intelligence agencies.
I needn't have worried.
'This Simmonds is a consular official in Hong Kong,' Chang told me at our next meeting. We were in Sydney Park in St Peters, walking the paths. The four towers, the lungs of the old brick factory, were casting long shadows and the wind was chill.
'Consular. That means he deals with immigration matters, visas and such.'
'Right. Authorises visas and these days has a role in monitoring applications from skilled people and those with investment capabilities.'
'Passports?'
'Probably has a drawer full of 'em.'
'Does this mean you're going to hand this over to the feds or the spooks?'
Chang, who had a long stride, stopped abruptly. 'Shit, no! Certainly not at this stage. Doesn't take much to put it together, does it? Chinese and Lebanese criminals getting entry to this country through corrupt DFAT officials. They get set up in already existing businesses which have been compromised in some way by Malouf's dealings, and have had pressure put on them by Freddy Wong and Houli. Those two were looking to be part of the ongoing action.'
I said, 'He's a crafty bastard, this guy, only gives us one of the officials and a couple of names. You have to wonder how widespread it is-how many crooks, how many businesses and how big.'
'And how much money.'
We were walking again. 'Cancerous,' I said.
Chang stepped off the path to pick up a soft drink can. He tossed it at a bin; it bounced on the rim but went in. 'It could be. Business is the lifeblood of ethnic communities in this city. It affects everything-family, religion, schools, politics, sport, the lot. If criminal organisations get control of big Chinese and Lebanese businesses-I mean in terms of money and personnel-it'd be a nightmare.'
'It's big, as he said. But you're not going to pass it on higher?'
Chang didn't reply. We reached the pond, took a turn and headed back towards the towers. There was a dog exercise area away to our left and the sounds of the dogs and the children had a calming, normalising effect on me and apparently on Chang, who stopped and looked.
'My people have been here for a hundred and fifty years,' he said. 'They were on the Victorian goldfields and then had the good sense to come to Sydney. They were market gardeners, laundrymen and shopkeepers. My great-great-grandfather fought in World War I. A couple of my great uncles fought in the next war.' He laughed. 'Mind you, a few members of my family were mistaken for Japs and interned. This place isn't perfect, but I love it and I'm fucked if I'm going to let a bunch of foreign sleazebags come in and bugger it up.'
At home, I punched the buttons to disable the alarm and put my key in the lock. I heard a soft footfall and felt something hard and cold in the nape of my neck.
'Open the door and we'll go in. Drop the keys as soon as we're inside and keep your hands where I can see them.'
What I could feel on my neck wasn't the muzzle of a pistol. Bigger. A silencer. I did as he said, and as soon as the door was closed he slammed me against the wall. He was as quick as a cat and before I could catch my breath he had both wrists handcuffed behind my back.
'Sergeant Ali,' I said. 'Sharpshooter.'
'Don't forget it. Move inside, we've got some talking to do.'
We went into the sitting room and I froze as I heard him open a flick knife. He sliced my jacket down the back and pulled both halves clear of my tied wrists. He shoved me into a chair, put the gun and knife within reach and felt in the jacket. Deftly, he pulled out my phone and the recording device. He fiddled with it and swore.
'Where's the disk?'
I looked at him and said nothing.
'Doesn't matter,' he said. 'You did us a great service getting rid of Freddy and Lester.'
'Us?'
'William and me.'
'William Habib, aka Richard Malouf?'
Ali smiled. 'Light dawns. I'm curious, Hardy, what made Stephen Chang suspicious of me?'
'Is he suspicious?'
He sighed. 'You're going to be a nuisance the way I knew you would be. Stephen's been keeping me busy on a variety of things. Some of them touching on… what we're talking about now, but I could tell he was holding a lot back. I know you've spoken to William recently.'
As always, Ali was impeccably dressed and groomed. He was handsome, looked fit and clear-eyed-the image of a rising professional policeman. His body language exuded confidence, but I sensed that he entertained a small doubt.
'I did speak to him,' I said, 'and it worries you that you don't know what was said, doesn't it?'
'I said it doesn't matter.'
'I think it does, Karim. You probably don't know that Freddy Wong was getting ready to dispense with Houli. Habib was setting up to double-cross Houli and Freddy Wong. What's to say he won't double-cross you? Hard to find someone to trust, isn't it?'
'You don't know what you're talking about. Shut up and let me think.'
'I'll tell you who to think about-Stephen Chang.'
'Oh, we've already thought about him. Pity, he's a good policeman, but good policemen get killed in the line of duty all the time.'
'Kill him and you'll never draw another peaceful breath.'
'I won't kill him. It'll depend on how things work out, but I think it's most likely that you'll kill him.'
28
'You must have a weapon here somewhere,' Ali said, 'otherwise it could get messy. Let me see.'
His eye drifted to the cupboard under the stairs. He opened the door and felt among the jackets and coats and bits and pieces hanging there.
'Aha.' He pulled out the. 22 I'd got from Corbett and had more or less forgotten about. He held it by the end of the barrel.
'A popgun, but it'll do.'
Everyone has a weakness and Karim Ali's was vanity. He couldn't resist telling me how Habib had engineered financial disaster for a large number of sizeable Chinese and Lebanese businesses in Sydney and had arranged bail-out finance which carried penalties that would bring whole conglomerations of family concerns crashing down. I didn't really understand much of it, but I gathered that
Habib could keep all the balls in the air for about as long as he pleased.
Offshore, he had similar grips on DFAT personnel who were in a position to facilitate visas for criminals who wouldn't have got through the first level of screening. The idea was that they'd bring their experience and capital to Sydney and operate an under-the-radar criminal network.
'Worth millions,' he said, almost savouring the word. 'Millions.'
'Dirty money,' I said. 'I thought you had a promising career.'
'Too slow, much too slow.'
'I can see Freddy and Lester and Houli and Talat as enforcers, but I don't see your role.'
The expression on his face was almost a smirk. 'That's the cutest part, I-'
'But Habib changed tack,' I said, 'pardon the pun. He took to his boat and ducked out of the arrangement. Let me guess-he thought he and you didn't need the Wongs and Houli. You kept him abreast of things when the little chink in the plan appeared. He was sighted.'
Ali nodded. 'That was careless. I told him to change his appearance and use the moorings he'd set up, but he had the hots for Sun Ling. Gretchen. Putting it all at risk for a woman. Promising her the earth, and she's a