Clint Faraday Collection C: Murder in Motion Collector's Edition (21 page)

“
A good
talent to have. I can do it a little. Come by anytime, my friend.
You will always be a most welcomed guest in my home.

“
I have
never before said that to anyone!”

“
Could I
ask how Shannon O’Brien got the, er, information?”

“
Another
very stupid thing. She was a whore on the make. I brought her here.
That is a diversion I can enjoy and she was very expert. She found
a paper that was in a book (he pointed to a large cabinet with
hundreds of books) because my safe can be entered with little
trouble by a person trained in such things. I read extensively in
six languages. I didn’t know anyone who ever came here would know
Aramaic. She did, and was looking through a book while I was at the
pool, apparently, and found the papers. There is no safe place to
hide anything, I fear.”

“
They
were maps?”

“
And a
list of the contents.”

“
That
wasn’t
smart! I have to say it before you do.”

“
Partly
true. They were not in the same book or books in the same language.
The other set was Chinese. I doubt she found those because she read
the language. Even I don’t read it. She found the list in the
Aramaic book. I think there was a reference of some kind about the
location maps so she searched and found it. I don’t see when she
had the time because it was in a different section of the
case.”

“
She
could eliminate Spanish, English, French, Russian languages ... it
didn’t take long.”

“
How
could she ... I see! It would be obvious that it would not be in
any book anyone coming here might look at! It would occur to her
that Aramaic wasn’t a language anyone might understand
here.”

“
The
first thing a detective would think,” Clint agreed.

“
And a
lesson to be learned. Where would you recommend?”

“
The
religious works. Nobody who comes here would waste their time
looking through those!”

He laughed again. “I really do like you,
Clint Faraday. It is refreshing beyond belief to find someone who
isn’t a phony-ass.”

Clint laughed and said he thought they really
could be friends. He went back to the hotel and checked out, then
headed for the airport.

Of course, he knew full-well that Nikolo was
playing a game – but maybe they could still be friends. It had
happened with several unexpected people already.

That was from being pragmatic about life.
It’s not like you want it to be, it’s like it is.

Identifying
the
Treasure

Clint got off the plane in David and got his
car, then drove to Dave’s apartment to put things together without
a lot of distraction. He knew there was a lot missing.

Where did the stuff come from? Laundering was
out for this. That bunch laundered money by the millions per
day.

Was the other content stolen? From whom?

Clint thought a bit, then called Manolo, an
undercover special agent for Interpol and various other
organizations. He would put out feelers to find if some bigshot
drug lord or whatever was looking for something or someone. Stolen
jewels and gold would very definitely be looked-for by Interpol if
they were even partly legitimate. Nikolo said there was jewelry
with historic importance so that would definitely be investigated
by Interpol.

He called Manny Mathews, who said he hadn’t
heard anything. He’d put out feelers.

Clint could make a short run-down of
events:

Nikolo and partners got the stuff (?) and put
it in safe boxes to hide under a small coral reef off of Dolfin
Point to wait until they could safely dispose of it. He – and they,
according to him – didn’t need money. It was a lark to try to get
some excitement into their dull lives. That more than likely meant
it was taken from a big drug lord or someone in an illegitimate
business of some type. Shannon O’Brien found the maps and
descriptions when she shacked up with him for a week or so. O’Brien
had run into two men she had met in Canada who were running with
the scumbag crowd. She met them again in San Jose’ among the
scumbag crowd there and made a deal where they would all end up
with millions. She came to Panamá and found a shady all-around
scumbag in Veraguas. She made a deal. She contacted Besford and
Dennis and said to meet her in Changuinola. She took the taxi
there. They rented a boat in Almirante, went to the place her maps
showed, got the treasure – and something went wrong. He could
figure she tried to put the screws to her partners. She had the
reputation of using people and turning on them.

How did they manage to get that weight into
the boat? Two boxes that would have weighed nearly three hundred
pounds apiece if he calculated right.

They were big enough. They did take them onto
the taxi in Almirante.

Okay. She picked the wrong place to try to
put the screws to them. The problem was solved right there.

The
problem with
her
was solved
right there. There’s still a problem. Nikolo and
partners.

Clint could surmise that was what O’Brien had
tried. “I get half and you split the other half or I tell the
Russian mafia who and where you are.” Exit the lovely Shannon
O’Brien downstage left. Her continuing part was now written out of
the play.

So. He could work with that and could
probably prove it, definitely could prove it with that steel
lockbox in Gordo’s house. That would tell Nikolo who and where. It
could get too damned hairy with that bunch. He wished he could
trust Nikolo enough to make a deal with him to keep it out of
Panamá, but knew the deal would be they would keep it out of Panamá
only so long as it didn’t inconvenience them. Nikolo had hinted
that he would go along, but that his partners may not. That was why
the wait now.

Clint sighed. There wasn’t much he could do
until he had a call from Nikolo. He headed for Bocas.

“
Nothing
much is happening here,” Sergio said when Clint went to the police
station to report what he’d found. “It seems everything was from
somewhere else.

“
Should I
have an arrest warrant ready when you’re ready to present the case?
I can keep it quiet, I suppose.”

“
You can
if you can be certain Nikolo or they can’t know anything about
it.”

“
I’ll
see. Maybe yes, maybe no.”

They chatted awhile, then Clint went home.
Judi was just coming into town and saw him. She waved and said she
would be home about five thirty. He saluted and went on in to check
his e-mail, then cooked a good meal of corvina with hush-puppies
and mustard greens.

He cleaned off his deck and lazed around for
a little while until Judi came in to say she was really getting a
workout with the committees she was on. She liked that. It kept her
busy. She didn’t have any other gossip. It was sort of dead in
Bocas except for the surfers and party crowd.

They went to the Rip Tide for a meal and to
talk with the regulars and a few tourists, then Clint went home and
sacked out. Tomorrow would be busy – or not.

In the morning he had his hojaldres and
coffee on the deck and puttered around his boat. He got in the
water with scuba gear and cleaned the hull, then the engine, then
the interior. It was spotless when he was through and it was three
twenty. His phone buzzed and he answered. Manny said there wasn’t a
hint of anything as big as this so it wasn’t connected with any mob
anywhere unless Nikolo’s bunch brought their own mob into it. No
one was looking for them for anything beyond the ordinary.

Manolo called to say there wasn’t anything
nearly like what Clint described Interpol was interested in. There
was a slight hint that someone on some island had lost something
big, but there wasn’t anything much known about it. It wasn’t in
Panamá or the waters nearby so far as he could tell. It was some
private agents who had asked that he keep a lookout for emeralds.
They didn’t really believe that Panamá was involved, but were just
covering all the bases.

Judi came over to say that there was some
dignitary coming in tonight or tomorrow on his private plane.
Sergio was pissed because he was supposed to protect such people.
This was one he didn’t want any dealings with in any way. He
thought the fact he had more money than god would let him buy his
way out of anything.

“
One of
those gringo developers who leave it up to everyone else to live
down to what they are?”

“
No, not
a gringo. I think he’s a sheik or prince or something. He owns a
whole country or whatever in the Mediterranean.”

“
Why the
hell would he come here?”

“
You
got
me
! There’s
nothing anyone like that could want here!”

Clint shook his head. Too many like that came
to Bocas and it almost never bode good for the gringos. Maybe this
one was an Arab or something and the gringos wouldn’t be in the
same stereotype. He could always hope.

Manolo said an island? One not near Panamá?
I wonder!

Sheik Schmuck

The private jet was just able to land on the
runway in Bocas Town. The pilot and co-pilot and two men in very
expensive suits got off. The one, somewhat fat and definitely
Arabic, seemed to expect everyone to bow to him or something. Clint
managed to be walking toward the gate when they reached it and the
bigshit’s companion said, “Stand back!”

“
Fuck
you,” Clint returned pleasantly. “Who you may be somewhere else
doesn’t mean pigshit here.”

“
You
don’t know with whom you trifle!” he spat.

“
Neither
do you, apparently. Difference is, I don’t give a shit. Don’t give
me another order or I’ll dump your ass right here!”

He didn’t know what to say. “If you were in
another place you would be down on your knees pleading for your
life now!”

“
We ain’t
in another place. You’ll follow our rules here and maybe we’ll
follow your rules there. All you cruds are here is another bunch of
obnoxious egocentric arrogant tourists who were raised in a barn
and bleat like farm animals.”

The bigshot was pretending to be amused. “I
think I like your courage. If you ever are in need of a very
well-paying job in another place call on me. Yusef will give you my
number. I am Ali el Mika’h Mikim.”

Clint stepped back and waved him through the
gate, but made the others wait there until he went through, which
amused Mikim even more.

Mikim and Yusef went toward a waiting car.
Clint recognized the Japanese thug, Itumi, as the waiting passenger
in the car. He got out and bowed slightly to Mikim, who said
something that made him laugh. He looked over to Clint and smirked.
Clint could figure what that was about. He’d be ready for them.

It also tied another few odd things together.
He thought about it and wondered again about some things.

He called Nikolo and asked if he knew Mikim
was in Bocas.

There was a long pause. “You amaze me. How
did you find out about King Ali the Less Than Magnificent so
quickly?”

“
Easy. He
has four men here looking for the stuff. He just flew in on that
overdone jet and pulled the visiting royalty act. Two and two is
still somewhere in the neighborhood of four.

“
Does
this mean what I think it means?”

“
That the
bitch knew who we meant? Probably. She read Aramaic, which should
have warned me immediately. She was always double-dealing everyone.
He probably came there to collect his, as you call it, stuff, in a
deal with her.

“
Clint,
it is only a very small part of what he has stolen from his people.
You can’t know the depth of horror of living in constant fear such
a person visits upon his socalled subjects. Now I must wonder if
she told him about me.”

“
I really
do doubt that,” Clint mused. “She would be the type to hold that
power over him to guarantee her own safety. She could say he would
learn that after she had her cut and was gone.

“
You know
something? I think I know why she’s dead!”

“
She
tried to hold King Ali over her partners’ heads. She was stupid
enough to let them know she was playing that side of the street,
too. They would know she hadn’t told about them. That meant they
could get away with the whole thing by getting rid of her. All they
would need was a day or two to disappear. He wouldn’t have any way
to find them without her.”

“
So they
played her game on her. I think she let something slip to Gordo and
he’s made a deal or two on the side. Lovely bunch!”

“
I can’t
be flippant about this quite yet. He has enough money to buy almost
anything.”

“
He just
thinks he does.”

“
Yes.
There is not enough money ever printed to buy you. For this one
fact alone you have my deepest respect. I will ask that you, under
no circumstances, tell him about me.”

“
And vice
versa. I’ll see what I can do. I think he’s already ordered that I
be killed or seriously injured or something. I refused to step
aside to let him through the airport gate and called him an
obnoxious fat pig or something such. He acted amused and offered me
a job if I ever needed one – but his eyes weren’t in the least
amused and he wanted to have a way to reach me.”