Patriot Act

by James Phelan

  “I’m guessing that won’t be a Kyoto measure,” Wallace said, a touch of sadness in his eyes.

  “You never know, Tas.” McCorkell slapped a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “You never know.”

  NEW YORK CITY

  The big charter boat cruised the slate-grey water of New York Harbor, rounding off the trip from Long Island and heading back to the 79th Street Boat Basin.

  Faye and Frank Matthews sat in the covered cabin, surrounded by friends and family. All dressed in black, most with tears in their eyes and pain on their faces.

  Fox walked up to the Matthews, whom he had not spoken to since Kate’s death. He’d been there, at Bellevue Hospital, along with them. She’d died from a subdural haematoma, the doctor had informed them, Faye collapsing into her husband’s arms, the old man dying inside before Fox’s eyes. Another parent seeing their child go before them.

  Faye looked up at him, her eyes red. Fox bent down to her, put a hand on hers, and squeezed. She squeezed back, and Frank watched and sat in silence. No one said a word, and Fox left the cabin and its silent tears and frustrations and went to the empty aft deck.

  The cold wind whipped up off the water at him but he didn’t care. He couldn’t get a jacket on as his arm was in a hard sling to set his collarbone and cover his gunshot wound, but he felt nothing of that pain. Nothing. All he had were visions, like a slow-motion slideshow, a series of stills of the events that had happened and what could have happened.

  He stood at the rail, gripped it hard with his right hand, watching the river water swell by. A hand pressed onto his good shoulder, strong, familiar. Without having to turn around he knew it was Gammaldi.

  They stood there in silence, buffeted by the salt-laden spray. Fox watched the water slipping by, and looked up at the Statue of Liberty growing bigger as they rounded Manhattan.

  Eventually, Gammaldi spoke.

  “Wanna head off for a while … go fishing back home … do some diving?”

  Fox gritted his teeth, his grip still tight on the rail, and closed his eyes.

  “Thanks, mate. If it’s all the same, I think I’ll get straight back into it.” He looked across and could see that Gammaldi sensed his sadness was being replaced by anger. Burning white fury.

  “You don’t have to come,” Fox said. “But as soon as I can move this arm, I’ll be going to Africa.”

  Fox felt Gammaldi watching him closely.

  “You think you’re okay to get straight back into it?” Gammaldi asked.

  Fox let the anger subside a notch, released his grip on the rail and tapped his knuckles on the stainless steel.

  “I think it’s exactly what I need to do.”

  On another boat on the Hudson River, Kate had watched her own funeral procession through binoculars. Her head was heavily bandaged; she was dressed in warm clothes with a blanket around her shoulders. She was protected but lonely.

  Hutchinson sat next to her, on the deck of an unmarked police boat.

  “What happened to my CIA case officer?” she asked, feeling she could do so now since she was about to enter the witness protection service.

  “Dead before we could arrest him. Heart attack, apparently,” Hutchinson said. “A shame, I would have loved to see that case go to court.”

  “So that’s it?” Kate asked.

  “We need one last interview with you, regarding the deal you struck with the CIA to work for them in the Advocacy Center,” Hutchinson said.

  “It was just to observe, they never asked me to do anything,” she replied, fighting back tears. “A ten-year stint, they said, then I could do what I wanted with my life.”

  “I know it’s hard,” Hutchinson told her. “This has sparked a big clean-out and reorganisation of a lot of things. After today, you no longer have to work for the US government. Your record is clear—hell, it’s a brand-new record. Name, social security number, the works.”

  Kate watched Fox’s face again through the binoculars. She could see her death was killing him. She knew her parents were among friends, among family. If she could see them now she knew she’d really lose it. But all she had in front of her was Lachlan Fox, standing on the deck, his friend Al by his side.

  “And if I contact my family? Let them know I’m alive?”

  “Until we are sure we have this cleaned up, you may be in danger,” Hutchinson said. “I’m sorry, it’s not my rules. But, like that deal you accepted at college, this has its limitations of what you can reveal. You’ve got a new life now.”

  “A new life with no one in it,” Kate said, looking at the tired face of Fox through the binoculars. She knew his life, like hers, was forever changed.

  International Herald Tribune

  EUROPEAN COUP STOPPED, 84 ARRESTED

  by Lachlan C. Fox

  In one of the biggest simultaneous arrests ever staged in Europe, 84 suspects were taken into custody across 14 countries. In a joint operation between several police agencies, armed members of Europol raided homes and offices across continental Europe.

  All of those arrested were attendees of this year’s LeCercle meeting, where plots were made to stage coup d’états across Europe to place right-wing governments in almost every country. The isolationist principles of these parties, as well as a desire to create an EU superpower, were the motives behind the conspiracy.

  LeCercle, also known as The Pinnay Cercle, is an extreme right-wing group of European military, business and government leaders. Its goal is to keep European identity strong and closed to outside interference and influence.

  The European Parliament recently saw the offshoot of this group formed from its ranks. The Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty group is seen as a positive step, as it brings to light meetings that were previously staged in secrecy.

  Sianne Cassel, the leader of France’s National Front Party and the chair of LeCercle, was found dead in her coastal house in the South of France. Authorities have yet to release details.

  Lachlan C. Fox is an investigative journalist with the Global Syndicate of Reporters.

  Glossary

  ABS Anti-lock braking system

  ASAP As soon as possible

  ASW Anti Submarine Warfare

  AW Arctic Warfare (Accuracy International Snipers Rifle)

  CAVNET 1st Cavalry Division site on SIPRNet to share TTP (Tactic, Technique, Procedures)

  CCTV Closed-circuit television

  CIA Central Intelligence Agency

  CNN Cable News Network

  COMINT Communications intelligence

  COFUSCO Commandement des Fusiliers Marins et Commandos

  CSI Crime scene investigator

  DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

  DC District of Columbia

  DCM Distinguished Cross Medal

  DEFCON Defense condition

  DGSE La Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, or General Directorate of External Security

  DNI Director National Intelligence

  DoD United States Department of Defense

  DUMBO Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass

  ETA Estimated time of arrival

  EU European Union

  FAMAS Fusil d’Assaut de la Manufacture d’Armes de St-Etienne

  FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation

  FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

  FORFUSCO Force Maritime des Fusiliers Marins et Commandos

  FSB Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, Federal Security Service of the
Russian Federation

  G8 Group of Eight

  GATS B2’s GPS-aided targeting system

  GBU39 Guided bomb unit

  GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters

  GDP Gross domestic product

  GPS Global positioning system

  GSR Global Syndicate of Reporters

  HPCS High productivity computing systems

  HQ Headquarters

  HUMINT Human intelligence

  ID Identification

  IED Improvised explosive device

  IMI Israel Weapon Industries

  ITS Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty group

  JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff

  KIA Killed in action

  LCD Liquid crystal display

  MA Master of arts

  MCB Marine Corps Base, Quantico

  MO Modus operandi

  MRE Meal ready to eat

  MSC CIA Moscow Station Chief

  NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

  NCIS Naval Criminal Investigative Service

  NCS National Clandestine Services

  NFL National Football League

  NFP National Front Party

  NGO Non-government organisation

  NIPRNet Non-classified internet protocol router network

  NOC Non-Official Cover

  NRO National Reconnaissance Office

  NSA National Security Agency

  NYC New York City

  PDB President’s Daily Brief

  PI Private investigator

  POTUS President of the United States

  PSP PlayStation portable

  QANTAS Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services

  RPG Rocket propelled grenade

  SAS Special Air Service

  SEAL United States Navy Sea, Air and Land

  SF Special Forces

  SIPRNet Secret internet protocol router network

  SOCOM Special operations command

  SSB Strategic Support Branch

  SSBN Nuclear-powered, ballistic nuclear missile-carrying submarine

  SSCI Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

  SUV Sport utility vehicle

  UK United Kingdom

  UKUSA Treaty between intelligence agencies of five English-speaking nations, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

  US United States

  USB Universal serial bus

  VP Vice-President

  WMD Weapons of mass destruction

  XO Executive officer

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Nicole Wallace for being the first to hear about my crazy ideas before the words even land on the page. Living with a writer is probably about as hard as living with an opera singer, minus the high F’s. Love ya babe.

  Malcolm Beasley was, again, my wingman and this book is the better for it. My mum’s critical eye and support was invaluable, as was the feedback and encouragement from: Emily McDonald, Tony Wallace, Martin and Cheryl Beasley, Tony Niemann, Seamus O’Keefe, Regan Baynes, Amy Hurrell, Steve Kynoch, Scott Hopkins, and Wendy Newton. Al Gammaldi, it’s been great taking you on another adventure, and thanks to Cheryl for letting him do his bit to save the free world (see, I brought him back in one piece!). Andrew Hutchinson, thanks mate for telling me lame jokes when I needed to hear them. All my family are continually there for me and I thank them for their support and respite from the isolated world of being a novelist. Staff and students from Swinburne University have been a good distraction too, and continue to surprise me with their creativity.

  To all involved at Hachette Livre Australia; bringing a novel to readers is a team effort and I’m among the All Stars being with you. Special thanks to Vanessa Radnidge, Judy Jamieson-Green, Louise Sherwin-Stark, Kate Taperell, Annabel Blay, Sara Foster, Pam Dunne, and all the sales reps out there on the front line. Pippa Masson, my beautifully talented agent, thanks for making sure that Lachlan Fox has a nice long future ahead. Unless he’s killed, which I can’t promise won’t happen some day …

  James Bamford, Nicky Hager, and Duncan Campbell have all written great material on UKUSA, the NSA, and Echelon, which proved a good launching point in researching for this book. I’m indebted to George Orwell for writing his masterpiece 1984. Every day we take another step closer to his ideas in that book, and it’s a frightening prospect.

  Q&A with James Phelan

  You hold a Master of Arts in Writing, are studying for your PhD, have published academic non-fiction … why write a ‘commercial thriller’?

  The freedom that the genre delivers to get across some interesting issues and themes in a thrilling framework. I love reading thrillers; I like that anticipation that I as a reader feel when the story is ripping along. The global political landscape is something that I am very interested in, hence setting my books predominantly in the US and locations that are often in the news. The themes that propel each story, such as WMD and the Star Wars Missile Shield in Fox Hunt, to the USA Patriot Act and the NSA’s eavesdropping programs in Patriot Act, are areas that I have a great time researching and then figuring out how to get that information across to my readers in an entertaining way.

  How do you create characters?

  In many different ways. Lachlan Fox came about because I wanted a protagonist who worked as a journalist but had a military background so he knows how to handle himself. Al Gammaldi works well as a dual protagonist because in many ways he’s the opposite of Fox, and I get to have a lot of fun with that. When it comes to naming characters, I quite often cheat by using the names of friends. Sometimes even their descriptions play a part but usually I let the reader make their own picture of each character rather than really spell out how each person looks.

  When and where do you write?

  When I used to work office hours and write on the side, I used to write at night and into the early hours of the morning. Since I’ve become published and do all my work from home, I find that the early morning to early afternoon is my most creative time. I use my afternoons and evenings to do all the other little writing things that come along, to go to the gym and to catch up with family and friends if I have any time left over. In what downtime I have left I read or watch DVDs. I live in a converted warehouse in Melbourne. I’m seconds away from heaps of great cafés, restaurants, bars and pubs which can be a bit of a distraction at times! Sometimes, if my study is boring me or I start to get cabin fever, I take my MacBook and walk to the State Library to work. There’s a great café there too!

  Where do you get your ideas from?

  I try to carry a notebook around at all times, in case inspiration strikes or an idea comes to me. It’s a great tool for a writer, as I can jot down overheard conversations or record something that I have seen. Every now and then I’ll flick through my notebooks and find something really useful that I’d completely forgotten about. The central ideas of my books generally come from world news and current affairs. The so-called Star Wa
rs Missile Shield appealed to me as a storyline when I heard that Australia was joining the US in the system. The ramifications of the USA Patriot Act are extraordinary, and some similar laws were passed here in Australia that, particularly for a writer, have worrying Big Brother-like hallmarks. Fox book three is about oil, and book four is on water, again both hot issues that I am wrapping up in a thrilling story.

  What research do you do for your novels?

  I love the research component that goes into writing thrillers, and each new book means another world that I get to inhabit for a while. I read heaps of non-fiction, which I generally buy (I am a bibliophile) but sometimes find at a library. I go over interviews with people who have been in the situations that I am depicting in the pages of my books, and I talk to them if I can. With the military pieces I am lucky enough to know some people who have served, and since publication I have some military fans and I’ve even visited some bases. I’m forever asking questions of people to fuel my stories.

  The internet is an amazing tool if you can find your way around. There are heaps of honest and often very sad blogs of soldiers and civilians that are directly affected by the circumstances that I write about, and they are things that keep me grounded. I try harder and harder in each book to get an accurate portrayal of the lives that I am writing about. Suspending the reader’s disbelief, keeping the facts within the realm of entertaining fiction, is the fun part.

  How much planning do you do for your novels?

  Heaps. When I’m working with three book parts and up to seven storylines in each novel, I make sure I know who’s who, where they’ll be going, what they are after etc. I need to know the motivation of all my characters, the stakes involved, the hurdles ahead of them, and above all, I need to know where my story is going. I need to be sure before I type anything that I’ve written down what the end of the story is going to be. Once I know that destination, I may deviate from the hundred or so pages of notes I’ve made but I will eventually get there. And there’s no feeling like writing that final scene and seeing everything come together.