Clint Faraday Collection C: Murder in Motion Collector's Edition (4 page)

He looked at the loading manifest and noticed
an asterisk with a notation that the boxes were added seven days
before.

Clint checked the manifests for Taylor loads
on that date. Five boxes from Tole. Carried in by an independent
carrier called L&L&L&L Cargo.

That would be it. He went to the registro and
used the computers to check out L&L&L&L. Four brothers
and sisters who sometimes carried a load locally.

Clint had noted something else about the
loading manifest. The asterisk was in the middle, not at either
end.

Why? So it would be buried in the middle of
the load? There was an access door near the front and the loading
one in the rear. This would put the boxes where no one could reach
them easily. They would have to unload a lot of things to find
them.

Veddy interesdink. This was what it was about
– but what was that?

Clint was headed back to the pension when his
phone buzzed. He answered. It was Sergio. The man stopped when he
was following the trio was dead. He had his throat cut in
Changuinola.

“
Where
was ... but I thought ... where was Nando Selamas?”

“
Nando
Selamas? Who is he – and why would I know?”

“
Sorry.
It’s just a name that may or may not be connected. I’ll check him
out and let you know if there’s a connection.”

When he hung up he called Judi. She said
Nando had gone to Almirante at about two thirty yesterday. He was
back in Bocas Town now.

Clint called Sergio. The follower, Santo
Santos, was killed last night after six thirty and before
seven.

“
Were the
trio gone?”

“
For
about two hours. That’s when they crossed into Costa Rica after the
papers check.”

Clint sat back to think. Nando was who he
figured for Danny’s killer – but why would he kill the one he had
following them?

Because he didn’t have that one following
them, stupid! This was getting complicated.

Okay. He was set up for delay on the twelfth.
The stuff had been in the warehouse, ready, for six or seven days.
They waited for a time Clint would be occupied while they moved the
stuff. It was loaded in Chiriqui Grande on the twelfth and sailed
later on the twelfth or early the thirteenth.

This was strange! Why would he even know
about whatever it was – or care?

It came from the Tolé area. What was there?
Who was the follower working for? Maybe that would give him a hint.
He needed about anything to be able to connect anything else. All
he had was a lot of disjointed anecdotal information in effect.

He called Manny. Manny couldn’t get anything
more than he had. Taylor seemed to be clean, at least from anything
big. He would check on Santo Santos.

Clint went back to the pension. He didn’t
have a hint of a direction. He thought for awhile, then decided his
only hope of learning anything was Tolé. He was about to go to the
bus when Manny called to say Santos seemed to be a sort of
semi-wannabe detective with delusions that it was like TV. With him
dead it would be hard to find who he was working for. “They’re
doing a good job of covering their tracks.”

“
A very
professional kind of job,” Clint agreed. “Makes you wonder. Maybe
they want something and this is a distraction in
layers.”

They chatted a bit, then Clint went to the
bus.

Clue
Search

Tolé is a tranquil little place near the
Pacific. Clint liked that kind of place. Many of the people here
were Indios, though not Ngobe. Not much was the same in their
language.

He checked around for quite some time, but
didn’t learn much. L&L&L&L were about six kilometers
away and usually only carried local vegetables and such for friends
or would carry other things when someone moved or bought something
that was delivered to the warehouse. He went to find L&L&L
were working in the finca, but L was there.

“
It’s
Lopez and Lopez and Lopez and Lopez. We’re three brothers and one
sister. We bought the truck together and run the finca together,”
Esmeralda Mendez Lopez explained. “We don’t do much with that part.
Maybe once or twice a week and local.

“
I
remember that part, though. A man who has a big finca in Veraguas
brought it and paid us to take it to David when we were going with
something else. He said it wasn’t anything but stuff from a
relative, a cousin, who was moving to Bocas and would have to store
it until he had a house, anyway. No hurry, but as soon as they
could.

“
We had
some things from Santiago to go to David for the next morning so
took it.

“
Quentin!
His name was either Martin Quentin or Quentin Martin! I remember
because it was sort of unusual.

“
It was
real. His cedula said the same thing.”

“
Oh, then
you have his cedula (national ID card) number?”

“
Oh,
sure. It’s the law. We have to get your cedula number and
signature.” She went inside and came out with a slip of paper with
the name and number. That might help a lot in finding who he was.
The total weight of five boxes was twenty two kilos. They were
marked fragile, though there was a note that it wasn’t really very
fragile. That was already on the used boxes so they wouldn’t
require insurance and wouldn’t hold L&L&L&L accountable
for any damage.

Tole was near the coast so it could well be
something brought in, which still didn’t quite make sense to Clint.
Why would it be brought there, then shipped by truck, then
transhipped by truck to be loaded on a ship in Chiriqui Grande? It
was obvious enough that somebody wanted it to be untraceable, but
how and why was Clint Faraday involved to the point he had to be
distracted while they were doing it? It could easily have been set
up to be delivered to David that day – if the stuff from Santiago
was there to be sure the stuff from Veraguas went that day. Clint
didn’t want to appear too absorbed with it so didn’t ask who had
the other part of the delivery set up.

Veraguas. Santiago. He was halfway there, so
caught the next bus. Clint grinned and headed for the bus. He was
going to throw a few curves himself!

Santiago and to the registro. He checked on
Quentin Martin to find he ran a large cattle ranch for Kelvin
Taylor. There was a connection if Clint didn’t have a least clue as
to what was connected. Taylor and the trio and Taylor behind Nando.
That there was a connection was obvious. The question was; How is
Clint Faraday involved in the mess? Why?

Two murders – that he knew about. Some idiot
rednecks paid to distract him (from what?). Shipments all over the
western end of Panamá. An apparently hired killer in Bocas
Town.

This was stupid! What in HELL was going on?
What the HELL was in those boxes?

They had gone to some expense with this. Ten
thousand just to distract him a couple of hours. Shipping and
transhipping boxes. No argument about paying for the seized guns –
but kill some redneck gringo because he was talking about it?

The other murder. The follower. He should be
checking on him instead of Nando. Maybe the connection was there.
Reasoning it out, there were two groups involved, probably groups
who didn’t like each other or who had to be stopped from
something.

Reason it further. He had to be distracted,
then ... Manny was right. It was a layered distraction. This
running around was a distraction. That meant the real solution was
with Santos, not this bunch.

Reason it even further. There wasn’t anything
in those boxes. There isn’t anything to be found in western
Panamá.

Maybe there was! No way around it, the
Taylors were in it up to their ears! He knew that the Taylors
weren’t there. Martin was running the ranch. Taylor wasn’t there.
The Taylor family was large and found all over Panamá. Clint knew
several in Bocas Town. They were too often involved in political
jobs, for a large part.

This wasn’t politics. Was it?

No. There wouldn’t be any reason to distract
Clint over politics because he didn’t care.

He went back to David on the next bus. They
definitely were leaving clues that would take him to Panamá City.
That was where they were so they wanted him to come there, but only
after he followed this thing to this point.

Judi called and said Nando had asked her
about him. “He said he wanted to talk to you about a business deal.
I told him you went somewhere and didn’t leave any message as to
where. It seems as if he’s supposed to warn you about
something.”

“
I think
he wants to warn me about some people who want to warn me about
him,” Clint replied. “I have a little of this worked out, I think.
It’s a mess in some ways. I just can’t figure what I have to do
with anything.

“
Judi,
maybe we should try to find who was in Bocas Town or Almirante on
the twelfth. There was someone who was scheduled to be there ...
but they didn’t ... they waited until I was close enough to be
distracted. That still means they were in Bocas Town or Almirante
on the twelfth, but probably for a day or two before and maybe they
still are.

“
Who’s in
town for a couple of days before the twelfth and maybe a day or two
more?”

“
Other
than the regular tourists, nobody who sticks out. I can check. It’s
obvious there’s big money involved so those people are easy to
check.

“
Clint,
there’s been a big yacht sitting by the channel for several days. I
think it left on the thirteenth. I thought of it because some
people asked if it was Jimmy Buffet’s yacht, but it isn’t. He
doesn’t stay long when he’s here and it was there for a
week.”

“
See what
you can find out about it. It may be my connection.”

They chatted a few minutes, then Clint
relaxed for the rest of the trip. They were out of cellular range,
anyhow.

When they reached David Clint stretched and
headed for Pedrigal. He had a friend there who said he could stay
anytime. She had two bedrooms that were never used – that he
wouldn’t use either. That would be the last place they would expect
him to go. It might be a good idea to disappear for a day or two to
see who was looking for him. He probably wasn’t followed yet. It
was possible enough that he simply walked along the street until a
Pedrigal bus came by and flagged it when it stopped for a stop
sign, jumped on and it kept going. If he was being followed the
only choice the follower had was a taxi.

This was the bus that went past the airport.
Clint sat in the back and noted that a taxi was hanging back about
a block when they reached the main road. He got off at the airport
and the taxi turned in there half a minute later and went on to the
terminal. Clint went back out and across the road, then down a side
street. The follower got off at the terminal, which Clint could see
from there, and was hanging around out front, watching the entrance
road for him to come walking in.

Surprise! He wouldn’t be walking in.

The follower could see the main road from
where he was. There were a couple of women waiting for a bus so
Clint managed to step into view as the bus approached. It stopped,
the women got on, Clint walked back and was able to dodge down the
side street while the bus blocked the view. The follower was wildly
trying to flag a cab. Clint laughed and went on down the side
street to stroll the eight blocks to Irina’s place.

“
Mr.
Faraday? This is Vasily Armakov. We met briefly in Panamá City two
years ago.”

Clint had answered a buzz from an “unknown”
number. “Yes?”

“
I
believe you have been drawn into something that is very nasty. I
fear it may have been my fault. I want to warn you that the people
who are behind this are very dangerous. Both sides – and there are
two.”

“
I see.
What’s it really about?”

“
The
supply of certain ... implements that are designed for one purpose,
but are to be used for another purpose. I am trying to stop the
delivery of those items.”

“
It was
your yacht in the bay at Bocas?”

“
No. I
think perhaps that was only a vessel that was there. They are
simple tourists or something as mundane. They have nothing to do
with this.

“
Mr.
Faraday, I have nothing to do with it except to stop it. My
homeland is part of what is at risk. It is representatives of two
other countries. They are trying to ... promote a thing that will
enslave one culture to another. My home merely happens to be too
close in the area. If either is successful we are at risk. They
will not stop with subjugation of one by the other. It will make
them feel invincible.”

“
Both in
the old Soviet Block?”

“
Yes. I
will not say more about that. It is just that a statement made by
myself in surprise may have made you appear to be a deadly danger
to both adversaries. I merely said, upon being informed of the
action by one, that you were in Bocas and would act to prevent such
a travesty should you become aware of it and that you are very
capable.

“
I do not
know if they have ... if they have done more than to delay your
knowledge of them. I feel you are intelligent enough to have
discerned that is what is happening.”

“
It was
your man following me?”

There was a short pause. “So you detected
him. He was much better than the opposition men. I have him there
for your protection. There were two others. One is dead and one is
in Bocas.”