Agent Clarke eventually paused to sum up the hundred or so files that he had excruciatingly flown through. Sami tried his best to look nonplussed when Clarke suggested the ultimate aim of the group was to force Iran, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to create an Islamic superpower that would declare war on the West. Start a religious fight to the death. World War III. The Apocalypse.

Sami suddenly realised just how fucked up the CIA had become. They were over-resourced. All the cash that had been thrown at them post-9/11 had turned them into a ten-thousand-piece jigsaw, with agents everywhere, all occupying roles that were utterly specific and tightly defined. With each one focused on his or her own niche, they had lost sight of the big picture. Sami had been blinkered by his brief, which was Europe, just as the agents in Asia and the Middle East had been blinkered by theirs. Neither had looked up and noticed the matching pieces, which the simplest of moves could then have put together. The keeping of secrets in CIA departments was only outdone by the lack of cooperation between the fellow law-enforcement agencies that also investigated terrorism: the FBI and Homeland Security, the CIA’s best of frenemies. ASIO might have been small, but apparently it was cohesive.

‘A copy of all of this material will be made available to you should you want it,’ Clarke said, noticing the gruff American’s agitated interest. ‘But for now, let’s get to the important stuff. Who it is and how to stop them.’

Clarke hit his remote and brought up a mugshot of the first identified dead bomber. ‘Let’s start with Charlie Haddad,’ he said, then provided a detailed history of the dead Australian. He did the same for Mike Evans and Tim Jenkins.

‘The thing that links them all, other than two of them being dead Islamic jihadis, is Goulburn jail,’ Clarke said. ‘All three were incarcerated in that prison and we suspect that’s where they were all radicalised and recruited.’ He gave them the numbers. ‘We’ve been able to locate all but forty of the 16,000 or so individuals who have been released from Goulburn jail over the last five years. If we assume that the other nine dead terrorists come from this forty, that leaves us with thirty-one suspects for future attacks.’

Clarke handed out the files, each agent in the room getting a folder full of names, photos and rap sheets.

‘Operation Roam is already underway,’ Clarke said. ‘Our national law-enforcement agencies are searching for every name on that list. Some are most likely dead, some have probably committed further crimes and gone on the run, and some will have joined the homeless population of 116,000. We hope to have our list significantly narrowed soon.’