Deadly Trust

by J J Cooper

  ‘I’m not a Sergeant anymore.’

  ‘As I was saying. These allegations against my troops are outrageous and–’

  ‘Where’s the Major?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Where is the leader of that force interrogating and torturing civilians just down the road from Australia Zoo?’

  ‘You obviously didn’t hear the head of the Federal Police when he said there was no evidence of torture or interrogation activities.’

  ‘That’s not what he said and you didn’t answer my question.’

  ‘I don’t answer to you. And, frankly, I don’t think you have any right or the clearances to be here.’

  Before Jay could reply, the Defence Chief raised his hand. ‘Look, Jay. I respect what you have done for this country and I have followed your career, as you know. It’s just that we need to verify certain things and what you have told us has very serious repercussions for my people. You used to be one of us. I hope you can understand our need to protect our own and to conduct a thorough investigation.’

  The Defence Chief had been in charge of the nation’s navy when Jay had last seen him. He had travelled to the Middle East with the Prime Minister and Jay had briefed them on certain prisoners he had interrogated.

  He knew there was some animosity between the Army Chief and his current boss. Never any love lost between services. ‘In order for a thorough, transparent process, I trust the investigation of the rogue army elements will be handled by another service,’ Jay said.

  ‘How dare you!’ The Army Chief banged his fist on the table. ‘Malicious allegations by a former soldier not good enough to still be serving his country.’

  Ed Ryan stood. ‘Who the hell do you think you are? My son served his country on the frontline while you shuffled papers and kissed political arse. Jay is one of the most decorated soldiers in recent history and his integrity cannot be questioned by someone who has never seen active service.’ He looked at the Defence Chief. ‘Get him out of my sight.’

  Jay had never seen his father so worked up. Ed’s fists were clenched by his side. Nobody dared move.

  ‘Let’s all just calm down,’ the Defence Chief said.

  Ed Ryan gave a vicious stare. ‘Everybody out!’

  The Defence Chief held his palms forward. ‘Let’s just–’

  ‘Now!’ Ed pointed towards the Army Chief. ‘Send his shiny arse straight back to Canberra.’

  Chairs scraped the floorboards in rapid response. The Army Chief didn’t move until his boss whispered something to him. Jay went to leave, but his father placed a hand in front of him. The mystery guest didn’t move. He’d sat back in his chair during the commotion, no hint of emotion.

  Ed told the Federal Police Chief to stay; he moved towards the others and took up a seat while Ed closed the door. Returning to his seat, Ed said, ‘Okay, Pete. What have you got?’

  The Federal Police Chief withdrew an A4 size envelope from his folder and took out a piece of paper. He looked at the visitor and asked, ‘Introductions?’

  ‘Need-to-know, sorry. He can be trusted. You have my word and I’ll write the necessary authorisations for him to hear what we have to say.’

  ‘You vouching for him is good enough for me, Ed.’ He looked over at Jay. ‘Don’t worry about the Army Chief.’

  ‘I’m not. Glad I got out when I did, though. He’d have enough trouble running a scout jamboree, let alone an army.’

  That brought smiles all around and eased the tension. Jay was sure he even saw a hint of a smile on the visitor’s face.

  The Federal Police Chief continued. ‘Right. Now that they’re gone. Firstly, apologies to Jay about my comments leading to the confrontation there. We didn’t have time to brief you on what was going down.’

  Jay frowned. ‘Why do I get the feeling I was just part of something staged?’

  Ed clapped his son on his shoulder, this time the injured one. ‘Couldn’t have asked for a better performance. Very genuine. Like Pete said. No time or the right place to tell you.’

  ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Go ahead, Pete,’ Ed said.

  ‘When we got to the camp, the place was empty. It had been thoroughly cleaned and my teams were delayed for a while before they could get in. It seems the Army Chief was very interested and knew about the warrants before we could execute them. He gave me a call and asked us not to go in and that the military police would handle it. I refused and he practically threatened me. It seemed odd so your dad and I decided to move forward with caution. After we realised the place had been cleaned we went looking for something that may have been missed. We picked up your trail through the forest and found the site where you’d been shot. We followed your trail to Australia Zoo and the security guards and staff verified your story.’

  ‘Did you find the scientist or the Major?’

  ‘No. But we did manage to find something in the first-aid room that was of interest. Two fingers left in a bucket of ice. Seems someone forgot them. Obviously, effort had gone into covering up some bullet holes by rearranging the furniture and medical equipment. We took photos and dug out some rounds before the MPs showed up. Once they got there we just gave the place a cursory glance.’

  ‘Well, that’s all good to prove I was telling the truth. But what was all that about before with that “shiny arse” from Canberra?’

  The well-dressed visitor sat forward for the first time. ‘That’s where I come into it.’

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  The Federal Police Chief handed Ed the A4 envelope, closed his folder and said, ‘And that’s my cue to leave.’ He stood and looked at Jay. ‘Glad you’re safe and sound, Jay. Anything you need, anytime, just ask. I’ll hustle up some coffee and have it waiting for you all when you finish up.’

  ‘Thanks, Pete,’ Ed said. He waited until the door was closed and introduced his guest. ‘Son, this is Agent Morley with the CIA.’

  Agent Morley offered a hand and Jay gave a solid shake. The grip sent a sharp pain to remind him of his injured shoulder.

  ‘Agent Morley has been assigned to help us out with the investigation into the anthrax attacks and what’s happened to you. Do you want to take it from here, Agent Morley?’

  ‘I’ll be happy to be called Max. As your father said, primarily I came on board for the anthrax attacks. I was part of the initial team of investigators when we got our own attacks in the States some years back. Are you familiar with those details?’

  Jay nodded. ‘Only open-source reporting.’

  ‘The thing is, the FBI handled all of the legwork for that case while we looked for links overseas. At the time, only a handful of scientists had the knowledge and access to produce anthrax. A few of them were overseas and all checked out okay. Because the FBI didn’t close the case, we kept tabs on all of those that we could.’

  ‘Including the one who turned up to take blood from me?’

  ‘Indeed. He disappeared a few years ago and we only recently tracked him down.’

  ‘I thought you had tabs on them.’

  ‘We did. Then he slipped away.’

  That was a big admission from the CIA. Jay appreciated the honesty.

  ‘We have very reliable information that he was working for someone in Defence. And you were there when that person was killed today.’

  ‘Obviously you are talking about the Major.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘He’s small fry. He didn’t have the brains to pull off the attack at the concert.’

  ‘Exactly. We’ve dug deep into his past and with your dad’s help we are running names on everyone he used to work for or associate with.’

  ‘Good luck getting through the Army Chief.’

  Ed Ryan said, ‘Which brings us to today. There has been some real push back from that idiot. We thought it was just his arrogance to begin with. But then a name came up that linked him to the equation as well.’

  ‘His brother,’ Jay said.

  Max and Ed looked at each other.
Ed shrugged and asked Jay, ‘How did you figure that out?’

  ‘My trip to the hospital. Ran into the soldier with the missing fingers. He was glad to help me out with a name.’

  Ed smiled. ‘Glad?’

  ‘Well ... cooperative in the end. Will morphine paralyse someone if it is delivered straight into an artery?’

  ‘Don’t think so. Max?’

  ‘Not my area of expertise.’

  ‘Anyway, he seemed to think so. He had a business card for a security business with a name of the director of the Australian Security Association Professionals.’

  ‘ASAP?’ Max asked.

  ‘Gotta love that acronym. The director is the Army Chief’s brother, Mike Carter, and the Major’s old commander.’

  ‘That confirms what we have. Good work, son. Anything else?’

  ‘The scientist and the Major were taken out by a sniper. The same one that winged me.’

  ‘Shit. I forgot about your shoulder.’

  ‘You reminded me when you patted it before.’

  ‘Sorry. How is it?’

  ‘It’ll be fine.’

  ‘Tell me about the sniper,’ Max said.

  ‘You have all of the details about the female who accompanied me to the interrogation facility?’

  ‘Right. The one who was in here and set up the fake shooting of the Aussie agents. I’ve seen the video. She goes by the name of Toni.’

  ‘That’s her. She used me as bait to get to the scientist, but I can’t figure out why. She had help at the facility. No way she could have got her hands on a sniper rifle and escaped on her own.’

  ‘You figure someone else followed her out there?’

  ‘Had to. Once the scientist was confirmed in place, she escapes and either she or her helper assassinates him and the Major.’

  ‘Why go after you then?’ Ed asked.

  ‘I’ve seen her. Talked to her. Even have her on video. I’m an eyewitness.’

  ‘Or something else,’ Max said.

  ‘Like what?’ Jay asked.

  ‘To assassinate a scientist producing anthrax and one of the people he was working for, meant it is likely her mission was to stop the anthrax attacks. Your father said they came for you because you had the antibodies or the blood they needed to produce a vaccine.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So they’re getting rid of all traces of the new anthrax strain. All of those who could produce the vaccine are now dead except you. Either they are very good vigilantes–’

  ‘Or they don’t want a vaccine. They may well be going for the new strain of anthrax and eliminating those who could either supply more or help produce a vaccine.’

  ‘A one-off attack somewhere,’ Ed said.

  Jay rubbed his hand through his hair. ‘If that’s the case, there’s a good assumption to be made that Mike Carter would have the anthrax and the vaccines already produced. But who the hell are they?’

  Ed Ryan held his hand up. ‘Let’s go back a bit. The scientist and the Major were producing anthrax and vaccine for Mike Carter, who heads up the unofficial umbrella organisation for Australia’s security industry. We don’t know how much anthrax has been produced, but we know no more will be.’

  ‘Correct,’ Max said. ‘According to analysis of the concert attack, the strain is sophisticated enough to indicate something that couldn’t be reproduced off instructions over the internet or a six-month crash course. Most of our top scientists wouldn’t be able to reproduce that particular strain.’

  ‘So, even if he gave the recipe to Carter, it’s unlikely that it would be able to be copied?’ Jay asked.

  ‘Not without the scientist,’ Ed said. ‘Which helps us in closing down that end. We don’t need to worry about what will be produced, rather what has been produced and where it is now.’

  ‘I had a run-in with Carter once,’ Jay said. ‘He was in charge of a unit acting as guards to our prisoners in Afghanistan. His ego almost cost us a lot of information and prisoners’ lives.’

  ‘How so?’ Ed asked.

  ‘His Sergeant-Major pulled me aside one night and told me Carter wanted to do a little interrogating of his own. He figured he could get better information using some “old school” tactics. What he proposed was torture and was against the Geneva Conventions. The Sergeant-Major and I went straight to the Force Commander and reported it.’

  ‘What happened?’ Max asked.

  ‘Not much. Because the actual act didn’t occur, he accused the Sergeant-Major of making malicious allegations against him.’

  ‘Like his brother just did against you.’

  Jay nodded. ‘Exactly. Anyway, he was moved sideways long enough to spend enough time in the country to collect some medals and then he was shipped home for personal reasons. He has a huge ego. That makes him dangerous, in my opinion.’

  ‘Won’t disagree with you there,’ Ed said.

  ‘It also means he wouldn’t trust anyone else with the anthrax and vaccine that has already been produced,’ Max said.

  ‘Agreed,’ Ed said. ‘This is where we need to figure out why he wants it and what he plans on doing with it.’

  ‘Even without the scientist, he could sell it into an overseas market,’ Max said.

  ‘Or he could be using it for his own market,’ Jay said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Ed asked.

  ‘Just thinking aloud here. He heads the security industry here in Australia.’

  ‘Unofficially, that’s right,’ Ed said.

  Jay looked at Max. ‘After those attacks in the US, I recall some panic over security. Mail handling was changed and tightened. Increased security patrolling and background checks for government departments, etc.’

  ‘That’s right. Plenty of money to be made if you were supplying those products.’

  ‘Okay. So what if that is the motive here? A few releases here and there. Increase demand for CCTV, security patrols, latest technology in crime prevention. Who would benefit most here in Australia?’

  ‘The security industry.’

  ‘Yep. Make the policing authorities look inept at what they are doing and create a higher demand for security professionals and their technologies to combat crime.’

  Ed checked his watch. ‘Reasonable hypothesis, son.’

  ‘But not quite right. I figure extracting my blood to use as a base for a vaccine would take a fairly sophisticated lab and plenty of time to produce results. I’m no expert, though. That make sense, Max?’

  ‘Absolutely. Educated guess would be some months and plenty of testing after that.’

  ‘So why release a sample before producing a vaccine? Doesn’t make sense to alert the authorities to what you are up to before having that vaccine in place.’

  Ed Ryan put his hand to his chin and looked in deep thought before saying, ‘The angle for the security industry to have something at the ready for a panicked public is credible. But if they have a limited anthrax supply to work with, it makes little sense to work on a vaccine after an initial release.’

  ‘Pretty much what I just said, Dad,’ Jay said with a grin.

  ‘Okay. We need to work through this. I’d like you to stick around, Jay. I’ll invite the policing chiefs back in here, and send our Defence friends home, if they haven’t already left. What about we break here for a while? You two grab a coffee while I assemble the masses.’

  ‘Actually, Dad, that’s my cue to leave. It’s up to the professionals now.’

  TWENTY-NINE

  Ed gave Jay a curious look before asking Max to give them some time alone. Jay knew his father wanted him part of the operation, but he was exhausted. Although keen to be involved after getting Carter’s name from the Tongan, he felt out of place sitting back in a room full of experts. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, it was just that he felt there were people with more expertise out there who could get the job done. He had become used to the anonymity that the Bryon Bay beaches had provided him. His old wounds had healed physically, b
ut the mental scarring still showed. Too many near misses in the last few days.

  ‘You want to talk about it?’ Ed asked.

  ‘I’m not right for this. I need sleep.’

  ‘I understand what you’re going through, son. But you were born for this. You have saved countless lives doing what you were put on this earth to do. You’ve had a year to recover from your wounds. To rest. To decide your future. Circumstances have done that for you. Nobody I know could have survived what you have gone through the last couple of days. Nobody.’

  Elbows on the table, Jay rubbed both hands through his hair. He dropped one hand as soon as the pain returned to his shoulder: a reminder of more to come if he continued to go after Mike Carter. The ache had returned to old wounds; the ones inflicted by Mossad agents a year before. Shot in the hand and foot. He looked at the scar on his hand. Too many near misses. He stared at the angelic tattoo of his mother that adorned his wrist – a tattoo covering deeper scars.

  ‘Anyone can go after Carter, Dad. You don’t need me anymore.’

  ‘What about Toni and her offsider? Good chance he was responsible for the bus crash.’

  ‘Guilt trip won’t work.’

  ‘Not a guilt trip. They’re still out there. We can’t discount them coming after you.’

  ‘They wanted the scientist, not me. I was the means to an end.’

  ‘Then why try to push you in front of a bus?’

  Jay knew his father was right. That piece of the puzzle didn’t fit. It didn’t make sense. Toni had plenty of opportunities to kill him, but she needed him as bait. Why would her partner try to kill him before she could use him? A third person maybe. Or there was no partner. Toni may have escaped and the sniper was working alone. Jay shook his head. He felt weary just thinking about it.

  ‘I can’t think straight. I wouldn’t be any good on this at the moment.’

  Ed tapped his fingers on the table. A forlorn look. A pause and a shake of his head. ‘You’re right. I shouldn’t be pushing you on this, Son. You’ve been through enough. We can handle Carter and we’ll go hard after Toni and whoever else it is. You can stay at my place. You’ll be safe enough there. Bill needs to get home and look after his dogs anyway. He’ll keep you company.’