The Price of Life

by Nigel Brennan

  Talk now starts about the ransom payment and the legal consequences involved in facilitating large sums of money. I really need to get this clear in my head.

  In Australia it is illegal to engage with a group that has terrorist links, and the assets of anyone found doing so will be frozen. And at this stage no one can confirm whether the group is associated with Al-Shabaab – a known terrorist organisation. So, if I’m involved in giving money to the kidnappers, I could end up in jail.

  Well, I am stunned. I try to tease out more info, looking for yes-or-no answers, but I should know by now that these won’t come. Ben asks Nic and me to divulge everything we are now doing with John Chase.

  Over my dead body.

  After this meeting I feel like I will need to find a shit-hot lawyer to bail me out of jail if I am prosecuted for paying money to free my brother-in-law. Nigel, you owe me.

  Nicky

  Moore Park

  Sunday, 16 August

  Our consular loan is set in place. The Australian government has indicated to us we can use this money however we see fit. Needless to say it’s going straight into the ransom kitty for both Nigel and Amanda. We let them know that’s exactly how we are going to spend the money. At this stage Dad has to pay it back as Nige can’t sign the contract, what with him sojourning in Somalia.

  Adan says there is fighting in Mogadishu, and he can’t get to the internet café regularly. He seems to have a litany of excuses so we decide to get Lorinda to call him. She is getting really impatient with the length of time everything is taking; it takes him days to return our emails. Never again will we tolerate the wait-and-see approach.

  Over the phone Lorinda offers Adan a new amount, US$320K, and Adan is not happy with it. Same old, same old. He doesn’t even seem to take it to the HTs. Instead he goes on about how he’s already reduced it from five million down to two million dollars. The good news is Lorinda gets him to agree to provide a POL.

  Wednesday, 19 August

  Lorinda talks to Amanda. Amanda doesn’t pass on any new information; it’s as scripted as her earlier calls, but this confirms that Adan still has a connection to the kidnappers. While it’s undoubtedly shit that the conditions they are being held in are terrible, it feels like we’ve taken a giant leap in the right direction. Now if we can just get Adan to come down in price.

  Adan is trying to bargain for Amanda and Nigel separately. To underline that we are negotiating for them together, Lorinda asks for a proof of life for Nigel, indicating to Adan that afterwards, we will increase the offer.

  Sunday, 23 August

  Day 365 – one-year anniversary

  We are told that the Canadian government will not offer a consular loan. They are, it would seem, more than happy for Nigel’s family to take out a loan with the Australian government, half of which is to pay for the release of one of their citizens.

  There is not a lot we can do. Dad makes a formal protest to our government, which James passes up the line to no effect. It’s now up to the Canadian family to pursue it at their end.

  Alison spends time talking the decision through with her local member and D FAIT, implying threats of bad publicity. She writes us a long letter about what happened, how different their system is to ours, and how she thinks she can get them to recognise this and supply the loan. It’s all very admirable of her and Alison is displaying typical Brennan sheer bloody-mindedness but I suspect it will be to no avail. She has far more faith in her ability to change her government representatives’ decisions than we do ours. We’ve already swallowed that bitter pill many times; the metallic tang is still in my mouth.

  Lorinda puts a hole in our balloon by telling us that she has never heard mention of a consular loan, even though Stephen Smith had expressly told us otherwise in our meeting with him in March.

  ‘Where the hell did you think the extra hundred grand we talked about was coming from?’ we ask Lorinda during one of our phone calls.

  ‘The RCMP told us not to worry about the money. We assumed it was a gift. There was no mention of a consular loan and certainly no mention of paying it back.’

  Jesus, the blind faith shocks me. I am not a fan of the ignorance-as-a-defence disclaimer.

  The twelve-month mark is a dark cloud that hangs over all of us. I can’t believe Nigel has been gone for so long.

  We decide to send out a blanket statement so we won’t be inundated with interview requests. We want to use the media as a tool but be clever about it. The dog that bites the hand that feeds it is a genuine threat. We have to be careful not to appear to be bashing the government’s role as much as we would like to.

  What we say in the statement becomes a battle of wills. At one point in time the word ‘prayers’ appears. Kel and I are horrified. The Brennans are the biggest bunch of atheists around. Anyone who read a statement from us that made reference to ‘God’ or ‘prayer’ would not-so-politely cough ‘bullshit’ into their clenched fist. Luckily we win that argument.

  It’s a pretty bleak day, and I don’t want to face it or the world. I plan on getting shitfaced with Ange.

  Friday, 28 August

  The twenty-eighth is a big day for me. It’s my turn; I get to speak to Nigel. I ring Adan two hours before my prearranged call to make sure it’s still going to happen, and then I try to get some shut-eye. Amazingly, I sleep. I ring Adan back via Skype.

  Adan spins me some tale about Nige and Amanda being separated. He doesn’t even sound like he’s got his story right; it’s as if he’s just making stuff up on the run. I am filled with conflicting emotions, seemingly unrelated but all strong and disorientating. I’ve got to keep it together. I so desperately want to talk to Nige so he can hear my voice. I know the morale boost will be enormous for me and can only, perhaps naively, assume it will be the same for him.

  Eventually Adan puts me through after the standard bells and whistles, literally. Then it’s Nige.

  ‘Hello, Nic.’

  It’s euphoria and panic rolled up in one. It’s been almost a year since I last spoke to him. There’s so much I want to say. There is so much I can’t say. The most important thing is that I don’t let myself cry. But I can feel a lump in my throat. I lift my head and look at the ceiling to force the tears back into my eyes. I can feel them running down my throat over the boulder that’s now lodged there. I really should be looking at my scripted notes Blu-tacked to the wall but they would just be a blur.

  Don’t cry, don’t cry. If that happens I will never regain composure. I can’t let that happen. There’s too much here to get done.

  We are talking over the top of each other, both of us trying to get across as much information as we can, both spoken and implied. I tell Nige how much Mum and Dad love him, how much we all do. I know that is enough to convey we will be here forever for him. I tell him that we are in this with Jon and Lorinda and that we have offered $US320K.

  Adan butts in and tells me I shouldn’t talk about the money.

  Huh? That throws me. Is he going to let me talk to Nige again? I’m going to have to suck up big time. Surprisingly, Adan lets me back on the line but Nige launches into a scripted spiel. He says he’s sick, and I have no doubt he is, but his voice sounds okay. So he’s not dying, that’s a plus, but I know Mum’s not going to be happy about the passing blood stuff.

  When Nige says he’s sorry that he’s got us all into this, his voice starts to quaver.

  I tell Nige not to cry, becoming the bossy older sister. Even hearing my own voice it’s not convincing; I’m perilously close to dissolving.

  Then: ‘I’m so sorry, I love you all, I miss you all a lot.’ He’s gone. The call is done.

  I download the call and send it to the family as well as the CMT to be transcribed, but mostly so everyone can hear his voice and listen for the tiniest of inflections.

  Meanwhile Adan can’t get on the phone to Lorinda fast enough for the new offer. He is no longer using his email so it looks like we’re back to the phone calls. We disc
uss bringing in a translator. JC says they use them a lot and that he will get in touch with a couple to see if they are suitable for this case.

  When Lorinda gives Adan the new offer, she tells him that I have sold my house. It’s not untrue though none of the money has gone to the ransom; it’s all for the bank. We haven’t been able to finance my acting as NOK and something had to give. So now the offer is up to US$434K. Adan doesn’t dismiss this outright. This is a really good sign. Adan says he must go off to pray. We all assume he is going to tell the HTs the figure and so wait for his call back. So much wasted time is spent waiting.

  Nigel

  The Beach House

  Friday, 28 August

  At the end of the first week of Ramadan, Jamal and Abdullah come in to inform me I am to take a phone call from my sister. I’m relieved that it will be Nicky and not Ham on the other end. The two of them tell me to script something. I rehearse in front of them several times until they are satisfied. Joseph enters with the phone, squats down on his haunches between the two boys, and resting his gun on his knee, hands me the phone.

  Finally it connects.

  ‘Hello, Nicky and Nigel,’ Adan says.

  ‘Hello,’ Nic’s voice comes through.

  ‘Hello, Nic,’ I manage, trying to keep a hold on my emotions. She tells me Mum and Dad and the rest of the family love me and it just about destroys me. Abdullah motions that I should continue reading my statement as I hear Nic say, ‘We’re talking with Jon and Lorinda every day. We’re doing everything we can to bring you home, mate – both of you, okay? We’ve offered —’ Nicky’s voice suddenly cuts out. There’s the sound of background interference from Adan then her voice again, ‘— and three hundred and twenty thousand, Nige, and you know that’s a lot because it’s American dollars not Oz.’

  I’m confused and certain I have just missed a vital piece of information. All I can manage is, ‘I know.’ I want to ask Nic to repeat what she just said but I can’t get a word in edge-wise.

  ‘You know wer’e trying to talk to the kidnappers. We need for you and Amanda to help us get across to them that they have to be realistic because we will never have the two million that they are asking for. It’s insane, um, the governments have dropped us like hot pies, mate —’

  ‘No, uh, Nicky, Nicky,’ Adan’s voice cuts in over the top as I struggle to hear her.

  ‘Yes,’ she replies with some annoyance. Adan continues, his accent thick and difficult to follow, ‘Don’t enter, enter affairs, we want you to ask… not political affairs about kidnap. What we want is two million but you cannot talk about any money.’

  Nic seems determined to get her point across. She’s calm as she talks over the top of Adan.

  ‘Okay, so I can’t. Okay, that’s okay, but can I talk to Nigel?’ The boys are now impatiently demanding that I read the statement.

  I tell her things have degenerated: the conditions are bad; my arse is bleeding and my mental health is poor. With softness in her voice she says, ‘Nige, we will never give up. You know that, don’t you?’

  ‘Tell Mum and Dad that I love them and I know that you are doing everything you can, please, please, please, please, try and talk with Adan, try and talk and negotiate with him. I don’t know how much longer I can last here, I’m begging, I’m begging, I’m begging —’

  Nic cuts in. ‘Nige, I know, I know it’s hideous… we are trying extremely hard to work with Adan to get this sorted, mate.’

  ‘I know, I know, I know you are, I’m so sorry, I love you all, I miss you all,’ I just manage to say before the phone goes dead. I bawl like a child.

  I can barely hand the phone back to the boys. They’re clamouring, wanting to know what Nicky said.

  I pull myself together. ‘I think she says that they have offered 1.3 million dollars but I’m not sure, it was difficult to hear and Adan was talking over the top so I can’t be certain. Adan was listening; he will know if this is correct. You will have to ask him.’

  In the morning Abdullah comes in.

  ‘You are a hundred per cent sure she offers 1.3 million?’ I start doubting myself – it’s a huge amount of money. I tell him I think that was what she said but I’m not sure. He needs to speak to Adan.

  Last night’s conversation has caused excitement within the house. During the day, Jamal comes in and announces, ‘The Captain is talking with the commanders.’ I try to reassure myself by doing sums, adding up what everyone’s houses are worth. I keep telling them: Adan will know exactly what has been put on the table. It would just take one phone call to clear up all the confusion and it seems stupid to keep asking me for confirmation.

  Monday, 31 August

  The younger guys come to me on the last day of month.

  Jamal says, ‘They have agreed to deal if your family has 1.3 millio.’

  ‘Jamal, has Adan confirmed this with Captain Yahya?’

  ‘Inshallah, tonight you talk to your sister, you ask her how much money,’ he replies.

  I tell him that if the 1.3-million-dollar amount is correct, then it’s both families’ money. That they’ll have to release both Amanda and me. It’s impossible to get a straight response from Jamal about this. He seems to have gone off half-cocked with the thought of all that money. I’m not convinced they’ve confirmed the amount with Adan, and they seem to think the money’s only from my family, but on the other hand there is a tiny bit of hope.

  That evening and every night for the next week I ask about the call. I’m fed the same lines: ‘Your sister does not answer, your sister doesn’t return calls, the phone always engaged, Adan is absent.’

  They are stalling and something isn’t right. I know deep down that I must have misheard Nic. The disappointment is desperately hard to take. I just hope my faux pas doesn’t have serious consequences with the boys, whose expectations have been raised and patience worn razor-thin.

  I think I might have just fucked everything up.

  SEPTEMBER 2009

  Big squabbling families

  Kellie

  Newcastle

  Early September

  Bob Brown has become concerned about the family’s plight and offered $100 000 of his own money, for which he has taken out a loan. This man is generous beyond words. He doesn’t know us from Job, but is moved by what we are going through and set his politics to one side to help us. He also contacted Dick Smith and told him about our situation. Dick gave us a donation straight off and then suggests we meet in early October at his office in Sydney.

  Nicky

  Moore Park

  Early September

  The third AKE bill has come in. Mum and Dad paid the first one outside the kitty, pulling the money from their super. We sorted out the second one with Dick Smith’s generous donation. There appears to be an expectation on the part of the Canadian family that we’ll also look after the third. There’s a silent battle of wills being played out as to which country can hold off longest without paying; the implication is that because we have money in our ransom fund, we can afford it.

  Mum refuses to pay the third bill; she will not allow any money to be pulled from the kitty. Good thing too, as we are getting perilously close to going over our budget.

  Kel and I are well aware of what a blow-out could mean – we’ve both got struggling businesses, and we’re staring down insolvency and crippling debt like the great gaping, carrion-smelling maw of the Kraken.

  ‘I understand Heather’s frustration but we don’t have the money,’ Lorinda tells us. She then shuts me up by saying that Canada has a major fundraiser coming up and the organisers they have on board are raising substantial amounts. Their target is three million dollars. I hope they can pull this off but I am by no means convinced.

  Thursday, 3 September

  Lorinda gets a call from Adan. We log it as ‘TC 15’ – telephone call number 15 – AKE’s preferred method of recording the calls. It creates a massive amount of excitement for Kel and me as we read the transcript at the CMT
meeting that night – it says Adan’s accepted the offer. We’re just about to start whooping it up when Lorinda cuts in.

  ‘No, no, don’t get your hopes up like I did. Adan said to me the gang accepts the offer to keep Nigel and Amanda together.’

  Argh. Instant deflation. JC believes that it’s a divide-and-conquer ploy – a standard threat. We dissect the rest of the call. Adan is so hard to understand. He always sounds like he has his mouth pressed up against the mouthpiece, then he coughs and to my constant horror – I can never get past it, it’s just too gross – he spits. I suspect that it’s probably from the khat, a mild narcotic popular in parts of Africa and the Middle East, but I silently wish him a solid and fatal dose of TB.

  After trawling through the transcript, we are not even sure that Adan has given the HTs the newest price of US$434K. He says, ‘I will tell the group but I do not think they will accept this amount of money.’ Bloody hell, he’s had this offer since 29 August.

  It all feels like one step forward and two steps back.

  Saturday, 5 September

  Lorinda has a very long-winded call in which she confirms that Adan has not taken the most recent offer to the gang. Lorinda puts him on the back foot by demanding to know why. Adan gets really peeved with Lorinda and starts raving. His rant culminates in ‘maybe they don’t want to come home after all’. Then he changes tack once again, saying he might set up a call so Lorinda can ask them herself.

  When Lorinda calls back later, Adan is as nice as pie. He confirms during this call that the group has agreed we can talk to Amanda. Lorinda asks if she can speak to Nigel as well, but Adan wants a family member to speak to him. When we discuss this conversation with JC, he says it is very curious behaviour for a kidnapper to be upset and angry at a victim’s mother and yet to be so conciliatory on the next call, very odd.