by Drew Lindsay
Brenda’s arrival back at the Sheraton Mirage was leaked by chance to the media. Crowds gathered and cameras flashed. She swept through the foyer as if she had never been injured and flung herself into Ben’s arms. Their kiss was long and passionate. The camera’s missed nothing. The photo was front page nationally and internationally the following day with rumours of an impending wedding. Brenda felt the newspaper articles were hysterical and teased Elizabeth mercilessly about the wild speculation.
Detective Lisbet Fenton slapped the front page of the Daily Telegraph on Detective Sergeant Simon Bastock’s desk and demanded he immediately write out a check for $1,000 and have it ready for Ben.
Army helicopters landed on Skull Island the day after the miraculous escape. It was totally deserted. Specialist communication experts entered the 60 metre long undersea tunnel running from the bunker and made a thorough examination of what Winston had previously described as a ‘wire transfer interception area. Here the submarine communications cable out of Port Douglas had been skilfully re-routed through sophisticated de-encrypting equipment, which when operational, would allow undetected interception of thousands of international money transfers. The equipment was designed to create known and acceptable identities at the receiving end and receipting protocol for each money transfer so as not to arouse suspicions at the sender’s end. The money skimmed could have amounted to billions of dollars before anyone became suspicious. Winston had set self sabotage programmes in place but these would not have been shown to be effective until the interception process had commenced on schedule. Should these sabotage programmes have caused issues for Mr Qian, there is no doubt that Winston’s execution would have followed immediately. The equipment was carefully dismantled by communications experts and Federal Police. It was later flown back to Canberra for further inspection. The submarine cable running beside Skull Island was repaired and re-positioned in the sea bed. The tunnel and bunker area were totally destroyed, as was Qian’s large house, desalination plant and power generators. Winston had taken care of the aircraft hangar himself. The army recovered Rick’s re-breather and other diving gear left behind by Ben, and returned it to a grateful owner.
Chin Chian Qian and three of his staff were arrested two days later as they attempted to disembark their boat at Port Moresby PNG. Authorities had been tracking his medium sized motor vessel since it left the tip of Australia. Qian was later extradited to Australia. Some days later, under tight security, he was charged in the Brisbane Magistrates court with a variety of state and federal matters including the murder of his former Head of Risk Management, Mr. Do Tu Du. He was refused bail awaiting investigations and formal prosecutions. His Australian based Lightening Investment Company was de-registered by ASIC. A brown Lincoln sedan was found burnt out at the edge of four mile beach south of Port Douglas. The ownership of Skull Island was returned by Court Order to the Queensland Government.
Inspector Roy Tanner and Sergeant Adam Kennedy, formally of the Port Douglas police station, were charged with numerous federal and state crimes. Tanner was refused bail due to the serious nature of charges against him. A long prison sentence was anticipated. Both were dishonourably dismissed from the Queensland Police Department.
The film ‘Coral Sea Affair’ was completed behind schedule and way over budget in October of that year. Brenda had pleaded with Ben to come to the premiere launch in Los Angles, but he declined. His face was on far too many newspapers and magazines for his liking at the moment. The film made millions of dollars at the USA box office in its first week running. Derek was ecstatic. Brenda was swamped with offers from film makers, magazines and TV shows. Brenda and Elizabeth omitted to tell Ben that they were both heading for Sydney for the Australian release of the movie. He was threatened with death by Yana if he didn’t attend that particular release. His shock at seeing Brenda and Liz alight from a stretch Hummer and walk along the red carpet was only deepened when he found himself dragged under the cordon rope by Elizabeth to complete the remainder of the walk to the Cinema complex with Brenda holding one of his hands, and Elizabeth the other. Once again, pictures appeared in newspapers and further speculation went wild as to the wedding date. Winston and Joy sat back in their lounge, watching the news coverage of the Sydney launch of ‘Coral Sea Affair’ on TV. Joy held her husband’s hand tightly. ‘Doesn’t our Ben look fine?’ Winston smiled and nodded. ‘A little nervous but just fine.’
Ben got his $1,000 from Simon Bastock. He gave it to Detective Lisbet Fenton. She immediately booked a trip to Bali. She had never been able to afford to travel overseas.
Ben resigned from the NSW Police Force. There was no further investigation or inquiry into the previous shootings. He continued working for Rodney Reid’s specialised security service, with the additional burden of unwelcomed celebrity status. That status eased over time. He and Fay quietly divorced. She got the home and the car. He didn’t care. He rented a modest apartment in Mosman, with water views. He continued Karate training with Akira and was partnered regularly with Yana. Ben decided that some Lawyers were not all that bad after all.
Sam was urinating into the river from the front window of his shack one morning when an impressive 25 foot cruiser complete with flying bridge approached. The driver cut the engine and nudged the bow into the mud beside Sam’s house. Sam pulled his green hospital pants up. Rick Turner waved from the bridge. ‘Sam you old bugger. I’ve got a present for you from Ben and those movie people!’
Sam spat in the water. ‘Well where’s the bloody present?’ Rick waved his arms dramatically. ‘I’m standing on it….!’
“****”
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