"Jess?" "I have hot dogs, jam fairycakes, lemonade." "Which will either make you feel better or put you into a diabetic coma." "Hello?" "Jess?" "Jesse." "Oh, no." "You have no idea how much trouble you're in." "Jesse." "Not the van." "Come on, Jesse." "Hey." "Hey." "Hey." "It's OK." "It's OK." "It's me." "It's just you and me." "Pretty blunt way to tell someone you're not into them." "Trina Daniels, she was a gold member on eDate until six months ago." "'Sensitive, intelligent lady looking for a sensitive, intelligent man.'" "Cue your mate, Andy King." "'I was wandering in the dark and you found me." "Now I never want to leave the light.'" "Missed his calling." "So, he tell you he'd found the love of his life?" "His wife was the love of his life." "I didn't know he was even having coffee with this woman." "What, and he'd have told you?" "Once upon a time." "His wife's Redress of Grievance file at the Defence Department makes for a... ooh, an interesting read!" "Yeah." "If someone had bothered to write back to her once in a while, maybe she wouldn't have tried so hard to get attention." "She drove into a tree." "Hardly the Army's fault." "She drove into a tree because she was clinically depressed, which the Army never acknowledged or approved any help for." "'I can't conceive.'" "Oh, and that's the Army's fault too." "Listen." "She was a friend of mine, if you want to adjust your pitch a little." "Trina Daniels worked in data encryption at Physanto." "Downloaded the first part of a highly classified file on the day she was murdered." "Probably fair to say he was getting a little extra out of the romance." "The last thing she printed when she left was a breach report." "It has Jesse Banks' IP address on it." "Now, if she gave that to King, could he find him?" "He could find the Ark of the Covenant if he wanted to." "So yeah, if I were Banks, I'd expect a visit." "Text intercepted on the way to Andy King, two minutes ago." "GPS is picking him up at the National Capital University." "You look tired." "Yeah, well, it's been a tricky week." "Who's the kid?" "Mark's nephew." "Here, doing computer science." "He's gonna check the file credentials for me, which I'm presuming you brought along." "Andy?" "Ah, yes, I have a gun." "You speak Urdu?" "He says it's incomplete." "You know, things didn't quite go to plan." "I do." "But this is not what we agreed." "No, and I was not planning to have a head-on collision two weeks out from kick-off date." "Look, there's been a huge spike in security." "It's gonna take a little more time." "Maybe we should settle on a staged delivery." "I just gave you 50%, right?" "I want 50% of the fee so I can grease the odd wheel or two to get us over the line." "It's not as clear-cut as that." "You might've delivered 50% but without the second half, those files are as good as useless." "Yeah?" "Well, I'm not sure everyone will see it that way." "You reckon you're the only buyer?" "You talk to anyone else and I guarantee you'll spend 20 years in supermax." "You take a deep breath and you go get the second half of those files." "Let's not fuck this up so close to the finish line, eh?" "What the fuck you doing?" "Hello, Lynd." "What are you doing, Andy?" "Well, I'm not sure you'd understand, so why don't you get out of the car, forget you saw me." "No, it's gone beyond that." "And they know about the accident, they know about Physanto." "And the files you got from Trina." "For Christ's sake, tell me something, Andy." "Tell me it was blackmail, she had a knife, self defence, something." "Missed you guys." "I'm sorry." "Been busy with Annie." "And the pregnancy, yeah, I know." "She, she looks good, Lyn." "Such a lucky prick." "So, you take care of each other, eh." "I have Andy King." "We're on Linnaeus Way, we're in a silver dual cab ute." "Number plate" " Yankee Foxtrot X-ray," "Niner Three Papa." "I'm requesting backup." "Leave him." "Please repeat." "Let him run." "Repeat that, please." "It's an order." "Let him run." "No, he didn't take them with him." "No, it's not good." "So, if he doesn't turn up for his appointment, can you just give me a couple hours grace before you notify." "Thanks, Dr Shore." "Appreciate it." "Profile page that tells you nothing." "Yeah, well, it's not meant to." "It's not a real page." "Ooh, nice." "What do you mean, not a real page?" "Nah, I mean, it's like, um, like keeping your room clean as a kid." "You do that, your mum walks past, sees tidy, thinks everything's cool." "If everything's cool, she's not nosing under your bed, where you're hiding your nasty stuff." "Mm." "Lucky old Jess." "How about Jake?" "I already have a name." "We need new ones." "The people who grabbed you are serious operators." "We can't give them anything to trace." "Fake names won't hide us for long." "What about Robin?" "Robin Banks?" "And who are you?" "Stay in the car." "I won't be long." "Hani, come and get my emails." "Alright, I'll get 'em." "Where's this?" "You don't read the papers anymore?" "Not if I can help it." "Mainstream media are idiots." "Don't know why you bother." "There you go, Maman." "Don't let him play with it." "Remember the poli-sci study camp the uni's running at Jervis Bay?" "I told you about it." "You want to go to a study camp?" "It's three days intensive." "Mock essays, mock exams." "TD's going." "Then it will be mock study." "I already told her I'd go." "Tsk, it's not working, again." "Please, you're killing me." "Thank you very much." "Thank you." "I thought you were gonna stay in the car." "Your friends don't need to stay in the car." "Some tea, Robin?" "Sure we have time?" "Robin's driving with me to Jervis bay." "Is he?" "Mm." "Have you ever been in an accident before, Robin?" "No, I haven't even got a licence." "You..." "You're not driving..." "No, see, Dad, he's driving with me." "I said he's driving with me." "It's Robin's brother's car but I'm going to be driving." "He's driving with me." "I'll see you in a couple of days." "Hani." "If I call, you don't pick up after three rings, I'm coming down there." "Bye, Dad." "See you later." "Nice to meet you, Robin." "Bye-bye." "Seem to be having a bit of trouble with your mic feed." "Yeah, must've got caught up as I got in the car." "What's your read?" "Where's his head?" "I assume it's full of details you don't want in the public domain." "That's the trouble with security clearances - no erase button when somebody loses the plot." "Which brings us back to a watching brief until further notice." "Hey, who's he?" "Mason Cole." "He's our international partner on this." "Cole brought us the first intel on your mate's newest business associate," "Niko Gaelle." "Charged with dual use export breaches in Europe, with arms traffic in the Mid East," "Bangladesh, Angola, China, Iran." "But he's clearly had the funds to buy his way out of a charge until now." "Our American friends have been watching him for six months and what's become clear is that he and Andy King are brokering a deal to steal the Physanto IP and sell it black market." "So why don't they bust them, themselves?" "The crime's happening on Australian soil," "Australian jurisdiction." "So you see, relatively speaking," "Andy King is very small fry." "Hey." "Your aunties up at Youngmar, they sent this over." "They thought you'd be sick of the hospital food." "That's nice." "Kitty, should I take that down the kitchen and warm it up?" "Thanks." "So, you found out who did this yet?" "No." "Not yet." "How's he doing?" "Talk with Carl mob?" "You know they blame him for their girl." "You know that." "So why haven't you talked to 'em?" "You don't care." "Of course I care." "But we don't want a war, Kitty." "Do what you're supposed to do." "Don't bring food." "Bring answers." "Al." "Yeah?" "You can back off a bit now." "What does that mean?" "Well, Kitty's here." "You and Missy don't need to stay." "Oh, thank you, officer." "Thank you for clearing that up." "You take sides and this is gonna end badly, you know that." "Who's taking sides?" "See, I don't get how that works." "I sit here with Clarence and I can't go to Sheyna's funeral?" "You know what I'm talking about." "When was the last time you slept?" "I don't know." "Come for dinner." "I don't think..." "That's a good idea?" "Let you know how things went with us." "Thanks for coming out." "Carl." "Tim." "How did it go?" "Yeah, getting there, you know." "Some people had heard about the money they're offering." "They want it now." "And others still don't trust them as far as they can throw them." "Need a word." "Anyone in the family driving a dual cab, these days?" "We haven't touched him." "I'd like to shake the hand of the man who did." "You haven't answered the question, Carl." "I want that little prick to pay properly." "Hm?" "If you need it for your paperwork, the answer to your question is no." "When did you last put water in this?" "You don't mix water and petrol, everybody knows that." "All we can do is wait for it to cool down." "Do you want to go in the back and relax?" "Mm." "Relaxed?" "Mm-hm." "So, tell me about the house." "Oh, um, we used to go there as kids with my dad." "It's nice." "Near a national park." "There are kangaroos." "Perfect." "Um, I need a drink." "There's water..." "It's OK." "I'll, um..." "Jesse." "I'll go to, um, to there." "To the shops." "I'll go there and then I'll come back." "Just, um..." "Jesse, it's miles back." "This is Ned Banks." "Leave me your number and I'll call you back as soon as I can." "Talk soon." "Ned, it's me." "Um, what does it mean when someone asks if you want to relax?" "Does that mean you relax or does it mean, you know, like 'relax' relax?" "It took my money." "Or is it designed to do that?" "'Cause you could design it to do that, a simple adjustment." "Keeps taking my money." "Um, yeah, so when she says relax, does that mean relax?" "Or not relax?" "Can I ask her?" "Would you ask her?" "You probably would." "Maybe I'll just..." "You know that, uh, this is just basically sugar?" "Has to be a sugar content of at least 30% for a slush to form." "The sugar's like an anti-freeze, it, um, bonds with the water molecules to prevent them from becoming frozen." "Many people use the internet?" "Meh." "Couldn't be that fast, though, could it?" "NBN." "Optic fibre, that's potentially gigabytes per second." "Couldn't be that fast, though, could it." "Relax, Robin." "I'll just be five minutes." "That should get things rolling." "When someone asks if you want to relax, does that mean you relax?" "Or does it mean, you know, like 'relax' relax?" "Hi, leave a message if you want." "Hi." "I, um..." "How's Jesse?" "I don't know." "Driving around Christ knows where with a girl he met five minutes ago, who's asking him to relax." "It's not really in the genes, is it, relaxing, if you're anything to go by." "I can relax." "Horse shit." "For the record, the first time I ever heard the word 'Lindara' was when you called me on the way to the airport." "Did it mean anything to you?" "But I haven't looked." "Would you?" "People are usually a bit more subtle when they ask me to break the terms of my employment." "How about Physanto?" "Biotech, med research, worth a truckload." "I think it's more than that." "Or not only." "But I can't get past the foyer of their webpage to work out exactly what." "Randall asked me to read their submission for last year's health white paper." "Genetic tissue, artificial skin, treatment protocol for some new laser technology." "I will have a look and see what is bumping about, tomorrow." "Thank you." "You look like someone unplugged you." "Somewhere between relaxed and completely lost." "Not used to not knowing where he is." "Have you done everything in your power to find him?" "I think I have, I have." "Have you considered the possibility he wants you to leave him alone?" "I take medication." "I'm supposed to." "I don't like it very much." "This amount of sugar isn't recommended." "Oh." "Not so smart, tonight, are we." "Are you listening, shithead?" "Enough with the fucking humming!" "We're closing." "You're a convenience store, you never close." "If you closed, it wouldn't be convenient." "Couldn't call yourself convenient." "Please finish your emails and pay." "We're closed now. $24." "For what?" "$3 per 15 minutes." "NBN price." "I can do maths." "I was very good at maths." "A lot better than you." "That clock is wrong." "I haven't been here for two hours." "$24." "Um..." "Do you have a card?" "I'm not allowed to use it, in case they find us." "Maybe I should just go." "Maybe I should call the police." "No." "We're closed." "That was so easy." "Right into the chief law officer's system." "Little worms I planted, little worms." "Time-locked, so I can get back in whenever I need to." "Hey, how far is the house?" "I don't know." "About two cassettes worth." "We used to time the trip always with the same albums." "Hans Christian Andersen went on after Mamas And The Papas and then Dad would put on Queen - We Are The Champions." "And I'm a champion because I fucked that guy up big time." "Oh." "Please, please, please, please, please." "Hi, leave a message if you want." "Jesse, it's me." "Please call me back." "I can't do this anymore." "Please?" "One, two, three." "I called you, last night." "I worked late." "Slept on the couch." "Took to yourself with a felt pen in your sleep, did you?" "Was that before or after your drinking session with Ned Banks?" "Ah, sorry, this is relevant how?" "What did he want?" "Chitchat." "And what did you chitchat about?" "His brother." "We're old friends." "I'm not sure it's an acquaintance that would serve you well in the long run, particularly considering he's no longer in the press gallery." "Well, I'm not sure you qualify for an opinion." "No, probably not." "But there are others who do." "It's a nice, er, leaf, Mrs Banks." "Hm." "I'm meant to see Jesse, today, but I can't find him." "Do you think he's gone away?" "Mrs Banks?" "Don't I even get a kiss anymore?" "You need to shave." "This is what happens when I don't keep on at you." "What would I do without you?" "You taking both the boys with you, this time?" "Taking them both." "Please take Neddy." "He felt very left out before." "I promise." "Get them to help with the yard." "The grass is getting so long, there's too many places for snakes to hide." "Will do." "Did you pick up the mower from the service station?" "No." "I forgot which one I took it to." "The one at Braidwood." "I know it's a little further but I don't trust the man at Batemans." "Treats me like an idiot." "Well, I will have a word to him about that." "I want to go home now, David." "Please take me home." "I don't like it here." "Why did you leave me here?" "Why did you leave me here?" "I don't like it here." "Please take me home, David." "Please take me home." "Thanks for coming here with me." "Thank you for bringing me here." "Are the files all there?" "Mm-hm." "And that's the only copy?" "Are you sure that you want to do this?" "You decrypt the files, then what?" "What they've done to me, those men in the white van, is forced something into my brain which makes no sense to me." "I have no way of filing what happened because I don't understand why it happened." "And so until I know why," "I will have this splinter in my brain that I can't stop touching." "Does that make any sense, at all?" "Yeah." "Did you just smell my hair?" "No." "Yeah." "Well, technically, yes but I couldn't smell anything, skin, maybe, and oil from the back of the van." "Wow." "I do not feel as good as you look." "I couldn't find anything on Lindara except for log line, 'Lindara spill'." "Same date as the accident." "What spill?" "I couldn't open the file to find out." "It's above my clearance." "PM's comms aren't allowed to know." "There's a lot PM's comms don't know but even at our most ignorant, we still know a lot more than you do." "I retract completely." "What about Physanto?" "Didn't do this because of last night." "I just want that to be very clear." "OK." "Why did you?" "I don't really know yet." "I want you to find out what happened but I also want you to be wrong." "As of six days ago, all information about Physanto is suddenly above PM's comms clearance, which is not good." "And the spill tag, same clearance " "PM, Deputy, CLO's office, national security - it's big." "Any ideas why?" "We have treaties with the US on the transportation of various sensitive substances." "So, if any incidents occur, it's mandatory they be reported." "Substances?" "Like what?" "Medical waste?" "Chemical waste?" "Weapons?" "Chemical weapons?" "You're the journalist, right?" "I'd quite like to kiss you." "I know what you're gonna say, 'Last night was wonderful but you had a bad day, I had a bad day, we were in need of a colouring in book.'" "I found out what that truck was carrying." "High-grade engine oil." "Hardly qualifies for escort vehicles." "Definitely not a matter of national security, either." "I've got a present for you." "Yeah?" "Jesus Christ." "The girl who picks up Jesse after we've been screwed sideways for hacking Physanto, is the daughter of a bioengineer who works there." "And see this little icon." "So, panda bear." "Parandebare." "How'd you know her password?" "Are you joking?" "Black Bloc, Anonymous." "She's a hacktivist." "Serious shit." "Go, Jesse." "Shut up, Edan." "He has bond conditions." "He can't be around hackers." "He could go to jail." "Oh, and your mum rang this morning." "She said she got it wrong." "When you came this morning, she was confused." "Yeah, she must've been confused, I didn't visit her this morning." "Ah, she said the lawnmower is at Batemans." "They've gone to Karawatha." "Right." "OK." "Turn around." "It's not just the white van anymore." "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "Payments will be made into your account once a month." "Money and visa security." "And, in return, you watch, engage, report." "Fellow students, radicals, hackers, friends." "You might not understand the connection but we will." "Welcome to the family." "Hi." "Hello, Jesse." "Not negotiable, mate." "We can talk about it in the car." "I'm not going anywhere." "Hi." "He tell you how many court orders he's violating by coming down here?" "They'll send him to jail." "I won't go to jail." "That's what mandatory reporting to your psychiatrist means, mate." "Do it or they'll put you away." "We're fine, Ned." "We're happy." "I'm hungry." "You hungry?" "Better have something to eat too, before you go." "You got a long drive back." "If you want to ask me something, just ask me." "She tell you the reason she came down here?" "Reason?" "It's a pretty big deal to go on the run with someone you barely know." "Don't you think it's a bit strange " "Someone likes me, so they must have an agenda." "I didn't say that." "Didn't you?" "Ned thinks I've been hacking." "I can't imagine why." "But he's mostly worried about you." "I was about to say that there is something I know about you." "Your parents have an accent." "Middle Eastern, I think." "Maybe they're not from Canberra, maybe they are." "They're not from Canberra." "There, now you know." "Hani's parents are not from Canberra." "What do you want to know?" "OK." "What does your father do?" "He's a scientist." "What kind of scientist?" "I don't know." "The dull kind?" "Where are your family from?" "They're Turkish, Ned, it's no mystery." "There's a framed Ottoman poem on the kitchen bench." "'Lovers don't finally meet somewhere, they're in each other all along.'" "Isn't that right." "I'm getting the rest of the food." "She likes me." "Why won't you let me have that?" "Are you jealous?" "Does it make you upset that someone likes me more than you?" "I don't think we should talk about this now." "You need to stop blaming me for your life, Ned." "You are my life!" "What was I supposed to do, walk away?" "Like Mum and Dad did because you were too much for us to handle." "No, I stayed." "I'm the one..." "Sorry." "She's not who she seems." "Yes, her father is a scientist." "But what she didn't tell you is he's a scientist from Iran who now works for Physanto." "Physanto, Jesse!" "You spied on her?" "For fuck's sake, you ask her!" "Ask her why she came down here!" "Ask her why she randomly met up with you!" "Why she randomly slept with you!" "I want you to go." "Then you watch her face." "Do the check." "I want you to go." "I want you to go!" "Ah." "Watch her face." "Hey." "When did you leave Iran?" "It wasn't a Turkish poem, I just wanted to shut Ned up." "It was Rumi." "It had to be Iran." "I left when I was 12." "You love your dad?" "Of course." "My dad left us when I was 10." "I don't really think about it but Ned does." "One time," "Dad took me down here, just the two of us." "We went to the surf and he stood behind me." "Um, and held me in the water so I could just float on my back." "In the warm sun, safe." "Ned says your dad works at Physanto." "Is that why you're here?" "For Physanto?" "No." "Really?" "No." "You're not here to watch me?" "No." "Believe me, please, Jesse." "What are you doing?" "I'm getting back on the files." "Isn't that what you want?" "To get them to find me, to get me caught." "No." "Jesse, don't." "Why are you with me?" "I didn't have a choice." "I did!" "I did." "I did." "I did." "One, two, three." "Get a fresh blanket." "Hey." "It's alright, sweetheart." "Just try to relax, Clarence." "Kitty, Rana, come back!" "What's wrong with him?" "He can't get any air." "Clarence." "No!" "Get away from me!" "It's alright." "Get away from me!" "Clarence." "It's OK." "It's OK." "Sh." "Hi, leave a message if you want." "Hey." "It's me." "I'm at the petrol station." "Give us a call when you're ready and I'll come back and get you." "Hello." "Is Sophie there?" "Yes, she is, Ned, but she's in the bath." "Do you understand?" "I'm here and she's in the bath." "I understand." "Good." "But will your wife?" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry!" "What you took, bring it to me!" "Let him go." "Let him go!" "Why don't you take a seat, sweety." "Give me the fucking files!" "Get in!" "I had to do it." "They said they'd deport my parents unless I helped them." "My family will be killed if they get sent back to Iran." "Help me, please." "If you just give the files back, then all of it will be over!" "Jesse, please!" "Please, Jesse." "Hi, leave a message if you want." "He ran over him?" "This is insane." "I want you to find him before they do." "Get down, get down." "Made a real mess of things, this time around." "Where are we going?" "Broken Hill." "Something radically wrong with his lungs." "Something to do with the accident?" "Someone's going to a lot of trouble to make sure there are no questions." "That's your computer, Sophie." "Snooping around in places you're not cleared to access." "What's going on?" "Oh, shit." "Wait a minute." "What's going on?" "The only reason anything gets done in this self-satisfied country is because there's people here in this building who are prepared to do what it takes." "Where are they taking him?"