Mark Hayes

Season 2 · November 2026

1. 

   E1 · 1 Nov 2026

   The Road That Bites

   A drifter takes a short job in Blackwater, gets publicly Humiliated when his ute dies, and finds drag marks that may lead to vanished drivers.

   Read what Mark says

   I left Bellwether with bruised ribs and one escaped crate still on my mind. I drove north to Blackwater, where Nell, the roadhouse cook, hired me for 3 days in the pump room.

   I thought keeping my head down would make me useful. Then my old ute died with an embarrassing clatter, 3 truckers laughed, and Dean Harrow filmed the whole thing.

   I could have driven straight on. Instead, I found 2 fresh drag grooves cutting through the Harrow garage yard. No vehicle had crossed them.

   Clyde Harrow, who runs the recovery crew, caught me checking the soil. He told me the back lot belonged to him now and ordered me out.

   He wanted me gone, but those grooves stayed fresh. If a truck was dragged somewhere, someone here had taken it off the road.

   I decided to stay long enough to learn who was making drivers disappear. Then a tow truck stopped beside a barely damaged tyre, and I watched it follow the highway.

2. 

   E2 · 3 Nov 2026

   Damage Was Made

   Mark repairs Dani Mara's generator, survives Dean Harrow's attack, and uses the matching damage to learn that the Harrows manufacture breakdowns.

   Read what Mark says

   Dani Mara, a travelling diesel fitter, needed her workshop generator running so she could collect a contractor's final pay. I found the fuel coupling packed with metal filings.

   I cleared the blockage and fitted a sound section. The machine held steady, but Dean Harrow arrived and shoved me hard into the pump cabinet.

   My ribs took the worst of it. I nearly went down, but Dani told Dean the repair had worked and ordered him away from her equipment.

   The filings and the fresh cuts on the coupling proved someone packed the damage before I arrived. Dean wanted Dani to blame me so the Harrows could control the next repair.

   Dani stood beside the running generator and told Dean I had fixed the fault properly. He left without another word, and I kept the damaged coupling for the roadhouse crowd to inspect.

   They are making travellers call them. I was inside the generator when I understood how easy it was to turn a safe machine into an excuse for a tow.

3. 

   E3 · 5 Nov 2026

   The Shed Betrayal

   A young mechanic Mark trusted lures him into an abandoned shed, but Mark survives the ambush and finds the road Mark hoped the attacker would use.

   Read what Mark says

   Kade Venn, a young mechanic I had tolerated around the garage, took my hand torch. He said a missing tool was inside the abandoned weigh shed, and I went to look.

   The tool was bait. Kade fired from the doorway and missed my head, but the shot struck a hanging chain beside me. I stayed low and made him run.

   Kade had been paid by Dean Harrow to draw me away from the fuel court. I did not know that then, but the direction he ran told me more.

   He went north along the access track, the same way the fresh drag marks ran from the Harrow garage. I had expected a random ambush. This one had a road behind it.

   I forced Kade toward the track, then let him keep running. I did not need to catch him in the open. I needed to see where he went.

   Kade disappeared toward the north access track, and I stayed alive with his torch in my hand. The attack told me the brothers were watching my movements.

Season 1 · October 2026

1. 

   E1 · 30 Sep 2026

   The Locked Container

   Mark takes kitchen work at a fishing wharf after seeing a steel container door injure him and three supposedly drowned crewmen's belongings disappear inside.

   Read what Mark says

   Tully Pike, the wharf chandler, hired me for a week at Bellwether. I came for cash work, so I parked my old ute behind the eastern wharf and took the kitchen shift.

   This town lives on fishing boats. Three crewmen are supposed to have drowned, and everyone is still carrying flowers down to the harbour.

   I watched a private crew move Ben Cato's sea boots, lunch tin and tool bag into a locked steel container beside the crane.

   The hatch swung back and hit my shoulder. I dropped the boot and stayed still while Rhys Kato, Lyle Kato's son, watched me.

   Ben's family was grieving, but his gear was being moved. I copied the container number onto my hand and walked away.

   I took the kitchen roster from the line cook. It let me hear which boats left, which engines stayed cold and who was too scared to talk.

   Nia Frost, the wharf mechanic, said that container opens only when Lyle Kato is aboard the old dredger.

2. 

   E2 · 4 Oct 2026

   The Bollard Test

   Mark tries to earn enough quiet trust at Bellwether wharf to learn who disappeared when the Kato family arrives, and his help with a falling crate turns one hard watcher into a cautious ally.

   Read what Mark says

   I needed the crews to trust me before I could learn who disappeared whenever Rhys Kato came near. So I carried bait and watched the boats.

   A young deckhand slipped, and a tackle crate was heading onto his foot. I caught him and stopped it.

   I steadied the crate without shouting. The crews noticed, and the young deckhand trusted me enough to nod.

   Dain Rusk, the former police volunteer who guards Rhys Kato, put me in charge of the eastern bollard. That gave me a reason to watch every boat.

   Joonie Ellis, the scarred deckhand from the crane office, looked relieved when Dain left. He vanished again when Rhys arrived.

   At the end of the shift, I found Joonie beside the fish boxes and learned the missing men had taken work on 3 separate boats.

3. 

   E3 · 6 Oct 2026

   Keys Behind the Bait

   Mark uses an antique fishing reel as bait to escape a trapped confrontation with Rhys Kato while Dain Rusk watches the Boathouse from a grey sedan.

   Read what Mark says

   Tully Pike, the Boathouse owner, hired me to reset his antique fishing reels before a tourist coach arrived. Rhys Kato walked in before the display was finished.

   Rhys called me a drifter and told everyone I worked only with wharf approval. Dain Rusk, the former police volunteer, watched from a grey sedan outside.

   Rhys backed me against the counter and reached for the keys. I put one brass reel into his hand and told him the shop was finished.

   I walked out with the keys while Dain stayed beside the sedan. Rhys had to choose between following me and keeping his dignity in front of Tully.

   I hid the keys inside a bait float in the rear lane. A vehicle was faster, but it would also show every Kato watcher exactly where I went.

   The sedan stayed at the front. I returned the keys to Tully and watched him carry them away from the street.

4. 

   E4 · 8 Oct 2026

   Three Sets of Scratches

   Mark moves a refrigeration unit through a locked wharf lane with Joonie Ellis, then survives a rifle shot when a truck marked by the missing crewmen reveals the danger around the old dredger.

   Read what Mark says

   Tully Pike paid me to move a refrigeration unit after closing. Joonie Ellis, the deckhand who knew the missing men, agreed to show me the sealed net-shed lane.

   A locked truck backed into the lane. Joonie stopped dead when I saw 3 sets of scratches on its side.

   Those were the missing men's initials. My hand shook once, but I told Joonie to breathe first and kept the trolley moving.

   The shot hit the metal beside my head. I pulled Joonie behind the freezer and did not return fire.

   The truck stayed still, so we stayed behind the unit. I could hear the crewmen's initials being cut into its side and nothing else.

   Joonie had not left me. He told me the old dredger was where one of the men was being kept alive.

5. 

   E5 · 10 Oct 2026

   Knelt Down by Fuel

   Mark is attacked beside Bellwether's fuel tank while Dain holds Joonie Ellis, forcing him to choose between fighting and finding another route.

6. 

   E6 · 12 Oct 2026

   The Blacklisted FUEL Run

   Mark tries to continue useful work at the Boathouse while a false blacklist blocks him, then finds proof that the Kato salvage crew is moving stripped copper in daylight.

7. 

   E7 · 15 Oct 2026

   Float Under the Wheel

   Mark receives a direct threat against Ben Cato at the empty yacht club and must mislead the Kato watchers without exposing his route to the missing crewman.

8. 

   E8 · 18 Oct 2026

   Locked Out by Fuel

   Mark wins a storm rescue contest at Mara Quill's yard, only for Lyle Kato to stop his pay and lock the fuel, but the defeated rival offers a useful secret.

9. 

   E9 · 20 Oct 2026

   Nia Led Him Straight

   Mark asks Nia Frost to divert Dain while he reaches a guarded prisoner, but she brings Dain to him and Mark escapes under the public alarm.

10. 

    E10 · 22 Oct 2026

    Coughs on the Radio

    Mark waits to intercept the prison boat but receives a radio threat and hears chained prisoners while fresh tracks suggest the transmission is bait.

11. 

    E11 · 24 Oct 2026

    The Last Ladder

    Mark takes a battered skiff after a prison barge carrying two missing crewmen, but can he reach it before the chain drops and the storm hides it?

12. 

    E12 · 27 Oct 2026

    What Was Underneath

    Mark boards the prison barge to rescue two missing crewmen, but what he finds beneath their food exposes the salvage family's stolen-goods operation.

13. 

    E13 · 29 Oct 2026

    The Dark Skiff

    Mark brings the three rescued crewmen into the wharf, but a dark skiff carrying an unseen crate forces him to choose whether to protect the witnesses or chase the family's remaining secret.