‘I need a favour, Dad.’
‘You in trouble, boy? Everything okay? Fallout from this morning?’ Ed Ryan asked.
Jay looked down as the doctor inserted a needle into the side of his cut. He winced and held his breath.
‘You there, Jay?’
‘Hang on,’ he said through clenched teeth. The local anaesthetic wasn’t working that well. The doctor removed the needle. Jay breathed out. ‘Dad, I need an urgent favour.’
‘What’s the matter? I got a message from the Commissioner that you’re in the clear.’
‘Not that. Well, maybe linked to that. Short story. I helped pull some kids out of an overturned bus tonight.’
‘Pardon? Everyone okay? You all right?’
‘One kid’s badly injured and a few more with broken bones and a few cuts. I’ll fill you in when you get here. How far away are you?’
‘Fifteen ... twenty minutes. What’s the favour?’
‘I haven’t got much to go on and it may be too late by now–’
‘Spit it out and make a call. Don’t tell me you’ve lost the ability since becoming a hippy.’
Jay kept the explanation of the accident brief, but highlighted his suspicions about being targeted.
‘What’s the favour?’
‘I’ve been thinking about the commonalities of both incidents.’
‘Good. You made any assumptions?’
Jay smiled. A game he had always played with his dad. ‘I’ll stick to the facts at the moment. Personalities first. It’s a fact, but maybe a long shot. Yesterday, this morning and this evening I have run into the same police officer...’
‘You’re in a seaside town. Not that big.’
‘I’m aware of that. Just got this feeling that I can’t shake. We can cover it in detail when you get here. Just thought you could run a check on him.’
‘What’s his name?’
Jay told him and added, ‘Is Bill in Brisbane at the moment?’
‘Nope. Gold Coast. I’ve got him freelancing for this anthrax thing.’
‘Private-eye game must be working well for him then. Got his licence yet?’
‘No need. He’s got his own driver now.’
‘Business must be good. Can you give him a call, Dad? Ask him to come down tonight. I have some work for him.’
‘Anything else? Can I pick you up a pizza and a six-pack of beer on the way?’
‘Pizza would be good. Got enough booze at home.’
‘I was being sarcastic.’
‘I know. See you soon. Pepperoni.’ Jay hung up before his father could reply.
The doctor was tying off another stitch. The anaesthetic had finally kicked in. ‘How many, doc?’
‘One more will make seven. Two of the girls got more.’
‘Mmm. Hey, doc, did you treat the badly injured girl?’
‘I stabilised her before the helicopter came. She’s in a bad way. Should be able to re-attach the ear though. By the looks of you, I’d say you were the one who got her out and went back for the ear. That was a very brave thing to do, young man.’
Jay didn’t answer.
The doctor stood. ‘And you saved her leg and probably her life by stemming the bleeding with that circular bandage.’
‘My shirt.’
‘It did the job just fine. She’s in for a tough fight to stay alive. Bottom line though is that she’d already be dead if you hadn’t been there.’ The doctor held out his hand. Jay took it and they shook. ‘I’m also guessing that, by the way you cleaned up these wounds, I don’t need to tell you how to look after them.’
‘I’ll be fine.’
‘Need any painkillers?’
‘I’m good.’
The doctor gave a nod. ‘Okay, you can go. I’ll get the nurse to wrap it up tight for you.’
‘Thanks, doc. Can I ask a favour?’
‘Sure.’
‘If you hear anything about the girl who got choppered out, can you give me a call?’
‘I think I can manage that. Leave your number with the nurse and I’ll call as soon as I hear.’
The doctor paused at the foot of the bed and turned to Jay. ‘I get the feeling you’d rather avoid talking to the police officers in the waiting room?’
‘I’d prefer not to. Not tonight anyway.’
‘When you leave, go down the corridor this way.’ He pointed to Jay’s right. ‘Then take another right. You’ll come to the emergency exit. It’s not alarmed. All our smokers go out that way.’
Jay nodded. ‘Thanks, doc.’
‘You’re welcome. Take care. I’ll call when I hear more about the girl.’ He drew the curtain as he left.
Less than five minutes later, Jay had the bandage on and went out the back exit. He made his way around the outside of the building, got into the Chevy, and headed for home. He wondered how Underwood would react when he discovered Jay’s disappearance.
Back in his apartment, Jay grabbed a scotch and dry and applied more antiseptic cream to his various cuts and bruises. He grabbed an icepack and headed out to the balcony. Under the full moon, he watched the tips of the waves as they formed and made their way to the sandy beach. The waves, he thought: first line of defence to the majestic sea. No sooner had he put his leg up onto the balcony, the shrill of his phone interrupted his thoughts. He hobbled inside and returned to the balcony before answering.
‘Hi, Dad.’
‘One of these days it won’t be me calling, son.’
‘You’re the only one who has my number.’
‘And that may be convenient for you, but you’re going to have to handle your own calls soon. It’s been long enough. Time to integrate back into the real world. Which is one of the things I want to talk to you about when I get there.’
‘We’ve had this discussion.’
‘And we’ll keep having it until you start taking your own calls.’
Jay changed the subject. ‘You said one of the things you want to discuss. What else?’
‘I was going to wait until I got there, but it seems some trucker decided to spill his load across the entrance into Byron Bay. It’s a mess and you may want to get some shut-eye before I get there.’
‘That much of a mess?’
‘Traffic stopped in and out. I’ll wait it out and work the phones for a while. Good chance to clear some calls I have to make. By the way, the check on that police officer is sensitive so it’ll take a while to run. Probably have something by the morning.’
‘No worries. What else is there?’
‘There’s a military police Captain who has been trying to track you down.’
‘That right? What does he want?’
‘She.’
‘Okay, she.’
‘She has some bad news to deliver. And she needs to talk with you urgently.’
‘What is it? I’m out of the army now. And after our last little incident, I doubt an MP wants to invite me for coffee.’
‘Probably haven’t forgiven you for escaping their custody. Anyway, that’s not it. Remember back to Afghanistan. There were five of you interrogators who deployed first up.’
Jay thought back to his deployment. The five of them had been hand-picked for the assignment. ‘Yeah, I remember.’
‘Three of those interrogators turned up dead last week.’
‘What?’
‘I didn’t speak to the MP Captain personally, but the message I received was that McClelland died after a hit and run outside a pub in Townsville, Davis overdosed on a bad batch of ecstasy in Melbourne, and Simpson died after his car fell on top of him while he was carrying out some home maintenance.’
‘Holy shit! All within a week.’
‘Yes. And, of course, the other member of that group, Bowen, got murdered last year.’
Jay remembered that one vividly. Bowen had fallen into an espionage ring and Jay had watched helplessly as he was murdered at the hands of a madman. ‘That’ll never leave me. So what does all this mean? Seems a little too coincidental. But totally different MOs.’
‘Normally, being so disparate in type of deaths, this would have gone unnoticed to most. Especially as you all went separate ways.’
‘But?’
‘But it seems that the MP Captain knew Simpson well enough to try to track down his old buddies for the funeral. No doubt that’s when she heard about the other two. And she went to a lot of trouble to reach me and get a message to you.’
‘So she suspects foul play?’
‘And rightly so, considering what you’ve told me about your adventures today.’
Jay thought about the morning incident. They seemed to have gone looking for him, but how would they have known he would be at the RTA at that particular time? ‘Dad, you need to check Underwood pronto. He was the only one who could have known I would be at the RTA ... unless you’re the one setting me up?’
‘Only if you were the one sprinkling anthrax at that music festival. I digress. Underwood. Like I said, it’s sensitive. We need to tread lightly so as not to spook him. I know what you’re thinking. I only got the phone call from the MP on my way down to see you. I’ve got two of my agents from the Gold Coast twenty minutes behind me. I’m keeping it close in case the connection is strong with Underwood and within his department. Bill is on his way as well. We’re all converging on your place as soon as we can. Stay put and stay inside. You got protection?’
‘I haven’t had a girlfriend in over a year, Dad.’
‘No time for jokes, boy. After what’s happened to you today, and to your buddies, I have no doubt you’ve been targeted.’