SAMI had only ever been to Mexico on holiday. To places like Cancun and Cozumel. He had taken the twins to Acapulco just a few years back, when they still returned his calls. As an Islamic terror specialist, Sami hadn’t needed to go to Mexico professionally. Not to a country that was considered too poor and not Western enough to be a target.

But now here he was, sitting in a demountable at the edge of a disused runway on a US military base shared by the DEA, FBI, DoD and CIA and guarded by the Marines – his home for last three days. He’d made only one trip out, to see the faceless body in the morgue.

He was about to call the lab – again – when his computer pinged. He looked down and saw the email he’d been waiting for.

To: Hudson Sami ([email protected])

From: [email protected]

Subject: DNA match request 1 – Mexico City

Special Agent Sami,

Please find the details of your first DNA match request below. Also attached are the medical report and a series of files provided by the NSW Police in Australia.

NAME: Charlie Haddad

AGE: 22

NATIONALITY: Australian

LAST KNOWN ADDRESS: 12a Ford Street, Punchbowl, NSW, Australia

Apologies for the delay.

Regards,

Dr Walter Creswell, CIA Chief Medical Examiner,

George Bush Center for Intelligence,

1000 Colonial Farm Road, McLean, Virginia, 22101

Sami didn’t bother opening the autopsy report or the file with the DNA code he knew he wouldn’t understand. Instead, he went straight to the file provided by the NSW Police.

Haddad, Charlie: Age 22

12a Ford Street, Punchbowl, NSW

ETHNICITY: Australian of Lebanese descent

BORN: Bankstown Hospital, NSW

HEIGHT: 179 cm

WEIGHT: 81 kg

APPEARANCE: Of average height and build. Brown eyes and closely cropped hair. Also wears a neat beard.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Full back tattoo, with a Lebanese Cedar tree being the central feature. A cleft lip.

Charged with public nuisance and disturbing the peace.

Charged with shoplifting.

Charge with vandalism and fleeing from police.

Charged with assault with a weapon occasioning actual bodily harm.

Sentenced to serve three years in the Minda Juvenile Justice Centre.

Charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.

Sentenced to serve a minimum of three years in Goulburn Correctional Centre.

Failed to report for parole at Bankstown Police Station.

Arrest warrant issued for breach of parole.

Location of suspect still unknown.

An Australian. A former inmate from a place called Punchbowl.

Another ping.

To: Hudson Sami ([email protected])

From: [email protected]

Subject: DNA match request 2 – Mexico City

Special Agent Sami,

Please find the details of your second DNA match request below. Also attached are the medical report and a series of files provided by the NSW Police in Australia.

NAME: Mike Evans

AGE: 21

NATIONALITY: Australian

LAST KNOWN ADDRESS: 231 Riverview Avenue, Riverview, NSW

Regards,

Dr Walter Creswell, CIA Chief Medical Examiner,

George Bush Center for Intelligence,

1000 Colonial Farm Road, McLean, Virginia, 22101

Sami opened the police file.

Mike Evans,

231 Riverview Avenue, Riverview, NSW

AGE: 21