Private Sydney (Private 12)

‘We’d like to know what his plans are from here. He has a vast body of knowledge and we’d like to make him a very tempting job offer.’

I found that difficult to believe. He was fishing for information. Somehow he knew we were employed by Eliza. Then again, anyone could have seen us together last night and put two and two together. Word in the business world was leaching out about Moss’s sudden departure from the company he’d been loyal to for decades.

I sat forward. ‘If I see him, I’ll get him to give you a call.’

‘Mr Gisto, I’m afraid you don’t understand. There may be considerable embarrassment if Mr Moss is not located quickly.’

I decided to do some fishing myself. ‘Can you explain to me how someone without a passport or birth certificate gets access to your secure facilities? I’m guessing there are some red faces about that little oversight when a simple web search would have raised alarms.’ Unless, as I suspected, all information pertaining to Moss had been systematically removed from the internet.

Roden sipped the mineral water from the bottle. ‘I hear you and Moss’s daughter have developed a rapport.’

I leant in, uncomfortable about where this was heading. ‘I’m not at liberty to discuss clients or investigations.’

‘I’m just saying that relationship could be very useful.’ He stood. ‘International politics can be a minefield. My government would appreciate your sharing relevant information about Moss’s whereabouts.’

‘Are you suggesting I break commercial confidence?’

‘I’m suggesting you consider both our nations’ security. I trust you’ll keep our communication private.’

I chose my words carefully. ‘For reasons of national interest.’

He stared at me for a few seconds. ‘Precisely,’ he said, without a hint of irony.

Chapter 54

I SAT BACK. He’d caught me off guard. For him to mention my rapport with Eliza suggested someone had seen us last night, or she was under surveillance.

Mary saw the visitors out and returned to my office. ‘Secret Service. It’s all I got.’

Moss had to be in serious trouble if the US government wanted him found asap.

‘They’re desperate if they came to us for info,’ Mary said. ‘It’s not easy to drop right off the grid. Especially theirs.’

I agreed. Whatever Moss knew made him hot property. If he had planned his disappearance, it was years in the making. I thought of him in photos. The images I’d seen had him in half-profile, with the dark lenses. He was in the habit of hiding part of his face before the advent of facial recognition software. No passport or driver’s licence meant there were no documented facial images, front on, eyes captured. He had a strategy all along to avoid being identified. But why? The behaviour dated back to his beginnings at Contigo, when they were a simple search and rescue group.

Mary wondered aloud, ‘Maybe he wasn’t just working for Contigo.’

From the amount of time he spent there, and the fact he lived on the premises, it was a stretch.

‘Or …’ I said, ‘Contigo is a front for something more.’ I thought again of the private contracts only Moss had access to. ‘Something the ambassador said bothers me. He specifically said they wanted Moss “located”.’

Mary sank into the chair vacated by the ambassador. ‘No concern for his welfare.’

Eliza was worried about foul play. Roden wasn’t interested in finding out. He wanted us to locate Mos

s, dead or alive.

If he was alive, it couldn’t be easy staying on the run from US security agencies.

And if Moss was CIA or an operative for another country, he’d broken a cardinal rule. No complications. Moss had blown that by adopting Eliza and having personal ties. A disabled child was more than a simple complication. Contigo Valley had to be supplying or developing something the US government wanted. Why else would US defence facilities give Moss access then panic when he disappeared?

I wanted answers as to why the US government was suddenly on our back, and why they were using us to get to Moss.

I doodled on my notepad. It helped me think, piece together puzzles. ‘Roden mentioned sensitive facilities Moss visited.’

‘I know just the person to talk to,’ Mary said. ‘His personal pilot would have filed logs of times, dates of departures and destinations.’

‘Good idea. We need to figure out what he was working on. Whatever contracts were in that locked desk.’