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Jackson Traynor ran hard, fast, and low. He was fit, strong, agile, and an experienced runner. He figured the distance he would have to cover at around three kilometres. On flat, even ground, and on a direct route, he knew he could reach the homestead in less than twenty minutes. But he was not on a direct route, and he was not on flat, even ground. He had to weave around tufts of sharp, spiny spinifex grass, and flat, sharp-edged gibber stones shifted under his feet as he ran making it difficult to maintain his footing. His path took him in a wide berth to the west of the house and the twenty minutes he originally estimated was now going to be at least thirty.
Like the battle at Shah Wali Kot, Afghanistan all over again, he was exposed and vulnerable. There was no cover. No trees, no
