Mark Abernethy - Double back

‘Which is?’ asked Mac.

‘Dual-Purpose Items – they can be used for purposes other than those declared,’ said Tommy.

‘Don’t countries have to file reports on what these facilities do?’ asked Mac.

‘Yes, Mr McQueen,’ said Tommy, his black trop shirt rustling as he turned. ‘You’re talking about a Confidence-Building Measure. It’s a declaration of materials, weapons and processes that each state must make annually.’

‘So what do the Indonesians say about Lombok?’ asked Mac.

‘Indonesia has never filed a CBM return,’ said Tommy, as if Mac might be a bit slow.

Swapping a glance with Jim, Mac let the briefing continue.

‘The Lombok site is registered with WHO and it produces a vaccine that seems to work,’ said Tommy. ‘But we have some questions.’

The DIA people scrolled through their surveillance pictures and explained their concerns: the incinerator was burning too often and too hot to be destroying the waste Lombok officially produced, the food supplies to the site were too great for the residential staff, the water reservoir was eight times larger than required and the Siemens gas turbine that powered the Lombok site produced enough power to drive a small car plant.

‘We like this one,’ said Tommy, clicking to a photo of a dock worker standing in front of an open shipping container. ‘Lombok declared this as a shipment of Petri dishes from Malaysia, but when we bribed this fellow to open that container, we found something interesting.’

‘Yes?’ said Mac.

‘There was a single wall of boxes, and behind them were four sterile drying cabinets, made in Germany.’

‘That a bad thing?’ asked Mac.

‘It’s a good thing if you’re producing large amounts of methamphetamine – especially the crystal meth drug they’re calling “ice”.’

‘Okay, so Lombok is much bigger than they claim because a secret part of it is a drug lab?’ said Mac, swigging down his bad American coffee.

‘Perhaps,’ said Tommy, clicking his button until the area north and west of the Lombok buildings came back into the picture. ‘Hiding an illegal program with a legitimate one is a popular business decision in this part of the world.’

Nodding, Mac thought back to his recent infiltration of a medical research facility that turned out to be a paracetamol counterfeiting ring.

‘So where’s all the extra capacity?’ asked Mac.

‘Good question,’ said Tommy, aiming his pointer back at the screen. ‘The Lombok AgriCorp facility is built on a campus of about one hundred acres, with only a few buildings on it, grouped in one corner.’

Clicking, Tommy changed the photo to a close-up of the empty part of the campus, on which had been drawn parallel dotted lines along the ground linking six objects in the middle of the open area.

‘So what do we have here?’ demanded Tommy, slapping his pointer at close-ups of six ventilation stacks in the middle of a large field, camouflaged by trees and shrubs. ‘Why do we have ventilators in the middle of a field?’

‘It’s underground?’ asked Mac.

‘We think so,’ said Tommy.

Bringing up a new picture, Tommy indicated a rectangular building. ‘We believe this is a refrigeration plant. It runs twenty-four hours a day and gives off a heat signature associated with a meat-packing plant or an ice-cream factory.’

‘I see,’ said Mac.

‘I hope so, sir,’ smiled Tommy. ‘Because whatever else you do, this unit has to keep working, or the heat sensors will trigger an alarm.’

‘What do you mean, whatever else I do?’ laughed Mac. ‘What would I be doing there?’

‘Didn’t Jim tell you?’ asked Tommy confused. ‘We need someone inside.’

‘Someone?’ asked Mac, shifting in his chair. ‘You mean this little black Aussie duck?’

‘Well -’ said Tommy.

‘Where’s the SEALs or the Delta boys?’ said Mac, turning to Jim. ‘And I thought this was about Blackbird? Now I’m going back into a place where I’ve already been made, to infiltrate an underground drug lab? How did we get here?’

‘Sorry, buddy,’ said Jim. ‘You’re the only person in Western intelligence to have entered Lombok – we can’t get to Yarrow right now, so you’re a better bet than briefing a Delta operator. Besides – it dovetails with Blackbird.’

‘Dovetails?’ said Mac, ears pricked. ‘We’re snatching Blackbird to find out about Boa. So you’re saying Lombok is tied-up with Boa?’

‘I’m saying we have to take a look – it’s a volatile time for Indonesia and we don’t like some of the personnel associated with this site. We need eyes.’

‘Then it’s about time we talked about this personnel,’ said Mac, annoyed.

‘Fair enough,’ said Jim. ‘Fifteen years ago, when Soeharto’s New Order was going to transform Indonesia, the government decided the country had to be modernised.’

‘Sure,’ said Mac, holding out his mug for Simon to pour more coffee.

‘There was housing, defence, education and IT,’ said Jim. ‘And there was science and technology and medical research…’ He did the wind-up signal to illustrate a lot more categories. ‘Government departments had to help fund projects that were going to lift Indonesia into the realms of international greatness.’

‘Like Malaysia and Singapore,’ said Mac.

‘That’s it,’ said Jim. ‘Except the financial fruit didn’t fall far from the tree in Indonesia, and there weren’t as many medical research projects as Soeharto’s ministers expected. So this enterprising young officer in Kopassus, Ishy Haryono, used his family connections to promote a couple of medical research programs that attracted most of the funding.’

Jim signalled to Tommy, who found a picture of Haryono – a heavy-faced, pock-marked Javanese man with a moustache.

‘He looks very Noriega,’ said Mac. ‘He CIA?’

‘Well,’ started Jim. ‘You know how -’

‘That’s classified, Mr McQueen,’ said Simon, leaning over. ‘The US Department of Defense does not confirm or deny its associations with foreign nationals.’

‘He’s right,’ said Jim, shrugging. ‘We don’t.’

‘Did Haryono’s projects work?’ said Mac.

‘Some of them,’ said Jim. ‘But besides making Haryono very wealthy, these early programs attracted our friends the North Koreans.’

‘Why?’ asked Mac.

‘The North Korean military derives its main income from drug manufacture and distribution, which is outsourced to people like Haryono.’

‘Operasi Boa has something to do with Lombok and Haryono? It’s about drugs?’ asked Mac.

‘We want to cross it off our list,’ said Jim, as Simon loudly cleared his throat.

‘I’m sorry, Jim,’ said Simon, flustered and standing. ‘That is classified. McQueen’s operation is tightly defined: recon at Lombok and render Maria Gersao. Period.’

‘Let me tightly define it for you, Simon,’ said Mac, standing and looking the American in the eye.

‘I’m sorry, Mr McQueen,’ said Simon, his New England accent a little too superior for Mac’s liking. ‘We can’t compromise our own intelligence sources to tell you what we think might be happening.’

‘He’s right, McQueen,’ said Jim, edging between them. ‘We can’t judge the intelligence before we even collect it. Operasi Boa is still unconfirmed – that’s why we need the woman you call Blackbird.’

Addressing all of them, Jim tried to defuse the tension. ‘Guys, let’s do this the way Washington and Canberra want it done, okay? We collect the intelligence, and we’ve done our jobs.’

Looking at his hands, Mac made a noncommittal noise. Davidson had warned him about how close post-Soeharto Indonesia was to democracy and how easy it would be for the Indonesian generals to scuttle that by goading Australia or the US into direct actions. He was going to keep his mouth shut.