Country Retreat - 69. Drone Search

Once we unlocked and climbed through the hatch, locking it behind us, we walked along the top of the complex, “You can hardly tell that there is anything here when it is all shut up tight,” Marcus commented as he looked around. “That is exactly what we want, so the complex remains secret,” I replied as we walked towards the back of the complex where it’s at ground level, and a few minutes later we reached the quad bike.

A bit later we arrived at the laneway gate, where two vehicles waiting for us. “Hello Marcus, this is Senior Constable Jarvis Throssel and Constable Kurt York of Lancelin Police Station,” the Senior Shire Ranger said making the introductions. “Hello Gentlemen, this is my employer, Oscar Kingston, who co-owns this property along with his grandparents, who are not available. Boss, this is Senior Shire Ranger George Roberts,” Marcus said completing the introductions, as we shook hands in greeting.

“Mr Gresham, could you tell us exactly what happened here?” the senior constable asked Marcus, “Well I received a call from my staff member that gunshots were happening down near the beach, then he told me they were shooting at the boundary wall as well as the at the barge wreck site, and that he jumped out of the vehicle and crawled away as some shots hit the farm vehicle,” Marcus explained.

“Where is this vehicle now?” the constable asked as he was jotting down notes in his book, “Down by the south-west corner, where it was abandoned, and my staff member had to crawl out of danger until I came to collect him in this quad bike,” Marcus explained. “Where is this farm worker? We will need to speak to him,” the senior officer asked, “Not here, I gave him some time off to recover from the shock of being shot at,” I replied.

“Where were you when all this happened?” I was asked, “I was up at the machinery shed doing some checkups on the machinery there, which I quickly finished before catching up with Marcus to get a briefing on what was happening,” I said stretching the truth a bit, I said as I unlocked the gate and let the two vehicles through before closing the gate but not locking it.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the Ute, which now had a shattered windscreen and was covered in holes on the outside, which I was not too happy about. “I wish to press charges for criminal destruction of property or whatever it is for causing this damage,” I said to the two police officers in an angry tone. “I have photos of this vehicle when it first came onto the property two years ago, and it was in far better condition than what it is in now,” Marcus stated, “I can verify that, as I have seen this vehicle several times over the past few months,” the senior ranger added as the junior officer began to take photos of the damage.

I stepped well away while this was being done, and a few minutes later, Marcus and the ranger joined me. “I have heard rumours that there is a lot more to this property than just a large machinery shed, a fancy boundary fence and entry gate and a few mobs of cattle. Care to comment on this?” the senior ranger asked me. I didn’t react at all to this comment, but Marcus reacted like he was a Roo caught in the headlights at night, which the ranger noticed.

“I cannot comment I am sorry,” Marcus said, and the Ranger looked at me, waiting for me to react in any way to give a clue on what’s going on here on the property. “Hmm, interesting. Can you explain to me Mr Kingston how your property manager reacted like you have some big secret, yet you gave no reaction at all?” the ranger asked me and I just shrugged and smiled.

“Tell me this then, why is it that when we did a Google Maps search of your property recently, the majority of your property has been blurred out, so nothing can be seen in detail, and when we drove along the beach today and searched through binoculars, there is absolutely nothing to see, no buildings at all, what exactly are you hiding on this property?” the ranger asked me. Once again, I just shrugged and smiled.

“All we can say is that if you call the Canberra headquarters of the AFP and ask to speak to Officer Giles Harris, you will receive information regarding this property,” Marcus said as he retrieved a business card out of his wallet and handed it to the ranger. “You may have trouble contacting him at the moment, as he is currently in Europe on specialist training,” I added.

“Sounds very dodgy to me, I think I will make my own enquiries thank you,” the ranger said. “Go ahead, that is fine by us,” Marcus replied smiling. Once the police officers had finished taking photos of the vehicle and having a look around, they informed us that we could take the vehicle away for repairs now, and asked if there was a way to get to the beach. “Down in the corner, you will find a pedestrian gate, I will go and unlock it for you,” Marcus replied, as he hopped onto the quad bike and started it up, while I walked over to the Ute.

Once I had a good look at the Ute and cleared away some of the broken glass off the driver's seat, I set off up to the machinery shed where I would leave the vehicle for now. Marcus appeared shortly after, and we returned to the complex. “I want all evidence of the complex to be hidden away, meaning, remove all vehicle tracks that lead in and out of the complex, quickly go and unlock the lockdown for exactly ten minutes, that will give me time to get my vehicle and the buggy out of the complex, along with Hunter.

Also, grab some of the potted shrubs from inside and we will place them in front of the gate, then sweep the last of the tracks away, also put some of the chairs on the front decking so it looks like they are in use since that is the only bit that we can't hide away,” I asked Marcus, and he dashed off up to the top of the complex to the nearest hatch. A few minutes later I heard the solid doors open and the gate unlock, and I ran down the tunnel, where I found Hunter sitting on the buggy, which was loaded with half a dozen potted shrubs and ground covers with Lincoln standing nearby chatting to him.

“Stay inside Linc, I told the authorities that you were not on the property, that I sent you off to recover from being shot at by those idiots. Hunter, Marcus and I will be able to handle everything outside until the visitors have gone,” I said to Lincoln who nodded his head in understanding. “I did tell him to go and rest, to recover from the shock, but he doesn’t seem to want to do as I tell him,” Rebecca said as she exited the tunnel from the main complex.

“Ok, that’s it. Off you go Lincoln, to your Pod to rest and relax, I don’t want you to be suffering from traumatic stress,” I said to Lincoln, who did as I asked and headed down the tunnel, and once he disappeared out of sight I faced Rebecca again. “Becca, can you keep a close eye on our protectee’s please, they have probably seen similar stuff that has resulted in them being here, and we don’t want to have any issues happen right now,” I asked Rebecca, who nodded her head in understanding and followed Lincoln down the tunnel.

A quick glance at my watch told me, that we were almost out of time, so I dashed to the garage where my vehicle is stored and I followed Hunter out of the complex and parked it on the main driveway, that runs along the back of the complex. Walking back to the gate, I saw the door was closing again, as was the security gate. I helped Hunter unload the tubs and pots of plants, and positioned them in no set pattern in front of the gate to the tunnel, before using a rake and outdoor broom to remove all evidence of vehicle tracks and footprints leading towards the tunnel.

Once this was done, we hopped onto the buggy and drove around to the front, where Rebecca had set up a few chairs, a fold-up table, plastic glasses, a few bottles of beer and a bottle of red wine in an ice cooler, to give the impression that we would be sitting back and enjoying the sunset later on. With the potted trees and shrubs already on the patio decking, it looked perfectly set up, as we continued around the complex, and back to where I parked my vehicle, where Marcus was waiting for us.

“Ok, you guys go back to the machinery shed and look like you are doing some work of some kind, while I go and check on our official visitors down at the beach,” I said to Hunter and Marcus, and they set off back up the slope towards the front gate and the shed. As I arrived at the pedestrian gate, I received a call on the radio, “Marcus to boss, do you copy, over,” I heard as I picked up the mic. “Copy you, Marcus, what’s up, over,” I responded, “Someone is using a… Drone as you can hear over,” Marcus replied.

“Probably our friendly Shire Ranger, I will remind him that he needs my permission to fly it over my property and over areas where there are buildings and people, over and out,” I responded, as I climbed out of my vehicle which was parked next to the Ranger’s vehicle and Police vehicle, and passing through the gate, I closed it and walked down to the beach, where I found the Ranger and Police Officers and I casually watched them for a few minutes, as they had their eyes on the screen of the Drone controller.

“Senior constable, could you please remind the Shire Ranger that he needs permission from the owner to fly the drone over private property, and buildings where there are people inside,” I said to catch their attention. “Yes, that may be the case, but I have obtained an electronic warrant from a local Justice of the Peace to operate the drone for one hour, over all private and crown land within a four-kilometre distance of where the shooting incident took place,” the Senior Constable informed me, as he showed me the document on his iPad.

“Does that include the camping area south of here on the beach?” I asked, “It does, yes,” the Senior Constable replied, as I stood closer to see what they were seeing from the drone, and I could see the drone approaching the area of the compound. “What is this decking area?” the Shire Ranger asked me, “Just a platform where we sit and relax, and enjoy the view and sunsets when we are on the property. Sometimes we bring a BBQ along and have dinner there too, before heading back to the suburbs,” I commented casually as I watched the visual of the drone as it circled the compound a few times, before heading towards the vehicles in the corner of the property.