The Janson Command (35 page)

“Guys, I’m really sorry,” Case apologized. “I gotta take this call. Who’s going to fill in for me?”

He chose two from the eager hands and watched the kids proudly as he backed his own chair toward the door. Those who had already earned their superchairs presented the new kid who had earned his by painstakingly learning to master the multiple controls with the fingers of one hand. The other had been paralyzed along with his spine in a gun battle the kid had lost defending a crack-cocaine business in an abandoned house on Higgins Street.

A male nurse lifted the shrunken form, which was all that remained of a hefty teenager, out of his ordinary chair and placed him in his customized super.

Case wheeled out to the foyer. There was an armed guard at the front desk and wire mesh on the small windows to discourage attacks by gangstas not yet crippled from the shoot-outs they had fought in backyards of the Sunnyside neighborhood. Case glanced through the window at his black Escalade idling at the curb. His driver was sitting at the wheel with a pistol in his hand.

Case parked his chair in front of a glass case displaying trophies that Phoenix shelter boys had won in qualifying events for the Paralympics, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair tennis, power lifting, judo, and archery.

“George,” he called to the guard.

“Yes sir, Mr. Case.”

“Still indulging in your coffin nails?”

George grinned. “ ’Fraid so.”

“Why don’t you step outside and have a smoke. I’ll cover for you.”

George stepped out eagerly.

Case answered the vibrating phone: “Hello, Strange Voice.”

“Took your time picking up.”

“I had to create some privacy. Sorry.”

“How are you making out with Paul Janson?”

This was a happy subject and Case answered, “Janson bought it hook, line, and sinker.”

“He really believes that you’re quitting ASC?”

“Better than that.”

“How so?”

“Janson believes I switched sides. He thinks I’m now his mole inside ASC.”

“Mole?” Digitally distorted, the caller’s laughter squeaked like a slipping fan belt. “Where’d he get that idea?”

“I let him recruit me.”

The Voice laughed harder. “Well done! Very, very well done, Douglas. You are a man after my own heart.”

“I’ll take that as high praise, sir.”

“What does he want of his mole?”

“Nothing specific, so far,” Case lied. “General observations.”

“Let me offer you a word to the wise.”

“Please do,” Case answered hastily. All the distortion in the digital spectrum could not muffle the suddenly icy tone of threat.

“Don’t get so caught up in your performance that you come to believe it.”

“I won’t.”

“What makes you so sure? Paul Janson is a man who can offer a broad array of temptations.”

“I’m not mole material.”

The Voice was not convinced. “Don’t get so caught up that you believe that becoming mole material would be in your interest. It would not be in your interest. It would lead to unbearable pain and suffering.”

Case was enraged that anyone would dare to threaten him. If he could, he would reach through the phone and crush the life out of The Voice. But when Case looked at his reflection in the trophy case, he saw a man in a chair. The poor devil mirrored back a crumbling smile of remorse and regret. The days of crushing the life out of men who challenged him were gone forever. Savagery these days would be of the mind.

As he shook with thwarted anger, it took all his strength to force himself to answer mildly, “Not to worry. I know who butters my bread. And I am grateful.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

They rang off.

Case gazed inquiringly at his reflection.

The threat was not characteristic. The Voice had never threatened him so openly. Even when the mysterious caller had risked his first overture, he had never tried to control Case by sowing terror. He had a funny feeling—a gut feeling born of a lifetime of plots and counterplots—that The Voice had inadvertently revealed that he was deep inside ASC, not outside. Inside and very, very high up. Why else would he be so paranoid that Case might betray ASC’s strategy to Paul Janson?

Then a funnier feeling hit Case. Was the revelation not inadvertent, but deliberate? Was The Voice subtly signaling that he trusted Douglas Case more than ever by revealing more about himself? Were they nearing the time when they would deal face-to-face as equals?

There was a way to find out.

Case made two quick calls, then stared into the trophy case, waiting for his phone to ring. It did. The Voice.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ve just received word that Iboga was snatched from Securité Referral.”

The glass trophy case reflected a wide smile. “As I predicted, SR has proved to be a disappointment.”

“But we’ve lost Iboga just when we need him most.”

“I would not call Iboga lost,” Doug Case replied with another smile for his reflection.

“What the hell would you call him?”

“Temporarily misplaced.”

“You sound damned sure of yourself.”

“I am in this instance, sir. Please don’t worry.”

“Don’t you think you should get yourself to Isle de Foree ASAP?”

“I already have an ASC Gulfstream gassing up at Hobby Airport. I’ll be aboard in twenty minutes.”

“I think you should go in force.”

“I’ve already beefed up security on the
Vulcan Queen
.”

“As a precaution?”

Doug Case went for broke.

It was time to claim his rightful role. Before the coup.

“Not a precaution. In
anticipation
of when you ask me to remove Chief of Staff Mario Margarido.”

The distorted voice made a noise that was probably a chuckle. “I admire you, Douglas. You do stay on top of things.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you ready to remove Margarido?”

“Of course, as I promised. Everything is set.”

“Do it!”

“Consider it done.”

“And when you get to Isle de Foree?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Do everything in your power to support Kingsman Helms.”

That came as fast and final as a red-hot sword in the gut.

Case ran the possibilities: The Voice was Kingsman Helms himself, ensuring Case’s support. Or The Voice was the Buddha, who had chosen Helms as his successor. Or the Voice was an outsider, a board member or a rival who wanted his man Helms in charge of ASC.

A sword in the gut any way Case looked at it.

“Douglas, are you still there?”

“I will do everything in my power to support Kingsman Helms.”

“Excellent. I knew I could count on you.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

Dawn
39°55′ N, 09°41′ E
Tortoli Airport, Sardinia, 820 miles south-southeast of The Hague

I
boga was seasick. He had gotten queasy in the RIB during the short run through the surf from the cliffs of the Vallicone peninsula to the cigarette boat waiting offshore. On the cigarette, he had groaned loudly and drunkenly as it sped him to the freighter cruising the Strait of Bonifacio. Hoisted aboard in a cargo net, the dictator proceeded to vomit wine on the deck.

In the bright light of the ship’s galley, which smelled of grease and coffee, Janson and Kincaid inspected every item that Kincaid had taken from the dictator. A thick, new lizard skin travel wallet contained authentic-looking French, Russian, and Nigerian passports, an international driver’s license, and Visa and American Express credit cards in the name of N. Kwame Johnson. There was a gold money clip full of euros, an old-fashioned Zippo cigarette lighter, the latest iPhone with a treasure trove of contact numbers, a beautifully crafted French shepherd’s folding knife, a gold and diamond Rolex watch, a plastic Baggie of loose pills, including oxycodone, aspirin, and Viagra, and several mini-Baggies, each holding a half a gram of a black powder, which Janson assumed was Iboga’s namesake hallucinogen extracted from the Tabernanthe iboga rain-forest shrub. He uplinked the data on the iPhone SIM card to the forensic accountants, along with the credit card numbers and passport numbers, with instructions to pass on to Research anything that did not serve their hunt for the money.

Iboga was too seasick to interrogate, shaking with dry heaves. Janson knelt beside him, coaxing him to drink water so as not to become dangerously dehydrated. There would be time on the plane to talk about the money. And more time, if necessary, parked on a runway in friendly territory.

Off the east coast of Sardinia, they lowered him into another RIB to slip ashore at Tortoli Airport. The RIB motored quietly through the last wisps of night, steered by Daniel. Iboga retched over the side.

“God punishes in mysterious ways,” Janson told Kincaid.

They were seated on the inflated tubes where they joined to form the bow. She couldn’t see his expression in the dark, but she heard a faint grin in his voice that relieved her deeply. This was the first he had spoken other than to issue quiet orders since they had left Corsica the night before. “How are you?”

“Hanging in there.”

“Like you told him, Paul. He gave you no choice.”

“Doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.”

Kincaid took his hand. There was a softness to it that always surprised her. “Janson Rules,” she said. “ ‘No killing anyone who doesn’t try to kill us.’ He would have killed you and killed everything you hope for.”

“Still didn’t enjoy it. But thanks for the thought.”

“Don’t blow me off! It’s not a goddamned
thought
. I’m trying to screw your head back on straight.”

“Well, thanks for the head screwing. I mean it. Thank you.” He patted her arm distractedly, dialed his cell phone, shielding the light in his palm, listened to it ring, and hung up. “Still can’t raise the boys.”

Ed and Mike had reported earlier in the night that they had landed the Embraer at Tortoli Airport and parked as out of the way as they could. It was a tiny field outside the town of Tortoli—trees around the control tower, in Ed’s words—that handled a couple of tourist charters a day. The single runway ran from a bare-bones terminal to the beach, which the RIB was approaching. With the prevailing wind from the east, the Embraer had descended over the hills and would take off over the water, which meant hiking six thousand feet from the beach dragging Iboga in the dark.

They heard him retching into the gentle surf.

“Good thing we brought the dolly.”

The rubber boat ground ashore on the sand. Daniel helped them shoulder Iboga across the beach and went back for the dolly. They strapped him to it standing up. Its fat pneumatic tires rolled easily on the asphalt runway.

“Good job,” Janson told Daniel, shaking his hand.

“Get home safe.”

Each gripping a handle, Janson and Kincaid started rolling Iboga toward the distant control tower, which was invisible against the dark hills behind it. Janson flipped down his panoramics. There it was, a squat structure in a clump of trees. Parked near it was a plane—not the Embraer. Its engines were wing mounted. Hauling on the dolly handle, jogging beside Kincaid, he scanned the area around the buildings. There was the Embraer, showing no lights of course but pointed straight down the runway, with its door open for them and boarding stairs extended.

“I see the plane.”

The night glass’s infrared enhancement showed the bright bulge of the big Rolls-Royces on its tail. They appeared brighter than the buildings and the other plane, which meant that Ed and Mike had the engines warm, ready to take off in a flash.

Iboga stopped groaning. As was common with seasickness, the restorative effect of being on dry land was rapid. Suddenly he spoke.

“Where take?”

“Holland. The Hague. International Court.”

“I pay bribe. Let me go.”

“How much?” asked Janson, without slackening pace.

“Ten million euros.”

“Where are you going to get ten million dollars?” Kincaid asked scornfully.

“I get.”

“Hundred million,” said Janson.

“Seventy,” Iboga shot back. And Janson felt his hopes soar. Iboga was bargaining like a man who had no doubt he could raise the money. Nor did he sound concerned by the amount, as if he could easily afford it and have plenty, the lion’s share, left for himself. Unless he was scamming them, angling to distract them, looking for a chance to break away.

“Where?” Kincaid demanded. “How do we get the money?”

“You take me. I get.”

“Where?”

“First you say yes. And you give me back my stuff.”

“I’m not saying yes until you tell me where. And I’m damned sure not giving you anything back until I have the seventy million in my hands.”

After a moment of rolling in silence, Iboga caved. “Zagreb.”

Zagreb made sense, thought Janson. Zagreb was the capital of Croatia, among the most corrupt countries in eastern Europe, the kind of nation where transnational criminal organizations like Securité Referral could play a powerful role. He imagined the enormous kickback SR would have received from the Croatian bank, and even the government itself, for steering Iboga’s stolen money to them.

Suddenly Kincaid whispered, “What’s that?”

Janson heard it, too, from behind them, the rumble of heavy engines, approaching from the sea. He flipped up the panoramics. The control tower had grown visible in the predawn light.

“Turboprops.”

The aircraft engines rumbled overhead and faded toward the hills. Then they heard the plane turn around and the sound grew louder.

“Descending.”

The tower windows were dark, the field closed for the night. Whoever was approaching was coming in without air controller assistance. Janson and Kincaid picked up the pace so as not to be exposed in the landing lights. They followed the plane by its sound. Suddenly they saw its profile silhouetted against the graying sky, a high-wing, twin-engine transporter.

“Weird,” said Janson.

Kincaid agreed. It looked like a C-160 Transall, the twin-engine turboprop that they had seen flown by the Deuxième Régiment Étranger des Parachutistes rapid-intervention units exercising in Corisca. It came down fast and skillfully. Landing lights blazed on at the last second, revealing a camo-green fuselage. The massive tricycle landing gear absorbed the impact. Propellers reversed with a roar and the Transall slowed so quickly that it was able to turn around in less than a third of the runway. With another roar, it came straight at them, landing lights aglare.