pace. I see the ute come up behind Mick, hardly slowing. It tries to pass, but Mick takes the middle of the road. The ute slows, and I hear it honk its horn, and it tries again. Mick snakes from side to side, blocking the way. Then the ute veers off into the table drain and out into the long grass. Mick gives chase, but he can’t match the craziness of the ute driver, who is tearing along the uneven terrain on the side of the road. Mick loses speed and falls back. Elaine, now last in the convoy and the only vehicle between Ben and me, has not moved position, and the ute is coming up to overtake her. My blood turns cold, and I realise that I’ve been soft in the head. She is in on this with Ben — of course she is — she must have alerted him that we were on our way to hand over the evidence.

Ben gains on us. Marko and Ralph and Tom pull back, in case they can help. I am slamming my hands against the steering wheel, screaming at Elaine, but she doesn’t hear me or see me. Her face is blank in my rear-view mirror. She is lost to something I don’t understand, and I realise I have to put distance between me and her, and fast. On the two-way on Marko’s channel, I say, ‘Got to make a run for it, Marko. It’s all we can do.’ I hear, ‘Roger,’ and see his vehicle immediately speed up. Tom gets the message, and increases his pace.

But now Ben is almost equal with Elaine, bumping and jumping through the rough ground and over the tall tussocks. I am cursing Elaine and her trickery, and my endless stupidity, and I push my foot to the floor as Ben gets level with Elaine’s taillights.

And then, as Ben begins to move in towards the road, aiming at me, I see Elaine spin her wheels. Her car turns sharply and peels off, spearing over the drain, through the grass and headlong into the front point of Ben’s ute. There’s a tremendous crunching sound and I can see the look of shock and rage on Ben’s face as the impact sends him spinning off across the grass. Elaine chases alongside him until he comes to a stop. She spins and rams her bullbar against his passenger door, forcing his machine across the paddock until it hits hard up against a fence.