Surrept (25 page)

Adriana says, "How is the man of my desires?"

"I have been awaiting this call from the object of my greatest affection. How is everything with the children?"

"The children are fine. They have all received their books and education materials for the school year, and I met their educator, and verified his credentials. I also have paid their tuition directly to him, personally. They are all looking forward to pleasing you, and miss you almost as much as I do."

He knows she has succeeded again for him. "My heart swells with the anticipation of their success through higher education. Do you have confidence in their training curriculum?"

"I have verified the credentials, and the study material seems to surpass our expectations. I also met with the educator and he has met the expectations we had, everything has been taken care of; he was the right choice."

"That is wonderful news. I knew when we met that you were the one to guide our children to be exemplary examples in this world, thank you so much for being there to nurture them. I am eternally grateful."

She smiles, wondering what his definition of eternal is. "I will give you the opportunity to demonstrate that affection in a few days, although I may be delayed a day. I must assist the neighbor's children in their field trip preparations. I promised to make those arrangements as well."

He recognizes that she is right on track with the professor now gone and the operatives have the bacteria. The plan is moving forward like a clock. "I am sure you will provide them with exceptional accommodations and a memorable event. You always seem to find the best outcome. I look forward to hearing about the details."

His car arrives at its destination. "I must go now. I have arrived at my meeting, and my thoughts will be with you. Make sure that you say goodbye to the children for me."

Adriana looks at her phone; her fears have come true. She can tell by his tone and lack of interest and the false sincerity toward her in his voice. She will deal with that the next time he sees her. Then the epiphany hits her; he does not intend to see her again. She knows in his mind she has already been discarded, like so many things in his life. She has zero value now that she has served his needs, except he still needs her to attend to the children for him, and maybe he is thinking about her still translating in his final deals for him.

She decides at that moment that, since her life is now burned to the ground, that she was now going to bring him to his knees. She would be his Achilles heel.

Adriana decides that she will now crush and rob one of the most powerful men in the world. She will do it with his precious jewels in the desert and their targets of focus.

The man exits his car and enters a British brokerage house in downtown Vancouver.

He approaches building security. They clear him quickly. He enters a guarded elevator.

The doors open, and he is greeted by an older man who escorts him into a video conference room. The private room had secure phone and video lines, free from any outside scrutiny. The room is finished in solid walnut and has no windows. There is hot tea and coffee on the table and variety of top-shelf beverages and mixers surrounding a sterling silver tray with an ice bucket. He mixes himself a drink, as the escort takes his coat, hangs it for him in a closet, and exits the room.

A few moments later, the forty-six-inch monitor on the wall comes to life, and bagpipes are heard. A logo of the British bank with the Scottish highlands behind it fills the monitor. He always admired the green meadows and fields of Great Britain. It reminded him of his school years twenty-plus years ago.

A British-looking man appears on the screen. "This is Martin Shields at your service."

The man responds to the familiar face. "Marty, how are you today?"

"Quite well, sir. Actually I'm fabulous. The wire you were expecting from the Arab Emirates credited your accounts in Zurich as well as the adjacent accounts. How may I serve you further, sir?"

"Marty, I would like you to spread out, let's say fifty million, in the futures market betting short against pork commodities of all kinds. Can you get that done for me, and spread it out as much as you can so as not to tip the play? And let's see how that goes, shall we?"

"As you are aware, it is late today, sir, but we can get it done at opening Monday first thing, but I think that slowly through midday is best for your value and discretion, slowly over two days would be the best strategy to fit your request. I will funnel the buys through several sources."

"That's perfect Marty. I'll leave it to your expertise, thank you."

"May I inquire as to the balance of funds sir? Do you wish to have those funds just sit idle, and not earn, sir?"

"What do you suggest?"

"I would place my confidence in gold and oil. They are strong in their direction due to the public transportation outlook and the weak dollar. Both are very low risk presently and are sure to increase in the current international environment at quite a steady pace."

The man studies the face on the monitor and confidence level of his associate. "Very well, Marty, split it up as you deem fit for the greatest return; however, I need to remain liquid on thirty-five million."

"I will forward the validations as soon as they are completed and include projections as usual sir."

"Good day Marty, thank you."

The man sips his drink as he sits back in the leather wingback. The screen returns to the logo and bagpipes. He feels like seafood would be appropriate tonight. He feels healthy and fresh. Just a few more weeks and he will be satisfied with his life's work. He wonders what he will do then.

Reggie leaves the body shop in the Lexus that his people just finished; he checks the mirror and sees a set of headlights appear. He cuts down Speer Boulevard. He enters I-25 toward Colorado Boulevard. He falls into the afternoon traffic, and seeing no sign of a tail, hits the radio and tunes it to a jazz station. The traffic is crawling so he exits at first chance; he takes surface streets to meet Dana as he had promised.

He pulls into the parking lot at Dave and Buster's on Colorado and I-25. He scans the parking lot for the hot little blonde-haired woman's white Mercedes and does not see it. He spots her in an older charcoal Cadillac parked in the corner.

He parks a few aisles over and checks his weapons: one in his belt, the other in his coat. He strolls toward her as her headlights come on and she pulls to him as he walks. He jumps in as he hears the old door locks engage.

"Go, girl, get out of here. Were you followed by anyone Dana?"

Dana pulls out of the parking lot. "No. I went to my dad's country club near his house and left my car there. Then I had one of the guys there who has had the hots for me for years drop me off at the park. I took the walking trail to the back of my dad's house and used my mom's old car. Nobody saw me."

Reggie asks, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, and this car is only driven once a month by my dad. So the FBI probably doesn't even know about this one."

He looks at her with respect for her cunning. "Don't bet on those guys not knowing everything there is to know. I think they have some sort of lo-jack tracker on my ride. They are in my mirror twenty-four-seven, so I dumped my ride, too, and grabbed a customer's car and laid low."

Dana is excited to be doing something about helping David. "So we're cool to cruise then. Let's take the long road just to be sure."

He nods. "That's what I'm talking about. Safe is smart. Let's stay smart Miss Dana."

Dana suddenly feels a little nervous. "I'm not so tough, Reggie. I thought about what you said, about Adriana having no fear, and I have to be honest—I'm scared now that I'm actually doing this thing."

"That's only because you're smart."

Dana says, "You and my dad would really get along great. You say a lot of the same things."

Reggie says, "I know I'm a beautiful charming black man with game and all that, and it's hard not to be affected by my incredible animal magnetism, but I'm not ready to meet your daddy just yet. You need to chill on that wish for a minute. You are just going to have to control yourself until this thing is over. Then we can talk about maybe hooking up and getting busy."

They both erupt into laughter as the old Caddy cruises the back streets of Glendale. Reggie's phone rings, he answers still laughing. It is Matthew Cohen. "It be me."

Matt hears the laughter. "Reggie, I am sorry to interrupt your party. Do you have a minute?"

Reggie motions to Dana to be quiet. "Sure Mr. C. What's up?"

"You know that I spoke with the assistant United States attorney, and I got him to hold off on indicting you by grand jury, right?"

"Yeah man, I was sitting right there when you told him I may be willing to cooperate so he gave you a week to put everything together for a self surrender on my case. I heard all of that, why?"

Matt says, "I just need to be sure you and I are on the same page, are you still ready to do what we spoke about?"

"Yeah, thanks again for gettin' them to hold off. And as a matter of fact, I'm on my way to handle some of that right now."

"Reggie, I told you to be careful, do not do anything stupid. Do you hear me?"

"Nothing stupid, I promise. I don't want to blow my shot at getting short on this thing."

Matt answers, "Good, just be cool, and put everything together for me that we discussed."

"I'll have it all for you on Monday. I'll check you then." He hangs up. "Man, I hope we're doing the right thing here. My ass is hanging way out on this thing. We got to be smooth and fast on this thing tonight."

Dana whispers, "We are coming up now on her place. I think we should look for her car first to see if she is here and check out all of the exits. Then I should go check out where her apartment is in the building, then come back and develop a plan."

"Has she ever seen you before?"

"I don't think so, but if she did her homework, my face is all over several real estate websites and that is not hard to find."

Reggie laughs. "You're a realtor?"

Dana pulls over in front of Adriana's building, "What's wrong with that?"

"It's just that you don't think that a realtor would be creeping on some heroin-dealing shooter chick, that's all I'm saying. By the way, you bring your tool?"

"What tool, what are you talking about?"

"Your strap, your piece. That gun you were sporting today shoved in those tight-ass jeans."

"It's right here." She pulls the gun from under her seat. And I have a carry permit for it, too."

"Is it loaded? Miss, I got a carry permit, too."

"What use does it have if not loaded? It is not chambered yet." She chambers the weapon military style, and hits the safety and drops clip and replaces it with another she has in her pants pocket. "That's fifteen at the ready, and thirteen to back it up, if I get unlucky."

"Where did a realtor learn about guns?"

"My dad put a gun in my hand for the first time when I went hunting with him, and I liked it, so he sent me to a training class for my sixteenth birthday. I never stopped going to the range because there was this really cute instructor there who was this ex-special forces guru. He challenged me to be the best at handling a weapon, and I wanted his attention and made sure I got it. It was sort of our bonding thing. He made sure that I achieved proficient firearms effectiveness training, and he told me that if every woman was trained, then there would be fewer crimes against them."

Reggie says, "He obviously never knew any of the women that I know. Okay, let's go with your plan, let's check for her ride."

Dana cruises the parking structure and finds Adriana's car packed with luggage and bags in the back seat.

Reggie sounds off, "That's it right there. It looks like she is getting ready to roll, she has shit packed already in the backseat. Pull back over there in the visitor parking spot. It looks like we don't have to crash her crib; we can just wait here and pounce. Let's check this out for a minute."

Dana backs the Caddy into a space. Reggie pulls a weapon out, he chambers a round and slides the pistol under his leg on the seat. They wait for about thirty minutes.

Dana is getting anxious. "Screw this. David is sitting in some hole somewhere. I'm doing this now. Are you with me or not?" She opens the car door.

Reggie looks around as he grabs her arm, "Be cool. Don't go making no scene, just stay smart and be quiet and pay attention."

Dana says, "I'm going in. Her unit number is two-seventeen, so it is probably on the second floor. You stay here in the car, and give me ten minutes. If I'm not back by then, you come behind me."

Reggie says, "Just remember, Dana—this chick is cold. If she makes you, then you are going to have to try to smooth out of it. Be prepared, though. We need her alive for me, and for David, don't blow this thing."

Dana looks at him, "Ten minutes Reggie, two-seventeen, on the second floor." Dana closes the car door; she enters the stairway door and disappears.

Reggie says a prayer. "Lord, please stay with that girl; she's definitely one of yours."

Dana reaches the second floor door; she opens the door slowly and enters the hallway walking slowly as she scans the apartment numbers on the doors. She is three away from Adriana's unit. She puts her hand on under her jacket and prepares to knock. She remembers Reggie's statement that they needed her alive. Her heart pounds so loud she can hear it in her head.