Redback (38 page)

'We have yet to identify the dead conspirator at Fort Hood. All we can say for sure is that he's
a white male aged in his late 20s. Agent Townsend suspects he was murdered and left on purpose to
make sure, that after first jumping to the wrong conclusion about the perpetrators, we would then
discover the truth; and sooner rather than later. Whoever he was, he was shot execution style with a
bullet to the back of the head.'

'That's a mighty strange theory,' Conte said. 'I trust that this certainty you all have, that
we've entered McVeigh territory with these attacks, is not based solely on this dead American boy.
My natural assumption would've been that foreign terrorists killed an innocent bystander, either
because he stumbled in on what they were doing, or to throw us off the scent. I'm sure Agent
Townsend has better insight than I, but it seems a great leap for him to take.'

'Believe me there's plenty of evidence to support
her
theory,' Janeway said. 'Not the
least of which is that unlike the two radio-controlled aircraft that destroyed those very expensive
Apache helicopters, the model airplane found crushed beneath the dead body of the
victim-slash-alleged-terrorist was incapable of flying. And I don't mean because it was squashed. It
actually had no motor, no explosives, nothing.'

'Speaking of the Apaches,' Bonney said. 'What's the latest on the two pilots?'

'Only one was a pilot; is a pilot. First Lieutenant Angie Tovey was released from hospital on
Friday I believe. Sadly the ground crewman with her, Specialist Garber, ended up losing a leg.

United 838, Bangkok to Houston
Monday 11.30 am

Cruising at an altitude of, too high to consider as being reasonably possible,
Scott stared out the window at the summits of a skyscape of mountainous clouds. He used to be afraid
of flying until a hypnotist gave him the skills to defeat the terror and imagine he was anywhere
else. He still wasn't sure how it worked, but he no longer wondered how the aircraft got up in the
air, and therefore didn't worry that it would drop like a brick.

It was just after 11.30 am Thai time, but he was already two hours from Bangkok, and that was
after the one hour flight from Chiang Mai to meet his hurriedly arranged international flight.

Ari had been able tell him three things when he woke him at sunrise: the
GlobalWarTek
disk
was not a dud; he had gained access to a new room, which meant the
Rashmana
part of the game
was more extensive than just two levels; and a Commander Blaze-Lali was about to ring back from
Japan.

The latter turned out to be Ari's serious-nerd friend from Nayazuki Firebolt in Tokyo. She rang
while they breakfasted on tropical fruits, fresh crepes and coffee-to-die-for; all enjoyed in the
Zen zone of the HiroshAri garden patio. As it turned out, Blaze-Lali couldn't give them much more
than a company name. Hiro Kaga had done his multi-million dollar Director's Cut for a
British-American company called Blue Atlantico, based in San Francisco.

Ari then showed Scott how to get into the
Rashmana
Map Room inside the
WarTek
game.
The incredible 3D graphics of this 'inner sanctum' made it look like a cross between a mediaeval war
room and NASA control. It was cluttered with globes, rolled parchments, books, wall maps,
planetary-system mobiles and obsolete computer equipment.

All of this surrounded what was obviously the room's
raison d'être
: an enormous
terrain-model table map of - and that was the question. It appeared to be a relief plan of a section
of the world. But as Ari had not been able to crack the code for complete access, they were unable
to pull back for a bird's eye view of the table to determine if it was a map of the real world. If
it was, then the new question was: what was it telling the people who did have the correct
passwords?

Ari had pirated the pirate disk and promised he'd keep trying; so Scott took his leave of the
late Hiro Kaga's best friend, his twin brother, and his mistress. He was now, a few hours later,
barely into a tedious 20-hour trip to Houston that involved three touchdowns and connecting flights.
The reward at the end of his journey, fortunately, would take the form of the lovely Laura Serrano,
CIA spook and ex-lover, now friend, who had promised to meet him at the George Bush Intercontinental
Airport.

Chiang Mai, Thailand
Monday 11.30 am

Jana stepped from the terrace on the Picot Bar roof into the first-floor place the
Redbacks called home when they were in Chiang Mai. She'd learnt last night that Gideon and her boys
had several such homes, in too many places to list on a drink coaster. This one was simple but
pleasant, with all the basics like kitchen, lounge, two bathrooms, and four bedrooms with a total of
12 beds.

Last night, Jana had wandered like Goldilocks into a room with two double beds where she sat
down, simply to test the bounce, and woke up five hours later to discover someone had kindly covered
her with a sheet. She didn't spend too much time wondering who, as Gideon was sleeping face down on
the other bed, with her head under the pillow.

Where a little earlier there'd been no one about, she now found Coop and Triko in the
kitchen.

'
Kalimera
Doc.'

'Good morning to you too, Triko. You must have returned very late from your valiant volunteer
mission to dispose of Alan.'

'Stupid bastard wouldn't let me leave in case someone else tried to kidnap him,' Triko said. 'His
mate Bob and I finally got him very drunk and put him to bed in a room I'd taken for them on a
different floor; in the name of Ally Wiggler. I'm hoping Bob took my suggestion and got some bar
girls up to the room to take a few compromising photos of him.'

'Oh, I would've helped with that plan.' Jana rubbed her hands together with mischievous glee.

'Anyone for tea, coffee, juice? Name your poison,' Coop said, as he arranged a platter with
mouth-watering slices of mango, jackfruit, rambutan, jujube and banana.

'I'll fix the coffee,' Triko offered.

Jana took a seat at the breakfast bar. 'Are you a frustrated chef or something, Coop?'

'Not frustrated at all,' he said grinning contentedly.

'He does most of the cooking for all of us here and at home,' Triko said.

'I'm doing a course.'

'He's always doing a course,' Triko said with a laugh. 'Thai, Japanese, French, Spanish, Greek,
you name it. He's master of the
tapas
, chief of the curry, and my Greek grandmother - who
thinks he's God's gift - shares all her family recipes with him.'

'She loves me,' Coop said ducking his head.

'She's in love with you, mate.' Triko turned to Jana, 'My 78-year-old
Yaya
wants him to be
her toyboy. She's always saying: "Shane
agapi mou
, Shane my darling". It's very
creepy.'

'Oh knackers, Christos Perdicus Trikopoulis. You love it that she loves me.'

Triko lifted his chin in mock dismissal then noticed something behind Jana. 'Oh, I forgot to tell
you I collected your gear from the hotel.'

Jana, turning to see what he was pointing at, was surprised to discover it was her suitcase,
cabin bag, laptop. 'How did you… Second thoughts, forget I didn't quite ask. But why?'

'In case Kelman came looking for any of you,' he said.

'Before or after he gets his bullet wound tended to?' she asked.

Triko shrugged. 'Bryn just told me to go get your stuff and bring it here.'

'Oh did she? And where is she?' Jana asked, choosing another piece of jackfruit. 'Still in
bed?'

'Not bloody likely,' Coop said. 'That woman thrives on about five hours sleep. She was probably
out running at dawn.'

Jana narrowed her eyes. 'Not unless she went back to bed afterwards. She was asleep at 7 am.'

'In that case I have no idea where she is.'

'Don't look at me,' Triko said.

'Well, this little black duck has an appointment with a new colleague at 12.30,' Jana announced.
'So I'd better go make myself presentable.'

'Oh yeah? With whom and where?' Coop asked.

Jana raised her eyebrows. 'Are you asking out of interest, or because El Capitan told you to keep
an eye on me?'

'Yes,' Triko and Coop said in unison.

Jana grinned. 'I am meeting, and I quote, "a roving Australian field agent" of my
soon-to-be employer…'

"The Helix Foundation,' Triko finished for her; offering her the fruit plate again. 'You
told us the new job bit last night, but neglected to mention the appointment.'

'Neglected? Ooh, should I ring and postpone it, until Ms Gideon gets back to approve my leaving
the premises? Or do you two just want to come with me?'

'No need,' said a familiar female - but not Bryn's - voice behind her. That in itself was weird
because Jana was pretty sure there'd been no other women in the house with them.

'The meeting has come to you,' the woman added.

Jana shook her head slowly as she swivelled on the bar stool.

This
is not happening. The world could not be this small, this coincidental, this
ridiculous.

She sighed.
Yes it could.

There, standing before her,
with
Bryn Gideon, was the CEO of Rankin Jardine Inc., founder
of the Helix Foundation, Jana's soon-to-be employer, Ruth Jardine.

'She's not often this lost for a helluva lot to say,' Gideon noted.

Jana was not game to get off the stool in case she suddenly woke up in La-La Land. 'Okay, I'm
actually in a coma in a loony bin in Budapest, right; and my mind, or the meds, are playing merry
hell with someone's reality.'

'Hello Jana,' Ruth laughed. 'I just happened to be in the neighbourhood and thought I'd sit in on
your meeting.'

'No, I'm sorry,' Jana raised her hands. 'No one just happens to be in the neighbourhood of a
semi-secret organisation's safe house in a far-away city of a foreign land. This is not
happening.'

'Want some more jujube fruit?' Coop asked.

Jana flicked him a
don't be absurd
look and then turned back to Gideon.

'Bryn! What the hell did you do? Go through all my stuff and check my diary, and track down my
appointments, and lie in wait at the hotel for anyone who came looking for me? I mean, you even
picked up one,' she pointed at Ruth, 'I wasn't even expecting.'

Ruth cast a glance at Gideon and said, 'She wasn't speechless for very long at all.'

'I told you she never draws breath.' Gideon strolled into the kitchen, opened the fridge and took
out a bottle of cold water. 'And no, Jana; I didn't need to rummage through your diary,' she added.

'What is going on?' Jana looked from Gideon to Ruth; as her employer-to-be sat next to her and
patted her arm. Now that felt real. Unasked, Coop poured two cups of green tea and pushed them
across the counter.

'Thank you, Shane,' said Ruth.

Jana cricked her neck.
Thank you, Shane
?
Thank you, Shane!

'How you doing, Ruth?' Triko asked.

'I'm just tickety-boo, thank you sweetheart.'

Sweetheart?
Worried that waking from her coma too suddenly might risk permanent damage to
her psyche, Jana slid off her stool and without another word, left the room and locked herself in
the toilet. When she returned five minutes later Ruth, Gideon and the boys were in the kitchen
talking as though they were old friends - which they obviously were.

'Explain everything to me now, or I'm packing my bags and going home.' Jana said, retaking her
seat. 'Oh, look, they're already packed for me.' She raised her eyebrows.

Despite their pact not to, Ruth and the Redbacks all laughed at once.

'I'm glad you all think this is so funny. But honest-to-God I feel like I'm the butt of some huge
cosmic joke. So knock it off, the lot of you.'

'Where should we start?' Ruth asked the room in general.

Jana crossed her arms. 'How about Bryn, who does not believe in coincidences, explains how this
doesn't compound the weirdness that I commented on, just last night, while we were in pursuit of all
those men.'

Gideon nodded agreeably. 'The mystery commando, who we now know as Rawley, originally wanted to
meet Alan in Singapore. We - obviously keeping tabs on the errant journo - wanted to contain that
situation. So we organised the photo shoot with Sophie Deans, so that Alan would have a believable
reason to convince Rawley to meet here instead. Following so far?'

Jana scowled, but nodded.

'Kelman, your redhead from Laui, was here in Chiang Mai because he was following Rawley.'

Jana narrowed her eyes. 'And what? You wanted to contain Alan and Rawley here, because this is
where you have a house?'

'Sort of,' Gideon smiled. 'But mostly because I had to be in Chiang Mai today anyway. I had an
appointment with a possible new recruit, and we didn't know how long the Wagner thing would take.
So, you see? Deliberate planning, not coincidence.'

'Yeah, except for me,' Jana pointed at her own face. 'And Ruth. And you all knowing Ruth. And why
are you all laughing again?'

Gideon leant forward. 'I am here, in Chiang Mai, because
you
are Jana. You are here,
because I am. Where I go, they go,' she waved at Coop and Triko. 'And Ruth is here because we all
are.
You
are my possible new recruit,' Gideon said.

'We hope,' Triko added.

Jana nodded. 'I see. I'm going home now,' she said, although she didn't move.

'The job with Helix is as offered, Jana,' Ruth said softly. 'It is also a little more complicated
than advertised; but only if you would like to take the full option.'

Jana turned to Ruth. 'I obviously drank way too much beer last night. What on earth do you have
to do with any of whatever this is?'

'Back Door is a subsidiary of the Helix Foundation,' Gideon chipped in.

'Helix was, in fact, founded to provide international cover for the work that my Redbacks and
Back Door perform.'