Geneva Connection, The (36 page)

Merriman looked at him. “If you believe anything that madman says.”

He rose to his feet and left the room. He searched for a quiet office, somewhere he could call Ann Laudel without being overheard. The US administration’s policy was not to negotiate with criminals and terrorists. There was no way he could return the cartel’s assets, even if he’d wanted to. But maybe with his strong professional relationship with Laudel, and their recent successful press conference, she’d be motivated to help. Laudel had very good senior connections in the government. It was worth a try.

When Merriman called her direct line, Laudel answered immediately. “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you and Patti.”

“Patti’s distraught. I know how this is likely to end, but I can’t bring myself to tell her. I can’t take her hope away.”

“I can understand that.”

“I need your help.”

“I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Is there any way we can make an exception here? Maybe release some of the cartel’s assets in exchange for my daughter. I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“Let me make some calls and see what I can do. I’m sorry, Mark, but I don’t need to tell you what the answer’s likely to be.”

“I understand, Ann. I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try.”

A few hours later, the kidnapping was leaked to the media. Merriman was certain the leak had come from the cartel as it would send a clear message to Jivaro’s enemies that he’d not been weakened by the DEA’s actions. No one was beyond his reach.

Then the major US networks picked it up and kept showing the recent press conference, with TV footage of Merriman and Laudel describing the record seizure of cartel assets. At that point, Merriman knew it was over, and that his last hope had vanished. Even if the administration had been minded to make an exception, in light of the high profile now being given to the case, it could not afford to be seen breaching established policy.

The following morning, he took a call from Laudel. She’d made several calls, as she said she would, but she’d been unsuccessful. She told him what he already knew. While he had great sympathy from inside the government, the publicity on this one was simply too high; no senior politician would want to be seen arguing for a change in US policy.

An hour later, another call came in on Merriman’s direct line.

“You have only twenty-four hours left and yet we’ve heard nothing from you,” said Jivaro.

“I’m still working on it. I’m going to need more time,” replied Merriman.

“Twenty-four hours.” The line went dead.

Merriman put his head in his hands. There had to be something else he could do.

Chapter 55

R
EALIZING
H
E
W
AS
O
UT
O
F
O
PTIONS
, Merriman drove home to be with his wife. After explaining to Patti his failed attempt to release some of the assets in exchange for Emma, he began to steer her expectations toward the awful prospect of losing their daughter. Patti broke down in tears and held their youngest daughter close to her.

An hour later, someone knocked on their front door. Merriman opened it then took a step back when he saw Kerry Donohue standing in front of him. “Hello, Kerry. What are you doing here?”

“I’m really sorry to intrude at a time like this,” she said.

“Come in.” Merriman led her into the lounge and introduced his team member to Patti and her sister.

Donohue apologized again for coming over to the house then took a seat on the sofa next to her boss. “I looked for you at the office and was told you’d come home,” she said. “Something really strange has come up. I thought you ought to hear about it as it could be important.”

Merriman quickly glanced at his wife then looked at Donohue. “What is it?”

“Since we seized the cartel’s assets, I’ve been recording the details of each investment so we have a complete inventory.”

“Go on.”

“Well, for my own curiosity, one of the things I’ve also been doing is cross-checking the assets we’re recording against a press search.”

“What kind of press search?”

“I put the phrase ‘CBC deal completion’ into my Internet search engine then printed off the results. This gave me the press coverage of all of CBC’s deals in the last couple of years.”

Merriman noticed his wife tearing up. “Where’s this going, Kerry?”

Donohue was the most intelligent member of his team. She was thirty-one and had been with the DEA since graduating from MIT in computer science. The problem was she could never just cut to the chase. She had a habit of verbalizing her logic in front of people. It was just the way her mind worked, and it seemed to help her think, but sometimes Merriman found this frustrating.

“Sorry. I eliminated those deals before Tritona started to use CBC. Then I compared the remaining list of transactions to my record of seized assets.” Donohue shifted her weight on the sofa. “The strange thing is the two should agree, but they don’t.”

“Maybe not all deals were publicized.” There was a hint of irritation in his tone.

“I agree, but that’s not how my lists differ.”

Merriman sensed Donohue might be onto something, so he cut her some slack. “Go on.”

“There’s one very large deal which is actually covered in the press, but it’s missing from our list.”

“The list of assets came from CBC, so how can we have a deal announcement, but no record of the investment?”

Donohue smiled. “Same question I had.”

“What do you know about the deal?”

“Well, the missing investment is something called HS1. As a matter of fact, it was the very last deal completed by CBC using Tritona’s money. The article I found in the
London Evening Tribune
mentioned CBC’s investors paid seventy-six billion British pounds for it. That’s over one hundred billion dollars, and yet we’ve no record of it at all.”

“So where is it?”

Donohue shrugged her shoulders. “All I know is CBC didn’t provide us with the documentation for it. They must still have it.”

Merriman froze. “Which means—”

“Which means, at the moment, it’s not been seized by the US government.”

Merriman jumped up and kissed Donohue on the cheek. “You’re a genius.”

“What is it, Mark?” asked Patti, her face a picture of confusion.

“Kerry has discovered a valuable asset which was bought using the cartel’s money, but it hasn’t yet been seized. If we can locate the documentation for it, then maybe we could offer this to the cartel as a ransom payment.”

Pattie held her fingers to her mouth. “Oh my God! We have less than twenty-four hours. There’s no time to lose.” She smiled for the first time since their daughter was taken.

Merriman and Donohue left for the office in his car, so they could continue the conversation. He wasn’t certain he’d done the right thing raising Patti’s hopes. The idea was still a long shot, and he was still not convinced the cartel hadn’t killed Emma soon after taking her. But the more Donohue explained the anomalies in her research, the more he was certain CBC was holding something back.

As they approached their office building, Merriman turned to Donohue. “Who else knows about this, Kerry?”

“You’re the only person I’ve shared it with.”

“Let’s keep it that way.”

“What still confuses me is how such a massive investment could’ve been missed from CBC’s list of assets. It makes no sense.”

“It’s certainly suspicious.”

What was Kent up to? He certainly had some explaining to do if he still wanted to avoid prosecution. The deal was he had to be cooperative and completely transparent.

As soon as they returned to the office, Merriman checked the details of Donohue’s research. No surprise. She was absolutely right. There was, indeed, a substantial missing asset. Twice, he read the printout of the article by the
London Evening Tribune
. Apparently, HS1 had been a UK government-owned high-speed, electric rail line leading from London to the Channel Tunnel. Recently, it had been auctioned off in order to raise money to reduce the level of government borrowings. The article went on to say the rail line was a goldmine, enjoying highly predictable revenues for many decades to come.

Wasting no time, Merriman found a quiet office and shut the door. He picked up the phone and punched in the number for CBC.

“How can I help you?” said Kent when Tara put through the call.

“I want you to call me back from a public phone in five minutes.” He gave no further explanation.

“I’m about to start a meeting. Can I call you later today?”

“Cancel the meeting. This won’t wait. I need to talk to you now.” Merriman terminated the call.

Kent put down his phone. What was Merriman doing calling on an open line? Who did the man think he was? Kent had delivered his part of the bargain. CBC was supposed to have nothing more to do with the DEA or Merriman now he had his evidence. Kent considered not calling back, but soon thought better of that idea. He didn’t trust Merriman, so there was no point aggravating him.

He walked out of CBC’s building and across the Science Park to a bank of public payphones and made the call.

“It’s Kent.”

“Where are the HS1 documents?” asked Merriman.

Shit!
Kent’s throat constricted. How did Merriman know about that? Did he suspect Kent was deliberately holding it back? Even worse, was it possible the man already knew he’d taken the asset? What the hell could he say? Whatever Kent came up with, it had better be convincing if he was going to avoid prosecution.

“I gave the documents to you along with all the others.” It was the best response Kent could come up with in a few seconds. There was no point denying the existence of the asset. Merriman clearly knew about it.

“Don’t fuck about with me. I don’t know why, but we both know you didn’t give us that file. You paid seventy-six billion pounds for the company, so where is it? You don’t just lose an asset of that size.”

“Then there must be some clerical error. I thought I gave you all of the relevant files but, clearly, I didn’t. I can only apologize. I’ll look into it and call you back as soon as I can.”

“Let me explain this carefully, so there can be no misunderstanding. For reasons I can’t share with you, my child’s life is at risk. If I don’t have the HS1 documents within the hour, then you’ll be arrested and shipped to prison in the US.”

“Your child—”

“I haven’t finished.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You won’t live long enough to get out of prison, because my next call will be to the cartel. I’ll tell them you still have their asset because you decided to keep it for yourself. You’ll end up the same way as Baumgart.”

“Baumgart’s dead? How? When did—”

“Call me when you have the file. You have less than an hour.” Merriman finished the call.

Baumgart’s dead.
The cartel must have wiped him out to guarantee his silence.
Jesus!
Kent would be next if he didn’t give Merriman what he wanted. In that fleeting moment, Kent had gone from being one of the world’s ten richest individuals to having nothing. No business, no reputation, no prospects—nothing.

He smashed his head hard against the phone box. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
What if the cartel is already wiping out everyone involved?

When Kent recovered his composure, he called Sarah. “Just checking you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, John, but I can’t talk. I’m about to see another patient.”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

“Has something happened?”

“No. Nothing.”

Chapter 56

K
ENT
M
OPED
A
BOUT
T
HE
S
CIENCE
P
ARK
, his head throbbing. What was all that about Merriman’s child being unwell? Why mention it, unless it was his half-arsed way of excusing his aggressive behavior? The man had always been hostile, so what was different now?