Chapter 09

Easy Living

In the four months since Gayatri started working for Ernie he’s had her visit with all of the other families working on the farms. She gets on with the other women so well she’s often over in their houses for part of the day or they’re visiting her at the manor. They get on so well they start regular morning meetings where they all go to the one house to talk while sharing cooking tricks and recipes. This has a flow-on effect to the various households with Mexican, Chinese, Indian, English, and Aussie traditional foods turning up on everyone’s daily menus. The fish-farm is now producing lots of commercial fish which is in great demand in the local shops and restaurants as well as on the tables of the farm workers who get the fish-farm products at a discounted rate.

The new farm fields are laid out. Jason starts on the fencing as soon as the new equipment is delivered. The old fences are all taken out with the fencing along the river and the road done first with the new gutters and fences. Right now the men are fencing around the house areas and the new orchards near the staff housing.

The work on the gully needed specialists for some of it so Will has a crew from Serge doing that with Jason as the overall supervisor. The shire engineer approved the plans, but he pointed out the mini-dams and pools are only just small enough to count as anti-erosion measures and not dams. The men working their way down from the council bridge have it half done. Luckily there’s not been much rain while they work on it. What rain there has been is mostly caught in the first few pools they made and the stock are enjoying the easier access to the water. Some of the farm staff have put in several ridges along the hill that are angled a little toward the road, that also helps to slow down the water movement when it rains as well as directing water up stream.

Ernie had Serge’s people out to build large greenhouses to protect the vegetable gardens from birds and insects, one at each residential area. They also build the cover and protection for the dock area. Three sides are like the outer walls of the verandahs, the roof is like the manor, and the beach side is open with a railing along it. Three large barbecue grills are set in it as well as several tables to sit at and eat. A few solar panels on the roof charge batteries for the LED lights for evening use.

All the farm staff spend a little time working on their veggie gardens because they like the reduced food bills and eating fresh produce. Each family has an allotted area within the greenhouse nearest them.

Thursday is the day most of the families go into Rivers to do their shopping, and they all end up having dinner at Mistri Meals. This gives Gayatri a chance to visit with her family while she gets to be waited on instead of serving Ernie his dinner.

The trike is the most used vehicle because both Gayatri and Ernie use it for getting around on the farm, with the car being the next most used. On the few times they’ve a lot to get in Rivers or Bowen’s Creek they take the van because it has more storage space in the centre.

Much of Ernie’s day is spent on the Internet doing research for the farm or his books, with some time spent wandering around to keep an eye on things on all three properties: Mount Station, Wells Number 2 Farm, and Argent Estate.

Wells Number 2 Farm

The bio-diesel units are available in a range of sizes based on their production quantity capabilities with the smaller production units being for use by single households or small operations. Thus there are a number of different sized units in each group range. After much study and discussions with experts John has four of the larger sized small bio-diesel plants built on the Barker Road side of the houses, he also has four new houses built between the existing houses and where the plants are built for the extra staff to work on the farm.

Three men are employed full-time to work the bio-diesel operation, but that only takes up eighty percent of their time so they help out on the farms as well. A light weight 3,000 litre fuel tanker is also bought so they can deliver the end product to the many fuel tanks the farms have.

One of the new houses is rented to an extra farm worker Jason hires and the farm’s operations are fully integrated with Mount Station’s.

Argent Estate

The shire council approved the plans a few weeks after the meeting about the estate, and John got construction started right away.

The fuel depot is all finished and in the middle of the internal fit-out. A local man and his family lease the facility to run a combination fuel station, take-away food stop, and mini-restaurant at the crossroads.

Beside it is a separate grocery and general store that’s also in the fit-out stage, and it’s leased to the younger son of the man who owns the farm on the other side of Barker Road. This allows him to go into the retail grocery work he wants to do while still staying near his home and family.

Two large buildings are behind the businesses. One is a depot for the local volunteer Rural Fire Service (RFS) and the other is a combination ambulance depot and clinic with a community hall attached.

The large dam is in place with a big picnic and recreation area beside it that’s for use by residents, leaseholders, and their friends. The only way to get to it is via foot from the Argent Estate properties and it’s not visible from either road.

Each of the commercial properties has a good residence in it and the rest of the land along Barker Road is a series of residences. Each is a five bedroom house with a large yard, fair sized greenhouse with vegetable garden, and a garage. Each has a large rainwater tank, a wind turbine, and enough solar panels to meet their individual needs. The buildings are up, but the internal work is still being done. John has people who’ve signed leases and are waiting to move in as soon as they can. It seems Ernie underestimated how many people want a rustic lifestyle. He thought fifty houses excessive, but the demand is so high John has plans to put in another fifteen houses along Mount Road when these are all finished. The estate will be a good sized village in the near future.

John surprises Ernie by contacting the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co.). Telstra has a major fibre trunk cable going along Barker Road, so it’s an easy task for the NBN people to cut into that and set up one of their Fixed Wireless Towers to provide phone and Internet access to the new village as well as many of the farms nearby and most of Mount Station, just not the last few residences near the ridge. The seventy plus existing residences they’ll hit from the tower justifies them putting one in there.

An extra item John convinces the shire council to approve is the construction of a concrete truck parking area and picnic place on the north side of the river on the left side of the road for the traffic heading north. The council already owns the land but they were doing nothing about it due to a lack of funds. Ernie wants a pump station for the RFS near there so he pays to have the area concreted and the pump station put in while the council pays to put in the toilets and the picnic area. The result is a nice wayside stop for north bound traffic, but it’s after they pass the Argent Estate shops on their right just before crossing the river.

One More Change

With the Wells Number 2 Farm now all set up and running well, plus the high demand for housing, a section of the land of the farm along Mount Road that’s not assigned for crops is sold from the farm to the estate to add a further seven houses to the estate village. This gives the village land an ‘L’ shape and expands it to seventy-two residences with twenty-two on Mount Road plus the business linked residences. Two days after the processing of the sale the Wells Number 2 Farm is sold to the Mount Station Trust and it’s incorporated into Mount Station, thus making Mount Station a little larger than its original size.

These last two land changes finalise Ernie’s real estate deals and set the stage for the long-term well-being of Mount Station and both trusts.

Life flows on at a smooth and easy pace for Ernie and Gayatri while they get to know a lot more about each other.

Thursday’s Thugs

Mid-afternoon on a Thursday almost a year after Ernie moved to live at Mount Station Constable Henry Adams, stationed at Bowen’s Creek, is driving along Barker Road to serve some court orders on a couple of farmers involved in legal disputes. No one expects any trouble so he’s by himself in the police car, as is the usual practice in these rural areas.

He’s about a kilometre before the junction at Mount Road when he sees a car with three men on the side of the road. Something about them doesn’t seem right so he slows down to look them over. He pulls over to park about ten metres in front of their vehicle. Before turning the ignition off he gets on the radio, “Rivers Control, Rivers Five Nine,” seeking contact. They answer, and he says, “Rivers Control, Rivers Five Nine. Stopping on Barker Road short of Mount Road to check on a car parked by the road,” and he gives the registration plate number of the vehicle. Control acknowledges his report and checks the plate - it’s not wanted for anything so they pass that information on to him.

Henry gets out of his car and he walks back to the other vehicle. He notices the rear passenger is now behind the driver and all three men have their windows down. Something about the situation makes him nervous so he undoes the thumb strap on his firearm, but he leaves it in the holster because he sees no reason to draw it. Reaching the driver’s window he leans down, puts his right hand on the car door at the window level, and asks, “Are you people right? Need any help?”

The driver has both his hands on the wheel when he responds, “No, Sir! We don’t need any help. Just having a short break to discuss something without worrying about driving.”

The use of the word ‘Sir’ like that and the tone he says it in worries Henry as it indicates a lot of experience with police from the wrong side of life. The front passenger has both hands under a coat in his lap and Henry can’t see the hands of the rear passenger. He has no reason to do or say anything else so he simply moves back and starts to stand upright prior to returning to his car. Due to him starting from a forward leaning position the movement to stand upright has his right hand falling back from the side of the car to beside his hip and near to his firearm.

The man in the back seat suddenly raises his right hand as he snarls, “F•©k, the pig’s going for his gun!” This makes Henry step back more and reach for his gun. The man’s hand rises above the window edge to show he has a pistol in it. He points the pistol at Henry and fires. The high calibre round fired at such close range hurts a lot when it hits his chest. Also, the energy of the impact shoves Henry away so he loses his balance to fall over backward. His vest has saved his life, for the moment, but he’s sure he’s got some broken ribs and his head hurts.

While hearing and seeing the car doors open he gets out his firearm and he points it toward the vehicle. First out is the guy from the back seat. The door opens and he steps out while bringing his gun to bear. At the same time the driver’s door is half open and the driver has a leg out while getting out, and he now has a gun in his right hand while saying, “Idiot, Snapper, he was leaving us be until you spoke and fired.”

Both men are armed, one already shot him, so Henry thinks they’re going to finish him off. His right hand comes up and he snaps off two fast rounds at the guy from the back seat because he’s the most danger at the moment. Both rounds hit him in the chest to fling him back. The driver steps half out of the car and turns more toward Henry. Two more fast rounds and he’s knocked back into the car with a red chest at the same moment Henry is hit in the left thigh by the round the driver fires.

Turning his head makes Henry nauseous, but it allows him to see the third man is now beside the car and swinging a sawn-off shotgun to shoot over the car roof. Henry can’t lift his hand up fast enough to deal with him with a ‘centre of mass’ shot like he was trained to use and did use with the first two, so he looks along the road, shifts his hand, and aims at the man’s ankle. Henry fires first. The man screams as he starts to fall forward and sideways. The shotgun is pointing in the air when it goes off to discharge both barrels, so it’s no longer a problem.

The man falls forward and sideways to be facing away from the car. His body hits the car door and he slides down the door to tightly wedge his neck in the angle of the door and the car body. The jolt of stopping causes him to drop the shotgun. The angle he’s now at doesn’t allow him to grab anything to pull himself out of the angle, and he’s in great pain.

Henry sees the situation is now under control, but he’s hurt and bleeding. He holsters his firearm and he starts to sit up so he can use the personal radio clipped to his shoulder. The movement makes his head spin and he passes out.

Ernie and Gayatri are in the van on the way to Bowen’s Creek to get some things from a speciality shop there before going to Rivers for their main shopping of the week. They turn into Barker Road and head up it. Ernie is driving so he soon sees the police car and the other car on the opposite side of the road. At first he doesn’t think much about it, but when he gets close enough to see the policeman lying on the road and the state of the people at the other car he’s quick to change his mind.

Putting the hazard lights on so all the indicators blink Ernie pulls up just past the policeman on the ground. Both get out of the car and move to the policeman as fast as they can. Gayatri running and Ernie at his pace. He checks the pulses of the two on this side when he passes them.

At the back of the van he opens it to get his main trauma kit out while Gayatri checks pulse and breathing, just as she was shown in the first aid course Ernie had her do. He kneels on the ground beside the officer and is worried about all of the blood he sees. The worst being the leg. Triage time. First is a large compression bandage on the leg wound, done up tight to reduce the bleeding. Followed by another check of his vital signs. He’s not happy about the man being unconscious.

While Ernie applies bandages Gayatri does a careful check of the rest of him. While checking his head she looks up and says, “His skull feels like it’s fractured back here.” Ernie checks the officer’s head and agrees.

With the immediate dangers treated it’s now time to get better help. Ernie grabs the radio off the officer’s shoulder, activates it, and says, “Control, urgent, control urgent!”

The radio says, “Rivers Control, who’s making the urgent call?”

Ernie glances down at the officer while saying, “Rivers Control, I’m in Barker Road near Mount Road beside a Constable Adams, he’s shot and needs an ambulance. There’s another car here with three others.” While he’s talking Gayatri is checking the man on the other side of the car. She checks his pulse, looks at Ernie, and shakes her head no. He adds, “The others are dead. We need an intensive care ambulance and Constable Adams will need immediate surgery. Alert the hospital.”

The operator at Rivers Control repeats and acknowledges what he said, then asks, “Who are you?”

“Ernest Mount. Driving into Bowen’s Creek I came across the scene and stopped to render aid. I’m a qualified paramedic and have done all I can for Adams. He now needs a doctor.” When they ask for some ID confirmation he gives them his driver’s licence number. They tell him an ambulance and other officers are on the way to him.

Fifteen minutes later the ambulance from Bowen’s Creek arrives. A police car is right behind it with a sergeant in it. The ambulance crew check what Ernie did, agree all they can do is to take care to immobilise Adams’ head and put him in the ambulance. Then they leave to take him to the hospital while the sergeant gets statements from Gayatri and Ernie.

After using his laptop computer to copy the files Ernie hands over a USB drive with copies of the video files of their approach to the scene and their actions on arrival. This’ll help the police with their evaluation of what the two did.

While Gayatri is giving her statement Ernie has a closer look at the three dead men. They look slightly familiar. It takes a while for him to make the link and he has to open a file on his computer to confirm it, yep all three are from the gang in Sydney he had troubles with. Now he’s really concerned. That also reminds him about his last talk with Sergeant Bannerman, and Ernie hasn’t heard about the licences.

He rings Dave to tell him about the incident. Dave’s reply is, “We now know they know you’re down there, somewhere. I’ll see if we can find out just what they do know. I’ll also look into what happened with the licences for you.”

Ernie tells the local sergeant about his call to Sydney and the names of the dead men. Which gets a response of, “I’m glad you’ve got their real names because the documents on them say something else and I can see they’re fake. And thanks for looking after Constable Adams.”