Baca Read online

  I was glad Hunter and Hondo weren’t here, I’d never live it down. Jeez.

  I studied the cave again and my eyes kept returning to the far left corner and a jumble of rocks. I walked to it and kicked one with my toe. There was no dust covering the flat stone. The others had a fine coating like sifted flour. I used my toe to lift the edge and saw a tiny piece of black plastic protruding from the earth like a blade of grass. I moved the rock and pulled on the plastic. It was a trash bag, but wouldn’t come out. I dug with my hands and uncovered the bag enough to open the drawstring. Inside was a rolled up cloth the size of a basketball. I took it out and the first thing I noticed was the weight. I put the cloth on the ground and opened it.

  It was treasure. Three items were inside. The first was an incredible egg, decorated with gold and jewels. I picked it up and opened it. Inside was an exquisite miniature carriage encrusted in precious stones and gold. I put the egg together and laid it down. Pictures don’t do justice to a Faberge egg. The second item was a gold crucifix maybe eight inches high, with emeralds and rubies the size of my thumbnail covering the surface. The third was a fine chain gold necklace with a palm-sized pendant made of different colored diamonds. There were varying sizes of clear diamonds forming the outer ring, then a group of six marble-sized deep blue diamonds evenly spaced around the center piece, which was a canary yellow diamond the size of a walnut.

  I sat on the ground and looked at the items on the cloth. Letting undocumented people transport something like this was a very risky play. It indicated to me these people were desperate, and the items obviously stolen. They must have lookouts at every Port of Entry and International airport in the country, I thought. There was a better chance bringing it in by using the undocumented than they would ever have trying to pass through Customs.

  So, Bob Landman brings the undocumented aliens here to protect them and to hide out himself, then he hides the artifacts, and Rakes and his crew find them. They beat Bob up, but he won’t talk, so Rakes takes all of them to some place safe where they can work on Landman and the women as long as they want until someone talks. Then they will kill everyone and dispose of the bodies, leave no witnesses.

  I wrapped everything up in the cloth, put it back in the trash bag and slung it over my shoulder. I used the second topo map to take me to the dirt road. I followed it for four miles to pavement where I sat in the shade of a large boulder and called Archie on my cell phone to come pick me up.

  Talk about whine, Archie went on so much he sounded like a seven-forty-seven. He finally relented but said he first had to help his thirty-two year old girlfriend finish her pelvic thrusts.

  I didn’t go there.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Archie took the turns in his Corvette as if he was competing at Le Mans. I held on and cinched the seatbelt a little tighter. The trash bag was between my feet on the floorboard.

  “What’s in the sack, you picking up aluminum cans along the road now that you’re unemployed? Haw!”

  “It’s jewels from the last czar of Russia.”

  “Uh-huh. Boy, you just can’t answer a question without being a smartass, can you?” He mumbled something else.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I’ll be glad when they get your four-wheeled tuna-mobile finished. You’re closer to a normal human being when you have it to drive.”

  “It should be finished tomorrow.”

  “Good. Now really, what’s in the sack?”

  “Some things I found that might be evidence.”

  “Now see, wasn’t that easier than making up wild stories?”

  “Been a revelation. I’ll do things this way from now on.” Archie pulled up and parked by my Yugo with a satisfied smile on his tough brown face.

  **

  The first thing I did at the office was to put the jewels in our file cabinet and lock it. Holding millions of dollars in stolen jewelry causes a weight on your mind. My next move was to tell Hondo, and I went into Archie’s apartment and met Waylon, who looks like Morgan Freeman with more gray hair. We talked for a while, then I went to the bedroom where Hondo was propped up with pillows and reading an Elmore Leonard paperback. I told him what I’d found and what I thought.

  Hondo said, “You want to use the jewels as trading material, get Landman and the women in exchange for it.”

  “Yeah, I figured they’ll bite.”

  “They’ll try and kill you and take the jewels, is what they’ll do. Then they’ll kill Landman and the women so there are no witnesses.”

  “That’s how I’ve got it figured, too.”

  “I’ll just get my clothes,” Hondo said and got out of bed. He might have wobbled a little, but it could have been my imagination.

  “You can’t go. You’re weak as a kitten.”

  He put on his jeans and shirt, then his socks and shoes. “You don’t have anybody else,” he said. Hondo stood and leaned against the doorjamb. I think it was for support. He said, “Come on, it’ll be legendary, like Wyatt and Doc, Butch and Sundance.”

  “Abbot and Costello,” I said. Hondo grinned and started out the door. I followed him to our office, waiting for him as he caught his breath after every dozen steps.

  We went inside and Hondo sat at his desk. “My legs are wobbly,” he said.

  I said, “What a pair, The Tumescent Detective and Noodle Man.”

  “Yeah, Bad Guys beware.” Hondo looked around and said, “I wish Hunter was here.”

  “Me too, she can shoot.”

  “Shoot the ears off a flying gnat at a hundred yards.”

  “At night.”

  “Blindfolded.”

  I pulled the phone to me and said, “Might as well find them so we can start the ball.”

  Hondo leaned back in his chair, “We might as well,” he said and closed his eyes.

  I called the Caspian Diamond and they told me Mr. Rakes was not in and hadn’t been all day. I tried Siberia next and got no answer. I said, “You think I’m getting the run-around?”

  “Uh-huh. They don’t want to be disturbed. Sure be easy just to tell the help to lie.”

  “At least it’s not because of my personality.”

  “Don’t bet on it,” Hondo said.

  I stood up, “I guess you’re up for a drive, huh?”

  Hondo got to his feet, went into the storage room and came out with a twelve gauge Remington pump. He racked a round into the chamber and fed another fat shell of buckshot into the magazine, “I am now,” he said.

  Hondo almost balked at going in the Yugo, but we finally got underway. I stopped at a convenience store and bought two quarts of Gatorade, some peanut M&Ms, and a pack of Tic-Tacs for good luck. We were ready for surveillance now.

  We watched the Caspian Diamond for three hours and never saw a familiar face. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and told Hondo I was going inside. He patted the shotgun and said, “We’ll be ready.”

  I opened the door and stepped into darkness and Lenny Kravitz singing American Woman. I let my eyes adjust before easing into the main room. A blond woman worked the pole in time to Lenny, moving her body in smooth undulations that made her seem boneless. I controlled my lecherous thoughts and walked to the bar. There was a different bartender, and none of the Russian thugs were in the audience or sitting on barstools. I ordered a beer, and over the next two songs maneuvered my way to the office door. It was closed with no light showing underneath. I leaned my back against it and turned so one ear was against the door.

  I didn’t know if that really worked, but it seemed like the thing to do. There was only silence. I hitched at my pants, turned to face the door, opened it and stepped in. I heard the bartender shout at me over the music as I closed the door behind me.

  At the far end of the hallway was a door with EXIT stenciled across it in big red letters. Halfway down the hall on the right was another door. I opened it. This was an office, but no one was there. A notepad was on the center of the desk, and on an impulse, I pu
t it inside my shirt.

  I heard footsteps coming down the hall and I stepped out to meet them. “Where the heck’s the bathroom?” I said.

  **

  Five minutes later, drained and refreshed, I left the club and drove away. Hondo complained about needing to pee and I told him to be a man and hold it.

  I relented fifteen minutes later, and while he went into a McDonald’s to use the restroom, I tried to find a pencil to shadow the empty page of the notepad. There wasn’t anything in the Yugo and I didn’t have anything in my pockets. Hondo returned with a small bag of french fries and got in the car.

  “Couldn’t use the bathroom without buying something, could you?”

  “I feel guilty if I don’t.”

  I asked him if he had a pencil and he snorted. I said, “Okay, just asking.” I drove off and a few minutes later saw a Wal-Mart and pulled in. I bought a pencil and handed it to Hondo when I got back in the car.

  He coughed and said, “What do you want me to do with it?” He looked tired. Being up this long was sapping what little strength he had.

  I didn’t want to let on I was worried, so I said, “Use your knife and sharpen it. We can’t decode secret messages if it doesn’t have a point.”

  He looked at me. “I left my knife in somebody’s shoulder. I haven’t had time to go get it.”

  I sighed, “I guess it’s another job for me, huh? Boy, the load’s getting heavy.”

  “I’m like the song.”

  I said, “What?”

  “Like the song, I’m not heavy, I’m your brother. Go in the store and buy a pencil sharpener.” Hondo was asleep when I returned and he didn’t open his eyes until I started the engine.

  When I drove away Hondo said, “You had to buy a Care Bears pencil sharpener?”

  “It was the only one left.” Hondo shook his head and sharpened the pencil. At the next stop, he stroked the side of the graphite point across the pad and ghost letters appeared.

  I said, “What’s it say?”

  “Somebody with nice penmanship wrote this. There are just fragments of words, sentences. One says, like Valdar and another says…the first is a partial word that says, -date Sarana. There are some numbers, forty million, three million, twenty-two million something. They’re stand alone, not like someone adding them or anything. That’s all I can make out.”

  “Well, that was enlightening.” I said.

  “If catching bad guys was easy everybody would do it.”

  The traffic was moving well on Sunset and we reached Siberia in good time. I pulled into the vacant parking lot and noticed a sheet of typing paper taped to the front door. I had to walk over to read it: Closed for renovation. “That was quick,” I said.

  I put my ear to the door and heard nothing. I tried the knob but it was locked. Back in the Yugo, I told Hondo what the sign said. He nodded and pointed to the notepad, “I’ve looked at it some more and I think this first word is liquidate. If they’re going to liquidate Sarana Corporation, then it would make sense that they shut down Siberia, or fix it up to sell. Either way it sounds like they’re pulling the plug.”

  “Not without their last haul.”

  “Uh-huh. They make Landman or one of the women talk, tell them where it is, and when they have it...” He spread his hands.

  “No more Landman, no more corporation, no more witnesses.”

  “Just millions in jewels and cash.” Hondo coughed hard as he finished talking. I looked at his chest and saw a spot of red on the shirt.

  Hondo wouldn’t let me take him to the hospital, so I took him to Archie’s and put him to bed. Arch was there and when I left, he was hovering over Hondo like a gruff old mother hen.

  I went to the office and picked up one item, then drove into Beverly Hills and up to the front door of the Meadows mansion. There was no crawling over walls and hiding in leafy kangaroo pouches this time. I had to make a deal and fast or Landman and the others would be done for. I rang the doorbell and waited.

  Frank Meadows answered the door and his jaw fell. “What the hell are you doing here?” He looked over his shoulder and hissed, “Rakes is here, you idiot. He’ll take your head off if he sees you!”

  Old Frank seemed worried and his face looked haggard, with pouches under his eyes and a nervous tic in one lid. I said, “Tell him I want to deal.”

  “Deal what?”

  “Frank, be a good messenger and go get Rakes.”

  He hesitated, and I pushed past him. He said, “Hey!”

  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.

  “Call me at the office and let me talk to Landman, then I’ll come.”

  “I think we can arrange that,” she said.

  Rakes stood and pointed at the cross, “Leave it.”

  I held it out as if to ward him off and said, “Back, spawn of Satan!” He looked puzzled and mad. I said, “Didn’t you ever watch Dracula movies?”

  “Movies are for veemin and childs.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing.” I put the cross in my shirt.

  He took a step forward and said, “Leave it.”

  “You get it when I get Landman.”

  “I take id from you.”

  I said, “You’d better bring your A-Game.”

  Bond spoke to Carl in Russian, then said to me, “We trust you. You may leave.”

  “Just what I planned to do,” I said. I turned up my collar like a tough guy and walked out of the mansion with sweat trickling down the sides of my face.

  I figured that little soirée would stop the beatings of Landman and the women, so I had a little time. There was a message on the answering machine when I got to the office, and I pushed Play as I opened a Coke. Bond’s voice said, “We’ve located Mr. Landman and the women. Meet us tomorrow as we discussed.” Click. Well, I wasn’t going to let that go. I’d told them I wanted to speak to Landman, or no deal. I called the Meadows home and Bond answered.

  “Meadows residence.”

  It’s me. No deal.”

  “What?”

  “You let me talk to Landman or it’s off.” There were some murmurs in the background.

  Bond said, “Wait a moment, I’ll put you on a three-way call.” It took maybe a minute, then Bond said, “Okay Bob, talk.”