The Qantas jet climbed above the nation's capital and banked toward Brisbane. Sarah looked forward to the warmer weather of Queensland. Despite living in Canberra for the past five years, she hadn't become used to the constant chill. They had a saying in Brisbane: beautiful one day, perfect the next.
The seatbelt light was extinguished and the captain broadcast his welcoming speech. Sarah had business class all to herself: government workers flew into Canberra for the working week from more favourable climatic locations, not the other way around. She removed her laptop from its case and opened the file containing the background information on Jay Ryan's military career. She had requested the Military Source Report after completing the interrogation with Lazarau but hadn't had a chance to read it yet. She'd spent the afternoon and most of the night finalising handover notes for an operation she had been dragged from to work on the Lazarau case. The early-morning handover to the Deputy Director of NSIS, Keith Harper, had been uncomfortable due to an unfortunate incident between the two several months earlier. Harper had shown a particularly keen interest in Sarah since his marriage break-up, and after a few too many drinks at a work function he had mustered the courage to ask Sarah on a date. The twenty-year age gap was a little hard to overcome for Sarah and she politely declined. From the next day, Harper acted as if the request had never occurred, but it seemed to Sarah that the working relationship was strictly by the rules from that day on. She figured, as he was gunning for the top job, that he would prefer the matter never talked about. Uncomfortable at times for Sarah, but bearable.
The Military Source Report had been emailed to her an hour before she'd arrived at the airport. She guessed the Military Intelligence liaison officer hadn't been too happy about producing the report at late notice, and on the weekend. Stiff shit, she thought. The information was important.
INFORMATION OBTAINED. SGT Jay Ryan enlisted into the army as an eighteen-year-old on 24 July 1996. After completing his initial training, he served as an infantryman at Brisbane-based 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. He reached the rank of Corporal less than three years after his initial enlistment. He transferred to Australian Army Intelligence Corps 18 January 2000.
His initial intelligence training was conducted at the Army Intelligence Training Centre, Canungra. He achieved good results for the Combat Intelligence phase of his training and excelled at the Counter-Intelligence phase, especially conducting interviews. He achieved the highest possible result for this phase of the course.
SGT Ryan returned to the training centre eighteen months after his initial courses to complete his HUMINT training. This incorporates a Field Intelligence Course and an Interrogation Course. Once again, he excelled within this specialist intelligence field.
SGT Ryan applied his skills in combat situations in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002/2003. He was highly commended for his ability to rapidly acquire information through his interrogation techniques. The Prime Minister personally presented commendations to SGT Ryan when he returned from Iraq.
SGT Ryan returned to the Intelligence Training Centre as an instructor in 2005. SOURCE COMMENT. SGT JAY Ryan is undoubtedly the best interrogator within the military and has been used by other government agencies for training their staff. END SOURCE COMMENT. END REPORT.
Sarah absorbed the information and stared down at the rugged Australian landscape. Nothing in the source report to suggest anything but Jay Ryan having an unblemished military career. She knew Lazarau wasn't being truthful, but needed to find out why he'd sent her chasing after a distinguished military interrogator. Most of all, she wanted to figure out how Lazarau knew her real name.
An incoming email message played a tune. Wireless connection, the advantages of business class and a security clearance, she thought. The message informed her to contact the Deputy Director immediately.
She closed the laptop and wondered why Harper had contacted her. The need-to-know assignment with Lazarau had come straight from the Director, Patrick Goodwin. Even during her handover of her last assignment, she hadn't informed Harper about her new task.
Digging into her briefcase, she found her phone, searched the index and placed the call. After a short conversation with Harper's secretary, she was patched through to his office.
'Go secure now,' he said.
'Going secure.' She pressed a four-digit code into her phone. Three short chirps emitted. 'Secure now,' she said.
'Secure this end. Agent Evans, this is Deputy Director Harper.'
'Yes, sir.'
'I assume you are on schedule to meet with Jay Ryan.'
'Yes, sir,' she said. She felt defensive. The encrypted report had been sent straight to the Director.
'Good. The Director has briefed me, and I've just finished with the report from your meet with Lazarau. I'm being frank when I say that I'm surprised you didn't push him more – you don't believe this Ryan lead, do you?'
'Well, no sir. I know it's another cover story, however I'm interested in why he picked Jay Ryan.'
'We'll go into that when you get back. Suffice to say, this is your only lead now. Lazarau was moved late last night out of our facility and into a high security prison. He didn't last the night.'
'Shit! How did that happen, sir? I didn't know he was being released, otherwise I would have pushed.'
'I'm looking into it. I'm splitting this investigation. You work solely on the Jay Ryan angle and see where it leads. I'll be running this end with Lazarau personally. Director Goodwin has handed this to me for command and control. You understand that, Agent Evans?'
She didn't understand why it would be handed over at this stage, but decided not to question the authority. 'Yes, sir.'
'You are to report directly to me and make no mention of this to anyone else inside or outside of the Agency. All checks you need to make come through me. I want daily updates at minimum. Any questions with that?'
'No, sir.'
'Finally, do you know who Jay Ryan's father is?'
'I have read about him, Edward Ryan. He left the Agency a few years ago.'
'Good, then you would have guessed that he and the Director are tight; worked closely for a long time. I have also worked with Ed and even tried to recruit Jay a couple of times myself. We know this family very well and they come under the Agency umbrella. I hope you understand what that means.'
They get favourable treatment, she thought. 'I think so, sir.'
'Jay may not know this yet, but his father has disappeared off the radar and we have concerns there as well. Follow this up while you're there. I'm putting a lot of faith in you on this assignment, Agent Evans. Any resource you want, you let me know. Any questions, you can reach me any time. I'll expect an update as soon as you've talked to Jay.' He hung up.
She put the phone back in the briefcase and stared out of the cabin window, recalling her agent training. During her final surveillance activity through the heart of Sydney, she had been tracking a target on foot when two masked men snatched her from the street. She was bundled into the back of a van, gagged and tied up. After what seemed like an eternity driving around, she had been dragged into a dark cell. When the hood and gag were removed, a man sat directly opposite and stared at her. He looked like Colin Farrell with broader shoulders and welcomed her with a melting smile. Within the first twenty minutes of questioning, he had broken her first cover story; he knew it was a ploy. He remained quiet for at least two minutes while she sobbed.
When she'd gathered herself, he'd calmly stated, 'I will allow you precisely one minute to collect your thoughts before you provide me with the correct answers to the questions I ask. And I warn you, I won't be happy if you provide me with another flimsy cover story.' After the minute had elapsed, he asked her to repeat her story. For the next two hours he had asked detailed lines of questioning, continuously catching her out in many lies until she had no lies left to tell.
It was the most intense experience of her life. The more she opened her mouth, the harder it became to maintain control. Her emotions couldn't be kept in check as she became frustrated with the number of times he caught her off guard. In the end, she couldn't help but answer his questions honestly, giving away classified information. She had been drawn to his words, voice and mannerisms. At that stage, she hadn't known it was all part of her training.
At the final debrief the first thing she did was slap the interrogator's face. It seemed he expected her to do as much. He had waited until she'd calmed down before he spoke in a calculated way. He told her two things: first, keep her cover story as close to the truth as possible, only changing the vital details; and second, memorise the vital details.
The interrogator was Sergeant Jay Ryan.