Crissy Chance

by Douglas E Roff

  “Correct.”

  “Then give us the location and name of the Private Bank in Switzerland and I’ll visit the location to see what you have there.”

  “No. I shall accompany you. I don’t trust you.”

  “Trust or not, we don’t need you. Hecate?”

  “The Bank is in Zurich and is called ‘BancSuisse Frankel’. It does indeed offer the latest in biometric scan protection. And I can confirm that Laura has an account there along with a large stash of physical objects stored in safety deposit boxes.”

  “Can you verify what is in there?”

  “No, I think I’ll need a road trip. And since I cannot enter the safety deposit boxes or carry anything back, you or someone will have to come with me. You know we Immortals cannot take a physical role in this Marco Polo adventure; our Lord has been very clear on that point. I can easily replicate Laura’s eye for the scan and her fingerprints. Then we can remove a few items, return home and see what we have.”

  “You’ll steal my things and deprive Gaea of her due? Just as I always suspected.”

  “Gaea never figured in your plans, and, no, we will not steal or sell anything. We don’t need your shit and we certainly don’t need your money. I earn fifty million every month. So, don’t kid yourself, you greedy witch; we don’t have any need for you or your ill gotten and stolen gains. You brought my parents and Crissy back into my life, now you complain? Fuck you.”

  “Then, why are you bothering with me?”

  “You’re bait.”

  ***

  Adam and Hecate were on the jet with Kendra for extra measure. When they arrived at the bank in Zurich, Hecate appeared to be Laura in every respect, matching photo ID, fingerprints and retinal scan. Even her signature was identical.

  Adopting the rather pithy personality of Laura too, she said, now that the preliminaries are over, “Can we please get to my boxes now? Your delays seem excessive and my ire is rising. Are you always this slow or just incompetent?”

  “Sorry Fraulein, but detail and caution are our main safeguards. We value the privacy and security of all our clients.”

  The banker took the pair down to the vault and stood by as she opened the first ten or so boxes that were of different shapes and sizes.”

  Hecate said, “You’re still here little man. Is there a reason for your intrusion into my privacy?”

  “No Fraulein. Please excuse my intrusion, but last time you visited, your German was excellent. Today you speak English.”

  Hecate spoke to the man in several dialects High German including Swabian, as well as other forms of Low German. Hecate had detected a slight Swabian accent, so she insulted him in that dialect just for emphasis to prove that her tolerance for his presence was at an end.

  He left.

  Adam opened several of the wax sealed boxes to see what was inside. Indeed, the outside covers of several books contained the name “Marco Polo” as well as Chinese characters that might have been his official Chinese name used at the court by Kublai Khan.

  However, the contents of the book were all in English; modern English and the outside covers served only to be the cover for books with a certain number of pages. Adam took samples of the tin, lead and wax that was used to seal the “diaries” but he was certain that the wax was new, that the discoloration induced chemically in a vat, and that the jewelry, seals and gold tablets of safe passage and authority were merely gold-plated lead. Fourteen karat gold plate, not even close to the twenty-four Karat pure gold the Khan’s court would have most assuredly used.

  “These are fakes. Not even good ones, simply designed to fool Laura into thinking what she had was real. Since, as an archeologist, she would not have tampered with any of the objects to be authenticated later to establish value, she could, and was, easily fooled. Somewhere between Beijing and Rome, the real articles were swapped out and replaced with replica’s not even needing to be professionally forged.”

  Laura was displeased. No doubt she would also thought that Adam was lying.

  ***

  Adam, Hecate and Kendra returned home late the same day after they left the bank. Everyone was up and present in the Study as soon as the Immortals detected the jet landing. What they could not figure out was why Hecate and Kendra were not already home and explaining the results of their trip. Adam had not required them to remain with him on the flight, just that they wished to talk over what they had found. They may also have slipped in some mind/body sex, particularly some physical time with Adam as the flight was long and the jet flew on autopilot. Hours and hours of alone time with their man was rare, and neither minded watching the other, nor was either jealous over the idea of sharing him at the same time.

  Nothing Adam had confirmed in Zurich meant anything; he still believed that the existence of the fake Polo Cache in Zurich could still be useful. The idea was “bait” not actual recovery, which, under the circumstances, might mean the Cache would never be recovered. In truth, Adam could care less about the Marco Polo story. He remembered the “Hitler Diaries” hoax from years back and thought this a more elaborate version of the same con game.

  The value of a gold tablet of safe passage bearing the seal of Kublai Khan compared to the cost of the gold to make a replica was massively disproportionate to say the least. The spot price of twenty-four ounces of twenty-four karat gold was around thirty-five thousand dollars. The value of an authenticated Kublai Khan tablet could easily be twenty-five million dollars each, maybe a lot more. Add all the other trinkets and documents and hundreds more artifacts and diaries, sold separately and the value of the cache easily approached hundreds of millions of dollars. The Chinese artifacts would be priceless while the Marco Polo diaries written in authenticated old Italian of the era were likewise beyond valuation.

  The litigation alone would be worth millions to the firm or firms handling competing claims. The bonuses that year would make a career. Crissy Chance was well positioned to be lead lawyer in the lead law firm. Her “parents” would lead the team of anthropologists authenticating the find while Edward would surely lead the team of forensic anthropologists who would discover and trace the origin of the Polo Cache and its route to the West.

  That assumed the Polo Cache was still intact and had not already been sold and disbursed among the communities that had most interest in its contents: governments, collectors, museums and criminals.

  When the two Immortals and Adam entered the Study, Gaea and Laura were steely in their looks at him.

  “I supposed you found everything and have turned the entire fortune in antiquities over to the Swiss authorities?”

  “Nope. Not even close. I have good news for you both, Laura, and bad news. Gaea since you are irrelevant from this point forward, you can leave any time you wish. If we find some crime other than sheer stupidity and greed in the future, Interpol and the FBI will likely come knocking. But for now, you seem to be peripheral to all this nonsense, so please just leave. Pack tonight and let us know where to send you.”

  “My pleasure,” she said. “To leave you and this one behind. I’ll be packed tonight and if you could spot me some cash, I’ll be leaving this shithole behind.”

  “I’ll fly you to Madrid with a new Passport. Fifty thousand cash. Go wherever you wish, but I’d avoid New York City and Greece. If I ever catch you anywhere near me or mine, you may suffer a serious unexplained accident.”

  “I hate New York and I don’t speak Greek. Goodbye whores. I can’t say it hasn’t been fun. It hasn’t.”

  She turned to Laura. “You lied when you said you stashed the goods in Zurich, you piece of shit. I hope you’re fucked now, for good.”

  “Yeah like all you ever did for me was spread your legs for me. Your kind is a dime a dozen, Gaea.”

  Chapter 35

  Gaea left the Study headed directly for her quarters. She would gather her few things, spend one more night in a nice bed, have a delicious breakfast in the morning, then leave. Hecate and Fionna would enter Ga
ea’s mind that evening and remove, or wall off, all memories of where Paraiso was located. The surgery would take only a few seconds and would not harm or alter her in any way.

  That left Laura angry and alone with Adam and his women, mortal and Immortal, to have a chat about her future.

  Adam said, “Laura, of all the women in the world, the one I least wish to spend any time with now is you. However, there is certain level of moronic pleasure that I am allowed to have from time to time, and this is one of those times. Noki and Hana believe this to be a substantial character flaw in me, but I disagree. It is simple justice delivered in a way that even I could not concoct without the inadvertent help of the ones around me, who I love, guiding me on the path I am intended to follow. I watch as things go wrong to bad people who deserve punishment but I am not the instrument of that punishment. It’s a win-win for me.”

  “Fuck off Adam and get to your point. You talk too much.”

  “I’ve been told that a lot. Mostly by women but I accept that as a quirk. I am going to free your wrists and ankles while I tell you about my trip to Switzerland with Hecate and Kendra. We visited your bank and did all the necessary procedures and protocols to gain entrance to your safety deposit boxes. I suspected something was wrong, and had for some time, which is why I brought two Immortals instead of just one.

  “For your future reference, Hecate is more of a foot soldier when it comes to killing. She wastes little time and simply implodes heads. Like a pumpkin with a tiny black hole in it. Now Kendra is a different sort. Hecate will kill anyone and quickly if she feels I am in danger. Sort of shoot first and ask questions later. Excitable, Hecate takes no pleasure in killing but is dedicated to me and my safety in every respect. I love my wife, not because she’ll kill for me, but because whatever she does, she does because she loves me. I’m a lucky man.”

  He continued, Laura looking bored and seething all at the same time

  “Now when it come to personal protection Kendra is a different cat. Like Hecate she will kill for me without hesitation if I am in danger. But whereas Hecate will act spontaneously, Kendra is a lot slower on the draw. She will watch and learn, determine what her victim is up to, then deal with them, if necessary, lethally or otherwise. Hecate will talk my ear off, though truly, I don’t mind. Her voice somehow reassures me that all is right and in balance with the world.”

  Laura said, sarcastically, “Are you going to kill me, shoot me, or talk me to death? Just do what you’re going to do, please. And shut-the-fuck-up. Please.”

  “You’re not going to die today, Laura. Certainly not by our hands. But you will listen to my story or I’ll bind you back up again. I recommend you sit there and shut up. It will prolong your life.”

  Laura regained what little composure she had left.

  “Now I looked up you bank in Zurich and it is indeed as old as it claims to be. But the bank is not family owned going backs hundreds of years as are so many Private Banks in Switzerland. This bank was quietly purchased by a syndicate of men and women through fronts and various legal maneuvers who hid who they were behind a legal facade. I have that information but will not share it with you. I may need it later.

  “While I was in the vault, which the guard would not, at first, leave, I became suspicious that I was being watched via video cameras hidden throughout the vault room. These are no-no’s in secretive Switzerland. So, I had Hecate and Kendra checked out the place. While Hecate and I gained entrance to the vault room to have a look at your ‘Polo Cache’, Kendra snuck around the bank looking to find who was watching. In a small room were three men watching the monitors; one was just beginning to dial his cell when Kendra rendered the three unconscious and removed their guns and cell phones. Hecate would have imploded their heads, but I needed to chat with them later before we left. Hence my need for two dedicated and lethal wives who I adore.”

  “Hecate and I removed the contents of the Cache from their containers and, to our great surprise, noticed that each and every item was a fake. Yeah, fake! Can you fucking believe that?”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Nope brought all that shit home for you. All laid out now in your room to peruse at your leisure. Remember I said a I had good news and bad news? Well the good news is you’re still alive. I’m afraid, however, it’s the only good news I have for you.”

  “Go on.”

  “The forgeries aren’t really even good forgeries. The gold items are just lead electroplated with fourteen Karat gold to give the heft of gold in case you wanted a look. The rest of the diaries, documents and trinkets were wax sealed, and you knew better than to open them. They would need to be authenticated first, so the discoloration of the wax you saw was just ordinary food coloring, but close enough to the real thing for you to send the Cache merrily on the way to your bank in Switzerland. You took a quick trip to Zurich for the scans and your signature, then back to Rome for you to meet your partner/lover Franco di Pietro. Your plan was to let things settle down, then start selling the pieces one by one on the black market to private dealers and collectors. Fully authenticated, of course, by the finest museums in Europe and so priceless as hell.”

  “So, I’m not a nice person. Who cares? Are you suddenly a cop?”

  “Well for one, the real Franco di Pietro, who was unwittingly involved in getting the Polo Cache out of China for you, is dead. You thought the Cache would somehow go straight to a private warehouse until you got back. The fake shit did for sure, but the real stuff had to go to a government warehouse and get logged in. That paperwork was faked too. Then shipped to another more secure location and, due to its high value, was then sent to a museum for authentication after a review of the falsified paperwork from the Chinese authorities. Of course, that paperwork was faked since the Chinese never would have let this shit leave the country. Never. So somewhere between Beijing and Rome, or Rome and the museum, the real stuff was diverted and is in the hands of someone else, identity unknown. I’m betting on a fake James Wong and a fake Franco di Pietro, but it could be anyone other than Anna and Edward. The authentication process was probably filmed in high res with some of the world’s foremost experts on the era in China and Italy, along with various and sundry other experts in paper, ink, leather, wax, etc. Linguistic anthropologists would be examining photographic copies for the language of the period. The originals would be kept in some sort of gaseous mixture so as not to degrade any of the diaries, letter and scrolls. Of course, the experts would have been paid and duped into the work they did, but as the Cache came out slowly over time, fewer experts were needed and all were on sabbaticals from their respective Universities. What they needed was an idiot anthropologist to front the operation, one greedy enough to overlook the obvious signs of larceny. That was you. Of course, you are now entitled to spend years at hard labor in China, Italy or other places along the way for the murders committed by your associates for which you are responsible under the conspiracy statutes. Congratulations. Personally, I’d plead guilty to anything as long is it was in Switzerland. Much more humane treatment of white collar criminals.

  “I have not figured out everything, including where Mom and Dad and Crissy fit in, but I will. The men at the Zurich bank, including all the employees, were most cooperative after Hecate imploded a few heads and Kendra relived a few more guards and managers of their fingers. We have yet to discover definitively who your partners are and I have multiple scores to settle with my dear old Dad. Those three, and the fourth man, are on my radar screen, so my task is different than yours and law enforcement.”

  “I don’t know who he is, or anyone else involved with your folks.”

  “I believe you. But we are going to continue this charade a little while longer, maybe six months or so. And during that time, you are going to help me in any and every way possible. Am I clear?”

  “Yeah? Then what?”

  “I give you some cash, a new identity and you can move on from there. Trick me or lie to me and I will kill you very
slowly myself. Please understand that it is really not in my nature to be cruel but I will make exception for you. Frog and the scorpion. It is in your nature to lie, cheat and steal. So, you and I are going to spend some quality time together with Eene and Alana, if Alana stays for a while, along with my other wives. My Immortals are not allowed to interfere any more in this matter as it is mortal caused and our Lord has new strict rules on what they may do, Immortal to mortal. Love, procreate and heal, and a couple more things like give advice and make me miserable. But not much more, unless you try to kill me, then they are all allowed to implode heads.”

  Adam paused for a moment.

  “I suppose you think you can come clean to Edward, et al, you can avoid death and torture, not necessarily in that order. You cannot. They think you are alive hiding somewhere and think you know where the Polo Cache is. Protestations to the contrary, the story of you being duped and the real stuff stolen, will only throw them into fits of rage. Try to explain the fake and falsified artifacts and you will be flayed, beaten and murdered.”

  “My father still remembers the ‘Hitler Diaries’ fiasco. He will not fall for this.”

  Adam paused.

  “I suggest you think it over, look at the shit we brought back for you to examine, and decide who you want to help. You may still get the chance to live.”

  Laura was taken back to her room. She was not free to leave if she wanted; nonetheless, she decided she wanted to stay. Paraiso was looking safe and good to her just then.

  ***

  Adam sat with Eene and Alana alone. “Alana, you are free leave if you wish. This is not your fight, but I can protect you for now. Later, as this all plays out, I cannot be so sure.”