Mark Abernethy: Double back

‘Mr Mac,’ smiled Saba, a flash of gold at the bottom of the right front tooth. ‘Haven’t seen you for a while.’

‘Been up in Mindanao,’ said Mac.

‘Not Irian Jaya?’ asked Saba, using the Indonesian term for West Papua. ‘That wasn’t you at Lok Kok?’

Mac laughed and so did Saba. Spies liked to one-up each other with superior information.

‘It’s nice up there this time of year – nice and cool,’ said Mac, brushing a phantom crumb from his chinos.

‘So what can I do for you?’

‘Remember a bloke called Bongo?’ asked Mac.

‘Maybe.’

‘I need to talk – and I mean talk,’ he said.

Saba nodded and Mac pulled an old credit card receipt from his wallet, wrote his mobile number on the back.

‘A message?’ said Saba, slow and steady like the first sentence of an interrogation.

Mac thought about it. ‘Tell him a blackbird sings but I don’t know the tune. Can do?’

‘Maybe,’ shrugged Saba, folding the receipt into an origami bird.

When Mac first spotted him, Martin Atkins was sitting at a small tea stand in a side avenue of the Bird Market, about sixty metres into the sprawling mass of Denpasar’s Satrya Markets. On either side of Atkins were lines of birdcages stacked four or five high, their owners walking back and forth with their money pouches, ready with extended hooks should anyone want to inspect a bird.

Ignoring Atkins on the first pass, Mac came back the same way five minutes later having made a few zigzag and double-back manoeuvres to shake whoever was following. Taking a seat in the shade of the tea stand, Mac asked the old lady for a green tea and turned to his controller when she’d left.

‘Marty,’ said Mac. ‘How’s it going?’

‘Not bad,’ said Atkins, sipping his tea. ‘You’re late.’

‘I’m alive – it’s a preference of mine.’

Atkins looked away, gave a slight sigh. His hair was a shade darker than Mac’s blond, but otherwise they were similar in age, build and background. Where they differed was the emphasis of their professional lives. Mac lived his life as if every day could be the one where he was kidnapped or killed. Atkins wanted to be like Greg Tobin – an office guy with a management instinct rather than any field craft. Waiting for a contact in a market was unnatural for Atkins; he’d rather be around the corner, in his office, writing a memo that made himself look like the only smart man in a sea of dumb-arses.

‘There’s a package waiting in your hotel,’ said Atkins, looking away. ‘You’re Richard Davis, going in from Denpasar on the morning flight, a businessman from Arafura Imports. You’re based in Sydney and you’re looking for sandalwood opportunities, especially Catholic icons – Mother Marys, that shit, okay?’

‘Turismo?’ asked Mac.

‘That’s the one – Terri has you in a long-term room, for three weeks to start with and then on a needs basis.’

Terri was the accountant who ran the ASIS front company in Sydney. She took the calls and cleared the mail for Mac’s forestry consulting firm, his textbook company – Southern Scholastic – and various other shams, such as Arafura Imports. When people tried to verify Mac’s business bona fides they usually got a total going-over as regards their creditworthiness and corporate registrations. Mac always felt comfortable that Terri dealt with the back office.

‘So what’s the gig?’ asked Mac, smiling at the old lady who brought his tea.

‘Find Blackbird, establish whether it’s viable to start running her again…’

‘And?’

Looking away at the crowds, Atkins attempted to make himself seem relaxed. ‘If you can do so covertly, establish what’s meant by “Operasi Boa”.’

Mac paused, wondering where that had come from. ‘Boa?’

‘Like I said.’

‘Like a feathery scarf?’ said Mac, making sure he had it right.

‘That’s it, McQueen. Operasi Boa.’

Staring at each other for several seconds, they broke with smiles.

‘What’s the secret, Marty?’ said Mac. ‘What is it?’

‘That’s your job, mate.’

‘Oh, come on,’ said Mac, too tired for the hokey-pokey.

‘All I know is what I’ve been briefed on,’ said Atkins. ‘The Canadian was tasked with getting Blackbird to find out about Boa.’

‘And?’

‘We don’t know if he did, or if the meet happened,’ said Atkins, gulping his tea. ‘It’s probably best if you start from scratch rather than guessing at what Boa might be.’

Smiling, Mac decided to let it go, though taking craft advice from a man who did management courses at Melbourne Business School was a little rich. ‘You weren’t running the Canadian?’

‘I was,’ said Atkins. ‘But a week before we lost him, our higher-ups got a hard-on for this Boa, so I became a conduit. You know how it is.’

Nodding, Mac knew how it was. ‘So who is he, this Canadian?’

‘Bill Yarrow – wanted by Canadian Customs for import fraud. Owes them millions in unpaid excise. It’s in your package.’

‘But I’m not looking for him?’

‘If he turns up, bring him in,’ said Atkins. ‘He’s of interest, sure, but the priority is Blackbird.’

‘Who’s my contact?’ said Mac.

‘Blackbird,’ said Atkins, his face grim.

‘She still around?’ asked Mac.

‘We have to establish that one way or the other,’ said Atkins.

‘How do I get to her?’

‘We use a cut-out – but I can’t send you to him,’ said Atkins. ‘He’s in a sensitive position and we’ve guaranteed his anonymity.’

Mac nodded, thinking. A cut-out was an unidentified person who communicated via drop boxes. The theory was that using cut-outs protected the local asset from being compromised, and left the intelligence officer as an unknown person who just left and received notes in a pre-arranged place: the drop box. But while the theory of cut-outs worked well on a whiteboard in Canberra, they were merely a professional challenge to Mac and people like him.

‘What’s the cycle?’ asked Mac.

‘Santa Cruz cemetery, twenty-one left, seven right, Mondays and Fridays.’

It was currently Wednesday.

‘And what’s our status with the Indons in Timor?’ asked Mac, knowing that although the Indonesia-backed militias were clearing villages in the lead-up to the independence ballot, the Australian government was holding off on sending in a presence.

‘Our status is a friendly neighbour, giving moral support at this difficult time,’ said Atkins.

They both chuckled. The Australian government had Royal Australian Navy surveillance vessels – declared and covert – steaming the Timor Sea, right across the underbelly of East Timor; there were RAN clearance divers not only in Dili’s harbour, but in Atambua and Kupang – the heart of Indonesian Timor. There was nothing friendly about the Timor Gap gas fields off the south coast of East Timor, gas fields that Australia felt it was better placed to control than Indonesia.

‘By the way,’ said Atkins, ‘the phone lines are compromised out of Dili, and that includes cellular. There’s a radio for emergencies at Santa Cruz thirty-five right, seven left. Otherwise, you collect the intel and walk it out. To me, okay?’

Accepting Atkins’ handshake, Mac stood to go before noticing his colleague’s discomfort and pausing.

‘Anything else?’ said Mac, scoping the crowded market for eyes.

‘Look, mate, after the Lok Kok thing, they want me to ensure… I mean, it’s not my -’

‘No firearm – that it?’ said Mac, breathing out.

‘Wasn’t my call,’ said Atkins. ‘I’d never search you, but just so we’re clear.’

Walking up Veteran Street in the heat of late morning, Mac paused by a juice bar near Puputan Square. His hotel, the Natour Bali, was just around the corner in downtown, but he didn’t want to head there just yet. He was tired and needed sleep, but he wasn’t going to nap until he worked out who his tail was and what he wanted.