Read No Man's Land - A Russell Carter Thriller for Free Online Page A

order and Carter suspected he was taking drugs, too.
    When he shared his suspicions with Thomas, Thomas had tried to counsel Alex and bring him back into the fold. But it soon became clear that he was not only using drugs but also running them while on assignment with the order.
    The problem had resolved itself two years ago when Alex was arrested at Jakarta Airport carrying half a kilo of heroin. Alex had sent messages to Thomas and Carter from jail, asking for their help, but they’d decided to let him sit in prison for six months, hoping it’d give him time to reflect on the choices he had made, and find his way back to the true path. Unbeknown to Alex, Thomas had used his influence to make sure the case would never come to trial. If he’d been convicted, he would’ve faced a firing squad.
    After only a few months Alex had escaped – and that was the last they had heard from him. He hadn’t created any trouble for them, and Thomas had decided against pursuing him.
    “So what happened?” Carter asked.
    “It turns out that he converted to Islam, joined the Sungkar clan and is now going by the name Abdul-Aleem.”
    The fact that the clan had got to Alex both surprised and didn’t surprise Carter. Muslim fundamentalists had for years maintained a level of covert control across many Indonesian prisons.
    Following the Bali bombings, the Indonesian security forces and the Australian Federal Police had tracked down and arrested many terrorists. While incarcerated, they’d set up shadow governments in prisons, recruited members, sent money from jail to jail and, at least once, coordinated an outside terrorist attack. They also ran businesses, used cell phones to preach sermons to followers outside and dominated prison mosques. Alex had a weakness for power and influence, and would naturally have been drawn to them. His use to them would have been immediately obvious – a westerner with his training and connections, bearing a grudge against their common enemy.
    “The clan used their influence to get him out of jail,” Thomas continued, “and helped him establish a new identity.”
    “That’s about the only path that’d lead Alex to God.”
    “I agree. His conversion was, I suspect, motivated by his desire to save his skin rather than his soul.”
    Carter nodded.
    “Alex’s reappearance is a major concern,” Thomas said. “With his knowledge and experience, he could cause us a great deal of trouble – but Erina is taking care of things in Boggabilla for now. What I want you to do is go to Sydney and check out Trident for me, as I believe the bureau’s security has been compromised.”
    He reached into the bag sitting on the floor next to him and slid three stapled A4 pages across the table.
    Carter leaned forward. His curiosity had been piqued. But before he had a chance to finish the first paragraph, Wayan’s computer started to beep.
    “You expecting more guests?” Carter asked.
    Thomas shook his head.
    Wayan hit a few buttons on the computer keyboard.
    A map of the property appeared on screen. A red light flashed one-third of the way along the entrance road.

12
    Carter and Thomas stood on either side of Wayan, staring at the blinking light on the screen. The freshening nor’-easter rustled the stacked papers on the table and Carter placed his teacup on them.
    Wayan explained how the property’s security system worked. The laptop was linked wirelessly to eight motion sensors placed around the property, designed to alert them to intrusions along the perimeter.
    Once alerted, four cameras, one pointing in each direction of the compass, could be used to determine what had set off the alarm. As Carter had noted earlier, though, the dense foliage that led into the property made it difficult to identify who or what had triggered the sensors until the intruder moved onto the open lawn.
    Wayan clicked through four camera icons, north, south, east and west. The images that came up on his screen revealed nothing