by Ian Wisby
“I don’t know about this, Ethan. This is very sensitive stuff. It’s beyond my pay grade to even think about this sort of information,” said Mick.
“I’m aware of that Boss. But if we can find this Manson guy, we can bring these bastards down, whoever they are,” said Ethan. He paused for a moment, and sat down at the spare chair. “Look, I know what you’re going to say, but I think we should reach out to Simon.” Mick immediately shook his head.
“Absolutely not, Ethan. Last time was acceptable, but this time, your emotions are high at the moment. I don’t want you going near him,” said Mick.
“Come on, Boss. I’m over that now, I couldn’t care less that he slept with Diane…This is about stopping a criminal organization,” said Ethan. The room fell silent. “Just let me reach out to him. Maybe he can help us out with this case.” Mick didn’t know what to say. He knew he trusted Ethan, and he knew he would do this even if he’d said no.
“The Commissioner is furious about what you did to Hauser. He’s calling for your head on a stick,” said Mick. Ethan just shook his head.
“I don’t give a fuck about that right now. All that matters is bringing these people to justice,” said Ethan. Mick let out a sigh.
He thought for a moment, then looked at the TV screen in his office. It was showing a report on the Australia Day tragedy.
“Alright, fine. Do it. But I don’t want you blasting off at Simon. This is about getting justice, understood?” Ethan stood up.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered…I’ll keep you updated,” he said, and then headed out the door. Mick was somewhat worried about Ethan’s ill-attitude towards Simon. But he had to trust Ethan will do the right thing.
As Ethan came out, he took out his mobile phone to dial a number. The call rang a few times before it connected. “Hey, Simon. It’s Ethan Cooper.”
“Ethan? This is a surprise…What can I do for you?”
“I need your help on something. Are you in Sydney?”
“No, I’m back in Canberra at the moment. But I can get out to you within the hour?”
“Perfect. I’ll set up a meeting place.”
CHAPTER 31
SIMON HARPER WAS somewhat surprised to hear from Ethan again. Even though he did help him with the AFP’s investigation on Australia Day, he just never expected to be called upon for his help.
After the events on Australia Day, Simon had since returned to Canberra.
But he also owned an apartment in Sydney, which he used from time to time. He arrived in Sydney after a short fifty-minute flight from Canberra.
He caught a taxi into the city, and arrived at his apartment in Darlinghurst. Upon entering the front door, he stumbled upon dozens of letters that had been sent over the past couple of months.
He collected his mail, which by the looks of it was mostly all junk, and headed into the kitchen. “Nice place you’ve got here, Simon,” said the voice of Ethan Cooper. It made Simon jump.
“Jesus Christ…Bloody hell, Cooper. You scared the fuck out of me,” he cursed. “How the fuck did you get into my apartment?”
“You really have to ask? I’m a detective remember.”
“Yeah, and last time I checked, detectives don’t go breaking into peoples’ homes,” said Simon. “I thought we were going to meet somewhere?”
“We were, but this couldn’t wait. Besides, I remembered where you lived here,” he said. “So, this is where you fucked my partner?” He didn’t plan on saying that, but he just couldn’t resist. Simon let out a sigh, and lowered his head.
“I really don’t have the time for this, Cooper,” he said.
“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help it.” There was a pause after that.
“You look like you could use a drink,” said Simon. He turned and opened the cupboard to take out two glasses. “So, what’s so bloody important you made me come all the way to Sydney?”
“The assassination of the President of Australia,” said Ethan. The room fell silent after that, and the two just stared at each other.
“Fucking Christ…You have something on that?” Ethan slowly nodded. Simon proceeded to pour two glasses of Whiskey on ice. He gave one to Ethan.
“I’ve got a potential lead on a suspect. His name is Nathaniel Manson. That name ring a bell?” Simon looked at him, confused.
“Should it?”
“He’s a former employee with the Department of Defence. Most of his file has blacked out pages, which I can only assume means that it’s been classified by ASIO,” said Ethan. Simon didn’t respond straight away, and took a sip of his Whiskey.
“You’re treading on thin ice with this, Cooper,” he said. Ethan’s eyes widened, like saucers. Simon’s tone changed drastically.
“What are you talking about?”
“I just wished you kept your nose out of other peoples’ business, Cooper,” he said. Ethan was getting even more confused now.
“I don’t understand, what are you on about, Simon?” Simon paused for a moment, and let out a sigh.
“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” he said.
“What do you mean?” The threat in Simon’s statement was clear to Ethan. He braced himself for what might be coming.
“From the people I work with, I got instructions to kill you, Ethan.” With this, Simon leapt at Ethan with extended fingers for a death jab directed at Ethan’s windpipe.
If Ethan were a slower human by the fracture of the second it took him to side step the attack, he would have been clutching at a crushed windpipe.
But Ethan had faced down deadlier and faster men than Simon. His feral, baser instincts kicked in, and the fighter in him came to play.
Simon was fast, he had to give him that, in the space of five seconds, he had sent eleven blows his way, Ethan was counting, and each of them were killer blows in its own right.
Who is training this guy?
The kitchen space naturally provided its own theatre for battle, complete with props. So, it was no surprise that a large cutting knife appeared in Simon’s hand.
Ethan watched him jostle the knife from hand to hand and he knew it was to demoralize him. He realized Simon did not only learn to fight, he also learned to fight dirty.
Simon assumed a death strike stance with the knife tip pointed at Ethan’s belly. Ethan knew that move. If Simon was proficient with it as the Japanese masters who had perfected it for centuries, Ethan knew there was no escaping.
He could only hope Simon wasn’t very proficient or better still he could find a shield. His hand reached for the frying pan hung on the wall behind him.
He knew someone was bound to come to the kitchen anytime soon and hoped Simon wouldn’t hurt their guests or god forbid, family.
“Why are you doing this, Simon? This is not you.”
“You don’t know me!” Simon lunged with all his might. He was a blur until Ethan heard steel hit steel as the knife dented the base of the pan. Ethan saw an opening in the split second and brought his knee up as hard as he could.
It caught Simon smack in the jaw and he heard him grunt as he fell. The knife clattered from his hand but he was on his feet again.
Prancing from one foot to the other. His fist bunched and his jaw set. Ethan had use the small time window to reposition himself to gain more space advantage.
Simon threw a fast punch for Ethan’s face. Ethan didn’t dodge. He allowed it hit him because he knew it was not the punch that would fall him. It was the second one that came a second after.
And it was that he parried. It was aimed at his sternum. If it had hit home, Ethan knew he would be on the floor.
He realized he had been combating Simon on the defensive. Now, he knew he had to attack or else things would get really out of hand.
Ethan had spent a full year at a Kung Fu dojo and had obtained the sixth Wu Shu. He knew what Simon needed and that was what he was going to give.
He let out his open palm in attack. It was coming in as a frontal
slap. It would have been comical if it wasn’t one of the most cunning and deadliest blows. It was aimed for the entire face of the opponent.
It was to obliterate the line of vision of the opponent while the real blow came in. In the microsecond Simon was momentarily limited to seeing Ethan’s palm, he felt a sharp pain in his belly and groin and chest almost at the same time.
He crumpled on the floor. It felt as though a train had run at him. His body was on fire.
What the hell was that? That couldn’t have been from only one person and certainly not the work of a single human hand. He had never faced such a blow in his entire life of fighting. And there he was on his parent’s kitchen floor groaning from a blow he didn’t even see.
He looked up to see Simon’s shoed foot coming to his face. Just before he was about to get an imprint of his shoe, Ethan grabbed hold of Simon’s ankle, and twisted it. This action forced Simon’s body to collapse to the ground.
His head smacked hard on the tiled floor. Blood started pouring from the wound. Ethan took a moment to collect himself, and then looked over to see his friend, Simon, lying there, choking to death.
There was a giant puddle of blood surrounding his cranium. He quickly crawled over to him in an attempt to save his life. “Simon, stay with buddy,” he said, as he supported his head. “Who hired you to kill me?” he asked, hoping that Simon had some last-minute feeling of guilt and that he’d reveal his employer.
Of course, Simon was finding it difficult to breathe, let alone speak. “Come on, Simon, please. Tell me who hired you to kill me?” he said. Simon began to move his mouth in order to say something.
“It…Was…Birchall…McClelland…” he said, with a gasp. Moments later, Simon was dead, and Ethan was left sitting there, helplessly holding Simon’s lifeless hand.
CHAPTER 32
ETHAN COOPER COULDN’T believe that his best friend, Simon Harper, was dead. More to the fact that he was hired to kill him.
Ever since he found out that he’d been sleeping with Diane behind his back, he’d wanted nothing more than to kill him, but that was out of jealousy, not out of self defence.
Ethan was still sitting there on the kitchen floor crunched up in the fetal position. Blood all over his fingers and clothes. Simon’s body was just lying there, blood surrounding it.
He just didn’t know what to do. He knew he had to call the police, and an ambulance to come and collect the body, but he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t risk it.
He was partially responsible for Simon’s death, despite it being self-defence. Instead, he called someone else to come. Detective Inspector Mick Greer came in through the front door of the townhouse. The moment he stepped inside, it looked as though the place had been burgled. Shattered glass lay all over the floor. As he got further into the kitchen, he noticed blood. Then, he spotted the body. “Ethan?” Mick spoke, softly. “Ethan, you there?”
“Yeah, I’m in the kitchen,” he called out. His voice was very faint, obviously in shock. Mick came into the kitchen, and found Ethan on the floor, his knees up to his chest.
“Shit. Ethan, are you okay?”
“I think so. Just in a bit of shock, that’s all,” he said.
“What the hell happened? I thought he was your friend?”
“I thought so, too…Apparently, he was hired to take me out, because we were getting too close with the investigation,” said Ethan. He slowly managed to get to his feet, but his legs were like jelly. Mick helped him up.
“What are you saying, that Simon was dirty?” Mick thought, as he looked back at his body.
“It looks that way…Boss, there’s something else…Right before he died, Simon confessed who hired him to kill me,” he said.
“Well, that’s good. Who was it?” Ethan was hesitant at first, and still trying to come to terms with what happened.
“Boss…It was Birchall McClelland,” he said. Mick’s eyes suddenly widened with fear. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Jesus fuck…You sure he said Birchall McClelland?” Ethan slowly nodded. “This is fucking insane…You’re saying that an Australian private defence contractor, one of the largest in the Oceanic region, is responsible for the assassination of the President of Australia?” Mick thought.
“It’s a high probability…I know it’s hard to believe, but Simon’s attempt to kill me should prove it,” said Ethan.
“It’s not going to convince the High Courts though. We’ll need hard evidence to bring these guys down, if they are responsible.”
“I know they’re responsible, Boss. The way Simon was talking before we got into the fight. It sounded as though they were controlling every aspect of his life,” said Ethan. Mick didn’t know what to say after that. Just then, Ethan could hear a buzzing noise coming from Simon’s pocket.
He crouched down and carefully reached into his pocket to take out his Smartphone. The phone was ringing, but the number had an ‘unknown caller’ ID.
“It must be his employer, Birchall McClelland,” said Mick, as they stared at the phone.
“What should I do?” said Ethan. Then, without hesitation, he answered the call. “Yes?”
“Congratulations, Detective Cooper…You’ve finally solved the puzzle,” said a deep voice on the other end. Ethan looked confused.
“Who is this?” he asked.
“No matter what you do, you’ll never be able to bring this company down,” said the voice. At that, the call disconnected.
Seconds later, Ethan looked up to the sound of screeching tires. He raced to the door, and at the last second, he spotted a vehicle speeding off. Mick came out after him.
“Looks like Simon was being watched,” said Mick.
“It would seem that way…Boss, this thing is huge. We need to find out who exactly is involved in this conspiracy,” said Ethan. Mick slowly nodded, then looked at the dead body of Simon Harper.
“We also need to deal with this corpse,” he said. He paused for a moment, before taking out his mobile phone. “I know someone who I can get to come take care of it. We’ll cover it up, make it look like a suicide,” he added.
“Boss, you know that’s not going to cut it.”
“I know, but it will buy us some time,” said Mick, and started dialling a number. As Mick went off to make the call, Ethan continued sitting there.
The realization that his friend was dead had just hit him like a surging tidal wave.
* * *
His Excellency, Brendan King was still coming to terms with the fact that he was the President of Australia. He still couldn’t believe that someone had actually assassinated Charmaine Bradley, not to mention almost fifty innocent people in the process.
The notion that Charmaine was killed because of the fact that she was the President, concerned him that he might be next.
But he had to stay positive, for the country’s sake. They’d already lost a national icon, and now he was left to fulfill that legacy. Brendan King was in the private study at the Admiralty House in Sydney.
Despite the fact that Charmaine was assassinated only one day ago, he could still feel as if she was here. He stood by the large panelled window and gazed out across Sydney Harbour.
He could also see numerous security guys in suits patrolling the regal grounds of the residence. It would seem that with the assassination of Charmaine Bradley had triggered security concerns for the office of the head of state.
As Brendan stood there, he was disrupted as there was a knock on the wooden oak door. It slowly opened, and Joe Parsons entered. “Ah, afternoon, Joe. Come in,” he said. Joe entered, closing the door behind him. He carried an official looking folder.
“How are you coping, Your Excellency?” asked Joe, as he approached the desk.
“Still getting used to all this security. I mean, I had bodyguards when I was Governor, but this is just a whole new level,” he said, and Joe nodded.
“I understand, but the Commissioner insisted that additional security w
as necessary,” Joe replied.
“I see…What’s that you got?” he asked, pointing to the folder.
“It’s the first draft of your eulogy. For the service tomorrow,” said Joe.
“Of course. Let’s take a look.” He sat down at his desk, and slipped on his reading glasses. Joe handed him the folder, and he proceeded to read it. “It’s a very promising start, Joe…It certainly gives gratitude to Charmaine,” he said. Joe smiled. “What time is the service?”
“It’s scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Mary’s Cathedral,” he said.
“Good. Is the Prime Minister coming?”
“Yes, he’s confirmed his attendance. As is the Premier of New South Wales, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, and of course, the AFP Commissioner will be in attendance,” he explained. “Also, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacob Marsden will be attending the service. He’s expected to land at Sydney Airport around 10:15 a.m. tomorrow,” he said.
“Very good. Charmaine deserves a high-profile service,” he said. The room fell silent after that, as Joe didn’t know what to say. “Has there been much progress with the investigation?”
“Ah, last I heard, the AFP are conducting an investigation. It appears that the person who planted the bomb was not in fact working alone. It appears he was hired by a professional. They’re looking into as we speak,” Joe explained.
“Well, let’s hope they find who was responsible.”
“Yes, I’ll keep you updated with that.” Brendan smiled.
“Thanks Joe. You’re doing great work. Charmaine would be proud,” he said. Joe was a little flattered by that.
“I appreciate that, Your Excellency.” Joe turned and headed to the door.
CHAPTER 33
DETECTIVE SERGEANT ETHAN Cooper, and Inspector Mick Greer had since returned to the Operations Centre. Of course, Ethan was still in shock that he was forced to watch his friend, Simon Harper, die in front of him.