THE BROTHERHOOD (21 page)

The room erupted once again.
‘Allahu akbar!’

Sam’s elderly assistant Hanif spoke next. ‘Remember what your mission is. You are not to discuss any of your contacts with anyone but brother Saeed and myself, not even with your brothers in this room. You will be greeted by
jihad
warriors in each location and taken to a safe house. You will meet with local leaders and provide them with funds for arms and any other supplies they need for the uprising.’

Three young assistants made their way through the crowd, handing out yellow envelopes to each man while Hanif continued talking.

‘These documents contain your airfare and, most importantly, the account details in various locations of each country. You will be escorted by our contacts to each bank where you will withdraw the money from each location. Once you have done so you will contact brother Saeed. Resist temptation, my brothers. The leaders know how much to expect and will inflict severe punishment should they receive anything less.’

Sam rose to his feet and his audience followed. As they made their exit each one kissed his hand and placed it on their forehead as a sign of subservience and loyalty. Sending his envoys was stage one; stage two was getting the envelope to Barry. The elders had to be eliminated by the hand of the imperialist West. Stage three was the caliphate and beyond.

‘Where are you?’ Barry demanded.

‘I’m at the mosque, what’s this about?’

‘Stay there, I’m on my way. Make sure you have the envelope ready for me, I want all of them.’

‘Have you lost your mind?’ Sam shrieked. ‘I will not have you come here! Why are we having this conversation on the phone?’

‘I’m tired of cleaning your dirt,’ Barry yelled. ‘My neck’s on the line and I’m not in the mood for bargaining.’

Sam paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. ‘You may come, but I don’t want you coming inside. Don’t even get out of your car, is that clear?’

‘Just make sure you have what we fucking agreed on.’ Barry disconnected and threw his mobile onto the passenger seat. Just then it beeped with an incoming text message. Annoyed, he picked it up, but then a smile formed on his lips as he read the text. ‘Well, well, what have we got here?’

Sam instructed Hanif to ensure that everyone had left and excused himself. Twenty minutes later he heard a strained engine roaring down the street as it approached the mosque. Barry brought his car to a screeching stop when he saw Sam moving out of the shadows, lowered the window and greeted him with a raised hand. Sam passed him the yellow envelope without a word; neither was in the mood for a chat. Satisfied to find it twice as thick as the last one, Barry sped off as fast as he’d arrived.

Out of the shadows a dark van with tinted windows cruised up to Sam and stopped; his bodyguards awaited instructions.

‘If he fails, you know what to do,’ Sam told them. ‘In time The Brotherhood’s entire global donations will be consolidated and distributed directly to
jihad
fighters. Once The Brotherhood elders are removed the funds will be dispensed in twenty-four hours, but if we move too early we risk their intervention. I cannot have that.’

They nodded in silence and drove off.

Chapter 20

Police cars sped into the central business district from all directions as the taxi driver headed out of the city. Aazim and Bill turned their heads to see vehicles being pulled over and occupants identified. They looked at each other and exhaled with relief as the distance between them and their pursuers increased. It was early in the morning and their tired bodies needed a recharge, but not before they’d extracted the information from the databases. Bill gave the driver directions and Aazim allowed himself to relax in the back seat. His last thought was of his father: as he slowly drifted to sleep he wondered where Ilias was.

‘Wake up, Az.’

The taxi was stationary when Bill roused him from his slumber. They got out into a cold night and deserted suburban streets.

‘Where are we?’ Aazim croaked, shivering and trying to focus on his surroundings.

‘We’re close to Lenni’s house. I didn’t want the driver dropping us off right in front in case the police get to him.’

The taxi drove off and they started walking in the opposite direction. As Aazim’s teeth chattered involuntarily, Bill assured him that it was only a half-hour walk. But to Aazim every minute seemed too long. The occasional bathroom light switching on and stray animal were the only signs of life from houses in the street. Aazim pulled his T-shirt above his nose in an attempt to keep his frozen face warm by breathing inside; even his toes were numb.

‘Why are you doing this, Bill?’ Aazim asked suddenly, as if the question had only just occurred to him.

Bill was also fighting the cold and didn’t mind the distraction. ‘Well, I guess it was the money at first, but now I’m just too far into it.’

‘You always had the option of leaving it to the police or Janelle. You could’ve taken the money you already had and simply disappeared. I mean, guys like you are resourceful. You could’ve just ditched me and made it on your own. A fake passport and you’re in Siberia, right? Are you making this whole thing personal?’             

‘We’re fighting for our lives here, you know. You can’t make it more personal than that. I don’t have much cash left, believe me, and resources cost money.’

Aazim couldn’t read the blank face of his companion. ‘You had a bad dream back there on the train. What was that about?’

‘You’re determined, aren’t you?’

Aazim just smiled and waited for Bill to go on.

‘It’s nothing. A bad dream that’s all,’ Bill replied, shrugging off the question.

‘Why did you leave your job with the agency? Did you quit?’

‘Look, I’d rather not talk about it.’

‘Come on, you can tell me,’ Aazim persisted.

‘Not much to tell.’

‘How did you end up as a private investigator?’

‘Drop it, Aazim!’ Bill snapped.

Aazim was embarrassed. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I’m just trying to keep my mind off the cold.’ He laughed uncomfortably and cursed himself for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, and with someone he was trusting with his life.

Bill stopped walking and let out a long sigh. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cigarettes and started walking again while lighting one. He sucked deeply and held the smoke a moment before exhaling.

‘I know, mate. Don’t mind me, I’m just exhausted.’ He paused before continuing. ‘My problem is not lack of sleep, it’s what I remember when I wake up. What I wouldn’t give for a peaceful night …’ He took a final drag and threw the butt in the gutter.

‘Have you seen a doctor? A psychiatrist could probably help you,’ Aazim ventured carefully.

‘You mean a shrink? In my line of work – well, former work – it somewhat defeats the purpose. When he says “Tell me all about it” I’ll have to say “Sorry, doc, that’s classified”. It’ll be the shortest session in history. I can’t talk about it to anyone; even my wife didn’t know what I got up to. As far as she was concerned I was a boring office administrator in a government agency.’

‘I can’t imagine how hard that must have been,’ Aazim replied.

‘It was my job and questions weren’t asked. “I did it for my country” type of shit.’

‘I’m not sure I follow.’

Bill looked at Aazim’s questioning eyes. ‘What the hell. A couple of years ago there was a terrorist bomb in a restaurant in Jakarta. I was on assignment tagging a crooked Indonesian army officer when we learnt of the bombing. The officer was the target.’

‘What happened?’

‘I was ordered to return to base immediately. That day sixty-three people were killed and over two hundred injured. The restaurant was next to a primary school and most of the victims were children. I didn’t actually see the bomb explode. I just remember looking at those kids’ faces before walking away. I watched the rest on TV.’ Bill’s hands shook as he reached for another cigarette, scrunched up the packet and tossed it away when he found it empty.

‘You blame yourself for what happened?’ Aazim asked tentatively.

‘No, I don’t. It was out of my control and I couldn’t have cared less about that bastard, but something didn’t feel right. A tip-off for the bomb supposedly came from an Indonesian informant, but it didn’t sit right. No one was aware of ASIO’s presence. Nothing happens in Indonesia without the knowledge of the Indonesian army, and the notion that a low-life opportunist knew we were there is laughable. The stakeout was suspicious – it was too easy. I was there to confirm the target and it had nothing to do with surveillance. Jemaah Islamiyah didn’t have the capacity to organise such an attack and the smell pointed to ASIO. Other agents like Janelle suspected the same but were too worried about their careers or their lives to speak up.’

Bill paused for a moment before continuing. ‘We were all first-timers in the field, purposely chosen for our inexperience. No one ever found out who the informant was and I hit a brick wall trying to find out. I turned to my superiors and brought it out in the open, the biggest mistake I ever made. Some government suits showed up and formed a panel of investigators, but it was a sham from the very start.’ Bill waved his hand dismissively. ‘They wanted it resolved quickly and quietly, and in the process I lost my job and my wife. That bastard Barry was behind all of it.’

‘How was Barry involved?’

‘He was in charge of the assignment. A lot of uncomfortable questions were directed at him and soon after the investigation my identity was leaked to the media. I couldn’t work in the field anymore.’

‘If he was in charge then why wasn’t he held accountable?’

‘Barry argued that it was against our national interest to interfere, that it was a covert operation and the attack was collateral damage at the hands of terrorists.’

‘Why wasn’t any of this reported in the papers?’ Aazim asked, shaken.

‘This is ASIO we’re talking about, Az. Nothing comes out in the media if the agency issues a directive. A tribunal found there were no grounds for prosecution and the agency had followed the correct procedures. However, it failed on principle and moral responsibility to protect human life. As Barry was in charge of the assignment his conduct was heavily scrutinised. Later Janelle told me he was overlooked for a promotion due to his involvement in Jakarta. At least he didn’t get a job where he could do more damage.’

‘I bet if even one of those victims had been Australian the whole outcome would’ve been different.’

‘Turning my back on those kids is what I have to live with every night. A goddamned anonymous call could’ve saved so many lives. Instead I was given an order and I followed it. Doing anything afterwards was too late.’ Bill’s face was pale, his last words barely audible.

Aazim turned to him and grinned. ‘You know you still haven’t my question. Why are you helping me?’

Bill smiled and shook his head. ‘I didn’t trust Saeed; the man’s a snake. But I was curious about why you risked your neck getting those databases.’

Lenni’s house was in sight. Bill surveyed the surroundings and determined it was safe to go in. He rang the bell and the door opened to reveal the pale boy they’d met with not long ago. Lenni ushered them into the warm house, familiar mechanical sounds emanating from every room. All the lights were off save a dim lamp perched on a desk in the living room.

‘You guys want tea? I don’t have any coffee, I don’t drink coffee.’

‘Tea would be great, Lenni,’ Bill said.

Shaking off the cold, they sat down – this time there were chairs – and Lenni disappeared into the kitchen. A minute later he returned with two cups and what looked like a modified portable kettle. It took fifteen seconds for the water to boil, causing Bill to grin as Lenni poured the water.

‘Why don’t you sell this stuff?’ Bill said. ‘You could have your own brand of whitegoods.’

‘What, this old thing?’ Lenni said, looking at the kettle. ‘Inventions are five percent of the effort – the rest is marketing and lots of money. And that I don’t have.’

Aazim crouched over the coffee table and wrapped his hands around the mug, allowing the heat to seep into his skin and reach his frozen bones.

Lenni sat on a squeaky computer chair and gave them a moment to relax. ‘You guys have been busy. I hear the whole city’s looking for you.’

‘Really? What else have you heard?’ Bill gulped as much of the warm liquid as possible without burning his throat.

‘Come on, Bill, don’t play games with me. Whatever you have it must be worth a lot of money to someone. You called me, remember? Now let me see it.’ Lenni swivelled on the seat like an impatient child waiting to open a present.

Bill motioned to Aazim for the data. ‘Yes, I did call you but before you see it I want you to treat this as off limits, okay? Extract the data, make a printout and save it to disk. Do not copy any of this stuff for yourself. I wouldn’t even ask you to print it if we weren’t so desperate for time.’

‘Okay, I won’t,’ Lenni said, reaching for the flash drive.

‘I’m serious, Lenni, I’m not playing games here. This stuff can cost you your life.’

‘Okay, okay.’

When Bill relinquished his hold on the flash drive Lenni took it without making eye contact. He immediately plugged it into the USB port and launched the Oracle application as directed by Aazim.

‘What is all this?’ Lenni asked. ‘I can’t make any sense of it.’

They all stared at the monitor.

‘Open the SWIFT database,’ Aazim said. ‘The password’s been cracked, you should be able to launch it without problems.’ He hadn’t had time to verify the data and held his breath, hoping there were no corruptions.

‘SWIFTNet. Isn’t that the money transaction platform banks use?’ Lenni asked.

‘The very one,’ Aazim said, pointing to an icon on the screen.

As instructed, Lenni browsed through the application and found four main services that fell under SWIFT: Securities, Treasury and Derivatives, Trade Services and Payments, and Cash Management. Payments and Cash Manage
ment was the one of interest to Aazim and the one he indicated.