‘It’s a dangerous operation and secrecy is paramount. I want your cooperation in every way.’
‘First tell me what that actually means,’ Harrigan said.
‘Your partner has advised me you’re being stalked. I had an email from her this morning saying the Ponticellis may be behind it.’
‘I can’t be absolutely certain of that but it’s a possibility we shouldn’t discount.’
‘And you’re investigating these incidents.’
‘What are you getting at?’
‘I want you to stop as of now. I understand you can call on the services of the New South Wales police to protect you and your daughter if you need to. I want you to do that. My people will handle the phone call and the other matters.’
Harrigan was silent for a few moments.
‘What right have you got to tell me I can’t protect my wife and daughter?’ he asked in his neutral voice. It was the first time he’d ever called Grace his wife. He didn’t know where the word had come from, but, sitting opposite Clive, he knew he meant it.
‘Anything that affects your partner’s identity as an operative could endanger the success of this operation and her physical safety.’ Clive emphasised the word
Harrigan wanted to laugh when he heard this but suppressed it. Clive might react vengefully. He sat quietly, looking him in the eye. Eventually Clive could no longer meet his gaze and looked away.
‘Why should my investigating these incidents interfere with your operation?’ Harrigan asked. ‘How can they possibly be connected?’
‘Under the circumstances you qualify as a wild card. I’m not going to allow any possibility, however remote or unlikely, to disrupt this operation.’
‘Grace still isn’t here,’ Harrigan said.
‘She will be,’ Clive replied.
‘Why do you really not want me to track down whoever’s stalking my wife and daughter?’
‘I’ve told you,’ Clive said.
‘No, you haven’t. What you’ve just given me is your justification, but it’s not the reason. You said this mission is dangerous. Where does that leave Grace?’
‘With every possible resource available to protect her. I’m also going to request that on no account are you to ask her any questions about this operation. I don’t want any more pressure put on her.’
For an answer, Harrigan took out his mobile and rang her.
‘Where are you?’ she asked. ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’
‘I’m here in public meeting room two waiting for you, babe. Where are you?’
‘What are you doing there? I thought this was going to be in Clive’s office.’
Harrigan looked at Clive. ‘No. Clive didn’t want to see me in his office. We’ve been here for quite a while.’
‘No one told me. Give me five, max.’
Harrigan put his mobile away, still watching Clive closely. The Orion man was angry.
‘Don’t take this out on Grace,’ Harrigan said.
‘I don’t do that.’
‘You don’t intimidate me,’ Harrigan said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Clive ignored this. ‘You’d be very well advised not to discuss this meeting with your partner. If you do, she’ll only worry. I’ve already told you. Don’t put any more pressure on her.’
Harrigan’s eyes said that if he could, he would have punched Clive out twice, for the two times he’d said this. The door opened and Grace walked in. Harrigan was already on his feet.
‘I thought I was involved in this,’ she said.
‘We’ve already discussed everything I need to know,’ Harrigan said.
‘Where do I fit in?’
‘We’ve gone over everything,’ Clive said.
‘See me out, babe. I’ll say goodbye to you in the car park.’ Harrigan turned to Clive. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’
‘We don’t have much time.’
Harrigan didn’t trust himself to reply. With Grace still puzzled, and glancing behind her at Clive, they left the room together.
‘What was that all about?’ she asked.
‘Can we go to your office?’
‘Not if you haven’t been given clearance to that part of the building. Why?’
‘Then just listen while we walk.’ He spoke softly. ‘Babe, your boss told me your operation is secret and I have to accept that. It’s already weighing on your mind, right? There’s just one thing you have to know. You can rely on me. I’m not going to ask you any questions and we’ll take it day by day. Okay?’
‘Okay. But what did Clive say?’
‘Nothing you probably haven’t heard already.’
‘I wanted to bring you into it a lot more than this.’
‘He knew that,’ Harrigan said ‘That’s why he organised the meeting the way he did. You’ve got to work today, right? And you want this operation to be a success.’
‘Yes.’
They had reached the security perimeter. Now that they had stepped outside the building to the car park, he couldn’t go back.
‘Then you go and do it,’ he said. ‘You’ll do it well, the way you always do. Don’t take your boss on over this. Just concentrate on your work and come home safe and sound every day. There’s only one important thing here. Nothing comes between us.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Nothing. We’ve both dealt with a lot tougher things than this.’
‘Yeah, we have. I’ll see you tonight.’
They kissed each other and then she was gone, stopping at the door to wave to him. He watched her slender figure slip out of sight to do whatever she had to do. It would take more than a jealous puppet master to drive a wedge into their relationship.
Harrigan drove away to his first appointment for the day, guessing that it had probably never occurred to Clive that anyone would simply ignore him. However defiant Harrigan might have appeared in the meeting, in the end Clive would still be expecting him to click his heels and salute. But he had no intention of stopping his inquiries. It just meant that, farcically, he and Grace were in the same boat: she couldn’t tell him and he couldn’t tell her what each of them was doing every day and what they might have found out.
In his judgement it was no way to manage someone under the kind of pressure Grace was about to feel. Whatever she was doing for Orion, he should know about it. Clive knew how much their lives were connected; yet right now he was cutting out both Harrigan and Ellie as if neither mattered to Grace. He wanted full ownership of his operatives. No divided loyalties; there could be nothing more important than the work Clive had decided they should do. No control other than his. Nothing at the centre of Grace’s life other than her work and her boss.
You wait, Harrigan thought. I can play your game better than you can. You’ll find that out. Meanwhile, he had things to do.
9
Frank Wells lived in a small, semi-detached brick house on Bay Street in Brighton-le- Sands. The bricks had a blue tinge to them; the atmosphere in the street, stretching from Rockdale station to the
