Marsh leaned back in his chair and snatched the envelope from his desk. He handed it to Jax.

‘Go on,’ he said. ‘Rip her open. Just like a Kinder Surprise without the chocolate.’ He laughed loudly, the others joining in after a moment’s delay.

42 Strickland Street, Sans Souci, NSW, 2234

Jax’s heart sank and his face went white.

‘It’s her new address, if you were wondering. She moved in there with another girl. A blonde. Not a bad little sort. Not a bad little joint either. Could do with some better locks though.’

Jax wished he had his F88 Austeyr. He could take out seven men in two seconds with it.

‘Don’t worry,’ Marsh reassured him. ‘They boys are just looking out for her. Just making sure she is safe. It’s actually not the best neighbourhood. I’m a little bit disappointed in your homework.’

Marsh then told Jax what he had to do. ‘Either you kill him, or I kill her.’

THE following day, just before midday, Jax stood still as he looked out the holding cage gate towards the row of heavily fortified doors on the opposite side of the concrete landing. No movement. Not yet. The door to the protection wing was firmly shut. He put his head down and paced around the three-metre-by-two-metre cage beside the visiting room, steeling himself for what he had to do. For what Marsh had ordered him to do.

The holding cages were where inmates were rounded up and kept while they awaited scheduled visits. After being escorted out of their block and down a common path to the cage by a wing officer, prisoners were required to stay in the cage until their visitor arrived. They would then be collected by a different officer and taken inside for their visit – if the visitor showed.

Prisoners also returned to the cage after a visit, before being accompanied back to their cells. Last time Jax was here, he’d been out of his mind, having just seen Nikki and swallowed the drugs. He hadn’t taken much in that day, but he remembered there had been plenty of inmates there, and that tensions seemed to be running high. According to Johnson, visits tended to bring out the worst in some prisoners, reminding them what they were missing. For Jax, it had been about much more than that.

But today Jax was alone in the cage – there wasn’t another soul around. It was to be expected, as visiting time on Sundays didn’t start until midafternoon. The other cage, the one for protection inmates, was empty too. Jax hadn’t known whether the man would be waiting. He wasn’t there and Jax hadn’t been told if he was definitely coming, so he’d just have to see how it played out.