Blood at Yellow Water (22 page)

Jake checked through some other documents on
Barry’s memory stick. Apart from the contracts there were also
details of payments to overseas bank accounts. He did an extensive
internet search on Mitsustrata, Northern Consulting and Baobab
Trustee and the overseas banks but came up empty-handed. The only
two people he knew with the skills to track something like this
down were Helen Kwang and her daughter Sarah. He picked up the
phone and dialled Helen’s mobile number. After a couple of rings,
Helen picked up.

“Hi Helen, it’s Jake. How’s it going?” Jake
enquired.

“Still frantic Jake. Koshi has just returned
to Tokyo and everyone’s heaved a huge sigh of relief. But there’s
still a lot of unanswered questions about the Chinese terrorists.
What have you been up to Jake?”

“Helen, I’ve mailed some confidential
documents to your Canberra address. Could you keep them safe for me
till I get to Canberra and can discuss them with you.”

Helen responded “Sure Jake. I’ll be back in
Canberra tomorrow. Give me a call when you’re in Canberra and we
can have a meal together. Have you found anything of interest?”

“I’m not sure, I’ve got some names of
companies and overseas banks which might be important but I can’t
track them down. Would you be able to help me?”

“I’ll do what I can Jake but I’m no expert
in chasing these things either.’

“What about Sarah, is she still in the
finance security business?”

“Yes, she is, I could ask her to help.
What’s this all about Jake?”

Jake knew that Sarah worked with one of the
financial security companies and was an expert in tracking
transactions to their source. She had also saved one of the banks
millions of dollars by running down some hackers who had
infiltrated their financial system.

“It may be nothing or it could be something
sensitive. Look if it amounts to anything, you’ll be the first to
know.” Jake was being deliberately vague.

“O.K., send me the details Jake and I’ll
talk to Sarah about it.”

Jake thanked her and texted her the names of
the companies and banks involved.

THURSDAY - CANBERRA

After seeing off Koshi at the airport in Darwin,
Anna Sentoro flew to Canberra, taking the opportunity of working in
the plane to catch up on a huge backlog of her normal day to day
work as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. She was met by her
driver at the airport and taken to her home in Canberra where she
spent the evening with her husband Don and her two young teenage
sons. She hadn’t seen them for a week and enjoyed spending a few
hours just being a normal wife and mother and catching up on their
activities. After she had cooked the boys their favourite dinner of
cannelloni followed by banana shakes, the four of them sat around
the table as she told them what had happened over the last week,
sparing them some of the gory details of the assassination of the
Prime Minister and others. She then explained to them that she had
to make a decision as to whether she would run for the leadership
of the Liberal Party to become Prime Minister.

They were supportive but she knew if she
were to be successful there would be a real strain on the family in
view of the huge demands on her time as a Prime Minister. As it
was, Don was unhappy with the amount of time she spent away from
the family in her role as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
and their relationship had been strained for some time. After
kissing the boys goodnight she and Don shared a bottle of red wine
on the couch watching the television. There she nodded off to sleep
until Don gently woke her and she shuffled her way to the bedroom.
She was asleep again the minute her head hit the pillow.

FRIDAY MORNING - CANBERRA

Anna woke refreshed in the morning, threw on her
robe and prepared breakfast for Don and the children and packed
their school lunches. She was again happy to do the normal things
as a wife and mother after the horrendous week she had been
through. She kissed the boys as they walked out the door to the
garage and got in Don’s car. Don always drove them to school on his
way to work. Her chauffeured-driven car was already waiting to take
her to her office in Parliament House. She quickly showered and
dressed, jumped in the car and was in her office by 9.00 am. She
acknowledged her staff as she entered her office where she
collapsed into her chair with a huge sigh. The last week had been
the most gruelling in her life and the next week wasn’t going to be
much easier with the ballot for the party leadership coming up and
a state funeral to arrange.

Her Personal Assistant, Jenny Larkham,
brought her a cup of coffee and presented her with her schedule for
the day, the daily news briefing and the red folder containing
urgent action papers. She switched on her computer and scanned her
emails.

She then called her staff to a meeting in
her office and briefed them on the activities of the last week
before asking each of them to fill her in on major issues she
needed to be aware of. On winding up the meeting she asked her
Chief of Staff, Allan Laidley, to stay behind. Allan was in his
early thirties, but looked older. He had a perpetual frown on his
face, was short, overweight and balding. Owing to his appearance,
people often underestimated him. He was highly intelligent and had
a very good feel for politics and policies that would work. He had
been working for Anna for six years and she depended on him for his
loyalty and honesty and respected his opinions especially in regard
to his judgement in reading the political climate.

“What’s the latest on the leadership
election Allan?” Anna asked, referring to the ballot by the Liberal
Party to replace Neville Murray as Prime Minister.

“It’s going to be held in the party room
next Monday at 10 a.m. Apart from yourself, It looks like the only
other candidate to stand for the leadership will be Malcolm
Crichton. There will also be a spill for the deputy leadership
position with two nominations.”

“What’s the feeling in the party room?”

“We’ve been canvassing around the members
and at the moment you are the clear frontrunner, especially after
your handling of the crisis following the P.M.’s assassination. But
Crichton is an old campaigner and is certainly pitching hard. He’s
making a lot of noise about your inexperience compared to his long
standing as a minister of various portfolios.”

“Heaven forbid if he ever got the Prime
Ministership. He’s forever feathering his own nest. There’s still a
lot of rumours about some dodgy mining and property deals he’s
involved in.”

“Nevertheless, there is a number of
undecided back-benchers and you need to get on the phone to shore
up your support. I’ve made a list of the more influential
members.”

“O.K. thanks for that Allan. Anything else
of importance today?”

Allan ran through the most urgent matters
requiring her attention and her appointments during the day. She
noted an appointment scheduled at midday with Anthony Wiley,
Malcolm Crichton’s Chief of Staff, and queried it with Allan.

“He requested an urgent meeting with you
Minister and wouldn’t say what it was about. He said it was
personal. Do you want me to cancel it?”

“No, but I wonder what that little weasel
wants. No doubt Crichton has something nasty he’s cooking up.”

Allan left her office and she started going
through the papers in the red folder. By midday she had signed off
the most urgent papers and handled two meetings in her office.

Jenny tapped on the door to announce that
Wiley had arrived. She told her to bring him in and she waved him
to a chair on the opposite side of her desk. Wiley was well named
and had a reputation as a skilled manipulator of people in the
world of politics. He was a small ferret-like man and Anna knew he
revelled in doing hatchet jobs for Crichton.

After making the usual pleasantries and
congratulating her on her handling of the terrorist crisis he
finally got to the point.

“Minister, would you mind telling me if you
are planning to run for the party leadership?”

“I haven’t made up my mind definitively yet,
but several party members have encouraged me to run. I’m sure you
already know that.”

“Well, something has come to my attention
which might cause some embarrassment to you and the party if it
came to light.”

Seething, Anna said “And what might that be
Anthony?”

Wiley pulled out an envelope and threw it on
Anna’s desk.

She picked the envelope up and shook out its
contents. There were three photos. She gasped when she saw them.
The first was of her and Jake Stafford dancing very closely
together at the celebration party at the Yellow Water Resort. The
second showed her and Jake kissing on the balcony in her suite at
the after-party. The third showed Jake coming out of her room and
was time dated at 3 a.m.

Her face turned bright red with fury. “You
little weasel, where did you get these from?”

“Let’s just say they were taken by someone
who knows you well.”

“This is monstrous! Nothing happened between
Jake and me. We were just having a bit if fun. I danced with lots
of people at the party as well as in my suite afterwards.”

“That may be so Minister, but the camera
doesn’t lie and it casts you in an embarrassing position,
especially if the media gets hold of these photos.”

Anna couldn’t believe what was
happening.

“Who else has seen these photos?”

“To date only the person who took the
photos, Mr Crichton and myself.”

“So what are you planning on doing with them
Wiley?” Anna sneered.

“That depends on you.”

“What do you want? Are you trying to
blackmail me?”

“Not at all Minister. In fact I’m quite
happy to give you these and the originals.”

“O.K. what do you want from me, what’s the
price I have to pay?”

“Well, if you were to withdraw your
candidacy for the party leadership ballot, I’m sure this problem
would be resolved.”

“You worm. You and Crichton are the biggest
bastards ever. This is blackmail. I’ll take this to the
police.”

“And we would simply deny we have ever seen
them.”

“You can’t threaten me with this. I’ll go to
the press and explain what happened and tell them about your sordid
blackmail attempt.”

“Again, I would just deny it. It wouldn’t
help you, your family or the party if such a scandal was exposed.
But it’s up to you, let me know your decision by tomorrow or these
just might find their way to the press. You can keep the photos as
mementos.” Wiley sniggered.

“Get the fuck out of my office, you vile
little man,” Anna screamed.

Wiley smirked and let himself out of her
office. Once she had recovered her composure, she asked Allan to
come in to her office. She tossed him the photos and explained what
had happened. He stared at the photos with a horrified expression
on his face.

“Christ, what are you going to do about
this?” Allan asked.

“I honestly don’t know. It’s all
circumstantial and I could call their bluff and see what happens.
But if this gets to the press it could be damaging to me personally
as well as the Government. It would also be upsetting to Don and
the boys. While I can explain to Don that nothing really happened
it would still place additional strain on our marriage.”

“Who do you think took the photos?”

“It could have been anybody who was at the
party and who was celebrating at my suite afterwards. Many people
were taking selfies with their phone cameras. But does it matter
now that the prints have been made?”

“Probably not, but if we could work out who
it was and somehow got hold of their phone we could delete the
evidence,” suggested Allan.

“It’s a long shot and even if we did find
out who it was, how do we get their phone off them?”

“Don’t know, but nevertheless I could draw
up a list of people who were at both places and see if we could
work it out. What about Jake - do you think he might have noticed
anyone?”

“I don’t know, he wasn’t drunk like most of
us so he just might remember someone.”

She thought for a second. “He needs to know
about this anyway, so I might give him a call and ask him.”

“Allan, would you keep this to yourself and
think how we might contain it from becoming a scandal. Come back to
me in an hour with any thoughts.”

Allan nodded and walked out if her
office.

She dialled Jake’s number. He picked up
after a couple of rings.

“Jake it’s Anna. How are you?”

“I’m fine thanks Minister.”

“Please call me Anna, Jake. How’s the leg
healing up?”

“Ah, good thanks, Anna. I’m pretty mobile
again.”

“I’m sorry to have to ring you Jake but I’ve
got a problem which affects you.”

She explained about the photos and Wiley’s
threat to go to the media.

Jake listened in amazement.

“This is crazy, nothing happened between
us.”

“I know Jake although I apologise if I was a
bit drunk and coming on to you. But the photos show us in a
compromising position and the press would have a field day if they
got hold of them. Can you remember anyone who might have taken
photos of us.”

Jake thought hard for a minute.

“I can remember a young woman walking past
as I let myself out of your suite. I can vaguely recall a flash as
she brushed past me. She could have taken a photo from her mobile
phone. I’d seen her at your party but I don’t know her.”

“Do you think you’d recognise her again if
you saw her and could you describe her?”

“Yeah, I think so. She was short, blonde and
wearing a green dress at the time.”

“O.K. I’ll ask around the office and see if
anyone can identify her. I’ll get Allan to send photos of anyone
who might meet that description.”