‘Well it seems he’s got what he wants...my regards to you gentleman, and please excuse my absence to the PM, but I have a security firm to run in Canberra,’ Jansen smiled politely, sprinted across the well manicured lawns and paused briefly at the gate to flash his security card.
Chapter Seventy
It began to rain as Jansen reached his car; he quickly slipped behind the steering wheel.
‘Thank god that’s over.’
‘You gave the PM the reports then sir?’
‘Yes...he’s playing politics with them at this moment.’
‘What did he say about the Clement Chester life story expose?’
‘Nothing, I was about to brief him on Chester’s biography when he shot off with the reports...eager to disseminate the info to the world and pull his own chestnuts out of the fire. That means he won’t be privy to the caveat Mrs. Chester sent me.’
‘The caveat sir?’Jansen dipped into his inside pocket and produced a DL sized envelope addressed to himself.
There was a massage written on the back of the envelope, it said...
Commander Jansen: Open Only On My Death
Mrs. Rosey Chester
Jansen passed the Letter to Dutton, he opened it out and read the first line...
To Commander Roger Jansen
My Dear Commander
I know you are a trustworthy man...my senses tell me this, and they are never wrong. I trust your judgment implicitly -- over the last few months my own judgment has been seriously wavering. I’m afraid Alzheimer's disease is beginning to take its toll and I can’t remember things like I used to. This being the case, I decided to put a caveat on publishing Clement’s life story. I feel that my days here without Clement are numbered, and I could pass on at any moment.
I have therefore instructed the publishers, via the caveat, to follow your instructions as to whether to publish the book or not. The choice is yours...I’m sorry to put this burden on you commander, but your mind is much clearer than mine. I can no longer make a clear decision, and there is too much political wrangling for my liking.
I wish you all the luck with this case, but please remember, when you come to judge Clement Chester. Every stick has two ends and they point in opposite directions, but they fuse in the middle. Clement was like that stick, he was no worse or better than most other men...he was just terribly misunderstood.
Kindest Regards
Rosey Chester
Dutton looked searchingly at Jansen.
‘Are you going to stop its publication sir?
‘Hardly Jeff -- would you prevent the callapse of a government knowing it was full of corrupt, conniving weasels.’
‘Probably not sir.’
‘In any case, who am I to stand in the way of truth; if I were to prevent the book being published, I would be just as guilty as those about to be exposed. Truth is the only true reality, everything else is rubbish.’
‘The big wigs aren't going to like it sir.’
‘That’s unfortunate, and by the way, I forgot one other thing about truth...it’s also a bitter pill to swallow.’
‘Meaning exactly what?’
‘I was thinking of the rather strange SUV incident in the dessert just after the MOAB was dropped.’
‘Oh yes, you never did explain that sir.’
‘It makes for some very interesting deductions...you see there are only three places that this nasty event could have originated.
The Americans, the Muscat authorities, and the Australian government.
I have already ruled out the Americans, since I doubt very much if they knew we were even in Muscat...and even if they did, why would they bother to blow up the SUV of an anonymous SAS commander?’
As for the Muscat authorities...well they did sanction the project. The only other reason could have been a terrorist hit by BIB supporters. This also strikes me as very doubtful.’
‘But that only leaves the Australian government sir.’
‘I’m afraid it does Jeff. It seems they may have sent an assassin who monitored our progress to make sure I wouldn’t return.’
‘But why would they sanction the assassination of their own commander?’
‘Your not thinking politically sergeant. First they send me on a suicidal mission in order to put a feather in the Australian slouch hat, knowing full well that I might not return alive. They hoped I might have been killed during the skirmish with BIB, or at least have been blown to hell by the MOAB detonation.
When both of these actions failed, they had a hired killer already in place, who sneaked a bomb in the lead SUV, hoping I would be blown to hell the minute I opened the door.’
‘And the reason for all this sir?’
‘Simple really...I’m what they call in political circles a loose cannon...great on the battle field killing the enemy, but an absolute disaster in the cut throat field of politics. Many a hero has met his end in planned collateral damage -- except this time it didn’t work -- some other poor devil paid the price.’
'Shouldn't you report this to the authorities sir?’
‘Don’t be silly Jeff...it would be like complaining about the behaviour of al queda to Osama bin Ladin. But never mind, dear old Rosey Chester has given us the perfect political weapon -- Clement’s biography, and what a wonderful expose it is. We’ll get the publishers to print millions of copies and flood the whole bloody world with them -- then we’ll sit back in our easy chairs and watch the fun.’
...END...
EPILOGUE
In America and throughout the world an infamous legend was about to be created and vice president Frederick Jenkins would go down in history as the only United States vice president ever to plan and instigate a major Australian bank robbery, and be incinerated along with the proceeds, which by sheer good fortune had been converted into diamonds.
It would give new meaning to the well known phrases, Great men are almost always bad men...power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. However, Charles Dickens, the great 19th century author, may have ventured a little closer to the truth when he said, ‘Man is a mystery to himself and a mystery to others.’
~ ~ ~
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