THE BROTHERHOOD

by Steve Jovanoski

  Chapter 20

  Police cars sped into the central business district from all directions as the taxi driver headed out of the city. Aazim and Bill turned their heads to see vehicles being pulled over and occupants identified. They looked at each other and exhaled with relief as the distance between them and their pursuers increased. It was early in the morning and their tired bodies needed a recharge, but not before they’d extracted the information from the databases. Bill gave the driver directions and Aazim allowed himself to relax in the back seat. His last thought was of his father: as he slowly drifted to sleep he wondered where Ilias was.

  ‘Wake up, Az.’

  The taxi was stationary when Bill roused him from his slumber. They got out into a cold night and deserted suburban streets.

  ‘Where are we?’ Aazim croaked, shivering and trying to focus on his surroundings.

  ‘We’re close to Lenni’s house. I didn’t want the driver dropping us off right in front in case the police get to him.’

  The taxi drove off and they started walking in the opposite direction. As Aazim’s teeth chattered involuntarily, Bill assured him that it was only a half-hour walk. But to Aazim every minute seemed too long. The occasional bathroom light switching on and stray animal were the only signs of life from houses in the street. Aazim pulled his T-shirt above his nose in an attempt to keep his frozen face warm by breathing inside; even his toes were numb.

  ‘Why are you doing this, Bill?’ Aazim asked suddenly, as if the question had only just occurred to him.

  Bill was also fighting the cold and didn’t mind the distraction. ‘Well, I guess it was the money at first, but now I’m just too far into it.’

  ‘You always had the option of leaving it to the police or Janelle. You could’ve taken the money you already had and simply disappeared. I mean, guys like you are resourceful. You could’ve just ditched me and made it on your own. A fake passport and you’re in Siberia, right? Are you making this whole thing personal?’

  ‘We’re fighting for our lives here, you know. You can’t make it more personal than that. I don’t have much cash left, believe me, and resources cost money.’

  Aazim couldn’t read the blank face of his companion. ‘You had a bad dream back there on the train. What was that about?’

  ‘You’re determined, aren’t you?’

  Aazim just smiled and waited for Bill to go on.

  ‘It’s nothing. A bad dream that’s all,’ Bill replied, shrugging off the question.

  ‘Why did you leave your job with the agency? Did you quit?’

  ‘Look, I’d rather not talk about it.’

  ‘Come on, you can tell me,’ Aazim persisted.

  ‘Not much to tell.’

  ‘How did you end up as a private investigator?’

  ‘Drop it, Aazim!’ Bill snapped.

  Aazim was embarrassed. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I’m just trying to keep my mind off the cold.’ He laughed uncomfortably and cursed himself for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, and with someone he was trusting with his life.

  Bill stopped walking and let out a long sigh. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cigarettes and started walking again while lighting one. He sucked deeply and held the smoke a moment before exhaling.

  ‘I know, mate. Don’t mind me, I’m just exhausted.’ He paused before continuing. ‘My problem is not lack of sleep, it’s what I remember when I wake up. What I wouldn’t give for a peaceful night …’ He took a final drag and threw the butt in the gutter.

  ‘Have you seen a doctor? A psychiatrist could probably help you,’ Aazim ventured carefully.

  ‘You mean a shrink? In my line of work – well, former work – it somewhat defeats the purpose. When he says “Tell me all about it” I’ll have to say “Sorry, doc, that’s classified”. It’ll be the shortest session in history. I can’t talk about it to anyone; even my wife didn’t know what I got up to. As far as she was concerned I was a boring office administrator in a government agency.’

  ‘I can’t imagine how hard that must have been,’ Aazim replied.

  ‘It was my job and questions weren’t asked. “I did it for my country” type of shit.’

  ‘I’m not sure I follow.’

  Bill looked at Aazim’s questioning eyes. ‘What the hell. A couple of years ago there was a terrorist bomb in a restaurant in Jakarta. I was on assignment tagging a crooked Indonesian army officer when we learnt of the bombing. The officer was the target.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I was ordered to return to base immediately. That day sixty-three people were killed and over two hundred injured. The restaurant was next to a primary school and most of the victims were children. I didn’t actually see the bomb explode. I just remember looking at those kids’ faces before walking away. I watched the rest on TV.’ Bill’s hands shook as he reached for another cigarette, scrunched up the packet and tossed it away when he found it empty.

  ‘You blame yourself for what happened?’ Aazim asked tentatively.

  ‘No, I don’t. It was out of my control and I couldn’t have cared less about that bastard, but something didn’t feel right. A tip-off for the bomb supposedly came from an Indonesian informant, but it didn’t sit right. No one was aware of ASIO’s presence. Nothing happens in Indonesia without the knowledge of the Indonesian army, and the notion that a low-life opportunist knew we were there is laughable. The stakeout was suspicious – it was too easy. I was there to confirm the target and it had nothing to do with surveillance. Jemaah Islamiyah didn’t have the capacity to organise such an attack and the smell pointed to ASIO. Other agents like Janelle suspected the same but were too worried about their careers or their lives to speak up.’

  Bill paused for a moment before continuing. ‘We were all first-timers in the field, purposely chosen for our inexperience. No one ever found out who the informant was and I hit a brick wall trying to find out. I turned to my superiors and brought it out in the open, the biggest mistake I ever made. Some government suits showed up and formed a panel of investigators, but it was a sham from the very start.’ Bill waved his hand dismissively. ‘They wanted it resolved quickly and quietly, and in the process I lost my job and my wife. That bastard Barry was behind all of it.’

  ‘How was Barry involved?’

  ‘He was in charge of the assignment. A lot of uncomfortable questions were directed at him and soon after the investigation my identity was leaked to the media. I couldn’t work in the field anymore.’

  ‘If he was in charge then why wasn’t he held accountable?’

  ‘Barry argued that it was against our national interest to interfere, that it was a covert operation and the attack was collateral damage at the hands of terrorists.’

  ‘Why wasn’t any of this reported in the papers?’ Aazim asked, shaken.

  ‘This is ASIO we’re talking about, Az. Nothing comes out in the media if the agency issues a directive. A tribunal found there were no grounds for prosecution and the agency had followed the correct procedures. However, it failed on principle and moral responsibility to protect human life. As Barry was in charge of the assignment his conduct was heavily scrutinised. Later Janelle told me he was overlooked for a promotion due to his involvement in Jakarta. At least he didn’t get a job where he could do more damage.’

  ‘I bet if even one of those victims had been Australian the whole outcome would’ve been different.’

  ‘Turning my back on those kids is what I have to live with every night. A goddamned anonymous call could’ve saved so many lives. Instead I was given an order and I followed it. Doing anything afterwards was too late.’ Bill’s face was pale, his last words barely audible.

  Aazim turned to him and grinned. ‘You know you still haven’t my question. Why are you helping me?’

  Bill smiled and shook his head. ‘I didn’t trust Saeed; the man’s a snake. But I was curious about why you risked your neck getting those databases.’

  Lenni’s house
was in sight. Bill surveyed the surroundings and determined it was safe to go in. He rang the bell and the door opened to reveal the pale boy they’d met with not long ago. Lenni ushered them into the warm house, familiar mechanical sounds emanating from every room. All the lights were off save a dim lamp perched on a desk in the living room.

  ‘You guys want tea? I don’t have any coffee, I don’t drink coffee.’

  ‘Tea would be great, Lenni,’ Bill said.

  Shaking off the cold, they sat down – this time there were chairs – and Lenni disappeared into the kitchen. A minute later he returned with two cups and what looked like a modified portable kettle. It took fifteen seconds for the water to boil, causing Bill to grin as Lenni poured the water.

  ‘Why don’t you sell this stuff?’ Bill said. ‘You could have your own brand of whitegoods.’

  ‘What, this old thing?’ Lenni said, looking at the kettle. ‘Inventions are five percent of the effort – the rest is marketing and lots of money. And that I don’t have.’

  Aazim crouched over the coffee table and wrapped his hands around the mug, allowing the heat to seep into his skin and reach his frozen bones.

  Lenni sat on a squeaky computer chair and gave them a moment to relax. ‘You guys have been busy. I hear the whole city’s looking for you.’

  ‘Really? What else have you heard?’ Bill gulped as much of the warm liquid as possible without burning his throat.

  ‘Come on, Bill, don’t play games with me. Whatever you have it must be worth a lot of money to someone. You called me, remember? Now let me see it.’ Lenni swivelled on the seat like an impatient child waiting to open a present.

  Bill motioned to Aazim for the data. ‘Yes, I did call you but before you see it I want you to treat this as off limits, okay? Extract the data, make a printout and save it to disk. Do not copy any of this stuff for yourself. I wouldn’t even ask you to print it if we weren’t so desperate for time.’

  ‘Okay, I won’t,’ Lenni said, reaching for the flash drive.

  ‘I’m serious, Lenni, I’m not playing games here. This stuff can cost you your life.’

  ‘Okay, okay.’

  When Bill relinquished his hold on the flash drive Lenni took it without making eye contact. He immediately plugged it into the USB port and launched the Oracle application as directed by Aazim.

  ‘What is all this?’ Lenni asked. ‘I can’t make any sense of it.’

  They all stared at the monitor.

  ‘Open the SWIFT database,’ Aazim said. ‘The password’s been cracked, you should be able to launch it without problems.’ He hadn’t had time to verify the data and held his breath, hoping there were no corruptions.

  ‘SWIFTNet. Isn’t that the money transaction platform banks use?’ Lenni asked.

  ‘The very one,’ Aazim said, pointing to an icon on the screen.

  As instructed, Lenni browsed through the application and found four main services that fell under SWIFT: Securities, Treasury and Derivatives, Trade Services and Payments, and Cash Management. Payments and Cash Management was the one of interest to Aazim and the one he indicated.

  ‘There it is.’ Aazim sighed in relief. A seemingly endless list of transaction records revealed names of businesses, companies, banks, financiers, phantom charity groups, miscellaneous Middle Eastern traders, and aliases for known terrorist organisations, along with the money deposited into their accounts and extracted without a trace. A trail that led all over the world, the bulk of it concentrated in regions known for corrupt governments and conflict zones.

  ‘Whoa … is this what I think it is?’

  ‘It isn’t anything, Lenni. Don’t mess around with it. Make those copies and we’re out of here,’ Bill ordered.

  ‘It’s all of it?’ Lenni raised his voice in excitement.

  ‘Yes, but you don’t have to print out all the data,’ Aazim said. ‘We just need enough to make a point. Convert the rest to word-processor format so we don’t have to use Oracle, then we can view it on any computer.’

  Bill saw a shadow in the corner of his eye and reached into his jacket.

  ‘Stay right there, Bill.’

  The nozzle of a gun came into view from a dark doorway and gradually the man holding it was revealed. They all stared at the heavyset figure pointing the gun in their direction, panic instantly gripping Aazim.

  ‘Do you have it?’ Barry said to Lenni.

  ‘Yes, all the databases are here,’ Lenni said as the printer aligned and jumped into action.

  ‘Oh, Lenni! What have you done?’ Bill exclaimed. ‘Haven’t you listened to anything I’ve told you?’

  The boy couldn’t meet his eye. ‘Sorry, Bill, but it’s like you said, I should be a millionaire by now and this is worth a lot of money.’

  ‘You have no idea what you’ve done, you dumb fool.’

  ‘That’s enough, Bill.’ Barry was enjoying the moment and couldn’t keep the smile off his face, but he was in a hurry.

  ‘How did he get to you, Lenni?’ Bill asked.

  ‘I didn’t get to him, you arsehole,’ Barry sneered, ‘he came to me. Your little friend here is very clever. Why have you kept him to yourself all this time?’

  ‘I knew something big was up when you guys came so I –’ Lenni stammered.

  ‘You used the scanner again, didn’t you?’ Bill said.

  ‘No, I caught onto Barry’s mobile conversation to some guy by accident,’ Lenni replied, looking a little shamefaced.

  ‘I slacked off and used a mobile phone instead of encrypted lines,’ Barry said. ‘Just when you guys slipped out of my hands the light shone from the heavens and sent me a text message,’ he added smugly.

  ‘You’ve just killed us all, you idiot!’ Aazim yelled at the pale-faced Lenni.

  ‘It’s not like that! He promised me he wouldn’t hurt anyone. He just wants the databases.’

  Barry chuckled loudly, relishing the fear he instilled by his presence. ‘Oh dear,’ he said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes as he screwed a silencer on the gun and calmed himself. ‘You should’ve listened to your friends.’ He fired three shots and Lenni fell back, splattering blood and flesh across the wall.

  Bill kicked the computer desk and the lamp fell to the floor, shattering on impact. Darkness enveloped the house and white flashes from the gunfire lit the room. It lasted only a few seconds when a heavy thud followed the deafening sound of Bill’s gun. The firefight ended and the room fell silent.

  Aazim’s ears were ringing as he lay flat on the floor, eyes wide open in search of movement. There was a gurgling sound and feet shuffling on carpet but he couldn’t work out where it was coming from. A noise nearby caught his attention. He stared into the darkness and lay as still as a stunned rabbit hypnotised by headlights. With a flick of a switch the room lit up. Aazim’s eyes refocused and he saw Bill standing with a trained gun.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Bill asked.

  Aazim gathered his bearings and got to his feet. ‘Yeah, I think so.’ He patted his body just to make sure.

  The room was filled with the acrid smell of burnt gunpowder, and fragments of shattered debris were strewn across the floor. The gurgling sound came again and now Aazim could see the shuffling feet. Barry lay on the floor, his head against the wall, blood dribbling from his mouth and oozing out of two cavities in his chest. The bullets had penetrated his lungs and filled them with blood. Breathing was a struggle and he writhed in pain.

  ‘Check the printout and make a soft copy,’ Bill said.

  Aazim moved to the computer desk and made a conscious effort not to look at Lenni’s lifeless body slumped in a heap on the fallen chair beside him. His fingers worked frantically on the keyboard and the printer continued spewing out paper.

  Bill turned to face the man who’d cursed his life, the shadowy figure pulling strings from behind closed doors who was now sprawled on a cold bare floor. A puppet whose strings had been cut, now lying damaged and discarded. Aazim was yelling something but Bill did
n’t register the words. His entire being was focused on Barry, their eyes locked in an exchange of hatred. Bill’s knuckles were turning white from his grip on the gun, and his hands were shaking as he tried to stop himself from pulling the trigger .

  ‘You don’t have the balls,’ Bill wheezed. ‘I was right about you in Jakarta and I’m right about you now.’ Blood rose from his throat to choke him, but he continued regardless. ‘You’ll manage to stuff up again.’

  Bill stared at his nemesis and finally answered, ‘We’ll get to that in a minute. First tell me what Sam’s up to.’ Enforcing his point, he pressed the nozzle of the gun against Barry’s forehead. ‘Where is Saeed?’ Bill raised his foot and found a new resting spot on Barry’s chest, prompting a coughing fit. ‘What’s his role in The Brotherhood?’

  Barry clenched his jaw. ‘You shit, you’re a dead man.’

  ‘Not from where I’m standing.’ Bill pressed harder on the bloodied chest, and he realised that, ironically, Barry’s thick layers of fat served to clog the bleeding, saving his life.

  ‘He’s their money man, you stupid bastard,’ Barry spat, breaking under the unbearable pain. ‘When they build a cell he’s sent in to organise their finances.’

  ‘Sam’s the accountant who builds them a private bank,’ Bill said, thinking aloud.

  ‘You have no idea how big this is. His clients trade in commodities like in a stock exchange and money is a means to manpower. It all happens on the backbone of SWIFT. Aust Global Fund is just a filter plugged into it: dirty money goes in and clean money comes out.’

  ‘His customers pay a fee, The Brotherhood gets their money, and crime syndicates get their laundry cleaned.’

  ‘There’ll always be crime, Bill, and there’ll always be terrorists,’ Barry muttered. ‘Controlling them is better than shutting them down. So what if a dollar trickled my way? These people don’t even care about money. They’re so obsessed with religious crap they’ll stone their own mothers in the name of Allah.’ A crooked smile exposed his red-stained gums.

  ‘The Brotherhood invests in blood and someone always pays. You’re working for them, Barry – what did it take to sell your oath and spit on the ground you swore to protect?’