Ultimatum

by Lynda Filler

  It was on a camping trip that he had come across the private property of Fly Ranch Geyser. He knew immediately that he had to have this geothermal geyser. He would have purchased the entire one million acres of Black Rock Desert if the government sold it to him. And they wouldn’t, not yet. He’d immediately gone into negotiations with the current owner of the ranch to lease a large part of the area. He put up fences and escaped here to read and do photography. This spot was permanently out of bounds for all.

  He rarely slept. And when he did, four hours was sufficient. It was in those moments alone while he contemplated the future of man in space and on earth, that he had his most brilliant breakthroughs. Science was his life and love and his duty to his country, his passion. He’d never thought he would ever again have room for anything or anyone else in his life. And then along came a woman named Samaar.

  He followed the trails he’d engineered strategically through the Nevada desert. Every once in a while, he glimpsed a flash of pink. Coming around tall bushes to the geothermal pools he pulled up short. On a mossy rock he found Lycra shorts and a hot pink tank top.

  The vision before him thrilled and excited him. Samaar’s naked skin glistened amber in stark contrast to the red rock pools of gushing steamy water. Her back was turned to him as she delighted in the release.

  He wished he’d brought his Nikon.

  “Hey, don’t use up all the water. I’m coming in!”

  He could hear Samaar’s laughter over the rush of the geysers. For a brief moment in time, the agent disappeared, and a sensual and exciting woman took her place.

  All was well in his world.

  19

  Singapore, Malaysia

  BILLY YEE LAM allowed the butler to lead him to the Chairman’s Suite at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Of course, the four bedrooms were overkill for Billy, but it was the most exclusive place to stay in Singapore. Billy felt the intimidation factor alone helped his business negotiations. He left his belongings for the valet to unpack.

  “Call the front desk and advise them that Mme Anjou will be joining me at the Skypark.”

  “Yes sir.” Billy strutted from the suite, security in tow, and took a private elevator to the highest point in the hotel.

  Billy thought of himself as a power player. Doing business on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands set the tone. The nighttime view was spectacular; but daytime would have to do. If he was bored with Sying, he could count on securing one or more beautiful Eurasian women for the evening’s entertainment. He gazed down to the rooftop swimming pool right beneath the CÉ LA VI restaurant seeking prey.

  His iPhone vibrated. He glanced at the message and smiled.

  The waiter arrived at that precise moment with caviar on ice and Veuve Clicquot in a silver bucket. He’d done his homework. Even though he and Sying were college lovers, he still used his connections to be sure his information on her was current. He knew as much about Sying as she probably knew about him; worthy adversaries.

  Sying moved across the restaurant as if she owned the place. He watched her stop at a table shaking her gloved hand with the Minister of National Security for Singapore while glancing at his beautiful companion. Billy remembered her passion for threesomes, females preferred. He’d also heard about her entrance at the Katching Kitten Ball in Versailles France, her Russian playmate almost naked wearing a precious Emerald slave choker. Yes, he was ready to reunite with Sying.

  “Darling, it’s been too long!” Mme Anjou leaned over to place blood red lips on his cheek, her signature perfume Coque D’Or blending with the smoggy Singapore air. You would never guess that this Dior attired creature had recently spent over a month in a French prison while she organized payoffs to several influential French dignitaries. But it wasn’t those payoffs that got her out.

  “Oh, you remembered Billy! I love champagne,” she cooed in his ear.

  “Of course, Sying. Let’s eat while you explain to me what you have.”

  Sying hid her annoyance. She liked to be in control. But caution dictated, and she needed Billy to pull this off.

  “I’m certain you have been following my business as I yours.”

  “I’ve had some bad luck recently, but I also have some excellent news. We have been working with the largest drug cartel in Latin America. The Mexican government recently cut off their head and killed the key players in the cartel. The cartel’s Contador, the accountant, had a heart attack also. My organization was on the verge of a heist of their drug money. Before I could initiate my plan, the French rudely detained me. I’m being watched by the US Government, and their CIA. I believe it is wise to use outside help to secure the funds. I know you Billy. You are brilliant with computers. This is what I have.”

  Billy listened carefully as Sying outlined her plan. She was right. It was brilliant. While the Mexican cartels fought for dominance, they could go in and clean out their accounts.

  “I’ve verified everything. It’s not only the cartel money in numbered accounts but the payoffs to certain US politicians and agencies. We are talking about ten billion dollars. I think since I have the key and the plan it should be a 75%/25% cut.”

  Billy smiled.

  “Try again, Princess.”

  Sying sighed.

  “You are so tough Billy. How about 60/40?”

  Again, Billy laughed.

  “Look Sying. I know about the hack on the OPM in the US. That was a disaster. You annoyed a lot of influential people, most notably ISIS. You need me to help you clean that up. And then I suppose you plan to disappear?”

  Sying remained silent.

  “I also know about your conversation with Tariq.”

  “What?”

  “Here’s what we are going to do. Tariq and I are friends. I help fund some of his projects. While the world is spinning, I move my triads in to take over the competition. We have a symbiotic relationship.”

  “Billy, you’re a bastard!”

  Billy laughed.

  “We think since you cost him so much grief he should get 40%. I will take 40% and you can have 20%. Considering the position you’re in, you can’t move without my help. Take the deal Sying.”

  Sying was enraged, her red lips stretched in a thin line. She tapped her manicured fingers on the Italian marble dining table. She sipped champagne to calm her nerves.

  “Alright Billy, but don’t fuck me over. I have power and connections of my own.” She glanced over at the Minister.

  Billy laughed out loud. The Minister turned at the interruption, smiled at Billy and waved. His companion winked.

  “I do too Sying. I do too.”

  An hour later they had their plan in place.

  Mme Anjou took the high-speed elevator to the lobby. Her driver waited patiently by the Rolls.

  She was fuming but it would do no good to show it. Instead she planned her revenge. She would wait until the time was right, then strike.

  Her phone vibrated in her snakeskin Birkin bag.

  She glanced at the message. “Don’t even think about it. Who do you think secured your release from the Paris jail?”

  Damn Billy Lam! Sying trembled.

  “Take me home, now!”

  20

  Las Vegas City, NV

  JOSH STOOD PARALYZED.

  Nothing was amiss. No overturned furniture, no broken photographs or upturned books. Nobody.

  Merely a freaking eyeball with blood and membrane surrounding it.

  And an open safe door.

  Josh’s first reaction was to flee.

  He didn’t need to look at the safe to know the thumb drives were gone. The only way to open the safe had been retina scanners. And Cai must have refused co-operation. Or they wanted to scare Josh, teach him a lesson. Maybe they were waiting for him also. He tried to reason. If that were the case, they would have grabbed him already.

  He stumbled to the black leather loveseat. He tried not to think of last night where he and Cai had played on this very couch. Cai was
gone. And Josh was still alive. The question is who is responsible? The Chinese? The triads? Or the Americans. Nah, it wasn’t the Americans. They wouldn’t resort to this level of violence unless...

  He slowed down his breathing and began to go over Plan B. He had insisted on renovating the home office his lover had shared with him. He walked back in, careful to avoid looking at the desk. The flat screens placed strategically on the wall looked normal. But the one on the right had a dual purpose. Josh looked around carefully. He checked for any type of monitoring device left behind before accessing a second safe that even Cai knew nothing about. Josh had not wasted a minute of his time at DARPA. He had to be sure he was not being watched.

  He took the innocent looking TV remote and keyed in codes. One after another, a series of green lights lit up. He used the last button to double check that the room was not under scrutiny, and then opened a second safe.

  He emptied the contents into a small shoulder bag; passports, credit cards and false identities.

  He took nothing else.

  He needed to get out before whoever had been here verified the information on the encrypted drives.

  21

  Raven HQ, Las Vegas Desert

  “SO, SENORITA ALICE, what would you like for breakfast?”

  Alice giggled.

  “Mmmm. Pan Dulce?” Alice, who was a mini-version of Luci, looked up at Maggie with a beatific smile. Maggie gave her a stern look.

  “I don’t think your mother lets you have sugar first thing in the morning.”

  “Oh. Hmm.” Little Alice’s mind is in overdrive. “It’s for Dolly, Senorita Maggie! Alice wants papaya and ‘gurt.”

  Maggie admired the quick come back. This one was going to be trouble. Four-years-old and already trying to work me! Yogurt, uh huh, and the sweet stuff is for her constant companion, her ragged looking doll.

  But this was an exceptional Dolly. She’d traveled up the coast of Mexico with Luci and Alice, on the run from a cartel in Uruguay. Zach had rescued them in Huatulco and had a team of Navy SEAL buddies transport them to Puerto Vallarta.

  Once safe, Zach and Raven explained to Luci about the intelligence breach that could affect her and many of her Israeli and MI6 comrades plus thousands of spies and ex-military. Luci had agreed to help and joined the Raven Group to fight a cyber-attack. They’d left Alice with protection in a safe house near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

  “Me hungry Maggie!” Lost in thought for a moment, Maggie had distracted herself from the job at hand.

  “Yes, Miss Alice, coming right up! You and Dolly have a seat at the bar.”

  Alice giggled and struggled, refusing help, up the high stool by the granite counter.

  Dolly needs a bath, Maggie mused, preparing papaya, croissants, mango jam and Greek Yoghurt.

  “Should we give Dolly a bath today?”

  Alice looked up in horror. “No, no! Dolly doesn’t like water. Nope.” She clutched Dolly tightly.

  Maggie realized that joking about Dolly was not a good idea. The look of fear in Alice’s deep brown eyes made her stop and move to hold the child tightly. For the moment Maggie had forgotten that Luci had told Alice to never let Dolly be taken by anyone. After all, Dolly had carried in her tummy millions of dollars in diamonds.

  She cuddled the little one until she wiggled out of Maggie’s embrace.

  Dolly and Alice were precious cargo indeed.

  22

  Somewhere in the Middle East

  TARIQ HATED THE damn desert. He was allergic to the heat, the sand and goat meat.

  Few people knew where he’d come from. And he wasn’t about to tell anyone. His masters and big oil thought they controlled him. But with the money he was amassing, he would soon disappear.

  He studied the man standing in front of him. He could smell his fear. Dirty sand mixed with camel dung and blood caked his face.

  “So, what do you have to say for yourself Hamza?”

  “We were able to create chaos. Many died. The world is aware of our strength, our determination, and our mission. It was not easy getting out of Paris. I had a safe house on the outskirts that no one knew about. I did that because I could not let myself be captured. I would have died first.”

  He hung his head in shame.

  “I destroyed as much of the evidence as I could and moved quickly towards Brussels. There I initiated my escape plan.” He hesitated. “I thought it was important that I explain in person what had transpired.” He bowed his head.

  “But you failed.”

  There was silence in the tent.

  “I trusted you to get the job done.”

  Hamza was silent.

  Tariq was thoughtful for the moment. It was not good business to slaughter such a loyal commander. After all, he did not have to return to base camp. He could have remained hidden somewhere in Europe. It was too close to the opportunity that Tariq had been waiting for. He had a need for this man.

  “Hamza, you will come with me. We go now.”

  Hamza looked up in surprise.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Clean yourself first and dress in the clothing of a Warrior!”

  “The rest of you; prepare my vehicle. Pack my things. I will command from an unknown destination. Close this camp. Move the women and children. Destroy everything. Make sure there is nothing to tie this place to us.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “We will plan our next attack.”

  Hamza smiled for the first time in four days.

  He was home.

  23

  Las Vegas City, NV

  JOSH HAD SECRETS. One of them was his escape plan.

  When he first moved into Cai’s condo, he’d spent hours exploring the city site plans for the architecture of Trump’s wonder. There were countless renderings, and many changes, more than likely due to the state of the economy during the construction of this tower.

  In the original plans approved by the City of Las Vegas, there had been a short tunnel connecting two other structures. Josh could only guess the intention was to link the buildings with an underground colonnade to the shopping mall. When the economy tanked, the passageway was put on hold. Costs had to be shaved without impacting the integrity of the ostentatious condo design.

  Josh had physically explored the site and found the connecting access.

  He wiped sweat from his forehead, grabbed his knapsack and rushed from the condo. He took a series of stops and starts, elevators and cement stairs, all the time entirely aware of his surroundings using tradecraft he’d learned his summers in China. He worked his way through the abandoned underground tunnel eventually arriving at another subterranean garage space. Tucked into an out of the way corner, he kept an older white Chevy van registered to a fictional online business in New Jersey.

  He quickly changed his appearance. He added a shoulder-length wig, a ball cap, sunglasses, and activated a burner cell phone. His old electronics were left in Cai’s place, so it would appear he was still there.

  When he’d started working the summers for DARPA, an implant had been inserted in his body, standard operating procedure for persons working on sensitive government projects. He had re-configured the signals so that he could place himself wherever it suited him when the time came that he would have to run. He also knew how to kill the locator without removing it from his body. To be double safe, he’d done that upon exiting the condo. He would explode the signaling device he’d left in the apartment once he felt safe.

  He drove out of the commercial garage, took a left and raced down the service lanes avoiding the CCTV. He took the ramp onto the I-215 and headed towards Henderson, Nevada.

  24

  Raven HQ, Las Vegas Desert

  ZACH GROANED UNDER the scalding shower. Every old scar burned red. He slicked back his sun-streaked sandy hair. His disciplined muscles rippled along his six-foot frame. An old knife wound tended to ache when his body was stressed.

  His mind wandered to the weeks and months spe
nt in the tunnels of Afghanistan hunting the Taliban. The friends he’d lost. His heart felt the pain of fighting a losing battle with an enemy that refused to die.

  Nellis was on his mind. Sleep eluded him. And being close to Samaar only made it worse. She churned up old emotions best left buried.

  He’d first met her in the West Bank of Jerusalem. He’d been sent by the US Navy SEALs to liaison with the Mossad, a unique program initiated after 9/11. Falling under her spell was easy. She rocked a weapon like no woman Zach had ever met.

  They were wary of each other at first, but the fact they’d both had ‘challenging’ childhoods gave them commonality. They’d both lost their parents, his to the Civil War in Lebanon, and hers to suicide bombers. Useless, stupid deaths. Orphans of the insanity of war. And look how they both turned out. He understood her anger. When she wasn’t being a Mossad operative, she’d listened as a friend. She was the first woman who’d ever been able to open him up.

  They were at an outside café, near the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. A contact had advised them that one of the most wanted terrorists in the world would be passing by dressed as a Jew. They were there to observe only.

  “My parents were Messianic Jews, both professors at the University of Beirut. I was with them at a rally in the town square. Everyone was against Saddam Hussein in those days, but few were brave enough to protest.” Zach stopped, hesitated. Samaar reached for his hand.

  “It was supposed to be peaceful.” Again, he stopped, his eyes looking off in the distance, a hint of sadness he rarely showed on his rugged face.