Vigilante

by Brian Cain

CHAPTER NINE

  Stanton made his way home, plotting tactics in his mind. He double checked the arrival times of his sons and Cadiche for Saturday morning, rested for some of the night and set up his Newcastle home for ASIO and the AFP to gather information. He left a trail of computer-based files that would send them in the complete opposite direction to the truth. He also left direct information and firearms used by the Sydney underworld that would occupy their time for weeks, as they would try to cover up the state government links in real estate shams and laundering drug money. He knew some of the AFP who shared his ways would jump at the opportunity to bust the syndicates exposed by the information and tie up resources for weeks. His elaborate alarm systems would inform him of when the information had been accessed.

  His two closest friends in ASIO had recently disappeared and he had been unable to find any trace of them after their families turned to Stanton for answers. He blamed himself a bit for not acting sooner on some things but finding the king pins was going to be no easy task. He thanked the fact that his sons and Cadiche were beyond reproach when it came to operating allegiance.

  He received a coded message from England with the details of the American chasing Jodi in Singapore. His took heart from the fact the person actually came in from China and had triad connections. Stanton had a rock solid Chinese connection in Chinatown Sydney. Wu Farr was a senior member of the Chinese underworld and owed Stanton his life by default. An attempt was made on Wu Farr's life while Stanton was escorting a British Member of Parliament through Sydney some years ago. Gunmen jumped from a car at a major intersection in Sydney's Kings Cross area and Stanton's motorcade just happened to be at the same intersection. Mistaking the oriental gunmen for an attempt on the British diplomat's life Stanton shot all six of them in broad daylight. They were right next to Wu Farr's vehicle and he got a good look at Stanton.

  Two years later Wu Farr recognised Stanton in Beijing and introduced himself. Stanton accepted a dinner invitation and heard the story from Wu Farr himself. Stanton was up front with Wu Farr and informed him of the mix up. Wu Farr's accomplices wanted Stanton dead on the spot hearing he was a government agent and had infiltrated their operations. A fight erupted and Stanton shot Wu Farr's entourage at the table, but stopped when the sites hit Wu Farr. Stanton simply said nothing, got up and went back to Australia. A few days later Wu Farr turned up on Stanton's doorstep and they had a long talk. Wu Farr had done some research into Stanton and told Stanton he was the only man he could trust. They had been operatively involved ever since nearly halting the import of illicit drugs from Singapore with the exchange of information. Stanton gave the information on the American killed by Barkley in Singapore to Wu Farr and asked for help in finding out where he came from.

  Robert and Anthony drove into Stanton's garage at ten fifteen, exactly the time arranged and the automatic door closed behind them. Stanton greeted them with a hug then put them under attack about their vehicle.

  "A Porsche, is that an effective vehicle to get around in?" asked Stanton. Anthony replied.

  "It is if you're a lawyer and that's what you want people to think you are, if I drove a Mustang or a Hummer they may think I'm John Stanton and I would lose my stealth." Stanton dropped his head.

  "Wow, now that's good thinking. I just carried on like Holmes, bit of a worry."

  "Holmes, who's Holmes?" asked Robert.

  "Don't worry about it, it's not important," replied Stanton. They went inside and Stanton filled them in on a few things. At exactly eleven am, the garage doors opened automatically and Cadiche drove into the garage and the door closed behind him. Cadiche climbed from his Ford 1970 Falcon GT and walked inside. He shook hands with Robert and Anthony and they talked for a while on normal things until Stanton interrupted.

  "Boys, your sister is now in England with your mum. They’re after all of us."

  "Not if we get them first," said Cadiche. Anthony and Robert nodded. Stanton looked into space for a few seconds before he answered.

  "Like me when you became who you are you did it for a reason, because you thought what you were doing was right…" The boys all nodded in support. "And like me you have found things in the system that support people who manipulate the fine print and in a lot of cases change the fine print to please themselves."

  "We are actually responsible for changing some of the fine print in the favour of those who you refer to, I find that even worse," remarked Robert. Stanton continued.

  "What we are about to partake in has been for the most brought on by things beyond our control and we are not likely to be able to change them. However we can avoid some of the consequences. You understand the word vigilante. Let me quote from the Oxford English Dictionary. A vigilante is someone who illegally punishes someone for actual or perceived offenses, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to such a person. Often the victims are criminals in the legal sense; however a vigilante may follow a different definition of criminal than the local law. We are about to become such a group and I have been one for some time now and it’s time I faced up to it. I can no longer operate alone. I need some assistance."

  “Robert and I have never killed anyone Dad; we have no experience only the will should it become necessary," said Anthony.

  "I've cleaned up your messes for a few years now, so have some of my friends. I know what to expect but I'm in the same boat," added Cadiche.

  "Leave it to me, there’s more than one way to save or skin a cat, if the time comes when you must act you’ll find out if you can do it. I've never felt happy or comfortable with it; it's not something that’s a natural way for a person. I have however sanctioned people who killed just for the sake of killing and I can't say I understand them. However they are easier to deal with inside," said Stanton. "We will become feared and powerful and responsibility comes with this. When we run out of suitable targets we don't want to be sanctioning people for pissing on the footpath. I have a computer that will hopefully give us a good start but we’ll look at this on Monday. We’re going to north Queensland this afternoon for Cadiche, then to an island off the coast of Hawks Nest not far from here to where we will move our families, a fortress built in a time gone by. Monday we will return here and plan the next move. I expect someone from the UK will be coming in to help. Deciphering Arabic is unfortunately not one of my talents."

  "Arabic!" said Cadiche.

  "You'll find out in good time," added Stanton. "We’re off to Rutherford Airport. I have a chopper waiting there; the pilot thinks he's on a weekend sightseeing trip for Cadiche, so keep him in the dark." Stanton left the garage with all in his Hummer. They emptied the cars of all relevant information and Stanton planted false documents in them complete with false phones with phony records to match, to be copied when the house was searched by ASIO and the AFP.

  Stanton had demonstrated access to the house for the surveillance crew holed up in a house on the other side of the street purposely. He had been aware they were there as he owned the dwelling and rented it to them on purpose some months before. It was usually empty but someone had been there for the last two days. He expected them to gain access to his house as soon as he left leaving plenty of clues that he would not be back till Monday. As the chopper flew north from Newcastle Stanton was online with a mobile laptop and the alarm for his automatic garage door turned red on the screen. "Good they have plenty of time; I hope they don't cock it up. By ten in the morning most of the AFP will be in Perth waiting for a container load of drugs coming in from France. That bit’s true so should have them revved up for the rest of the bullshit they find by Monday."

  The chopper fueled in Brisbane and then Cairns and at five pm they touched down at Cape Grenville. Stanton asked his sons to stay with the chopper pilot and got Cadiche to follow him to coordinates that were in a pocket GPS he carried. They walked about two kilometres from the clearing they had landed in and the bush opened up to a level area adjacent to the beach. The stone chimney of a dwelling s
tood by itself in the clearing and there was a bronze plaque on the side of the chimney. Cadiche read the inscription. This chimney stack marks the spot to the Cape Grenville aboriginal mission manned by the Very Reverend Victor Morse. Church of England. Opened in 1922 and closed in 1967 after Reverend Morse passed away.

  "Reverend Morse, he must have known my mum," said Cadiche.

  "He certainly did; he's your father." Cadiche began to cry.

  "My father was a man of God, but he helped do this to us?"

  "Your father was a good man Cadiche, I have records from England. He despised what was going on. He loved your mother, they were married right here and both their ashes were scattered here, right where you stand. He started making waves within the church here and in England. They sent him up here out of the way. He did whatever he could here."

  "My birth certificates says father unknown."

  "They wouldn’t allow him to have the record put in. The church stopped him. He was there when you were born and your brother. He was a good man; I’ve put together a book for you, even have pictures of him. He was much older than your mother, over twenty years but it didn't stop them. He taught your mum to read and write. They wrote letters when he was away, they’re beautiful. He loved your mother for who she was. You’re a product of the deepest love."

  "I can feel them here. It's a bit freaky but they feel happy. I'm of two worlds and proud of both."

  "Your brother knows nothing of this. We have to find him; he would be a sad and angry man." Cadiche looked around sternly at Stanton.

  "I did some prying of my own, my brother is a crim. He spent years in jail."

  "Yep, he was framed Cadiche. I have the evidence that will prove that. Do you know where he is?"

  "Round Bourke somewhere in the scrub. He came up on radar last week for street offences."

  "We have to find him Cadiche, or you do."

  "How we going to patch that up? I'm a cop. Not exactly a perfect match for bliss - a crim and a cop from the same family."

  "He was in the right place at the right time for someone to use him as a scapegoat; he's been on the street nearly all his life."

  "Who did that to him?"

  "Mm… blood is thicker than water. You’ll have to find out and decide what to do about it."

  "Would you fix it for me?"

  "Would I ask you to avenge my brother?" Cadiche tightened, his eyes looking at Stanton.

  "No way, you're right. I’ll fix it." Cadiche walked round for a while taking in the area where his mother and father had lived. He paid his last respects and they made their way back to the chopper. They lifted off and Cadiche watched the small clearing disappear in the fading distance. The flight seemed a bit pointless to Robert and Anthony but as the flight went on and they talked, they learned about how much in common they all had and it began to make sense. Stanton kept the pilot busy talking on the intercom, banking on this being what would happen. They fuelled in darkness at Cairns and then Brisbane staying over night near the heliport. Anthony, Robert and Cadiche became close as Cadiche learned they had information on the framing of his brother, talking into the night. Robert and Anthony had seen his brother's case when they had just started practice and doing legal aid work. They had records that would reveal the investigating officers. They remembered it seemed to be an open and shut case and was not contested because of the strong evidence against his brother. This breakthrough was unexpected and Stanton didn’t know where it would lead.

  When leaving Brisbane on Sunday morning Stanton gave the pilot landing coordinates on a beach at Hawks Nest near Newcastle and asked he put the chopper down on the beach. The pilot entered the coordinates, 32 degrees 41 minutes south and 152 degrees eleven minutes east. The pilot was concerned as he had no permission to land in the area and it was a beach. Stanton told him not to panic and that the area of beach would be deserted. They circled the area at 11:05 am landing near the water’s edge. Stanton had the pilot shut down and wait at the chopper. He walked south along the beach about two hundred metres from the chopper. He pointed out to sea at a small island.

  "John Gould Nature Reserve boys. I bought a business that operates on the island, an adventure tour thing and eventually bought the island as well from the government for a song two years ago. It was controlled by the Parks and Wildlife but they didn’t do much with the place. However I found out it was of great interest to the British government in the late 1800s and was used as a magazine for British man of war ships patrolling the area for the Crown. Convicts were used to excavate underground caverns well hidden for over a hundred years. It’s 1.4 kilometre's from land, one thousand metres long and four hundred and fifty metres wide.

  It’s a nature reserve and I have limited building rights on the surface of the island, but beneath the surface is a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms impossible to find unless you know where to look and impregnable. The island is solid igneous rock and many a convict died whilst excavating it, any that didn't were executed when it was complete. It became forgotten and I stumbled on the archive when looking for such a place in the naval history museum library in London. There was only a ship’s log on its location, construction and use for a few months. When I checked it out and secured the sale I returned to London and removed the reference to the place. As far as I know it was the only reference listed anywhere. It was naval so they were the only ones who knew of it. When everyone died who had recollection of it no one knew. Now we are the only ones who know. I have transformed it into an impregnable fortress bristling with surveillance and security. Its weapon arsenal could fight a small war which is what I'm expecting. It's a monument to the poor buggers who quarried it. We also have three access points on the coast here, one north, one central and one south. They are all waterfront settings with wharf shed access. It’s very spacious and our families will be quite comfortable there."

  "We’ll die there Dad," said Robert. Stanton looked at Robert.

  "Possible, or be left alone, about fifty percent chance of either I reckon. You know I can get into about anywhere, but I could not get into that place. I don't know who designed it but he was a smart man. Now let's go and get everyone here safely. ASIO and the AFP should be finished at home and all gathering in Perth."

  "Not a good way to be pulled together Dad," remarked Anthony.

  "Oh I don't think so, if your mother hadn't been such a nosey bitch then we would still be just people in the crowd. I set this up for me, I knew they'd come for me one day. Your mother would have stitched me up in the media had she had the chance over all this." Stanton shook his head as he looked at the island. "How fast things can change, now she's the one who needs this more than me. Your mother would have been an easy target. Sometimes bad things happen for the better."