The Captive Girl

by David Nees

  He began to plan for the final exchange.

  Chapter 28

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  A fter their lunch, Dan went into the hidden compartment under the rear seat and pulled out a second set of license plates from Germany registered to the Land Rover. He replaced the Italian plates with the alternate ones and put the correct documents in the glove box. When he was done they got into the vehicle and drove off. Dan pulled out his secure phone and called Jane.

  “I’ve got some information for you on Aebischer,” she said after answering. “Fred and Warren have done their usual good work. How are things on your end?”

  “It’s why I called. We’re on the move. My contact seems to have set me up. Two men came to eliminate me last night. I dealt with it and we had to leave. This guy, Aebischer and his assistant have a long reach. They found me in Austria. Maybe they had the plate numbers but maybe they found me just from the vehicle description. In any case it was quite an impressive achievement.”

  “Are you and the girl okay?”

  “She’s okay. I’m sore. I think I’ve got a cracked rib or two, nothing life threatening.”

  “What’s next? Are you headed home?”

  “No. But I’m not taking her back. Her father may kill her or have her locked away because of what she knows about him.”

  “Did she say what that was?”

  “Yeah. He’s involved with terrorists. He funnels money around for them, hiding it in shell companies, keeping it from being traced. It also sounds like he’s central to getting funds to gun dealers, drug dealers, and terrorists directly.”

  “That’s the suspicions we came up with. But the boys couldn’t uncover any smoking gun. The man has strong walls built up around his activities. They couldn’t penetrate them except to learn he works through a lot of companies, most of which probably don’t do any real business. They couldn’t find anything to pin him to illicit activities.”

  “He runs a tight ship. Try Pietro Conti. He’s the one who arranged this job for me. He’s Italian but I don’t think he lives in Italy. Aebischer lives in Zürich. I suspect Conti does also.”

  “If you’re not going back to Venice, where are you going?”

  “I’m thinking about meeting Conti under the guise of returning Evangeline.”

  “Why would you do that if he tried to double cross you?”

  “Doesn’t make sense, right? Except for the half million yet to get paid. He might think I’d risk meeting him for that final payout.”

  “He’ll be setting you up again—”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  Evangeline put her hand on Dan’s shoulder when he said he wasn’t taking her back. He turned to her and she smiled at him.

  “Jane, can you come over? I need to drop Evangeline somewhere safe. You could talk to her, get all the info you can about Aebischer while I take care of Conti.”

  “I’ll talk to Henry and get back to you.”

  “You can stay in a safe house. I assume you have some in Italy.”

  “We have them all over. I’ll call you back. Where are you?”

  “On the road heading to Italy right now. I’ll wait for your call before contacting Conti.”

  “Thank you,” Evangeline said after Dan hung up. “You have lifted a huge weight off of me.”

  Dan nodded in acknowledgement.

  “I don’t think you work for a security firm, going around selling systems to corporations.”

  “That is all I can admit to, officially,” Dan replied with a smile.

  “You are a good man.”

  She was quiet for a few miles.

  “Do you think I’m a freak? I know I’m not normal. I didn’t have a normal mother.”

  “I don’t think you’re a freak. I think you are a beautiful girl with a good head on her shoulders. Someone anyone would love to know and be close to. Your mother was a brave woman. She defended you so that you could have a chance in life. In the end she gave her life for you. Now you’re getting your life back. You should be proud of your mother. She didn’t think of you as a freak. She considered you special. What you’ve been through could have destroyed most people. It almost did with you, but you survived. You are strong and can do some good in this world.”

  “Quite a speech. But thank you. No one’s said kind things like that to me.” She took a deep breath and went on. “I know you aren’t going to send me back, but I still think we’d make a good team. You’re the only man I’ve ever met that I can trust.”

  “Evangeline,” Dan turned to her while driving, “I’m just the first man you met that you can trust. They’ll be more and you have the insight to figure out which ones are and which ones aren’t. You just have to keep remembering how special you are and the legacy your mother left you. Be proud of her…and yourself.”

  “But my father, the man whose genes I carry…”

  “He’s a bad man, and his father might also have been a bad man, but I don’t think those get carried through one’s genes. They come from decisions you make, from what you learn and absorb.” He reached over and touched her arm. “Focus on the lessons from your mother, lessons of courage and commitment and sacrifice.”

  She shook her head. “I hear you, but there’s so much pain. I ran from all of that when I escaped. I wanted to bury it. I felt tainted, like there was something wrong with me and I shouldn’t live. But now…now maybe there is.”

  She leaned over and kissed Dan on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  Late in the afternoon, they approached the village of Branik. Dan slowed down. He was looking for any small homemade signs that had the word osmica on it.

  “What is it?” Evangeline asked.

  “It’s an open-door event. The local farms twice a year get to act as restaurants. You can go there and enjoy, literally, the fruits of their labor. There’s local meats and vegetables and some great local wine that never gets exported. It’s an old custom, some say going back to the days of Charlemagne.”

  Evangeline gave him a confused look.

  “You don’t know who Charlemagne was?”

  She shook her head. Dan turned back to the road wondering about her education.

  “Do you know where to go?” she asked.

  “No, that’s why we have to look for the signs. They’re not all on the same day, so we have to watch for the signs. They’ll be homemade so look sharp.”

  On the way out of town, Evangeline spotted a sign and called it out with excitement.

  “Good eyes,” Dan said.

  “I’m not only a good navigator, but a good lookout as well,” she said with pride in her voice.

  Dan turned onto the small road that soon led to a neat farm with pastures and vineyards around it. They pulled in and were greeted with a smiling welcome. The common language was Slovene but the country had been part of so many other empires in the past that many of its people could get along in either halting Italian or German.

  Slovenia had been under the Hapsburg Monarchy and the Republic of Venice at one time. It was part of the Austria-Hungary Empire until 1918, and more recently Yugoslavia, until that country’s breakup and the country achieved its independence.

  A long row of tables was set in a courtyard protected from the wind. The evening set in, overhead lights were turned on to give a festive atmosphere to the space. The rich odors of the evening mingled with the aroma of good food. There was a stew and casserole with a charcuterie of sausages, ham and steaks along with a variety of potatoes, plump tomatoes and the local red and yellow wines of the region. On his previous visits to Slovenia, Dan always enjoyed their surprising taste, always a bit different at each farm. The host’s and other guest’s conviviality relaxed both Dan and Evangeline. For the evening their troubles were put aside under the balm of friendly hosts and guests. It was like sitting in on a large family reunion, an experience new to Evangeline but one that brought a bright smile to her face.

  It was after 10:00 pm when they
finally bade their hosts goodbye and strolled back to the Range Rover. Evangeline slipped her hand into Dan’s. When they got to the SUV, she turned and kissed him full on the mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Whoa girl,” Dan said when she pulled back. “Let’s not get carried away.”

  Her smile started to fade as she stared up at him.

  “I think the wine is making you feel a bit more amorous than you should.”

  “You don’t like me? You don’t like my kiss? I thought you said I was beautiful.”

  “I do and I did. But it doesn’t have to lead to something more.”

  “It’s okay. I can handle it.”

  “Maybe you can but I’m not sure I can.”

  She tilted her head to one side.

  “Look you’re very beautiful. More so since you’ve gotten healthy. Your smile is like a thousand-watt light shining in my eyes—”

  “It sounds like you’re attracted to me.”

  “That’s my point. I don’t trust myself to get too physical with you.”

  “So you keep me at arm’s length. You want to keep your emotions bottled up? Didn’t you work on my emotions…to get me to open up? But you give yourself a different standard. That’s not right.”

  Dan smiled and took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right, but let’s just be close friends tonight. We had a good time and let’s enjoy that with no other agenda. Like when we snuggled. Can we do that?”

  She exhaled forcefully. “You are so frustrating.” She tried to glare at him but it didn’t work. “Okay. It’s been a lovely evening. I have never experienced one like it in my life, so thank you.”

  She patted his cheek.

  “Are we going to do more driving tonight?”

  Dan shook his head.

  “I’m not ready for that. Too much wine. Let’s drive down the road and find a secluded spot to pull over. We’ll sleep in the Rover tonight if that’s all right with you. There will be no record of our passing through.”

  “Some way to end a date. You sure know how to impress a girl.”

  She smiled at him and got into the Rover.

  Dan planned to sleep outside the SUV while Evangeline slept in the back seat. He’d wrap himself in the thermal blanket for the night. Before bedding down, he walked off from the vehicle and called Jane.

  “Are you coming?” he asked.

  “Flying out tonight. I’ll land in Rome tomorrow. Where do you want to meet?”

  Let’s meet in Rome. I’ll drop my vehicle off in Venice and take the train to Milan. I’ll rent a car there and drive down. We can be there late tomorrow.”

  “We can talk more after we get together. There’s not much on Conti as well.”

  “I’ll get something out of him. After you take Evangeline, I can get to work on arranging my meeting with him.”

  “To collect the money?”

  “No, to collect Signore Conti.”

  Chapter 29

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  T he meeting with Rashid was held at Aebischer’s mansion. Increasingly he worked from there to avoid the public. They sat in a large library in comfortable leather chairs. Tea had been served along with some cheese, fruit, and sweets. There was wine on a side table but Aebischer knew Rashid would not avail himself of it. Still Aebischer kept it ready as a token of hospitality. They spoke in English.

  “I need twenty million Euros transferred next week.” Rashid took out a sheet of paper and pushed it across the coffee table to Aebischer. “It is to go to those recipients in those amounts.”

  The banker looked at the list. There were five names on it. Bulat Zakayev was the first name on the list. Next was one he recognized as a person who dealt in explosives and finally, three mid-Eastern names attached to what he guessed were front companies.

  “Who is this first name? I don’t recognize it.”

  “You recognize the others?”

  “Most. It’s my business to know these things.”

  “He replaces Guzim Lazami who was assassinated a month ago.”

  Aebischer nodded that he understood. “He was getting ready to complete a large order, for heavy weapons as I remember.”

  Rashid looked steadily at Aebischer. He didn’t know how much the man knew about his activities and Aebischer always insisted on not wanting to know too much. Rashid felt that was a convenient front. The banker wanted to know all that was going on around him. He sensed a kindred spirit of wanting to control everything he touched.

  “That was your order?” Aebischer asked.

  Rashid just smiled.

  “That’s a Chechen name,” Aebischer continued. “His company is located there? It may raise notice to move six million to a bank in Chechnya.”

  “I will have him open an account here in Zürich.”

  “And one in Lichtenstein and one in Malta. I need to run the money through more than one account.”

  “It will be done.”

  “You are planning something large? I have heard things and Guzim was preparing a large shipment when he was killed.”

  “I didn’t think you wanted to know what was going on.” Rashid smiled at the banker. He understood him but liked to try to disturb his sense of control. It was better for those Rashid dealt with to always be wary of him. It made them more careful and less likely to try to double cross him.

  “I don’t want to know details, but it is helpful to be aware of what will be going on around me.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “This second name, Yevgeni Kuznetsov, is a person who has access to explosives as well as weapons. And he is with the Russian mafia.”

  “You are correct. We have had to change some sources. We have had setbacks in our struggle against those who support the Zionists. Guzim was the most recent. But we persevere. We cannot be stopped in the end.”

  Aebischer nodded. Rashid knew appealing to his anti-Semitism was always useful. His father had had close ties to the Arab world as well as the Vatican and had used them to help Nazis after the war.

  “These last three companies I don’t recognize. I assume there are other accounts the funds can flow to. Stopping here will allow a trace back to you…and we don’t want that,” Aebischer advised.

  “Go through some of the companies that you set up for me. Create the invoices for the appropriate goods and services as you usually do. When it hits those accounts, I will make sure the funds get passed further along before they reach their destination.”

  “My fee will be twenty percent for this work. It is very large and requires much care on my part.”

  Rashid looked steadily at the banker. Aebischer looked calm, like he felt in control. Rashid sensed he needed to feel a little more vulnerable.

  “You should not get too greedy. The large funds are put to immediate use. Those who I fund perform for me, sometimes paying with their lives. They are not trying to get rich off me. I find you useful to my cause, but don’t become a burden.”

  Aebischer didn’t flinch. “I trust you respect the careful work I do to insulate you from outsiders. Intelligence agents try to penetrate my network regularly. I spend large amounts of money to keep everything secret. I thought you understood that.”

  Rashid kept his eyes on Aebischer. “I do understand that. I also understand greed and overreaching. I’m pointing out that such behavior would damage our relationship. And there are serious repercussions to such damage.”

  Rashid stood. “I will be going now. I think we both understand each other. Let me know when all this has been completed.”

  “How quickly do you want to put your plans into operation?”

  “Let me know when the money has been fully dispersed. That is all you have to do.”

  “As soon as I receive my fee, I’ll begin. Everything will be ready ahead of time.”

  Rashid nodded. He would pay the fee this time, but he would not allow this infidel banker to dig larger and larger fees out of him. The man had an impressive security record, but R
ashid could send a message to him; a message advising him to not disturb their relationship.

  He reached out his hand for Aebischer to shake and then turned to leave.

  After Rashid’s departure, Jan Luis Aebischer sat down and thought. The Arab was clear in his threat. But he didn’t say no to the fee. He picked up his phone.

  “Pietro, have you found the assassin?”

  “No Herr Aebischer. He has gone to ground. I don’t think he is in Austria any more or we would have found him by now.”

  “And he hasn’t contacted you?”

  “Nein mein Herr.”

  Aebischer considered this. He was not happy. Evangeline knew too much. She was unstable and now she was in the hands of a capable killer who felt he had been double crossed. This was a dangerous situation and Aebischer didn’t like his lack of control over events. It made him feel vulnerable.

  “Pietro, I want you to find out everything you can on Bulat Zakayev. He’s a Chechen arms dealer. Also find out more about Yevgeni Kuznetsov, the Russian arms broker. I want to know what Rashid is planning. It’s something large, and explosives will be involved.”

  “Is that a good idea? To get that much information?”

  “Do not question me.” The words came out slow and ominous. Aebischer was getting angry. “We have an uncontrollable situation because your men failed. I do not want another uncontrolled situation developing. What Rashid is planning might be rash and place us in some danger. I need to know so we can be properly shielded.”

  Chapter 30

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  D an awoke early. He slowly unwrapped himself from his blanket. Stiffness had set in and he struggled to get upright. He spent some time moving his body, a little at first and then more as the complaining muscled began to unwind.