‘Where’s your man?’ Steve asked Dave.

Dave had been frantically watching as the communications team tried to raise the GPS on Jack’s phone. ‘We don’t know,’ he admitted, running his hand over his head. ‘The dogs lost him when he went into the bar early hours of this morning. They realised an hour later he hadn’t come out, went in for a look and found the place locked up. On further investigation, they found a back entrance. They must’ve gone out that way.’

‘Shit. What was the last communication with him?’

‘He sent a text saying he had to meet them at the usual spot in half an hour. That was nearly eight hours ago.’

‘Do we know of any protests or issues on farms?’

‘Not that I’ve heard about.’

‘We’re just going to have to sit tight and hope like hell he’s okay.’

‘We need to get the STAR team and all the usual resources on standby.’

‘I’ll get them organised,’ Steve said. ‘Let you know when I’ve done it.’

Dave wanted to blame Steve for putting Jack in this position, but he couldn’t. Jack had made the choice himself. And as much as Dave didn’t want to admit it, Steve was right. They would just have to hope that Jack’s training and wits kept him safe.

He stared at the screen, which had been tracking Jack, but there was nothing to see.

Jack walked into the shack, his heart beating fast.

Blue and Tonka were still out to it.

‘Mate, you’ve got this all wrong. I was just going for a piss.’

Crumbs put the gun down and grinned. ‘I know, I just wanted to see your face.’

Jack frowned as he processed that. ‘You sick fuck.’ He gave a laugh, hoping it didn’t sound forced. His heart was beating as though it was about to come through his chest wall.

‘I know what it’s like to be wired after something like this,’ Crumbs said, going to a cupboard and pulling out a bottle of Scotch. ‘I find it hard to sleep too. These guys,’ he nodded at the sleeping men, ‘they can sleep anywhere, at any time, after any job.’ He sloshed some whiskey into a tin pannikin. ‘Here, the sun’s over the yardarm. Have a drink. It’ll help you wind down.’

Jack took the cup, hoping that his hands weren’t shaking too obviously. His heart hadn’t slowed down yet.

‘Cheers! To saving the animals.’

‘To saving the animals.’ Jack took a sip and put the cup back down. He needed to stay alert. Especially now he knew there were firearms around.