“No way! He’ll not be best pleased about that, I know.”
Fi paced. “He’s not, and he’s already found out where their boss is and is meeting with him shortly.”
“You mean this guy has agreed to meet Jago?”
“Not exactly. He doesn’t know Jago is paying him a visit. It’s a surprise.”
“Okay, Fi, keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
Fi returned to the office to find her leader gone. She assumed that he’d gone to see Mr Holtz.
***
With his MP5 slung over a shoulder, Jago knocked on the door. There was no response and he put his ear to the door. He heard a voice and assumed that Holtz was on the telephone. He waited for silence and then knocked again.
“Come in.”
Jago walked into the sparse office. There was a chair, a filing cabinet, and desk and chair all kept cool by the air conditioning, and tilted blinds at the window. A mousy-haired man sat at the desk. He was wearing a blue and white checked open neck shirt and a surprised look on his face.
“Good afternoon, Carl. It is Carl, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m Carl, Carl Holtz. What can I do for you?”
Jago sat down on the available chair. “Carl, let’s not beat about the bush. I know who you are and you know who I am. I want to know why your people were tailing me. And, might I add, not doing a great job of it.”
“I’m afraid, Mr Jago, that I’m not at liberty to discuss operations with subjects.”
“Oh, I’m a subject, am I? In what way would I be interesting to ASIS?”
“Like I said—”
Jago interjected, “Yes, you said, you’re not at liberty to discuss operations with the subjects of those operations. So, if you’re not able, who is? Give me a name and their whereabouts and I’ll speak to them.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not able to do that.”
“Carl, you don’t seem to be able to do anything. Now, I’m not leaving here until I get answers. I’m here to help with an investigation. As you’re no doubt aware, I have considerable capabilities. And I don’t mind how I use those capabilities. For example, one of your men is lying on an airport floor trussed up like a turkey at the moment. He’ll be a little sore and bruised, but he’s a lucky one – he’ll live. Now, how shall I put this … If I don’t get answers, and quickly, things could change for the worse for you. Do you get my drift?”
“You’re bluffing. You wouldn’t use that weapon in here.”
“Who said anything about using a weapon?” said Jago, standing up and laying his weapon on the chair. He stepped towards Holtz, who backed up in his chair.
“Am I getting any answers or not? I’ve got a job to do and I don’t want your people crawling all over me, blowing my cover.”
The door opened and Benny stepped in.
“Ah, excellent, both of you together. How are you both getting on?”
Jago replied, “Oh, we’re getting on just fine, aren’t we, Carl?”
Carl stuttered, “Yes, we were just getting to know each other.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Benny,” said Jago. “Carl was just about to tell me why his people have been tailing me, weren’t you, Carl?”
Surprised, Benny asked, “Why are your people following Jago? He’s working with us.”
“We had to be sure.”
“Sure about what?” asked Benny.
Carl was uncomfortable, looking from Benny to Jago and Jago to Benny.
“We needed to be sure that you, Jago, are stable enough to be working with us. It was a sensible precaution. We needed to be sure that you’re up to the job. I didn’t want to compromise the operation.”
“I’m assuming you’ve seen my records, at least some of them?”
“Yes, we have.”
“Then I’m sure that you understand what I’m capable of and how I tick. I may have suffered a loss, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be any less professional in my approach to this operation, or any other. It may mean that my resolve is stronger than ever before – and woe betide the perpetrators when I catch up with them. I suppose you Intelligence guys would prefer that we keep the perpetrators alive, so you can interrogate them in some faraway hole in the earth. That may or may not happen; it will depend entirely on them and their actions. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, crystal clear.”
“Now that matter is cleared up, shall we continue?” asked Benny.
“I’ll start by asking what intel you have that will help us in our investigation. And don’t tell me that you can’t tell us or I’ll be really miffed.”
Carl pointed to a chair beside his desk and invited Benny to sit down.
“I want you to understand that this is classified and privileged information and it is not to go beyond these walls.”
“Now wait a minute. I have a trusted colleague working with me and she needs to know everything if we’re to be effective, as does my team back in the UK.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible.”
“Fine, then I’m out of here,” said Jago, picking up his MP5 as he walked towards the door.
“What do you mean, you’re out? There’s no choice in this,” said Carl.
Jago stopped at the door. “The deal was that you Aussies would share everything with us, and we’d share everything with you – and do most of the dirty work. We don’t mind doing that. But if you don’t keep your side of the deal, my team will walk. We’ll work on our own, with our own resources, and you guys will get nothing along the way. It’s your choice. I’m happy to share, but make no mistake: this is a reciprocal process.”
Benny peered over at Carl. “Carl,” he said, leaning on his desk, “this guy and his team are a gift for us. We get full deniability on any actions they take. Their capabilities are beyond ours, in that they don’t have any rules to follow, and nor do they have any budgetary or political restraints. Our political masters will not allow us to go where they can go. We need them.”
Carl pushed his wheeled office chair backwards across the tiled floor and stood, fully revealing his diminutive stature. He stretched and placed his hands on his head as he turned to look out of the window. He was silent, and then he sighed a huge sigh before turning to face the pair.
“Okay, okay. Full disclosure to you and your team both here and in the UK. I agree. Are you happy now?”
Jago asked, “Are you?”
The room fell silent. Benny broke the silence. “I’ll get Fi while you two make up.”
Benny left the room and closed the door.
“Look, Carl, if I put myself in your shoes, I’d want to know that I was all right to work too. What it revealed, though, is how weak and vulnerable your team are against someone with training. And that has got to worry you at least a little.”
Carl stared at Jago before answering. “You’re right, I am worried. We don’t really know what we’re up against here. The attackers were well prepared and professional. That much we know. Let’s say we start over?”
Carl walked around his desk and extended his hand. Jago shook it firmly.
“That’s fine with me, Carl. You need to calm your team down a little, in the spirit of cooperation, as I think I bruised a few egos out there.”
“I’ll have a few words with them, but they’ll get over it, I’m sure.”
There was a knock at the door and Benny entered with Fi.
“Carl, this is Fi, Jago’s colleague from the UK.”
“Hi. How’re you doing?”
“I’m fine, and you?”
“I’m good, we’re good – aren’t we, Jago?”
“Yes, we’re good to go.”
“Let’s go to the secure briefing room.”
Chapter 10
Carl picked up a dossier and led the way down the tiled passageway until they arrived at a metal door, at the side of which was a biometric entry system. He placed his hand on the scanner pad, which activated the voice recognition. At the prompt
s, Carl said his name and two colours, magenta and violet.
The door slid open and they all entered a tight space. Carl punched in a code on another pad and the inner sanctum door opened, revealing a small multimedia suite.
Carl took a device from his pocket and plugged it into the fixed laptop computer. “Please be seated. I won’t be a moment; I need to set this up.”
The air conditioning kicked in, and moments later the screen illuminated and the first photograph of many appeared.
Carl turned to Jago. “Are you cool with all of this?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s move on.”
Carl showed them a series of photos from the scene of the attack.
“In this first picture, we can see the assembled drone fragments. This was a six-bladed drone – that’s six rotor blades – fitted with a live-streaming, high-definition camera. The technicians tell me that it was adapted by a professional to increase its battery power and subsequent flying time. This kind of drone is available at several stores, and we have people attempting to source the purchase point. I’m told that this particular model will live stream to a set of screen goggles, but by your first-hand account, Jago, the operator chose to use a different viewing platform. We assume that he made this choice so that he could better monitor his surroundings. Are there questions regarding the drone?”
“Have you been able to secure any footage from the drone?” asked Jago.
“Our technicians are working on the assumption that the footage was streamed to the perpetrators’ operating system and possibly to a black site. We’ll get updates as they progress their investigations.”
“If you let me know what they have already, I can pass it to my team, who’ll be able to assist.”
“Oh, your team’s not just operational then, i.e. in the field?”
“You’d be surprised what resources we have. Most of them would be beyond your budget.”
“Right, I’ll get them to send what they have over to your team. Let’s move on. Here we have photographs of the police presence at the festival. There were two senior officers, two mounted officers and eight officers on foot patrol. And they were all targeted first. The very first target was the police command post, which I understand you, Jago, are familiar with.”
Jago sat listening silently and showed no expression.
“A police-support helicopter took the next series of aerial photographs. For ease, they had divided the venue up into four parts: the most northerly point, the most southerly point and two parts in between. The northerly and southerly points also take in the parking areas at each end. They have marked the photos to identify the casualties.”
Carl gestured with the mouse pointer. “Here, marked in blue, we can see where the twelve police officers fell. The five orange indicators are adult females, and the six red indicators are adult males. Then we have those aged thirteen to eighteen: the three yellow indicators are females and the four green indicators are males. The two white indicators are female minors – so, under the age of thirteen – and the two black indicators are male minors. Can you see that’s thirty-four casualties now?”
Fi said, “What are the two double-yellow markers next to the blue indicators?”
Carl looked at the dossier for guidance. “Oh, I see. They’re the horses belonging to the mounted officers. One died at the scene. The other had to be put down.”
Benny rose to his feet, walked across the room and opened a cupboard, from which he grabbed four bottles of water and four glasses.
“Here you go, folks. We could be here for a while.”
Each took a bottle and glass before Carl continued.
“Other casualty numbers include four in a critical condition, eleven critical but stable, and twenty-three non-critical but badly injured people. They treated one hundred and twenty-three people that day. Now, these numbers are likely to change over time, and hopefully for the better. Although the four in a critical condition are touch and go. You should also note that in some cases there are multiple casualties within one family.”
Carl drank some water before continuing. “I have to say that the intelligence community had heard no chatter regarding this massacre. There were no indications that a terrorist or extremist organisation was planning anything on this scale.”
“What chatter did you hear? You’re careful with your words and it sounds like you heard something, but not on this scale, so what was that something?” asked Jago, pulling no punches.
Carl looked down and then at the dossier before answering. “We received intelligence of a rumour that there was to be a protesters’ demonstration at one of the large WA mines on the day of the festival. In recent times, some of these demonstrations have got a little physical, so we were prepared for that.”
“So, are you telling me that you diverted resources to protect the large mine based on this intelligence?”
“Yes, we placed our resources, including extra TRG, where the intelligence indicated we should,” responded Carl awkwardly.
“So, could this be a classic case of disinformation? Pulling you away from the main target, knowing that you would be short of manpower?”
“Yes, Jago, yes, we know with the benefit of hindsight that this looks like classic disinformation. And the sources are being investigated as we speak.”
“Who did you have on the ground at the venue – you know, from your intelligence team?” asked Fi.
Carl looked to the ceiling and took a deep breath before answering Fi’s question. “We had one intelligence officer on the ground.”
“You had one single intelligence officer on the ground?” said Jago. “Are you kidding me? You have intelligence, from seemingly unreliable sources, that a mine and its staff are at risk and you divert your officers to the mine. Yet a far larger group of vulnerable people out in the open only merits deploying one officer? That makes no sense. What kind of outfit are you running here? I mean, I’m assuming that the mines have barriers – you know, fences, gates, et cetera – that can act as a first-line defence, whereas these people were left high and dry out in the open. And the mine would have the resources to deploy private security contractors. Were the local police informed of any of this?”
Carl leapt to his department’s defence. “Look, you don’t understand the politics here, or the budgetary restraints. We’ve got the whole state to cover and we’re under-resourced. I think we do a bloody good job with what we’ve got. We’d love to do better, we’d love nothing more, but we just haven’t got the resources. And to answer your question, no, local police were not informed, and that was a decision made at the highest level.”
“I’m sorry, but politics won’t do any good here. Who were the sources?”
“We’ve got three officers in deep cover in activist groups. Two of them passed information to us regarding the possible demonstration.”
“And the other officer?” asked Jago. “What about them? What did they report?”
“We’ve had no contact with her for about a week.”
“You think that your reporting officers were being fed disinformation? I mean, the information they’ve had until now, has that been credible?”
“Yes, their information has been invaluable in preventing injury, damage and possible loss of life, not to mention loss of revenue for the mines that this state and country rely upon. We had no reason to question their information.”
“How long have they been undercover?”
“I’d need to check that. I’ve only been here eight months. Give me a moment to check the dossier.”
Carl flicked through the pages of the dossier, and Fi turned to Jago and whispered, “Boss, this is a classic disinformation sting. If these are just activists then I’m a Dutchman.”
Benny interjected, “What did I hear you say about a Dutchman, mate?”
“It’s an expression, meaning I can’t believe that these are just activists. This has all the hallmarks of a professional operation. Maybe someone’s infiltrated t
he activist groups for their own ends. I’m putting it out there because it doesn’t sound right.”
Carl found the information. “Ah, here we have it. The first officer infiltrated the No Mine Action Group, NMAG, eighteen months ago. She’s been very active. The group is largely peaceful, although there’s a small group of hotheads within it. They can in no way be construed as a splinter group, and they’ve been contained to date.
“The second officer has been undercover for the last eleven months and he has been sporadic in his reports. This is largely because he’s been working in a mine and has infiltrated a group of miners who are, strangely enough, anti-mine activists. Their actions have been low-level sabotage. You know the sort of thing: tampering with the machinery, causing accidents, cutting fences to allow others to enter mine areas, et cetera.
“The third officer is working differently. She’s got a job as a personal assistant to a high-ranking national mine official, a Mr Eugene Saunders. She’s been in the role for eight months and built up quite a portfolio of intelligence regarding the target and his associates. If she doesn’t check in with us, it’s for no longer than three or four days. A week is unusual, and we are concerned that we can’t make contact via the usual channels.”
“What sort of intel has been coming through?” asked Jago.
“Associates and some offshore accounts, all of which points to high-level corruption: some protection funds, misrepresentation of financial results and production outputs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
“But not enough to lock Saunders up?” asked Fi.
“Yes, we have more than enough to lock him up, but we want more than just him, Fi. He’s just the puppet, and we want the puppet master who’s pulling his strings.”
“Do we have any candidates for the puppet master?” asked Jago.
“We’re still assessing potential candidates, but two have come to the fore.”
Carl displayed a photo taken from long range. It featured a dark-haired man on an exercise bike on a terrace in a luxury setting, a villa or similar somewhere warm. A wider version of the same scene revealed a heavily armed perimeter-protection team of four.
Lethal Promise Page 6