Several of the powers-that-be had serious doubts that anything would happen, especially something
so seemingly half-baked, and more than a little ridiculous. The Prime Minister sensibly asked what
excuse the Titan Guards would have afterwards for taking this route at all, should something, in
fact, happen to the Vice President on their watch.
Fleming suggested maybe it was supposed to look like the Titan Guards had been forced to go that
way, but nonetheless they managed to 'save' the Vice President from something.
Brody suggested, if that was the case, then maybe they'd already done that once before - in New
Delhi when they'd 'saved' Prime Minister Harvey last year.
Everybody asked what the hell would be the point of that?
Whatever the point, and whatever the reason for Rawley's 'escape route', the Redbacks had their
own plan, and a back-up plan, and a strategy to deal with either.
The clincher, as far as the Back Door crew were concerned, came when Oliver did the Oliver-thing
with the two pirated
Global WarTek
disks that Scott Dreher brought with him from Dallas.
When Scott's Cairo disk and Laura's Carthage disk met Kennedy's Peshawar disk and they were all
laced with Oliver's high-tech keyboard talk, everything meshed and reconfigured into one working
Rashmana-Atlantes
program.
Mudge's low-tech translation of all this, was that the games all had group sex and a cracker of
an orgasm.
Gideon had said 'whatever', Ryder had said 'shut up Mudge', and Jana had said 'oh' and pointed.
The Recon Room screen was displaying an entire world
Rashmana
map - where the real world was
covered in red and blue spots and dots - and dates.
The two attacks in Dallas were the first that Scott picked up, naturally; but then they all
realised there were other reds to come in San Francisco, Washington and Seattle.
There was a blue dot on Canberra and a red spot on Sydney. As the blue carried the date that the
Australian Attorney-General had been assassinated in the surf at Bondi, the consensus in the Recon
Room was that a blue dot was person not place-specific. The red spot on Sydney didn't need a date,
although it had Saturday's, because it actually said 'SETSA'.
So, here was Gideon in her lookout tower, watching another person lying motionless
on the north-east grandstand roof oblivious to the fact that he was being watched at all.
Coop and Gideon had first spotted him on their recce yesterday, and taken photos of him. Then
they called in Marco and Evan to take over the surveillance and watch the guy until he chose to do
something with his RPG launcher other than use it as a pillow.
Gideon's photos revealed that the man on the roof was Bashir Kali, leader of Groh Sitaarah,
member of Atarsa Kára, and perpetrator of a great many bombing atrocities, most recently the
carnage in Peshawar.
Brody, Mudge and Kennedy naturally wanted to deal with him immediately. Under normal
circumstances that would have been the normal thing to do. But they still had no idea what was going
down; and if they moved too soon they'd never find out.
So rather than take Bashir Kali into custody or throw him off The Gap, the Back Door players were
shuffled around the board. Brody and Triko became Gideon's back-up, and Coop was in charge of the
rest of the Redbacks at ground zero.
Kirribilli House, Sydney
Saturday 1 pm
Final Redback assignments, including whether or not their Forward Scout could show
her face at the Prime Minister's Sydney residence, had not been given until it was verified that
Nick Kelman was not in command of the Titan Guard unit assigned as the Over-Protection detail for
the American Vice President.
Kelman may well be in charge of whatever was going on, but he was not advertising the fact.
While Coop took up his point position near Vice President Conte, and Mudge took charge of his
team, the Director of the Helix Foundation and her newest associate were doing the VIP schmooze.
Ruth was never one to waste an opportunity to win the hearts, minds and economies of the
highest-profile VIPs as she called them. She was mentoring Jana in the gentle art of guilt-tripping
powerful men into doing her bidding; or, preferably, allowing her foundation into their countries so
she could do things her way. With their full support and economic encouragement of course.
'We couldn't have asked for better weather,' Prime Minster Harvey was saying to the men in his
immediate circle. The Presidents of South Africa and Indonesia, the Indian Prime Minister and a
delegate from Egypt all seemed to agree.
'How could they not,' Ruth muttered.
Jana waved her arm at the view, down across the sweeping lawn and out over the deep blue water.
'The harbour does look amazing from here.'
'Yes, and isn't it nice that we get to visit a building and garden we taxpayers own,' Ruth
said.
'How many delegates are here?'
Ruth shrugged. 'Thirty or more I believe. Let's go hassle the American.'
Coop, however, indicated with a subtle 'bugger-off ' that they should
not
approach Mr
Conte. Coop did not want them anywhere near where any trouble was likely to be, or start or finish.
Like Gideon, he hadn't wanted either of them anywhere in the potential firing line because it would
distract him from his mission. He knew that Ruth and Jana's safety would ultimately be more
important, even though he was there to look out for the second most powerful man in the known
universe.
Ha! The man with the gun or the bomb was always
going to be that man
.
Coop, listening in disbelief to what Aaron Danby was saying to the Vice President, thought he
should probably care about his own Foreign Minister being in the thick of things too. Then he
realised he couldn't keep everyone away from the VP or the man might feel slighted.
'Not to put too fine a point on it, Arlen,' Danby said, 'but while
my
big cheese is an
arrogant berk, he is at least self aware. Your impediment, on the other hand -
ow
! What the
hell?' Danby bent down to rub his left shin. It felt like he'd just been bitten by a very large bull
ant.
'Good God man, are you okay?' Conte asked. There was blood all over Danby's hand.
'Shit, um, you, what's-yer-name? Cooper!' Danby called, and then felt the searing pain in his
leg. He collapsed on the grass. 'Cooper,' he yelled, 'get Mick.'
Coop, who had turned at the first mention of his name, saw in that one instant: the blood, the
Minister hitting the deck, Conte diving to join him, Secret Service guys diving on Conte, and
then…
'Ow, fuck,' some-thing flicked off the wall beside him and hit him in the cheek.
'Redbacks we have a sniper,' Coop said, tucking and rolling across the six feet of grass to the
Secret Service heap. 'Stay down,' he told the agents. 'The shots are coming in from the harbour, if
we stay down we're out of any sight-line.'
The lead Secret Service agent looked as though he was going to do something other than that.
'Oi!' Coop got right in his face. 'Stay the fuck down, dipshit.'
'
Coop?
' It was Gideon's voice in his head.
'Game on, Bryn,' he said, moving across to the Foreign Minister. 'Mr Danby? You okay?'
Mick Fleming had also heard Danby call out, and had dashed across from the corner of the house,
staying low. He reached him in the same moment.
'Some fucker just shot me, Mick.'
Mick grinned at his friend, then at Coop. 'He's fine, go do your thing.'
Coop rolled back to the two Secret Service agents. 'Okay, let's see what these Guards have
planned, shall we?' He helped them shield the Vice President as they helped him to a crouched,
ready-to-run position. 'Mr Conte, are you good to go?' he asked.
'Ready as I'll ever be, Shane.'
'Are you sure you want to do this, sir?'
'No arguments John,' Conte said to his own agent, and started moving. They all had no choice but
to run with him.
Ten seconds later, when they reached the veranda of Kirribilli House, the three Titan Guards
assigned to the garden converged on the Vice President's party - just as the day's operating
protocol said they should. So far, so correct. In an emergency involving the VP, at any of the
venues on the SETSA itinerary, the Titan Guard Over-Protection detail was charged with taking
control of the situation.
As expected, they escorted the Vice President and his three Secret Service Agents out through the
house and into a waiting Humvee. Another four of Arlen Conte's own men, alerted by radio mike,
saddled up their two security cars, and the four remaining Titan Guards leapt into an armoured
jeep.
The VP was secured in the centre of the middle seat, with two of his own agents to his right -
one beside, another behind. The third claimed the front passenger seat. The three Guards took the
driver's perch, and Conte's left, and left back. They were loaded in six seconds, by which time the
vehicle was already on the move.
'Yes we are rocking,' Coop said from the front.
'
Copy that Coop. You are on the way - hopefully to us.
' Gideon said.
'You okay Mr Conte?'
'Yes Shane. Is everyone else okay? John, Terry?'
'Yes sir,' the Secret Service guys said.
'Okay everyone, this is your captain speaking,' said the Titan Guard at the wheel, 'remain in
your seats, with your tray tables in the upright position. We will be landing as soon as
possible.'
The Vice Presidential motorcade proceeded north-west up Kirribilli Avenue, at as much speed as
the narrow street would allow. One Secret Service car led the way, one brought up the rear, and in
between were the Humvee followed by the Titan Guard jeep.
'
Coop, you have incoming, off Jeffrey Street on your right,
' said Marco in Coop's head.
'
It's a blind corner, so watch it
.'
A block later a purple Monaro, of all things, hurtled out of the next side street, slammed into
the lead Secret Service car and pushed it clean up the other side of Kirribilli Avenue.
'Oh man, we are under attack. Verify Big Duke. Do you copy?' the Humvee driver said, possibly to
the jeep behind; maybe to the late great John Wayne.
'We are under attack,' Coop said, imitating his inflection.
The three remaining cars hit the right turn at Broughton Street and picked up speed again.
Coop half-turned to face the Vice President, who was now whiter than his shirtfront. His main-man
John, over the back, was looking a bit like thunder and a lot like the person who really wanted to
shout: 'I told you so'.
'
You okay Coop?
' Bryn asked.
'Yes,' Coop replied. When the driver glanced at him, he pulled a face and said again, 'we are
under attack.'
'
Yes you are
,' Marco said. '
Incoming, on your right again - coming the
wrong way
out of a one way street
.'
Coop tried to brace himself without being too obvious. He needn't have bothered, but he did point
as another Monaro - what a bloody waste - sped out of Pitt Street after they'd gone by. It collected
the rear Secret Service vehicle and took it out of the parade.
'Okay, what the fuck is going on?' Agent John demanded of no one in particular. Given that he had
only a vague idea, his acting at least had feeling to it.
'I suggest a plan change,' the Guard beside Conte said.
'Roger that,' said the driver. 'Executing emergency plan Alpha Bravo Bravo Alpha.'
Coop looked at him. 'ABBA?'
'What?' asked the driver.
'
Is that a new code?
' Gideon asked.
'No, nothing,' Coop said.
The driver hung a left under the Cahill Expressway towards Milson's Point, and then a quick right
at the T-intersection onto Alfred.
'Um, what's this Alpha Bravo ABBA shit?' Coop asked, playing the Titan Guard game. 'We should've
stayed the other side of the Expressway to get back on it and into the city. This is very Mudgee.'
Coop did not need to look back to make sure.
'
Yes,
I am on you six,
' Mudge said. '
Can't quite see your sorry arse, but I
swear
I'm right up it.
'
'
Shut up Mudge
,' Gideon said, because she knew Coop couldn't.
'This is our contingency plan,' said the Titan behind the VP. He tapped Agent John on the
shoulder, 'You better report in, dude. Tell whoever that we've been hijacked.'
'But we haven't been hijacked,' Conte said.
'We've been attacked,' Coop said, 'Not hijacked.'
'No really, we
have
been hijacked,' said the driver.
'Oh shit,' Agent John said. 'We seem to have been hijacked, Shane.'
The Titan Guard in the back seat with John, gave Coop a cheery little wave with his Glock.
Coop hit the roof with his fist. 'Oh well now, fuckaduck.'
'
Righto
,' Mudge acknowledged. '
Oh, I mean Skippy. And shut up Oliver, or I'll leave you
home next time.
'
'
Incoming,
' Marco said, again.
The Humvee skidded to a halt this time, as three other vehicles, just like it, forced it off the
road, across the traffic, and into a small landscaped park.
St Leonards Park, Sydney, Australia
Saturday 1.15 pm
'
Hey Bryn.
' Triko was up a tree that gave him a view of the two main
roads.
'What?'
'
I think I know why Kelman isn't leading his Titans from the front on this
mission.
'
'Because he's got a bullet wound in his leg and can't walk?'
'
Oh no, he can walk okay. With a cane. He's got a bit of a limp but it's not
slowing
him down much.
'
'You idiot Triko. Where is he?'
'
He just walked under my perch. Came in from the direction of the other
oval. Reckon
he's got a car back there. He's not alone.
'