Two Wolves Read Online Free Page A

police things you give to kids?’ Ben felt like an idiot so he added, ‘For my sister.’
    â€˜Is not, Poo Face!’ Olive said. ‘It’s for him!’
    â€˜No, yeah, no worries. Let me think. I’ll have a look in the car for you.’
    â€˜It’s okay,’ Dad said. ‘Don’t worry about it. He’s just –’
    â€˜No trouble at all. It’s good to encourage the young ones. Otherwise the firies get all the new recruits. You a budding officer, mate?’ He smiled at Ben, who felt embarrassed and didn’t say anything. ‘Actually, you know what I’ve got? They’ve just started giving us these business cards and I dunno what to do with them.’ Dan Toohey took a velcro wallet from his back pocket and passed a card through to Ben.
    It bore the name Dan Toohey and his rank, Constable, with the New South Wales police logo – a circle of green leaves with a red crown on top and a sea eagle in the centre. At the bottom were the words ‘Culpam Poena Premit Comes’ .
    â€˜Maybe you can use it like a copper’s badge or something,’ Dan Toohey said.
    Ben looked up and said, quietly, ‘Thanks.’
    â€˜I’ll just run this licence. Back in a minute.’
    Dan Toohey headed to his car.
    â€˜What’d you ask that for?’ Dad said.
    â€˜I –’
    â€˜He’s just excited,’ Mum said.
    â€˜Baby,’ Dad said under his breath, shaking his head.
    They sat in silence, the car filling with tension once more now that Dan Toohey and his belly laugh were gone. Trucks roared by, rocking the car with wind-rush.
    Ben studied the business card, mouthing the words ‘Culpam Poena Premit Comes’ over and over again. He flicked open his notebook, slipped the card in and wrote the words on the inside cover, pressing hard to etch into the leather.
    Culpam Poena Premit Comes
    â€˜Hey Mum, what does “Culpam Poena Premit Comes” mean?’ He stumbled over the words.
    â€˜I don’t know. I don’t speak Chinese,’ she said.
    Mum seemed to call any language she didn’t understand ‘Chinese’.
    â€˜Dad?’
    He was looking in the side mirror on his door. ‘Neither do I.’
    â€˜You guys are old. Didn’t you do Latin at school?’
    Ben was thrust back into his seat as Dad floored the accelerator, spinning the wheels, spitting gravel.
    They drove away. Fast.
    Ben looked at the reflection of Dad’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. Mum looked back at the police car sitting by the road. Olive opened her mouth and stared at Dad, thumb frozen in midair a few centi­metres from her face.
    â€˜Wasn’t he coming back?’ Ben asked. ‘You left your licence.’
    Dad drove on, sitting up, arms straight, holding the wheel firmly with two hands now. He took a motorway exit a few hundred metres up the road. Ben heard the siren as they turned right at the bottom of the exit ramp. They sped underneath the motorway bridge and along a winding, narrow road, past fields of sugar cane. The siren sound was moving closer when Dad took a sharp left down a dirt track. It was a trail between two fields of tall green cane. Ben sat up and looked back as their car fishtailed.
    Dad turned right down another dirt track and slammed on the brakes, switching the engine off.
    Sheets of dust blew in through the open windows. Ben heard the police car dart by on the road. His heart pummelled his chest.
    Olive laughed. ‘That was fun.’
    They sat, engine off, sound of a crow aaark ing in the cane nearby, siren in the distance, dirt settling all around them. For the first time ever, Ben did not ask a question. Mum sniffed and covered her mouth and nose with one hand.
    They sat.
    â€˜Must’ve been after someone else,’ Dad said.
    The siren faded.
    â€˜You got any of that drink left?’ Dad asked.
    Ben picked up the soft-drink bottle from the seat next to him and