Dan shrugged. ‘I’ve been known to feed him occasionally. Mitch – I thought I told you to wait outside?’
The tall man wandered over. ‘I know – I got bored.’ He stuck his hand out to Sarah. ‘Mitch Frazer.’
Sarah glared at Dan, and then shook Mitch’s outstretched hand. ‘And you’re here because…?’
Dan interrupted. ‘He’s our secret weapon. There are only so many websites you can access before a flag’s going to go up with Delaney’s security. You should’ve seen them crawling over that press conference – god knows who he’s got on his payroll. Mitch here is what we call, shall we say, a back-door man.’
Sarah smiled at Mitch, who grinned and sat down at her computer, and then she turned to Dan and pulled him over to a corner of the room.
‘Where exactly do you know Mitch from?’ she asked in a low voice.
‘Army days,’ he said, not wanting to elaborate and not sure why. ‘I bumped into him outside Delaney’s press gig. Turns out he’s working here for some people who want Delaney monitored very closely. I figured we might as well use him.’
Sarah folded her arms and stared at Dan. ‘What’s the trade-off though? We tell him everything we know so far?’
Dan nodded. ‘We have to stop Delaney, Sarah – no matter what it takes. We’ve been looking at this for over a week now and we’re no closer to working out what he’s really up to, are we?’
Sarah’s shoulders slumped. ‘I know… really, I do. It’s just, well, I was sort of looking forward to breaking the story myself.’
‘Sarah, this isn’t just about a news story, you know better than that. Delaney’s dangerous. We have to try to stop him.’
‘Anyone fancy going to a party?’
Dan and Sarah turned round to look at Mitch.
Dan frowned. ‘What?’
Mitch grinned and inclined his head towards the computer screen. ‘Party. At Delaney’s. Tomorrow night.’
Sarah glanced sideways at Dan. ‘Shall we?’
Dan shrugged. ‘Probably – but how the hell are we going to get in?’ He looked at Mitch. ‘What’s the occasion?’
Mitch looked at the computer screen. ‘It says here he’s celebrating the launch of the new joint venture. It’s probably just another way of persuading the right people to provide financial backing after they’ve consumed copious amounts of free alcohol.’
Dan walked over to the screen and looked at the news report. ‘Where did you find this?’
‘More to the point,’ said Sarah, ‘I thought you were supposed to be helping us with our research, not bumming around on the news sites?’
Mitch grinned and turned to the computer. He scrolled up the web page until Dan saw a familiar banner across the top of the screen.
‘ABC website,’ he murmured, and looked more closely. He glanced up at Sarah. ‘It says Hayley filed this story half an hour ago.’
Sarah smiled. ‘And you want me to find out if she can get us in there, right?’ She had already pulled out her mobile phone from her bag. ‘I just hope she doesn’t think we’re after invites to every event in town.’
Dan grinned and slapped Mitch on the back. He lowered his voice, aware that Sarah was chattering away in the background on her phone. ‘It’d be a perfect opportunity to have a look around.’
Mitch nodded. He glanced out the corner of his eye at Sarah. ‘It’s going to be heavily guarded, you realise that?’
Dan smiled. ‘I always did like a challenge.’
Chapter 18
‘Good grief, Mitch – where’d you get the suit?’ laughed Dan.
Mitch looked hurt and pointed at Sarah. ‘She made me do it.’ He looked down at his outfit. ‘I can’t remember the last time I couldn’t see my legs.’
Sarah rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, propelling him towards the elevator. ‘There’s no way I’m letting you walk in there wearing board shorts. We’re trying to blend in, remember?’ She waited until they were all in the elevator car then pressed the button for the underground car park.
Mitch looked at Dan, who just shrugged.
‘She’s the boss. Better do as you’re told,’ he said and stepped out into the basement parking area.
‘Help me,’ pleaded Mitch as Sarah dragged him out of the elevator and towards the car.
Dan drove the car north, and within half an hour they had left the bright lights of the city. The dual highway narrowed and Dan checked the GPS – they were now heading westwards, away from suburban civilisation. Large properties lined the roads, mailboxes at the end of long hidden driveways providing the only indication anyone lived in the area. He took a left fork in the road and slowed down, wondering what sort of damage a wallaby would do to a car out here. He didn’t talk, just drove and listened to the banter between Sarah and Mitch go quiet as they settled in for the ride. The adrenaline was beginning to kick in. Dan had no idea how Delaney would react if he found out they were at his house.
Mitch began to snore contentedly on the back seat. Dan smiled. Sleep whenever you get a chance. It appeared Mitch hadn’t forgotten the old rules either.
Dan spotted the house from several miles away. It was huge, even at a distance. It sat perched on a promontory carved out of the volcanic landscape, overlooking the valley and its distant neighbours. He wondered what the views were like and tried to guess how far up the coast he’d be able to see from there.
He slowed, turned on to a minor road and spotted the gates to Delaney’s property after a couple of kilometres. Tall granite pillars supported a wrought-iron security gate, guarded by two hired hands. Ornate lanterns fixed to the pillars bathed the entrance in a warm yellow glow, moths and bugs fighting for position on the light bulbs.
‘Wake up, Mitch. Party time,’ he said.
Mitch stirred on the back seat. ‘Ready when you are.’