Rogue Element

Parliament House, Canberra, 0730 Zulu, Wednesday, April 29

There was a gentle tap on the door. A lance corporal entered and, with the grace of an excellent waiter at a three-hat restaurant, handed a sheet of paper to the ASIS chief.

Graeme Griffin read it and immediately snatched up the phone. ‘Spike, just got something from our NSA friends at the US embassy here. They thought it might be of interest. The air traffic controller in Bali who first reported QF-1 missing was found dead in his car at the bottom of a gully a short while ago.’

‘Shit…’ Niven said.

‘Yeah, I know. Look, I’m not sure what it means. Maybe nothing.’ But the feeling in Griffin’s gut told him it meant a hell of a lot of something.