Chapter 169

"Well, please remind me why I don't drink whiskey, if any of you ever see me starting to do that ever again." Jaz was still hurting badly. Just staying on the horse was difficult for her as they rode.

"I had a great night, and I'm really glad I got to know all of you much better." said Charlotte "I for one, regret nothing!"

"Oh Charlotte, I loved getting to know you better too, I just want to do that over a couple glasses of wine or a cup of coffee instead of a bottle of whiskey next time," Jaz moaned.

"Girls, we need to go single file here, it's getting very narrow and rocky." Jodi called from the front. "Keep it to a walk, and be careful."

"Hey. Did you sleep alright? I admit I was freaked out too." was the text from James that lit up Stevie's phone.

"Honestly, not great. Xander came in early this morning to check on me because he said I was yelling about tossing coins" Stevie sent back.

"I'd like to do movie dates like that with you, but next time, maybe try a comedy or at least something not so scary. I'm man enough to admit that Javier Bardem will haunt my nightmares." replied James.

"I liked the movie date too, and I liked the movie, but I think we have to save the scary ones for when you're actually sitting on the couch next to me, with your arm around me," replied Stevie.

"So we are only about one kilometer away. We've been lucky, and the terrain has been pretty passable for the horses, but I reckon we take the last of this on foot. If there are people around the mine, it would be better if we go in and out quietly. Horses aren't the best option for moving around undetected. I'd also prefer not to put them in any danger if we can avoid it. What does everyone think?" asked Jodi.

"I reckon you're right. A few of us should go on and collect our evidence and then come back here, where it's safe." said Regan.

"That means breaking up into two groups. We can't leave the horses tied up alone here," said Jaz.

"Okay, no one should be alone. We leave two people here, and four go on. Charlotte. I want you on horse duty. I want you in the safest position possible and as far away from the mine as we can keep you," said Tess.

"I'll stay back with her." volunteered Grace who knew Charlotte the least and wanted to hang with her younger cousin, and provide a level of security since Grace was much more comfortable around guns in case they ended up dealing with dingos or wild dogs.

"Okay, so Charlotte and Grace, you stay here and mind the horses. Regan, Jodi, Jaz, and I will go in on foot from here and see what evidence we can collect from the mining site," directed Tess.

"Okay that sounds fine. Here Regan, you take the satellite phone, and Jodi, why don't you give me your camera? We should have eyes at both places," added Grace as she pulled the sat phone out of her saddle bag and handed it to Regan.

"Sure, sounds good," Jodi said as she pulled the camera off the hat and handed it over to Grace.

Dylan was down the road from Kinsella's with the best police force he could muster in the middle of the country. He had officers from Gungellan and Fisher for a total of five men including himself. The AFP was on standby, but were several hours out. The five officers were in two unmarked cars, a kilometer away from Kinsella's front gate. He had a pending order that as soon as further visuals were received that confirmed it was a mining location, in the national park, he and the other officers could enter Kinsella's, but not before the evidence was collected by Regan.

He was watching the progress from the hat cameras and watching the gps progress.

"It looks like they are going to do the last part on foot. That would mean they are splitting up. Let's see who goes where," Dylan said to the other officers as he followed along the video on a tablet.

"Okay, so we have a camera being passed from Jodi to Grace. It looks like Regan, Tess, Jodi and Jaz are going on foot and Grace and Charlotte are staying behind with the horses. We have eyes on both groups." he narrated to the other officers.

"Regan! Take a rifle! Somebody take a firearm with them! We did the weapons training for this reason! Girls, you need to protect yourselves!" Dylan yelled at the screen as he watched the girls walk away from the horses without one of the four removing a rifle from their saddle holsters. "I should have given Regan a sidearm," he muttered as he pulled out his phone to call their satellite phone, but he couldn't get a signal from his location.

Dylan had a terrible feeling in his gut. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples as he kept his eyes glued to the tablet screen.

"Hey, so it looks like they are almost there. They are splitting up. Charlotte and Grace are staying with the horses and the rest are going on foot. It's not too far, just over a K." Kate narrated as Russell looked over her shoulder.

"Okay, I see Regan putting the satellite phone in her pocket, that's good. That's a good tool to have in case she has trouble with the mine." Looks like Jodi handed her camera over to Grace, so hopefully we can get a view of both groups."

"The route you mapped out went really well. They made really good time getting there. Hopefully we will get to see them in just a couple hours," said Russell.

"There it is." Regan whispered. "I'm going to get closer and take some soil samples and get a video of the mine entrance. Jaz, will come with me? Jodi, Tess, why don't you take some photos of the area and see if you can find where the truck was," Regan instructed.

The women were hidden in thick bushes, but had to go into the clearing without any cover. They looked around and didn't see anyone, so they stepped out into the open clearing.

Jodi and Tess went left, Regan and Jaz went right towards the mine.

"Charlotte, I'm sorry if we all got a bit out of hand last night. We all know each other pretty well at this point, so we have to ask very personal questions to learn anything new about each other."

"Oh Grace, don't worry about it. I'm not upset. Talking and listening to all of you actually helped me feel a lot better about my current relationship status. None of you are with the men you first fell in love with, so it's unlikely I would even meet my soulmate at eighteen. I loved getting to hear all of your answers. Oh, and Grace, you are beautiful, and definitely loveable."

"Charlotte, I was feeling pretty awful about myself last night. Whiskey can bring out strong emotions. I wish I could tell you heartbreak isn't so rough, but it is. I hope you don't have to experience too much of it," said Grace, feeling embarrassed about her outburst last night.

"Grace, it's fine, don't worry about it again. The way I look at it, maybe the two of us can help each other fall in love. We're the only two McLeod women who are single with Tess and Finn finding each other. Even Claire had a date with Blake Chelsea yesterday." said Charlotte.

"She did, with Bobby's son? That's adorable. Did she say it went well? Blake seems to be a nice young man, his father seems to be a good bloke too." replied Grace.

"Well, I won't give up all the details, she told me those in cousin confidence, but yeah, she was happy about how things went over all."

"Good for Claire, and her mom. I'm glad Tess seems to have found love again. It gives me hope that maybe I can as well," said Grace, feeling optimistic.

"Well it looks like things are going well for our evidence collectors." Kate observed.

"Yeah for Regan anyway, she seems to be headed into the mine. It's getting dark." Russell noticed. We may lose the feed if she goes much further into that mine."

"I wish we had a camera on Tess and Jodi. I hope they're doing well too."

"Well that explains why we didn't see the truck, even when we found the mine with the drone." exclaimed Jodi.

"This is crazy!" Tess said as she looked at the makeshift garage with a water truck in it. The garage was set back into an inset in the cliff face and then covered with military style camouflage tarping. They had put tree branches on the top of and around the sides of the structure to further camouflage it.

"They said they didn't go past the mine with the drone, and even if they had, I'm not sure they would have found this." Tess said as she snapped photos of the garage and the truck parked in it.

"Hey look at that," said Jodi as she pointed to some sort of pump. It had a hose coming out of it that looked like it would hook up to the truck. "I found where they are filling up the trucks with water."

Tess snapped some photos and put them into the drop box Russell had set up. "I bet the water we had to pay for came right from here. Those bastards. Stealing our water and selling it back to us!" exclaimed Tess.

"I'm really glad you came on the trip with us, Charlotte. I know we're all way older than you, but I'd really like to be your friend and not just your older cousin. I see some of myself as a young woman in you." said Grace.

"Why do you think I came? I've always felt so loved here, but I've never felt quite like I fit in with everyone else. Everyone else has all of these crazy memories that bond them together, but I don't really have any of those with all of you. I thought this was a good chance to get to know all of you better and maybe build some of those memories with my family," said Charlotte.

"It is! I had a blast last night, although this morning was rough, and I'm still in town for a while. We can hang out some more!" said Grace.

"Yes, let's do that. Maybe we can find a handsome uncle and nephew pair or something to date," joked Charlotte.

"Sounds good Charlotte. But nature is calling, I'm going to go find a tree and have a wee. I'll be back in a couple minutes. Here, will you take the camera? It's a bit too invasive to wear while doing one's business, I know Dylan and Russell are probably watching the footage as we speak, and I'd rather not have them watch while I'm weeing." Grace took the camera off and handed it to Charlotte. "I'm just glad there isn't audio of last night."

"I guess I'll wear it." Charlotte put the strap around her hat. "I'll be right here, don't go too far."

"Regan, do you have what you need? Let's get out of here." Jaz quietly called into the mine tunnel.

"Yup, I'm coming now." Jaz heard Regan reply from inside the mine.

"Good. let's find Tess and Jodi and get back to the horses," said Jaz.

"I got everything I needed, and between the video and the photos I put in the drop box, Dylan should be on his way now." Regan said as she reappeared from the darkness of the mine. "I've got samples that should confirm my suspicions as well."

"Let's go. I think Tess and Jodi should be over here." Jaz motioned her sister over towards the direction she had seen Tess and Jodi in."

"Hey! Did you get what you needed?" Tess quietly asked as she saw Regan and Jaz walking towards her.

"Yup, everything is all good. Let's head back to meet up and let Dylan do his thing," Regan responded. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, we found the garage and the pump they've been using. I put photos of all of it in the dropbox. Let's go," said Tess."

The four women headed back into the bush, happy to have done their job without incident.

Grace was buckling her belt when a gust of wind came and pulled the hat right off her head.

"Blasted wind." Grace started to chase after the hat. Another gust came and sent it even further away into a small clearing. Grace ran over and grabbed the hat. She dusted it off and put it back on her head.

"Hey. Who's there?" A man came out from the bush into the clearing. He had a revolver pointed right at Grace.

"Don't shoot!" Grace said as she put her hands up.

"Kneel on the ground. Now!" the armed man commanded. Grace did as she was told.