Beneath The Red Dust: Beneath The Red Dust, #1

By Katherine Franks

Beneath the Red Dust takes you the remote outback of Australia where the heat is unforgiving, the people are tough and the land is brutal. Jenny Tyler has grown up here, and returns after a decade to a country that, while familiar, is full of secrets. Jenny has not been back to the Australian Outback since her father died in what the Coroner called 'a tragic accident'. Unable to face the large cattle station which had been her home for seventeen years, Jenny left the wide open spaces of her youth for the city. Now, in remote Australia to do the Windorah Job, Jenny seeks a payment for wrongs committed years past. But while she travels over the red dust of the outback, she also finds a part of herself thought lost long ago. What is the mystery that an unknown organisation is trying to unearth? Who has been protecting the mystery for generations? And why does Jenny find herself in the middle of it all?Katherine Franks break out series is Beneath the Red Dust. You can now buy the complete series and binge on dust, death and mystery in the Australian Outback.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katherine Franks
• Release date: Apr 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9798215225608

Book preview

Beneath The Red Dust

The Complete Series

The Windorah Job

The Cunnamulla Job

The Tibooburra Job

The Station Job

By Katherine Franks

Table of Contents

The Windorah Job Chapter one

The Windorah Job Chapter two

The Windorah Job Chapter three

The Windorah Job Chapter four

The Windorah Job Chapter five

The Windorah Job Chapter six

The Windorah Job Chapter seven

The Windorah Job Chapter eight

The Windorah Job Chapter nine

The Windorah Job Chapter ten

The Windorah Job Chapter eleven

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter One

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Two

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Three

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Four

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Five

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Six

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Seven

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Eight

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Nine

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Ten

The Cunnamulla Job Chapter Eleven

The Tibooburra Job Chapter One

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Two

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Three

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Four

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Five

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Six

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Seven

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Eight

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Nine

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Ten

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Eleven

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Twelve

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Thirteen

The Tibooburra Job Chapter Fourteen

The Station Job Chapter One

The Station Job Chapter Two

The Station Job Chapter Three

The Station Job Chapter Four

The Station Job Chapter Five

The Station Job Chapter Six

The Station Job Chapter Seven

The Station Job Chapter Eight

The Station Job Chapter Nine

The Station Job Chapter Ten

The Station Job Chapter Eleven

The Station Job Chapter Twelve

The Station Job Chapter Twelve

The Station Job Chapter Thirteen

The Station Job Chapter Fourteen

The Station Job Chapter Fifteen

The Station Job Chapter Sixteen

The Station Job Chapter Seventeen

Text Copyright © 2017 by Katherine Franks

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The Windorah Job

Part One of Beneath the Red Dust

By Katherine Franks

Text Copyright © 2017 by Katherine Franks

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The Windorah Job Chapter one

The window shade was open to endless red earth as the small plane began its turbulent descent. The landscape was spotted in places with what could be small trees, not quite big enough to make the landscape seem less alien. As the plane continued its swaying trip downward, trees gathered together in lines running north to south like tear tracks along dusty cheeks. They must be the channels making their way to the Diamantina River , Jenny thought to herself. The plane’s overachieving propeller engines were so noisy, the air hostesses had handed out ear plugs at Brisbane, and they only got noisier as they cut through the warm shimmering air closer to the ground. Try as she might, Jenny could not find the small town of Windorah through the window, but then, she hadn’t really expected to. Windorah was home to a grand total of one hundred residents and a few large cattle stations nearby.

The plane bumped its way onto the tarmac at Windorah airport and Jenny centred herself while she remembered why she was here. One job, which could be classed as unusual in her line of work, but the purpose was close to her heart and it was for someone who had become a very dear friend. While she hadn’t before worked in the outback of Queensland, for this job, she would have travelled anywhere. When she found out what had occurred four years prior, she offered her services for free. The friend of a friend had still paid; she had an advance in an offshore bank account already and, on completion, she would receive the balance. Jenny pondered donating it to charity. She usually charged a premium for her services, as she was very good at what she did, but she hadn’t accepted her full payment this time. What good would the money be anyway? She already had everything she needed. The person she was working for didn’t though.

The engines began winding down as the air hostess announced they had landed in Windorah, apologising for the turbulence and informing the twelve passengers that in the current early afternoon the temperature outside was thirty-four degrees Celsius. Jenny looked down at her blue jeans and white short sleeved blouse and knew she would need to change soon. She took a hair band from her bag and tied her long brown hair in a bun at the back of her neck, adjusted the laces in her Converse and stood behind the passenger in front. One job, a return flight in three days to Brisbane, and she would be done with this. She would make it clean and professional, not get involved in the complexities of ‘he said, she said’, or the justifications. They always justified what they did when she came for them. What she had to do crossed ethical and legal boundaries, which made it trickier, but no less right.

The Windorah Job Chapter two

Jack stood in the terminal at Windorah airport and again thought how ironic the name ‘terminal’ was, considering it was not much more than a room with some toilets attached to the side. It had air-conditioning though, which was a relief after being in the pub for the last week, where the air-conditioning had stopped working. He was waiting for a condenser to come off the plane that just arrived from Brisbane, having ordered it six days ago to fix the cooling in the pub. The postman could have dropped it off, but Jack had preferred to collect it himself, for speed, but also to keep cool for an hour while waiting. He watched with little interest as the passengers left the plane, until the tall brunette started down the short steps. He figured she hadn’t been to Windorah before from the way she appraised the dimensions of the airport, the shrubby trees that made up the perimeter and the spinifex rolling along in front of her. She didn’t look uncomfortable or surprised so he guessed she wasn’t unfamiliar to the Outback, just this town. He kept watching her while she made her way amongst the other passengers toward the building. No-one appeared to be waiting for her, which surprised him as it was a ten minute walk into town, a long way in this heat, and not many travellers were keen on it. In fact not so many travellers were interested in Windorah in late November at all. The town was busy, but mostly with locals and workers from the stations or mining settlements out of town. The brunette scanned the building and the people waiting for the plane, before her gaze settled on him. He wasn’t sure but it seemed she looked at him for just a little longer than the other people standing around. He shifted his weight while their eyes connected, a small pebble of unease settling in his stomach. He pushed it down and reminded himself he was staring at her, too, and that she was probably just responding to his intense gaze. He looked away quickly, but continued to watch her from the corner of his eye, the result of a habit formed long ago.

The woman walked with purpose towards the counter near the front door. Jack remembered the air-conditioning part and turned towards the plane, noting that they were already retrieving the luggage from the back and preparing for the next leg of the journey up to Bedourie. The plane would go on to Mt Isa where it would stay until it made the return journey to Brisbane the next day. The staff moved like a well-oiled machine, not surprisingly as they did this twice weekly. They finished unloading and the trolley had started heading towards the building when Jack felt another jerk deep in his stomach. He wasn’t surprised to find the woman standing next to him, looking at him expectantly, when he turned.

‘Jack Davis?’ she said in a clipped accent that was so generic he couldn’t one hundred percent say if she was from Sydney or London. He nodded in reply, slightly pulling down the front of his white Akubra in acknowledgement.

‘Jenny Tyler. I’m staying at the pub. They said you would be able to give me a ride.’ She motioned towards the counter where he had last seen her. Her conversation was as direct and short as it needed to be and Jack felt his unease dissipating as he became more interested in her. Women usually added all sorts of meaningless words to a conversation just to hear their own voice.

‘Yeah, I can. When we have your bag and I have my part, I’ll take you to the car.’ He turned from her, even though he didn’t want to. He had thought she was average looking while watching her on the tarmac, but now she was directly in front of him, he could see she was quite attractive, with smooth olive skin and a killer figure. Her short sleeves showed arms with obvious muscle underneath, and he could tell by her tight jeans that she wasn’t one who sat on the couch, watching reality TV. He briefly thought about seeing her without her shirt on and shook the thought away ... for now. There would be time to get to know her later if she was staying at the pub, and besides, he had a condenser to replace.

The Windorah Job Chapter three

They drove in silence towards Windorah. Jack had offered to give her a quick tour of the small town and Jenny had consented, though she was surprised when he labelled it a ‘tour’. She knew the town consisted of a shop, petrol station, community hall, primary school, medical centre, and the pub of course. He drove around one block and pointed out all of these sights then drove into a car park. The pub, a small building with a covered outside area full of large wooden tables on its left, was in front of them. Further along she could see what must be the accommodation, a small block of rooms with a tin roof and a covered walkway similar to that above the tables, leading from the rooms back towards the pub. There wasn’t a soul in sight; likely everyone was inside somewhere due to the heat beating down from the noon sun. Jenny thanked Jack for the lift.

‘I’ll show you your room if you give me a moment to get the keys, love.’ Jenny had grown up in a small town where everyone called the tourists ‘love’ or ‘dear’, or worse, so she ignored the diminutive. She climbed down from the Landcruiser and stood next to the car, trying to get a sense of the man walking towards a back door of the pub. He came out a moment later and motioned for her to follow him. Jenny made sure she was behind him so she could continue her evaluation. He walked with purpose and ease, like someone who knew they belonged. Jenny watched his shoulder muscles as he reached for the door to number two. He was well built and had the easy strength of someone who was fit for manual labour. Jenny didn’t think he worked out though, not anymore. She suspected he had undertaken serious physical training in the past, but had let it go for years. This was good for her, she thought.

She smiled as he handed her the key and pointed in the direction of the amenities. He suggested she label any food in the communal fridge as there were some workers from a nearby mine due in town later that evening, and they were known to be big eaters with a limited ability to notice if what they were eating was theirs or not. She nodded her understanding and closed the door as he walked out.

Jenny sat down on the bed and considered Jack Davis. She had been told the subject would be working at the pub and that it was likely he had changed names since arriving in Windorah. When she had booked over the phone, she had spoken to an older man who didn’t fit the description she had received. She would need to check to see if there were any other men in their mid-thirties who were six-foot tall and working at the pub, but she was fairly certain Jack was the target. She had a photo of him taken four years previously wearing his military uniform; he had been more muscular, and had a shaven head. He now had blonde curls down to his shoulders and was dressed in jeans, boots and a button up shirt. His eyes had been just as dark in real life as in the photo. Besides a small spark of sexual interest she had glimpsed at the airport, she hadn’t seen any sign of humanity in there at all. Yes, she thought, Jack’s the target. She just had to be one hundred percent sure and then she would complete the job.

The Windorah Job Chapter four

Jack was just finishing serving three of the local ringers who had made their way into town after a week wrangling cattle at a station an hour and a half away. They were dressed in their best jeans and had obviously taken the time to wash the day’s dust from their bodies before coming into town. This would be the highlight of their week, where they let go of the routine and physical demands of the station and cut loose. Any stories of unruliness or outlandish behaviour would beat them home in the morning and be the talk of the station the following day. The boys had been here for half an hour and were already on their second beers. They were aiming for a big night and whatever came. The youngest of them, Tommo to his mates and all of nineteen years old, whistled under his breath as Jenny walked through the door on the side of the building.

The fit young men watched her from the bar, which ran from one edge of the pub to the other, effectively separating the office and storeroom at the back of the pub, from the tables and chairs out the front. The pub was small and not very full yet, so even though the ringers sat at the far end of the bar, next to the now working air-conditioning unit, they could easily watch the striking brunette as she entered.

‘Shape up boys. Look at this. Where’d yer find her Jack? Is she here alone?’ Tommo said quietly to those around him, not taking his eyes off Jenny. Jack could nearly see the man weighing up options for approaching her, likely ignoring any thoughts of the ribbing he would get from his co-workers if he failed. Jack didn’t answer as she had made her way directly to the other end of the bar, where she waited for him to serve her.

‘Jenny,’ Jack said, loud enough for the ringers to hear in the hope it would save him having to repeat himself later. ‘How’s the room?’

‘Fine,’ she replied as she climbed onto a bar stool in the middle of the bar. The men around her had gone quiet, so when she spoke everyone heard her. ‘What’s good on tap?’ she asked in that same unidentifiable accent from earlier. The banality of her query stopped the staring, and those around her started to go back to their conversations and dart game. Jack knew they were still aware of her though, a woman alone in the pub was too interesting to ignore on a Friday night.

‘Four X is the local drink, here,’ he said as he pulled out a glass and started pouring a pot, not bothering to ask her if she wanted it. ‘What brings you to Windorah?’ he continued, knowing Tommo and the ringers would seek him out shortly, to find out, but also curious for his own sake. He still hadn’t quite shaken the feeling of unease around this woman. He reminded himself he had no need to feel uneasy, no-one knew he was here.

Jenny took a large swig of beer before replying. ‘I used to know someone who lived out here. I promised her that I would come for a visit one day.’ She stared at Jack, looking him straight in the eye while she spoke with little emotion. He felt like she was looking through him. He grabbed his own beer, which was sitting behind the bar, and took a drink. The law was a bit more flexible in remote towns and a bartender nursing a beer to keep him cool throughout the night was no odd sight. The beer had the desired effect of cooling and relaxing him at the same time.

‘You wouldn’t be the first one, love. I see people coming through here all the time with the same story. A woman came in not two months ago with her dead husband’s ashes. He asked her to spread them outside town, so she did.’ He personally thought it a waste of time to do things on a dead person’s bequest. He had seen enough people die to know that all they really wanted when they went was to live. ‘Bit late in the year though, most people come during winter when it’s not so warm.’

Jenny shrugged and replied, ‘I was busy most of the year. This was the first chance I’ve had to come.’ He watched her as she strummed her long fingers on the bar. ‘How about you Jack? You been here long?’ She stared at him. Her gaze reminded him of a senior officer he’d had when just starting in the army. He had hated the way she saw through him and seemed to know when he was thinking insubordinate thoughts, even when he knew his face gave nothing away. He picked up a cloth and wiped the counter as he replied.

‘Few years now. Moved here from the city. Office work got a bit much for me,’ he lied. He was so used to telling the same thing that he barely considered it now.

Jenny cocked her head to one side. ‘You don’t look like an office worker to me. What did you do?’ Jack stopped wiping and looked up at the woman.

‘Yep. Office work. I worked in IT, providing advice to other office workers on how to work their computers.’ He strung out the lie. It was one he had practised a few times as the locals around here were curious about the man who had turned up to take the bar manager’s job three years ago. It seemed important to not stray from the story for some reason now, to make it believable to this woman looking at him enquiringly.

‘How about yourself, you work in the city?’ The question came out like a statement. He was curious, but also wanted to change the direction of the conversation, which made him strangely uncomfortable. He watched her face while she answered, his habit of studying the enemy starting to re-emerge after being dormant, unused, for years. He felt like he was hunkered down behind mudbrick walls that were already pock marked with earlier shots. Now, as then, even though he had a weapon in his hands ready to shoot and his team around him, he felt as though he was being hunted by a better, stronger enemy.

‘I work as a consultant for a firm in Sydney,’ she replied with a small smile. ‘Mostly report writing and change management. Not too interesting I’m afraid. I am sure you have a much more interesting tale to tell, living out here.’ Was it his imagination, or was she fishing for information? She watched him, seemingly unaware of his internal struggle to ignore his suspicious nature, which had been aroused by this woman despite her simple questions.

When he had arrived in Windorah two years earlier to take the job managing the pub, he had been told the last manager had retired to a small farm in the middle of Queensland. The owner lived in the city; the pub an investment of sorts. . Jack enjoyed the laid-back lifestyle of managing the pub, though he sometimes felt a bit chafed by the small town life, especially after living it up while he was on active duty.

He had worked in the armed forces since he had left high school, and over the years had completed missions overseas and in Australia. His last mission had forced him to instigate a significant change, with a not so subtle push from his superiors. They had let him know that he was ready for retirement from active service, and would be handing him a desk job if he didn’t leave voluntarily. He suspected they didn’t actually know the full story of what had happened and had left quite happily in the end.

Jack tried very hard never to think about the things he had done, not just on that last aid mission, but in the various places he had been. He had found if he thought about them, his mind would let in a profusion of doubt and guilt that would make it hard to face the day. The army had taught him not only how to identify and neutralise the enemy, but how to compartmentalise his emotions. So he pushed guilt and doubt back