CHOGM Pt. 02

He dragged her body over to an irrigation ditch and dumped it, pausing only to wash, as best he could, the blood from his shirt. He walked back to his room. There was no place in his being for any remorse.

Meanwhile across town a US Army liaison officer was entertaining a multi-national film crew in town to do a puff piece on how well the war was going and how the US and its allies were on top of things and it was a matter of months before the Viet Cong capitulated to the might of the American military.

They were seated around a table in the centre of a bar and their host was in an expansive mood. "What can I get you guys, a beer, some good whiskey or maybe a little something different? I can rustle up some hash or horse, you name it I can get it for you. How about a little female action, these young girls really know how to please us men."

"I think we'll stick to beer if that's alright with you." The man spoke with an Australian accent, not uncommon around Saigon, "We've got an early start in the morning, up at sparrow fart for a trip up north, but you press on, knock yourself out."

An hour later the American was deep in conversation with a young girl when the film crew left carrying their camera gear with them and walked towards a group of ramshackle buildings. One of them stood guard while the others went inside and set the thermite charges where it would do the most damage, under the mound of raw opium and the stockpile of plastic wrapped parcels of pure heroin.

They had just reached the chopper waiting to take them to Saigon to take part in a search of a military transport ready to leave for Butterworth in Malaysia and then on to Australia, when there was a large explosion followed by a glow that lit up the night sky.

"That went well." John Burroughs said to his colleagues in his real voice that was far from the Australian accent that he had affected since he had arrived the day before.

"Do I know my stuff or what?" Jerry Smythe asked. The whole place will be vaporised and there will be nothing left.

"The icing on the cake will be when we join our friends from Interpol and bust that plane load that's just been diverted there. Someone is going to be really pissed off."

That someone was BillyBob. The news that greeted him on his return to base the next morning could not have been worse. The plane that had been about to take off for Sydney had been diverted to Saigon where it had been ordered by Base Command to stop at the far end of the runway while six men in civilian clothes systematically searched it from nose to tail.

What they found was over a hundred kilos of high grade heroin. The soldiers on board were taken off and escorted by MP's to the stockade where they were questioned for some time, all of them maintaining that they didn't know how the drugs had happened to be in their kitbags.

Taking the drugs with them the civilians left the base to return to Europe where some of the drugs would be destroyed while some of them would be used for controlled rehabilitation programmes by both the English and Dutch governments.

"Who were these people?" BillyBob was at his most unpleasantly angry.

"Interpol." The voice on the other end of the phone was that of the Base Commander. "There were three Englishmen, two Dutch and one German. They fucking well knew what they were looking for and I had orders from Stateside to co-operate fully with them. Sorry Buddy, nothing could be done."

"We'll see about that!"

He hung up the phone and dialled his agency contact. "What are you bastards doing? You can't even stop a couple of jumped up frigging cops from making off with a hundred plus keys of horse."

"Orders from above Buddy. Minor setback only, business as usual next week, they've had their moment of glory and they can bask in it for the next year. Will you hold the line for a second?" In the background a muttered conversation was taking place. "This gets worse. Someone and we think they're connected with Interpol, has blown your factory to hell and gone. There is nothing left, not even the rats."

"No way am I going to let this rest. Find out who they were and I'll pay them a friendly visit, soon."

It had taken time but his visits to the two Dutch and one German member of the raiding party had resulted in them meeting horrible deaths in mysterious circumstances. All that remained for him was to eliminate the three Englishmen and his revenge would be complete. "Patience" he often said to himself, "Is its own reward."

18

"All the bastard's interested in is pushing drugs." Jerry had found himself in something of a dilemma. If he had refused the job offer it would have immediately raised suspicions in the mind of Carbone and, while he had been assured that there would be no problem if he did decide against taking it, he couldn't be sure. If he took the job there was the likelihood that he would be caught up in the industry that he and the others had been involved in smashing.

All five of them were standing by their cars outside the boundary fence of the White Bay Container Terminal. The next stage of their operation hung in the balance and depended very much on the outcome of this discussion.

"So what is the plan?"

"I pick up supplies at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning and ferry them around the place collecting the money and returning it to Carbone."

"What about the police that turned up, where do they fit in to the scheme of things?"

"They are in the pocket of another gang boss. These two seem to be at each other's throats."

"We don't want to get involved in anything that will lead to you being arrested for drug trafficking, how would that look on your record, and can you imagine the chief? 'Now Gerald, you have been accused of the most heinous of all crimes and considering your position within this organisation I am having some difficulty in understanding your actions. What have you to say for yourself?' 'I'm Sorry Sir, it's just that the most generous salary that you have been giving me over the years is simply not enough for me to live on let alone to save for my retirement. So, with my knowledge of the drug industry and my contacts, I decided that pushing drugs would provide me with an income worthy of my talents, which is a damn sight more than I get now.' The Old Man would shit himself."

"What would happen if we were to get someone to contact that tame cop, what was his name again? Kelly, and tip him off that there was going to be a transfer of goods tomorrow morning. If we play our cards right it will look as if he had been following Frankie."

"How can we tip him off without letting on who we are?"

"Leave that to me. We can use our contacts with Interpol and arrange for them to tip off the NSW police. We don't need to come into it at all."

"But how can you turn up at the meeting without getting involved?" Russell asked.

"I think that can be arranged. Leave that to us. Now you two are finished for the day, I'll ring you in time to be there to cover the bust. Why don't you go home and try and get some sleep."

"Why is it that they have a dirty mind as far as we are concerned?" Russell asked Jenny.

"Probably because it is pretty obvious what we intend to do." Jenny replied, smiling.

And do it they did. The bed received an unaccustomed pounding as they thrashed around in the throes of passionate lovemaking for at least an hour and three quarters before exhaustion eventually took its toll and they separated as far as the bed would allow and drifted off to their individual and collective slumbers.

19

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday February 9, 1978

INQUIRY EXPECTED ON ASIO FILES CHARGE.

The Premier, Mr Wran, is expected to establish an inquiry into the allegations involving the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Coleman, and ASIO documents.

POLICE SEIZE $10M CROP OF MARIJUANA.

Dawn raid on S.A. plantation.

GOVERNMENT WARNED OF COST OF TIGHTER EXHAUST RULES.

At five thirty Russell's alarm shattered the stillness of his bedroom. Both he and Jenny stirred, and became aware of each other's presence. "Good morning Darling."

"Humph." Russell raised his head fractionally from the pillow and seeing Jenny looking at him was enough for him to snap into life. "Oh I must be in Heaven for where else would I find an angel beside me?"

"It's me you fool, your very earthly girl friend."

"Girl friend? Ah yes, I seem to remember something of the kind. It's been so long that I can't be totally sure, give me a sign so that I know that I'm not dreaming."

"How about this." She leaned over him and kissed him, pressing herself against him, her hand moving slowly down his body until it found his erect and ready penis. "At least he's awake."

"And so am I." Russell rolled on top of her and once more found himself in her and her embrace.

It was a scant regard for speed limits that allowed Russell and Jenny to be in place on the footpath overlooking the roadway where the transfer was to take place in time to see Frankie's car slowly turn into the street and stop at the entrance to the underpass.

At six thirty another car which they didn't recognise cruised slowly past. As soon as it got to the other end of the underpass it turned and parked across the roadway. This was the signal for another three cars to quickly block off both entrances to the road and Frankie's escape.

Men came from everywhere, armed men. Frankie was soon standing beside his car watching while it was being systematically torn apart and searched.

As the men began to warm to their task a beige Commodore drove up and stopped on the corner, the driver quickly assessing the situation and driving as unobtrusively as possible away from the scene.

Kelly supervised the search that in no time had revealed several bags containing a white substance. "A nice little haul Frankie. Who were you waiting for?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Silly boy." The nod was hardly noticeable but it was enough for one of the men to step in front of him and punch him savagely in the stomach. Frankie doubled up in pain gasping desperately for breath. "Now are you going to be sensible or do I have to leave you to the gentle ministrations of our friend here?"

"I know nothing I tell you. All I know is that I had to wait here for someone to turn up. I don't know who. I don't know why. I don't know what was to happen next. I didn't know that stuff was in the car, honest. It was in the garage all day yesterday and I only got it back late last night. I want to talk to my lawyer."

"Take him away. I don't have time to waste with messenger boys. I have bigger fish to fry."

Frankie was bundled into a waiting police car and driven off.

When he was sure that only the right people were watching Jerry drove up to Kelly. "Good work Inspector. I guess we nailed them for you."

"Sure, sure. We've been watching these guys for some time now and it was only a matter of time before we had enough on them to make an arrest. How come you got on to them so quickly?"

"I've been following the trail from the bottom up and this is just a side shoot from the main pipeline. What we are trying to get is the next section and I feel that we have a good chance here."

"How do you mean? Frankie's not about to talk."

"We're going to starve them out."

"What do you mean?

"We'll keep hammering them every time a new shipment comes in until they get desperate and contact their suppliers for emergency supplies, when that happens we hit them."

"How do you know when a shipment is coming in?"

"I am one of the few people who do know and the fewer people that know that the better, less chance of a leak that way. By the way I would appreciate it very much if you don't make any mention of my or Interpol's involvement in this operation, we don't want to frighten them away. You can take full credit for this bust."

"Thank you, that's fine by me. Are you sure that you don't want me to bust the leader of this gang just yet?"

"Wake up! What have I just finished telling you?"

"But it would help me no end if I was to arrest him."

"And have him out of gaol in two minutes because he pleads that he knew nothing of this operation, nothing of what Frankie did in his spare time and has a water tight alibi for this morning like he was at the six o'clock mass at St Marys or something."

Jerry drove back to Mosman where he met with the others. "I bet you that less than half of that heroin is declared as part of the bust. He will feed the rest of it onto the streets and share some of the profits with his boss as a trade off for not busting Lou."

He walked over to the phone and dialled the silent number that Lou had given him the night before. "Hey Lou what happened this morning? I got to the meeting place on time only to find the place crawling with cops and prominent among them was your old friend Inspector Kelly."

"Sure, I'm sorry. It seems that Frankie wasn't as smart as he thought he was and allowed them to trail him. Pity about him."

"Well I don't want to get involved in any of this sort of thing. The last thing that I want is to end up being sent back to England."

"I can understand that."

"I think I'll lie low until this cools down. I won't be any good to myself or you for that matter if I end up in the slammer. I'll give you a call when I think that it's safe to come out and maybe then we can talk business."

Jerry replaced the receiver, "I think that takes care of that loose end for the time being. I have the police convinced that we are Interpol, Lou and his gang convinced that I'm clean as far as he's concerned. That should take the pressure of me for a while."

"Good. Well I guess that just about rules out the organised crime side of things as far as this is concerned. I'll go back to the University. Jerry can you see if you can get in with the Ananda Marga, pose as a convert or something, see if they are up to anything. Frank, how's the Trade Union line going?"

"Pretty cold. I don't think that they are up to anything more than some minor mischief. Hooley and Flynn arrived a couple of days ago and are already something of an embarrassment to them. It seems that they got pissed out of their brains the other night and totally wrecked the house that they were staying in."

Russell and Jenny came into the room. "That was a good bust this morning but I've had to modify my story a little because the official release mentioned only one Kilo of heroin, now I know that there was much more than that in the car when Frankie was stopped. I don't suppose that I would be right in assuming that the rest of the haul will be hitting the streets as we speak, would I?"

"You could be right but it is of little consequence right now, we have..." Burroughs never got to finish his statement.

"Bloody Hell!" The anger welled up in Jenny's voice. "What kind of person are you? Do you mean to sit there and tell us that you are not interested in following through on this morning's efforts. Don't you think that drugs are a big enough problem without you turning your backs on it hoping that it will go away, or that someone else will take it up?"

"Not at all. All we're doing is to put it on the back burner for the time being. What information we get will be turned over to the proper authorities at the appropriate moment. What I was trying to say, somewhat unsuccessfully, is that we have a higher priority for the moment."

"I don't suppose that I can argue with that."

"No. Would it help if I was to tell you that we have been doing everything that we can to stop drug trafficking since one of London's finest and most compassionate Drug Squad detectives and his partner were both killed by the very same people that we think are behind our reasons for being here?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't understand."

"That's okay. Russell what are your plans for today?"

"Well, I've been assigned to this investigation full time, so what do you want me to do?"

"Can you check with your paper's records and see what you can find about anything that might help us."

"Pretty broad search."

"Sure, but it would help us greatly."

"What about me?" Jenny asked.

"You can help Russell and try not to take his mind off his job."