Wild Dogs by Michael Trant

Author:Michael Trant [Trant, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760146160
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

TWENTY-EIGHT

Gabe was right to trust his gut. As he and Amin drew closer to the site where he first became involved in this whole nightmare, he’d grown more and more uneasy. Something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what, but while the conversation with the constable had made him feel better at first, the more he thought about it, the more his reservations grew. Why bring Courtney and Darren out here? They had nothing to do with it. Wouldn’t it have been better to leave them with the rookie and just have Parker and Chase come out? That was the other thing – Chase giving up, spilling his guts like that, seemed too . . . convenient.

‘I don’t like it,’ he’d finally said.

Amin had been staring out the window in deep thought. ‘Neither do I, my friend.’

‘It’s too neat, too easy.’

‘Yes.’ Amin rubbed his chin. ‘But what makes you say that? Why is it too easy?’

Gabe thought for a moment. ‘When I set a dog trap, if I do it right, there’s no sign of it. No trace, no giveaway it’s there. But to get a dog to go near it, I need a lure.’

‘I understand. Bait.’

‘Exactly. A drop of scent or piece of dog turd in just the right spot catches his attention, he comes over to investigate and bang, got him. But if I make the bait too obvious, it becomes the opposite. A roo leg hanging from a tree, or if I use too much lure, they know something’s not right. Occasionally you might get a young one, but the older, wiser dogs stay the hell away.’

Amin smiled. ‘Forgive me for saying so, Gabe, but I think it has been some time since you were a young dog.’

‘Don’t I know it,’ Gabe replied, his hand going to the dull ache in his hip.

‘And you believe this lure is all too much.’ Not a question.

‘If it weren’t for those kids being involved, I’d turn this ute around and disappear. The more I think about it, the more I’m sure Parker would’ve wanted to talk to me. This is a big deal, no way would he let a junior officer make the call.’ He pointed his finger down the track they were following. ‘Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m jumping at shadows, but what we’re driving towards feels like the equivalent of a roast beef dinner sitting next to a dog trail with a dirty great Jake trap under it and two Bridgers on either side.’

‘I don’t know what any of that means, but a shadow only exists if there is something to cast it,’ Amin pointed out. ‘What do we do?’

And so the plan formed. Gabe would climb the ridge and wait to see who or what turned up, while Amin stayed with the LandCruiser some way back. There was no foliage dense enough to completely obscure Gabe’s vehicle, but he hoped the fact that any arrivals would be focused on the immediate area around the outcrop would limit the risk of it being spotted.

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