A Second Chance Bk. 01 Ch. 04

God where was the Old Man?

It was 2am and he should have been home hours ago but instead he was waiting for the Old Man!

Fuck! His wife was going to bitch and whine again about having a job with normal hours.

And all because the old fart wanted to see real photos!

"Are you in pain Madson?"

"What? Oh no sir!" Shit! How the fuck does he just manage to appear in the doorway.

"Then why were you pulling a face like that?"

Madson struggled for an answer and in the end the man in the doorway put him out of his misery. "Sitrep on Porcupine ... now!"

"Nazari didn't move much today but about 11am he went out to see his favourite whore." Madson passed a couple of surveillance photos across the desk. The first one showed the target getting out of his car in front of a suburban home while the second one showed the front door of the house being held open while the target entered.

"He came out about two hours later," two more photos were passed across the desk. The first one showed the target walking out the door while the second one showed the target crossing the front lawn while a woman stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a t-shirt. Her long dark hair was dishevelled but she was smiling and waving at the man.

"Did he leave immediately?"

The question puzzled Madson, "Yes."

"Did he return at any time after that?"

"No sir, he went back to the embassy and is still there."

"What have you missed Madson?"

Madson took the photos back and went through them but couldn't see anything. 'Fuck, couldn't the Old Man see that he was tired ... so tired he was struggling to stay awake.'

"An attaché case Madson. He was carrying it when he went into the house but he didn't bring it out with him. Where is it? What was in it? Who is this woman he visited and why did you call her 'his favourite whore'?

"And what did she do after he left?"

Madson paused to marshal his thoughts. He knew a lot more about this woman than what he was about to disclose so he had to be careful.

"We've run a check on her and what's come back tells us that her name is Angela Comparo, she's 40 years old and runs a business as a freelance graphic designer. She also doubles as a high-class escort and has been seen at parties with politicians, businessmen, bankers and anyone who could be influenced with sexual favours.

"She declares both incomes in her tax returns and it appears that she makes a lot of money from selling her body. She owns that house along with the house next door. She owns her own house outright and she has mortgages on the other one with Macquarie Bank.

"Our forensic people are looking at her bank accounts but there doesn't seem to be any suspicious activities in those accounts. There are three of them and all of them have healthy credit balances. She has one credit card and it appears that she never carries any debt over from one month to the next.

"She has a passport and travels to the US Europe occasionally but there doesn't seem to be anything there.

"Nazari sees her about once a week as well as playing the field with other girls. The visit yesterday was a little out of character because he had already seen her on Monday and on Friday's he usually sees other girls.

"She didn't leave the house again until about 6pm and fortunately we had an extra crew so we had them in position to follow her. She caught an Uber to a bottle shop in Griffith, made a purchase and then went to an address in Forrest.

"The house at that address is owned by John and Cathy Adams. He is the CEO of Australia Planning and his wife is a schoolteacher. They have lived in Canberra for over 20 years and are card waving members of the Liberal Party. At first glance they are as clean as a whistle.

"You will also see from these photos that there's a very distinctive car in the driveway. It's owned by Steve Barrington from Appledale in New South Wales." Three photos were passed across the desk and Madson almost held his breath while the Old Man looked at them.

"There's a connection between Barrington and Adams through high school but ... um ... Steve Barrington has an ASIO file," Madson was expecting that to really be of interest to the Old Man but his answer surprised Madson.

"I know him, Army on the fringes notionally in the Federal Police in the Diplomatic Protection Unit but more than that, worked for us but and now out on a pension and has a son in the SAS so they are the ones who would have ASIO checking on him.

"The only reason you need to keep an eye on Steve is for his own safety. If he finds himself tangled up in something he will do his best to extract himself but be ready in case he needs some help."

"OK, will do. He and Comparo went to Molly, the bar just off London Circuit, and then he drove her home and he hasn't left since they arrived."

"Really?" That did seem to interest the Old Man but he didn't seem to pursue it. "OK keep following Nazari and his lady friend and find out where that attaché case is and what's in it ... and now let's come back to the girl." Madson's heart skipped a beat, the Old Man didn't like people trying to hide things.

"When you are briefing me about someone, I expect you to tell me everything about that person ... so let's try again shall we?" Madson sighed, he that full disclosure was the only thing that was going to save him.

"I met Angela Comparo about 12 months ago at a friend's bucks party. The guy is loaded and so are most of his friends so when someone suggested that the party be like a Roman orgy with food, wine and plenty of pussy the best man covered everything ... even some expensive girls ... one for each guy.

"I ended up paired with Angela. She was smart, funny and nothing was off limits and, at the end of the night, I just had to see her again ... and I did, four or five times till she suggested that I needed to focus on my wife."

He saw his boss raise an eyebrow and went on. "Yes, there was pillow talk, I talked about my problems with Charlee, but I never mentioned my job. What we did talk about were the problems Charlee and I have been having and in the end Angela told me that I didn't need to fuck her anymore, I just needed to spend more time with Charlee."

"And have you followed her advice?"

Madson looked at the ceiling and then shook his head, "No, and now I think we're headed for a divorce."

In another part of Canberra two men were meeting in a basement room, "Where is the attaché case Nazari?"

"I ... I left it behind, please ... I can recover it in the morning."

"In the morning? Where did you leave it?" Omar Amari was not a man to tell lies to, especially when he has just leapt out of his chair and is leaning across the table shouting into your face. His Diplomatic Passport showed that Amari was a Senior Clerk at the embassy but Amir Nazari lived in fear of the man who represented the most feared spy service in the Arab world.

"Please," Nazari whimpered, "I can get it back."

Amari fed on the fear that he saw in the other man's eyes, "You've been whoring again ... you left it with a whore!" The backhander sent Nazari sprawling on the floor and before he could get up Amari was on top of him, his hands around Nazari's throat ... slowly squeezing until the man on the floor was struggling to breath.

"You will get it back and then you kill her, do you understand?"

Nazari tried to speak, tried to nod his head but he couldn't make a sound until Amari eased his hold on Nazari's throat.

"She is stupid woman, she wouldn't understand what she sees, it will be easy to kill her for she is just a whore ... I will ... AAAGGGHHH!" Nazari's babble was cut short by another backhand blow that left him whimpering.

"Kill her or you will suffer for all your sins with her," Amari hissed as he stood up, "and as you suffer you will beg for death to come."

"Yes, yes ... I understand," Nazari groaned.