by Brian Cain
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Monday 4th October 2010 9.00 am, after a short meeting with some of his staff Bevan Stanwell convened an early press conference in the press room at Parliament House, Canberra. This was to announce the passing of Ben Porter, believed to have taken his own life; and the appointment of Graham Chatswood Secretary for Defence to take on the Defence Ministry. The media directed a barrage of questions about the missing weapons in Afghanistan and the journalist Jodi Simpson who had not been seen and could not be contacted. Stanwell avoided stating any specific facts because he didn't have any, just saying that enquiries were ongoing and information would be supplied as soon as available. The western world's media was totally locked up with the goings on in Canberra; it was selling newspapers around the world and that's what they wanted. If a strategy of using the missing weapons to occupy western media and authorities was the goal it had begun to work.
Darren Mack, a journalist for an ABC current affairs program, stood at the back of the conference just listening. He had been doing some summing up of his own. The airport, Blue Mountains and Stamford Plaza accidents were of much more interest. He had attended the scenes of the incidents and the obvious clues he had observed he did not see in any reports. Blood on the roadway of the light aircraft terminal, tyre tracks on adjacent trails in the Blue Mountains and blood on the roof of the Stamford Plaza directly above the swimming pool. He became interested when reporting on the Sharp death in Kirribilli, the facts just not matching up, and was considering the incidents were related and linked to other facts such as the death of Porter and disappearance of Jodi Simpson. He kept this to himself then made a mistake. He attempted to source the owner of the property adjacent to the fire track in the Blue Mountains where he found matching tyre tracks and came up on Stanton's radar.
These things could send investigations in the wrong direction; Stanton knew the smoke screen must appear to be working for those who initiated it so they remained bold and operative. Upheavals in the media coverage were usually where they traced their success; if the media was chasing wild geese in Afghanistan panic would be averted. Stanton felt this was a civil matter and gave the task to Cadiche.
An hour later Darren Mack got a visit from David Stokes asking some very embarrassing questions on his past and Mack was forced to redirect his time and energy to protecting his own credibility. However this would not last forever. Stanton's network began to function.
Bevan Stanwell called a meeting of cabinet ministers and kept the attendees down to a minimum. Graham Chatswood for Defence, Minister for Police and Customs Jean Forbes and AFP operative Holmes who had been promoted to take the place of Kevin Sharp. Stanwell found the information supplied in the briefs overwhelming and in some cases contradictory. Chatswood and Forbes were thoroughly confused and could give no direction; the passing of Porter had caused an information lag.
Jean Forbes informed Stanwell they had been busy watching a container come into Wollongong Port from information they had received in the same batch that gave them the massive drug bust in Perth. It was revealed they had been tracing a container load of imitation rubber dog turds from China destined for novelty shops across Australia, not weapons and drugs as believed. The massive amount of information from the same source was serious and would have to be assessed; they could not assume it was all bogus. Serious automatic weapons had been found in possession of members of Sydney's underworld in recent raids by the AFP. The information supplied was from the same source. This was taking up resources and limited staff were available to check current happenings but progress was being made. It was discussed that Porter’s wife had become aware of some overseas ventures her husband was involved in and it was thought Porter had taken his own life over the incident.
Holmes had just listened and not contributed to the discussion. Stanwell broke the ice with Holmes asking him if he had seen Stanton of late. Chatswood intervened and reported that Stanton had been on holiday near Hawks Nest with his family being recently reunited. He also informed them Jodi Simpson had been seen in the area as recently as yesterday and that Stanton's communication with the outside world had been next to zero; this had been confirmed by the extra staff monitoring his communication and movements.
Stanwell wanted to hear what Holmes thought of the remarks as he knew he had dealt with Stanton directly of late. He backed Chatswood up further stating that if Stanton wished to contact them he would, otherwise he was best left alone. Stanwell stated clearly he wanted Stanton involved with the arms investigation and urged Holmes to contact him for a direct meeting. Jean Forbes freaked out at the mention of Stanton, stating his quick application of heavy-handed tactics was outdated and unnecessary in modern times. She explained she had witnessed Stanton kill six oriental gunmen in the heart of Sydney when she was returning from an overseas assignment accompanying a British diplomat. Stanton was the MI6 bodyguard accompanying the diplomat and she was horrified at his actions. Holmes reminded her that if not for Stanton she would probably be dead.
The meeting became unruly as Forbes abused Holmes. Stanwell demanded calm and still pushed Holmes to contact Stanton but he refused. Stanwell stressed to the meeting he felt something was drastically wrong and they needed all the help they could get. He further stressed to Forbes he was concerned about her attitude to matters of such grave importance on national security. There had been a major breach of the safety of hundreds of government officials and members of the armed forces. He was sure he did not have all the facts and time was running out. Holmes still insisted Stanton was better left alone and Chatswood agreed. They hatched a plan of redirecting all ASIO operatives to track down the perpetrators of the illegal arms sales, Chatswood and Holmes left the meeting to plan and deploy operatives to leads they had. Stanwell asked Forbes to stay.
Stanwell asked Forbes a simple question. "I am assigning you to attend a meeting with Taliban officials in Afghanistan to negotiate peace talks. They have previously been known to have taken foreign diplomats hostage and barter for things while they rape and torture them if they are women. Who would you like to have accompany you to make sure you are safe? The people you have now or John Stanton?" Forbes’ chest was heaving and her eyes sparkled.
"I refuse to answer such a hypothetical question when I would never have to do such a thing. It makes no sense," barked Forbes.
"John Stanton is sixty years old. He has done that all his life. I find it quite disturbing that you do not trust his judgement or support him after such sacrifice. The incident you spoke of I am aware of, did you ever find out who the people were and what they were doing in the middle of the streets of Sydney with an array of firearms?"
"No I found the incident quite disturbing and tried to forget it. I can still see this John Stanton walking around the bodies of the poor fellows like nothing had happened. He was ecstatic when he found ID in one of their pockets showing it to some of our agents, they were all smiling; it was deplorable."
"They were six of the most wanted Triad criminals in Asia and the South Pacific. Interpol and the Chinese government had been after them for years. Why they were there and who they were after we don't know, but they would have killed whoever they liked and that would include you. We were able to backtrack with Stanton's assistance and find how they got into the country and shut down a nasty criminal network gaining a hold in this country and threatening everyone's safety; it wasn't that hard as we got lots of help from the public and we live in a country of law-abiding citizens. It is your job as a servant of the people and an elected minister to use whatever means you have available to achieve results for the people. These are the facts, have a good think about them. I appreciate you have made leaps and bounds in getting the AFP, ASIO and Customs working as a tight team. They are a wonderful bunch of Australian people working together for a better Australia. We are currently trying to deal with a serious breach of international security concerning truck loads of missing small arms in a country that is crawling with death, destruction, corruption an
d they are the good parts. We are facing foes like Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other factions yet to make a name, not misguided westerners trying to better their bank accounts in a country with firm democracy like Australia. I suggest you work with the utmost diligence in finding the perpetrators of our missing weapons and if we need to go to Afghanistan to further our enquiries you'd better hope we can find lots of John Stanton's." Forbes rose from her seat and tucked the chair quietly under the table. She moved slowly and looked contented as if she had just experienced an orgasm.
"Thank you, I think I needed that. I don't think I could do your job; my strengths lie with passive unity. I hope you take that into consideration should someone need to go to Afghanistan; I'm not the person."
"You are too valuable here keeping your departments working together."
"Would you like me to find Stanton?"
"Absolutely not, I need his trust."
Forbes forced a smile, creasing her perfect lipstick line. "I’ll get on with my work; should we find where he is I’ll let you know. I'm terribly sorry, I should have more respect." Stanwell rose and opened the door for Forbes with a smile and they left.
Stanton was in the lair and Cadiche informed him the Sydney underworld had erupted due to the AFP raids, with rival gangs gunning each other down blaming each other for information leaks. He was concerned to find innocent people were getting caught up in the melee and felt the tactics had backfired somewhat.
He acquainted Cadiche with Wu Farr in China Town, making a call to Wu Farr via satellite bouncing from his Pimba property in north South Australia. Stanton and Wu Farr had a set code of statements to pass verbally back and forth to guarantee identity. Immediate arrangements were made for Cadiche to meet with Wu Farr midway between Sydney and Newcastle. Cadiche supplied delicate information and evidence on renegade underworld members beginning to operate outside their creed. Cadiche and Wu Farr talked for some time; they had something in common, Stanton. Within hours the street war perpetrators vanished and the streets fell silent. Stanton's network grew and began to function itself.
