by Sid K
She walked up to the main door where another policeman stood. He opened the door for her with a big smile and she took the elevator to the fifth floor. This is where Dvyet had indicated that Sayett would meet her. She walked into the main conference room—which was usually used by the House of Banks for their meetings—and put her purse on the table as she relaxed back in the middle chair. There was no one around, so she decided to read through the report she had been given earlier. Just as she had finished reading half of it, three men walked into the room.
“Hello Slyntya,” Sayett said. “I was delighted to hear that you were assigned as the supervising Constellar.”
“I am excited to work on this.” She smiled widely. “I could have come to the SPASI Headquarters.”
“We have to pick up some files,” he said and then turned to the two junior detectives with him. “Boys, go grab everything from our lists. Constellar Dvyet said it would be in the room behind this.” He pointed to a large wooden door behind Slyntya. The two junior detectives went to that room to collect the material.
“How is the colonel?” Sayett asked as he pulled himself a chair.
“Sthykar went down south to buy some forest land and enjoy a hunting trip with some of his friends,” she replied. “The Constellation is in full session now and I was going to be busy with the House of Banks work, so he decided to take half of his vacation days from Army last week and next and join his friends for the hunt.”
“Great,” Sayett said, “Now, have you read through that report much?” He pointed to the folder on the table in front of her.
“A few pages. Sayett, how did you end up on a bank robbery case? You had told us that you were the Chief Detective for Narducat Empire matters.”
“Still am; just taking a hiatus. The Nardi’s are behaving these days, a lull there; and then a group of eight bankers along with the head of House of Banks, your Constellar Dvyet, met my boss SPASI Chief Yucker over lunch a while back. They requested me to take over the case.”
“I am sure they said something like ‘put your best detective on the case’ and Yucker assigned you.” She laughed.
“Well, I have a decent record,” he replied modestly. “Those eight bankers are owners or head managers of eight of the top twenty biggest banks in this country. You don’t say ‘no’ to that kind of a group. The bank robberies are police jurisdiction, but since the bankers themselves wanted the SPASI to take over, it is now under our jurisdiction.”
“What is with assigning a Constellar like me to this?”
“Constellation likes to watch over our shoulders sometimes,” Sayett chuckled. “In cases of political importance. They think we might hide stuff, or that we are not particularly forthcoming. They don’t understand that we can no more spend time explaining nitty-gritty details of spy or detective work to them than a doctor can spend time explaining chemical reactions to his patients. You take the medicine and you evaluate the doctor based on the result. Same with us, all we ask is, let us do our work and then judge us based on our results.”
“Well, I have no intentions of looking over your shoulders or getting in your way.”
“But, don’t feel hesitant to ask questions whenever and get answers. You are our political boss. SPASI detectives and supervising Constellars don’t always get along. That is why they put you here because your husband is a good friend of mine and they know that we will work well together.”
“Well, I am glad I do not have to sit on those House of Banks meetings. They talk about tedious details of finance and money, argue over minor changes in the interest rates or the loan default rates. I am poring over bank balance sheets while Colonel Sthykar is running around living an adventurous life; finally I get to have my adventure, too.”
“I hope this will be more exciting for you than the bank supervision,” Sayett said. “You did not want to be on the House of Banks, did you?”
“No way. As you know I am an atomic scientist and wanted to be on the House of Atom; but they said that was too strategically important for a new Constellar because it involved creating procedures for the approval of the use of atomics in war.”
The two junior detectives returned, each carrying a large wooden cardboard box with stacks of files piled in them.
“Alright, let go to the SPASI headquarters,” Sayett said getting up. “We will talk on the way.”
Sayett and Slyntya followed the junior detectives out of the building. They had parked their car right outside the door. The two detectives put the boxes in the trunk, and then got in the front seats. Sayett and Slyntya sat in the back as they took off to the headquarters.
“Getting back to what we were talking about,” Sayett began, “that is how the Constellation assigns its first time Constellars. You will have your pick the second time around. It most likely has nothing to do with your being from the Karaln Nation; that would not matter for the wife of our national hero.”
“Speaking of Sthykar,” she said looking out of the window. “One of the Constellars said that Sthykar himself would have to make phone calls to powerful Constellars or to the King if I really wanted to get on the House of Atom this year. But I did not feel that was right and Sthykar himself had told me that he was not going to help me in any dishonorable manner and that I had to make it on my own.”
“That’s Colonel Sthykar for you,” Sayett said smiling. “But if the second time around, you don’t get on the House of Atom, let me know. I don’t have the same name and fame as Sthykar, but I do have lots of high level political contacts. I may not be able to call the King directly on the phone like Sthykar could, but I can still reach him. You sure have the qualifications and I will make the phone calls for you if needed.”
“Grateful, though I hope I won’t need it.” She turned around and smiled. They arrived at the SPASI headquarters just as they had finished their conversation. The junior detective driving the car showed his card to the guards and then drove the car into the parking basement below the headquarters building.
chapter 11 – the investigation
On the eleventh floor of the SPASI Headquarters in a corner room was Sayett’s personal office. However, the investigation into the bank robberies was being conducted out of one of the conference rooms in the center of that floor. As she walked in, everyone looked at her and a few smiled. Sayett directed Slyntya to a seat at the head of a large table. She took her seat, put her purse on the table and looked around. There was a blackboard right in front of them and a few small desks and chairs near the side walls. The table had a large map of the Starfire Nation spread out in front of her, and the detectives sitting around the table were poring over file folders.
“This is Constellar Slyntya,” Sayett said as he stood beside her chair. “She is from the House of Banks and our political boss. Answer all her questions without hesitation or hiding anything.”
“Thanks, Sayett,” she said with a wide smile and looked down the table. “I trust your abilities. I will try to not get in the way.”
“Let me introduce them,” Sayett said. He pointed to the man on his left and said, “This is senior detective Ulyett and in front of him...,” he indicated the man directly across the table “...is senior detective Wyker. And those are junior detectives Avyk, Dyktat, Lutvyk, Iyatt, Hympat and Gyptar,” he said nodding towards the detectives at the front side of the table. They were all young men in their twenties and smiled at Slyntya and she acknowledged them with a nod.
“Where is Zurryvk?” Sayett asked Wyker and said to Slyntya, “He is the third senior detective and final member of this investigation team.”
“The man from Eye of Ranx arrived,” Wyker said, “Zurryvk took him to make an international phone call back to his family at Ranx.”
“Great,” Sayett said, “We have everyone then.”
“What is Eye of Ranx?” Slyntya asked.
“Our SPASI’s equivalent in Ranx,” Sayett said, “their spy and detective department. We had requested they send over someone exper
ienced to help us since all the bank robbers have been Ranx gunmen.”
The next moment the door behind of Sayett opened and senior detective Zurryvk enter along with a Ranxian.
“You must be from the Eye of Ranx?” Sayett said. “Come on over and join us here at the table for a moment.”
The man walked over to the table and stood at the left side of Sayett. He was a tall and lanky man in his fifty’s, his face had wrinkles and his chin had started sagging slightly, his eyes were big, deep and caved in, and his hair had only slightly receded with one strand coming over his forehead.
“I am Lenax Tanx,” he said, “It is very unfortunate that gunmen from my country are robbing your banks and I am here to help you catch them.”
“Tell us about your position Mr. Lenax, and also about the Ranx underworld,” Sayett said.
“I am third from the top in Eye of Ranx,” Lenax said and then slightly chuckled. “That sounds more impressive than it is. There are eighteen of us at that rank. I work in the gangs department or what you call syndicates in Starfire Nation. I used to be a field detective, put in my years and now work a desk job collecting and archiving material on the Ranx underworld. That is why they sent me; I have brought more than five thousand photographs of known gangsters and gunmen who are not in jail and not dead.” He pointed to a stack of boxes that had been piled up near a table beside the wall behind him.
“How does your underworld get its hands on automatic rifles?” Sayett asked him.
“Unfortunately,” Lenax hesitated a bit and then continued, “we have corruption in our army. Some officers report a few Ranx rifles missing after the training exercises but they actually sell them to the underworld.”
“Alright, Zurryvk you work with Lenax over at that table,” he pointed to the desk and chairs near the stack of boxes of the photos. “Show him the pictures we have of the dead robbers and compare them to the pictures that he brought with him.”
Zurryvk and Lenax went to the stack, grabbed the first box of photos and emptied it on the desk.
“I train junior detectives alongside our investigation,” Sayett said to Slyntya and then walked over to the blackboard in front of the table and picked up a chalk.
“Listen up junior detectives,” he said to the young detectives sitting in front of the table, “You were given training before you became a detective,” Sayett said, “But we also teach you on the job. Let’s have a lesson,” he said and smiled at them. They dropped their papers and pens, sat back in their seats and faced him. Slyntya was also interested and she leaned forward. The two senior detectives at the table continued their work.
“Detective work is all about pattern recognition,” Sayett said and then turned around and wrote ‘Pattern Recognition’ on the blackboard behind him. “And when it’s not about pattern recognition, it is about finding missing pieces of the puzzle.” He wrote ‘Missing Pieces of Puzzle’ on the board. “This investigation is all about finding patterns,” he said, took an eraser and wiped off ‘Missing Pieces of Puzzle’, leaving only the first phrase on it.
“Alright, juniors, Why is pattern recognition so important?”
“Because criminals leave behind patterns,” Hympat replied.
“And why is that?” Sayett asked.
The junior detectives hesitated then Lutvyk said, “Man is a creature of habit and acting in habitual ways creates patterns.”
“Right,” Sayett said, “Now spies are trained to operate in a manner that will minimize their patterns. Fortunately, we are dealing with criminals here and not spies. We have other techniques for detecting spies. If you get assigned to a case with spies, you will learn more about them. Now, tell me the patterns we have noticed so far in this case.”
“They are all Ranxians,” Avyk blurted out quickly. A couple others chuckled.
“An obvious one,” Sayett said. “Nevertheless, it helps us narrow down our search.”
“They are robbing bank branches that were near the vicinity of the headquarters of the local warrior class, but the headquarters had recently been relocated or moved for renovations,” Dyktat said. “Those branches kept large amounts of cash in their vault because they were counting on warrior protection.”
“Great,” Sayett said. “There are two patterns in what you spoke of. First, they are only afraid of the warriors, but not bank guards or town police. That, along with their automatic rifles and tactical fighting ability has convinced me that they are no regular underworld gunmen but mercenaries, perhaps former Ranx soldiers. Secondly, there is the question of why would anybody rich enough to hire men like these and carry out well executed operations would bother robbing banks? This is the other pattern. What did we talk about earlier?”
“We concluded that they are not after just money, but Starfirian money in particular,” Iyatt said, “our currency.”
“And why did we conclude that?” Sayett asked.
“Because since they are a foreign syndicate they would not have access to Starfirian currency,” Iyatt said. “They can apply to the Trade Control Board to exchange currency, but posing as tourists they would only get chump sum. If they pretended to be a company, they would be investigated by the Board before they got permission to exchange large amounts of the Ranx currency for the Starfirian currency. Then even if they are rich back in their home country, they would still need a lot of stars to set up their operations here.”
“Great,” Sayett said, “Finally, the last pattern—”
Sayett was interrupted by the cacophonous ring of the phone on the table next to senior detective Wyker. Wyker picked up the phone and conversed for a minute and then hung it up.
“That was Chief Detective Tyft for you,” Wyker said to Sayett, “He said Black Star wants to talk.”
“Great,” Sayett said. “Let’s hold on to this lesson,” he said to the junior detectives, threw the chalk on the table and hurried to the door. Before exiting he said, “Tyft is head of our Counter-Syndicate Division. Looks like Mr. Barryvk actually came through.”
The counter-syndicate division was located on the fifth floor. Sayett walked all the way down the corridor to the corner office on the left, exactly below his own office two floors above, and found Chief Detective Tyft sitting on his table and holding the phone, with his hand over the speaker.
“Mr. Barryvk wants to talk to you,” he said and handed the phone to Sayett. He got off of the table and sat down in his chair.
“Mr. Barryvk, this is Sayett; I came over to your home a few days ago.”
“That’s you,” Mr. Barryvk said, “I have been asking questions. Sending my man Syk to various places to get some answers. He has been hearing whispers about a foreign company. Might be related to these bank robbers of yours.”
“Great,” Sayett said, “What are these whispers?”
“Speaking of it, I almost forgot,” Mr. Barryvk lightly chuckled. “Three boys I know were picked up by SPASI a while back. One of them is a son of a distant cousin of mine. You know how we were in the younger days—reckless.”
“Reckless sure,” Sayett said, “but not lawless, at least not me, I don’t know about you.” Mr. Barryvk didn’t say anything. Sayett did not want to lose him, so asked, “Alright, what were they booked for?”
“Buying some smuggled contraband,” Mr. Barryvk said.
“Mr. Barryvk hold on,” he said, “stay on the phone for a few. That is not my division; I have to talk to Mr. Tyft.”
Sayett then turned to Tyft who was listening in on their phone conversation on another receiver. Both of them covered the phone speakers with their hands.
“As if they were just some buyers,” Tyft laughed, “SPASI doesn’t bother with small time violations like that; we would let town police deal with that. Those three boys were running a smuggling operation. Wholesale buying from the smugglers and sending it out to the contraband peddlers across the region.”
“Have they been convicted yet?” Sayett asked.
“Not yet, their trial is
coming up, though,” Tyft said, “Sayett, you and I worked together for a few years when you were in this division, you were even my boss for half of that time. I trust you. How important is this information to you?”
“Important to me? Personally?” Sayett said. “Hardly. But important enough for Chief Yucker to give me this case. Important enough that we have a Constellar overseeing our investigation.”
“Alright then,” Tyft said. “I will order their release and cancel the booking.”
“Grateful,” Sayett said and then spoke into the phone. “Mr. Barryvk, we will let those three go. Now, tell me what have you heard?”
“About a year back a company from Ranx wanted to exchange their currency for ours, large amounts, which is against the law to do without permission,” Barryvk said, “They were willing to pay a large premium for it. Well, we didn’t take them up on the offer, because Ranx currency is no good except when dealing with Ranx Nation’s companies because they are a small time player in world trade. Besides we would have to break it up in small parts to avoid attention from the trade board. So I said why bother with all the efforts for pocket change profit.”
“What do you know about that company?” Sayett asked.
“That is what I knew before, but I hadn’t made a connection till you visited me, and till I sent out Syk to find out more.”
“I hope he stayed within bounds,” Sayett said.
“Within reasonable bounds, but you know how Syk is.” Mr. Barryvk let out a rumble of laughter.
“So tell me what Syk heard,” Sayett said.
“Whispers have it that some rich guy from Ranx paid off smugglers to sneak in men as well as automatic rifles into our country,” Barryvk said, “I seem to remember there was a rich guy from Ranx behind this company I talked about earlier.”