20
Russell Foley stared at the shimmering heat haze wavering on the far distant, north-western horizon. Hot, dry, inhospitable desert stretched out before him for hundreds of kilometres, all the way to the Western Australian border. His mind was filled with an eclectic collection of thoughts, none of which led him to anything resembling a conclusion. There had to be something out there. Some place where someone could keep twelve hostages without being discovered.
“What are you thinking about?” Sam Rose asked.
Foley turned and faced his partner. “Water and food,” he said.
“You’re thinking about water and food?”
Foley nodded. “Yeah. If they’re out there somewhere…” he waved his hand across the horizon… “they need water and food. This is the desert. Without water and food, they will all
