When she had been a singer out on the road with her ramshackle band, she had liked driving those long empty roads in the outback. The name of the town they were going to had never mattered much. She had been driven by a different compulsion. For her, the destination was always a vanishing point in the distance. That was why she was driving towards it, to find out what it was. A hunger to see what was next. She had lived all her adult life with that need; it was a way of cleaning away all that emotional dross from the past that was otherwise stuck to her. That compulsion was in her mind now, driving her to what was next.
One day your judgement has to be wrong. Harrigan’s voice came back to her.
The images of the dead were more powerful than his words. She was on the trajectory; she would see this through.
29
Harrigan drove the distance from the police building to Australia Square in clear sunlight. It was a quick journey in light traffic. Yesterday’s bodyguard was again waiting for him at the ramp leading down into the car park. He delivered Harrigan to the thirty-third floor, where Damien showed him into Elena Calvo’s office.
‘Please sit down,’ she said. ‘Coffee?’
‘Thanks. We’ll have to make this very quick.’
‘We will. Damien, could you get the commander coffee, please? And some for me as well. I think we’re ready to talk business.’
‘I’m ready when you are, Dr Calvo,’ Harrigan said as the bodyguard moved to the door. An instant later, the door was kicked open and Sam Jonas walked in, her gun in her hand outstretched to be fired. She shot Damien in the chest, her actions making up a single movement so fast that to Harrigan’s eyes, paradoxically, it seemed to be in slow motion. Red markings appeared on the man’s shirt. He fell to the floor. The shots had been quiet. Sam had her gun aimed directly at Elena.
‘Put your hands where I can see them, the two of you, now! If you move, Harrigan, I’ll do to both of you exactly what I just did to Damien. Believe me, you’ll be dead before you can blink. If you don’t believe it, try me.’
Elena was standing behind her desk, her mouth open in shock. Harrigan had pushed back his chair and was on his feet, but was stopped where he was. Standing at the door, Sam was too far away for heroics.
‘My other bodyguard,’ Elena said in a shaking voice. ‘Where is he?’
‘Gone to meet his maker as well,’ Sam replied. ‘Don’t think he can help you now.’
‘How could you do that?’ Elena, staring at Damien where he lay, could barely get the words out. ‘He had a wife and a child.’
‘That’s a joke coming from you. You don’t get to see this sort of thing, do you? Other people do it for you.’
‘You work for me,’ Elena said, dumbfounded. ‘Who are you? Why are you doing this? I don’t understand. I pay you.’
‘It’s a different sort of payday now, Elena. That’s all you need to know. It’ll all become clear soon enough.’
‘Payday for what?’
‘Africa, Elena. The DRC.’ Sam laughed. ‘You know what that means. I can see it in your face. You know what happened there, don’t you? You keep standing. Don’t move a muscle, I’m watching you. Now, Harrigan. Do you have a gun? You do. Don’t try anything with it. Throw it as far as you can across the room. Your phone, turn it off. Then get your wallet and your buzzer. Throw them to the other side of the office. Is there anything else? What about a wire? Let’s see. Come on. Get your gear off. Don’t be shy.’
Slowly Harrigan began to undress. He unbuttoned his shirt to expose the wire he was wearing. Again, Sam laughed. Harrigan saw Elena give him a single look of direct and unforgiving accusation, then she refused to meet his eyes again.
‘You can’t trust anyone these days, Elena. There are some people you just can’t buy. Who’s listening?’
‘No one’s listening. I’m just recording.’
‘Throw it on the floor over here! Go on!’
Harrigan threw the miniature recording device to the floor. Sam smashed it to pieces with the heel of her boot.
‘Put your clothes back on and then lie on the floor away from the desk, face down,’ she said. ‘Stay there. Remember, I’ve got a gun trained on Elena.’
He heard her walk to the dead bodyguard. She disarmed him, taking his gun for herself.
‘All right, Elena, I want your mobile. Where is it?’
‘On my desk.’
‘Hands where I can see them. Wait there.’
Harrigan looked up from the floor. Sam had moved around to Elena and taken her in a grip that made her bend over. She had her gun at the back of her head.
‘Face down, Harrigan. Now! Elena, wait. Someone’s going to call you. You’re going to tell them you’re not going out to Campbelltown today. You’re going to be very calm or you’ll be dead.’
They waited. Harrigan heard the phone ring.
‘Elena Calvo. Hello, Daniel. Why are you ringing me so early? No, I won’t be out there today. I’m too busy here. I won’t be able to help with that, I’m sorry. Goodbye.’
‘What did he say?’ Sam asked.
‘He said he couldn’t get out to Campbelltown today. Could I check with his staff if his test results had come through? I never involve myself with his work. Why would he ask me to do that?’
‘Maybe you’ll find out. Turn off your phone and give it to me. Now sit down at your desk and turn on your computer.’
‘Why?’
‘Just do it. Don’t move, Harrigan. For your information, Elena has her own personal high-speed secure network here and at Campbelltown. It’s separate to the rest of the IT out there and it’s very fast. I want your log-on code and your password, Elena. You have three seconds to give it to me or you can join Damien.’
‘That’s a bluff.’
‘No, it’s not. Because if you won’t do that, you’re useless to me and you might as well be dead. Remember that. You only last as long as I find you useful. Take your choice. Write it down for me.’
Elena did so.
‘Good. Now log on for me and prove it works. Then log out and shut down. Good girl. Now, we’re ready. Where are your car keys?’
‘In Damien’s pocket.’
‘Stand up and get them, Harrigan,’ Sam said. ‘We’re going down to the car park. You walk in front of us out to the lift. Do anything and you’ll have a dead woman on your hands. You can die a hero as well.’
‘What’s the point of this?’ Harrigan said. ‘I’ve got backup waiting for me. This is just going to put you in gaol for the rest of your life.’
‘How much backup and where are they? How do they know when you need them?’
‘Why should I tell you that?’
‘Because if you don’t answer my question, I’ll kill you and I mean that.’
‘They’re at the police building. They’re waiting for me to call,’ Harrigan said.
‘I thought so. My guess is, right now this is the last place anyone would expect to find me. Now get the keys, including the lift key.’
‘How did you get in here?’ Elena asked.
‘I’ve had after-hours access to this office for months, Elena. I don’t know why you’re so surprised. You hired me because I can do this sort of thing. I’ve been watching you for a long time. That’s the good thing about being undercover. No one knows what you’re really up to.’
Harrigan went through the dead man’s pockets. He found the keys and straightened up.
‘Let’s go,’ Sam said. ‘Keep your hands where I can see them, Harrigan.’
They walked through the empty office. The other bodyguard lay dead inside the door. They walked past him to the lift.
‘You get in first and stand in one corner,’ Sam said. ‘Elena and I will stand in the other. Harrigan, when we stop, you get out first. Now, you can feel that gun in your ribs, can’t you, Elena? If either of you does anything, it fires and keeps firing. Down we go. If anyone gets in, everyone act normal.’