Conviction (2009)
Page 16
Located on the Troia Peninsula and the Sado River estuary, Setubal was a town of 120,000 built around the sardine-fishing industry, which had been a booming business since the early 1900s. According to the plethora of well-crafted if melodramatic minibiographies and magazine profiles Fisher had found of Charles "Chucky Zee" Zahm, the former SAS commando turned novelist/master thief was himself a fan of fishing. Game fish, however--not sardines--were why he'd moved to Setubal. Accompanying many of the stories were in-action photos of Zahm straining at a fishing rod on the afterdeck of his hundred-foot Azimut Leonardo 98 yacht, standing at the wheel of his hundred-foot Azimut Leonardo 98 yacht, sitting in scuba gear on the gunwale of his hundred-foot Azimut Leonardo 98 yacht. . . . It took little imagination to guess Zahm's favorite pastime, nor his most prized possession. This was understandable, of course. The Azimut Leonardo 98 sold for 4.9 million euros, or roughly 6.8 million U.S. dollars. The pictures of Zahm's ocean-view villa, down the coast from Setubal in Portinho da Arrabida, further confirmed the man's love of the nautical life.
Fisher gave this some thought and decided the temptation was too great to resist. It was time to find out exactly how far Zahm's love of the ocean went.
FISHER was up and out the door shortly after dawn the next day, and by the time the sun's upper rim rose over the ocean's surface he was out of the city and winding his way south along the coast road. He stopped at a small restaurant called the Bar Mar, on Figueirinha beach, then continued on, arriving in Portinho da Arrabida ten minutes later. Of the short list of possible retirement spots he'd accumulated, the village immediately jumped to the top.
Nestled at the foot of the Serra de Arrabida--serra translates as "saw," an apt term for the mountain range that rose behind the village--Portinho da Arrabida was a ready-made postcard, with red-roofed bungalow houses perched atop lush slopes, white-sand beaches, and crystalline blue-green waters enclosed by a crescent of rocky shoreline.
Following a series of screen captures he'd sent to his iPhone from Google Earth, he drove through the village, then followed a switchback road into the mountains until he found a scenic overlook that offered him the vantage point he needed. He got out and walked to the wooden railing, where a bank of pole-mounted binoculars had been installed. He dropped a fifty-cent euro piece into the slot and pressed his face to the viewer.
His first view of Zahm's home told Fisher two things: One, the term "villa" was a gross trivialization; and two, the pictures hadn't done the place justice.
At three-thousand-plus feet, the ranch-style structure clad in floor-to-ceiling windows sat atop a hillside in a saddle between the Serra de Arrabida escarpment and a cliff overlooking the ocean. A ten-foot-wide moat-like swimming pool encircled the rear two-thirds of the house, while in the front a set of stone steps spiraled down to terraces set into the cliff, one containing a negative-edge pool that seemed to hang in midair above the water a hundred feet below. The second deck was covered in lounges, chairs, and blue-and-white-striped umbrellas, plus a freestanding cedar shack Fisher guessed served as a changing room/bathroom. At the bottom of the steps a two-hundred-foot stone jetty led to a trio of skiffs equipped with outboard motors, but there was no sign of Zahm's yacht.
Fisher scanned farther out, checking the ocean's surface from horizon to horizon until he spotted her anchored off an island five miles down the coast. He could see six men on deck, all shirtless and bronze in the morning sun. A fit group, he decided. Though from this distance they were mere specks, he saw a familiar economy and confidence in the way they moved. It was the kind of bearing gained from spending years in an elite military outfit, in this case the Special Air Service. The man at the center of the group--Zahm, Fisher assumed--sat in a fighting chair on the afterdeck, heaving and leaning on a ten-foot fishing pole. Fifty yards off the stern a marlin broke the surface and arced into the sky, trying to shake the hook, its black back glistening in the sun before it plunged beneath the surface again. A silent cheer went up on the yacht's afterdeck.
Fisher pulled his face away from the viewer.
"Going to be tricky," he muttered.
Handling one SAS soldier was nothing to take lightly. Handling six SAS soldiers was a do-or-die proposition. Do it right, without mistakes, or you won't survive the encounter. The fact that the group had been retired for quite some time improved Fisher's odds, but not by a comfortable margin. A lot would depend how much of their old ways they'd retained.
AFTER another hour the yacht hauled anchor and got under way. It took less than a minute for the twin 2,216-horsepower engines to bring her up to a cruising speed of thirty knots--almost thirty-five miles per hour--which meant they would be back in ten minutes or so. Fisher spent the time taking eighty-five pictures of Zahm's ubervilla, focusing on sight lines, angles, entrances, points of cover, and possible infiltration and exfiltration routes. The house's floor plan was open, with most rooms carpeted and separated by hanging walls or fabric panels, which made surveillance easy but movement inside problematic: Thick carpet was a double-edged sword.
Eleven minutes after it left the island, the yacht was pulling up to the jetty. The man himself was at the wheel atop the flying bridge. He deftly spun the hundred-foot craft in a sliding Y-turn before reversing the engines and easing her alongside the jetty's bumpers. Fisher could now see the yacht's name etched on the stern--Dare--a play on the SAS motto, Who dares wins, Fisher guessed.
Zahm's buddies were moving before the Dare's engines were shut off, jumping to the dock and securing lines while Zahm barked orders and gesticulated. Seemingly satisfied all was in order, he climbed down from the bridge, leapt onto the jetty, and the group proceeded toward the steps.
What they did next told Fisher much. A few minutes after they settled onto the second terrace deck, a trio of white-smocked servants emerged from the house carrying trays of tall glasses and pitchers filled with something other than lemonade. Zahm was a gin-and-tonic man, and it stood to reason that his entourage followed suit. Another thirty minutes of watching proved Fisher's theory as the group grew steadily more boisterous. Twice more the servants returned with refills and took away the empties. It was not yet nine in the morning.
The world at their fingertips, and Zahm and his Little Red Robbers pass most of their time drunk, Fisher thought. While pathetic of them, this was good news for him.
HE spent the remainder of the morning touring the mountains above Zahm's villa, stopping whenever he came across a valuable vantage point. By the time the sun reached its zenith, he'd taken nearly two hundred photographs of the villa and surrounding terrain. Many of the shots would probably turn out to be duplicates or near duplicates, but that was the beauty of digital cameras, Fisher had learned: massive storage capacity and the DELETE button. Also, even seemingly identical pictures often revealed useful details when viewed at full screen, zoomed in, and through image filters.
He spent another hour doing reconnaissance on Portinho da Arrabida's beaches, below Zahm's villa, then drove back to his hotel in Setubal. The DHL box containing his gear was waiting for him. Once in his room, he dug out the OPSAT, powered it up, and established an encrypted link with Grimsdottir. A message was waiting:
Spock financial accounts cracked.
No evidence of deposits within last two weeks.
Ames had lied. He hadn't gotten the Vianden tip from van der Putten.
21
GIVEN the party habits of Zahm and his friends, Fisher saw no benefit in postponing his infiltration much beyond nightfall. For all he knew, the band slept in the afternoon and stayed up all night, and Fisher didn't have the time to conduct protracted surveillance. At 9:00 P.M. he left Setubal and arrived in Portinho da Arrabida thirty minutes later and retraced his route into the mountains. His Garmin 60Cx led him back to the hiking trail parking lot he'd spotted earlier. There were no other cars in the lot. He got out, opened the trunk, and changed from civilian clothes to his tactical gear, then set out.
The hiking trail to the escarpment
above Zahm's villa was less than a half mile long, but it crossed two ridge lines and covered a thousand feet of descent, so it was just after ten when Fisher saw the lights of the house appear through the trees. He dropped to his belly and crawled to the edge of the escarpment.
He had an ideal view of the villa, encompassing the entire west side and the deck and pool terraces; the party was in full swing on the latter, and Fisher could see that Zahm had guests--all of them female, all wearing bikinis. Fisher could hear strains of salsa music emanating from hidden speakers, and the area was lit by kerosene torches along the railing. Including Zahm and his men, Fisher counted twelve bodies--a couples get-together--but none of them appeared to be servants, which meant he could explore the villa without much worry of being interrupted. That was the only good news. With so many partygoers, separating Zahm from the pack would be dicey. Save for the glow cast from several recessed pot lights, the interior of the villa was dark.
Fisher stayed still, watching until he was certain he hadn't missed anyone in the house, then took a final night-vision/infrared/electromagnetic scan. Then he crawled backward into the trees, stood up, and followed a zigzagging trail down the face of the escarpment, using boulders and undergrowth to shield himself until the terraces disappeared from view below the top of the cliff. By the time he reached the saddle in which the villa sat, he was fifty feet west of the euonymus hedges bordering the property. After a quick night-vision/infrared check through the Tridents, he got up and ran, hunched over, to the hedges. On the other side of these he could hear the gurgle of the moat pool's filtering system. The offshore wind had picked up, carrying with it sounds of laughter and splashing intermixed with salsa music.
Fisher eased forward, following the hedges until they ended at the stone patio, where he peeked around the corner, then kept going. A short sprint over a decorative, wooden bridge took him over the moat to the villa's rear French doors. The right-hand door swung open under his hand. He slipped inside and shut it behind him. Despite the wind outside, the air conditioner was on and the temperature hovered in the mid-sixties. Fisher picked his way through the house, pausing at the entrance to every hallway and door to check for signs of alarms or sensors, but found nothing until he reached what he assumed was Zahm's master suite, near the front of the house and overlooking the ocean and Portinho da Arrabida. The terra-cotta-tiled floor was bare save for a tatami runner around its perimeter; through the EM, Fisher saw a lone rectangle of swirling blue waves emanating from beneath the runner. Directly above this spot was a framed painting. Fisher couldn't help but smile: Master thief Charles Zahm had gone with, of all things, a wall safe hidden behind a bad Monet reproduction. Fisher crossed the room to the painting and, careful to stay off the runner, examined the frame and the wall behind it for more sensors. There were none. He found the hidden latch on the frame's left side and swung it open, revealing a two-by-two-foot recessed wall safe. While Zahm had chosen the obvious route for the safe's location, he'd spared no expense on the safe itself. Bypassing the electronic lock would take time Fisher didn't have, and blasting the door open would also demolish much of the master suite. He needed Zahm's cooperation.
He was considering his options when he heard the opening of a sliding-glass door. Fisher stepped to the bedroom door and peeked around the corner, down the carpeted hall, in time to see a man and woman stepping into one of the guest bedrooms. The door clicked shut, and moments later came a woman's giggle.
Fisher stepped out, crept down the hall to the door, pressed his ear to the wood, and heard the creak of bed-springs as the man and woman lay down. Fisher drew the SC pistol and with his thumb flipped the selector to DART, then reached down with his left hand and gave the knob a test turn. Unlocked. He turned the knob an inch, paused, then another inch, then another until the knob reached its stop. He swung open the door and stepped through to the left. From his reconnaissance he knew the layout of the room, and now he turned right, bringing the SC up. Neither the man nor the woman had heard him enter. Fisher fired a dart into the man's shoulder blades, then sidestepped right and fired again. The second dart struck the woman in the side of the neck. They both went limp, unconscious. Two down. Fisher pulled the bedspread over the bodies, then left, shutting the door behind him.
Another giggle. The slap of flesh on flesh. A squeal. The noises were coming from outside.
Fisher pressed himself against the wall, eased up to the corner, and poked his head around it. Another couple appeared at the top of the terrace steps and crossed the patio to the sliding doors. Fisher stepped backward down the hall until he was deeper in the shadows, then crouched down and raised the SC.
Ten seconds passed.
From another part of the villa a door slammed, followed by the distinctive hum of an automatic garage door opening. An engine revved to life. A few moments later the garage door closed. Four down, Fisher thought. He couldn't afford to assume anything about this latest couple's departure, however. They could be gone five minutes or the rest of the night. He would assume the latter.
It was time to gamble. Fisher went back into the guest bedroom and found the unconscious man's Hawaiian shirt lying beside the bed. He slipped it on over his tac suit, then went out the front sliding doors, paused to put aside his rifle, pistol, and Tridents, then took a deep breath and walked to the terrace steps, careful to allow only his head and shoulders to appear over the cliff's edge.
"Hey, Chucky, phone!" he called through cupped hands in his best British accent.
In unison, the group around the pool stopped and looked up at him.
Fisher felt his heart lurch. After five long seconds of silence, Zahm yelled back, "Don't call me that, damn it! I told you!"
Oops. Fisher gave a mea culpa shrug of his shoulders, then shouted, "Phone for you!"
Zahm handed his drink to one of the girls and headed for the stairs. Fisher sprinted back to the villa, scooped up his gear, and then returned to the hallway where he shed the Hawaiian shirt. He brought up the SC pistol, took a step forward. The sliding door whooshed open, then banged shut. When Zahm appeared in the living room and started toward the kitchen, where the phone was located, Fisher tracked him for two seconds, then fired. The dart hit Zahm beneath the right earlobe. He gasped, stumbled; then his knees went out from under him and he collapsed. Fisher crossed to him and snagged him by the collar and dragged him down the hall into the master bedroom, where he flex-cuffed his hands and feet. Five down or out of the picture.
He gave Zahm a quick pat down and found a Colt .25 semiautomatic pistol in his waistband. This complicated things. If the boss was armed, the underlings would be armed. Probably. Another assumption Fisher had to make. He considered trying a Cottonball shot, but the distance and the wind made accurate hits difficult. He would need to get close and dart them. And that was iffy. Even in their drunken state, the remaining three men were ex-SAS. They'd lived and breathed firearms for many years; even if they were drunk, Fisher didn't put his odds above 50 percent.
Alternatives, he thought.
The kernel of an idea formed in his head.
He found the servants' changing room, a small closet off the laundry room, by the garage door, and found a white smock and a pair of khaki pants and sandals that fit reasonably well, then went to the kitchen.
SITTING on the counter were a dozen liquor bottles, but the emptiest ones seemed to be those needed for mojitos. Perhaps it was time for a special Sam Fisher concoction. He found a glass pitcher in one of the cabinets, mixed up a batch of mojitos, then set it aside and turned to his SC-20. How many? he wondered. Three men, four women, all already drunk . . . He ejected five Cottonballs from the rifle's modular magazine, dropped them in the pitcher, and then, using a long grilling fork, probed the liquid until he'd perforated all the Cottonballs. He waited three minutes to let the tranquilizer diffuse, then gave the pitcher a good stir, added ice, found a silver tray and six highball mugs, and poured. Finally, he shoved the SC pistol into his waistband and headed for t
he door. He paused before the foyer mirror to check himself, then stepped out.
He was halfway down the terrace steps before he was noticed. Welcoming shouts and cheers rose from the group around the pool, and by the time Fisher reached the deck they were walking toward him. Fisher's Portuguese was rudimentary, but his French was better, so he switched mental gears and said in French-accented, halting Portuguese, "Mojitos. Senhor Zahm's compliments."
The sweating glasses disappeared from the tray. Fisher turned to leave but was stopped short by a shout from one of Zahm's men: "Hey, I thought Charles gave you guys the night off."
Fisher turned. "No, sir. I am here."
"You're not Alberto." The man pointed a wobbly finger at the embroidered name on Fisher's smock.
"No, senhor. Pierre." Fisher gave the man a subservient smile.
"Huh. Pierre."
"Yes, senhor."
"Okay, then. Keep 'em coming, Pierre."
"Yes, senhor."
Fisher walked back to the steps and started upward. When the curve of the stairs blocked the pool area from view, he stopped, crouched down, and set aside the tray. He crab-walked back down until he could again see the pool. He was under no illusion about his Cottonball ruse: The tranquilizer would probably not be enough to render everyone unconscious. What it would do--what he was now seeing--was effectively double the group's inebriation level and give him the advantage he needed. One of the women, the skinniest of the group, was the first to react, stumbling toward a chaise lounge, where she collapsed, giggling and holding her mojito glass aloft in a babbled toast.
Fisher gave it another ninety seconds, then retrieved his tray and trotted back down the steps. As he walked onto the deck, he held the tray up to shoulder height with his left hand as though announcing the arrival of another round, while reaching behind him and gripping the butt of the SC with his right hand. He walked directly to the densest cluster of people--two of the men and two of the women--and closed the distance to ten feet before he was noticed.