Sword of Allah

Australian Federal Police HQ, Canberra, Australia

Federal Agent Jenny Tadzic knew something majorly wrong was going on. The reports from the various state police forces up and down the east coast were deeply concerning. There was a large batch of killer heroin on the streets and people were dropping like flies — schoolteachers, solicitors, executives. It was times like this that Tadzic could see just how pervasive heroin was. It had infiltrated all levels of society, from the top down and the bottom up. She rifled through the folders, picked one at random and skimmed it. Two women dead in a photographer’s studio. The women were well off, pretty, everything going for them. Why? Why get hooked into mainlining smack? Doctors, builders, journalists were dying from hotshots alongside the homeless and other long-time users. And Tadzic had absolutely nothing with which to counter the menace. Her department — the whole organisation — was out-gunned and outmanoeuvred. Eventually the supply would dry up and the deaths would stop, but in the meantime the drug was cutting a swath through the community as effectively as a new virus. She closed the reports and sat back in her chair, overwhelmed by a feeling of utter helplessness.

And then there was the whole Angie thing. The girl had seemingly disappeared off the planet, as had her boyfriend. The DEA still hadn’t found their man either. The world was a shitful place.