Choices. Jeff Edwards

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СКАЧАТЬ Never.’

      ‘What about your friends?’

      ‘Rick and Sam? They’re straight. I’ve never seen them use anything. We all prefer a good beer, and plenty of them. They know about Holland too, and they hate what he’s done to those kids on death row.’

      ‘And what could Mr Holland do about those people in jail?’

      ‘They’re his responsibility. He has plenty of money, and he should be spreading it around to get their sentences cut down from the death penalty at least.’

      ‘Well, I’m afraid it’s a little bit late for that. You see Mr Holland is dead.’

      ‘Dead?’

      ‘You didn’t know?’

      ‘Why should I? I haven’t been to Bali for a while.’

      ‘Well Mr Travers, I’ll tell you. He was killed while you were in Bali. Arny Holland was shot through the head with a spear pistol, exactly the same as the one that disappeared the day you visited Mr Bashir’s shop. A coincidence wouldn’t you say?’

      ‘Are you saying that I did it? You’ve got to be kidding! There were thousands of other people at Bali at the same time who could have done it.’

      Hill nodded. ‘I might have agreed with you Mr Travers except for the fact that this is not the only coincidence.’ He waited for a moment, allowing time for Dan to speculate about what was to come. ‘What do you know about Din Nassir Abbas?’ he asked finally.

      ‘That bastard!’ spat Dan. ‘He organised the murder of the greatest surfer ever known. He was behind the explosion at Murphy’s Bar. I hope the arsehole is rotting in hell.’

      ‘What about Abu Bin Ahmad?’

      ‘The bomber! He actually boasted to the media about killing my friends!’

      ‘And they’re both now dead.’

      ‘They deserve to be.’

      ‘True, but now we come back to coincidences. You see each one of them were slain while you were in the immediate area.’

      Dan was incredulous. ‘Are you trying to say that I had something to do with their deaths?’

      ‘Coincidences Mr Travers, coincidences.’

      ‘You’re both mad. ’

      ‘We might be mistaken Travers, but certainly not mad. What we need from you right now is proof that you were not responsible for any of these events.’

      ‘Ask Rick and Sam, they’ll tell you that I had nothing to do with this.’

      ‘Be assured Mr Travers, we most certainly will, but we’ll need the word of more than just your friends to convince us that you had no knowledge of these events.’

      ‘You can check all you like. In fact I hope you do. You’ll soon see that I’m telling the truth. Is there anything else? I’ll tell you now I wasn’t in Dallas when JFK was shot.’

      Diane chose to ignore the last facetious remark, but as the agents stood up and were about to leave she remarked icily, ‘We’ll be back, Mr Travers. We’re not finished with you. Not by a long chalk.’

      CHAPTER 13

       Dan

      I made myself a cup of coffee while attempting to get my thoughts together. I couldn’t believe what they had accused me of doing! Murder! How could they possibly think that I was a murderer? Just because I happened to be in the vicinity! Shit! Anyone could have done it! Those bastards deserved to die in the worst way possible, but how could those idiots at ASIO think that I was the culprit? I suppose it was their way of getting back at me for the trouble I had caused them. The idiots! Well they were barking up the wrong tree this time.

      Sipping at my mug of coffee I made my way upstairs to be greeted by a grim-faced husband and wife.

      ‘What’s going on Dan?’ asked Clements. ‘Why are ASIO after you?’

      I shook my head. ‘They’re not after me. They’re after someone who knocked off a few lowlifes over in Bali. I happened to be over there at the same time. It was a coincidence.’

      ‘They seemed very sure that you knew something about the matter when they spoke to us earlier.’

      ‘It’s all bullshit Bob.’

      ‘But they said that they’ll be back,’ added Ailsa.

      ‘They can come back all they want,’ I said defensively. ‘I’m innocent.’

      ‘No Dan,’ Clements shook his head slowly to highlight his comment, ‘they can’t come back. We don’t want them anywhere near our business. The company would be destroyed if immigration looked too closely at what we do here.’

      I saw what he was getting at. ‘You don’t want them questioning the staff and checking on their work status.’

      ‘That’s right,’ he nodded, ‘and that bitch actually threatened to bring in immigration if we didn’t co-operate.’

      The Clements’ were caught in a no-win situation because of me, and I could see that there was only one way out. ‘You want me out of here,’ I said quietly.

      Bob looked downcast, ‘I’m afraid so Dan.’

      I gave the pair a resigned grin. To argue would be futile. Their business was at stake and I realised that they had to do whatever was necessary to ensure its survival, even if it cost me my job.

      * * *

      On their long trip back to Canberra, the agents discussed Dan, comparing their opinions of the man.

      ‘Not exactly your James Bond lookalike, is he?’ Pile said.

      ‘He’s very athletic looking for a man his age.’

      ‘The surfing no doubt, but he doesn’t look capable of masterminding three elaborate killings much less being able to carry them out successfully.’

      ‘Ordinary certainly is the word for him, but isn’t that exactly what you want in a deep cover agent.’

      ‘You’re right.’

      ‘So, is he or isn’t he?’

      ‘My gut says no, but all the evidence says yes.’

      ‘Circumstantial evidence.’

      ‘Right.’

      ‘So, is he or isn’t he?’

      ‘I don’t know.’

      ‘We need to dig further. There’s a piece of evidence out there somewhere that will solve the enigma of Dan СКАЧАТЬ