Redback (7 page)

'Yes Mr Dreher,' she frowned, 'I was there.'

Scott frowned back at her. 'Hiroyuki Kaga, according to you, has just been murdered and yet here
you are with me, and not the cops.'

Kaisha nodded then shook her head. 'Yes. Is that the wrong thing?'

'Um, you tell me,' Scott said.

'I don't understand, Mr Dreher.'

'It's a bit suss, Kaisha. You know, suspicious.'

'I understand suss-picious, Mr Dreher. But Hiro sent me to warn you. With his last words, he sent
me to you.' She touched his elbow. 'And we should go now.' She stood to leave.

'Warn me about what? And where should we go?'

'Away from here,' Kaisha stressed. 'In case someone followed.'

Resisting the urge to copy her earlier behaviour and do his own histrionic scan of the street for
potential killers, Scott smiled politely instead. 'Look Kaisha, I don't mean to be rude, but I have
only your story that Hiroyuki is dead. Why would I go anywhere with you?'

Kaisha waved her hands all around her. 'Is he here? The man you were to meet?' She began crying
and propped herself back on the stool. 'No, he is not. And I called the police, Mr Dreher. But I was
Hiro's mistress, not his wife. It is not for me to be seen to be the first to know of his
death.'

'Well now, that's stupid. He died in your love nest. And in your arms, if what you say is true.'

'If it is true?' Kaisha stamped her foot and glared at Scott. She undid her coat buttons and
offered him a flash of what she wore underneath: long black boots; strangely-patterned green slacks
and a red and white shirt.

'Oh man.' Scott exclaimed.

Blood-stained green slacks, and a bloody white shirt.

'Okay,' Scott lifted his hands in surrender. 'I'm sorry.'

'Hiro made me promise to meet you. I was to give you a message and you were to protect me if I
needed, which I don't, by the way.' Kaisha's tears were now laced with anger, but she began counting
points off on her fingers as she spoke.

'I was to tell you, "The game has been altered. Check source". He said you were to take
me to his brother's - but you can forget that Mr Dreher - and convince, um,' she squinted and then
took a breath, 'convince "Harry Carter, dead stalks, and he will explain everything".'

'What?' Scott frowned. The only thing that made any sense was 'the game has been altered' and he
knew that already.

Kaisha shrugged. 'Hiro, um,' she swallowed, 'Hiro said to make sure he - you, I mean -
"understands the danger, and also the deception in the next acts".'

'Deception in the next acts?' Scott rolled his eyes.

'Ah no,' Kaisha shook her head. 'It was, "the deception in their next actions".'

Like that makes it clearer!
'Is that all?'

'No, he also said, "It has started". But I do not know whether that was meant for you,
or that he knew he was nearly gone.'

Kaisha wiped her eyes again. 'Me, I didn't understand anything; especially the birds.'

'Birds? What birds?'

'The dead storks.'

Scott controlled an inappropriate smile. 'I kinda doubt he was talking about birds; or even
deceased plants, which could be another interpretation.'

Kaisha made a face like she didn't care either way.

'He probably meant 'stalks' as in stalking, or stalker. You know, someone who's following you,'
Scott said. 'Not that that makes any more sense. Unless he said death stalks, which it literally was
at the time. But as a message it's just as stupid. Are you sure he…?'

'You have Hiro's warning,' Kaisha interrupted. 'I am going now. And you should not stay here.'

'Wait. Are you sure he wasn't just thanking you?'

'What?'

'You know 'Harry Carter' -
arigato
,' Scott suggested.

Kaisha's expression told him, in no uncertain terms, that she found that to be quite absurd.

'Well I'm sorry, Kaisha,' Scott said, 'but who the hell is Harry Carter?'

'You don't know?' Kaisha asked.

'No idea, obviously.'

'Well me, I don't care,' Kaisha shrugged. 'Goodbye then Mr Dreher.'

In the moment it took for Scott to register that their meeting was over, Kaisha had taken three
steps into the street. She then, apparently, changed her mind and span around to face him.

'We both should go,' she said urgently, 'through the back.'

'What? Why?' Scott demanded.

'
Gaijin
, no hair,' Kaisha stated, lifting her chin to indicate Scott should look behind
her.

Oh, a hairless gaijin indeed! How convenient.

But there he was: a westerner, conveniently very big and bald, walking with a group of other
tourists; and all, no doubt, innocently soaking up the nightlife.

'Is it him? Have you seen him before?' Scott asked.

'Maybe, maybe not. Not staying to find out.' Kaisha headed inside.

Scott stood, as if to go after her, then hesitated.
Oh man! Is this a set up or what? Sit
Scott.

He glanced at the tour group, which was still half a block away on the other side of the street.
The bald guy was sort of looking their way, but not really; perhaps wondering if Kaisha was going to
come out again, but more than likely not.

Do not fall for it, Scott.

He sat down again. For a moment.

The bald foreign white guy
gaijin
left his 'companions' - without a word of farewell - and
began weaving through the crowds towards him. The man was on a mission.

Shit
.

Scott threw some money on the counter, and dashed through the long narrow noodle bar after
Kaisha.

HMAS Harris, Pacific Ocean
Tuesday 11.10 pm

Gideon wondered whether shock had finally set in and rendered her package if not
speechless then at least floundering for the usual chitchat. Not one to ruin a precious moment of
silence, she turned to the small wall mirror so she could both watch her visitor, and give her short
freshly washed hair a cursory brush.

Jana fiddled with her own fingers, glanced around the tiny cabin, then finally asked, 'Um, who
were you talking to?'

'No one,' Gideon looked perplexed. 'Oh sorry, yes I was. We Redbacks are fitted with spanking new
comm devices,' she said, tapping her collarbone.

'Well I am; the others only have the aural gadgets so far. Mine is the whole aural-vocal
catastrophe which, so far, is bloody annoying.'

'Did you say fitted?' Jana asked.

'Surgically implanted,' Gideon said. 'On, off,' she indicated by squeezing her left ear lobe.

Jana shook her head. 'But you were all wearing microphones, I saw them.'

'Yeah. The guys were still being fitted when we had to, ah, come and get you. So I have two-way
comm with home; but until we get back to the lab, they can only hear the Link.'

'Link?' Jana narrowed her eyes. 'Who or where?'

'Not sure exactly.' Gideon pinched her left lobe. 'Link? You still at work, Oliver?'

'
Well, yeah. It's not like I take you home with me, Gideon,
' said the voice inside.
'
Why?
'

'Dr Rossi wanted to know. Out.' Gideon pinched her lobe again. 'Sydney,' she said, as if that
answered everything.

'So is it Oliver or Sidney or Link in your head?'

'Um,' Gideon's bemused smile was little more than a quick pursing of the lips that lifted one
corner of her mouth. 'Oliver is
in
Sydney,' she said.

'During ops - operations - Oliver gets called Link, coz it's easier; and because the Link is not
always Oliver. And you don't have clearance for the rest.'

'Oh,' Jana said, none the wiser.

'I can tell you,' Gideon continued, 'that on the next shift, the Link is a woman. And, that they
swear it's only ever going to be one of two people.'

Fascinating - not!
Jana thought.
Come on woman, ask her about the dead rebel
. She
stuck a hand in her pocket instead.

Mistaking Dr Rossi's expression as a case of not getting her drift, Gideon did a rare thing - for
her. She elaborated. 'I mean it wouldn't be productive to have us prototypes go stark-raving from a
high rotation of strangers yakking away in our skulls.'

Jana frowned and shook her head. 'Who
are
you?'

Gideon simply raised her eyebrows.

'I mean, who sent you? No, actually I do mean
who are you
? It seems you've told everyone,'
Jana waved at the boat, 'something different. So, Ms Gideon, are you a commander, doctor, soldier,
agent or what?'

'Yes,' Gideon said, noting how much Dr Rossi used her hands when she spoke.

'And a woman of few words, I see,' Jana commented.

Hands, but not her arms though, Gideon was thinking. There was no Latin-style expansiveness in
the woman's gestures. In fact she kept her upper arms close to her body, while both hands circled,
or one waved thoughtfully or emphasised a point.

As if confirming Gideon's observation, Jana flipped her hand questioningly away from her
chin.

'Okay, how about this,' she said. 'Who sent you?'

'Specifically - I have no idea,' Gideon said. 'Truly,' she added, in response to an expectant
look.

'I don't understand. How can you not know?'

'We're retrieval agents,' Gideon shrugged. 'You know, government sanctioned re-abductors.'

'You're kidding,' Jana laughed, and then registered surprise. 'So our government…' Jana
began, then changed tack. 'Was I really your, um, what did you call me?'

'My PO. And yeah.' Gideon's tone implied
of course
, although her curiosity was nudged
again by the fact that Dr Rossi seemed clueless about her own status, whatever it was.

'This is too weird,' Jana said to herself. 'And our government actually sent you?'

'Requested our services, would be more accurate.'

'I don't understand.'

'We're a non-government organisation, so we mostly do private work. In your case, however, who
but the government could organise all this?' Gideon raised her chin slightly to indicate their
surroundings.

'I don't know,' Jana shrugged. 'Murdoch or Packer or Lane,' she suggested. 'I mean, Alan Wagner
seemed to think he was important enough for someone to rescue.'

'Who's Alan Wagner?'

'You know, the TV journo from
This Week, The World
.' When Gideon looked unenlightened,
Jana twirled her right hand, and added, 'The fuckwit you saved me from.'

'Oh him. Wouldn't know him if he fell at my feet,' Gideon said, tucking her white T-shirt into
her jeans. 'And you really don't know why you? Or who would?'

'No,' Jana said emphatically, because the only person who came to mind, wouldn't.

'Do you want me to find out?'

'I could take a wild guess,' Jana was saying absently, 'but that's all it would be. On top of
which,' she shook her head, 'highly unlikely.'

Gideon frowned at the woman's irritating need for superfluous chatter. 'It's a limited offer,
Doc.'

'What? Oh, yes. Could you?' she smiled. 'And for heaven's sake, stop with the Doc and Dr Rossi
nonsense. Please, call me Jana.'

'Sure,' Gideon agreed. 'If you head back to the de-briefing room now, I'll check this out for
you.'

Bugger
. 'Do I have to?'

Yes. And enough now
. Gideon pointed to her earlobe. 'Clearance, remember.'

'But,' Jana frowned.

'What?'

'I wanted to talk to you about, um, about what happened on the island.'

'Oh. Yeah, sorry.' Gideon cocked her head. 'That's actually why I wanted to see you; to talk
before Agent Brand started his debrief. Are you okay? I mean, did that guy hurt you before I came
back?'

'No,' Jana said hurriedly. 'Well, not really. No, he didn't. But he would have. So I wanted to
thank you,' she held up a hand when Gideon shrugged, 'and, um, verify that you did in fact kill
him.'

'Why? You want to go back and make sure he's dead?' Gideon asked, puzzled.

'No,' Jana raised her hands. 'That's not what I meant.'

'Oh,' Gideon said, remembering that a civilian might actually be concerned about a bloke, even a
bad guy, being taken out like that.

'Yes, I shot him. He's very dead. Coop could have taken him out with a T-dart, but I,' she
hesitated, and rubbed the back of her neck. Dr Rossi's frown was prompting her to elaborate
- again. 'It's a dart from a long-range weapon, a bit like a stun gun, that's designed to
incapacitate not kill. But I only had the real deal. So it was the rebel with my gun, or you with
his knife.'

Jana nodded.

'Are you okay with that?'

'Oh yes,' Jana nodded again. 'With the me not being dead part, I mean. The other will take a bit
of getting used to.'

'Don't lose any sleep over him Doc. Jana. He would have raped you. Then he would have killed
you.'

Jana's skin crawled, but she smiled. 'I know. And again, I thank you.'

Gideon shrugged. 'I've already apprised Agent Brand of the incident, so we don't expect you to
talk about it in front of your annoying ex-roommate.'

'That's a relief.'

Easy Spur Ranch, Carthage, Texas
Tuesday 6.10 am

Jesse-Jay Bagget looked at his dumb-fuck pseudo-stepbrother and decided this may
indeed be the best way to go about things. If Kero wanted to drive the truck so much, then he could.
He could drive it straight in, make his point and that'd be the end of it. Either way, the Colonel
would be way pleased, and Jesse-Jay would've shown his delegating skills. The timing would be better
for him and the other thing too.

And even if shit-for-brains Kero screwed the first part up, which was so possible, well then - as
long as he screwed it up proper - then it'd be no great loss.

Jesse-Jay checked his watch for the umpteenth time since rising and eating breakfast in the dark.
Once the boys arrived and the stock was loaded, the drive to Dallas would take a bit over three
hours. That'd put them midtown about mid morning. Perfect. The city would be open for business, the
Colonel would make his call, and the deal would be done.