He looked at his mate and waited to be acknowledged. But, just then, Chris’s head exploded like a watermelon.

Chunks of brain slapped Walid in the face. Only then did the sound of the bullet reach his ears.

The helicopter hovered directly overhead. Walid did not have to look up to know the sniper’s rifle was now aimed at his head.

‘Freeze!’ screamed a soldier on the ground as a swiftly formed battle group stormed his way.

But Walid only followed orders from one man.

He was dead the moment he made his move.

EPILOGUE

Goulburn Correctional Centre, Goulburn, NSW, Australia

JAX walked into the visits room and was surprised to find only Sami sitting behind the steel desk and a satellite phone sitting on top.

‘Where’s Clarke?’ Jax asked.

‘This doesn’t concern him. Take a seat, kid.’

The absence set off an inner alarm. This solo visit from Sami, along with his terse dismissal of Clarke, seemed almost sinister. There was mischief in this mystery, Jax felt sure, but solving the riddle would have to wait. He glanced at the padded black travel case Sami guarded with his right hand before sitting down.

‘Sorry for leaving you in the dark, but it has been a busy couple of days,’ Sami said. ‘I hope Clarke’s thugs were a little less bruisy when they escorted you back to your cell.’

‘Going home?’ Jax said as he gestured towards the military-style Ogio duffle bag on the floor. Jax knew the brand and model because he’d once had one just like it.

‘Soon,’ Sami said as he heaved the bag onto the tabletop. ‘But I think you will find this a little more interesting than my underwear.’

Jax suddenly felt like a kid at Christmas. Answers: the ultimate gift. He’d spent the two days since the foiled attack attempting to fill in the dots. Trying to work out the whys more than the hows. He’d done the best he could without his phone and laptop – which had not been in his cell when he was unceremoniously returned before morning muster – but this was a ten-thousand-piece jigsaw with a thousand missing pieces.

Sami began working on the padlock. It was nothing like the padlock Jax’d had on his Ogio. In fact, it was nothing like any padlock Jax had ever seen. Sami held the mobile-phone-sized lock in his left hand and moved his right hand towards what appeared to be an LCD screen. The lock chirped: an electronic acknowledgement, after Sami had pressed the fleshy pad of his index finger against the black glass-like surface. Then the steel cable that bound the oversized and steel-strengthened zip end sprang free after Sami punched a six-digit code into a number pad that had appeared on the LCD screen.

‘Double authentication?’ Jax mused out loud.

‘Triple, in fact,’ Sami said. ‘It has also collected my DNA.’