The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,131
opened an account with a Kowloon bank, so he has things organized at his end.”
“Okay, I’ll let them know.”
The Nissan pulled up at the departures area. Ava opened the door, climbed down onto the sidewalk with her bag in hand, and looked back at Poirier. She was about to say goodbye when the door slid shut. She was still standing there when the car drove off.
The terminal was quiet, at least in contrast with Hong Kong, and Ava checked in, cleared security, and found her way to the business-class lounge with an hour to spare. She had a quick coffee at the bar and then carried a second cup to a sofa.
She phoned Uncle. Lourdes answered.
“Where is he?”
“He just left. He’s gone to meet a friend. He said for you to call him on his mobile.”
He picked up on the second ring. “Ava, where are you?”
“I’m at the airport in Surabaya.”
“And?”
“There was about seventy million U.S. on the plane. The Canadians are ready to send us the thirty million as soon as tomorrow.”
“That is fantastic news. Good work, my girl.”
“I need the Kowloon banking information.”
“Do you remember Mr. Tang?”
“Is he the one who helped us with the phony wire transfers to the British Virgin Islands?”
“That is him. Call him when you get in. He will give you the details.”
“Don’t you have them?”
“Not with me.”
“Well, then, when we meet.”
“Ava, I will not be able to see you today. I have a friend arriving from Shanghai. He has a lunchtime meeting here in Hong Kong, and then I have promised to go to Guangzhou with him for a dinner. We will probably stay overnight.”
“Is Sonny taking you?”
“My friend has his own driver.”
“What did Sonny say about that?”
“Since when do I need to seek Sonny’s approval for anything?” he said softly.
“I meant no offence, Uncle. We just worry about you.”
“There is no reason for that either.”
“I understand.”
“Now I see my friend waiting for me. I am going to go and enjoy my day with an old comrade, and that is something I can now do with a clear head and peaceful heart, thanks to you. I told Sonny when I thought you would be arriving, but you should call him and confirm. I will see you tomorrow or the day after.”
She stared at her phone, not sure what she had just heard. She went back to the bar for a third coffee, debating whether she should call him back. But if she did, what would she say? Excuse me, Uncle, did you just tell me a lie?
Ava phoned Sonny and went directly to voicemail. She left her flight details and nothing else. She was about to open her notebook when she saw that an email had arrived with a familiar name attached. It has been three whole days. You should go to a lab today and submit your samples for STI testing. Give them my email address and ask them to forward the results to me. Hope you are well. You have been on my mind. Vivian Ho
Thank you. I will try to get it done today, Ava replied, and then thought how strange it was that she had been back in Surabaya and had not had the memory of Cameron revisit her.
She finally opened her notebook, turned to the page where she had totalled the Italians’ money, and began to calculate just how much she would be able to return to her real clients — the Vietnamese-Canadian ones. She had hardly given them a thought since she had arrived in Surabaya the first time, except when her mother had injected them into the conversation. Now she would be able to divide twenty-one million dollars U.S. among them, and with the exchange rate favouring the U.S. dollar, the total would be close to twenty-two million.
It was eight o’clock in the evening in Toronto. Her mother might not be playing mah-jong yet. She phoned her at home.
“Hello?”
“Mummy, it’s Ava.”
“Where are you? Is everything okay?”
“I’m nowhere very interesting, getting ready to go back to Hong Kong.”
“And you are okay? I’ve been having these strange dreams.”
“I’m fine . . . What kind of dreams?”
“I don’t want to talk about them. I find them too upsetting.”
“Well, you won’t find this upsetting: I’ve recovered the money that Theresa and the others lost. We’ll start doing wire transfers into their bank accounts in a week or so. After Uncle and I take our commission, they will get about twenty-two million.”