And Italian-born Frank, 35, is the first to say that the average image of the private eye comes straight from the movies and is a long way from the truth. Yet he frequently debugs his office and home, looks over his shoulder when he is in the street and works from an office with peepholes, security and cameras and mirror wall tiles.

Frank says Australia is catching up with the rest of the world in security and espionage. He believes there are about 5000 licensed investigators in Australia, but no more than six full-time professionals, Frank being one of them. He's made a lucrative business to prove it-he made about $250,000 last year.

Frank's official title is security executive or private inquiry agent, specialising in the world of business. As well as providing an intelligence service with up to 33 operatives, Frank's organisation even sells gun-holsters, bugs and other surveillance equipment. His headquarters are on the eighth floor of Australia Square, Sydney's round skyscraper, there is another Sydney office as well as those in Melbourne and Perth.

Monte Company Security and Monte's investigations cover a wide field of activities. A company may want to find out if its conference room is bugged, or what a competitor is planning or whether an employee is giving away trade secrets.

Last year, Frank's associates discovered 88 bugs in businesses including finance, tax consultancy and developers.

Frank is a former cop. He stayed on the force for 18 months before moving into the world of spies.

"I made history being the first cop to be in uniform for only one day. When they found I spoke another language and what have you I was put into undercover operations. I began thinking about my future as a cop after I got beaten up in Kings Cross."

Frank flicks through the 31 jobs for the day: a woman wants to know what her husband is doing today and is having him followed; a child is missing; two people living in a unit have been causing trouble and the other owners want to know something about them; someone wants to track down a relative; a girl is missing and her friend is being tailed to see if she knows where she is and nine company executives or reps are under surveillance.

Clients are charged anything from $500 to $5000 for a research job and a single job might cost $10,000 or even $80,000 (the highest single job). Frank says the jobs bringing in $10,000 might come once a month. A consultation fee of $250 is charged for a single visit.

Frank has been followed, threatened, assaulted, abused and forced to use his gun. In at least one incident overseas he shot a man. He believes there have been nearly 60 serious threats on his life during the 16 years in the business. But he speaks up, never fearing publicity which, he believes, helps the business. It's the kind of nerve that makes Frank a superspy. .