The War Zone

The War Zone is the second episode of the second season of Secret City.

Synopsis
While searching for evidence, Harriet ruffles feathers -- including those of her new boss. Meanwhile, pressure mounts on Robbie.

Plot
Australian media reports on the death of Home Affairs Minister Catriona Bailey (Jackie Weaver), saying that the authorities are not releasing details to the public, but have instated an emergency lockdown on Parliament House. Harriet Dunkley (Anna Torv) watches the news, while reading the redacted report by Bailey on the bombing in Iraq that killed the entire family of Mina Almasi (Louisa Mignone).

An emergency lockdown has been instated at Parliament House, Prime Minister Ewan Garrity (Don Hany) worries that with Bailey's death, he may be facing a minority government. In the interim, he has appointed Defence Minister Jim Hellier (Joel Tobeck) to take of Bailey's portfolio at the Home Affairs Ministry. Hellier jokes that he will not miss Bailey, and that the latter had always been weary of Garrity. ASIO Director Madeline Stenders (Rhonda Findleton) and ASD Director William Vaughn (Justin Smith) meet with Garrity, updating him that although no one has yet been charged, they have a identified a person of interest: Mina Almasi (Louisa Mignone). They advise Garrity to raise the alert level, especially given the recent explosion at Davoren Park. They suspect Robbie Lambert (Frederick Du Rietz) – through his ties with "The Collective", a leftist militant group – had been stocking explosives at his house and the explosion was just an accident, meaning that another attack could be imminent. They currently have Lambert locked in detention.



She leaves to meet South Australia MP Karen Koutoufides (Danielle Cormack), whom she now works for as her Senior Media Advisor. Dunkley makes it clear that she does not want to just be paraded around for attention, to which Koutoufides admits that she will do anything it takes to get her voice heard, even if it means using Dunkley's attention in the media. Koutoufides states her support for Lambert's innocence, saying she knew him and his family, despite what the intelligence community thinks. Koutoufides wants to approach Liberal Party Leader of the Opposition Gaelene Curtis (Di Adams), but Dunkley warns her to avoid a "mud-slinging match" and to choose her battles, advising her to get an audience with Lambert and find him a lawyer. They pass Andrew Griffiths ("Griff") (Marcus Graham) on their way out; he clearly does not know about Dunkley's new job and so is surprised to see her.

The unidentified blonde woman (Laura Gordon) tries to pay for groceries at a service station, but her card has been cancelled and she does not have cash. She is about to get into her car to leave the station, but upon seeing two men closing in on her, she makes a run for it and steals a pickup truck. She speeds away and throws her cellphone out the window. Air Chief Marshal Wes Lockwood (Andrew McFarlane) receives a message and tells Lt. Joseph Sullivan (Rob Collins) that "they lost her", implying it was his men chasing the woman.



Garrity and Hellier watch a video found on a USB drive left at the Australian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. The video is of Cpl. Gavin Markson (Graeme McRae), who had previously been taken prisoner on a mission. He is recorded saying that the United States had carried an aerial strike on vehicle in North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing two members of the Haqqani network and Pakistan Armed Forces Gen. Tariq Nazir. Sullivan admits that they were targeting the Haqqani members, but were not aware of the death of Nazir, meaning his death was probably accidental. Either way, Lockwood says that either the Haqqai network or the Pakistani authorities could be holding Markson as hostage in retaliation. He suggests that they might not want anything in return, rather just seeking to taunt the West. Garrity calls for the Pakistani Ambassador.

At work, Dunkley disregards the authority of Koutoufides' assistant Declan Boyd (Benedict Hardie). He tries to get her to work on an industry jobs project in Wakefield, but she brushes him off. Griff comes to her desk to ask her why she took this job, saying that she "would never take a job on this side". She retorts by asking him what he is doing there, especially since the minister to which he is Chief of Staff – Bailey – is now dead. Griff says he has been asked to stay on to work for Hellier, to which Dunkley adds that he "knows where all the bodies are buried". Griff insinuates that she has more skeletons in her closet than he does. Once he leaves, Dunkley tries to access the redacted report on the Home Affairs server, to no avail. Boyd says that that means access has been restricted to the secure system in the ministerial wing. He explains that everyone has a digital code that leaves a digital fingerprint when you try to access a document. Dunkley has the idea to try to access the report to see who else has accessed it, and – despite Boyd's warning that she could get into a lot of trouble for accessing restricted documents – she quickly leaves.

She goes to see ASD junior analyst Thomas Maher (Aleks Mikic) to ask him for a favour. He says he does not owe her anything; his involvement in the death of Kim Gordon (Damon Herriman) was just him doing his job, as she had stolen classified material. Regardless, Dunkley asks him for help to get into the Home Affairs secure system. He refuses, and she leaves.

ASD officers, led by Vaughn, search the Almasi household, as Sami (Robert Rabiah) comforts his daughter Aliah (Jayanna Assaf). He tells Vaughn that Mina did not do it, to which Vaughn asks, if she is indeed innocent, why she ran away and discarded her cellphone.

Dunkley returns to her rental apartment, where her mother Sylvie (Fiona Press), is waiting for her with food from the hospital she works at. Sylvie urges her to come home, but Dunkley says she needs space. Saying she has work to do, she says goodbye to her mother, who says she will be back tomorrow. On her way out, Sylvie gives the finger to the (presumably ASD) officers stationed outside the apartment.

Dunkley suddenly hears a vibrating noise, and finds a cellphone ringing in her apartment. After putting her own cellphone in the microwave and turning on the television, she answers the phone. It is Mina calling, upset that Dunkley did not leave like she told her to. Dunkley tells Mina that she knows where to access the redacted document, which will tell them who set the latter up. Mina is worried that Dunkley will get caught, but Dunkley says she has to talk to Sami, asking Mina to trust her. Mina ends the call without replying. Dunkley receives a message on the phone – Mina has sent her Sami's number.

That night, Koutoufides is home with her baby Ella (Ivy and Lily Thorne). She posts online asking if ASIO is abusing its power in their handling of Lambert; she wants to know where he is.

The next day, Griff tells Hellier that Human Rights Watch has noticed Koutoufides' media campaign for Lambert's release. Hellier responds that Lambert's freedom does not trump everyone else's right to security. He asks Griff to set up a call with Stenders.

When she comes into work, Koutoufides tells Dunkley she has been granted an access visit with Lambert that afternoon as a "welfare check". However, the meeting clashes with Question Time with Garrity, so Koutoufides asks Dunkley to take the latter on her behalf. When she protests saying that she has to do her job, Koutoufides tells her that this is her job.

Stenders and an ASIO officer (Sean Brandtman) are questioning Lambert, but deny him bathroom breaks. He denies any knowledge of The Collective, even when Stenders quotes an online message from him: "We want maximum damage, need to strike fast. Targets to be arranged." She presses him for more details, but he asks why he would kill his own family. She discourages him from lying to her.

Meanwhile, Garrity and Hellier meetswith Pakistani Ambassador Yasir Younis (Dalip Sondhi), asking what Pakistan is doing to help find Markson. Younis suggests that Markson is being held by the Haqqani, with whom the Pakistani government has no contact, and that they had in fact kidnapped Nazir as well, which explains why he was taken out by the strikes as well. He assures Garrity that the government is doing everything they can to locate Markson, but it is like "looking for a needle in haystack". Once Younis leaves, Garrity and Hellier agree they know where Markson is (with the Pakistani government), and discuss how to put pressure on them. Garrity does not want to make the issue public, trusting in the reconnaissance abilities of the U.S. military to find Markson quietly.



Later on, Dunkley goes to meet with Lambert, to make sure he has had sufficient welfare like toilet breaks and water. He just wants to know if she will help him get out of detention. Dunkley assures him they are doing everything they can, but Lambert is not convinced. Stenders returns, abruptly ending Dunkley and Lambert's meeting. Just as she is about to leave, Lambert grabs Dunkley and holds a shiv to her throat. ASIO officers tase him to take him down. Dunkley is hurried out of the interrogation room, visibly upset. She receives a call from Koutoufides, and tells her that there was "no drama" during the meeting. Before heading back to work, she calls Sami to ask for a favour.



Sami pays Maher a surprise visit to convince him on Dunkley's behalf to help her access the Home Ministry secure server. He threatens him with with his 'friend' Mustafa (Parham Esmailpour), and leaves. Dunkley receives a message from Maher soon after saying he will do it.

That night, Koutoufides and Boyd have dinner at a restaurant, but she is bored with his talk of politics. She is more interested in whom Curtis is dining with; Boyd identifies the man as Alex Berezin (Tom Wren), a lobbyist from Vanguard Energy, a company that is looking to open a solar thermal plant in Victoria, Curtis' constituency. Koutoufides recognises that this would challenge her own industry development plan, so she goes and interrupts Curtis' meeting. She proposes that instead of Victoria, Vanguard Energy set up their plant in a disused car factory in Wakefield, since the workforce and infrastructure were already ready and waiting.



At the same time, Maher is doing what Dunkley asked. While he accesses the security system and disables the locks, she breaks into the Home Minister's office. She inserts a USB drive into the computer to override the password, giving her access, and starts searching for the document. However, the document is not there. Maher advises her to leave. Suddenly, the office phone starts to ring, and Dunkley realises that she can see Bailey's call log. She proceeds to ring the number Bailey called the most, and Lockwood picks up. Dunkley immediately hangs up, but Lockwood tries to call back. She ignores the call, takes a photo of the log and in her rush out, breaks the USB drive. Meanwhile, Griff is on his way up to the office, having been warned by an unidentified source that Dunkley would be there. Griff is on the phone with this person, but when he does not find Dunkley, the person hangs up. Dunkley makes it to her car, from where she tries to call Lockwood from the phone Mina left her. However, this time, the number cannot be reached. Instead, a pre-recorded laughter is heard, found to be coming from her own cellphone. Its screen shows the face of a rabbit, the same photo Mina saw when she was sent the redacted report.





Dunkley meets Mina in the woods, and fills her in on what has just happened. Mina realises that the Rabbit either set her up, or was themself the one that killed Bailey. Dunkley thinks that them contacting her directly is a sign – or warning – for her to stop digging. Dunkley says that Bailey called Lockwood 17 times immediately after the explosion at Davoren Park, followed a call the following night to someone standing in the middle of Davoren Park. She wonders if Bailey was part of a cover-up that resulted in her death. However, she does not want to face off with the authorities yet again. Mina says it is completely her decision, and she should not feel obliged to help her.

The next day, Koutoufides reviews the footage of Dunkley's meeting with Lambert with Griff. She stands by him, saying his act of violence was simply a sign of desperation. Griff asks her to reconsider her position, and raises doubts of Dunkley's loyalties. He leaves just as Dunkley arrives. Koutoutfides scolds Dunkley for hiding what had happened during the meeting from her, to which Dunkley tries to argue that she only did not tell her because she wanted her to keep fighting for Lambert. Koutoufides does not buy that story, but asks for Dunkley's assurance that she can rely on her. Dunkley promises her she can, and suggests that they release the video and spin it such that Lambert looks traumatised; once it gets the media's attention, they can then take control of the narrative bait the PM's Chief of Staff Ludie Sypek (Sacha Horler) into answering their questions.

We then see the unidentified woman again, in her stolen pickup truck, driving towards Canberra.



Back in the capital, Garrity delivers a eulogy for Bailey at Parliament House, acknowledging her 30-year service in parliament and calling her a "true soldier of the people". Dunkley warily observes Lockwood and Sullivan speak during the service, but the latter notices her watching. At the reception, Curtis talks to people about the Liberal Party's pick for Bailey's reception, but Koutoufides chides her for not respecting the dead. Dunkley is approached by Sypek, who says she is interesting in raising the Lambert interrogation video to Garrity, but does not want to give Koutoufides the platform to speak. Dunkley says that if Koutoufides is not part of the arrangement, then Sypek does not get the video, saying that she can handle the backlash. Sypek agrees. Dunkley then goes up to Lockwood, asking him why Lockwood was not arrested right after the Davoren Park explosion. Lockwood tries to deflect by saying it is a counterterrorism issue, but Dunkley insists that as Chief of Defence, counterterrorism is under his purview. She reveals she knows about the calls Bailey made to him in the minutes after the explosion, but he leaves, asking her to respect the memorial. Koutoufides notices Dunkley and Lockwood, but is interrupted by Berezin, who asks her to dinner. Koutoufides accepts. At the bar, Dunkley and Sullivan run into each other. They talk about Dunkley's time in prison and Sullivan's time on deployment. Sullivan tries to suggest that they were both fighting for things they believed in, but Dunkley asserts they are different.

They end up making out at his apartment. When Sullivan goes to wash up, Dunkley has a drink, and notices he takes Diazepam, an anxiety medication. In his trash, she also finds a plane ticket to Adelaide. She recalls the Davoren Park number in Bailey's call log and dials it; a phone begins to ring in Sullivan's jacket, meaning not only had Bailey called Sullivan, but that Sullivan was there in Davoren Park right after the explosion. Before Sullivan can return from the bathroom, Dunkley leaves.



Later on, Dunkley calls Rima Houli (Aanisa Vylet), a neighbour of the Lamberts, to arrange a meeting at Davoren Park to discuss the explosion. Dunkley pays a visit to the Houli house and has tea with Rima and her husband Eddie (Shameer Birges). She ignores a call for Koutoufides, and begins to discuss the events surrounding the explosion. Rima says that the fire department, ambulance and the police arrived after the explosion, but Eddie adds that ununiformed men had evacuated them from their home. Rima asks as to Lambert's wellbeing, and says that they do not believe that he is guilty. Their son Daniel ("Danny") (Narek Arman) takes Dunkley to his room to show her photos of him and Lambert that she could take for the latter. In the photos, Dunkley recognises Lambert's sister Chloe (Elle Rose Dunnallen), and realises that she and Danny were dating. They had to keep their relationship a secret because she was only 15 years' old. He shows Dunkley a video he had taken of her from across the street the night of the explosion. In the video, a man wearing a grey hoodie walks across the screen. Dunkley asks for a copy.

Lockwood returns home, where the woman from the service station is waiting for him. He identifies her as "Cal". She says that "the house in Adelaid [...] was a fuck-up", and Lockwood admits that he knows. He reassures her that she is safe and invites her inside.



Sypek and Hellier are at the broadcasting station, where she checks with him whether the police are okay with the video of Lambert being released. Hellier says that "[he is] the police". Koutoufides is waiting to start the interview and messages Dunkley to ask where she is. Dunkley is in her car, reviewing Danny's video, and does not reply, so Koutoufides starts without her. She argues on the air that Lambert is only a 16-year-old boy who lost his entire family, and is being detained in isolation without a lawyer, but Curtis retorts that he is a "violent terrorist" who "should be locked up". Hellier and Sypek agree with Curtis, saying that Australians have a right to feel safe, and that the laws under which Lambert is being held is "for the protection of all Australians". Koutofides nonetheless stresses that democratic values should never be forgotten, otherwise Australia would end up like totalitarian Nazi Germany.

Hellier then publicly announces that the police have identified Mina as a suspect in Bailey's murder, and Curtis points out that she had been Dunkley's prison mate for the last two years at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, much to Koutoufides' surprise.

Meanwhile, Cal is making herself comfortable on Lockwood's couch, as special forces approach the building. It can be assumed that Lockwood called them to capture her.

Dunkley notices, in the video, a streak approaching the house just seconds before the explosion. She goes to investigate the plot, when Koutoufides calls her angrily. However, Dunkley tells her that Lambert could not have been responsible for the explosion, because "the bomb came from the sky" (referring the the streak she saw in the video).



We then zoom out to an aerial view of Davoren Park, seen through the screen of a drone. There is a target pointed directly at the site of the explosion, where Dunkley is standing.

Cast

 * Anna Torv as Harriet Dunkley, Senior Media Advisor to MP Karen Koutoufides, formerly Political Analyst at The Daily Nation.
 * Danielle Cormack as Karen Koutoufides, Independent MP for Wakefield, SA.
 * Jacki Weaver as Catriona Bailey, former Home Affairs Minister, previously Attorney General (AG).
 * Laura Gordon as "Cal", identity as of yet unknown.
 * Rob Collins as Lt. Joseph Sullivan.
 * Justin Smith as William Vaughn, Australia Signals Directorate (ASD) Director.
 * Don Hany as Ewan Garrity, Prime Minister (PM).
 * Andrew McFarlane as ACM Wes Lockwood, Chief of Defence.
 * Joel Tobeck as Jim Hellier, Defence Minister and interim Home Affairs Minister.
 * Marcus Graham as Andrew "Griff" Griffiths, Chief of Staff (COS) to the Home Affairs Minister, formerly Senior Political Analyst at The Daily Nation.
 * Robert Rabiah as Sami Almasi, husband of Mina Almasi.
 * Louisa Mignone as Mina Almasi, Iraqi refugee and former prison mail of Harriet Dunkley, wife of Sami Almasi.
 * Frederick Du Rietz as Robbie Lambert, currently detained by ASIO for the Davoren Park explosion, brother of Chloe Lambert.
 * Benedict Hardie as Declan Boyd, Assistant to MP Karen Koutoufides.
 * Aleks Mikic as Thomas Maher, Junior Analyst in ASD.
 * Tom Wren as Alex Berezin, lobbyist for Vanguard Energy.
 * Nathaniel Dean as Dunn, ASIO officer.
 * Fiona Press as Sylvie Dunkley, mother of Harriet Dunkley
 * Sacha Horler as Ludie Sypek, COS to the PM.
 * Jayanna Assaf as Aliah Almasi, daughter of Sami and Mina Almasi.
 * Rhondda Findleton as Madeline Stenders, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General.
 * Jesse Rowles as Moore, ASIO officer.
 * Shameer Birges as Eddie Houli, neighbour of the Lamberts, husband of Rima Houli and father of Daniel "Danny" Houli.
 * Ivy Thorne / Lily Thorne as baby Ella Koutoufides, daughter of MP Karen Koutoufides.
 * Aanisa Vylet as Rima Houli, neighbour of the Lamberts, wife of Eddie Houli and mother of Daniel "Danny" Houli.
 * Dalip Sondhi as Yasir Younis, Pakistani Ambassador to Australia.
 * William Wallace as Derek Conway
 * Jamie Oxenbould as Ian Casey
 * Di Adams as Gaelene Curtis, Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Party MP for Victoria, SA.
 * Graeme McRae as Cpl. Gavin Markson, currently held hostage in Pakistan.
 * Elle Rose Dunnallen as Chloe Lambert, victim of the Davoren Park explosion, sister of Robbie Lambert, boyfriend of Daniel "Danny" Houli.
 * Narek Arman as Daniel "Danny" Houli, neighbour of the Lamberts, boyfriend of Chloe Lambert, son of Eddie and Rima Houli.
 * Parham Esmailpour as Mustafa, Sami Almasi's associate.
 * Sean Brandtman, Mark Duncan and Aidan Gillett as ASIO officers
 * Melinda Arnold as parliamentary staffer
 * Todd Williams as farmer
 * Stephanie Begg as service station assistant
 * Phoebe Bowden as journalist