Blood at Yellow Water (24 page)

“Jake, I can feel something’s going on here.
Is it to do with the new uranium mine?”

“I honestly don’t know Helen, but if I do
find anything you will be the first to know. Please thank Sarah for
me. I owe you both a dinner.”

“O.K. Jake let me know if I can do anything
else?”

“Sure thing Helen, talk soon.” Jake rang
off.

Jake pondered over the names he had been
given over the phone from Helen. Something bothered him but he
couldn’t quite figure it out. He grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper
and sat at the table. He wrote down the names of all the companies
and people involved in the establishment of the mine. He drew a
chart and moved the names around into different groupings. After
spending an hour poring over the names he threw his chair back in
frustration and decided to go for a walk. It was midday and already
hot and the few people that were around were keeping to the shade.
He walked into the General Store and bought some bottled water.
Bill had told him the local water was safe to drink but he wasn’t
prepared to take a risk. He walked over to the souvenir shop which
had the helicopter sitting on its iron roof, curious as to how
anyone could have hauled it up there without crashing through the
roof. As well as the usual tourist souvenirs of T-Shirts, toy
kangaroos, boomerangs and beer can holders, all made in China, the
store had a jewellery section and a collection of local gemstones,
including sapphire, ruby, opal and amethyst. He bought some
bracelets made from amethyst as gifts for his nieces. The
shopkeeper was at pains to explain that the bracelets were good
value for money as they were made from genuine amethyst and not
from glass like his competitor in the next shop.

Jake walked out of the shop with his small
package. He was planning on leaving Daly Waters the next day to
travel to Canberra and Sydney to make some official calls and would
finish up his Australian program in Melbourne before returning to
Tokyo. He would spend the next weekend in Melbourne catching up
with his sister and her husband and their two girls. He always
brought presents for the kids and knew they would be disappointed
if he didn’t have a ‘surprise’ for them.

Something about the gemstones was playing on
his mind. He took his mind back to the conference at Yellow Water.
He remembered that someone wore rubies. Then it hit him. Malcolm
Crichton always wore a ring with a large ruby set in it. His
cufflinks and tie-bar were also set in rubies. He used to own a
company that mined gemstones in the Northern Territory but the
quality was poor and production ceased. Was this the connection
with Ruby Resources or was he being fanciful? It was a tenuous
connection at best. He tried to think it through logically. What
would Crichton have to gain by setting up such a complex web of
companies? Did Crichton have an interest in the rare earths
production at Jabiru? As a government minister, he was supposed to
divest himself of any interests in companies where there could
potentially be a conflict of interest. He had lost the deputy
leadership of the Liberal Party because of a previous scandal over
his mining investments. There clearly would be a conflict if he had
an interest in the Jabiru mine but he could have set up the company
offshore to hide his interest.

MONDAY MORNING - CANBERRA

The Liberal Party members filtered into the party
room for the ballot for the leadership and took their seats. The
rumour was running that Anna Sentoro was not going to run for the
leadership and that Crichton would be the only candidate for the
leadership. The Party Whip, John McLelland, called the meeting
together and outlined the process involved in the election. He then
asked for nominations for the leadership. Malcolm Crichton stood up
and announced he was contending for the leadership. The Whip then
asked if there were any other candidates for the position. There
was a hushed silence and the members looked expectantly at Anna
Sentoro. When there was no response from her or anyone else,
McLelland declared Crichton as the new leader and Prime Minister
Elect. Crichton then made a lengthy speech as to the honour of
being selected leader and how well he would serve the people as
Prime Minster.

To everyone’s surprise, Sentoro stood up and
announced that she wished to step down from her position as Deputy
Leader of the Party citing family reasons for her decision. There
was a concerted gasp from the room at this announcement. The Whip
then asked for nominations for the Deputy Leadership. The
Treasurer, John Blackman, one of Anna’s supporters, rose hesitantly
from his chair and announced that he would apply for the position
of Deputy Leader. Then the Education Minister, Harold Falconer, a
close colleague of Crichton’s, stood up and indicated he would also
nominate for the Deputy Leadership. The Whip asked for any further
nominations and when there were none forthcoming, asked the two
candidates to state their case for appointment to the position.
After their presentations, the Whip arranged for ballot papers to
be distributed to the members. Once the ballot papers were
completed, they were collected by the clerk and tallied up and
presented to the Whip. McLelland looked at the result and declared
a majority of fourteen votes in favour of Blackman. A murmur arose
from the members. Blackman then made a short thank-you speech and
the meeting concluded.

Anna hurried out of the party room, ignoring
the members wishing to talk to her and rushed back to her office.
She brought her staff together and told them briefly what had
transpired in the party room. She gave her reason for stepping down
from the deputy leadership as being able to spend more time with
her family but her staff knew it was because she could not work
with Crichton as Prime Minister. Crichton had however promised her
that she would retain her role as Minister for Foreign Affairs and
Trade if she agreed to not stand for the leadership. Feeling
herself become emotional she thanked her staff for their continuing
support and concluded the meeting. She walked into her office, shut
the door, shrugged her handbag off onto her desk, kicked off her
shoes and collapsed into her chair and sobbed uncontrollably. After
five minutes, she composed herself, wiped her eyes, opened the
small bar fridge and made herself a stiff gin and tonic. She
thought of a quote from Robert Browning, her favourite poet, “My
sun sets to rise again”.

MONDAY - BEIJING

A different type of political crisis was playing out
in Beijing. Strong representations had been made by both the
Australian and Japanese Governments over the terrorist attacks
involving the assassination of the Australian Prime Minister and
the attempted murder of the Japanese Prime Minister. Both
governments were threatening to withdraw their ambassadors to
China. The American and British governments had also lodged formal
protests.

Zhang Wei, the Minister for Defence, had
been summoned to the office of the Committee Secretary of the
Politburo, Hi Tang. Wei knew that a summons to the Secretary’s
office was usually bad news.

Tang indicated the chair opposite his desk
and Wei sat down.

Tang shook his head. “It has been brought to
my attention that you instigated the attacks on the lives of the
Australian and Japanese Prime Ministers and the bombing of the
Jabiru mine. Is that true?”

Wei shook his head in denial. “That is a
vicious allegation made by my enemies to place a slur on my
reputation.”

“The information comes from General Chen who
has been interrogated over the last two days. Unfortunately the
General suffered a heart attack and died during his interrogation.
Before he died he gave a written confession that he had organised
the attack under your direct orders.”

Wei knew instantly he was in deep trouble
and tried to hide his mounting fear. “I did this for China. Those
Japanese dogs are preparing for war against us and the Politburo
indicated action was needed to protect our territories from their
encroachment.”

“Your intentions may have been honourable
Wei, but you had no authority from the Politburo to undertake such
a provocative action. Unfortunately you failed in your mission and
we now have the whole world condemning China for this attack.”

“We will be announcing that General Chen was
responsible for the terrorist attack and operated on his own
initiative. There can be no connection to the Politburo or the
Chinese Government. You will be placed under arrest and
incarcerated for the rest of your life for your treachery to the
Chinese people.”

Tang picked up his phone and barked an
order. Two security officers entered the room.

“You will be escorted back to your apartment
to pack your things. You will have no communication with anyone
from now on.”

The two men took hold of Wei by the arms and
manhandled him out the door. They drove him to his apartment and
waited in the living room while he packed a bag. He went into the
bedroom and took out a leather case from the wardrobe, then walked
into the bathroom and withdrew a pistol from the false bottom of
the case. He loaded the pistol put it against his head and pulled
the trigger. The security men rushed into the bathroom to see Wei
slumped on the floor in a pool of blood, his sightless eyes staring
up at them.

MONDAY AFTERNOON - DALY WATERS

Jake entered his cabin, limping slightly after a
walk around the town. He was looking forward to seeing Bill who was
due to return that evening after his visit to Jabiru for Barry’s
funeral. He showered and dressed and sat outside his cabin till he
saw Bill’s truck pull up outside his office. He wandered over as
Bill climbed out of the truck and wrapped his arm around his
shoulder as they went into the office. Jake could see Bill was
drained from the events over the last few days. Bill pulled out two
beers from the fridge, tossed one to Jake and they sat outside
watching the orange sun go down. Bill took a long pull from the can
and started talking about the funeral and the many visitors Elsie
had calling on her to pay their respects. Lizzie had stayed behind
in Jabiru to help Elsie clean up Barry’s affairs.

Bill had talked to Sergeant Barker at the
Jabiru Police Station and to date the NT Police had found no clue
as to the identity of the driver of the hit-run vehicle that had
killed Barry Buckstone. The good news was that the NT Police had
found Blakey in Alice Springs and he was being interrogated.

Jake told Bill about what he had found out
about the information contained in the memory stick he had found
under Barry’s house. Bill listened attentively.

“Jake, everyone in Jabiru is upset over
Barry’s death. The town is at flashpoint. Unless Barry’s killer is
found soon there is going to be another riot. If we can find out
who is behind this we just might be able to prevent some more
bloodshed.”

“Yeah, I understand. But I don’t think we
have enough information to convince the police yet.”

“I know some of the local police are corrupt
so it would be risky to go to them.”

“I could talk to the AFP Commissioner when I
go to Canberra tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll be receptive,” suggested
Jake.

Bill nodded his head in agreement and stood
up. “Let’s go and get something to eat Jake. I’m tired and need an
early night.”

Jake followed Bill to the pub and they found
a table. Shoni appeared from the kitchen wearing an apron, gave
them one of her bright smiles and came over to kiss them both.
After a brief chat, she continued clearing tables. Bill and Jake
bought some beers and lined up for the BBQ smorgasbord. They both
somehow got through the mountain of meat and fish served up to them
and settled back to watch the entertainment provided by a bush
band.

After a time, Bill got up and said he was
off to bed while Jake sipped his beer waiting for Shoni to finish
her shift. Eventually she came out of the kitchen removing her
apron and took Jake by the hand to walk to his cabin. They talked
for a while, showered together and went to bed. They made love
passionately promising to meet again but not knowing when they
would next see each other.

TUESDAY MORNING - DALY WATERS

After saying good bye to a tearful Shoni, Jake
packed the car and walked over to Bill’s office. He retrieved the
documents from the safe and stashed them in his briefcase. After a
few awkward moments, Bill hugged Jake and told him how much he had
enjoyed spending time with him after such a long absence. Jake
returned the hug and promised to call him after he arrived in
Canberra. He climbed into the Toyota and set off for Darwin. This
time the drive seemed never-ending but eventually he arrived at the
airport terminal, returned the rental vehicle and checked in for
his flight to Canberra via Sydney.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON - CANBERRA

Arriving at Canberra airport, Jake took a taxi to
the inner suburb of Kingston and let himself into a small apartment
which had been reserved for him by the Austrade office. From there
he could walk to the main shopping area and restaurants and was
close enough to walk to the Austrade and DFAT’s offices and the
Parliamentary Circle. He unpacked his small suitcase and decided to
take a walk before dinner. He left the apartment and followed a
path which took him to Lake Burleigh Griffin, taking in the new
development of apartment blocks and restaurants which had been
built on the foreshore of the lake. He strolled down the main
street of Kingston and decided to eat at Luigi’s, a well-known
Italian restaurant, one often frequented by politicians and public
servants. He ordered a plate of linguini carbonara and a glass of
red wine and sat at the back of the restaurant quietly enjoying his
meal. He felt relaxed after the drama and excitement of the last
ten days.