Snakehead

wondered if he wasn’t already having reservations about what lay ahead.
    “You’ve had enough?” he asked as Alex finished his second croissant.
    Alex nodded.
    “Then let’s go up to your room. Mrs. Webber will be here soon. We’ll wait for her there.”
    Alex had no idea who Mrs. Webber was, and it didn’t seem that Ash wanted to tell him. The two of them went back up to the nineteenth floor. Ash hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and pointed Alex to a seat next to a window. He sat down opposite.
    “Okay,” he began. “Let me tell you how this works. Two weeks ago, working with the Pakistani authorities, ASIS managed to pick up a father and a son heading into India on their way here. We interrogated them and discovered they’d paid the snakehead four thousand American dollars to get them into Australia. The father’s name is Karim. The son is Abdul. Get used to the names, Alex, because from now on that’s you and me. Karim and Abdul Hassan. The two of them were given an address in Bangkok. They were told to wait there until they were contacted by a man called Sukit.”
    “Who’s he?”
    “It took us a while to find out. But it turns out we’re talking about a Mr. Anan Sukit. He works for Major Yu. One of his lieutenants, you might say. Very high up. Very dangerous. It means we’re one step down the pipeline, Alex. We’re on our way.”
    “So we wait for him to get in touch.”
    “Exactly.”
    “What about the real Adbul?” Alex asked. He wondered how he could pretend to be someone he had never even met.
    “You don’t need to know much about him or his father,” Ash replied. “The two of them are Hazaras—a minority group in Afghanistan. The Hazaras have been persecuted for centuries. They get the worst education and the poorest jobs—in fact, most people think of them as hardly better than animals. Kofr— that’s the word they use for them. It means ‘infidel,’ and in Afghanistan it’s the worst four-letter word you can use about anyone.”
    “So where did they get their money?” Alex asked.
    “They had a business in the city of Mazar that they managed to sell just before it was taken from them. They hid out in the Hindu Kush until they made contact with a local agent for the snakehead, paid the money, and began their journey south.”
    “I don’t suppose I look anything like an Afghan,” Alex said. “What do these Hazara people look like?”
    “Most of them are Asiatic…Mongul or Chinese. But not all of them. In fact, a lot of them managed to survive in Afghanistan precisely because they didn’t look too Eastern. Anyway, you don’t need to worry. Mrs. Webber will take care of that.”
    “How about language?”
    “You won’t talk. Ever. You’re going to pretend to be a simpleton. Just stare into the corner and keep your mouth shut. Try and look scared…as if I’m about to beat you. Maybe I will from time to time. Just to make us look authentic.”
    Alex wasn’t sure if Ash was being serious or not.
    “I speak Dari,” Ash went on. “That’s the language of the majority in Afghanistan and it’s the language the snakehead will use. I speak a few words of Hazaragi too—but we shouldn’t need them. Just remember. Never open your mouth. If you do, you’ll kill us both.”
    Ash stood up. While he had been talking, he had been grim—almost hostile. But now he turned to Alex with something close to desperation in his dark brown eyes. “Alex…” He paused, scratching at his beard. “Are you sure you want to do this? ASIS has got nothing to do with you. People smuggling and all the rest of it…you should be at school. Why don’t you just go home?”
    “It’s a little late now,” Alex said. “I agreed. And I want you to tell me about my dad.”
    “Is that the main reason you agreed to this?”
    “It’s the only reason.”
    “I don’t think I could forgive myself if anything happened to you. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for your father. That’s the truth of it.” Ash looked away, as if trying to avoid the memory. “One day I’ll tell you about it…Malta, and what happened after Yassen Gregorovich had finished with me. But I’ll tell you this right now. John wouldn’t thank me for getting you into trouble. In fact, he’d probably chew my head off. So if you’ll take my advice, you’ll call Brooke. Tell him you’ve changed your mind. And get out now.”
    “I’m staying,” Alex said. “But thanks anyway.”
    In fact, what Ash had