“If what you say is true…” he finally said.
“It is true.”
“Okay, assuming it is, and assuming you follow your plan, how do I get my money?”
“We’ll wire it to you from Hong Kong,” Ava said. “If tomorrow I can get the bank to send us the money, we’ll have it the day after. We’ll send you your share right away. So we’re talking, what with the time change, three days?”
“Three days,” he repeated.
“And I’ll be here, of course. I’m not going anywhere. My passport is in Morris Thomas’s drawer.”
“I know where your passport is.”
Now is the time, she thought. “So, Captain, as much as I hate to ask, do we have a deal?”
The Captain fell silent. He was making her wait. She knew he was going to say yes, but he had to remind her who was dominant. “I’d like you to give your cellphone to my brother,” he said.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
She opened her bag, took out her phone, and handed it to Jack Robbins. “Done,” she said.
“What do you think of my brother?”
“You can certainly tell you had the same mother.”
“Actually, his personality is closer to hers than mine,” the Captain said. “In any event, you’ll get to know him better, because he’s going to be staying with you for the next three days, or for however long it takes us to conclude our business.”
“That’s completely unnecessary,” she said.
“It’s what I want.”
“Captain, you have my passport and you have my cellphone. Where exactly do you think I’ll go? What do you think I’ll do?”
“I don’t know what you could get up to. All I know is that you’re resourceful, and I don’t want to have to worry about you.”
“If it has to be — ” she began.
He cut her off. “Good. Now put the phone on speaker mode.”
She pressed the speaker button and then held the phone out to his brother. It seemed to get swallowed up by the gloved hand. “Go ahead,” he said.
“Jack, Ms. Lee and I have reached an agreement that I think is fair. In fact, you could consider us business partners. Now, she has to run to the bank at least once tomorrow. You’re the chauffeur and the bodyguard. Make sure no harm comes to her. Make sure that she is well looked after otherwise.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“As we talked about earlier, you’ll stay at the apartment they rented. No phone calls. No computer. Nothing. She doesn’t communicate with anyone but you, me, and the bank… Now, Ms. Lee, please put the phone back on regular mode.”
“Okay, it’s just me,” she said, holding the phone away from her face and wondering what skin ailment forced Jack Robbins to wear latex gloves.
“It’s very simple: we have your passport and you’re not leaving the islands without it. And to be completely honest, you’re not leaving the islands even if you do have it, because Thomas has put your name on a watch list. If you try to leave you will be stopped and detained. I didn’t need to say that, but I thought you should know that we’re being careful.”
“I understand,” she said, not pleased to hear how thorough he had been. “What you said to your brother about the computer, though — that could be a problem. How do you expect me to send instructions about a wire transfer to your account?”
“Did you send instructions by computer for my $300,000?”
“I did.”
“Are they still in your system?”
“They are.”
“Well, when you’re ready to send new instructions, show the old ones to Jack and then follow the exact same routine. He’ll be watching, of course.”
“Of course. One other thing, Captain — something I do have to ask. What happens if, even with my best efforts, I can’t convince the bank manager to release Seto’s money?”
“That’s not the outcome I expect.”
“You have too much faith in me.”
“You’ll get it done.”
“But if I can’t?” she persisted.
“That’s a conversation for another day,” he said. Then he went quiet.
Has he gone? Ava wondered. “Captain?”
“I want you to behave for my brother,” he said, as if he were talking to a child.
“Of course.”
“And Ms. Lee — Ava, I want you to know that I have the greatest respect for you. This isn’t personal; this is just business. We — me and you — are professionals, so I know you’ll see the fairness in it.”
“I understand,” she said.
“As for my daughters,” he went on, “I meant what I said when you were leaving Guyana. When this is over and we each have our money and you’re back safely in Toronto, I’d like you to call them, I really would.”
“Captain, don’t worry about your daughters,” Ava said.
(33)
The Customs officer pushed Seto through the terminal, with Robbins tailing and Ava alongside him, carrying her own bags. A black Crown Victoria idled outside. The window was open and Ava saw a middle-aged man with a tattooed arm dangling out the driver’s-side window.
“Davey, help me with this guy and then put the wheelchair in the trunk,” Robbins said.
Davey leapt from the car, all five foot six of him. He was scrawny and had a patchy beard. He wore stovepipe jeans, high-top running shoes, and two earrings. The only thing he lacked was a mullet. He opened the back door and watched Robbins shove Seto across the seat. “Put your bags in the trunk and then get in the front with Davey,” Robbins said to Ava.
They crossed the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which separated Beef Island from Tortola, and wound their way to Road Town. It was a slow trek. The roads were narrow, the car was big, and the route was mountainous. The car was American-made but the steering wheel was on the left-hand side and the road rules were British. It made for awkward turning, especially on the tight corners that came at them every hundred metres. The first time Davey honked his horn as they approached a curve, Ava jumped, anticipating a collision, but he did that before every curve as a precaution.
The car was otherwise quiet. Davey concentrated on his driving. Robbins sat like a lump behind her. Ava glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw him staring at the back of her head; then she imagined his breath on her neck. She tried to clear her mind, tried to start thinking through the mess emanating from Guyana, but Davey’s driving was so herky-jerky and the road so potentially lethal she couldn’t sustain any level of concentration.
It took twenty minutes to meander their way to the city. Road Town is built at the base of a mountain, and as they drove down towards it Ava saw that the lights were arranged in what looked like a circle. “That’s pretty,” she said, breaking the silence.
“That’s Road Harbour. The town is built around it, like a horseshoe,” Davey said.
Ava was surprised by the thoughtfulness of his description. “How many people live there?”
“About ten thousand.”
“Looks bigger, but then most cities do at night.”
“This place looks okay in the day too. They’ve done a good job developing it. Your boyfriend picked a nice
