The bulk of real intelligence work is routine and dreary, time-consuming and tedious, interspersed with frenzied bursts of activity. The next day was such an occasion for the men. In an office that they had rented down town in a nondescript block, the four colleagues had spent hours sifting through a mountain of information, photographs, video evidence, tapes and dossiers.

Every tiny scrap of information that they had gleaned since Day One had been logged and forwarded to their control in Canberra where it had been fed into their computers for links and cross-checks. Anything that was relevant was then sent back to them. A constant stream of material had to be disseminated and digested.

While Terry and Costello had done the bulk of the 'front man' work so far, Hewitt and Anders had not been idle either. The network of evidence that they had built up in southern Thailand and the surveillance videos that Hewitt was so skillful at engineering had thrown up many unexpected connections and names. Pursuing these in Malaysia had led to startling and unsuspected links. Jemaah Islamiyah was known to be the SE Asian branch of Al-Qaeda and heavily implicated in both 9/11 and the driving force behind Bali but it was only now emerging just how much more sophisticated an organization it was than the image of the fundamentalist and humble Muslim clerics who were its public face. The evidence they were piecing together showed that there were highly trained professionals here , extremely wealthy backers and a slickly coordinated international movement hiding behind the apparent fledgling reformation group.

There was also another factor that was emerging. No matter how sophisticated their electronic equipment and the computers that processed intelligence information, there was no compensation for eyes and ears on the ground. Even amongst themselves it was important to talk and share their individual perceptions and what they had each experienced. Sometimes the answers are staring you in the face and it takes just one word to make you see.

All day they had worked over these documents and pictures, scrutinizing, asking questions, smoking, thinking, planning. It was exhausting and often frustrating work as they went round and round some seemingly pointless threads and tempers were often fraying at the edges.

"Fuck! I feel like my head's gonna fucking burst!" Costello groaned and kicked back against the table; a couple of documents slithered to the floor. Anders bent down to rearrange them.

"This is intelligence work, Nick! This is where it happens. What goes on when you make the showpiece bust is the end of the line. Success is HERE! The hours of rational thought and speculation, discussion and deduction. That's why it's called intelligence, mate, not brute force...any bastard can be trained to shoot a gun...!" Terry remained calm but spoke firmly to the younger men.

"Yeah...but where we getting? Just going round the fucking houses..." Hewitt was also on a short fuse.

Terry rested back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, throwing the highlighter in his hands onto the table and raking his hands through his hair. He exhaled slowly and thought deeply. Something suddenly occurred to him. Leaning forward he scrabbled through the mountain of paperwork on the desk and unearthed the tape they had been listening to. "Shit! So fucking obvious! I fucking missed it..." he rewound and depressed play. It was a recording of the phone call that early afternoon when he had been woken by the call which had led to his meeting at the orchid gardens. The four men listened to it again.

"Kyle...enhance...!" Terry snapped. Kyle transferred the disk to his laptop and began to play around with it. In minutes he had it ready.

"We've listened to this a hundred...." Costello complained.

"Shut up! Listen. Rain. Fucking rain...Jesus Christ!" Terry clenched his fist in victory.

"So it fucking rained?" Kyle asked, unsure what he was getting at.

"Not in KL." Anders muttered. "It was a fucking hot afternoon. I know because I had to walk around a fucking flower garden..." he grinned. "It hadn't rained all day. Not until about five thirty on the way back..."

"Affirmative," Terry smiled. "Now...where was it raining...?"

Hewitt did a search. "Not much that day. Peninsular Malaysia - all states fair...the usual. So the call came from outside...?"

"No...we would have seen the number as an international....highlands....check the highlands...the weather there cannot be comparable...where's the highest in a radius of say...hundred miles of the city...?"

Hewitt tapped out a few more searches. "Three possibles... Hill resorts.  The Camerons...tea plantations and colonial bungalows.....Fraser's Hill....flower and vegetable farms. Golf courses...Genting Highlands...the highest, but nothing much there apart from this bloody great casino..."

"Bet it was raining at two...check it...!" Terry grunted in triumph.

A short silence. "It rained all day..." Hewitt smiled. Terry nodded.

"I don't get it? So? So the guys were at a casino...?" Kyle began.

Anders shook his head. "Muslims can't go into casinos. They're banned. Genting Highlands is a resort for non - Muslims. That's why it's up there in the clouds to keep it from soiling the hands or offending the eyes of the faithful...pretty good place for the most dangerous Islamic terrorists in the world to have their base, hey? And they can always have a little flutter on the side..."

"It's a very small place. Easy to defend - yeah...but also a cinch to track them down once we get the fix. For now, this is just for us to know. This is the final key. First we have to get in. But at least we know now where we are going. This is a crucial step. But there is a long way to go still. Now...ready to dig? Let's go through those photographs again. Background. Memorise faces....anyone could be a plant...next time you see him or her you have to recognize them. Because they sure as fuck are gonna recognize you..."

The two women sat on the grass on a blanket while the children played with a frisbee nearby. It was a warm spring afternoon in the Central Park.

"...I'm really sorry. I just didn't feel like facing her all night long. Maybe I should be over it by now but the truth is, I'm not. It isn't really even her. I am just at a bad place and she just stirred old memories. But I didn't want to put a damper on the evening. I'd been so looking forward to it..."Annie apologized.

Charis placed a hand on her arm. "Hey...I understand. It was a freaking nightmare. Alice is a bit of crazy bitch anyway. She's not really my friend, more Greta's. I mean she's OK but she thinks the world revolves around her..." Annie smiled inwardly. Charis was hardly the sort to put her own feelings second. "When I met her she was divorcing husband number two. The first guy she left when her little girl, Teri, was small. He was kidnapped somewhere in S. America but even when he was released things never really picked up. They tried but...they had a baby but instead of helping it made things worse...Jesus...I just realized.! It was your husband who was involved in that, wasn't it? That was the link..."

Annie nodded. "He did an extraction to pull Peter Bowman out..."

"Extraction?" Charis asked.

"Sorry...K and R speak. It means they launched a quasi-military operation. Very dangerous and also borderline illegal. This is last ditch stuff. Can go dreadfully wrong, even in the hands of professionals. But it is an option. And they will use it if they judge it necessary. That's why they're paid so much. And why they are known risk takers. Because if they fail, they either get a prison sentence or..." She looked down and didn't continue.

"Jesus...how do you live with that? Does he do this a lot?" Charis asked. "It sounds like mercenaries....I don't mean...but why would a guy with a family need that...?"

Annie tried to explain. "He doesn't do it for kicks. Or money. Although I know both the rush and the lifestyle are something he has become used to. He does it because it has to be done and he can do it. That's what he's like..."

"Come on, Annie! He The Last Action Hero or something?" Charis was unconvinced.

"Actually he is," she smiled ruefully. "I don't expect other people to understand but I've had personal experience of his skills and his sense of purpose. And believe me, when he's on your side, you wouldn't be questioning his integrity. Nor did Alice Bowman. Or Pienkowicz. Or whatever the fuck she's called nowadays."

"They had an affair, didn't they? While her husband was held?" Charis frowned, as if even her liberated sensibilities were struggling with that one.

"Yes. An affair. Of sorts." Annie's answer was grudging.

"Of sorts? They either did or they didn't, honey..." she said wryly.

"She needed a crutch. He needed a life. Somehow they both got their wires crossed." She smiled. "Look, it's a very complicated story. She turned up some years later with little baby Teri. By then Terry and I were lovers. I met her, thought the baby was his, we fought and broke up. But there is an epilogue. Some of Terry's enemies took me and roles were reversed. I guess Alice will always remind me of that terrible time in my life...it's not even her fault..."

"Kidnapped? Terry had to pay a ransom for you? Did they treat you bad?" Charis was shocked at the revelation.

Annie's face froze. A muscle twitched in her upper jaw and her voice grew tight. "It wasn't a kidnap. It was a punishment. They planned to let him watch while they took me apart. You have no idea the evil that exists in this world and how men like my husband soak it up for the rest of us....like blotting paper..." she remembered her own words to him so long ago.

"Christ! What did they do to you?"

Annie shook her head and looked about her on this perfect sunny day. All around her were families and young couples, happy smiling people taking a stroll or just basking in the sun. It seems at times like these that nothing bad can ever happen but Annie now knew that was when you had to be most vigilant. For who knows where the next hammer will fall? "They cut off my hair. Then they gang-raped me. They made me do things. Terrible things. They filmed it all and sent it to him. He had to watch. So did Dino. Imagine that? Then they beat me. They intended to kill me. But he got there first. They killed our baby though..."

The other woman sat in silence listening in horror. "What did he do to them?" she gasped.

"What do you think? You teach a man to kill in every way there is- you think he won't use that when his own are threatened? No matter how much integrity he has. There is only so much anyone can take...I have learnt that life is not black and white, Charis. Most of it is grey. And Terry has to find his way through that gloom so that the rest of us can live in the sunlight on days like this."

They sat awhile neither saying much. What was there to say? The children came over thirsty and hot; Liam flopped onto her, his sweaty body suddenly sweeter than anything in life. Annie stroked back his damp fringe and handed him a cold drink from a chill box, listening to the three children arguing and teasing each other, Charis's little cocker spaniel somewhere in the mix, jumping around and yapping. Bea and Zoe got out their dolls and began setting out a Barbie picnic while Liam soon grew bored and charged off with the little dog, Balthazar. Called Bart for short, naturally.

"Mum? Bea asked if we could stay over again. It was fun! We want to do a play next time. Bea's writing it and I am going to direct. It's a new Harry Potter we are inventing. Liam can be in it. Bart can be a monster or something...Can we stay again? Can we, can we?" Zoe begged.

"It's not up to me, sweetie. Auntie Charis is the one in charge! But if you all want to stay at our place some night then that's fine...anytime...you could come over, Charis, too and we could have dinner...stay the night..."

"Fabulous! I'll check my schedule and we'll formalize a date. What fun! A sleepover for adults and children...how very, very novel..." Check her schedule for a kid's sleepover? Annie laughed to herself. The life of a society lady, hey? "But first, you must come to the new exhibition. A Man Ray retrospective. There will be such people at the opening! You'll adore it. I'll get you on the list...I have a few contacts..."

They had a few beers in a cheap coffee shop near the office, watching the commuters in the heaving traffic struggling to get past the near gridlock in the city on another stifling early evening. Terry was pensive, allowing himself to think about Hsueh for the first time since he had woken up to find her gone. It had been a pretty weird night and he wondered what had prompted her to disappear. It had made him very uneasy.He wasn't naïve. It was the number one rule to restrict access with women on a job like this. Sex - OK. Dating - are you kidding? Bring a woman back to your room and let her do what she liked to you? He would have wrung Costello's neck for a stunt like that.

So why had he done it?

Because he was in control.

Because he was aware of what she might be and he was finding out her game.

Because no woman could get one over on him.

Because he was a professional and would not make a mistake.

A load of bollocks.

Because he had wanted to. 

Waking up the next morning, he had felt rested and, to be fair, better than in weeks. His qi was on the up and up, perhaps? He had groaned at the memory and rolled over to find the bed empty. That had startled him. Sitting up and rubbing sleep from his eyes, he had scanned the room. It took him a mere second or two to see the open drawer and his cell phone moved. Everything had a place. Even a tiny difference meant his things had been disturbed.

What was this? He had pulled open the drawer and found the contents. Pictures drawn by his children, farewell cards, snaps of them all together in...yeah, he had to say it...in happier times. A lump came to his throat as he sat stood there flicking through the shots, still naked and the essence of another woman all over his body. He had closed his eyes and groaned, rocking slightly on his heels. Christ, what was he doing to them all?

Throwing the reminders of his adultery back into the drawer and slamming it shut, he realized Hsueh had seen all this. Why had she been looking? Was she something other that what she seemed? Or was she just a woman falling in love who was tempted, as all women are, to uncover more about the man she is sleeping with than he has told her? Either scenario was possible.

Best course of action? If the latter were true, then best to let her go. They had no future and she could only get hurt. It had been an interesting interlude but high time he put that one behind him. But, if the former were true, then he needed to know what she knew, who she was working for and what was the agenda. Friends close. Enemies closer.

He had to contact her again. For the safety of the entire mission.

Bollocks.

He wanted her too much to walk away from her now.

The only one likely to threaten the safety of this mission now - was he himself. But he was trapped. No way out. This one had to run.

"Refill? Another couple of bottles, boss?" Anders asked.

Terry turned his attention back. "Yeah, go on. We'll be stuck in traffic if we try to leave now anyway. Time for a Tiger, hey, lads...?"

"...so, I was wondering if I should try and let him cry and see if he will settled down - he might just be trying to make me dance to his tune. How much do they sense? But Dino is driving me mad, he panics and thinks I'm being harsh...Annie, you aren't even listening, are you?" Mel exclaimed as she realized her friend was staring out from the balcony as they sat there in the sunshine.

"...sorry...miles away...you were saying..." Annie murmured but her lack of interest evident.

"I just thought you might have some practical advice for me. About babies and crying? You were once stuck in baby heaven yourself, remember? As I recall in those days you never seemed to think of anything else..."

"...yeah, Mel, and you quickly shut me up with a reminder about how boring it was...sorry...that was unforgivable of me! It's just that...I've got stuff on my mind. I'm really not good company these days..."

"You need to get out more. It's not good for you cooped up in that apartment with just the kids for company..."

"I see Charis now and again. She is fun and she takes me to all these swanky openings and receptions but, it isn't really me, you know? I always want to say something withering or down right insulting so all the spoilt effete poseurs..."

Mel laughed. "Yeah...you and high society would make very strange bedfellows. They'd probably think you were a Commie. I just had an idea..." she eased her son off her nipple and rested him over her shoulder as she buttoned up. Across the room, Liam was giggling and pointing, whispering to Zoe that he had seen Auntie Mel's tit. Zoe just tutted and ignored him. "...Dino is driving me fucking nuts. He just hangs around here and fusses. He's even been working from home the past few weeks whenever he can. It's worse than having a sergeant major. My life is regimented and he is constantly reading books and telling me stuff I already know...what I would give for one night of peace and quiet...why don't you and he go out for dinner? Take him off my hands...go on, Annie, you owe me one...and it will be good for you..."

Mel grinned to herself. She had already put the idea in Dino's head that morning at breakfast. She wasn't in the least bothered by his adoring presence round the two of them all the time these days - in fact she loved it - but it sounded a plausible story and Annie would not be able to go all virtuous and refuse this offer. The silly cow was almost in purdah moping around in Terry's absence. Typical Annie. She had always been such a drip about him. God love her...but Anna Dwyer was the sort of woman who might appear assertive and opinionated but was in fact helpless in the face of a man like Terry Thorne.

But then, Mel mused to herself...there can't be many women who wouldn't be. He certainly had it all. Looks, sex appeal, quiet dignity, courage, passion and that indefinable sense of the alpha male - dominant and unbending. She wondered if he had ever deferred to a woman in anything, even if he asserted himself in the most honourable and gentle of ways. Terry Thorne didn't manipulate and force women to his will - he made them simply want nothing more than to accommodate him by the sheer sweet joy of his attention. And the best thing of all was - he was largely unaware that he was doing it. Like Liam really. The boy was just so natural and without calculation but it was already abundantly obvious how he affected the female of the species with those luminous eyes and open mischievous nature.

Smiling down at her own little boy, she wondered how much like his father he would be? Because if he was anything like Dean Lapenti then they were in for a crazy old time...

"Come on, Hsueh...open up...I know you're in there..." Terry Thorne leaned on the apartment bell and shouted, banging his palm in frustration at the ornate hardwood door. Another resident came out of the apartment facing across the antique Chinese rug and stared impassively at him, a cordless phone in his hand. Terry grimaced and turned to address him.

"Look...this is not what it looks like. We had a tiff...just a lovers' quarrel, hey?" he tried for a smile but the neighbour looked unconvinced. Terry rang the doorbell again.

This time the door opened slightly, the safety chain on. 

"Hsueh? Open up...we can't talk like this..."

"Go away. I told you when you called...I don't want to see you..."

"For God's sake, Hsueh... don't leave me like this...I need to talk to you..."

"More lies? I've heard enough, Terry..."

"I can explain. I swear I can....if you'll just let me in..."

For moments she remained at the door, her head down, thinking. And then he saw the door being closed, the latch pulled back and she had opened it wide, stepping back for him to enter.

"It's OK, Mr. Liew...it's OK..." Hsueh addressed the neighbour who was still watching from a distance.

"If you are sure...?" He began.

"Yes...quite sure..." and she closed the door softly.

Slowly she turned to face him as he stood in the centre of the lounge. "I am sorry that I never told you about..."

"You lied. You said you were not married. That you had once been married years ago and had an adult son...but you lied! You have two small children! A young wife! My God....you are just the same as all the others...I thought you were different..." Hsueh spat out the words through gritted teeth, clearly near to tears. He swallowed hard, aware that he did not cope well with emotional women, despite all his years in the business. That had always been his weakness, his need to protect vulnerability in women; many had taken advantage. This time he was the guilty one.

"I know I lied - but I had my reasons. It wasn't about hurting you. I can't say anymore than that. But, I never did it to mislead you..."

"I wouldn't have cared! I know you're not going to stay. I know this is just for now! If you had wanted to have some fun and had been straight with me - I know the way things are...why couldn't you just have trusted me with the truth? It just makes a mockery of all we shared..."

He crossed the distance between them, reached out his hands to touch her, pulled back, rocked slightly on his heels, ran his hands through his hair...all signs of his unease. This was not his comfort zone. "I can't explain...when it started I swear I didn't mean for it to end up like this...I just...I wanted company. A beautiful woman...I was...I am ...lonely...I didn't plan to betray her..."

Hsueh eyes him up frankly. "So you are not about to tell me that she doesn't understand you? That you work hard and she spends your money? That she uses sex like a reward for a good boy? I've heard it all before...it's the old, old story..."

He frowned and looked down before suddenly raising his eyes to her and she saw something unexpected. He had no intention of making any such excuse. "I love my wife...but I care about you...I don't know quite what that means..." It occurred to her then that he simply had very little experience of finding himself in an ambivalent position. This was a man who acted out of a sense of honour and did not take the selfish and indulgent course. For all his worldly poise and the evident air of confidence and control, he was not used to betrayal. It made him feel wretched. He didn't even know why he had let himself get to this state.

"You...have some feelings for me? In what way?"

He shrugged. "Romantic feelings. Affection. Sexual feelings. Desire..."

She blushed slightly. "But you love your wife? Am I your mistress then? Is that what you wish?"

"Mistress?" He said the word as if it was new to him, a concept that had never entered his head.

"It is a common way of life here. A man has his wife and his mistress. He is able to love more than one woman. Men are like that. It is their nature..."

"...And women?" he interrupted.

She smiled and slipped her arms around his neck as he pulled her in close to his body. "A true woman gives herself to only one man. Yin is fixed. Yang is a wanderer. It is the way of the world..."

She felt his reaction, a shiver almost running through him. It was almost like fear. But he did not back away. Instead he drew her head to him in his hands and kissed her, as if his life depended on it. She could read something in it. It was a decision taken. Somehow she knew he was the kind of man who once committed would never step back. It was a singular moment; he was handing something over to her. Freely. Honestly. In the full knowledge that he chanced that it might never let him go.

"If I may say so, you are looking particularly lovely tonight, Mrs. Thorne..." Dino leaned back in the elevator as they traveled down from his apartment to the street. His arms were folded and he smiled, eyes sparkling and head cocked to one side. Annie beamed back. There was so much unsaid in his appraisal and she loved it all.

She had taken her time to get ready, more care than usual. The sort of performance that she would have taken in a special date with Terry, down to the sexy lingerie she was wearing. Dino read all that and appreciated her effort, was flattered that even a platonic date came with it a frisson o something sexual. Old friends they might be - but she was still a woman and he a man.

They had known each other so long - almost ten years now but Annie realized they had rarely been alone together. Just that one time in Singapore when Terry had been lost...and they had slept together. She had been too afraid of her nightmares to be alone. It hadn't been a sexual thing - the very opposite - but an intimacy nevertheless. To sleep in a man's arms moves a relationship to a different plane, even if there is no lovemaking.

"Why thank you kindly, sir. You look pretty fine yourself. I think we'll cut quite a figure round town tonight, if I say so myself." He grinned, that rather smug smile of his, self-satisfied and knowing. Men. They do it even when they aren't trying. Why is that? The lift doors parted and he ushered her out through the elegant foyer, a nod to the discreet staff members who greeted him as he passed by and then into his car already waiting for them as the jockey slid out from behind the wheel.

They drove fast in the heavy traffic, weaving in and out; Dino was an impatient and aggressive driver, quite unlike Terry who rarely used a car as an extension of his machismo. You just knew he could throw the fucker about if he needed to. The machine was a high performance Maserati; Annie idly wondered where they intended to fix the baby seat. The on board music system was state of the art, controlled by a voice censor following a digital display of the selections available in the multi disk system. Annie giggled and kept switching her choices around just for the hell of it. Dino showed it off, enjoying impressing the lady with his expensive toy. A momentary flash of Terry driving with Liam and Zoe shouting different choices and the system zipping around like a jack-in the box came into her mind. "I'll rip that bloody thing off its moorings if those two don't belt up...!" The thought made her smile and then brought a slight lump to her throat.

"Long time since a tasty bloke took me out in his fast motor and showed me his collection..." Annie snapped out of her drifting melancholy and teased her date, falling into a London accent to razz him.

Dino chuckled and looked across. "You're still pure Brit girl, aren't you? Thought you'd pick up the Strine...Kinda hoped you wouldn't..." then he gave her a more serious look, something there beneath the easy charm. "Don't ever change, Anna. I'm not sure I could cope with losing either of my English girls ..." He never called her Anna. Hardly anyone did these days. Terry never had, more comfortable with playful names as befitted an Aussie. But she preferred her real name actually, always had. Dino's use of it was interesting, as if he was telling her that they weren't just the spouses of each other's best friends. They had their own bonds, too.

She lay back and stretched in the deep leather seat as the engine purred smoothly through the night. "Where we going?"

He grinned. "Somewhere really expensive, hip and so cool that you will need an Icelandic passport to even get close..." He waggled his eyebrows and gave her his tight- lipped glance, watching her as she relaxed and closed her eyes, crooning softly along with a track playing. Changing gear and accelerating away from a traffic light, he looked again. She was so beautiful. Her slender body, so svelte and narrow was encased in a deep red dress of a clinging material. Few women would have dared wear something so unforgiving. Mel had screeched when she had seen it. "I hate you, you skinny bitch! If I wore that, I would look like the Michelin Woman!" Not true but, Dino smiled to himself appreciatively, his wife had always been a more voluptuous kind of girl.

He thought about desire and what fuels it. He liked women and had slept with every possible size and shape in his time; Catholic tastes, you might say, for a boy from his Irish- Italian background. He had what you might call a taste for the gentler sex. But he knew a thoroughbred when he saw her.  It was interesting really. Despite his lean, stringy frame, his eyes were usually most taken by soft fleshy women, full breasted and hipped with long slim legs. Women like his wife. Terry for all his impressive muscular bulk seemed to prefer bone-thin women, small-breasted, dwarfed by his size. Not that his friend hadn't had his fair share of more voluptuous women over the years...but his ideal, the image in his brain somewhere was a woman like Annie, fragile and delicate to look at, dainty and girlish. Why was that? What shaped that subconscious prototype deep within our psyche?

He noted out of the corner of his eye that Annie had slipped out of one of her shoes and was dangling the expensive black leather stiletto on her toes. It drew his eyes to her legs graced with pale stockings; it made him  wonder if she was wearing a garter or hold ups, imagining the slender band of white flesh at the top of her thighs, the scrap of silk or lace she would probably be wearing, the soft black curl of the hair between her legs...

"Nate is doing so well! He's grown so much already!" Annie observed. The comment juddered him back to reality.

"Yeah...he's something else. Only baby in the world to exist on no sleep, ten gallons of milk a day and to produce enough shit to power a whole city with methane..."

Annie giggled. "No...that was Liam...still is, I think..." They both laughed.

"Well, here we are...let's see if this nice gentleman will go park my car for me..." There was little doubt that a vehicle like this would not be immediately adopted by the young men who worked at the entrance. Dino eased out, slipped a bill into a boy's hand and then slid round to open the door and help Annie out. He caught her black cashmere wrap as it dipped off her shoulder and wrapped it around her sensuously. She looked up at him and grinned playfully. They could have this game in the full knowledge that neither would ever make the other uncomfortable. This was safe ground. Teasing, flirting, innuendo - all welcome - but no chance that either would ever even dream of making an inappropriate advance.

Inside they settled at the bar which seemed more like the deck of a star ship; a swirl of metal with retro style plastic bucket stools in pastel shades. The lights were low but there were spotlights sending a piercing beam on those at the bar; Annie felt on show and was not sure she quite liked it. Staring around, she recognised faces from the media, politics, the celebrity world. It was a surreal moment as everyone watched everyone else, trying to assess whether each person they saw was a someone, a no one or a really important person. She could see how easy it must be to be at a place where that actually did matter. With a secret smile, she rather preferred the role of enigmatic no one.

"Drink?" Dino asked her.

"Emmm....." she replied biting her lip.

"Champagne?"

"Why not!" she laughed and he ordered a bottle - Annie winced at the choice, a Krug - Clos du Mesnil 1990- knowing it would cost hundreds of dollars. Like Terry, money never had much meaning for Dino. They earned it, they spent it. For all their worldly wise knowledge they were often like little boys when it came to using the rewards their lifestyle had brought them. But then perhaps that comes from an acceptance that life is lived in the now. Tomorrow might find you in a ditch in some war torn corner of the world risking your neck again. What use bottles of Bollinger then? 

He passed her a flute and they raised their glasses and touched them. "To babies, and dirty diapers and being damned glad that we are still here to put up with them!" Dino grinned.

Annie nodded and added her own comment: "And to absent friends!"

"To absent friends!" he repeated softly as they took a sip.

"How you faring?" Annie had wondered how long it would take him to reach that particular topic.

She hunched her shoulders and feigned lack of interest, pulling out a cigarette and fumbling for a light. Dino - who rarely smoked anything but the occasional smuggled Cuban and that more for the fact that it was illegal than anything else - produced a lighter, as if by magic, and attended to it, leaning close to hold her hand steady. "You try evading the question with a man like me, you better be good at it. No telltale signs, you hear? Shaking hands, smoking, avoiding my eyes..." but he was smiling fondly, his face betraying nothing but his eyes intense.

She rolled hers in response. "I hate that! Terry bloody does it too!" but she smiled sheepishly. "I'm OK. I don't like it but I'm getting by. It would help if he would occasionally..." her voice trailed away and she shook herself slightly as if to tell herself to get a grip.

"If he would occasionally - what?" Dino enunciated the words slowly, picking up her right hand and rubbing it in his. "Has he not been in touch?"

She took a deep drag, closed her eyes and exhaled, watching the plume of smoke curl in the glare of the photo-chromatic spotlight. "Not for a while. Haven't even had a mail for a few days..." She made a face like a teenager who is trying to pretend they don't care about something. He repressed a grin; her daughter had been pulling the same face at her brother earlier in the evening.

"We don't know what level of action they're at. If they are code red then he won't want to chance anything..."

"I know," she snapped.

"He has to make those decisions as and when they are appropriate. You know he won't take a chance...."

"I know." She again did not elaborate, merely sipping her champagne and not committing.

"If there was anything that needed to be transmitted to you, he would use other channels..."

"I KNOW! For Christ's sake..." she stubbed out the cigarette on a crystal ashtray. "Let me ask you something, just for interest's sake...when is the last time that you heard from him. I mean that he called you personally?"

A muscle twitched in Dino's upper cheek. He cleared his throat. "...You know he has to maintain the semblance of the cover? That he is working for me?"

"Answer the fucking question, Dino!" Annie spoke in her clear clipped British tones. She had that authoritative way of speaking that always made him think of natural power and privilege, even if for most British it was merely the result of an accent not an upbringing these days.

"This morning. We spoke this morning for about half an hour," he admitted, looking away.

"Business?"

"Some..."

"Where is he?"

"Still there." 

She nodded."Did he pass on any little messages for his family, by any chance?" Her sarcasm was evident. Suddenly he wished he hadn't gotten involved in this line of questioning.

"Annie...it wasn't about you....or the kids...he wouldn't speak to me about you..."

She sighed. "Or me about me either. What the fuck....! He never said it would be easy..."

He refilled her glass. "What's on your mind, honey? Something's niggling. You're worried and this is not just general anxiety..."

Annie stared at the glass and watched as the foam rose; he paused and deftly added just the exact amount to reach the rim of each glass. "I think I'm losing him, Dino...I think he's just drifting away from me..." she bit her lip and stifled a sob.

"WHAT? Terry? Baby, he lives for you...for those children...hey, this is just the old loneliness getting to you..." He placed a hand on her arm.

"No. It isn't that. There's something else. I know this man. I know everything about him. And I know when he's...hiding...When he's ashamed...when he's withdrawing from me...I just know...."She placed her face in the palms of her hand. "We've only just got back on our feet after last year. Maybe there are residual issues there, I don't know...I always thought if what we had ever really died then we would go out in one almighty bang. But I'm not so sure now. Maybe it will just be a fading to a whimper. Just nobody's fault. Grow apart. Realise that other things and people are more suited to where we are now..."

"Annie... this is crazy talk...get a grip. Maybe you need to see someone? Talk to someone who can help..."

"A shrink? Oh...spare me your New York goggledegook and 'let me explore my issues' claptrap! This is not my paranoia! This is me reading my husband like a bloody open book! Next time he calls for a little chat, you listen carefully. Push him a bit and see how he jumps. I'm telling you that Terry is different since this all happened. Perhaps he has to be to carry it off, I don't know. But what will I be left with in the end? Someone completely different? Someone I don't even know anymore?"

Their table was ready and they broke off as they slipped from the stools to follow the waiter. He fussed and primped; they made their choices and did not return to the topic. Dino was turning it over in his mind all the while nevertheless. Annie was right, he had noticed it himself. Terry had sounded different, guarded, cold. He had always had that ability to retreat into himself when he required to concentrate his inner strength of purpose but it often betrayed the dangerous tendency he had for self-destruction. Terry Thorne could read anyone - but had a very poor understanding of himself - nor did he usually see the warning signs. How many times had he himself had to put it to him and received that threatening glare back, Dino thought? Those moments when Terry always looked capable of tearing even his best friend limb from limb if he didn't shut up and keep the fuck out of his business.

And Dino knew another thing, as sure as shit. There would be a woman lurking somewhere in this particular mix. Of that he had no doubt.

The first shipment was arriving and being offloaded early morning at the Port of Klang on the Straits of Malacca. The consignment, described as engineering components, cleared customs with barely a glance. The necessary inducements for blind eye turning meant that not even a cursory pretence of examination of documents or contents was made. The goods were passed and the containers were soon embarking on the next leg of their journey. Thorne expected them to turn up in places far and wide from this particular theatre of conflict. Weapons were important barter throughout the murky world of international terrorism and the tracker devices that each carried would no doubt unearth many other cells than the ones they were primarily investigating. But that still did not actually make him feel much easier. These weapons were still functioning instruments of death and violence and could cause untold damage. Some things had to be ventured for the future gain. That was hardly a comforting answer to someone whose fate was to be a victim of a bullet from one of these high performance guns.

And there was also the little matter of the criminal aspect of this engagement. If it went wrong or some other agency got wind of what they were doing, they were alone. His government was unable to acknowledge this publicly - no surprise there; it was usual in matters of sensitive intelligence field ops such as these. But the penalty here would be execution. They didn't fuck about with civil rights and rehabilitation in this country. Imagine the stigma for his family if it was to emerge that he was running guns to some of the most dangerous criminal elements in the world? To know their father was public enemy number one?

The two men waited, leaning back on their car, smoking while the transaction took place. Once the trucks had pulled out, Razali drove up, winding down the darkened window of his Ssang Yong Rexton 4x4. "Excellent, gentlemen. We shall be in touch.  We are also now interested in the other commodity. Expect a contact soon. Selamat jalan!"

Nick and Terry exchanged glances, threw their cigarettes on the ground and jumped back into their car, revved up and shot off into the direction of the highway.

"At last....at fucking last....the big fucker...." Nick muttered, banging his head back on the leather headrest in satisfaction.

Terry nodded and glanced over, giving a wry smile. "Feels good?"

"Well...yeah..." Nick laughed. "So fucking good...like a nice, hot, wet pussy...!"

His superior pulled a disapproving face, but still grinned back "That's one way of putting it, mate..." But the comment made him think of Dino. He'd have loved this one.

"So how long d'ya reckon? Couple of days?" Nick asked.

"Tops. They won't sit on this now their minds are made up. Just make sure we're ready. None of the rest counts now, ya know? No matter what we've done right so far, we make one cock up now and it is fucked. We are fucked."

Nick laughed, the wild mocking laugh of the invincible young man. "You fucking joking, mate? This one will be in the James Bond Hall of Fame. Who d'ya think will play me in the movie...Colin Farrell...naw...I'm better looking that that little runt...how about...Eric Bana...yeah, gotta be an Oz, hey? Or maybe Wolverine...what's that bastard's name again...?"

Terry shook his head. " Hugh Jackman. You're a fucking lunatic, Costello....who d'ya figure for me then?" he added laughing.

"You....let me see....that elf from Lord of the Rings for Kyle - he's got the narrow hips for it....is Jude Law too young for Will...? I know....Heath Ledger....no, too much hair...what about that guy who used to be in Neighbours...?"

"What...Jason Donovan...? Yeah, he's going bald..." Terry observed.

"I was thinking Guy Pearce, but you're right...Donovan would be great for Anders..."

'Actually, I said me, not them..." Terry giggled.

"You? Gotta be some grand old man....Harrison Ford?"

"Harrison Ford? How fucking old, do ya think I am, ya bastard...I was thinking more...Vin Diesel..."

"Vin fuckin' Diesel? Jesus, you live on fantasy island, mate...you could be his dad..."

"That king bloke from Lord of the Rings?"

"Hidalgo? No, you're too ugly.... Chuck Norris...?"

"Chuck fucking Norris is not playing me...!"

"Arnie then...or is he too political these days...?" Costello razzed, Terry swore.

"...And if you bloody say Stallone, I shall kick you out of this fucking motor..."

"Let's dance?" Dinner over, they were now in an exclusive nightclub the kind that catered to adults not  the usual rowdy night scene frequented by drunken kids or young people throwing themselves about on speed or designer drugs. This joint was rather too eclectic for them and the membership fee precluded all but the very wealthy. Here the clientele could get drunk or pop anything they liked as long as they kept it discreetly within the private rooms available. But in the main bar, there was a rather tempting dance floor and some easy jazz and that is where Dino took Annie.

"Wonderful...I haven't danced for so long, Dino!" Sweeping her up, they moved smoothly across the floor. He pulled her close, she nestled into him. It was good to be in a man's arms again.

"You are a natural, Dino. I love a man who can dance..." Annie sighed dramatically.

Dino chuckled. "You know something? We got a few other things in common apart from dancing..."

"Oh yeah?" She pouted.

"Yeah..." he brought his lips close to her ear. "Neither of us has been laid in a dog's age..."

Annie threw back her head and laughed out loud. He liked that in a woman. The capacity to be herself and enjoy life to the full. "Maybe we should do each other a favour...should we get a room...?"

His eyes twinkled as they danced; he didn't miss a beat. "Reckon there's a few dark corners in here we could settle down in...."

She swayed his arm but still kept up the patter. "It'll cost ya..."

"Cheap at half the price..."

"Then it just went up...you're obviously an easy target..."

"Just went up...you got that right..." he snorted with laughter as she groaned at his crude innuendo.

"You dirty bugger...!"

"Stop feeding me lines then..." The music came to an end and they returned to their table. Talking of feeding...I'll think we're gonna have to call it a night. He'll be up again soon and I better be there to give a hand...y' know?" He smiled and looked a little bashful to admit he wanted to get back to his family. Annie grinned back.

"Look at the time! I have to get them to soccer at nine...let's make a move, then shall we..? And thank you....I have had a wonderful, wonderful evening..." She gathered up her purse and shawl as he stood up. Leaning in, she kissed him softly on the lips; they took their time in the soft embrace - and then he licked his lips. "That was nice..."

"Mmmm, I know. And rather less than you deserve after a night like this. But, mate, it's all you're getting...!" On that note they both laughed and made their way out, his hand on the base of her spine, guiding her to the car. Inside they were soon off and crossing the city back to his apartment; she would sleep there tonight rather than disturb the little ones ay such an hour.

They were both quiet on the return, tired and talked out.

"Dino...what I said before...about Terry...don't say anything to Mel. I'm sure it will work out..."

"Between you and me...no worries- as your friend and mine might say. He won't let you down, Annie, not in the long run. He might be a stubborn fool at times but he's a smart guy. He knows what he has - and nothing in earth will shake him from it. Believe me..."

Annie nodded and patted his hand as he changed gear. Resting back, she let the soft background music wash over her, and tried to believe him.

Kyle Hewitt was staring out of the window of the office idly watching the passersby far below through an extremely resolution pair of binoculars. Anders was sifting through a stack of photographs sorting them into piles and pinning some up on a large board. "Stop arsing about and get some work done" Will muttered. Kyle was bored.

He exhaled and wandered back, flicking through the digital photographs. Will pulled them off him and began to arrange them with the others. Suddenly he stopped dead and stared. "Pass me that magnifying glass..."

Hewitt passed it over and watched his friend scrutinize the shot. "Can you improve this...?" He pointed at a figure in the background of one.

"Sure..." Back on the lap top he began to play with the image until he had what they wanted. Anders swore under his breath.

"What? Who is it? Come on, mate, don't shit me..."

Anders looked at him. "Someone's fucking playing somebody, mate...and I'm beginning to wonder whether Mr. Clean is quite as wholesome as he suggests...you ever wondered what would happen to us if there was someone on the inside of an outfit like this? Ever occurred to you? Jesus, we are fucking amateurs...but he isn't...he fucking isn't...I wonder who first suggested this little caper back in Canberra when Thorne the Magnificent was with the Ministry...? "

"Fucking hell!" Hewitt gasped, clarity beginning to dawn on him.

"Think it's time you and me stopped arsing about running errands for God Almighty and started doing a little bit of black ops of our own, mate..."

"Nick?"

"No...just you and me...let's keep this one quiet, hey...?"

It was nine thirty the next morning when Annie got back to her apartment. She wanted to shower, change and have a breather before another Mom dropped off her two children from soccer practice. Throwing down the overnight bag, she stripped and wandered into the bathroom, taking a long hot shower, her head slightly throbbing from the night before - too much alcohol.

Drying her hair, she curled up with a coffee and a newspaper, dressed only in her wrap. Peace and quiet on a Saturday morning. A rare treat.

No sooner had the words entered her head than the doorbell rang. Doorbell? She checked the time - surely they weren't back already? Her heart thudded. Maybe there'd been an accident? Had one of them had a knock to the head or something? Racing for the door and making no effort to check, she wrenched open the door.

"Amri?" She stared in surprise at the young man. He looked...different. Amiruddin was normally a dapper and elegantly urbane man but today he looked a wreck. He was swarthy and unshaven, his hair was a mess, his clothes were a hastily donned pair of jeans and a washed out T-shirt. His feet were bare.

"Are you alright?" Annie asked, concerned, and then it dawned on her. "How did you exit on this floor?"

He stared at her for a moment, a strange almost malevolent expression on his face, and then took a step forward. She noticed that he staggered slightly.

"Are you drunk? Amri? Have you been drinking? It's ten in the morning, for God's sake..."

"Don't you speak of God....you whore!"

Annie's eyes widened. "I beg your pardon?" she retorted. "...I think you better go back to your own flat and sober up..." she went to close the door but he lunged and blocked it with his foot, pushing it back and knocking her against the wall.

"I am going nowhere. Not this time. You will not treat me like a little boy again... this time I take what is mine..."

Annie stepped back desperately trying to think clearly, but her mind was too traumatized by this unexpected turn of events to respond. She felt rooted to the spot, unable to imagine what had provoked this gentle young man into such a fit of rage. Her eye caught the panic button across the narrow corridor and she wondered if she would be able to reach it if she threw herself upon it.

But he had noticed her look and he grabbed her arm, twisting it painfully behind her, pulling her into his body. "Don't even think of it..." he hissed into her ear.

"Amri...please, you're hurting my arm..." Annie begged; he threw her away from him. Taking small steps backwards, she began to make her way to the lounge trying to think of anything she could use to defend herself. Terry always said that you must use your head but never, ever, make a defence that was half-hearted or just panicky striking out. A man will generally be able to parry that but you might only wing him, just enough to make him even angrier. Either you take him down or you don't do a thing to annoy him.

She knew Liam had a baseball bat and it had been standing by a chair in the kitchen. If she could only...

"Amri...let's go into the kitchen and have a cup of coffee. Talk this out. You're upset about something and I don't understand what it is..."

He laughed, a cold bitter sound. "You don't? Let me explain then. I don't want your coffee. Or your patronizing sympathy. You are like the rest of them - a rich man's whore! Was I not good enough for you? Too dark and too foreign for your lily white skin?" He sneered, and made a sudden move, pulling on the silk ribbon of her wrap; it fell open to reveal her scanty underwear.

"Very nice...just what a whore wears for the next client..." She grabbed the edges of the wrap; he forced her arms above her head and threw her back against the wall, raking his hands possessively over her body: her breasts, her belly and the soft flesh of her mound. She jammed her legs together and bucked against him; he held her firmer and tried to kiss her. She turned her head to the side. She could smell whisky strongly on his breath.

"Please....please....don't do this, Amri...don't do this....!" she sobbed, fear gripping her in its icy hand. Memories, horrific memories, flashbacked into her mind, things she had managed to deal with, even repress, now came flooding back to petrify her from any real response. Somewhere inside her, long ago, she had learned to deal with this in only one way - acquiescence. Flight or fight were only solutions to those who had never learned any other way to survive. But she had endured before and knew the score. You let them do it and prayed that it would be enough.

Dino jigged the cross little baby up and down as he walked round and round the room, trying to calm him. Nate had got himself into one of his moods and he would no doubt cry himself out until he had had enough and finally gave into sleep.

 Just then his cell buzzed. He swore as he juggled with the phone and his son, resting him on his shoulder as he answered.

"Mr. Lapenti?"

"Speaking."

"Brunetti."

He was a new boy, still on low level stuff. He'd put him on keeping an eye on the Persian guy in Annie's apartment block, a useful training exercise.

"So...why you calling me?" Dino was mildly pissed; this was not worth disturbing his Saturday morning.

"I got something. Might be important...it's something odd..."

"...That can't wait until Monday? Either spit it out or write it down and have it on my desk by 9 am..."

"That guy...I was on him all last night. He's a high roller, went to some really class joints. Odd thing was - you was at two of them. A restaurant and then a nightclub with a dark-haired woman..." Brunetti tailed off. He'd seen the boss's wife and that was not her.  But it sure wasn't his problem if Lapenti was getting it someplace else now his wife was nursing a kid. This new one had been a classy woman anyway. Couldn't blame any man for wanting to bone her...

"I was with Anna Thorne...do you know who Terry Thorne is...? Dino asked, the annoyance now leaking into his tone.

Brunetti grunted. "He work for us? Never met him..."

"Yes, he does work for us, my friend. Don't let your dirty little imagination run away with you. So Al- Bakhti was in the same places last night? I didn't see him..."

"No, you wouldn't - because he was making sure you didn't. Man....I'm tailing this guy and he's tailing you two...right back to your apartment block. Stood on the street there for two hours until every fucking light was off. I know, because I was there too and I am fucking wasted..."

"Spare me...how do you know it was my apartment block?"

"I did a check on the occupants. Your name just popped up. Plus I saw you both go in...wondered then why you were taking the chick back to your own place...."

Dino cleared his throat. "This guy? What he do then?"

"Went back home. It was three or four by then...I hung about for an hour and then went home myself. I got a few hours' sleep but I woke up thinking...maybe you need this straight away...the guy looked...well, he looked weird. Angry...muttering to himself...he some kind of stalker?"

With a sickening thud, Dino realised that he had missed the obvious; he had been looking the wrong way. Running through to the bedroom, he thrust his son to Mel who was still dressing. "Take him!' and raced into the study. Retrieving a hand gun from his wall safe, he threw on a jacket and made for the door.

"What the fuck is going on...? Mel shouted. 

He was already through the door.

Negotiating the traffic, Dino ran his options through his mind. Police? Would they be there faster? He wasn't far away and if they burst in with their usual style they could end up with a hostage situation on their hands. He remembered that she had said the children were at soccer. So it will be just her alone...she won't open the door, surely? But she knows him. She doesn't think he is dangerous...Fuck....His heart pounded in his chest. Terry had entrusted her to him and he had missed the real threat, so caught up in some notion that this guy was a terrorist and presuming he was monitoring Annie for some S.E. Asian group. It had never occurred to him that he might be just a normal wacko.

Reaching the block, he double parked and threw his keys at the doorman who fortunately recognised him. "Call the cops. Woman in danger in Apartment 19..." Hammering out the code on the elevator, he rode it impatiently, trying to get a handle on his emotions, to go into the level of competence required for a potential stand off. The doors parted and he raced out, noting the open door. Stopping dead, he flattened against the wall and listened - but it didn't take him long to figure out what was going on.

With a darting action, he ran in and dragged the man off the woman, flinging him bodily against the wall, catching him and then smashing his head back again. As the man groaned, he raised his knee and crushed it into the soft area between his legs. The man crumpled. He hauled him to his feet, held him from behind, his knees sagging, and pressed the gun against his throat. Only then did he look across at Annie.

She was half-sitting, half-leaning on the wall, trying to gather the wrap around her, to hide her nakedness. He could see her underwear had been ripped away but he hadn't appeared to have raped her. But he'd been close.  She had been hit however. A red mark was appearing on her cheek and there was blood at the corner of her mouth. "Annie?"

"I'm OK...I'm OK...he didn't....Thank God you came....thank God you came..." she closed her eyes and sobbed, tears pouring down her cheeks, her arms wrapped round her body as she rocked herself unconsciously..

"You fucking bastard..." Dino muttered into the man's ear. "I should fucking take you apart..."

"...She pretended she was a virtuous woman ....and then she goes with you and I watched you...touching, laughing, dancing....then you take her home...do what you like with her...you don't love her....I love her....! I love her so much....She spurned me but she goes with you...?"

Dino winced at the realisation of how their innocent dinner date might have looked to a disturbed young man with a dangerous infatuation. Anyone seeing them would have presumed that they were lovers.

"This how you normally treat the women you love? Beat them? Rip their clothes off? Force yourself on them? Man. You and me...we have a slightly different interpretation of that word... Now, I am going to take you back to your apartment where we shall have a talk and I shall explain to you my interpretation of the phrase 'Natural Justice...' I hope you are listening.... "

He dragged the man towards the door of the apartment, telling Annie to lock up and let no one in but him or the children.

"Dino...leave him alone...he's just a sad boy..." Annie begged.

Dino turned on his heel and gave her a look she recognized. It was telling her that she had no part in what came next and that she was not to interfere... "Sad boys can cause a lot of damage, honey.  And so can angry men..."