Chapter 3

THREE

TALLOWWOOD

National Parks and Wildlife Officer John Kepper put in a call about a vehicle left in the park and the possibility of missing campers.

"They mighta gone for a hike and got lost," he'd said.

August knew different.

He saw the vehicle details and he knew.

The rented Hilux crew cab utility had been left unattended for three days. No sign of the three men who had stopped in town to ask directions. The same three men who August had told Michael and Joshua Hill about.

August knew they weren't lost.

But he had to follow procedure. They were missing until proven otherwise.

The camp they'd set up wasn't really a camp at all. There'd been no attempt at a campfire, no bedding, no fishing gear, no food or supplies.

"Unless they took it with them and walked off a trail," Jake supplied weakly .

He knew all too well those men weren't here to camp or fish. And he knew they weren't missing.

August looked into the surrounding forest and sighed. "We should get the dog squad and a chopper."

Wasted resources , he thought. But protocol.

There was a minuscule chance of the three men being lost campers. But August had to follow procedure.

He made some calls while Jake and Probation Officer Sharp took to the trails to look for signs or clues. Or bodies. Local volunteer search and rescue teams would be arriving soon and the police search team would be feet and vehicles on the ground too. And a chopper, most likely.

Wasted resources and wasted time , August thought.

When the search and rescue team arrived, August was happy to hand over coordinating efforts. He wanted to concentrate his own efforts somewhere else.

"You okay?" Jake asked him quietly when they had a minute alone.

"We're not looking for three men," August murmured. "We're looking for three bodies."

Jake looked out into the trees and sighed. "Most likely, yeah."

Christ .

He should have expected as much. He had decided to warn Michael and Joshua, after all. A decision August was certain would come back to bite him in the ass.

"We need to take a drive," August said.

Jake nodded. He spoke to the search and rescue coordinator for a moment, and a few minutes later, August and Jake were on the road.

"I don't need to ask where we're going, do I," Jake said. It wasn't a question .

"Probably not."

"They're not there," he said. "We have no warrant. We can't get inside their house, and anything we find is inadmissible without?—"

"I know," August said. And he did know all this. "I don't know what I'm looking for."

"Do you think they'd leave any evidence behind for what they did or didn't do to those three missing men?" he asked incredulously. "Because if they are ex-military or ex-government spies, or whatever we think they are, they won't have left behind a trace."

"I know," August said. And he did know. He wasn't sure what he was looking for. "And those three missing men?" he said, looking across at Jake. He loosened his grip on the steering wheel. "We'll never find them. They're gone. Speaking of evidence. No bodies, no clothes, no trace. That whole coordinated search and rescue effort is a waste of time and money."

"So what are we looking for? Not the search and rescue," he clarified. "What are we looking for at their house?"

"I don't know."

"You know they'll have cameras and shit. Hell, they probably already know we're on our way."

"I know."

After a few moments silence, Jake sighed. "Feels kinda wrong. They trusted us with Mala. She's the sweetest thing. Even Scarlett likes her. Kind of."

August smiled at him. "Wanna know what I think?"

"What's that?"

"I think Michael Hill will be disappointed in us if we don't go check his place out."

Jake cocked an eyebrow. "Disappointed? "

"Yeah. He respects the badge, or the chain of command. I don't know."

Jake snorted. "I don't think Michael Hill would agree."

Their house was quiet, locked up, and deserted. Looking through the window, August could see everything was still in its place, as if they'd ducked out to the store and not left the country, not knowing if they'd ever be back.

He could only guess they were used to living a life where they could walk away and never look back.

August saw the security camera, and not wanting to look like he was snooping, he held his badge up to it. Not that he needed to. They knew exactly who he was.

And where he lived.

August and Jake had a quick poke around the shed; the shovels, chainsaw, and tools all arranged neatly, nothing out of place. Michael's doing, August would bet. Everything was meticulous.

At the back of the house, where the land sloped downward to the forest, there were two large water storage tanks amidst the piers under the large veranda overhead. They were half-buried, which wasn't unusual, but August stared at them, not sure why they bothered him.

"What's that face for?" Jake asked.

"They're what? Ninety thousand litres each?"

Jake shrugged. "Yeah. Metal for fire safety. Ya gotta have them now. What about them?"

"Then what are those?" he pointed to the two other tanks beside the house. "Another ninety thousand litres each. That's three hundred and sixty thousand litres of water storage."

"House usage, gardens, fire regulation," Jake said, shrugging again .

August wasn't convinced. "Hm. Maybe." He walked down to the other tanks. He remembered at Christmas time when they'd been out here last, the expensive excavator, the grounds work. To dig for the septic tank and drainage line, and they'd just put in a bore for groundwater, Michael had said.

He remembered Michael working in the blistering sun in December, trying to fix a water valve. That had struck August as odd back then, like something didn't make sense until now.

August walked around the tanks until he found the water valve in question. It would switch the flow over between tanks; most tanks had them.

"Bring the ladder," he called out.

Jake did as he was asked, but he clearly thought August was reading too much into it. He put the ladder to the side of the first tank and began to climb up. "What am I looking for?"

"There'll be an inlet hole at the top, maybe with a strainer grate to stop leaves," August said.

"Yes, like there is on all tanks."

August resisted grumbling. "Shine your torch in. Tell me what you see."

A few seconds later came his reply. "Water. I see water."

"And this tank?"

Jake climbed across and inspected the second tank. "Uh, water."

Dammit.

Jake climbed down. "Sometimes a water tank is just a water tank." He took his torch and tapped the tank. "See? Full of water." Then he tapped the second tank.

Only the sound it made was different .

Hollow.

What the hell?

Jake tapped it again and his eyes met August's. "What the hell?"

"My thought exactly." August walked around the tank again, looking for any abnormalities, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There was a seam in the metal joined with rivets. Like he'd seen a hundred times before.

The only other thing on that tank was the water valve. It was a lever handle, so August turned it.

Water came out the release outlet, so he shut it off again. Thinking, thinking...

"Remember when we came here in December, Michael was working on this. He had a huge wrench, said some bullshit about not being able to open the valve."

Jake nodded. "Yeah. In summer, when connections swell?—"

"Why does this have two valves?"

Jake looked at the valve and then he looked twice. "Well, it's a special firefighting fitting, so maybe they have to have a secondary cut-off feature, I don't know."

The valve looked like a standard ball valve on almost every tank in the country; when August turned the lever, water came out of the tap. Exactly as it should have done.

But there was a gate valve at the base of the tank. The type with a circular flat tap that you had to rotate.

So August rotated it. He turned it all the way off. Nothing unusual happened, but then he turned the lever handle.

No water came out.

"You turned the water off," Jake said flatly. "Congratulations."

August gave the lever another heave, pushing it all the way round—which it certainly didn't do before—and there was a muted beep, the sound of a pressure release, and the metal seal in the tank popped open to reveal a door.

Jake grabbed August, pulling him back at the same time as he drew his weapon. "Jesus Christ," he hissed. "August, get back."

August stood his ground, heart hammering. It was dark inside. Cool stale air met August's nose when he stepped forward.

What the hell . . . ?

"Give me your torch," August said quietly.

"I don't like this," Jake whispered back, but he held out his torch.

August opened the door wide and shined the torch down, illuminating the steps down into the earth. "There's a light switch," he noted. "Stay here; hold the door open."

"August," Jake breathed.

"I'll be okay," he assured him. He unholstered his weapon just in case, holding it and the torch in front of him, he entered the tank.

He hit the light switch, and after a click and a buzz, a blue light lit up the room below. No movement, no sound. August held his breath as he took the final few steps.

He found himself in a room, about four metres by four metres, concrete walls by the looks of it, with ventilation and lighting... and a whole fucking armoury.

There were no sensors, not that he could see, though he assumed there were cameras or eyes on him.

He went back up the stairs to an impatient Jake. "What is it? What's down there?"

August held the door for him. "Go take a look."

Unsure of who to call, August and Jake decided to call everyone. NSW Police Commissioner's office, the Federal Police, and lastly, ASIO.

Not that August expected to get far, but this was too big for him.

While Jake sat on the phone to the Feds in Canberra, August was on hold to ASIO.

He'd first thought he'd get nowhere or be told, in no uncertain terms, to drop his inquiry. "It relates to Michael Hill and Joshua Hill, Tallowwood, New South Wales," he'd explained. There had been a pause; he was told to please hold. He'd since been transferred twice, on hold again.

Jake seemed to be having better luck. He could see him at his desk, talking to a person on the other end of his line at least.

August was beginning to think he'd been given a dead end, that he'd been put on hold with no one intending to take his call at all, in hopes that he'd just get tired of waiting and just hang up.

He passed the time by googling any keywords he could think of. Any news headlines pertaining to ex-military, or currently serving military, or government officials to see if any images popped up.

Most of the images he found had been from that whole military top-brass case a few years back that got blown open: spies, espionage, murder, treason, embezzlement. It had read like a Tom Clancy novel, and August couldn't remember what ever happened to that guy.

The director of Special Operations Command. Parrish was his name. The court case was ongoing, of course. It'd probably take years. Parrish would probably die of old age before convicted, August remembered thinking at the time.

August was jaded about the legal and judiciary system. He couldn't help it. He'd spent his life's work trying to put bad people away and lawyers armed with loopholes got them off.

He was mid-sigh when his call was picked up. "Commander's office," a male voice said. Short, clipped. Annoyed. No name, no rank.

August sat up straight in his seat. He introduced himself and then dove straight to the deep end. "We have a new case of some missing tourists, which I believe you may be interested in. But I understand you're very busy so I'm going to make a very long story short and ask if there's any information you could impart on a Mr Michael Hill and a Joshua Hill."

There was only silence.

August forged on. "And I know I've been told by ASIO before to cease all investigations in relation to Michael and Joshua Hill, but we've had a development in this case, and it's a suspected triple homicide. It's going to attract media attention, and?—"

"Detective Shaw, I'm going to stop you right there," Mr Commander's Office said. "Did you say you'd been asked by ASIO to cease all investigations?"

"Well, yes. But that was for a different matter. That was before this new case."

"When? When were you told to cease investigations? And by whom?"

"Christmas morning, actually. December twenty-fifth, last year. It's why I remember it so specifically. And I didn't get a name then," August said. "Much like I didn't get yours now."

Another pause of silence. There may have been a faint clicking of a keyboard or background office noise; it was hard to tell.

Just then, Jake waved his hand to get August's attention. He was still at his desk, still had his phone pressed to his ear. But he gave a thumbs up.

Then Mr Commander's Office said, "Detective Shaw, I'm going to need you to tell me everything. Don't give me the shortened version. Start at the beginning."

"From when? When they first moved to my town and I knew they weren't who they said they were? Or when I watched Joshua Hill use a sniper rifle at a gun show like he was Jason freaking Bourne? Because that's when I tried to find out who he really is, and that's when ASIO shut me down the last time, and now I've got three missing Croatian nationals in my national park."

The beat of silence stretched out, and his voice was low and cold when he spoke. "Detective, I never shut you down before."

"What do you mean you never shut me down before? I sat in this very office and took a call from ASIO, citing under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act that I was to cease all investigations. It was Christmas morning. I have the call log."

"That order didn't come from this office."

"Then who the hell did it come from?"

More silence except for the muted sound of action. Was he walking? "Detective Shaw, I never gave you that order then, but I'm giving it now. You are to cease all investigations on this case, effective immediately. Someone from my office is on their way to you now. "

August blinked. "Uh, I'm sorry, what?"

The line went dead.

Jake came over to August's desk, grinning, his eyes wide. "I think I found something. Remember the defence boss who got busted for all that espionage shit? Parrish?"

August's mind was still reeling. "Uh, yeah. But Jake, listen?—"

"Well, there was an agent, a secret ops agent?—"

"Jake, stop," August said, louder this time. Jake stopped. "We've just been shut down. Again."

"What?"

"ASIO. But get this. ASIO says it wasn't them who shut us down on this before."

Jake cocked his head. "Then who was it?"

"I have no idea. ASIO's on their way here now."

"Here? Now?"

August nodded. "We need to get everything we have on these missing campers into a job file and make it official. Case numbers logged. I want everything we have put into the system before they get here."

Jake motioned to Kaycee sitting at her desk. "Deans already did. The case is logged and in the system."

"Those men would have had to provide ID to the car rental company. I want copies of passports, names, everything we can get."

Deans spun in her chair and tapped away on her keyboard. "Already on it, boss."

"I'll draft up my report," August said, not knowing what good it would do. But there were other agencies involved. Search and Rescue, Coffs Harbour police, Polair, the K9 squad. Sure, it was rugged wilderness, but they'd found no trace of anything or anyone, not that August expected them to. August wanted his report on the job file and the other agencies reports logged in and officially on the record before ASIO came in and shut it down.

They all got busy at their desks. After calls with the search and rescue coordinator and Coffs' office, August had his head down with his report and had lost track of time. When Jake and Deans appeared at his desk, August noticed it was dark outside.

Shit.

He was holding some papers, printouts by the look of them. "August," he said quietly. "I asked Deans to run with the Parrish case, just googling information. It's all public record anyway, so it's not like we were digging..."

August looked at the papers. "And?"

He handed the papers over, and there on top was a photograph. Grainy, old, not entirely clear, but the person in it was unmistakable.

Michael Hill.

Australian army sergeant. Younger, with fewer scars, but the death stare was the same.

Except this had deceased stamped across it and a name underneath it.

Timothy "Harry" Harrigan.

"He was military before he went special ops," Deans said. "Dark ops. Assassin working for the Australian government overseas."

Jesus fucking Christ .

"How did you find this?" August asked quietly.

"Google," she said with a shrug. And August knew she'd always been super-fast and efficient when it came to finding anything online. She was a whiz compared to August. "Negative keywords, filters, and knowing what to look for."

He turned the page. It was more on Michael... Timothy "Harry" Harrigan. His military record. Died in 2016 in Syria, apparently.

Which was odd. Because he was standing in August and Jake's kitchen just four nights ago.

"Anything on Joshua?" August asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Nothing," Deans replied.

Just then, two men in dark suits came into the police station. They saw all three officers at August's desk and the one in front showed his badge. "Australian Security Intelligence." He looked right at August and gave a professional smile. "Detective Shaw."

August stood up. "Mr Commander's Office, I assume."

As if that was an invitation to come in, both of them came around the reception desk. Mr Commander's Office put his hand out. "Your case file, please. Including the papers in your hand."

August swallowed thickly, realising far too late that he was still holding the printout.

Fuck.

August slid the printout into the case folder, along with his report and passport photos from the rental company. "My report's been logged," he offered lamely.

"The case is now closed," he said smoothly. "The 4WD has been removed and impounded. All search and rescue efforts have been called off. The three missing tourists were never missing, and Michael and Joshua Hill are just two law-abiding citizens who you don't need to investigate again. For anything. Do I make myself clear?" He shot Jake and Kaycee a hard glare. They both nodded, and seemingly pleased, the two suits turned and walked out, leaving nothing but silence in their wake.

And August seethed .

"The fuck just happened?" Jake whispered.

"We just got silenced," August replied. He hated this. He hated bureaucracy, he hated red tape, and he hated the government agencies that demanded transparency and integrity while having none.

Then his phone rang, the search and rescue coordinator's name on the screen; no doubt he'd just heard the search was called off... Then the station phone rang, then another line lit up.

ASIO sure worked fast.

The three of them sighed and got back to work.