ELEVEN

'Wake up, Jay.'

'What, what is it?' He rolled onto his side and blinked against the afternoon light. He checked the time. The rose tattoo stared back at him. Wrong wrist. He looked across to the other wrist. Three hours wasted.

'Get up. You've got a call on your mobile,' Sarah said.

He moved to the edge of the bed and winced. The soreness in his body felt like the morning after his first amateur boxing fight. He had won quite convincingly, but couldn't move normally for a week afterwards. A dry mouth and headache accompanied the pain in his ribs. 'Who is it?' he asked.

'Some bloke says he's your boss. Wouldn't give his name.' She threw his phone onto the bed and made her way out of the room.

Jay called after her. 'You always answer other people's phones? And I told you two hours.'

The effort was obviously wasted, as she didn't respond.

He reached across for the phone with his good hand. 'Yeah, boss.'

'Hey, Jay. What's going on?'

'Just woke.'

'That right? This compassionate leave better not have anything to do with the young lady who answered the phone.'

'No, boss. She's family. Just helping out for a bit.' Jay closed his eyes tight, realising his mistake.

'You don't have any family, apart from your dad.'

'Well, she's helping out anyway,' Jay said. As soon as he said it, he knew his boss would pick up the shallowness of his reasoning. 'What's up, boss?'

'If I find out you've been screwing me for this leave you know what will happen. Fortunately for you, I haven't got time for this. Listen, were you down in the interrogation rooms over the weekend?'

Jay wondered what his boss knew and decided to play it innocent. 'No, boss. Why's that?'

'Because some pig left a goddamned mess down there, that's why. We haven't had anyone in the bag for a couple of weeks and all the boys here swear they haven't used it. So it comes down to you or Captain Primrose.'

Jay forgot about the pain and shot up out of bed. He looked down at his tattoo. 'I'd say that you'll have to ask Captain Primrose, boss, because I haven't been down there for a while.'

'Can't get hold of him at the moment. Just letting you know that I'm mighty pissed off.'

'Understandable, boss. Did you say that you haven't asked Captain Primrose?'

'You know I didn't. Can't get hold of him at the moment was what I said.'

Jay kicked himself for not doing better in hiding his information requirements. 'Why's that? He should be in today.'

'Well, he's not. Seems he's got some personal things going on as well. His wife called this morning.'

'Nothing bad I hope?' Jay asked.

'She didn't say. She was all upset and crying and shit. I told her that he could call me with his problems. Haven't heard back and his mobile's switched off.'

'That's no good,' Jay said without any sincerity. 'Anything else, boss?'

'Apart from your new girlfriend, how is everything going there with your dad?'

'She's not my girlfriend, boss, and everything is going well with Dad for the time being. I'll keep you updated when things settle down.'

'No worries. Call me anytime, Jay.'

'Will do, boss.'

The call worried Jay on two fronts. An obvious mess had been left in the depths of the Centre from the torture session and his boss had narrowed it down to him or Primrose. More worrying though, the person who'd inflicted the torture hadn't turned up to work and couldn't be reached. Jay had assumed Primrose would have got to the site early and cleaned up the mess. Covered his tracks. Something was wrong and it didn't make sense.

He wandered to the bathroom and washed up, clearing the last of the dried blood from his nose. An aroma immediately filled his head and made its way to the depths of his stomach. Pancakes. He dried off and went into the kitchen.

'You certainly made yourself right at home,' he said as he took up a stool at the kitchen counter.

Sarah turned from the stove. She was wearing an apron that said I'm the boss of the BBQ. 'Well, your boss thinks I'm your girlfriend.'

'Nothing wrong with your ears,' Jay said. 'I set him straight.'

'I wasn't exactly planning on staying in Brisbane this long. They're not all yours,' she said indicating the large plate of pancakes on the bench. 'I can tell both you and your dad are bachelors. Not much in the cupboards, so pancakes it is. Coffee's there, black this time – you're out of milk.'

Jay nodded. He loved strong coffee, but needed it with plenty of milk. It would go untouched. He started on his food. Sarah joined him at the bench and they ate in silence. He was preoccupied with his thoughts. The situation just didn't add up. His father missing, Primrose missing and Lazarau dead.

'What is it?' Sarah asked.

He finished his last mouthful and took his plate to the sink. 'Primrose didn't turn up to work today.'

'Didn't turn up like he's on holidays or like he's missing?'

'His wife called in for him. Didn't really give a story, just said there were some dramas at the Primrose house.'

'A bit like you did?'

Jay allowed a fake smile to speak for him. Smart-arse, he thought. He didn't mind that in a woman and was warming to Sarah's wit.

'OK, listen,' she said. 'We need to speak to Primrose. I've put in requests at the Agency for information on Mr and Mrs Primrose, also this Sub Rosa thing, and I'm waiting for more information on Lazarau. There's still no word on your dad and I've scoured his computer with no success. Which reminds me, where is your dad's safe?'

Jay had forgotten all about the safe. 'Shit yes. Under the laundry sink,' he said, getting up from his seat. Sarah followed.

They moved to the back of the house and into the laundry. Jay bent down below the sink and opened the cupboard. He removed a large box of detergent and handed it to Sarah. The small safe was there with the door ajar. Jay pulled the door all the way open and looked inside. Empty. He shook his head and dropped his shoulders.

'What is it?'

'Nothing in here. Gone.'

'Don't touch anything. I can get some Agency techs down here for printing.'

The two German shepherds next door started barking again. 'Not yet. I don't want people to know about this – the fewer the better. We may be pushing things already with the requests.' He stood up and went to the kitchen. Sarah followed.

There was a knock at the front door. The dogs continued to bark. Jay looked at Sarah and shrugged his shoulders. As he made his way to the front door, he looked out through the windows and noted a military police van parked in the driveway. Two men in camouflaged fatigues with accompanying military police armbands greeted him at the door.

Jay whistled. The barking stopped. 'Yes?' he asked of the two.

'You Sergeant Jay Ryan?' the nearest one asked.

'Yeah. Why's that?'

'You need to come with us back to base.'

'Who are you and why?'

The military policeman looked past Jay toward Sarah. 'I'm Sergeant Cliffe and this is Corporal Taylor,' he said nodding toward the second man to his right. 'I'll explain why in the van.'

The second man kept glancing across the fence in the direction of the two dogs. The red berets on both of their heads sat too high. They weren't tight down over the right ear as they should have been. Taylor's hair stuck out too far from under the beret. Jay looked down at Cliffe's boots. They weren't laced correctly.

Jay turned toward Sarah, closed his eyes for a second and shook his head slightly. He turned back to the two men. 'Identification thanks, gentlemen.' He opened the security screen and held out his good hand.

Cliffe smiled at Jay. 'You see these armbands? They're my identification.'

'Don't be a smart-arse. You can buy those things down at the disposal store. I want to see your ID.' He guessed Sarah was making her way to her backpack, for her standard issue Glock. Hoped she was.

Cliffe reached behind his back.