by Cole Reid
The CIA had never declared Juric dead because his cause of death was left undetermined. During the Siege of Sarajevo, the body and the uniform were enough. Sarajevo in the early to mid-nineties wasn’t the place for formalities. A dead body in uniform was a dead man. If the dead man showed up, his story could be re-written. But Jusuf Juric hadn’t shown up, until Xiaoyu confirmed the photograph of the young man was Aleksandar Stojanovic.
“You’re sure,” said Mason.
“Sure because I saw him this morning,” said Xiaoyu.
“This changes things,” said Mason.
“Is Valgani still priority?” asked Xiaoyu.
“I don’t know,” said Mason, “I’ll need to think about that. We may not just need to identify Valgani. We may also need Valgani’s help.”
“You want the buyer as well?” asked Xiaoyu.
“Juric is a war criminal,” said Mason, “Finding him isn’t a win if we don’t bring him in.”
“What about the shipment?” asked Xiaoyu.
“It’s on schedule,” said Mason.
“I’m still trying to find Valgani?” asked Xiaoyu.
“Until further notice,” said Mason. Xiaoyu and Mason hung up the phone at the same time. Xiaoyu put his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes, but had trouble sleeping. He kept his thoughts on Valgani. Aleksandar Stojanovic had been identified already but Valgani was still an open question—open-ended. Was Valgani interested in spying still? Mitchum’s death had given Valgani a way out of being a double agent and a way back into the fold. Reporting to Mitchum put Valgani at risk. One thing was certain, Valgani was no longer reporting to Mitchum. Xiaoyu thought of something chilling. Jusuf Juric is Valgani. It would explain why Mitchum had been so cryptic about Valgani. Xiaoyu’s eyes opened quickly when he realized he forgot to remove the polymer bonded to his skin. He sprayed his arms, neck and chest. He used a towel to clear the skin-colored flakes and free his dragons. When the skin paint came off so did Alain Metayer. Xiaoyu returned to the spot he had earned, his bed.
Xiaoyu woke up earlier than usual. Random thoughts went through his mind. He cleared his thoughts like he had done before cage fights. He made a sandwich out of smoked sausage and buttered bread. It was late enough in the morning for hot water to be available in the eating area. Xiaoyu retrieved hot water for his tea. His breakfast was had in his room, only self-made sandwiches, nothing from the hotel’s buffet. He spent the day in his room. He had given Aleksandar all the information Mason had given him, enough to retrieve the shipment. The phone in his room rang at two minutes to four o’clock in the afternoon. It was reception, relaying a call from Filip Grebo. Xiaoyu accepted the call. Filip gave Xiaoyu instructions to wait on a red Alfa Romeo GTV Twin Spark out front. Xiaoyu dressed in the same jeans, same jacket but different shirt—blue with a collar. He went to the waiting area and waited less than ten minutes before the red Alfa showed in front of the hotel.
Going out the door, he could see a silhouette formed by the early morning sun piercing the tinted window from the opposite side of the car. The silhouette seemed familiar. If he had to guess he would have said it was Filip driving the car. He opened the Alfa’s passenger door, proving himself correct. He extended his right had toward Filip. The two men shook hands without much interruption. The door closed and the Alfa headed off toward Novo Sarajevo. Filip idled the car in the parking lot of a four-story building that had long facades. The building was still under construction, evident from the lack of cars, lack of landscaping and the Sejad Mehmedovic AEC sign in front. Filip had the key to the door. The elevator wasn’t operational so they took the stairs to the third floor. The halls were unadorned sheet rock with nail heads still visible. Filip and Xiaoyu walked down a long uncarpeted hallway and turned to see the other side. A long corridor looking much like the one they had just walked across was waiting on the other side. Brown paper was taped over the windows. The vacuumed wrapped FAMAS rifles were organized on the far side, all 200 pieces. Aleksandar and another man and woman were waiting. Xiaoyu walked over to the weapons like he had seen them before. He used a key in his pocket to poke through the vacuum-sealed wrapper. He tore through the wrapping like an animal carcass. Using a short round key, he unlocked the black device on the trigger guard. The magazines were already in place.
“Where’s your target?” asked Xiaoyu.
“There,” the woman pointed to the end of the corridor where a white and black paper target was mounted on a roll of insulation with cement bag reinforcement. Aleksander started a circular saw and held it in his hand.
“What’s the distance?” asked Xiaoyu.
“fifty-five meters,” said the woman. Xiaoyu carried the rifle by the handguard to line up in front of the target. He quickly adjusted the rifle into a ready firing position and squeezed eight rounds into the target, accurate over the distance. He handed the rifle to the woman.
“Point and click,” said Xiaoyu. The woman fired more rounds than Xiaoyu before checking her score. Xiaoyu walked back to the opposite wall and skinned two more rifles. Unlocking them, he carried them to their new masters handing one to Filip and the remainder to the other man. Both men took turns firing at the target.
“Half squeeze the trigger, you’ll get more accuracy,” said Xiaoyu. The sound of the circular saw began to come uncomfortably close to Xiaoyu’s left ear. Aleksandar turned off the saw and approached Xiaoyu from the left side.
“We need you to go replace the target,” said Aleksandar.
“Your house, your housekeeping,” said Xiaoyu, “I’m the salesman. I’m not the housekeeper.”
“We’ll buy,” said Aleksandar, “We just need a new target.” Xiaoyu grabbed the muzzle of Filip’s rifle with his left hand and aimed the rifle at the other man, Filip’s brother. Confusion sat in with Filip. His immediate instinct was to fire but the barrel was aimed at his brother. Before thoughts had time to gel, Xiaoyu hit Filip in the side-jaw with his right elbow. Holding the barrel up, forced Filip to tilt his head back. Xiaoyu kicked the back of Filip’s knee as his rifle sounded off leaving six rounds in the ceiling. Xiaoyu put his right hand on the handguard and yanked the rifle out of Filip’s hand, hitting him in the side of the head with the rifle butt. As Filip fell to the floor, Xiaoyu grabbed Aleksandar by the shirt with his left hand and elbowed him in the face with his right arm still cradling the rifle. Putting the muzzle of the rifle on Aleksandar’s right cheek, he turned Aleksandar around so Aleksandar stood between Xiaoyu and the other three. Filip’s brother and the woman had turned to point their rifles at Xiaoyu, who was shielded by Aleksandar’s body.
“Now they have a new target,” said Xiaoyu to Aleksandar, “I do too.” The muzzle of Xiaoyu’s rifle was still buried deep into Aleksandar’s cheek.
“That’s my little brother, Luka,” said Filip while rising to his feet, catching his breath, “And my cousin, Aida.” The introductions were courteous but Xiaoyu had a memorized file on Filip, Luka and Aida. Xiaoyu was the biggest mystery in the room.
“We’ve got the money,” said Aleksandar trying to diffuse the situation, “We weren’t trying you. We need to know your business. You handle yourself like a professional. That’s good. We can’t just deal with anyone. And we can’t just hand over money to anyone. It could be the last thing we do. You know that.”
“I know if you interrupt this transaction with anything else, there won’t be a transaction,” said Xiaoyu.
“There won’t be anymore interruptions,” said Aleksandar.
“I know that,” said Xiaoyu, “I’ve just said it.”
“About the products,” said Aleksandar, “Do we have any questions about the products for Mr. Metayer?”
“They’re good,” said Filip, “We can modify to meet our needs.”
“Let’s get Mr. Metayer his money,” said Aleksandar, “Aida.” Aida handed her rifle to Luka and turned toward the empty doorway cut between the two corridors.
“We go together,” said Xiaoyu. Pushing Aleksandar towar
d the doorway. Xiaoyu walked around Aleksandar keeping Aleksandar’s body between Filip and Luka Grebo and himself. Taking the rifle with him he left Aleksandar in the doorway and followed Aida down the corridor with half his body behind hers, constantly looking backwards down the hall.
“The money is in the storage container outside,” said Aida, “Someone may see you with the gun.”
“Then you’ll have to help hide it,” said Xiaoyu.
Xiaoyu and Aida walked outside like conjoined twins acting casual in a shopping mall. Walking side-by-side, Xiaoyu noticed Aida was almost as tall as he was. Her height wasn’t listed in the papers Mason gave him. Xiaoyu and Aida walked around the backside of the building toward an orange steel storage container. The container’s locking mechanism was more sophisticated than Xiaoyu had expected. A padlocked box hid a numeric keypad. Aida typed in the code and opened the face of the keypad revealing another lock beneath. Aida used a second key for the lock. With one twist of the wrist, the container door opened. The container was fashioned into an office, without labels saying whom it belonged to. No pictures were on the walls. There was a put-together desk with a model dump truck, navy carpet and a roller chair. The left wall had a window giving a daily dose of natural light. There was no computer, but a big file cabinet in the back. Next to the file cabinet, was a tall safe. Aida walked toward the safe with Xiaoyu tailing. Xiaoyu paused as he passed the window. He noticed the window had an alarm system attached to it and he noticed one other thing, Valgani. The hotel was being built by Sejad Mehmedovic AEC and there was a business park under construction behind it. The business park could barely be seen from the front side of the hotel. It had five buildings total. The closest building to the hotel was the last of the five with the sign, Valgani at The Quarters.
“Is this all one development?” asked Xiaoyu.
“Yes,” said Aida.
“So Sejad Mehmedovic, is doing that as well?” asked Xiaoyu.
“Yes,” said Aida.
“Doing international deals and guests stay at the hotel,” said Xiaoyu.
“It’s just a new development,” said Aida.
“What’s it called?” asked Xiaoyu.
“The Quarters,” said Aida.
“Why?” asked Xiaoyu.
“Entire development takes up about one quarter of this district in Novo Sarajevo,” said Aida.
“You have the Quarters Park I,II,III and IV and the last one is called Valgani,” said Xiaoyu, “Why?”
“It’s just a name,” said Aida.
“Never heard of that name,” said Xiaoyu.
“Now you have,” said Aida walking back to the desk with the attaché case retrieved from the safe. Opening the black case, Aida thumbed through each stack of bills allowing Xiaoyu to see that every bill was accounted for. Xiaoyu nodded with satisfaction.
“I know what $330,000 looks like,” said Xioayu.
“Then it’s yours,” said Aida.
“Call Filip and tell him to bring his keys,” said Xiaoyu pointing the rifle, “I’m ready to go.” Aida took her cell phone from her light blue jeans and spoke Bosnian long enough to ask Filip to come downstairs. Xiaoyu and Aida met Filip outside by the red Alfa.
“Give her the keys,” said Xiaoyu.
“Why?” asked Filip.
“Because she’s taking me back to my hotel,” said Xiaoyu.
“Why should I do that?” asked Aida. Xiaoyu looked directly at Filip, who had the worried look of a big brother.
“You’ve given me all my money,” said Xiaoyu, “Now I trust you. If she returns alive with your rifle that I’m holding. You’ll know you can trust me. Get in.” Xiaoyu aimed the gun at Aida until she sat in the driver’s seat. Xiaoyu pointed the rifle at Filip as he got in the car. He gave the keys to Aida who started the car, with the muzzle of the rifle pointed toward her kidney.
“Don’t go that way,” said Xiaoyu.
“That’s way back to hotel,” said Aida.
“You know where I’m staying, but take a different way,” said Xiaoyu.
After an eclectic ride back to the hotel with impromptu lefts and rights called out by Xiaoyu, Aida stopped the Alfa in front of Xiaoyu’s hotel.
“Is anyone waiting for me inside?” asked Xiaoyu.
“No one is waiting for you,” said Aida, “You’re crazy.”
“Give me your cell phone,” said Xiaoyu.
“Why?” said Aida.
“So they can’t call you. They’ll have to wait till you go back,” said Xiaoyu emptying his magazine in the back seat of the Alfa before tossing the magazine into the back seat along with the rifle. He put Aida’s cell phone in his pocket. And put the key to the trigger locks in Aida’s pocket.
“Aleksandar wanted to know if I’m professional,” said Xiaoyu, “Now he knows.” Xiaoyu exited the car and walked through the hotel lobby casually looking around at an empty setting. He went to his room and packed his duffle in minutes. Coming back to the lobby, he checked out of his room a day early. The hotel ordered a taxi to the front door and Xiaoyu gave instructions to the airport. Xiaoyu was able to board an outbound flight to Ljubjana, using the cash Aida gave him. He called Mason from his hotel in Ljubjana to find out Mason was no longer in Ljubjana. He was back in Paris. Mason had gone back to coordinate his efforts with Georgia to help decipher how Mitchum was handling Valgani. At least, that’s what he said.
“Is Georgia with you now?” asked Xiaoyu.
“No,” Mason lied.
“We need to meet,” said Xiaoyu.
“Why?” asked Mason.
“I’ve found Valgani,” said Xiaoyu.
“Are you sure?” said Mason.
“I’ll let you tell me I’m wrong,” said Xiaoyu, “You or Georgia.”
“There’s a late afternoon flight from Ljubjana to Paris tomorrow,” said Mason, “Be on it.”
• • •
Xiaoyu was in the air for an hour and fifty minutes before landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport. He took a taxi to a cinema five blocks from Georgia’s apartment. He walked the remaining five blocks on foot carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in his duffle. The apartment was in an historic building with tight restrictions on alteration. Georgia’s apartment didn’t have modern comforts like air conditioning or an elevator. But it came with antique furniture and a fourth floor balcony. The apartment—like its occupant—had old world style with stories to tell.
Georgia let Xiaoyu into her apartment while Mason sat in a tall, upholstered chair. The wood tile floor squeaked as Xiaoyu walked into the apartment. There were two chairs at a round wooden coffee table complete with coffee service.
“There’s tea here for you,” said Mason, “Green.”
“Is that a compliment?” said Xiaoyu.
“If you want it to be,” said Mason, “Have a seat.” Mason motioned toward the loveseat across from the coffee table. Xiaoyu went to the coffee table and grabbed a porcelain cup with saucer. A teabag lay next to it. Pouring hot water from the teapot, he sunk the teabag into the cup before walking over to the loveseat. He set his teacup on the wood floor to soak.
“You said you re-examined Mitchum’s files,” said Xiaoyu, “What did you find?”
“Why not tell us who Valgani is,” said Mason, “We’ll need to be in touch with him. He probably doesn’t even know about Mitchum’s death.”
“Ray’s right,” said Georgia, “We need to compare what we have. Valgani lasted this long without being in contact with Mitchum. He can go a bit longer while we collect ourselves.” Although Mason was to the point, Georgia was to the issue. Xiaoyu began to acknowledge Georgia as someone he looked up to. As his tea soaked, so did a mild thought. He began to suspect a lot of the credit given Mason was shared secretly by Georgia. Xiaoyu’s gift had always been one of seeing through people. He smelled the scent of a woman on Mason. If Mason was the Chessmaster, he had been taught the game by a brilliant instructor.
“Like I said before, there’s nothing to go on in Mitchum’s
files,” said Georgia, “I backran them.”
“He doesn’t know what that means,” said Mason.
“He’s a smart boy let him figure it out,” said Georgia, “What do you think it means?”
“You looked at the files as if you were Valgani,” said Xiaoyu.
“And there you go,” said Georgia.
“Did it make a difference?” asked Xiaoyu.
“No,” said Georgia.
“So we went outside the file,” said Mason, “To Mitchum’s secretary, Aaron Dominguez. We asked him more detailed questions for more detailed answers.”
“Did that work?” asked Xiaoyu.
“In a way,” said Mason, “We asked him while he was hooked up to a polygraph.”
“Did he lie?” asked Xiaoyu.
“We can’t be sure how much he lied about,” said Georgia, “But the test results said he gave deceptive answers. With no ID on Valgani.”
“You’re stuck with a guy who failed a polygraph,” said Xiaoyu.
“Where’s Dominguez now?” asked Xiaoyu.
“Still being debriefed,” said Georgia, “He’s staying at a facility in Cadiz, Spain. It’s more of a resort than a safe house. He’ll be there as long as we have questions. We need to reassign him now that Mitchum isn’t around but we still don’t know if we can trust him.”
“You probably can,” said Xiaoyu.
“Why is that?” asked Mason.
“You said he failed a polygraph test,” said Xiaoyu, “I failed a polygraph test.”
“When?” asked Mason.
“Do you remember the name Deni Tam?” asked Xiaoyu.
“He was the lieutenant under Uncle Martin Ma Woo in your Triad,” said Mason. Xiaoyu nodded his head.
“After Uncle Woo was killed, he made everyone in the Moon Dragons Triad take a polygraph test,” said Xiaoyu, “I failed.”