‘Are you going to turn them down?’
‘What do you think? Why are you asking me that?’
‘Because when you say no, you’ll have made yourself a target. If today’s gunman was prepared to put three bullets into either me or Freeman to get hold of that tape, then he won’t care if he does the same thing to you. From what Freeman told me, he’s the one who worked the Ice Cream Man over. What if he does that to you?’
‘Grace, I’m not having him coming after you.’
‘I don’t want to see you end up looking the way the Ice Cream Man does now. Don’t do this to me,’ she said.
He was about to say it was exactly what she had done to him earlier on today, then changed his mind.
‘I’m big enough and ugly enough to deal with him. I’m expecting him. Mike wasn’t.’
‘Do I get to listen to this?’ she asked, handing the tape back.
‘It’s more dangerous information.’
‘It’s a bit late to worry about that now.’
‘You need to be armed,’ he said. ‘I’d feel better if you were. I do have a gun you can have. I keep it down in my cellar. It’s illegal but it’ll protect you.’
He didn’t tell her that it was a significant gun in his life and nothing other than the present circumstances would have made him offer it to her.
‘No, leave it,’ she said. ‘I can fix up a gun through work.’
‘Won’t they ask questions as to why you want it?’
‘I can handle that.’
‘I didn’t mean to insult you today,’ he said. ‘I do respect your judgement. You’re brave and this information is very important. But you put yourself in danger when you didn’t have to. You do that deliberately sometimes.’
She looked at him with that glint in her eye again. Maybe she was thinking: and what have you just done? He would have replied that he’d had a better reason than she did.
‘Let’s not go back over the argument. Let’s just forget it,’ she said.
Harrigan put Goya’s Los Desastres de la Guerra back on the shelf. Until the morning, his time was his own.
‘Then we’re both off duty,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘For a little while anyway.’
At least making love was easy. For a space of time, neither of them had to think about anything else except each other, their mutual warmth, the ease with which they did this. It felt so uncomplicated; it always had between them. How can you walk out when it’s like this, he thought. Later, he was to consider that sitting with her own thoughts in a late-night laundromat had been a more powerful persuader than anything he had said to her or indeed any fear that she might be in danger herself. At that moment, there were no such thoughts in his head. They slept deeply and dreamlessly. There might have been no evil in the world.
14
Elena Calvo’s directions brought Harrigan to Campbelltown on the far southern edge of greater Sydney, a landscape of new and half-built suburbs merging into the countryside. He drove to the far end of an industrial estate surrounded by bare fields burnt in the drought. The isolated remnants of bushland were visible on the hillsides in the distance. On the way to the estate, the traffic was light; once there, the roads were mainly empty. No one was following him.
The road led him in a circle around the Life Patent Strategies building. It stood on a broad acreage surrounded by a high fence with powerful lights spaced at intervals along the perimeter. At night, the ground would be brightly lit. The building itself was startling. It appeared to be diamond-shaped with its four points extending into the grounds. The external walls were covered with a blue steel mesh constructed from large and interlocking triangular units. Two storeys of tinted windows reflected a skewed sunlight through the mesh. At the far end, smokestacks glittered in the clear air.
Harrigan drove up to a gatehouse at the sole point of entry. A security guard signalled for him to stop. Boom gates stood between him and another set of high steel gates giving entry to the grounds. His ID was checked, an e-tag attached to his car and the boom gate raised. The steel gates opened for him automatically as he approached; he drove in and they closed behind him.
A newly built access road took him across grounds that showed the signs of recent and extensive landscaping. Wide areas were beginning to green. The guard’s direction led him to the eastern apex of the building, where the access road met a driveway leading to a blank wall made up of a high, wide metal door. Sam Jonas was waiting for him on the corner, a tall figure in a cream pants suit. Her slim form was a white shadow against the building’s grey and blue bulk. She had her hands on her hips and was balanced lightly on pale court shoes. He’d been told to expect her. He stopped. She went to the passenger side of the car and opened the door.
‘Good morning,’ she said. ‘I’ve been sent to escort you in.’
‘I need an escort, do I?’
‘You do. Mind if I get in?’
‘Go ahead.’
She slid into the passenger seat. Her face had a light touching of make-up. Her black hair was plaited up at the back of her head, the way it had been the first time he’d met her.
‘We meet again,’ he said. ‘This time you’re all dressed up.’
‘Elena has very particular standards of dress for the office. Leathers are okay out on the road but not at LPS. Another thing you’ll find out about Elena.’ Sam looked at him sideways. ‘She’s very good at not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing. When you’re talking to her, it’s a good idea to keep to the information she wants from you. Otherwise, she’ll shut you down.’
‘Elena’s the boss, is she?’
‘Oh yes.’
‘Don’t worry, I don’t want to embarrass anyone. I’ll keep our chat confidential. Where to now?’
‘Before we move, are you armed?’
‘No. What about you?’
For an answer, she opened out her jacket to reveal a white silk shirt but no weapon.
‘A personal bodyguard with no side arm. Why not?’
‘Elena doesn’t allow firearms into the building.’
‘Not even for her bodyguards?’
‘Not for anyone. I don’t know if that includes her. If you’re not carrying, let’s go. You’re looking at the entrance to the building’s garage. Drive straight ahead. The door will recognise your e-tag and open for you.’
He started his engine and moved slowly forward. The metal door slid open and then, when he had driven down a short slope into an underground car park, closed silently behind them. The car park was lit by overhead lights; its bays were full. Sam directed him towards a visitor spot at the far end, near a set of bronze-coloured glass doors.
‘Fort Knox,’ he said.
‘This is just the beginning. I assume you’re carrying a mobile phone or a beeper?’
‘Both, as it happens.’
‘I’m sorry but you’re going to have to hand them in at the desk. We don’t allow any means of private communication into the building. Not even Senator Edwards got to take his mobile phone inside. Don’t worry, the storage is secure. The way it’s set up, you’re the only one with the key.’
Harrigan could have argued. Of all people, he had to stay contactable.
‘Anything to oblige.’
‘That’s a good way to start where Elena’s concerned. Being obliging.’
‘How long have you worked for her?’
‘About a year. She pays well. Everyone here’s very well paid. It makes them loyal.’
‘Does money make you loyal?’ he asked.
‘It depends on what you think loyalty is. For a lot of people, loyalty is money.’
‘I asked about you.’
‘Money’s not an issue for me. Yes, I am loyal if you want to put it that way, but my loyalty is something you have to earn. If you’re worth it, then I give it. Otherwise, forget it. Come on. Let’s go inside.’