by Riley Moreno
“A pack of greedy bastards that include me inside it.”
“That’s enough to pin that on them?”
“More is needed. Much more.”
“Why is it that I’m starting to see you as a good man, Bennie?”
“Never judge a book by how poorly written it is. Give it a chance. It might just surprise you.”
“We need to get Lee back here?”
“To Paul?”
Mark comes down the stairs in the dark, and it frightens Bennie, who is standing and looking at Darren like he’s been betrayed – but then changes his facial expression when he knows this man is harmless with a rucksack on his back. Darren rises from the sofa slowly like it’s Hercules himself here to be crowned. He didn’t think Mark would appear.
“Camila’s cameraman. I’m so glad to know that you’re still alive.”
“I had to check my legs a few times from always being in this house and never moving. I was going mental, just me alone.”
“With you alive, it means we can get everything back to your source.”
“We have to wait until eight. It’s unsafe before that.”
“What can he do for us?”
“He’ll upload the pictures I send via the front page. And when it comes to the broadcast, he knows a man that has a way of hacking into the transmission and interjecting the videos. He’ll have to edit it all, so it will take some time to wait for the live feed. But the pictures, he can mail it to friends who can post it on the newspapers.”
“And news sites. If you can get it onto the N.O. news, we can send them a warning.”
“ Bennie, is Camila still alive? The last I saw of her was when she went to one of the facilities. You’ve been close to Alabastor. Has there been any word on her status?”
“I don’t know. I never see the man. All I do is get instructions from men who I know work for the law and have a good paycheck but don’t care about the risks of losing it. And they tell me to go here, bring him in, sign this, go and see if that unregistered plane-to-land has arrived. Count the minerals. Oversee the work with Timothy the racist. Check on West Shanti. Speak with Felis, but no man can speak to him. Contact Peacock. Find Ringo. And I do this with no word from the man himself. Just his countless bitches that do the work for him. And the slave labor over here is sickening. I’ve changed plenty, being out here. Not the same asshole I used to be. Even if the money is sitting nicely in my account.”
“Their operation is nicely organized.”
“But there’s a whiff of fear about these men and how this is going. They don’t think it’s so smooth anymore.”
Mark gives Bennie a curious look, “are you the FBI?”
“No. But I am working on crashing this entire operation. I’m undercover.”
“Camila and I didn’t know the identity of the man. So, it’s you?”
“Yes. And many suspect that I’m working against them. We all must be careful now. These rebels ... some are working against the people for money. So it can be hard to see who’s on who’s side.”
“Lee ... That facility can’t be safe, Bennie?”
“No. But I can’t go back for her. It’s too risky. Alabastor has everybody watched. Even if they don’t think that’s the case.”
“I’ll go and collect her in the morning.”
“Do you have transport?”
“Can I use your bike Mark?”
“Sure.”
“Right. Then I should go. I’ll have to give word to Alabastor about being in this home and finding a thief. Darren, bring Lee to this address.” Mark hands him a paper and pen, and Bennie writes it down. “It’s close to an area where rebels never visit because the risk of rabies and diseased animals is high. It’s a farm that’s no longer used. But there’s a home. And you can get a signal there. I have a portable Wi-Fi from Poland that we can use. I’ll drop you there Mark, if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I can upload all I need there. Because it’s plenty.”
“We need to catch the right hour. I’d say morning news.” He turns back to Darren. “Bring Lee straight there. It will be busy, so getting around won’t be too much ... let’s wake the N.O. all the way up!”
Chapter 9
Henny has to get it right this time. When he had come home from that meeting a few days ago with Eman, he was astonished to find his car in the driveway and the keys on the seat when he checked through the window. He ran quickly into his home, switched on the lights and headed to the bedroom where his wife should be sleeping.
She had just flushed the toilet as they had an ensuite and hugged him from behind as he had his back to her; wondering why she wasn’t in bed. He flinched. She laughed. And then he turned and held her close before giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Everything alright, darling?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“You look stressed and overworked. Isn’t your annual leave coming up?”
“I don’t know Marissa. Any calls or messages?”
“Loads. All from Lotan who wants to speak with you urgently.”
“About what?”
“He was brief, said it had to do with Saul taking some time off sick.”
“Saul taking time off sick.”
“Yes. And um ... that was it. Except for somebody else who dropped by?”
“Who Marissa?”
Henny asked her urgently and it gave her uneasiness in her stomach, “he just said he was dropping the car for you and would return tomorrow.” Henny knew how to check for bombs, and let his wife relax back into bed before calling a contact who could see if there was anything done to his car.
He went out into the early hours and inspected the car with his bomb detector. There were some unusual readings, but nothing to cause a scare. Nonetheless, Henny left his car until morning when the professional knocks on the door and gives it a thorough search after his wife left for work.
And he got another visitor: Lotan. He was wearing oval shades and had a flask in his hands. He looks more like a formula one racer with the jacket that has an F1 logo and the colors of red-black-white striped across with a zip down to the middle. It was the trendiest Henny had seen the man, who oozed potential but never exploited looking good at his age.
“You expecting to be blown up? The professional would search the outdoors next.”
“You can never be too careful.”
“And you seem like a man on the edge. What’s going on with you, Henny?”
“Nothing that I can’t deal with.”
“Hmm. I’m your friend.”
“When it favors your promotion –”.
“That’s a wicked thing to say –”.
“You never come over here Lotan. Not for the past two years.”
“We haven’t been the best of friends.”
Henny takes a fancy to the guy from the bomb squad. “Give me a shout if you want a drink or coffee.” Then he goes inside with Lotan following but stops in the foyer. “What brings Lotan to my door?”
“In all honesty, my worry for the unit and how it’s been run now. I heard rumors that they might be replacing you –”
“What?”
“Yes. So, take back what you said about me only favoring to use you.”
“I spoke ignorantly. Things are rough –”
“And it’s to do with that case, right? And ... Darren and Lee are way overdue. Don’t get at me for actually giving a shit. Everybody in the office knows it.”
“They know nothing. Lee and Darren are out of my hands. They’re the N.O. responsibility –”
“That’s no good. Them fuckers are cons –”
“I need Lee to call me and that’s what will give me a chance to help her.”
“You’ve gotten yourself into some nasty business. And for what?”
“For this damn unit to move ahead in the damn ranks! Playing it by the bloody book doesn’t guarantee getting anywhere. Because of me, people like Lee and Saul are able to get ahead and get the recognitio
n they deserve.”
Lotan sniggers nastily, “Don’t pretend it wasn’t for the money like all the other cases that you get paid a nice little sum for. I might be in the dark with what’s happening out there, but a little piggy bank is getting thicker than it was. So, don’t make me laugh on that. And Saul ... Saul, who has never taken a day off in his life is now sick and can’t be contacted.”
“Why do you need to find him?”
“Eman was in touch. Something about me being a temporary replacement for you. I can’t, so the next best thing would be Saul.”
“They aren’t telling me a thing!”
“They’ve lost respect for you.”
“Fuck them!” Henny pulls the last straw and is beyond the volcano eruption. He swore once more, “fuck!” and then calms himself, so that Lotan could see the still and unruffled him that he always conveys. “They’re cornering me at every whim. Closing me inside my own home. Doing exactly what they did to Camila out there. They want me controlled because I’m not working out for them.”
“Well, if you want me to help you, then let me in on the secret? Let me be the contact for Lee and Darren –”
“Lotan ... no. I won’t involve you in this.”
“Then you need to start thinking before they do. Get your wife and daughter away. Send them on a holiday. Work on communications with Lee. I ain’t no fool, you’ve lost contact and she won’t correspond. Use Bennie, he’s out there. Get him to have Lee call you. Start working so nobody gets hurt. Get some surveillance in place. Keep it cheap. Because at this rate your life is as risk.”
Lotan was thinking on the tip of the ice and it works for Henny. It fires him up to get some results and not feel so threatened. His wife has the next three weeks off, so he books a trip to Sydney: two single tickets which included his daughter’s. He sent her the surprise text, and she sends loads of exclamation marks. Marissa loves surprises like that.
Then he works on getting some CCTV inside the home. He never needed it before, because he was behind the scenes when giving the orders. But now he was in a position where safety needs to be met, “I know a guy who would do it for a flat fee. And he offers insurance too.”
“Call him for me.”
Lotan goes outside and does that. Henny starts feeling in charge of his life again. He makes himself some diluted lemon and water and two other glasses for spare. Then he tries to call Lee on the two phones he uses. It was off. He tries Darren ... but it was switched off too. Then he gives Bennie a ring who’s the only one that answers.
“Missing me, Henny?”
“No time for fun, Bennie. Get me Lee Coil and do it now!?”
“Woah-woah-woah! Edgy much. I thought you had direct contact with her?”
“She’s not answering?”
“Maybe she figured you out. It wouldn’t be too hard to notice something off out here. And yes, it’s a shithole with tons of Americans and some Brits drinking and living comfortably while others suffer.”
“You never cared about any of that, Bennie.”
“I never said I wasn’t one of them. Not much I can do as the scapegoat out here –”
“Get me Lee Coil! You still work for me. Where is she?”
“Finding Shaka and Camila like you asked –”
“In the wrong damn town!”
“No. She’s in the right town, Henny.”
Henny didn’t notice that Lotan has come into the foyer and can hear him from the kitchen, “You asshole! What have you told her about me?” Henny put the call on loudspeaker so he could pursue his anger management of pacing around the room to calm his heart rate that was pushing over one-hundred-and-twenty. “Did you tell her everything?”
“What do you mean, everything? That her case was fake. And Darren was the bum-boy? Or that Camila was kidnapped because she wanted to expose the N.O. who are forcing these people into an illegal system of mining for disgusting pay? Which one?”
“Hypocrite!” Henny almost cut-off the call, but his hand missed, and the phone slid across the brown marble counter and lands on top of the shiny silver bin. He picks it up with Bennie still on the line. “Bennie, you need to tell Lee that if she doesn’t call me, they’ll have her killed. She needs to get out of there. With Darren. And that Mark, if he wants to see daylight again, he needs to hand himself in, because they’ll find his contact. They will. And when they do, they’ll have him killed. And then you ... you work for me, so that leaves you in the cemetery too.”
“I’ll find her and deliver the message. You could’ve asked nicely, but that’s too much coming from you, isn’t it?”
“They suspect you too. Like we all do. A few people are going to end up dead and it won’t be me –”
“Let’s hope it’s the guinea pigs they have out here. Loads of them fools deserve a blood bath.”
“Tell Lee Coil or Darren to call me!” Henny in frustration slides the phone onto the white laminated floor and checks if the case is broken. It wasn’t. But Lotan leaves his home and Henny realizes that he overheard Bennie on the loudspeaker. Which presents a new problem. He gives chase and catches him by the arm, “You heard all that?”
“Every word.”
“Come inside –”
“What for, Henny? You can’t change my mind on bringing Lee and Darren back now. I’m going to work on finding them, you old fool.” Lotan lowers his voice when he sees a few of Henny’s neighbors washing their cars and mowing their lawns in this pricey street that has no room for those who work a basic job.
“You have no idea how to get there. There are no flights that go from any airport. And to get a plane, you need to run it through Eman. They keep records of inbound and outbound flights. There’s no way.”
Henny grips Lotan’s arm who yanks it right back ... but he could see why the grip was panic-stricken. A man was coming in a ride, who looks like a large headed wrestler with a twenty-litre water bottle tipped upside down for a head. And he was chunky-mac-chunk in the gut and everywhere else. He was a scary character, that some of the neighbors watch through the window. And he works as a bodyguard for the mayor. His other skills had been debt collecting a long time ago. And not just for money.
Henny and Lotan played it unruffled. But they were petrified of the man who has eyes that a heartbroken man or woman with no soul inside could imagine. Just the blackness of a burnt-out star walking but feeling nothing. “Jason, isn’t it?” Henny speaks because Lotan sizes him up for the potential challenge.
“Da.” He had a strong Austrian twang to his American accent.
“Can I help you?”
“Da. You can help me, Henny. But you need to come back to the station. Lotan too. I have the ride. Eman is in the car with the mayor.” He went back to the sexy-blue Genesis-g-seventy.
“Eman and the mayor... What could that mean?”
“The workers strike back in Torbelli, I assume. Let me get my jacket and I’ll be right down.”
“Henny, what about the bomb checker?”
“Yeah. He’s around the back. Good timing.”
Henny rings his contact and tells him to hang back until he gets a belling that he’s left. The man texts back with an ok. Henny goes to get his specially equipped jacket that holds his pocket pistols in the waistcoat. He attaches it to the inside of his beige jacket, and the fabric was lightweight, so it didn’t cause much trouble in the heat. The weather predicts hot, and that was already starting to come true.
He prints off the tickets for his wife, messages his daughter that she was to drop everything and go on holiday with her mother and then locks the house and heads to the blue genesis. Eman was standing outside the care stretching his legs, while Lotan was speaking with Herman.
The driver who came out, holds his hands out for Henny’s keys, “No, not this time.” It was the same man who had delivered it back to the driveway a few nights ago. “I won’t give him my car keys Eman.” Henny wants that respect back.
“Then he’ll wait inside your home unti
l your wife comes back –”
“No. You can’t do this to me. I deserve respect from you. I’m a man who runs my own unit, for Christ sake. You can’t bully me for no reason at all.” Eman shuts his side of the door and the driver does the same: watching as Eman takes Henny away for a private chat.
“The workers strike has delayed many things. The past four days there’s been plenty of fighting, guns, casualties, and even our own have been hit. And I saw all that in less than one minute. And what’s even more disturbing ... come to the car, Lotan and Herman are watching the local news.”
Henny gets into the car, Lotan and Herman are engrossed with the reporter who is telling a tale of Torbelii, and images of Camilla and Mark, who show quick snippets and footage of malnourished miners, slave labour, Shanti town, the rebel warfare, and Felis, who is a striking man with a hawk-like stature and sharp face at every point. But no word on Shaka, the American investors, N.O., and still leaves them in the all clear.
Then the TV is switched off, and the doors are shut and locked. Lotan and Henny are driven off with Eman fuming inside but containing it while he speaks with other members from the N.O. Henny can feel the tension. His heart no longer wants to work on the same side and Lotan, who is fuming with anger at what Henny has gotten into, avoids giving him the disappointed look. They might all be fools of men, but they have morals, or at least that is what Lotan thought.
There is nothing said until Eman’s call is finished. Herman is in the front and eyeballing Henny and Lotan. Neither returns his stares, “First of all, what do you know Lotan?”
Lotan restricts the truth, but these men are conserving all their observational skills upon him. They watch every false movement that comes from his lips that conveys an irregularity, “only that Lee and Darren were sent to this place.” It’s partly true, and they see there was no fault in how he executed that. They seem content.
“Anything else?”
“No.” Still content.
“There is truth in you, when you saw that news piece, you were surprised.” Lotan hadn’t realized that they had moved the Genesis besides his black Range Rover. The door opens for him. “Go back to work. We need you running things today.”