Mark Abernethy - Second Strike

They tossed it around and it fi nally dropped for Scotty. ‘Fitzgerald, Fitzsimons… ‘ he mumbled. ‘That’s it! Fitzgibbon. Danny Fitzgibbon.

Shit, what a tosser! Swear to God.’

The APS car fl ashed past Miami High School’s sports grounds and Mac felt the excitement come up. ‘Mate, I have to know. Was the person he was cultivating Dave Urquhart?’

‘Nah, mate,’ said Scotty. ‘Dave was out of New York by then.’

‘So who, Scotty?’

‘That smarmy prick who’s in Jakkers now. Martin Atkins. Didn’t warm to him much either.’

There were two Ford Falcons parked in the street outside Mac’s townhouse when he got out of the car. One of the federal cops in blue overalls and a Kevlar vest made straight for him, hand on his Glock handgun.

Mac put his hands out.

‘Agent Hamilton, Australian Federal Police – sorry, sir, but this is a restricted area right now.’

The APS guy introduced himself, introduced Mac, and handed over to Agent Hamilton before getting back in his car and speeding away.

There was a mix-up with Mac’s ID – he wasn’t carrying any Alan McQueen collateral – and so another cop knocked on the townhouse door while Hamilton kept an eye on Mac. Jenny opened the door, Rachel on her hip, both of them breaking into smiles as they saw him.

Jenny ID’d him for the cops and they kissed as he kicked the door back. Mac tried to pull back but she pushed in on him as he dropped his bags, pinning him to the wall. Whatever other problems Mac had with his wife, she was a fantastic kisser. Rachel smiled and waved her red plastic spoon at him excitedly when he came up for air, and Jenny passed her over.

Jenny looked at Mac closely, ran her fi ngers up to the gash on his left forehead and into his hairline. When she looked into his eyes, he didn’t want her to see his pain and fear, so he turned to Rachel and tried to kiss her but she whacked him on the nose with the red spoon, her little legs going crazy in the sleepsuit as she said da da over and over. He looked into her big dark eyes, full of love and hope, and he smelled her unique smell and he wondered why he couldn’t just be a standard loving dad.

They lay on the sofa watching Rachel do her thing on the rug with her plastic boxes and abacuses. She was now dressed in nappies and the yellow Singapore T-shirt with the red dragon on it. Ke, the Thai boy Jenny had told Mac about, sat at the kitchen table with a colouring book. He looked at them occasionally, his face solemn, not talking.

Jenny shrugged. ‘He’ll start talking soon. He’s a kid, he won’t be able to help himself.’

Mac kept his conversation vague about the Diane shooting and Jenny let him tell it his way.

‘I didn’t sleep with her, okay?’ he said and she nodded. ‘I didn’t kiss her and I didn’t want to. Whatever happened in the past, it’s more like she’s a sister now.’

They looked into each other’s eyes, Mac happy he had nothing to hide. ‘Please believe me.’

Jenny smiled. ‘I do.’

‘And what about you? asked Mac, pleased for a diversion. ‘Have George and that Cambodian been behaving themselves?’

Jenny smiled the way cops do when they’re discussing criminal dickheads. ‘They’ve gone to ground – haven’t turned up here, if that’s what you mean.’

Then came the tough part of the conversation. Tony and Vi Davidson had been at their wedding reception at the Jakarta Golf Club and Vi had insisted on using her family money to pay the booze bill for the function. Then she’d given Jen some hilarious advice on how to stay sane around people like Mac and Tony, most of it centring around dishing up wide-eyed female fl attery at every chance. Vi had been a unique Aussie character and a favourite of the embassy community.

Tears fl owing, Jenny put her arms around him.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

Mac shook his head, looked over her shoulder, out the ranch-sliders to an apartment complex with a swimming pool. ‘People spend their whole lives trying to stay off the radar, never really able to retire.

In some ways he would have been expecting it.’

Jenny’s expression changed with the reality of what Mac was saying. She sniffl ed.

‘By the way,’ said Mac, ‘before I forget – Benny has a tip for you.’

‘Oh yeah?’ she said, sceptical.

‘He says there’s KR money coming out of south-east Queensland.

Seems to be new channels but the front companies in Singers are old and it’s all Khmer Rouge.’

Jenny sat upright. In her world, the Khmer Rouge was synonymous with the slaving rackets. ‘When did the funds start fl owing?’ she asked.

‘A month or two ago, I think,’ said Mac. ‘Don’t quote me – I’ll give you Benny’s number.’

‘You do that,’ she said.

Mac tried to have a normal family day, but the federal cops who strolled along behind them reminded them of the lives they had chosen. They had a few beers with their seafood lunch in Cavill Avenue and then went Christmas shopping. They ended up at the Southport swimming pool and Jenny sat in the baby pool with Rachel and Ke, Mac’s daughter shrieking with joy and her mother all strength and kindness. Ke even managed a smile at Rachel’s antics. Mac sat in the water, taking it in, savouring every second.

Later they lay in bed, listening to the early evening rain making a tapping sound over the hiss of the air-con unit. Jenny felt good in his arms: muscular but also curvy. She snuggled in and put her hand up to Mac’s ear and fondled it. Jenny had not been happy with the news that Mac had another daughter and had grilled Mac about Sarah’s exact age and the timing of the Diane affair. She swung between calling him a bounder and telling him how he’d better pay child support. Although Jen did give him full marks for speaking to Diane’s mother, Felicity, and inviting her and Sarah up to the Gold Coast for Christmas.

She pulled his face into hers, only an inch away. She smelled of toothpaste and he could see her big dark eyes.

‘You’re in luck, Mr Macca,’ she whispered. ‘You married someone with a horrible father.’

Mac gulped.

‘I could never begrudge a girl having a father as wonderful as you.’

‘Thanks,’ said Mac.

‘But here’s the deal. Sarah’s your daughter, but Jenny’s your wife, okay?’

Mac fell asleep like that. In bed with his wife – arms around his best friend.

The Christmas crowds were building by mid-morning and Mac felt relaxed wheeling Rachel through the outdoors area of the Pacifi c Fair shopping mall in Broadbeach.

A female plainclothes AFP agent walked behind them and Ke walked alongside Mac, not saying a word. He looked intelligent and sad, about eight or nine, thought Mac, and had obviously been traumatised by something. Mac wasn’t a great fan of Jenny taking on kids, but the Department of Immigration’s facility for illegals was over-capacity and they did not take on unaccompanied minors over an agreed ratio of offi cers to children. So occasionally they farmed them out to a federal cop – someone who they knew would say yes

– and Mac was giving her a few hours off while she took care of some things.

Walking through the enormous Coles supermarket, Ke’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as Mac did the basic shopping amidst all the Christmas bunting and the piped carols. They stopped by a Santa Claus doing juggling and balloon shapes and Mac got Rachel out of the pram and let her yell and carry on at the show, her little legs kicking. He looked down and saw Ke smiling too and he decided he’d take them for a bite.

Finding a child-friendly cafe, Mac ordered a babyccino and a biscuit for Rachel, and a Coke and a chocolate brownie for Ke. While Rachel put biscuit all over her jumpsuit, Mac tried to get Ke talking.