Think, Lucas. Think. The fire is nice. And you don’t want to end up in that dark place again. He has something for me to do?
6 – Investigating Officer
AARON FITZPATRICK WAS HAVING ADRENALIN RUSHES. He had been pursuing the Professor for many years and this was the first solid lead. Culture and poor pay made some prison guards susceptible to bribery and the Professor had recently made contact with a prison guard. Aaron just had to locate the prison guard.
The plane had started its descent and emerged from a small group of clouds. The plane’s route was over Moreton Bay. Aaron looked down at the choppy water and thought of fishing and his dear Mum. He should be able to catch up with her before he returned to Melbourne. The fishing would have to wait for another time, but then his old fishing rods were still in the shed at Mum’s place. Aaron smiled as he watched a small boat ride the ocean swell.
Since living in Melbourne they had encouraged Mum to come live with them but she was content to visit. All her friends were in Brisbane. Besides, she would say that in Queensland it was beautiful one day and perfect the next. Aaron wouldn’t argue with that but knew that sometimes work choices dictate other things. He was in his last year of a three-year Melbourne-based assignment with the Department of Defence, and hopefully his next posting would be back to his home state.
He’d rather be with his combat mates, but the improvised explosive device attack fixed that, leaving him no longer one hundred per cent fit, which prevented future tours of duty. Now he served with Defence Security and Intelligence, and was off to investigate a tip-off they had received. He’d been chosen because of his past involvement with the technology in question. Perhaps this would be the breakthrough they needed to find the Professor.
A whirly sound caught Aaron’s attention. He watched as some small electric motors lifted the flaps of the wing. The plane was slowing. Then came the loud thump as the landing gear doors opened and the wheels were lowered into position and locked.
Aaron sat back, relaxed and waited for those wheels to hit the tarmac.
He looked at his watch. It was still early morning. The plane’s breakfast would keep him going for a few more hours.
After organising his rented car he walked out of the air conditioned terminal and the balmy air greeted him. He chuckled. It was winter. Beautiful one day; perfect the next. He took off his jacket. Not in uniform today—they thought it was best to go casual, given where he was visiting.
He travelled along the Gateway Motorway. He knew the motorway well and was surprised by the many changes taking place, with new residential areas cropping up on both side of it. He got in the middle lane and put his car in cruise control and relaxed. Like being on a plane except for the steering—and it wouldn’t be long before the self-steering vehicles appeared.
Technology changes, places change, people change. Lucas Fell had changed a lot now he was off the drugs and in prison. Aaron saw a photo of Lucas, taken when he first came to prison. He looked like one of those mad wrestlers that crop up on television every now and then. A more recent photo had Lucas trimmed down and looking like a middleweight boxer.
Aaron thought about Lucas and wondered if his change was a spiritual thing. Aaron’s was and it was due to this change that he was able to forgive Lucas for his past misdemeanours.
For now, the focus was on finding the Professor who had yet to surface after so many years, but the tip off had indicated that he may be coming out of the woodwork.
Aaron went into meeting prepare mode. So what was the purpose of the visit? Someone in the prison system had been approached about providing precise GPS information by an outside source. Voice recognition software had identified the source as the Professor. Aaron wanted to talk to the contact as this could open up some clues to the Professor’s location. They needed the Professor, as the transporting device they’d confiscated from the earlier vanishings had been inoperable.
7 – Correction Centre communications
SHINY STEEL FENCES WITH RAZOR WIRE APPEARED. Aaron drove into the Correctional Centre’s car park, retrieved his leather flap-over briefcase and headed towards the entrance. He had a number of high-level security passes with him but it still took time to gain access.
He was taken down a long corridor with temporary cells on one side, and offices and consulting rooms on the other. He was ushered into an office. A man dressed in a light blue shirt covered by a sleeveless navy blue jumper with some kind of red logo just above his heart stood up to greet him.
“Aaron Fitzpatrick?”
Aaron gave a nod. “Yep.” He shook the man’s hand.
“Steve Marshall, nice to meet you. Good flight?”
“It was. Provides a good time for thinking or reading. Sadly, I chose the former.”
Marshall gave a small chuckle. “Yes, I’m the same. Have great plans to read but thinking seems to take over. It’s like we don’t get enough time to think. Too many distractions.”
“You’re right there. But I’m originally from sunny Queensland, so between you and me, it’s good to be back. The climate must encourage thinking.”
Another chuckle. “I understand.” Marshall gestured towards a seat.
Aaron sat down. He sensed tension in the air. “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”
Aaron watched Marshall’s eye darting around.
Marshall remained standing. “No problem, but I need to address an urgent matter so if you could excuse me for a few minutes. Just make yourself at home and I’ll be back shortly.”
“No problem.”
Aaron watched Marshall rush out of the office and then returned his gaze to the surrounding office. There were two large monitors on the wall, one with a news channel on and the other showing segments of the prison CCTV streams. In one of those streams he saw Marshall appear and noticed him giving slow down signals to some officers as they were rushing past.
Something was not right.
Aaron continued to watch the prison CCTV streams. It looked like they were doing a muster check. Marshall disappeared off the screen. A few moments later he appeared back in his office and sat down at his desk.
“Sorry about that.”
“That’s okay.” Something definitely was not right. “Bad timing for a meeting?”
“It is. But you’ve come a long way.”
“Okay. Let’s see if I can keep it short.” Aaron retrieved a sheet of paper from his briefcase.
Urgent beeps came from Marshall's desktop computer.
Marshall looked at the screen and then turned towards Aaron. “I’m sorry about this but I need to give something my attention. Could I get one of my staff to give you a tour of the prison and then take you to the canteen and then I’ll come and retrieve you.”
“That’s all good.”
Within a short time another prison officer arrived. He was quite a large man in which a bullet would be the only way to bring him down. He shook hands with Aaron.
