Blood at Yellow Water (26 page)

“Don’t worry Anna, they’re just muck-raking,
nothing happened.”

“Yes, but those vultures can cause enormous
harm just through innuendo.”

She looked up at him, her eyes searching
his.

“To be honest I was having a good time at
the party even if I had too much to drink. I like you Jake. In
other circumstances……” Her voice trailed off, not finishing the
sentence.

Jake took that as his cue and stood up to
leave. She hugged him and he could smell her scent as she pressed
her body into his. He walked out the door and Allan escorted him
back to the reception area, promising to keep in touch.

Jake left Parliament House, walked back to
the Austrade building and picked up his laptop and brief case. He
opted to walk back to his apartment rather than catch a cab. It was
nearly dusk and the night air was getting chilly. He took a short
cut across the parkland onto National Circuit and crossed the road
with the traffic lights. Half-way across the road he heard a roar
and jerked his head around to see a large Ford bearing down on him.
He launched himself sideways as the front bumper scraped his hip.
He ended up tangled in a bush on the side of the road and got up to
brush himself off when he saw two men jump out of the car and start
running towards him. He cursed realising he was in real danger and
started running across Telopea Park towards the Kingston shopping
centre. One of the men picked up Jake’s briefcase and yelled
something to his companion who was closing in on Jake. Hampered by
the blow to the hip and the wound to his leg, Jake realised he
wasn’t going to make it to the protection of the shops in time. He
saw a large branch lying on the ground, snatched it up and stepped
behind a large pine tree. When he could hear his pursuer approach
the tree, Jake stepped out and swung the branch as hard as he
could. The branch hit him in the stomach winding him as he fell to
the ground. He was getting up on his knees just as Jake smashed his
heel into the side of his head in a classic judo side-kick. He
slumped to the ground moaning. Jake could hear the other man
approaching and took off across the road to the safety of the
shopping centre.

Close to exhaustion and feeling the effects
of the shock, Jake saw a police station that fortunately was open
and walked in the door. He spoke to the constable on duty who took
details of the attack and prepared a statement. She enquired as to
whether the attack might have been an attempted robbery and he
advised that the only thing he had lost was his briefcase which
contained his laptop and some official papers. She suggested Jake
have a medical check but he assured her he was physically fine. She
promised to follow-up the attack and asked him for his personal
details so she could get back to him.

An hour later, Jake let himself into his
apartment, helped himself to a brandy from the mini-bar and threw
himself on the bed. It was only when he looked around that he
realised something was different about the apartment. While
everything looked to be in place, he could tell that the clothes in
his case had been disturbed and the toiletries in the bathroom had
been moved. Nothing seemed to be missing but it was obvious that
his room had been searched.

He called for the manager of the apartment
block and explained what had happened. The manager listened
attentively and offered to check whether anyone suspicious had been
seen in the building. Jake decided to move out of the apartment.
The manager waived the bill, took Jake’s number and promised to let
him know if they uncovered anything suspicious.

Jake packed his travel bag and left the
apartment. He booked himself into a small motel nearby, paying cash
in advance for two nights. The room was small and basic but he was
too tired to care. He lay on the bed and was asleep within five
minutes.

THURSDAY - CANBERRA

After a restless night, Jake woke early. He thought
about what had happened the previous night. Were his assailants
trying to kill him, rob him or warn him off? Was it a random attack
or a deliberate one? One of his attackers went straight after his
brief case. But what were they looking for? He concluded the only
thing of value was his laptop but they could also be after the
mining documents and the memory stick. He wondered how would they
know his movements? A sudden thought struck him. He picked up his
mobile phone, slid the cover off the rear, pulled out the battery
and looked inside the body of the phone. He cursed when he saw a
tiny silver disc in it and realised that was how they knew where he
was going. But who had inserted the bug? He thought back over the
last few days and remembered leaving his mobile phone at his desk
at Austrade a couple of times while at internal meetings which
would have provided someone with the opportunity of placing a bug
in it. He was about to destroy the disc but stopped himself and put
it back in.

He went to a small café and had breakfast.
At 8 am he used his mobile to ring the AFP Commissioner’s Personal
Assistant and asked if he could change his appointment to 9 am
rather than 9.30am. After checking Fisher’s diary she agreed to the
change. He then took a cab and asked to be dropped off 100 metres
past the AFP Building in Kings Avenue. He noticed a small coffee
shop next to the building. He entered the café and sat down next to
a window which gave him a clear view of the entrance to the
building as well as the car park. He ordered a coffee and waited.
At about 8.45 am he was rewarded when he saw a Ford pull up in the
visitors’ carpark. There were two men sitting in it. It looked like
the vehicle that had tried to run him down but he wasn’t certain.
Then he saw one of them get out of the car and light up a
cigarette. He had a bandage on his head and Jake was certain that
he was the man who had attacked him.

Jake paid his bill, walked out of the café
and slipped behind a row of bushes which bordered one side of the
carpark. He worked his way carefully along the bushes until he was
close enough to recognise the man with the bandaged head. He pulled
out his phone and took a photo of him from between two branches. He
then worked his way behind the vehicle and took a photo of the
number plate of the Ford. He quickly retraced his steps until he
was back on the street. He walked directly to the front door of the
building looking straight ahead. He could sense that he was been
observed but moved straight up to the receptionist. He asked for
John Fisher and waited till Fisher’s Personal Assistant signed him
in before stealing a glance out the window. He could see the two
men still sitting in the Ford. The assistant led Jake up to the
fifth floor and showed him into the Commissioner’s office.

John Fisher shook Jake’s hand firmly,
invited him to take a seat and offered him coffee.

“Before we discuss anything John, could I
ask you a favour?” asked Jake. “There are two men sitting in a Ford
in the carpark outside who are following me. They attacked me last
night and stole my briefcase which had some incriminating evidence
in it. I have photos of the registration number of their vehicle
and of the man who attacked me. Could you check them out for
me?”

He showed the photos to Fisher.

“Sure Jake” responded a perplexed Fisher,
taking Jake’s mobile to copy the photos.

“But what’s this all about?”

Jake quickly explained how he came into
possession of the documents. He broke open his mobile and gave the
bug to Fisher.

After listening to Jake’s story, Fisher
excused himself, walked out of his office and briefed two of his
staff, providing them with copies of the photos.

He returned to the office. “Jake, I’ve asked
two of my people to check this out urgently and confront the guys
in the vehicle. They should get back to me in a few minutes. Can
you explain to me what these documents contain?”

Jake outlined the contents of the stolen
documents, and his belief that Barry Buckstone had been killed
because he had evidence of bribes paid to O’Shea to secure the Land
Council’s support for the Jabiru mine development. He also
explained how the documents exposed corruption by overseas based
companies in the mine development including a possible link to
Malcolm Crichton.

“Christ, these are serious allegations Jake,
if they can be proven it would not only bring Crichton down but the
Government wouldn’t survive either. We’d need to see the evidence
before we could take action.”

There was a knock on the door and at
Fisher’s behest a man stepped quickly into the office.

“What have you found out Gary?”

“Commissioner, we’ve found out something
about the men in the Ford in the carpark. We checked the number
plate at the motor registry and the identity of the man in the
photo.”

“And who is he?”

“He’s a guy from ASIO and the car is also
registered to ASIO.”

“What, you’ve got to be kidding. Did you
talk to them?”

“Yes they said they were just waiting to
pick up a colleague in the car park. They deny attacking anyone
last night and have never heard of anyone called Jake
Stafford.”

“O.K. thanks Gary.” Fisher waved him
away.

Fisher looked bewildered. “Either you’re
mistaken Jake or there’s some funny business going on. I’ll chase
it up with Ted Pearson, the Director-General of ASIO and see if he
can shed some light on this.”

“Have you any other information to back this
up? Did you keep copies of the documents anywhere?” Fisher
asked.

Jake was about to say yes when he stopped
himself.

“No, I don’t have any other copies with me,”
he replied, which was partially true.

Jake changed the topic. “What’s happened
with the Chinese terrorists? Have you managed to track down the
organisation behind it.”

“We found Blakey hiding out in Alice Springs
and got a confession out of him. He claimed he was just asked to
provide accommodation and transport for the group in Daly Waters
and didn’t know what they were planning to do. He gave us details
of a bikie gang in Darwin who arranged the logistics as well as the
supply of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles and we have
made a number of arrests. We identified three Chinese on flights
departing from Darwin to Beijing on the day of the terrorist attack
but they seem to have disappeared without a trace. They were
probably part of the support team for the terrorists. We’re still
trying to establish whether this was a rogue terrorist group or
whether there was some connection to the Chinese Government. I
suspect we might never find out.”

“Have you found out where the Chinese
received their intelligence from?”

“Not yet, we’re still chasing some leads on
that. They certainly had some inside help to plan their
assault.”

Jake said “Well, I can think of someone at
the Australian Embassy in Tokyo who seemed to go out of his way to
create problems for us.”

“You’re talking about Colonel Williams no
doubt. He’s been told to stay put in Canberra while we check out
his activities.”

Fisher paused for a second before adding
“Oh, incidentally Jake, I’ve been informed that ASIO have arrested
the Japanese woman at Daly Waters on suspicion of helping the
terrorists.”

Jake exclaimed “What! You mean Shoni? You
must be joking. She’s completely innocent. She actually helped us
rescue Koshi and pursue the terrorists.”

“I’m just telling you what ASIO has told us.
Apparently she’s been held in a police remand centre in
Darwin.”

“They’ve made a huge mistake. She should be
rewarded for what she’s done. The local police in Daly Waters and
Jabiru can verify her part in this. Can you do something to
help?”

“I’ll make some enquiries Jake and see what
I can do. We owe you that much.”

Jake said “Thanks. Can you tell me who would
be in charge of her case at the Northern Territory Police. I’ll
contact a lawyer to try to get her out of the remand centre.”

Fisher asked Jake to wait outside his office
while he made a call to Sam Popolo, the Assistant Commissioner in
the N.T. police in Darwin. Popolo was a member of the Task Force
set up to track down the Chinese terrorists and was also in charge
of the investigation into the hit and run which had killed Barry
Buckstone. After ten minutes, he hung up from Popolo and walked
over to Jake, passing him a note with the name and contact details
of the officer dealing with Shoni’s case. Visibly shaken, Jake
thanked Fisher and shook his hand. On his way to the elevator, he
picked up some scissors lying on a vacant desk and put them in his
pocket. As he was leaving the building, he noticed the two ASIO
officers still sitting in their car and walked over. He knocked on
the passenger side window. The guy with the bandage on his head
rolled down the window.

“How’s the head feeling?” Jake asked.

“Get fucked fella.”

“Yeah, well, the AFP are onto you guys. I’d
like my briefcase and my laptop back thanks. If they’re not back at
the Austrade office by this afternoon I go to the ACT Police.”

He walked around the back of the car and
stabbed the scissors savagely into each of the rear tyres.

He hailed a passing taxi to take him back to
the Austrade building, reported the theft of his laptop to the
Human Resources Section and requested a replacement. He also asked
for a new mobile phone, claiming his own phone had been damaged in
the robbery. He found a spare office, closed the door and started
making some calls from the office phone. His first call was to
Shoni and there was no answer so he left a message for her to call
him. He then rang Bill who picked up the phone immediately.

“Dad, it’s Jake. I’ve got a problem and I
hope you can help me.”

“You sound worried Jake.”

“I’ve just been told that Shoni’s been
arrested by the cops and been taken to Darwin for questioning.
Apparently ASIO have accused her of helping the Chinese
terrorists.”