The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,115

times. She went into a coffee shop, ordered a plain black coffee, and checked her voicemails — none — and emails — all spam.

She called Uncle’s apartment again. Lourdes answered. “He’s gone out with Sonny,” she said.

“Did you tell him I called?”

“Oh, Ava, I’m sorry, I forgot.”

“Never mind, I’ll call his cell.”

Uncle’s phone rang four times and cut off. She tried Sonny.

“Hey,” he said.

“Is everything okay?”

“I think so. He called me about an hour ago saying he wanted to get a massage. I took him to this place close to the Peninsula Hotel. They really baby him there.”

“I’m in Tsim Sha Tsui. Maybe we can hook up for dinner.”

“He just went in. He’ll be at least two hours.”

“How was he when you went to get him?”

“Not bad,” he said carefully. “His colour was better, and he seemed to have more energy.”

“Good, that’s encouraging. Now, Sonny, I’m going to head back to Central. Tell him I called. I won’t have dinner until I hear from him.”

She left the coffee shop and walked the two hundred metres to the ferry terminal. Rush hour was on and the boats going in either direction were jammed. Ava had to wait fifteen minutes before squeezing onto one. It was close to seven o’clock when she stepped off in Central. She was halfway to the Mandarin when her phone sounded. Uncle, she thought, and then saw that the originating number was blocked.

“Hello.”

“Jennie, this is Marc Lafontaine.”

Jennie? “How are you, Marc?”

“Well enough. I’ve just finished speaking with Ottawa.”

“And how did that go?”

“To be frank, Jennie, they have some problems.”

“Marc, I sense that you have someone there with you. Is that right?”

“No, I’m alone.”

“But there is someone else on the line listening to our conversation.”

“There are two of us, actually,” a new voice said.

“And who are the two of you?”

“My name is Kevin Torsney and my colleague is Peter Valliant. We’re senior officers in the organized crime unit here in Ottawa.”

“It would have been nicer if you’d announced your presence before I asked.”

“Apologies. We didn’t know if you would speak to us.”

“I told Marc I didn’t want to talk to anyone but him.”

“Again apologies, but if you want to do a deal, one way or another you have to speak to us.”

Should I hang up? Ava thought. Marc had called her Jennie. He had given her fair warning, and she was sure that at least so far he had protected her real name. It was almost too late to care anyway. “It is very early in the morning where you are.”

“We’ve been working nonstop, all night in fact, since we received your information.”

“And?”

“We have some problems with it.”

“How so?”

“We need more time.”

“You still have another six hours before my deadline.”

“We’ll need a lot more time than that.”

“No.”

“Ms. Kwong, if you want your thirty million dollars, you have to give us more time.”

“Mr. Torsney, there was a reason for the deadline.”

“We aren’t stalling, if that’s what you think.”

“Why would I think that?”

“I imagine you might think we’re taking the extra time to find out enough about Cameron, the bank, and the transactions you sent us so that we won’t need you.”

“That did occur to me.”

“That’s not the case.”

“So what is the case?” There was a long silence, and Ava thought she heard muttering. “Don’t talk behind my back,” she said.

“Ms. Kwong, this is Valliant. I’ve been trying to run down the people behind the transactions you sent us. That’s what’s causing the delay. Each of the deals is supported by a complex structure — numbered companies turning into law firms holding assets in trust; individuals, Canadian citizens with spotless records but no apparent means, who own real estate worth millions and tens of millions of dollars; and so on. The only things we can find in common are that everyone who is involved is Italian and appears to have connections to Calabria, though not to any criminal organization.”

“Bank Linno?”

“Undoubtedly a curious success story with its remarkable growth and its rather suspicious non-Indonesian customer base.”

“You mean Italian customer base.”

“Yes, that is what I mean.”

“Andy Cameron?”

“Curious and suspicious as well,” Valliant said.

Torsney interrupted. “And, Ms. Kwong, we have confirmed that he left Surabaya on Sunday for Singapore.”

“Just so no one gets any ideas about looking for him there, I do have to tell you he’s already left.”

“I would hope so. The trail he left was rather obvious.”

Ava was approaching the hotel. This was not a discussion she wanted to pursue in the lobby, and at that time of the evening the