As well as the fact that the Serpent had zero contact with the outside world – no phone calls, no visits, no letters, nothing – Jax found it hard to believe that even the most radicalised, extremist, death-wishing jihadi would be stupid enough to go into a partnership with the Serpent, a sick psychopath with no grip on reality.

But 93241 . . .

Jax kept on asking himself questions.

Was the Serpent smart enough to pull it off?

Of course. He was a certified genius. But he also ate brains, shat on his floor and carved equations into the soles of his feet.

No. Zero chance. Couldn’t be him.

But 93241 . . .

All of Jax’s interrogations of the facts before him led him back to the same conclusion. It couldn’t be the Serpent. He didn’t have the opportunity, the resources, the access or the mental competence to orchestrate such an intricate plot.

But still, Jax couldn’t explain why that number was on his wall. Or why the Serpent had been slithering around in his head.

Jax had to see what other numbers were on his wall. He had to check if 851 was there, and if it was, what numbers followed it.

There was only one way to find out . . .

JAX doubted the wisdom of pressing the knock-up the moment he’d done it. What was he going to say if his hunch was wrong? Or if it wasn’t Turner. It had been over twelve hours since Jax had seen him in the hospital. And the guards worked twelve-hour shifts at most.

‘Phew,’ Jax said when Turner entered his cell. ‘For a moment there I thought I was going to end up back in the hospital.’

‘Lucky the rostered-on guard got called home for an emergency,’ Turner said with a chuckle. ‘Whatcha need, buddy?’

Jax handed Turner an RF scanner.

‘I need to get into Supermax,’ he said. ‘Can you scan the keycodes?’

Turner nodded.

‘Can you disable the cameras?’ Jax asked.

‘For an hour at most,’ Turner said.

‘That will do,’ Jax said. Then he handed Turner a fistful of pills.

CHAPTER 45

Goulburn Correctional Centre, Goulburn, NSW, Australia

TURNER had taken care of the cameras and the Supermax screw, but Jax knew there was nothing he could do to stop a guard from happening upon him while he made his way from his wing to the Supermax wing. He would have a hard time explaining why he was out of his cell, and a hell of a time explaining the torch and the seven electronic keys he was carrying.