Jack Irish: Black Tide Page #4

if you're a fan of military

industrial

complex conspiracies,

and who isn't? Who isn't?

Yeah. Um, just going

to print his address now.

He actually exposed

the connection

between Klostermann Bank

and TransQuik.

Oh, you're into Zumba!

(Bang!)

Ow!

Can you not read that?

It just came up.

Well, it's on the printer.

You can get it on your way out.

OK.

Thanks.

I actually love romantic weekend

drives in the country myself!

Bye!

See ya.

WOMAN:
Yes?

Uh, yeah,

looking for a Stuart Wardle.

Ah, not here, sorry.

Oh. It's about his article

that claims Steven Levesque

is in with the Afghan opium trade.

Got ID?

Yeah. Got my,

uh, Law Institute Card.

I'm not sure

how much that reassures me.

Well, it definitely

doesn't reassure me.

How about a video card?

Ah. Cheers.

Hi.

Hi.

Come in.

Thanks.

Sorry, I thought

you might have been muscle.

I, uh, just got back from quite

a delicate assignment.

I don't usually fall

under suspicion of being muscle.

You take up enough room.

I'm on a deadline

for an exhibition.

Lyall Cronin. Is this you?

The gallery wants these yesterday

and I still can't decide.

What is it the Dervishes say?

Freedom is the absence of choice.

I thought that was Pol Pot.

Are you expecting Stuart back

anytime soon?

No, I haven't heard from him

in a while.

I was away, working in Yemen

and got back and he wasn't here.

Is that unusual?

No, not really.

We're always passing each other at

30,000ft

en route to some other assignment.

Ah, so you and he are...?

Housemates.

With benefits.

Lapsed benefits.

I keep thinking he's just going to

walk through the door.

How long's it been?

Three months.

Left wing web journalism

obviously pays well.

Well, right wing parents help.

Mmm.

This is it.

Ah, mission control, eh?

Ah, Missing Persons was here. I'm

not sure if they took anything.

Oh, right, so he's officially

missing, is he?

They checked the airlines

and found that he'd flown

to Auckland.

His photo's been on TV there,

and all the papers.

No-one's seen him.

There are places in the world where

a journalist goes missing.

New Zealand's not one of them.

What about messages

on the machine? Erased.

By who?

Don't know.

Is this the business line?

Yeah.

I didn't want to disconnect it, just

in case.

You've called Dean Canetti.

Leave a message.

Do you know a Dean Canetti?

Vaguely. Stuart had teed up

a meeting with him.

I get the feeling you've done

this kind of thing before,

Mr Irish.

Oh, I'm just trying

to help a friend.

There's this connection between this

bloke I'm looking for

and a bank

called Klostermann Gardier.

From Stuart's article?

Yeah.

He said that was a name

that could get people killed.

Right.

Rightio. Well, thanks, Lyall.

You've got my number,

if you think of anything.

I wouldn't get your hopes up about

Stuart's hard drive.

He was a stickler

for passwords and encryption.

Oh, well, worth a try.

If only to give you a reason

to come back.

Bye.

So I'm the stakeout, taking

a leak against the back tyre,

you know, big relief.

F***er sticks a shotgun right

between my shoulder blades.

Anyway, so I'm standing there

with me crutch python

hanging out,

such as it is, frostbitten,

I do my quickest hip turn,

which even I'll admit

probably ain't that quick.

You're wasting your time, there.

Those things throw

like dead chooks.

So I turn around,

I'm pissing all over him,

bit of a scuffle breaks out,

gun goes off

along with half his face.

That's a lovely story, mate.

Yeah, they offered me counselling

but I'd already rooted her twice.

Double 16.

Give a bloke half a chance.

I need a slash. Hold my dick?

So I found two Dean Canettis.

A toddler from Alice...

(Breaks wind)

..and a Middle East

Market Consultant

from butt-f*** Melbourne.

So which one did you want?

I'd be careful here, Jack.

Why's that?

Canetti used to be a Fed,

but he's fallen off the radar.

My advice?

Blind eye.

Mrs Canetti?

Do you mind if I ask you

about Dean's work?

Middle East Market Consultant. What

is that?

Import-export... I thought.

Now I don't know.

Do you believe that?

Been married eight years and not

even know what my husband does.

(Sighs) How can he just

be missing?

On the phone,

you said men came to tell you.

Who were they? The police?

Didn't say.

You don't ask, do you?

They said Dean

might have had an accident.

That he was doing secret work.

For the government?

They said I couldn't tell anyone.

He said we'd be taken care of.

Mortgage paid out, all that.

Take the money,

don't tell anyone, end of story.

Just forget your husband.

Just forget their father.

When you last spoke, did he give you

an idea of what he was doing?

He called from Bangkok.

All he said was, 'A few more days

with this bastard Connors

and I'm home. Black Tide's over.'

You sure he said Connors?

Yeah.

And Black Tide.

Do you know what that was?

Knew the name. Didn't know what.

I asked Dean about it once

and he turned on me.

He said, 'Forget you heard it.

Don't ever mention Black Tide

to anyone.'

What the hell's it matter now?

Irish.

Yeah, just keep walking towards the

kerb, Jack.

There's a car waiting for you.

Who's this?

Ah, they've got Meryl

Canetti under surveillance, mate.

You walked right into it.

Jack, this is Ray.

He works for me. Jack.

Who's 'they', Dave? And why have

'they' got her under surveillance?

Canetti was doing a job for us.

We know he cleared Customs

at Tulla.

Since then, he's gone dark.

Nicorette?

No.

Was Canetti following

Gary Connors?

Hop in, mate.

I want to show you something.

That Beechcraft taking off

is part of the Fincham Air fleet.

They fly in and out of here

three times a week.

That one?

Aviation SF.

RAY:
They do the midnight run

from Darwin.

Drugs, is it?

Mm-hm.

Well, we could pull the cargo

and the pilot out of the plane now.

It still wouldn't give us Levesque.

The fact is, TransQuik's

got unlimited resources...

..and I've got three men.

You're the fourth, Jack.

But I don't work for you, Dave.

If you find Gary Connors, call me.

This thing's secure.

Sounds like I'm under water.

That's 'cause you're hearing me

off a satellite,

talking through electronic condoms.

Hit 'one, two' to call me, anytime.

Course, even with condoms

you can still get pregnant.

That's how I wound up married.

Sh*t!

Floor it, Ray. Go!

(Tyres squeal)

(Gunfire)

Christ! Get your head down! Shots!

(Horn blares)

Ray! Ray! No! No!

We're fish in a f***in' barrel here!

Soon as I move, you run!

You run for cover,

you don't look back, you got it? Go!

Police, drop your weapon!

Drop your weapon now!

Dave?

DAVE:
(On phone)

Better make your own way home, Jack.

I'll clean up here. Don't expect

to see this on the news.

KAMAHL:
# Do you miss me tonight?

Are you sorry we drifted apart?

Does your memory...

Is that Kamahl?

They were out of Elvis

at the airport.

When I kissed you and called...

I wanted to tell you myself.

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