Buzzard Bay (54 page)

THIRTY-THREE

B
OB WOKE UP
to the sound of a cell door banging open.

“Time to go, Green, your wife’s bailed you out.” He followed the guard down the corridor to the front desk of the police station. An officer at the desk handed him his stuff. Bob looked up at a wall clock to see it was three o’clock in the morning.

“Guess she thought she’d let me cool my heels for a while,” he thought. Bob looked around. “Where is she?”

The officer nodded his head, “Said she’d wait for you outside.”

Bob stepped outside and saw blonde hair through the back window of a parked taxi. “Boy, she must be really pissed,” he thought as he got in the taxi ready for the onslaught.

For a second, he thought he’d got in the wrong car. The next second, a man pushed him over on the seat and got in beside him. Bob felt something cold against his ear, “I have no problem using this, so either sit back and relax or end it right now.” Bob just sat there; he was too scared to move.

“Welcome to my world,” Lena told him. The taxi took them to a gate guarded by an armed military officer. He let them in the walled area where they got out and went into what looked to Bob to be a large house. The man who had gotten in the car with Bob followed him into a room where they stayed until another man came and stood before them.

“Are you Mr. Green?” he asked.

“Yes,” Bob answered.

“May I have your passport please?”

“I don’t have it with me,” Bob told him. “What’s this all about?”

“You are being held by the Colombian government for assaulting one of our representatives,” the man told him.

“I’m a Bahamian citizen, and I demand a lawyer,” Bob stated.

“We obviously don’t know who you are. Until we find out, you will stay here. You will be confined to the inside of this house, and we will make you as comfortable as possible. If you cause any problems, you will be bound and confined to one room. Is that clear?” The man didn’t give Bob time to respond; he turned and left the room.

The other man said to Bob, “I think you understand the rules, only I’m a little more blunt. Cause any trouble and you’ll be put in a room where you’ll be bound and shot… by me,” he added. He opened the door to a bedroom and gestured for Bob to enter. The door closed behind him, and Bob heard the lock turn.

What the hell had he got himself into now? He had time to reflect on this for a long time. It was late the next day before he heard the lock turn in the door and Lena’s head appeared.

“There’s a man here to see you,” she explained. Bob hoped it was a familiar face, but it was the same one who had asked for his passport the night before.

“You will dine with Miss Lena. She will look after you until your situation is resolved. Good day, Mr. Green,” the man turned and left the room.

“Kind of looks like we’re cell mates,” Lena told him. “Come sit at the table, and we’ll eat.” Bob hadn’t eaten in over a day and proceeded to eat everything in sight. “You do me honors, my forte is certainly not being a cook.”

Bob looked at her sheepishly, “Sorry, I guess I didn’t leave much for you, did I?”

“That’s all right. I didn’t find it quite as appetizing as you did,” she hesitated then added, “Mr. Green or Bertrand or whoever you are?”

Bob sat back, “So you recognize me?”

“Oh, you don’t have a beard and you’re older, but it’s your eyes that give you away. You don’t know someone as intimate as we were and not recognize them.”

“I feel very guilty about our affair, Lena. You have to understand that I was using you and was forced into doing things I normally wouldn’t do.”

“You can say all you want, Mr. Green, but I know there were times when you enjoyed your little masquerade as did I, and that’s why you feel guilty. As for the rest of it, we used each other. Men come and go in my life, I learned a long time ago not to trust any of them. Your eyes, however, always gave you away. They were not the cruel eyes that Jacques Bertrand would have had, if he did what they say he did. Other than that, you were just another man I knew, no more, no less. You, in turn, are very fortunate, Mr. Green, in that you have a soul mate for life: a woman who takes you for what you are and looks above everything else. You don’t think she knows what went on between the two of us, but we women always know, so get over it.”

Bob took a deep breath, “You’re right, Lena. You’re an exciting woman, and I got caught up in your lifestyle, but the funny thing is, after all these years, I can still watch my wife walk across a room and get a hard-on. I’ve put her through pure hell, and she keeps coming back for more, and in the end she’ll probably be the one to get me out of this.”

Lena tried to lighten up the subject, “So I guess that means we won’t be sleeping together?”

Bob just plainly changed the subject. “So why are you under arrest, Lena?”

“I made a deal with El Presidente just before he died that I would rebuild one of his businesses for him if he gave me half the business and fortunately got him to put the deal on paper. To my amazement and everyone else, the business has become very successful. In fact, that business is what pulled the Smyskin family back to its prominence. But instead of thanking me, they want my half too.”

Lena shrugged, “It’s my fault. I should have paid more attention to protecting myself, so here I am with you in a lot of trouble. To tell you the truth, Mr. Green, I don’t think there’s much chance that either of us will come out of this alive. Donating this piece of ground to the Colombian government makes it very hard for anyone to set foot here without strict permission, and in your case no one knows where you are, so that makes you a missing person, and that will probably appear on your death certificate.”

“Someone has put a lot of planning into this, haven’t they, Lena?”

“Yes, and it’s not only Jon Smyskin. There is someone here called the Referee, and I know he is behind a lot of it, but unlike me, he has covered his ass well. No one has ever found out who he is or if they did, they are not alive to tell about it. You see I thought Sir Harry or Novak would protect me but none of us thought of Smyskin donating this compound to the Columbian government as its embassy. It’s almost impossible for anyone to enter here let alone do anything without going through diplomatic channels. I’m positive this wasn’t done overnight, someone had this in the planning stages for a long time.”

Their conversation moved to the bar and continued well into the night. It was after midnight when they were interrupted by a beeping from Lena’s computer room.

Lena frowned. “That’s strange,” she said and walked swiftly away to see what was going on. Bob followed her into the room and was amazed at what he saw. “Shit, someone’s broken into my system,” Lena said to herself as much as to Bob.

“Is it serious?” he asked, in awe of the machinery humming around him.

“Um, they are going through my accounts, but they’re not taking anything out, which means they’re looking for something in particular.” She began typing on her keyboard, “Nope, I can’t stop them. They have my passwords. I didn’t believe you, Mr. Henekie, when you told me you were going to steal my money. I guess I forgot you were so honest.”

Bob’s head came up when he heard that name. “What do you think he’s after, if it’s not the money?”

“He’s after the mother lode. Someone knows Jon doesn’t empty his account till the end of the month. There is close to a billion dollars in there right now, and I have no place to hide it, unless—Do you have a U.S. account, Mr. Green?”

“Yes, I do.”

“How about a swift code?”

Bob reached for his wallet and gave Lena the numbers he’d written on a piece of paper. She typed in the numbers and waited.

“It’s gone. They might be able to follow the money trail to the United States, but that’s the end of it. A transaction of that size will be immediately frozen and scrutinized, quite possible none of us will see it again. Anyway, you look at it, Mr. Green. We just stole a billion from a Colombian cartel, and it’s in your U.S. bank account.”

THIRTY-FOUR

T
HE CRYSTAL PALACE
was a beehive of activity. One tower was completely reserved for guests coming from all over the world to honor Horatio Norton who was credited with breaking the drug cartel’s stranglehold on the Bahamas. Many countries were sending the heads of their law enforcement people, the CIA, FBI, and DEA would be represented from the very top along with Interpol officials. Mixed in with them were heads of state and their representatives. Neither Novak nor the Bahamian government had any idea that the response would be so overwhelming.

For Novak, it was a logistical nightmare. Some of the dignitaries from surrounding countries were coming on private boats and wanted their private helicopters to drop them off right at the hotel. He had the hotel shut down their pool area on the ocean side, so it could be used as a helipad. Once others learned about this, many of them wanted to use the same service; now the pool area would be so busy they would have to set up appointments and have a special air controller to handle helicopter traffic.

Every one of these people would have to be checked in by his officers before they could enter the building. Out front, there would be the usual problems. Parts of the city would be closed to traffic letting the limos get through and then unload them in an orderly fashion. The fact was that the Crystal Palace was not set up to handle an event of this size, but it was far too late to change the venue now.

The program for the night had originally been scheduled for the main ballroom but now would use all the reception and meeting rooms on the main floor. Novak would have to have twice as many security people as originally planned and had to turn to a private firm for help. Wilbur Smith said his men would look after the surveillance system which was a big help to Novak because his men were well-trained. The hotel surveillance was set up in a command post up above the casino. Extra cameras and sound systems now covered much more than that area, and his men would be Novak’s eyes and ears both inside and outside the casino.

This was why Novak didn’t need the distraction of July Green’s call that Bob was not at the jail when she went to the bail him out nor did anyone there know where he was. When his phone calls didn’t get any results, he told July he’d be right there. He sensed that the officers knew they were in trouble when he saw they had called the night clerk to come back in.

“So what happened last night?” he asked.

“A blond woman came in last night and showed me her driver’s license to say she was July Green. She paid her fee and signed him out. Here’s her signature.” The officer showed him the book.

“Did she look like Mrs. Green?” Novak asked.

“I don’t know I’ve only seen her on TV” the officer answered.

“Would you recognize a picture of her?”

The officer seemed unsure so Novak asked, “Was she wearing a low-cut top, and did she lean over in front of you?”

“She was quite friendly,” was all the officer would admit.

“Fuck, the guy probably never looked up to see her face.” Novak knew this was serious, and he immediately got on the phone to Sir Harry. About all he got from Sir Harry was a bunch of swearing on the other end of the line.

“Look, do you have somewhere safe we can put July until we get to the bottom of this?”

ir Harry said he would look after her and have some officers bring her around to the British embassy.

“He’ll pick you up there,” Novak told July what Sir Harry had said.

“I’ll get some detectives on this right away and track down that taxi. We have a good source of informers around the city. Something should start showing up pretty soon.”

July left with the officers, but Novak could see by her face that she was scared and so was he.

“A friend of mine bought this piece of land from a Canadian family,” Sir Harry told July. “They’d let it go to rack and ruin, so he got it pretty cheap and fixed it up.”

July knew what she was looking at. It was probably the best piece of real estate in Lyford Cay, right down at the end surrounded with ocean views. It was one of the most beautiful spots she had ever seen. “I planned to rent it and retire here, but now I see they’d never leave me alone. Somebody would always be after me for something.”

“So I guess I’ll have to skip that idea and retire somewhere else,” he sighed. “As you can see, July, the property is completely surrounded by a wall, and it has excellent security, so you’re perfectly safe here.” He showed her around the guest quarters. “Make yourself at home. I will be in and out, as you know Horatio’s affair is keeping us hopping. Novak and I will be in touch about Bob. I’m sure something will turn up soon.” He gave her a hug and left.

Jon Smyskin stood leaning on the railing as the helicopter silhouetted against the Cuban coast came toward him and landed on his helipad. Wilbur Smith and the Referee got out and walked down the steps to where he was standing.

The Referee had a wide smile on his face as he shook hands. “She’s a real beauty, Jon.”

Wilbur seemed a little overwhelmed with the size of Jon’s ship. “I’ve seen cruise ships not much bigger than this,” he said to Jon shaking hands.

“First time we’ve had her out,” Jon said proudly. “Come up to the lounge deck. The view is much better up there.” Two bikini-clad girls brought them Cuban cigars and Cuban rum.

“Here’s to your new yacht, Jon. I see you have a little of your father in you.” The Referee nodded toward the girls, “only he would have had them topless.”

“I suggested they meet you a little less dressed, but they complained about getting burned in this hot sun. Besides, I need your full attention for a while. We can get to that later.”

Wilbur was disappointed to hear the Referee say that they wouldn’t be able to stay that long.

“So everything seems to be coming along nicely,” the Referee said drawing on his cigar.

“Maybe so, maybe no,” Jon answered. “Something strange happened last night. Someone broke into our computer system. They seemed to be well-informed. We think Lena gave them the passwords to our accounts. Anyway, we’re missing close to a billion dollars.”

The Referee whistled, “That’s a chunk of change.”

“Yes, it is. Julio of all people got wind that it was going down and phoned me. I decided to let them go ahead with it and find out who they were when they tried to put the money in their offshore account. Everything was going fine until Lena got involved and somehow stuck the money in a U.S. account which is going to make it tricky to get the money back.”

“Yeah,” Wilbur agreed; they would investigate the origin of that money for sure. “If they find out it has anything to do with you, it might be gone forever.”

“Thanks Wilbur for that word of encouragement, but what I need from you is how we get the money back and whose account did the money go into? This yacht cost me a lot of money and the guy who built it for me wants his payment now, if I can’t pay him my reputation is ruined.”

This piece of information bothered the Referee; in this business you didn’t owe people, they owed you.

Jon turned towards Wilbur.“There’s a phone in that cabin behind us. One of the girls will help you.” Wilbur understood he wasn’t being asked and did as he was told.

The Referee just smiled at Jon from behind his cigar. “Sometimes he forgets who he works for. So do you think this attack on your computer system is the same person who threatened you on the phone?”

“Don’t know. Do you think that guy had any credibility about once working for my father?” Jon asked.

“There was a group of people who used to handle our problems back in the old days. Most of them were killed off, but one man in particular survived and went to work for your father. Our sources say the Israelis got hold of him, and that means he is no longer on this earth,” the Referee told him.

“Okay, so who is this man? It’s not just anyone who can present one of my best men’s head on a platter.”

“I think we have that under control. If he tries to help Lena again, we’re waiting for him. I hired that man I told you about, to run the security at the new embassy. No one’s going to get past him and Julio says he terminated the people hacking into your accounts, so one way or the other he’s nullified,” the Referee reasoned.

Wilbur Smith came back sounding very officious. “All right, the account is in the name of Bob and July Green. Now the banking officer I talked to says if the bank in the Bahamas signs a paper saying it was a banking error and the Greens sign off, the money will be given back, that’s the simplest way.”

Both Jon and the Referee began to laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned. You see, Wilbur, we moved Green in with Lena with the plan that sooner or later they would decide to take the money and use it as a bargaining chip for their lives. This gives us physical evidence Lena stole the money, committed fraud, and can no longer be an officer of the bank. She will have to turn the bank over to Jon. Green’s been stealing from the Miami cartel, so we’ll turn him over to them. The only one not in place is Mrs. Green. I expect the police have her hid away someplace.

“Lena doesn’t have many friends. Men don’t like being manipulated by a conniving bitch, but how about Sir Harry, he might have to get involved,” Jon stated.

“Don’t worry about Sir Harry,” the Referee laughed. “ He’s retiring and doesn’t have the clout he once had. So when are you going to drop the bomb?” the Referee wanted to know.

“The day before Horatio Norton’s farewell party. That should throw a fuck into his little red wagon,” Jon scowled.

“Could topple the government,” the Referee added.

Jon raised his glass, “That’s the plan.”