He winked. I frowned. ‘She works for ASIO?’ Tuso nodded and shrugged. ‘They often visit me after a conference, demanding details on what we discussed and who are members are. They get nothing from me.’
Tuso was lying. I didn’t have a strong baseline on his body language, but it was apparent even from a superficial review. Whatever he was doing with Helen was certainly not answering her questions and the balance of power certainly seemed to be in Tuso’s favour. ‘Does she work with the kid that was at the conference?’ I asked.
Waving his hand dismissively, Tuso took a drink of an amber liquid on ice and pushed a drinks menu to me. ‘Double Sazerac, no ice,’ I said without looking, smiling at the bored -looking waitress who approached just in time. Tuso looked impressed, raising his own glass and swirling some of the remaining whiskey. ‘A damn fine drink,’ he commented.
I was about to reply when he cut me off. He seemed different to his presence in the auditorium, more intense, less showman. ‘Let me cut right to the point. I want you to join us. I had my guys check you out and if what I assume is right from some of your circumspect CV, we could do with someone who has your skills.’
The waitress returned and I gathered up the glass, touching the rim to Tuso’s before taking a sip. A delicious, long burn.
‘What would I be doing?’ I asked, leaning forward in earnest enthusiasm.
‘More of that later,’ he waved a hand dismissively. ‘We have a camp not too far from here. Galenka will pick you up tomorrow, 9am.’
I frowned a bit. ‘You’ve checked me out, but I don’t know much about you at all. Who are your other members? Do you have anyone I would know in your ranks?’
Tuso shrugged. ‘We have a lot of ex-army types associated with us. We keep details of our members confidential though so we can operate effectively. But we have some high-profile members that you’ll be surprised to see have joined us.’
I gestured in the direction of the elevator. ‘And your security, Galenka? She’s Israeli, right? Isn’t that quite a thing for the White Liberation Front?’
Tuso’s eyes narrowed and I immediately thought I’d made a mistake. His focus intensified and he considered how to answer. ‘Some Jews we need to deal with, not always out of choice.’ The moment passed and he shrugged dismissively.
I pushed him for details twice more over the next hour and a half, which he sidestepped smoothly and capably. Conversation was light and irrelevant, largely about his upbringing, the horrors of multiculturalism and how he longed to not have to spend time in hotels owned by Jews or Asians. Away from the hype, the crowd and the auditorium, it sounded even more fanciful, infantile even. But I played my part and joined in the anti-immigration conversation, sharing a few anecdotes of what I’d seen and done that were real enough to the truth to be convincing.
He was far more aloof after our initial conversation. A few times he paused, mid-sentence, to stare out the window as if in a trance, only to start a new conversation unlinked to the prior. He only had one more drink and dinner was a light meal of tapas that we shared. He had good manners, eating slowly and conservatively.
By the time he stood up, ready to leave, I was frustrated. I wasn’t here to make friends with him, and was no closer to any indication of Edward and Jessica’s whereabouts. I checked my impatience with a frown – it was rare for me. My only explanation was the unexpected and unwelcome involvement from ASIO in the form of both Morgan and Helen. It left an uneasiness in me that I couldn’t resolve.
Tuso was a hugger not a handshaker, and embraced me tightly with a promise to see me soon. The Hawk, who Tuso had named Galenka but still hadn’t been introduced to me, was waiting for me after Tuso left. Her name suggested my read on her accent had been correct – Galenka was a Hebrew name. Her surly demeanour remained and as we rode the elevator in silence and stepped into the lobby, I wondered how she would pick me up tomorrow if she didn’t know where I was staying.
‘Hotel?’ she said, gruffly. Ah, there was my answer.
‘Treasury,’ I said simply.
‘9am. No phone. No computer.’ If all of our exchanges were this verbose, elicitation would be difficult. I nodded and walked from the lobby going through a lengthy counter-surveillance route but detected nothing.
I returned to the hotel, opening the door and stepping awkwardly sideways through. Heading to the bedroom, I withdrew my knife and prised up the carpet once more. The talcum powder was undisturbed. The towel in the bathroom was also as I’d left it. I took off the suit and changed into a loose pair of shorts and shirt. I needed to prepare to be picked up tomorrow but that posed substantial difficulty. My suitcase was a severe problem for my cover. More specifically, the heavy, fingerprint -secured container that was my weapons vault was hardly something I could take to a neo-Nazi camp, especially given the expectation that everything would be thoroughly searched or at least I’d be made to open it. A highly customised weapons vault that included a USP pistol would seem odd, to say the least.
In the end, I pulled the briefing papers for this job out of the Tumi messenger-style briefcase, filling it up with some of the clothes I had. Toiletries would fit at a squeeze. My laptop, phone, and weapons vault would all go back into the cabin -sized suitcase and I’d leave it with my contact, the security manager, in the morning. I tore the briefing papers up into meticulously small pieces, flushing the majority in the toilet and rinsing others down the bathroom sink.
Security was sometimes an inconvenience, but never optional. I would call in a favour from the security manager of the hotel to look after the suitcase, relying on his guilt at failing to warn of the ASIO presence. Worse case, Philip would arrange for it to be delivered to him or picked up by one of his many helpers.
Prepared, I sent a detailed summary to Philip, copying the message to Jack. A late operator at the best of times, Jack responded immediately noting he would get onto researching what he could from the details I’d provided. I asked him to focus on Galenka to find out who she was. With too many questions and no enough answers, sleep was a long time coming.
CHAPTER 9
I started the morning early, heading out for a run in the pre-dawn light. I was struck by how much I both loved and hated Brisbane. Running along Eagle Street Pier and the Brisbane River, the most beautiful part of the city, almost made up for the oppressive humidity that was present even in the absence of the sun’s embrace. I’d always struggled with running, with a knee that ached after no more than a few hundred metres and a second wind that always seemed a long time coming. But in the absence of more sustained exercise, it kept me at an ideal operational weight and helped with taking liberties through the odd convenience food. Most of all, it cleared my mind and gave me a chance to focus on nothing else but strained breathing, the various aches and pains of my body and trying to keep my lungs from forcing their way out through my ribs.
The run gave me a chance to reflect on the many points that kept me awake last night. I’d confirmed that WOLF was more than a political protest group, and I was likely to find out just how extreme they were today. While that was interesting, it only mattered as a vehicle to try to get closer to Edward and Jessica and get them away from this group. I couldn’t work out why either of them would be interested in a group like this. The WOLF aims were almost juvenile, at best individual conspiracy theories stitched together to blame the evils of the world on a group of people with different skin colour, religion or places of birth.
I was still confused by the dual ASIO involvement. If they were investigating the group, Morgan’s presence at the conference made a lot
