The Greatest of These by Greg Wendleton (booksvooks txt) 📕

Stay vigilant and sober! Cooper isn’t an idiot.

But Conrad and his three stooges were. Jones never saw the message.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Red Assassin was summoned to the office of Mr. Hsu in Taipei’s financial district. Mr. Hsu was the head of the UBG, and despite his position as a crime syndicate boss, he liked to portray himself as a respectable business man. Slight of build in both height and weight, he wore his jet-black hair slicked back without a visible part. He sat behind his desk in a leather, low-back chair that belied his stature. He also had his desk chair set on a six-inch platform to further mask his challenged height.

The Red Assassin sat in a straight back wooden chair across the desk from Mr. Hsu. The chair was intended to create discomfort and to challenge its occupant to control their desire, and need, to squirm. Displays of power on his part and discipline on the part of his minions was important to Mr. Hsu. Stereotypical of little men, regardless of their nationality.

Whatever. Mr. Hsu was his master and was to be respected. “We have several bidders for the vaccine. Iran and North Korea both are very interested, but neither seem to have one-billion dollars that they can pull together. We may have to adjust our asking price.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Mr. Hsu. But we still stand to make a handsome profit.”

“Yes, but not without considerable risk. We must bribe a great many people in Thailand to allow us to replace the regular truck drivers. Then we must reroute the cargo to another port. Singapore is nearly two thousand kilometers from Laem Chabang and will take twenty-four hours.”

“That is a long drive. We would need to hide the trucks during the day, would we not?”

“Yes, or camouflage them as some benign type of transport. Very time consuming and expensive. If this goes sideways, I do not need to tell you who will be to blame, do I?”

“No, Mr. Hsu, I understand who is…”

Mr. Hsu interrupted The Red Assassin, “at risk?”

“Yes, Mr. Hsu.”

“You better have an exit strategy for us if it is needed.” With that, Mr. Hsu waved The Red Assassin away. The Red Assassin stood, bowed respectfully, turned and walked out of the opulent office of the diminutive leader of the UBG.

Fortunately, he had an exit strategy already in mind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Before I pulled out of the Paradise Realty parking lot, I removed the business card from my wallet that Special Agent Jerry Presley had given me yesterday. I dialed the number on my iPhone and waited for someone to answer the call.

“Special Agent Presley, how can I help you?”

“Can you trace a key fob for a Nissan rental car?”

“Uh, what? Who is this?”

“Oh, sorry. This is Garret Cooper, from the flight…”

“Yeah, Mr. Cooper. I didn’t think I would hear from this quickly.”

“I have some solid leads, but I don’t have the contacts or the clout to get the answers that I need. Can you help me?”

“You seem to be pretty resourceful Mr. Cooper. Now, start over, how can I help you?”

I put the car in reverse, backed out of my parking spot and then shifted into drive, heading toward Kahului. As I drove, I explained what I had been doing this morning and what I had discovered.

I added, “I know they rented a White Nissan Maxima and the license plate is KZE 527. The realtor they were working with Monday told me that some rental car companies have a way to locate their key fobs.”

“That almost sounds like science fiction, but I do believe you have been given some accurate information. I’m having the tag number run through the system and should have the agency that owns that vehicle soon.”

“I’m asking for your help, officially, Special Agent Presley. I feel like they are in this situation because of me and I need to find them.”

“What do you mean, because of you?”

“It’s a long story that I will explain after we find them, okay?”

“Well, Mr. Cooper, the car belongs to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I’ll put out a BOLO advisory for the car with the local police agencies. Where are you now?”

“I’m heading south on Highway 30 leaving Lahaina. I can be in Kahului in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay, can you find the Enterprise lot in Kahului?”

“Most definitely. I picked up my rental vehicle from there last night.”

“Meet me there at noon and we will see if they can track the key fob.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

Jones was having serious stomach cramps. He grabbed the toilet paper that Smith had purchased and ran out the door. He was cramping and sweating profusely. Before he could make it to the outhouse, he started to soil his pants. When he opened the outhouse door the putrid odor hit him like a tidal wave and he wretched and vomited violently. That led to a complete evacuation of his bowels.

Jones passed out and lay in his vomit and feces for an eternity, or so it seemed. According to his watch is was 11:55am, so it had only been five minutes. He slowly elevated himself onto his hands and knees and took in a few deep breaths. He wasn’t sure if the outhouse, his breath or his pants smelled worse. After a moment or two, he rose to his feet and drug himself back to the front of the shack. He opened the tailgate of the SUV and rifled through the duffle bag that held his personal items and spare clothing. He stripped out of his clothes and used his filthy shirt to wipe his soiled ass.

Somewhat cleaned up, he pulled on the cleanest pair of underwear he could locate, a clean pair of cargo pants and a short-sleeve tee shirt. He closed the tailgate and carried his soiled clothes around back to the outhouse. He held his breath and stepped inside. Quickly, he shoved the soiled clothes