The Tattooed Man

by Alex Palmer

  ‘If that’s the brief you’re going to present to me, it will need to be based on something stronger than circumstantial evidence. Now, regarding this turn of events. Realistically, we have no choice, Paul. The Minister for Police made it very clear to me last night that we are to cooperate. I advised him we’ll do what’s asked of us.’

  ‘Commissioner, if I could say this. You didn’t advise me that this watching brief was in place. We might have been able to assist you with it.’

  ‘I advised no one,’ the commissioner said. ‘At that stage, I didn’t know who I could trust and that’s a fact. Given the events of this last week, I think that judgement has been well and truly borne out. But the situation has changed. There’s another matter I wanted to discuss with you. Are you happy in your present job?’

  ‘It’s challenging. I find it satisfying,’ Harrigan replied, taken by surprise.

  ‘Now that the special assistant commissioner is no longer with us, I intend to reorganise the executive ranks. I will be advertising several senior positions quite soon. My advice to you is that you apply for one. I can’t promise you a position, of course, but I can promise you your application will receive very careful consideration.’

  ‘Thank you, Commissioner. I’ll think very carefully about it.’

  ‘Good. Now, this morning’s liaison meeting between ASIO and your squad’s senior people—I want you to chair it. I’ve scheduled it to start at seven thirty. In the meantime, would you like to get some breakfast? Chloe’s arranged a buffet in the executive meeting room.’

  ‘Commissioner,’ Harrigan said, ‘the video that was on the net this morning. What action are we taking about it?’

  The commissioner pushed his papers to the side irritably.

  ‘It’s not in our jurisdiction. Leave it to the International Criminal Court. Realistically, we have no power to act. You must know that.’

  The executive meeting room had a view. If Harrigan’s application was successful, he would get an office like the one Marvin used to have, with a similar outlook. Better than the villagers he’d seen on the net this morning, whose only view was the dirt on the sides of their makeshift graves. He ate from Chloe’s generous buffet with a bitter taste in his mouth. If he applied for a senior executive position, where would that leave him with Grace? Nowhere, most likely. It would demand even more of his time. Life had snookered him by giving him what he most wanted while making it taste sour at the same time. His phone rang. He was relieved to have his thoughts broken.

  ‘Commander. It’s Elena Calvo. If you have the time, can you see me at my office in Australia Square right away? I’ve decided I do need your help. There are some matters I would like to discuss with you privately.’

  Harrigan decided the job could spare him between now and seven thirty.

  ‘I don’t have much time, but I can be there.’

  ‘My bodyguard will meet you at the entrance to the car park.’

  ‘I’ll see you shortly.’

  She was more frightened than he had realised. He went to his office where he put on his wire and checked his firearm. He didn’t ring Grace; he would do that later. Everything would happen later.

  28

  Grace’s mobile rang while she was finishing dressing. She wondered if it could be Harrigan. When she answered, it was Daniel Brinsmead.

  ‘Will you come and talk to me?’ he asked. ‘I’m sitting in a visitor’s parking spot outside your building in a white Toyota sedan. Will you come down?’

  If her mind hadn’t been so troubled by what she’d just seen on the net, she would have said no.

  ‘Okay.’

  She had no gun; Harrigan had taken care of that. Armed with only her mobile phone, she went downstairs. A white Toyota sedan was parked in the spot closest to the ramp. The driver’s door was open; Brinsmead was sitting in the passenger seat. Through the open door, she saw his burns, the shock of his scarring.

  ‘Will you get in?’ he said.

  ‘Are you armed?’

  ‘Me? No. What for? Look.’ He spread his arms as far as he could in the car, then opened the glove box. ‘Check wherever you want. I don’t have a gun.’

  They sat beside each other in the car. Grace had already turned off her mobile. She wanted no interruptions, no questions from Harrigan about what she was doing.

  ‘What do you want?’ she asked.

  ‘I want to talk to you. Have you turned on your computer this morning?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes. I saw what you posted there. You did post that video, didn’t you? That’s how you got your scars. Those were the people who died when you didn’t. You know their names, and you repeat them every morning when you wake up and tell them you haven’t forgotten them.’

  ‘We introduced ourselves inside the school. I couldn’t speak the local language, but one of the villagers spoke a little English, the man who rode in the front with me. Before they all died in the flames. The ones who didn’t run outside and were shot.’

  ‘Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?’

  ‘I wanted to ask you if you’d drive me to Campbelltown and back. I won’t make the distance out there driving myself. I only just made it here.’

  ‘Why don’t you call your hire car firm?’

  ‘LPS pays for my hire car and driver,’ he said. ‘It’s part of the arrangement that they always let Elena know when I’m on my way out there. I don’t want her knowing I’m going out there today. That’s why I have a different car. I hired this one myself.’

  ‘Why don’t you call a taxi? I’m sure the driver would be happy to take you there and back.’

  ‘I want to speak to you. I’m looking for a witness, someone who’ll report back once this whole set of affairs is finished with. You know half the story already. I want to tell you the other half. I want you to be my witness. You’re a reliable listener. You’ll be one other person who knows what actually happened, and then when this is over you can tell other people.’

  ‘I want you to answer a question first. Did you kill those people at Pittwater?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Who did?’ Grace asked.

  ‘I’m guessing in some way or another that Elena was behind it and DP was her killer. Jerome was unreliable. He was an alcoholic; apparently, he was approaching the point where there was nothing left in his life but the drink. Sometime or another, he was going to do something that would bring the whole thing tumbling down, including LPS. I think Elena would have felt she had no choice but to act.’

  Why should I believe you? Grace asked herself. And then considered that whether he was lying or not, and whatever type of man he was, he had information. By his own admission, he wanted her to pass that information on to other people. Right now she needed to hear what he had to say. It was better than sitting useless, waiting for Harrigan to call. She could sift the truth from the lies later when she had enough facts to know which was which.

  ‘How did Elena know she was in danger?’ she asked.

  ‘Because she was having Jerome watched. She knew everything he was doing. She’s a smart woman. She was protecting her back.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because the individual watching him is a colleague of mine. I’m here, Grace, for the same reason that I called you and told you where you could find the commander’s son. I’m not what I seem. In fact, I’ve undertaken a job I’m not cut out for, least of all now that I’m damaged the way I am.’

  ‘What job is that?’

  ‘I was recruited by a secret security agency to act as a mole and get as close as I could to some of the scientific programs LPS is involved in. They picked me because I was ex-army. They had evidence indicating that the organisation backing Elena, Abaris, was involved in a wide-ranging experimental program developing biological weapons and they were using LPS facilities for research. Before he was shot, Jerome had been growing experimental crops at a property near the Riverina as part of that program. My colleague was able to get hold of so
me seed stock so I could test the wheat they’d developed. It gives no nourishment. You eat it and you starve. Can you imagine that? It’s almost beyond comprehension. But that’s what they were doing. There’s no better way to undermine a country than to target its food supply, particularly a Third World country. Abaris was also behind what you just saw on the video. They produced a very short-lived but virulent virus, not unlike bird flu, and tested it in Africa. That was done in a research facility I used to work in in north London.’

  ‘You were there when they tested it,’ Grace said.

  ‘I was, and I took on this second task because I thought that having seen them do that, I had to get the evidence that would allow us to shut them down. They’re not running a government-sponsored program. What they produce is for sale to the highest bidder. It could easily be a government, of course, but it could be anybody else as well. Either way, it’s a crime against humanity. But I shouldn’t have taken on this second task. I don’t have the physical stamina for it.’

  ‘Who’s your colleague?’

  ‘I can’t tell you that. In fact, if that person even knew I was here talking to you, they’d be very angry. I’ll tell you why I want to go to LPS. I’m not going to last much longer after today. I’ve reached the end of my endurance. But I do have comprehensive access to the LPS building. I’m the only one after Elena who does, including access to her office. I’m very certain that Elena has the contracts covering Jerome’s last venture. They’re in her office, just sitting innocently in a drawer. I want to get hold of them and send them back to our handlers. Those contracts will provide a proof of ownership of the biotechnology. I’ll be able to demonstrate once and for all who’s behind this program. Even if no one goes to gaol, at least it will bring the whole process to a stop.’

  ‘Why aren’t you asking your colleague to drive you?’

  ‘Once I’ve done this, I’ve blown my cover with Elena. There’s no CCTV in her office, but the building cameras will still show me going in and out. She has to put it together. My colleague doesn’t think we’re finished. You see, those contracts aren’t going anywhere until Elena safe-hands them to her father the next time she goes to London. That won’t be for another three weeks. My colleague wants to keep our options open until then.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘They believe Elena was behind the murders at Pittwater and they want to prove it. You saw the net. In their opinion, that photograph was sent out as a warning to anyone who wants to mess with Abaris. This will happen to you if you push too hard. My colleague has no intention of taking that lying down. They want whoever killed those people and that boy.’

  ‘Why not leave it to the police?’

  ‘They have no faith in the police force, let me tell you that now. I’m different, I’d be happy to. But my colleague is more professional than me. They can make hard decisions I can’t. If I keep on with this undercover, I’m going to let them down so badly they could end up dead. I don’t want that to happen.’

  ‘Does anyone know the two of you are here?’ Grace asked.

  ‘No. It’s a breach of protocol, but the organisation we work for often works like that.’

  ‘Tell me its name.’

  ‘I can’t do that,’ Brinsmead said.

  ‘Then I’m not going to drive you,’ Grace replied.

  ‘What could the name possibly mean to you? You won’t have heard of it.’

  ‘Just tell me.’

  ‘Falcon.’

  Grace had heard of them and their methods. They operated as Brinsmead had described: undercover, dangerously, and usually past the edge of legality. Their modus operandi fitted with Sam’s traits: always on the edge and aggressive.

  Brinsmead was still talking. ‘What I’m doing is calling our operation to a halt. If I can get possession of those contracts, then I think we’ll have achieved a good outcome. But I’m not just bailing out. What I’m really doing is blowing the whole rotten business sky high. This is a nasty business, Grace, where innocent bystanders can end up dead. That’s why I posted that video on the net. It can go with everything else that’s already out there, including the material Edwards put out. People can make their own judgements. All I want to achieve is to get hold of those contracts and protect the identity of my colleague. Then that’ll be the end of it.’

  ‘Why should I believe anything you’ve said?’ she asked.

  ‘There’s no reason whatsoever, Grace. You can get out of the car and walk away now.’

  The video was powerful in Grace’s mind. She was thinking of the dead, of some kind of redress. A hope that the people who were responsible might be found out and stopped, even if they were never prosecuted.

  ‘I’ll drive you out there and then back to the city,’ she said, ‘but only if you answer some questions for me about who you are.’

  ‘Before you do, I have to ring Elena. If she’s going to be out there today, then I can’t do this.’

  ‘Why didn’t you make sure of that beforehand?’

  ‘What Elena does from day to day is up to her. There was no point in asking her if I wasn’t going to be able to get there.’

  He called and held the phone where Grace could hear what was being said. It was answered.

  ‘Elena. It’s Daniel. Yes, I know it’s early. Sorry. I can’t get out to Campbelltown today. I’m not well enough. Are you going to be there? If you are, could you check with my staff? Their latest test results should be through this morning.’

  ‘No, I won’t be out there today. I’m too busy here,’ she replied. ‘I won’t be able to help with that, I’m sorry. Goodbye.’

  ‘She was very formal,’ Grace said.

  ‘She always is with me now. She’s changed these last few years. She’s closed up like her father. Go via the M5. Once we get to Campbelltown, I’ll direct you.’

  At this time on a Saturday morning, most people were still in bed. The traffic was light. Brinsmead leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. ‘A bit of pain,’ he said. He wasn’t acting; it was all too obviously real. They drove in silence until they reached the motorway. The air conditioning in the car was set to high. Finally he opened his eyes.

  ‘What do you want to know?’ he asked.

  ‘You’re an agent for Falcon. You were with Beck and du Plessis on an undercover operation. They were your targets.’

  ‘That’s right. Falcon was interested in DP because they had evidence he was involved in a diamond-smuggling racket. That business was financing arms trading to various radical insurgent groups in Africa. DP led them to Beck. They wanted to know what that connection involved. I was drafted in because I had the scientific skills they needed. My brief was to get close enough to Jerome to find out what he was up to. What I told you before was true. I’d gamble with him. That’s how I got my invitation to Africa. I kept losing. I said I needed money, I didn’t care how I got it. He told me he knew a way I could make some very easy money and a lot of it. Then one night, just days before we were leaving, I had to take him out of a casino before he got thrown out. He was drunk as usual. I took him home, he was so angry. He started to rant. Didn’t they know who he was? He was Jean Calvo’s son. Calvo was the man and he was his son, somebody important, while everybody else at that casino was shit. He didn’t just work for some cheap nobody. He was working for Calvo right now. He knew things about Calvo no one else did. He went on and on. The interesting thing is, I reported all that back to Falcon. But when I was looking over Edwards’ dossier on the net this morning, I found that the particular report with that information in it was gone. It’d been pulled from the file, probably shredded. I wish I knew who did that and why.’

  ‘Don’t you trust your agency?’ Grace asked.

  ‘I trust Falcon. I don’t necessarily trust the politicians it answers to. Jean Calvo has a lot of clout in government circles. But I wasn’t the best agent Falcon could have had either. For one thing, I was involved with Elena. I shouldn’t have been, but at the time I really cared for h
er.’

  ‘Your minders should have known that,’ Grace said after a pause. ‘They should have pulled you out.’

  ‘I kept it from them. I’m not a professional—I’ve been told that before in no uncertain terms. I didn’t want to believe Elena could know what Jerome was doing. But she did. She knew it all.’

  ‘How did Beck react to seeing you out here?’

  ‘It was the other way around, Grace. They worked really hard at keeping him out of my way.’

  ‘How did you take that video?’

  ‘I always used to wear a gold locket. It was part of my look. Falcon converted it into a camera.’

  ‘How did you survive the fire?’ Grace asked.

  ‘I can thank the villager who spoke English. He pushed me into that storeroom, threw us both against that grille and covered me with his body. I could breathe through the grille but I still almost died of smoke inhalation. I think my heart just kept beating. No one bothered to check the dead. Once Jerome and his mercenaries were gone, some of the local people came and found me. The wall beside me had collapsed and I’d dragged myself away from the remains of the building. I don’t remember that at all. They took me to a local aid hospital, where the people took me to Kinshasa. I was conscious enough to give the doctor the emergency phone number Falcon gave to all its agents. The embassy flew me back to London; they chartered a flight to get me out.’ He laughed. ‘They didn’t realise the doctor had taken my locket off me. The chain melted in the fire but I was holding it in my right hand. I’d fallen on that side and it didn’t burn like my left. The doctor had to prise my hand open. She kept the locket for me; she was worried it would get stolen. Then a year later, she tracked me down in London. She’d finished her tour of duty and she wanted to give me back my locket and see how I was. By that time, Falcon had closed down the operation and pensioned me off.’

  ‘Didn’t you show them that video once you got it back?’

  ‘I did. It was on that basis they reopened the operation. We viewed the video together and then they asked me if I was prepared to put myself on the line again. I said I was. I overestimated myself. Something I haven’t told you. I’d been rumbled by Jerome before I left for Africa. I didn’t realise that until I was there. I overheard DP and Jerome talking one night. It was what the old man and his daughter wanted, they said. Elena had thought I was using her. I wasn’t. Then I had to realise she knew as much about what was going on as her father did. Everything seemed to implode at once. To be completely honest, it’s another reason I ran when I did.’