Prohibited Zone (39 page)

‘Am I under arrest?' I asked.

‘No, sir.'

‘But I can't leave.'

‘No, sir.'

‘Okay, that's clear.'

The next few days were a bit of a blur. Featureless men, some in uniform, some in suits, some with Australian accents, some with American, asking questions that ranged from the banal to the profound as they angled for inconsistencies in my story, deficiencies in my personality and imperfections in my patriotism. They probably found evidence of all the above, but apparently nothing sufficiently subversive to set alarm bells ringing. I didn't tell them about Baz's confession, but I did tell them what happened to Lucy. On the third day, Tarrant's suit arrived, with him still inside it.

‘You took your time.'

He eyed me unenthusiastically. ‘I've been trying to clean up this mess you made.'

‘I didn't make a mess. Your mate Hindmarsh did that.'

‘Yes, my mate Hindmarsh.'

He was sitting in a plastic chair behind a cold steel desk, his sleeves rolled up to just below his elbow and his suit jacket distraught on the desk. His tie was off-centre by about twenty-five degrees. He was chewing gum.

‘You're in the eye of the shit storm here,' he said. ‘The media has wind of something but can't quite piece it together. Canberra, in the meantime, has gone ballistic.'

‘Does the world know that Amir is dead?'

‘Well, the media are talking about “unconfirmed reports” that one of the Woomera escapees has been found dead in the desert. But nothing so far about how he might have died.'

I wondered how those unconfirmed reports might have got out. I knew that Kara would have told Kat Kernell and the producer Susan about Amir, and maybe they had started a few rumours to give their program some free publicity. Or maybe Dicko had been indiscreet. Anyway, it didn't seem to matter.

‘What else do they know?'

‘So far, not much.'

‘They don't know, for example, that there are rogue ASIO and CIA agents kidnapping and torturing people at the drop of a hat?'

‘Fortunately not.' He leant forward. ‘And if they ever found out it would cause a shit storm to end all shit storms. You wouldn't believe the stench of fear that's coming out of Canberra. There's an election coming up. The Yanks are all over it, too. The administration over there is shitting itself. Everyone's denying they knew what Hindmarsh and his mates were up to. They might even be telling the truth. But nobody wants the sordid details of this little episode to see the light of day.'

‘So I suppose I'm to be shot at dawn to stop me from talking?'

‘It's been mentioned,' said Tarrant without smiling. He drummed his fingers on the desktop. ‘Of course, we could make things difficult for you, West. You've broken a few laws; there's plenty we could charge you with. We could also try to keep you quiet under Section 79 of the Crimes Act, which relates to official secrets.'

‘Oh yeah, the one Hindmarsh threatened me with. It worked for him.'

He stared at his hands for a moment, then looked me in the eye. ‘But basically we're asking for your cooperation. I'm no stooge for ASIO, but putting this story out won't do anyone any good. It won't do the country any good.'

‘I'm not so sure about that. It might wake the stupid country up.'

‘We just had a meeting, all of us – ASIO, the feds, the locals, the army, the Yanks, some guy representing the Attorney-General in Canberra. Bottom line is: tell us what you want and maybe we can come to an arrangement.'

‘You want to buy me off.'

‘You can put it like that if you want. But it's better than the alternative, believe me. Tell us what you want and I'll tell you if we can afford it.'

I had had three days to think about what I wanted. Mostly what I wanted was to get the hell out of there. ‘Five things,' I said. ‘No charges for me, Kara Peake-Jones, Colin Paddick or Saira Abdiani. That's only one thing, by the way, not four.'

‘Agreed. No one wants a court case. Although we'll need guarantees that none of you will blabber.'

‘I can't speak for the others.'

‘Of course not, but you'll probably all have to sign something. Second?'

‘A permanent visa for Saira Abdiani.'

‘You're making this easy. Canberra has already rolled over on that.'

‘Third, the balls of that bastard Hindmarsh delivered on a plate.'

Tarrant allowed a little smile. ‘He won't be prosecuted, you know. Same reason you won't be. No one wants this sort of shitty linen aired in public. But he won't work for the government again and he won't get a job in the security industry, either. His leg is a bloody mess too, so he hasn't come out of this too well.'

‘Better than some,' I said, ‘and better than he deserves.'

‘What was the fourth thing?'

‘Compensation for Saira, Rice's mother, and Lucy Vecchi. Amir didn't have to die, and neither did Rice. They both died because the government fucked up. Lucy was sexually assaulted by Janeway, who was working for Hindmarsh. A million dollars each. That's cheap, and I'm not even asking anything for the beating those rogue agents gave
me
.'

Tarrant hadn't been expecting that one. He raised his sandy eyebrows and left the room. He was gone an hour. When he came back he gave the impression of someone who had been fighting a tough battle. ‘Apparently governments don't like handing out money they can't account for,' he said. ‘But, praise the Lord, they have found a way – or maybe the Yanks have come through. Two hundred thou' and a great media spin,' he said. ‘Rice will be a hero.'

And Amir would be the bad guy.

‘Uh uh. A million – each, don't forget. The great media spin sounds like a good idea.'

‘Jesus, West, I'll be glad to see the back of you. Five hundred thousand. They won't go higher, so take it or leave it.'

‘Each.'

‘Yes, each, for fuck's sake. You've got one more wish – use it wisely.'

‘Close down Woomera.'

Tarrant grunted, gave a final tattoo on the desk and stood up. ‘As I understand it, the minister for immigration is set to announce the closure of Woomera, and a whole new approach to asylum seekers, within days. I think we've got a deal.' He offered me his hand and I took it.

An hour later my phone and wallet had been returned and Tarrant was driving me through closely guarded, razor-wired gates into the world beyond. There were a dozen messages on my phone, most of them from Kara.

‘You know, Tarrant, I'm starting to think you're not very stupid,' I said.

‘Don't tell me you're starting to think.'

His eyes didn't leave the road. His hands were motionless on the wheel; they didn't need to move because the road back to Port Augusta was dead straight. The land stretched northwest to the flat-topped hills on the horizon and south to the top of the gulf, the view in both directions unimpeded by anything so large as a tree.

‘And I'm also starting to think that you knew more about what was happening than you ever let on.'

‘Is that right?'

‘Yes, that's right.'

He looked at me, still refusing to put an expression on his bland face. ‘Let's just say that I might have had a few ideas and a few hunches that more-or-less turned out to be right.'

‘And let's just say that you more-or-less let me get away with a whole bunch of things that ordinarily you, as an honest cop, would have hammered me for.'

His eyes went back to the road. He smiled, although he looked like he was trying not to. ‘Let's just say I've never been a great fan of detention centres.' The smile disappeared. ‘But I didn't think you would leave so many dead bodies lying around. Where can I drop you?'

‘Main street of the Gutter would be fine.'

31

S
HE DROVE MY NEWLY REPAIRED UTE
up from Adelaide and we booked into the best motel in town, which in many towns would have been the worst. The room had the sick smell of air freshener. We opened the windows and I stocked the bar fridge with purchases I had made at the local bottle shop. We lay down, fully clothed, on top of the queen-size bed and looked at each other.

‘You said there was more,' she said. ‘Tell me.'

I told her the whole story, everything that had happened since I had left her at Lucy's beach house. She listened in silence, resting back on the bed with her hands under her head and her eyes closed. Some of it I had told her by phone but it didn't matter, I told her again. As I spoke I watched her. I found I liked watching her. As I related Baz's confession she opened her eyes and I could see that the information had shocked her.

‘How well did you know Baz, really?' I asked.

‘We were lovers for a while. For a while, I even thought I was in love with him. Well, I
was
in love with him. I never told him that, of course.'

‘What happened?'

‘He walked away. He probably sensed I was getting serious. He wasn't the sort of person to stick with a woman.' Just like me, with Lucy. ‘But I never thought he was capable of rape.'

‘I don't think
he
thought he was, either.'

There was a silence.

She propped herself up on her elbow. ‘Are you capable of it?' It was the next obvious question.

‘No.'

‘How can you be sure? You said yourself that Baz didn't think he could do such a thing, and he did.'

‘For one thing, I'm going to make sure I never get in a position of power like that. Then I will never be tempted.'

‘So you think it is true, then? All men
are
bastards, given the chance?'

I thought about it for a long time.

‘No, I don't think it's true. Some men are good to the core. Some are rotten. And for some, the jury is out. But, to be on the safe side, better not tempt any of us.'

‘Ha! That's exactly why we need a half-decent system. To keep you bastards from temptation.'

‘Yeah, I guess so. Half-decent will never be good enough, though.'

‘True, and the perfect system doesn't exist. But that shouldn't stop us from trying.'

My mind wandered to other things. ‘Who knew that you took Saira after the riot in Woomera? I mean, who knew from the start?'

She thought for a moment. ‘Not many people. Baz and Theresa, that's about it. Some of the other protesters probably saw what was happening, but there was a fair bit of chaos. We put a blanket over her as soon as she came through the fence, bustled her into my car and put her on the floor. Then everyone scattered, some with detainees, some without. Maybe someone saw me take Saira, but I would be surprised. After that, well, you knew, and Col knew. Why?'

‘Because Hindmarsh knew. I want to know
how
he knew. Someone also knew that you were staying with Theresa. Remember the threatening phone calls?'

‘Of course I do. That was Janeway for sure.'

‘No doubt, but how did he know where to find you?'

She looked away as she thought about it. ‘I don't think Baz knew what we were going to do with Saira once we got to Adelaide.'

‘Theresa, then.'

‘No, Theresa wouldn't tell anyone, and certainly not Janeway – or Hindmarsh. She hates authority.'

I remembered then a short conversation I had had at the Arkaba. ‘What about the team stud, what was his name?'

‘Team stud?'

‘The young guy who reckoned he'd screwed just about every woman at the protest.'

Kara laughed. ‘You mean Scotty? Most of that would be in his mind, I reckon. He certainly never screwed me.'

‘He told me he got it off with Theresa. He said he couldn't stop her talking afterwards. Maybe she let a few secrets slip in the intimacy of the moment. Maybe Scotty passed them on to Hindmarsh, who passed them on to Janeway.'

Kara thought for a moment. ‘It's possible, I suppose. I wouldn't put it past him. Being a traitor, that is. He didn't care for the cause. But he's gone now. We'll probably never know for sure.' She lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes. I watched her chest rise and fall in a comfortable rhythm. Then she opened her eyes again, catching me watching.

‘I do have a confession to make, though,' she said.

‘Oh yeah?'

‘You know how we met in Pimba that night? I pretended I didn't know you.'

‘Pretended?'

‘Yeah. Baz had pointed you out to me one night in Roxby.

He told me about you, that I could trust you.'

‘And so you picked me out at Spuds.'

‘Baz told me you would be passing through; he said he had arranged to meet you there. So there was always a chance. You were the backup plan. It was lucky I had one because my car really did break down. I wasn't faking that. It was all more luck than good management.'

‘That, I've always known.'