I walked down the long hallway and heard voices coming from a side room. I went through the double doors into a library that had floor to ceiling bookcases filled with books. Sitting in two large leather chairs were Carl and Bond. Snifters of amber liquid were on tables by each of their hands.
Frank pushed past me and said, “I told him not to come here.”
Rakes stood up. His eyes were hot and he clenched and unclenched his fists. He growled, “Foot of hairsnake filth man valks to room of African cat. Gud is for me.”
I shook my head and pointed first at him, then at me, “The message isn’t getting through, Carl. You have to be able to communicate so the listener understands; otherwise, your threat doesn’t have an impact. If they think the noises coming out of your mouth are just a cough or maybe you’re asking them if they want an apple or something, it doesn’t work. You’d be better off keeping a translator around. Now, are you trying to say I’m walking into a lion’s den, is that it?”
Bond spoke from her chair, “Yes.”
I kept my eyes on Carl and said, “I’ve got a proposition you might want to hear.”
Bond said, “Let me hear it.”
“You tell your monkey to sit down and we’ll talk.”
Bond said something to Carl in Russian and he said something back, then sat down.
I said, “Let’s work a trade.”
Bond said, “What do you think we have that you would want?”
“Oh, an Oscar caliber actor and a few pretty illegal alien women.”
Bond sat silent, but observant. Carl said something to her in Russian. Bond said, “We have no one, you are mistaken.”
I looked at Rakes, “I was in the canyon. I saw you take them, saw you beating Landman.” It was a lie, but I thought it was time to bluff.
Carl and Bond conversed. Frank stood apart, useless as a stump. Bond said, “We do not have Landman or anyone else...but for curiosity’s sake, if we did, what do you have to trade?”
“Well, assuming I did have something to trade, it might be a few things like this,” I took the gold and jewel crucifix out of my shirt and held it at them as if they were vampires.
I could see Bond’s eyes light up. Frank muttered, “By damn...” Carl smiled, reminding me of a Great White.
I said, “I want them back safe and sound. I’ll give you this,” I wiggled the cross, “And the other little trinkets when I get them.”
Bond and Carl had their heads close and talked for several minutes while Frank and I stood. I said to Frank, “You are way out of your element here.”
He bit at his lower lip, “You get old and scared, afraid to lose everything you worked for...”
“Get out.”
“There’s too much...”
“Walk away while you can.”
Frank took a deep breath and looked at Bond as she talked to Rakes. His head tilted a little to the side and his mouth softened. I watched Frank’s eyes fill, then he looked at me. “I can’t,” he said.
Rakes said, “Baca, ve say vhere the meet. Ve-tell-you how is to be for.”
I looked at Bond and said, “You tell me, listening to him is giving me a headache.” Rakes fumed.
Bond said, “As I said, we know nothing about where Landman is, or anything about illegal aliens. You’re mistaken about what you saw.” I didn’t acknowledge anything. Bond continued, “But we will do what we can, and maybe we can locate these people for you. Why don’t you bring the artifacts to the loading docks at Sa
n Pedro tomorrow at sundown. If we find them, we’ll bring Landman and the others on our yacht and drop them with you on the docks. We’ll keep them on the Americas until then, for safekeeping of course.”
“Americas is the name of your boat?”
“It is a yacht,” Bond said.