THE BROTHERHOOD (6 page)

A number of agencies were responsible for the success of this globally publicised bust, including ASIO and the federal police. As the web untangled, further arrests were made in England, Europe and the United States. Bill’s section mainly provided the background intelligence on the suspects’ overseas activities, the type of combat and weapons training they had received, and traced bomb-making materials and military links. It was a tight-knit relationship with other secret agencies whose work crossed over theirs and information was exchanged.

But one particular mission changed Bill’s life just as he was well into a bright career. He was on assignment in Jakarta, tailing an officer of TNI, the Indonesian military, who was suspected of illegal-arms and drug-smuggling activities in Australia. One afternoon intelligence received information about a plot by Jemaah Islamiyah to blow up a local restaurant, the TNI officer being the target. Bill was ordered not to issue any warnings to the Indonesian authorities. ASIO had been spying on a member of the Indonesian army without the knowledge of the local government and if the news had got out it would have turned into a political scandal and worsened relations, which were already on thin ice, between the two countries.

The restaurant was in close proximity to a primary school and students had gathered on the street before going into class. Bill was furious; innocent children were under threat while ASIO just stood back and watched. It would have taken one anonymous phone call to the restaurant to avoid casualties. Sixty-three people died and scores of others were badly burnt or injured. No Australian citizens were among them and the mission was considered a success.

From that day on Bill was haunted by the faces of innocent children being dragged out of the burning rubble, and his nights were plagued with nightmares. Due to the sensitive nature of the mission he was bound to secrecy and couldn’t talk to anyone about it. He thought about blowing the whistle and releasing his knowledge to the media but ultimately decided against this. The case was one of many situations where intelligence had known about an imminent attack but had failed – or refused – to act on it. At times it was the politicians who made the final call. Sacrifice a handful of people to save thousands of others, was the common wisdom.

In the end, Bill’s loss of faith cost him his job. His work suffered and eventually he was released from duty. By this time his wife had left him for another man. She’d grown weary of his absences and his secrecy, plus the fact that he was always away and couldn’t tell her where he was going or what he was doing. It wasn’t a life for a married couple.

In the end Bill couldn’t really blame her, and he wondered whether he had even expected it when he came home one day and found the house empty, divorce papers on the table, and instructions to sign and send it to her lawyer. He knew he hadn’t been able to give her what she needed. In the army all kinds of challenges were thrown his way and there were always tactics to deal with them, but there was no military training on how to cope with losing the one person in his life he cared for the most.

Eventually a friend from ASIO suggested he put his skills to use and try life as a private investigator. He got his PI licence and had made somewhat of a living from it ever since.

Chapter 5

Bill needed information on exactly who this Saeed was. As easy as the assignment seemed, he knew better and minimising surprises could save him a lot of headaches. A contact from ASIO could obtain what he was after. He missed the access he’d once had to classified information but luckily he had Janelle Hanley, the second-best thing.

Janelle was a determined woman and gave as much as she took from the male-dominated world of intelligence. As the head investigator, she was in charge of uncovering domestic and international companies operating in Australia with links to illegal funding of ‘unfriendly elements’ – terrorist groups, mercenaries and corrupt governments. It was a boring job, sifting through tons of financial data that had to be meticulously examined, cross-examined and compared with other sources. It sapped her energy, and she missed being in the field.

The best thing about it was the level of information at her disposal. In the wake of increased terrorist threats, the government had introduced a policy that gave intelligence agencies and defence forces extended powers. If a person existed, they had the best chance of finding them.

Looking through his phone book, Bill found Janelle’s number. It was a while since they’d seen each other and he hoped she hadn’t been transferred to another department.

‘Janelle speaking.’

‘Hello, Janelle, it’s Bill, how are you?’

‘Bill? Oh my God, it’s the elusive man of my life! I haven’t heard from you in ages. What’ve you been up to?’

‘I’m okay, still a PI, chasing around married men who can’t keep their willies in their pants.’ Although Bill was being flippant about his work, he couldn’t help memories flooding in. It felt strange talking to someone from the past, especially one from his unit. Janelle had always supported him over the Indonesian incident. The two of them had spent many nights together sifting through a mountain of files over strong coffee. They had shared the same views on many issues, but where Janelle wanted to make changes gradually from the inside, he’d plunged right in, receiving unwanted attention from those higher than him.

‘How’s the job going? Are you keeping them busy?’

‘You know how it is, the Cold War ended and now we have the war on terror. Not much has changed. Shut down a cell here and another crops up over there. They grow like mushrooms, in dark places where the fungus of humanity encroaches.’

‘And they called me the negative one.’

‘Even your favourite managers are around, still brown-nosing in the hope of recovery from political impotence.’

That was one thing Bill didn’t miss: he’d hated the gameplaying and manipulation that went on higher up in the ranks. Unfortunately for him, when he had tried confronting the problem he’d been frogmarched all the way out the door.

‘Janelle, I must admit this is not a catch-up call.’

‘Really? Here I am thinking I’m special. What can I do for you, Bill?’

‘I need you to look something up. I’m doing a job for a guy called Saeed and I need a check on the company he works for.’

‘You know I can’t give you confidential information, Bill. That would be illegal.’

‘Come on, I know you. Janelle doesn’t leave tracks. I just need to know if this company is clean – details aren’t necessary.’

She sighed. ‘What’s it called?’

‘The name is Aust Global Fund and his full name is Saeed Hammoud.’

‘Okay, let me look it up.’ Janelle had a link to the police mainframe and other agencies that collected a range of data. It didn’t take her long to search through it.              

‘We don’t have anything,’ she murmured. ‘Apart from a missing persons report for some employee there I can’t find any criminal records on this Saeed guy. Actually, we do have something on a Saeed but it doesn’t show a surname.’ Bill heard the sound of keystrokes before she continued. ‘It’s for a gun-smuggling connection outside of Australia and the case has been shut for years. That’s all I can tell you from this data, only vague entries in here.’ He could hear her striking the keys rapidly as she continued the search.

‘I owe you a pint, Janelle. We should catch up one of these days.’

‘I just might take you up on that offer, Bill. Hope you can afford it.’

Chapter 6

When he was living in the poor districts of Paris, Sam had felt he was neither French nor Algerian. He wasn’t white enough or dark enough to be officially accepted into the racially divided gangs. Because he was forced to fend for himself he became resourceful at an early age, siding with no one but creating friends and contacts with all. His parents taught him the customs of Islam and daily prayers like other Muslim parents and eventually encouraged him to participate in political discussions. As conflicts in Algeria and elsewhere in the Muslim world flared, he felt compelled to play an active role in supporting the fight against injustice.

It was during his late high school years and early university days that religion became a centrepoint to his life. Attending university in London, he met members of different religious groups and openly expressed his dissatisfaction with Western governments. As his studies came to an end he was recruited by an organisation of young professional Muslims known as The Brotherhood for Justice, who felt that his character, leadership skills and business management profession were just right for something new they had in mind.

Renowned as the cosmopolitan capital of Australia, Melbourne prides itself on its diverse cultural mix. Colourful Brunswick Street hosts a bohemian community of artists, writers and musicians; European-styled Lygon Street gives a taste of Italy with its many pizzerias and trattorias. Small, hidden hamlets boast cafes of all sorts throughout the suburbs, a delight for anyone in a search of culinary cravings.

Sam liked Melbourne. It reminded him of London, which he still missed. He was in the habit of arranging meeting points at the last minute and this time he chose a little corner cafe on Rathdowne Street in the leafy inner suburb of Carlton. Fallen leaves from the large plane trees covered the street with a brown and yellow rustling carpet. Sam and his companion sat at a corner table which was secluded from window views. They ordered their coffees and waited for the waitress to leave them before beginning their conversation.

‘He has agreed,’ Sam said. No formalities or small talk were exchanged; it was purely a business relationship.

‘Good. Make sure he sees only what he needs to.’

‘Of course. I sent him limited information.’

‘Have you found Aazim?’ the other man asked. 

‘Not yet. I must find out what he plans to do before I make a decision. I sent someone to draw him out, a friend of his. Once he’s in the open my men will take care of him.’

‘I haven’t picked up his trace. He must be using cash because no payments have been made with a credit or savings card, but he can’t stay out there forever, not without help.’

‘Can you trace his mobile phone calls?’ Sam asked.

‘Probably has it switched off and uses it when he needs to or when he’s on the move. A leak to the media of a classified document was recently uncovered and traced back to us, and now everyone’s suspicious. So I can’t do much until the media’s distracted.’

‘We can’t let this continue. I don’t know what he’ll do with that information and we’ve got to get it back or destroy it before he shows anyone,’ Sam said, his anxiety showing.

‘That’s why we use McKane as a backup plan. He knows only what we want him to. I know Bill – if he gets a whiff of this he’ll run straight to his buddies at ASIO and I’ll find out about it. It might even work out better if he does.’

‘What if he gets suspicious? Are you sure he doesn’t pose a danger? You understand how much is at stake here.’

Sam’s contact responded angrily. ‘Yes, you don’t have to remind me. It’s your screw-up that placed you in this situation in the first place, do you understand that?’

‘We had no choice! Kareem had seen too much and we had to get rid of him. It’s unfortunate Aazim was in the office at the time.’

‘And now you have him on the loose. You should’ve taken care of him, along with his father.’

‘I couldn’t risk it, the time wasn’t right. Ilias has allies among the members and their attention would greatly complicate matters.’

‘Keep my enemy close, hey? In that case you should have secured your server, make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen. I told you to find someone reliable,’ the man said with contempt.

‘With Aazim in my hands Ilias kept his mouth shut. I had both under control. His friend kept an eye on him, but I admit I neglected to track his progress.’

‘What about the other two you hired?’

‘The first technician was a Brotherhood member sent to us from abroad. Unfortunately Western culture corrupted him and proved too much of a temptation for someone of such weak character. His perverted appetites led him to places forbidden to Muslims and his constant boasting endangered our work. Kareem was seconded by the partners to fill in and I needed a replacement while we trained someone loyal.’

‘It was a risk trying to fix that investigation; your own surveillance tapes caught your men shoving him in a van. My men had to confiscate the tape and make up bullshit that it couldn’t be used as evidence due to its poor quality. You’re lucky I was the only one who saw it. My involvement alone could cause suspicions.’

‘Aazim was to be Kareem’s replacement. He’s bright and his skills are valuable. With his father out of the way and under my control, Aazim and I could’ve expanded our operation,’ Sam explained.

‘Franchising the business, how much does this cause of yours cost?’

‘It’s not monetary gain I’m interested in, but I don’t expect you to understand that.’

‘I don’t care what you do as long as we stick to our arrangement. You do remember our arrangement, don’t you?’

‘Don’t lecture me,’ Sam snapped. ‘Let’s just get this over with. I have things to do.’

‘You might get questioned if their families file a missing persons report. We managed to cover the first one but these two can cause a lot of damage if some overzealous constable tries to prove himself. My men can’t do much if they’re not assigned to the case.’

‘I understand.’

The conversation was over and Sam left first. He disliked dealing with the insider and he didn’t trust him. He was an immoral man driven by an insatiable lust for money and Sam hated depending on him in these situations, but he had no choice: the inside knowledge he possessed was invaluable. The police had picked up on the disappearance of Sam’s first employee, but the insider had ensured that attention was kept off the company. Kareem’s disappearance had been a lot harder to cover up and had taken some effort. The man was well paid for it too, asking for ridiculous amounts of kickback, insisting it was to bribe investigators. But Sam knew he kept most of it.