The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,130

to know.”

“That’s all too confusing and conspiratorial for me. I’m an accountant, and all I want to do is count the money and get on a morning flight for Hong Kong.”

Poirier moved away from the car. “Let’s get started.”

Ava walked with him back into the hangar, just as the white panel van was leaving it. A soldier had started to hose down the floor, the diluted blood flowing towards the tarmac. Aries was in a corner talking to some of his men. The policeman was gone. So was the co-pilot. The two soldiers who had been in the plane with her stood at the bottom of its steps.

“We’ll put the money over here,” Ava said, pointing to the wall farthest from the blood.

Poirier went over to Aries. A minute later, the two of them came up to Ava. “I’ll have my men empty the plane right away,” Aries said with a smile. “You won’t mind if I watch you while you work?”

“Not at all. I don’t want there to be any confusion when I’m done.”

He turned to Poirier. “I’m going to send most of the men back to the barracks after we unload. What do you want to do?”

“I’m staying here.”

“Naturally.”

( 50 )

Poirier rode with her to the main terminal at Juanda International Airport. It was seven o’clock in the morning, and she was on schedule to catch her eight-thirty flight.

They had finished counting the money an hour before. The magnitude of the sum involved had done nothing to make it less tedious, and it was with a sense of relief, not any particular pleasure, that Ava wrote the final figure in her notebook and had Aries and Poirier sign off on it. And then, for good measure, she took photos of that page and of the money piled high on the floor and sent it to her Ava Lee email address.

The night before, it had taken a line of soldiers less than twenty minutes to get the money off the plane. The rest of the time was spent sorting. Her plan had been to bundle and weigh one hundred stacks — ten thousand notes — and then weigh everything else in bulk. This would have eliminated the need to count, and if the block contents had been uniform it would have been a rapid process. But the blocks had been constructed with no rhyme or reason and contained multiple denominations and currencies. They had to be taken apart and then completely reconfigured into bundles of like denominations before she could start weighing.

She explained to Aries and Poirier the process she had decided to use, and they both agreed to it, but when the Indonesian saw the resulting numbers, he made her repeat the explanation. The numbers were not exact, Ava stressed, but they would be a good approximation. He then asked her to reweigh everything while he watched.

The results turned out to be identical. The plane had been carrying just over fifty-two million euros, one and a half million pounds, and six million U.S. dollars.

“That’s about seventy million U.S.,” Ava said. “Thirty for my client and forty for you guys to split however you decide.”

“Very nice evening’s work,” Aries said.

They drove her back to the barracks, where she showered and changed. Poirier stood by the open door while she was inside to prevent any soldiers from wandering in. She appreciated the gesture, and told him that on the drive to the airport.

“Consider it part of my diplomatic responsibility towards a Canadian citizen,” he said, and then paused. “You are Canadian, aren’t you? They told me you were, but the only ID I’ve seen is a Hong Kong passport.”

“It’s a bit late to ask.”

“Does that mean you aren’t going to answer?”

Ava smiled. “I was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Vancouver and Toronto. A Hong Kong passport is more convenient and raises fewer questions in this part of the world.”

“But you’re flying back to Hong Kong?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Ottawa wants to know where to reach you. I spoke to them a few hours ago. They’re keen to get their hands on the information you promised.”

“Once they have our thirty million dollars ready to transfer, then we’ll work out the details of the swap.”

“That could be as soon as tomorrow, from what I’ve been told. They know they’ll get the money from the Indonesians eventually, but they don’t want to wait. The money will be sent from Ottawa.”

“Tell them to call me any time they want. My client has