Collision Course

Chapter 10

Charles Bennett shifted in the deep armchair and pulled a cigar from his inside jacket pocket. Chewing on it gave him some sense of satisfaction even if he couldn't smoke. He couldn't believe Trey Haggerty, a man he'd hired for his brains as well as his skill in the world of international finance, had done something so stupid as answer the special phone. El-Salaki was a dangerous man to be caught crosswise with. Bennett wouldn't be at all surprised to find his history littered with bodies of people who could damage him.

He'd had the man investigated before their first deal together. Bennett had a hard and fast rule-never go into anything blind. No, when he lay down with the devil he knew every detail of the corner of hell waiting for him. The situation with Trey had become a major issue. El-Salaki was hell-bent on eliminating him, and Bennett couldn't argue with him.

Although he had to assume some responsibility-after all, he hadn't locked up the phone-there didn't seem to be any other solution. Trey could put all of them in jeopardy and the phone call had become a small part of it. If his curiosity got the better of him-and Bennett knew in his gut it would-Trey might try to break into the encrypted files marked Bennett-Eyes Only. Files for which he'd paid a fortune to have multiple encryption installed. What if Trey succeeded? One word to the wrong person and Bennett's carefully constructed world would implode.

He thought he'd prepared for every eventuality. His private techie had assured him when the firewalls were created only someone very skilled could breach them, and even then it was a remote possibility. Haggerty was computer savvy, but he'd never indicated he had advanced skills.

In any event, with all the s**t happening Bennett would see about beefing up security. He swallowed a smile, aware his two partners had tried to break into the files with little success. If it held against them, he had few worries about Trey Haggerty.

He sat waiting for the unpleasant conversation to begin.

An hour ago his Gulfstream had landed on El-Salaki's private island in the Caribbean and one of the man's flunkies had ferried him to the big house in a black SUV. He sat across from the man who-despite the tropical climate-dressed as always in a well-tailored silk suit, shirt and tie, the expression on his face far from friendly.

In contrast, Bennett wore slacks and a linen shirt and still sweated profusely, a condition having little to do with the tropical climate. He cursed himself under his breath for letting his nerves get the better of him. He was a powerful man with many resources at his disposal. Behind his corporate facade, he had his fingers in half the illegal operations in the world. Yet the man sitting across from him with his dead eyes, a descendant of the ruthless Bedouins, had the power to instill fear in him. For the first time, he feared death might be staring him in the face.

A houseboy had served them cold drinks, and they'd been sipping them in silence for at least five minutes. Bennett welcomed the opportunity to gather his thoughts. He'd be god damned if he'd start the conversation. And he had no intention of apologizing. s**t happened and you cleaned it up.

Get your s**t together. Don't lose control.

"So," El-Salaki began. "We have a problem."

Bennett unwrapped the cigar and held it in front of his nose, inhaling the flavor. It was better than a tranquilizer for him. It also gave him time to collect his thoughts.

"We can't rectify," he said at last. "And I think we both own a share of this one."

El-Salaki said nothing, merely lifted an eyebrow.

"Don't give me that look." Bennett kept his voice low and even. He who lost his temper lost the fight. "The wrong person may have answered your call, but you should have verified the person who answered before spilling your guts."

"If you had transferred the money at the appropriate time," El-Salaki countered, "I never would have had to make the call."

"And I will tell you something." He pointed his cigar at the other man. "Tobias Serrano is as big a thief as ever. I transferred the agreed upon amount. He was holding you up for a bigger payoff."

El-Salaki narrowed his eyes. "I can't believe he doesn't know there would be consequences to such an action."

"You can bet, however, he believes in this situation he's in the driver's seat and doesn't give a damn about consequences," Bennett pointed out. "Perhaps it's time to find another supplier. Tobias doesn't have the only drug cartel in the world."

"No. Not an option. We deal with others but our relationship with him is of long standing. We've established a rhythm. And trust, a most important commodity."

Bennett snorted. "Trust. How can you say that word in the same breath as Serrano's name?"

"Because we do have a measure of trust with him, more than any other cartel. And we need to take delivery so we can then complete our end of the sale and purchase a critical shipment of arms. We have a rebel army waiting for them."

They sat in silence for a moment, studying each other.

Bennett turned the situation over in his mind. Between the three of them-himself, El-Salaki and Serrano-they had ordered the death of a staggering number of people without twitching an eyebrow. But Bennett had only arranged killings twice. The other one had been personal, just like this one. He hadn't liked it the last time and he liked it less now. Trey Haggerty had a brilliant future ahead of him, cut short now by an unintentional but fatal mistake.

But a man did dangerous things with his survival at stake. The information in the Funda account alone, if Haggerty cracked it, could have the government breathing down his neck.

Fucking s**t.

He expected to be the one in control at all times. He prided himself on it. But one lapse and everything went to s**t.

Sometimes he enjoyed a silent laugh that the eminently respected Bennett Global Enterprises had been built on money from illegal activities. He'd tricked them all, fooling everyone so no one guessed the truth. But he wouldn't be laughing if the information fell into the wrong hands.

"I think we need to solicit help from Tobias to locate your disappearing executive," El-Salaki said at last. "He has a virtual army at his disposal. You must have some idea where the man would go."

Bennett shook his head. "Not to his parents who live in New Mexico. He wouldn't want to put them in harm's way. He'd stay away from friends and relatives, too."

"He must have transportation. You say he left his car in the parking lot at the bank? Then he has to have purchased a replacement."

"I have someone checking on it. Whatever he buys, the title transfer has to be registered. My tech person has written a program to check all state motor vehicle registrations on a continuous basis. As soon as Haggerty's name pops up, we'll at least have a direction to follow."

"You said he bought a bus ticket to Seattle." El-Salaki pointed out. "Why? Does he have contacts there he could trust?"

"No, and even if he did he'd be smart enough to stay away from them." Bennett shook his head. "I'm guessing he took the next bus leaving the terminal and got off at one of the stops along the way. Figured out how to get new wheels and went about losing himself in the population."

El-Salaki sneered at him. "Meanwhile, we have a man running around with dangerous information and no idea where he'd go." He paused. "You know he's going to hide away somewhere and see if he can dig into your protected files. Can he breach your firewall? Get into the coded accounts?"

"Not unless he has extraordinary hacking skills, and I've never seen any evidence of it." Bennett hoped he was right.

"He's not going to sit still." El-Salaki took a sip of his cold drink then set the glass down with a slow, deliberate movement. "He'll want to find someplace he believes is safe. Then he'll dig for evidence of what he now suspects."

Something Bennett was all too aware of. "Even if he cracked the first level, the important information is embedded in internal documents and subfiles. If he gets too deep into it, he'll send a red flag through the system. We can trace it to his location."

"I don't intend to sit around and wait for that to happen," El Salaki growled. "The longer he's at large, the more dangerous he becomes." He lifted his glass and swallowed the last drops of his drink. "All right. I will admit we both are complicit here. But we have to rectify the situation at once. What do your people think about him being gone? Have you a plausible excuse for his absence?"

Bennett nodded and told him about the email.

"Good, good. Then it's time to call Tobias and bring him into the mess. He's the best one to lead the search."

"Haggerty's my man," Bennett protested. "I'll take care of things."

El-Salaki shook his head. "I think not. This clusterfuck is your mess. We'll clean it up." He paused for a moment. "You know the price you'll pay if he's not found."

Bennett knew. He just tried not to think about it.