CHOGM Pt. 05

"No Ambassador?"

"The bastard was too fucking close to the truth! What do you say to that mister?"

"What is there to say? We shall just adopt the standard procedure under the circumstances and deny and keep on denying until they get sick of asking. If that doesn't work we can always threaten to overthrow their government."

"I've already used that and they have agreed to do nothing for the time being but if you people keep stuffing up the way you have, I don't know how long I can keep them under control."

The next phone call did nothing to improve his outlook on life. It came on the official direct line from Langley, Virginia. The caller was wanting to talk to either BillyBob or Dwight.

"I'm afraid that will not be possible at this time."

"Why not?"

"We unfortunately seem to have lost contact with them."

"What do you mean 'lost contact with them'?"

"BillyBob has gone to ground and we are waiting for him to get back in contact but Dwight I'm afraid has been lost to the opposition."

"Opposition, what opposition?"

"It seems that there are three British agents in town at present."

"I know there are. I arranged for them to be there!"

"There is apparently some connection between them and BillyBob's former life in South East Asia. It happens that they are in town to provide some sort of professional assistance in the security arrangements for this pissant conference. Well it seems as if BillyBob was concentrating more on them and not on his job and the whole thing has gone to Hell in a hand basket."

"You can say that again! I have just had a call from Washington wanting to know what is happening down there. I thought that maybe, just maybe, you might be able to fill me in, Mister."

The emphasis on the 'mister' at the end of the statement had a menacing tone to it that brooked no frivolity. "We could find ourselves in deep shit if we are not very careful. I have spoken this morning with the Ambassador and it appears that the Aussies are not as stupid as we were led to believe. They have gotten information from somewhere that implicates us in a whole range of incidents in their country. I don't know where they got this from but it is remarkably accurate. I do know that the Brits have been working with a section of the press on this as well as the Commonwealth Police."

"What are you doing about it?"

"We have the government under control for the time being. As for the press, pressure will be brought to bear."

"Good. Now explain to me how you happen to lose one of the best and most efficient operatives that we have?"

"It seems as if your two top men made a tactical error in trying to stop the publication of a very damaging article by the press. The stupid idiots assassinated the father of one of our minor operatives who changed sides on us and who is actively involved with this journalist. This brought down the wrath of the Italian community on our heads. You should have seen them here last night. Dwight tried to break through. He would have gotten away with it except that he smashed his car and ended up in hospital."

"I assume that you have a guard on him?"

"That would be a waste of time."

"What do you mean?"

"He has been taken from the hospital and we don't have any idea where he is."

"Well you had better find him! If he has fallen in to the wrong hands the results could be devastating not only for our operations globally but your career. Do I make myself clear?"

"Very much so Sir."

It was almost three o'clock when Russell and Jenny walked into Brian's office, looking and feeling very much refreshed by several hours' almost uninterrupted sleep followed by a shower and a light lunch and several cups of coffee.

The atmosphere in the office quickly brought their buoyant mood down to earth. "I have some bad news for you. We are faced with a cover up. A blatant fucking, pardon the French my dear, cover up! Instructions from above, from the very top, and I don't think I need to spell out who is at the top. We are not to publish our special edition. We are to follow the official line on the bombing, play up what a wonderful development the increased security is in the hope that the public will soon forget."

"Christ, why? I would have thought that the public has a right to know what is happening in this country, not to mention its importance to National Security that no stone should be left unturned in an effort to find the culprits."

"That's what I thought. The Commonwealth Police are no longer involved in the investigation. The whole box and dice has been turned over to the State Police and when I contacted them offering the information that we have compiled I was told in as many words to get lost and leave the matter to the experts. I got the impression from them that the media will be fed selective information designed to divert their attention from the real assassins."

"So that's it then. We can't do any more?"

"I'm afraid not. We can only sit by and watch developments that we are powerless to influence."

"Come on Jen, we have a wedding to plan."

"Look, I know it probably won't help, but I know exactly how you feel. In your position I would feel the same way, but for the present there is nothing that you or I can do about it. You are still officially on leave, why don't you enjoy a week or two together."

"What a let-down." Russell and Jenny were walking to the car park. "Who would have thought that after all of our efforts the authorities would drop the whole thing just like that."

"Aren't the State Police continuing the investigation?"

Russell's raised eyebrow was answer enough. They had reached the car park to be met by John.

"I see that you have been told the good news."

"Yes. I guess that you guys will be going back to England now."

"Yes. We have spoken to our boss and all is forgiven and he wants us to get back as quickly as we can for our next assignment. So long Russell and Jenny," He kissed Jenny on the cheek and shook Russell's hand, "Here are the keys of the Triumph, take good care of her, she's a great little car."

"Could you do us a favour?" Russell asked, "Would it be possible for you to drive it to Jenny's place for us. We are taking the MG."

"Sure thing. By the way I have a surprise for you. We were going to spring it on you when you got to Jenny's flat but you may just as well follow me now."

He climbed into the Triumph and waited for Jenny to extricate the MG from its parking spot. They followed him over the Harbour Bridge and over to Mosman and the street that Jenny's flat was in.

Instead of stopping at Jenny's block he kept going right down to the end of the point before turning in to the underground parking garage of a block of flats. Jenny parked the MG beside the Triumph aware of the Jaguars, Mercedes and BMW's that proliferated the garage.

They followed John to the security lift that could only be activated by key. They were quickly whisked to the top floor of the building. Both of them had a feeling the surprise would be well worth waiting for. They were not disappointed.

John opened the door and ushered them in to an enthusiastic welcome from Jerry, Frank and Russell's parents. The flat was magnificent. The views from the large picture windows covered as broad panorama of the harbour from the heads to the harbour Bridge. It was furnished in opulent good taste.

"Consider this our wedding gift to you. It seems the least we can offer after all the assistance you have been to us over the last few days, not to mention the pain and suffering that you have both endured. Neither of you will get any official recognition from your grateful government, so this our way if saying thank you on their behalf."

"We are proud of you too." Mrs French hugged Jenny. "We probably won't hear half of what you have gone through, but the little we know has made us very proud, not only of Russell, but of you my dear. Welcome to the family."

"Come here my boy." Mr French led the way to the polished Mahogany bar, opening the door he revealed racks filled with a wide variety of wines and spirits. "Now, you're the host, your guests need refreshments." Opening the door to the bar fridge, "Champagne seems appropriate for this occasion."

Russell selected a bottle and with some difficulty managed to get the cork out without sending it and half the contents of the bottle across the room. "Would you gentlemen care to join us or do you want your usual?"

"I think that this occasion is sufficiently important for us to overlook our vows of abstinence." John took a sip from the proffered glass, "Now this I could get to like."

"I wish mother was here, she would enjoy this." Jenny was just a little subdued.

"Why don't you call her and ask her to join us?" Russell asked.

Jenny crossed to the phone and dialled. "Mama? Yes it's me. Mama so much has happened. Russell and I have just been given a new flat by the men we have been working with. It's beautiful. We want you to come over and to help us celebrate. and bring Tony with you." She gave the address. "We will be expecting you in about an hour, 'bye."

45

They were all comfortably seated around the living room enjoying the view of the usual bustle on Sydney harbour and chatting about all sorts of subjects. Mr French and Jerry were deep in conversation about the relative merits of European cars as opposed to British.

"You have to concede that the European makes are a little more innovative than the British. As for quality control, in Britain it is a joke. Take Jaguar for instance, they design a really great car in the Jaguar tradition and slap it together so poorly that the thing is no better than, say, a Holden."

"I grant you that criticism is valid but we are taking steps to eliminate these problems. When we have them solved we will have the best cars around."

"When you have the problem solved you will have caught up to the Europeans. You will need to change the attitude of the British car worker if you are to achieve what you are aiming for. At least the European car worker takes some pride in what they produce."

Jenny and Mrs French were discussing the upcoming nuptials. To the casual observer it would have appeared that they were mother and daughter, not future step whatever. They talked with a deceptive familiarity that augured well for the inter-family relationships but woe-be-tied Russell if he dared to step out of line.

Russell, Brian and John were going over the events of the last week to see if there was some way that they could get around the ban on the article. John agreed to provide them with as much background information as he could about their original involvement with BillyBob and the drug pipeline.

The intercom interrupted these discussions by announcing the arrival of Jenny's mother. Jenny pushed the button which unlocked the front door for her and went to the entrance door of the flat to welcome her.

Maria stumbled into the flat followed by a gun which was in turn followed the large form of BillyBob. Tony followed him with Francine and another gun bringing up the rear. "Don't anybody so much as flinch!" The voice left no room for doubt as to his intentions. "Now you people have caused me a great deal of trouble and it's now my turn to cause you some. Francine would you just check to see if any of them are carrying any weapons."

Francine moved from one to the other, expertly checking for weapons. She found none. Just as she was turning from him Mr French grabbed her from behind, his left arm snaking around her neck and applying pressure to it. His right hand taking her gun from her limp hand he pointed it at BillyBob. Francine was held motionless in front of him. "If you do not put that gun down I will apply even more pressure than I am at the moment and it will kill your friend here."

"Go ahead and kill. I have no further use for the stupid bitch."

Fear showed in Francine's eyes when she realised that he had no intention of saving her from the pain that she was experiencing.

"You bastard! What about all of those promises you made. What about the home in LA. What about all the money you promised me?"

"How naive, you didn't really think that I was about to keep them did you?"

Un-noticed to either of them Maria had moved quietly and imperceptibly until she was directly behind BillyBob. The point of her shoe, applied with the force of her hatred for the man and applied to the part of his anatomy to which it was applied, brought rather satisfying results. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he gasped and fell to the floor, writhing in agony. John and Frank pounced and swiftly had him trussed and immobilised. His hands were tied behind his back and pulled as far as possible up behind his neck. A rope from there was looped around his neck and down to his ankles which were also pulled as far as possible up his back. The effect of this was that if he struggled he would choke himself.

Francine, handcuffed, sat quietly in a chair while John contacted the Commonwealth Police. As soon as he had placed the receiver back in its cradle she started to plead with him. "I didn't know what he was doing. He told me that he was working for the Australian Government and what he was doing was Top Secret. I didn't have anything to do with Jenny's father's death."

Even as the words left her mouth Francine realised that she had just implicated herself. She said nothing further. Maria picked up the phone and rang for someone to come and pick up BillyBob. "He will be taken by fishing boat to the ship that is taking the other man back to America. Neither him nor the other one will ever see their homeland again. This much I swear on my husband's grave.

"But shouldn't we have handed him over to the Police?" Mrs French asked.

"No. He would have claimed Diplomatic Immunity and walked free." Brian's voice was cold. "The Commonwealth Police have been withdrawn from the case and the locals are not interested. For once in my life I can condone this form of justice."

"Part of me is appalled with the cold blooded cruelty of what you have planned, but on the other hand I can see the need for revenging the death of your husband and if the proper authorities are either unwilling or unable to punish them, then I suppose you must do it."

"My work her is now finished," Maria said, "Now I must go and organise a funeral. Jenny you must stay here with these people, I will do this myself."

"No you won't!" Mrs French was adamant. "I will help you, if there is one thing I am good at it's organising functions such as christenings weddings and funerals." Turning to John, Frank and Jerry, "You men will stay for the funeral won't you?"

"Try and keep us away. Now we must be leaving, coming Brian? You two stay happy now, and look after each other."

"What now?"

"In light of recent developments I think we deserve a break away from all of this."

"Would you like a pre-honeymoon?" Russell's father asked.

"Sounds great. It will give us a chance to recharge our batteries and get over our physical and psychological injuries."

"Call by in the morning and pick up the keys to the holiday house, you can stay there for as long as is necessary."

"Great, Jen you will love this place."

"What about the funeral?"

"We will send a car for you to save you having to drive all that way down and back."

46

The tension on the phone line between Sydney and Langley was electric.

"What do you mean you have lost another two?"

"Let me explain. We have lost the usefulness of one of our local people who has been arrested by the Commonwealth Police."

"I thought that you had them in your pocket?"

"Something went wrong, don't worry we'll fix it."

"You'd better or by the livin' Jeezus you will find your ass freezing in some Alaskan deep freeze over-looking the Behring Straits and Russia. Now what about the other one, and don't tell me it was BillyBob?"

"'Fraid so. We don't know where he is. All we do know is that him and Francine were together yesterday afternoon and were supposed to call in last night for instructions. They never made the call and Francine ends up with the Feds. We are waiting for her to be released so that we can talk to her and find out what has happened to BillyBob, although I have this feeling that whatever she can tell us will be too little, too late."

"Jeezus H Christ what a fuck up. I send a couple of top men down to some jeezly little country to set off a couple of firecrackers to scare a couple of two bit, second rate politicians and what happens? I end up losing my two top men. I will probably have Washington crawlin' all over my ass because of the Diplomatic repercussions of this fuck up. I'll be lucky to survive myself. Let me tell you right here and now Mister, if I fry over this so will you."

There's not a lot of news in here about the bombing." Russell sat at the kitchen table of the family holiday house at Norahville on the Central Coast.

"Hey! I thought that we came up here to get away from all of this. We are here for the next week or so to have a rest and prepare for the wedding, or have you forgotten that?"

"Sorry Darling, I guess that I'm still curious as to why there has been so little investigation of this." He folded the paper and pushed it away from him. Taking a last sip of his breakfast coffee he asked, "What do you want to do today?"

"How about we go for a walk along the beach."

"Right. That should kill a couple of hours."

"What do you suggest?"

"We could always go for a drive over to the Hunter Valley and check out some wineries."

"I think that we had better take it easy for the first day or so before we go swanning around the country."

"Alright beach walk it is. Which way do you want to go?"

"Choices now. What are the options?"

"We can go south around Norah Head to Soldiers Beach or north along Caves Beach to Budgewoi."

"I think the north route sounds better after all I don't want to risk damaging myself by clambering over rocks."

Minutes later they were strolling arm in arm along the soft sand, the sun warm on their faces and the rhythmic roar and crash of the surf drowning out the sound of their voices. Jenny turned her face to Russell's so that she could catch what it was that he had just said to her to find her lips covered by his in a lingering kiss.

After having walked for half an hour they paused to take in the beauty of the surroundings. The sky and sea competed with each other to create the brightest blue. The seagulls wheeled and soared in the breeze that gusted fitfully over the waves. There were several board riders swooping and diving their boards through the swirling sea. A fisherman probed the white water of the rip trying to entice a meal onto his waiting hook.

"Watch this." Russell leapt to his feet and ran to the waterline. He stood and waited for the incoming wave to wash past his feet and as it ebbed back he began swivelling his feet into the sand. Suddenly he bent over and picked something out of the sand.

"What is it?" Jenny asked.

"A pipi."

"What is it used for?"

"Mostly bait around here but I hear tell that in other parts of the world they are considered something of a delicacy."

"No thanks."

"We used to come along here as kids and catch hundreds of them and sell them to the fishermen who were too lazy to catch their own All you have to do is wait for the wave to wash past you and then as it flows back swivel your feet like this." Russell demonstrated the art to her. "Now you try."

Jenny waited for the right moment and did as she had been shown. Two large pipis bobbed to the surface of the sand. "Look! I did it!"

"Clever person aren't you. Now what are you going to do with it?"

"Put it back where I found it." She bent down and carefully pushed the shells into the sand. "Now what about yours?"