Vengeance Is Personal (A Colton James Novel, Book 2)

by Thomas DePrima

  When Vinny called I used the gizmo to verify he was parked where I had told him to wait. He was. And there was no indication that there was anyone with him. His guys were completely out of sight in the van. I gave him a new address and instructed him on where he should park the van to be close to the skip's home. I watched as he drove the van and parked exactly where I said.

  "Okay, Vinny. The skip is in his apartment. It looks like he's getting ready to eat a late breakfast. No, wait. He's pulling on a jacket. I think he's getting ready to leave. Stand by."

  I watched as the skip finished dressing by opening a drawer and removing a 9mm automatic, sticking it in the waistband at the small of his back. Then he removed a small-caliber revolver and stuck it in his right calf-length boot. A straight-edge went into the left boot. Fully dressed and armed, he headed for the door.

  I filled Vinny in on the weapons he would be facing and their locations. Then it was simply a matter of seeing where the skip went.

  Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you're unlucky. This time Vinny got lucky. The van was parked on the same side of the street as the skip's residence, just three houses down, and the skip headed in that direction. Vinny, with his painter's cap pulled down, was bent over two gallon-sized paint cans on the sidewalk, ostensibly trying to open them. The skip walked right past him without paying him the slightest notice. Vinny stood and spun, then leapt onto the skip's back while the other guys opened the van door and piled out. Vinny had the guy down on the sidewalk with his two-hundred-plus pounds of muscle preventing the skip from getting to his feet. He had his arms wrapped around the skip, which prevented him from reaching any of his hidden weapons. The other guys were on the skip in seconds as well. If this had been a game of football, they might have been penalized for piling on. But using their weight to squash the target to the ground was an effective technique when dealing with an armed drug-pusher because it quickly ended all resistance.

  In under a minute the skip was disarmed and handcuffed. The guys locked him in the small cell in the back of the van and the excitement was over for another day. They stripped off their disguises so their uniforms would be clearly visible to local residents who might have seen the activity and called the police. One of them also removed the phony magnetic signs so their law enforcement team logo showed everyone that they were just performing a legal recovery of a wanted and dangerous felon. Most of the recovery team was white, and the narcotics dealer was black, so it was expected that the recovery might make the news if anyone had recorded it with their cell phone.

  Vinny wanted to get out of the area before the local activists and protestors showed up, so he had his guys pile into the van. As they started to pull away from the curb, one young guy who had observed the arrest did jump in front of the van in an effort to stop it. But Vinny's driver faked him out by turning the wheel to the right, and then quickly drove around him on the left. The young man was left shaking his fist at the van after throwing a rock he found in the gutter at the quickly disappearing vehicle.

  "Thanks, Colt," Vinny said as they headed for the freeway. "You made that about the easiest grab of a narcotics felon we've had in a long time. I wish we had you available for every recovery. By the way, just where the hell are you?"

  "Not all that far, Vinny. Tell Harris I'll call him later. I've got to get back to work on the insurance case I'm working. Good luck to you and the guys. I'm glad no one was hurt."

  "You and me both, pal. Take care."

  After the call ended, I sat back and took a deep breath. It had been an exciting few minutes. Even though I was never in any danger myself, I knew my heart had been racing. The guys who actually did the collecting felt like an extension of my body when I was watching the action and warning them about the dangers. It was like watching an exciting movie that had successfully drawn me into the action. There was no personal danger, but I felt a part of it just the same.

  With the excitement over, it was time to get back to the mundane tasks. I checked on the cargo van left by the storage facility and discovered it was now gone. Backtracking through time, I learned that it had been moved as soon as the facility opened. The leader of the operation and the driver of the van had offloaded their booty into a formerly empty storage locker. Before Vinny and the guys had even tackled the skip, the storage locker had been sealed and the cargo van had disappeared into the growing traffic as local residents began their work day.

  I knew who had committed the theft and where the stolen items were. All I needed now was to identify the mastermind behind the theft and the person who provided the information about the security room and schedule of the family. They might even be the same person. And who better to plan a robbery than a family member who would be far away during the robbery? Someone may have had more to gain than the value of the awards and memorabilia.

  It was almost noon, so I decided to have lunch before wrapping up my investigation. A full stomach would make it easier to think up a pretense for how I had solved the case.

  There was a Chinese restaurant listed on the page the desk clerk had given me, so I checked it out. It was busy, which was always a good recommendation, so I sat down and ordered a dinner of shrimp with lobster sauce over white rice. There were a few too many bamboo shoots in the lobster sauce to suit me, but I pushed them aside and ate the rest. It was good, and if I stayed in town, I would return at some point for another meal.

  Back at the hotel I had just sat down to work again when I suddenly had a thought. I quickly checked the accommodations of the eight robbers. Every one of them appeared to be gone. The rooms and the closets, where I could see inside, were empty of all personal possessions. They had skipped town. But had they really left all their loot behind? I reset the gizmo to the time when the thieves were cleaning out the houses and tagged four of the larger items. Then I jumped ahead to the present time. All four of the tagged items were inside the storage locker, even though it was too dark inside for me to see them. So the robbery team was gone but had left at least some of their loot behind. Perhaps they feared police roadblocks or something where all vans would be searched. Or perhaps they had been hired just to pull the job and store the loot for a third party. They might have been paid off and were now enjoying the fruits of their one night's work.

  Well, it wasn't a tragedy. I knew who they were, and with the gizmo I could locate them at any time. I decided to write up my report for Saul Fodor. The insurance company was more interested in getting the stolen items returned quickly than in knowing who had committed the crime, but I gave him the names of the thieves as a bonus.

  When I finished the report I sent a copy to the business email address of Saul's secretary. As always, I didn't like 'solving' cases this quickly, but I wanted to make sure all of the stolen items were accounted for before I left for home. Plus I had a definite personal interest in stealing any possible thunder from Danners. I suspected he would fly into a rage when he learned I had found the missing items and named the robbers, but perhaps that would be a good lesson to him that cooperating with other professionals could be beneficial. If he had, I wouldn't have cut him out of the picture so completely in my report.

  As much as I wanted to head back to New York, I also had to wait until I heard from Saul. He might want me to notify Georgie personally or represent the insurance company in seeking a search warrant of the storage locker. So, with nothing presently left to do in Memphis for the moment, I called Mia.

  "Darling, where are you? New York?"

  "Still in Memphis, sweetheart."

  "Are you coming home today? I miss you."

  "It doesn't look good for today, but I should be home tomorrow. Any trouble?"

  "It can wait until you get home."

  "What is it? Marcus?"

  "Um, sort of."

  "What's that mean? Come on, tell me."

  "My uncle called. He had his investigators look into the marriage. Officially, I'm still married to Marcus. When I explained what happened at the lawyer's
office, Uncle Yannis went wild and started cursing. He said he was going to track Marcus down and kill him."

  "His anger is understandable. What Marcus did was despicable. He apparently felt that as long as he remained married to you, he'd be able to siphon money out of you. And if you passed away before he did, he might inherit your fortune."

  "No, that last part couldn't happen. The prenuptial agreement covered that. If I pass on before Marcus, he doesn't get a single Euro. Uncle Yannis wanted to make sure Marcus had no reason to kill me, and, in fact, he wanted Marcus to make sure nothing ever happened to me. Uncle never trusted Marcus."

  "I applaud his instincts. So what's the next step?"

  "Uncle Yannis is filing a petition on my behalf for a divorce. He's going to name the law clerk who participated in the scheme as a conspirator in preventing me from already having gotten a divorce. Uncle Yannis said I should come home so I can testify if necessary."

  "When?"

  "He wants me to come right away. Today."

  "What about our vacation?"

  "I'm sorry, darling."

  "No, baby, it's okay. We want to get this settled once and for all. We can vacation after it's over. It'll be like both a vacation and a celebration. Do you want me to go with you?"

  "I'd love for you to come with me and meet my whole family. I know Uncle Yannis will love you. Everyone will love you as much as I do."

  "I'd love to meet your family, and I'm ready to leave here now, but— I have to wait until I hear back from Saul. Has Marcus tried to contact you?"

  "No, not since that day in the restaurant. I told my bodyguards I don't want them to let him get anywhere near me."

  "Good. Listen, why don't you make your reservations for a flight to Greece? I'll wrap up things here and try to catch a late flight up to New York tonight, or early tomorrow if I get delayed."

  "Reservations for two?"

  "Don't forget your bodyguards. We may need them if things are as tumultuous in Greece as the media is reporting."

  "Okay. I'll make the reservations as soon as we're through talking."

  We were on the phone for about another half hour, but it was mostly small talk about inconsequential things that had happened during the time I was in Tennessee and her shopping trip where she purchased a small painting that was perfect for the co-op.

  The call was a pleasant interruption to a boring day, but I still had work to do, so following the call I activated the gizmo again and began my search for the person who planned the robbery and the individuals who provided the insider information about the security room and the family's absence on that night. I might be looking for just one person, but I felt there were two or more individuals still unnamed.

  I was still working an hour later when my phone announced that Saul was calling.

  "Hi, Saul."

  "Colt, do I understand you've solved the case already?"

  "I was anxious to wrap it up. I was supposed to go to Fiji in a couple of weeks."

  "And now you're not going?"

  "I'm probably going to Greece instead."

  "I'd go to Fiji. This isn't a good time to vacation in Greece. The economy there is on the verge of possible collapse."

  "I can't avoid it. My girl believed she was divorced from her husband two years ago. We learned this week that the papers were never filed. She has to go there to try to get the divorce pushed through."

  "You're talking about the lovely Mia Kosarros?"

  "Yes. Things have been getting serious between us. Her not being divorced came as quite a shock to both of us."

  "I can imagine. Does this mean you'll be retiring to become a member of the jet set?"

  "I don't think that's likely to happen."

  "With a wife worth more than thirty billion, you certainly wouldn't have to work ever again."

  "Thirty billion? I knew she was wealthy, but that's more than I expected. However, if the Greek economy collapses, we may have to rely on my ability to provide for us."

  "Her fortune isn't dependent on the stability of the Greek economy. The parent company of the conglomerate is actually a Swiss corporation headquartered in Bern. Her father began distributing the family assets to closely held corporations all over the globe soon after he gained control from his father. He was a brilliant entrepreneur. He took a very good business and made it into an operation that's the envy of the shipping world. It's too bad he died so young. It would have been interesting to see how far he could have gone. I imagine by now he would own airline companies, trucking companies, and who knows what else. Perhaps you should take over the reins of the company when you're married. Yannis Kosarros is getting on in years."

  "Saul, we haven't even discussed marriage."

  "Really? From what I've heard, it's all set except for the date."

  "Oh? And where have you heard that?"

  "Colt, whenever you're out and about town, the beautiful Miss Kosarros is on your arm. You two seem to be inseparable. Everyone is waiting for the wedding announcement."

  "Well, that won't be coming any time soon. Bigamy is still against the law in much of the civilized world."

  "Your lovely lady won't have any trouble getting a divorce in Greece. They'll be tripping over themselves to keep the family happy. The company may not be reliant on the Greek economy, but the Greek economy is reliant on the Kosarros conglomerate. When a country's economy is teetering on the brink, the loss of a major corporation can send it into a nosedive. If Yannis Kosarros closed down the company's docks and warehouses, the ripple effect could cause the Greek unemployment rate to rise from the present twenty-five percent to fifty percent practically overnight. Trust me, your young lady will have no trouble getting a divorce decree."

  "If you don't need me down here any longer, I'd like to head home."

  "Perhaps you should stick around until the arrests are made."

  "Too late. The thieves have already cleared out."

  "But the insured items are still there?"

  "As far as I know. We can't be sure until we get a search warrant for the storage facility locker and open it up. But I'm reasonably certain everything is intact."

  "And how can you be so confident about that?"

  "I have my sources."

  "Which means you're not going to tell me."

  "If I tell you, and you tell somebody else, and he tells somebody else— well, pretty soon I wouldn't be the world's greatest recovery expert any longer."

  I tried to say it in an amusing way, and I heard Fodor laugh, so I assumed he wasn't insulted that I wouldn't take him into my confidence.

  "Okay, Colt. I'll just trust you. I'm going to get our lawyers in on the act and have them contact the DA down there about getting a search warrant. Hang around until we know what's going on. I'll send the company jet to pick you up when the police confirm they have the insured items. Perhaps you could drive over to the estate and tell the insured individual that recovery is imminent?"

  "If that's what you want."

  "I do."

  "Okay, I'll take care of that as soon as we're through talking."

  "Good. I'm done. Give him my best."

  "I will Saul. Talk to you later."

  Knowing Saul was aware I was the one who had identified where the stolen awards and memorabilia were located meant that nothing Danners could say would matter. He could sputter and trip over his tongue trying to say how he knew where the loot was hidden all the time and was waiting until the thieves returned to check on it before his people pounced. I really didn't care who got the credit as long as I got the ten percent of the policy amount.

  After turning over fifty percent to the government, I would be able to pay another million dollars off my mortgage and still have enough to party with Mia for at least a few months. I'd say that life was good if I'd concluded my business with Delcona. I had tried to stop plotting my revenge and put him temporarily out of my mind so I could concentrate on other tasks, but he was never very far from my thoughts. The gover
nment surveillance was keeping him in check for the time being, but I knew he'd come after me again at some point. I just had to be ready to turn the tables on him and plant him six feet under when he made his move.

  But right now I had other matters to attend to. I called Mia and told her I couldn't come with her but that I'd join her on Thasos as soon as I could. She was disappointed but accepted that I had to finish my work in Tennessee before I could leave the U.S. Then I called the resort in Fiji and cancelled the reservations. They issued me a credit for half the reservation fee that would be applied if I made new reservations within sixty days. I thought that was very generous of them because I had expected to lose the entire fee.

  * * *

  Chapter Fifteen

  I didn't recognize the guard at the gated entrance to Georgie's estate. He wasn't the one on duty last time I was here, and it wasn't either of the pair who had been drugged the night of the robbery. I stopped the car and held out my FBI ID as he stepped out of the booth and leaned over to look into the car.

  "FBI?"

  "Just tell your boss that Colton James is here to see him."

  The guard nodded and walked into the booth. I saw him make the call and waited until he was given his orders. The gate started to open as the guard came out of the booth and said, "Go ahead up to the house, Special Agent James."

  "Thank you," I said as I put the car in drive. I held my foot on the brake until the gate was open wide enough to accommodate the car, then drove slowly up to the house. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still shining. It had been a great day in many ways.

  Georgie was standing in the doorway as I walked up onto the portico. "Colt, welcome back."

  "Thanks, Georgie. How are you doing?"

  "Still feeling a little low. I've had to hire temporary staff to stand in for my employees who were drugged. They're going to be okay, but I gave them a month off with pay to recuperate."

  "Is Danners still around?"

  "Nope. He and his people left yesterday."