At the same time, Nasir was on the phone with his Mineral Resource expert who was explaining that “Mining explosions rarely create a measurement on the Richter scale unless the explosion is right over the measuring equipment. “The only exception to that rule was if the explosion was created by an underground nuclear explosion. Those would register on the scale, and would most likely even produce aftershocks.”
The men all stopped at that point, each of them ending their calls and coming together. Four men, standing in front of the digital image, hands fisted on their hips as they stared at the information they’d gathered so far. There were sticky notes all over the map. Some of the information on the notes was pertinent. Other notes contained something someone discovered and put it up for consideration – but now that they knew…or suspected…what was going on, those notes were most likely irrelevant.
Nasir snatched several notes away, tossing them into the nearby trashcan. The trash would later be incinerated for security reasons.
“So narrowing down the possibilities, we have someone tunneling under our four countries and…” He paused, then picked up the digital pen that would draw lines over the satellite image. “Look at this!” He used the pen to electronically draw a circle around the areas where unexplained issues had been detected. Those issues included a large region where the businesses had suddenly reported closing, a disproportionate and sudden spike in housing sales, many of which hadn’t been sold so the prices had been reduced, and local law enforcement authorities had reported a larger than average spike in violent crimes, especially in areas that had previously been considered extremely low crime sections.
“We’ve been looking at these issues separately,” Nasir explained, his eyes focusing on his lines as well as the small villages and towns that were within the triangle he’d drawn. “What if we look at them from a bird’s eye view?” He picked up a piece of paper, then looked at the image again, drawing a few more lines.
When they all stepped back, they looked at the connecting areas where there had been unexplained sales or crime spikes, there was a very visible circle as well as a road that led into and out of the perimeter. The same unexplained issues were happening along the road heading into the mountains, and even some of the small mountain towns had been hit with some odd incidents. The lines made the connections more obvious.
“I’ll be damned,” Zantar whispered.
“Who would do this?” Astir growled.
“And why?” Goran snapped.
Nasir sighed, stepping in front of the image and facing the men. “I don’t know. But now that we know the what, let’s focus on the why.” He put the electronic pen down. “Let’s continue this investigation tomorrow.”
The men all nodded, agreeing with taking a break. They’d been going for hours now, and it was time for everyone to take a step back and process what they’d learned today.
“Tomorrow, we’ll start fresh.” Astir lifted his cup of coffee in the air as a salute, then looked down at the cold brew and grimaced with distaste. “I’ll ensure that we have hot coffee tomorrow as well.’
The other men laughed, shaking their heads. Normally, a servant would come into meetings to ensure that coffee and food options were available, hot, and edible. But because of the sensitive nature of this investigation, all four men had agreed to keep everyone out, including their personal bodyguards, in order to ensure absolute privacy.
One by one, they walked out of the conference room, each silent now as they went in different directions. Zantar was wondering if Faye had remained at the hotel as he’d hoped. But he doubted it. He’d asked, but she was such an independent woman. She’d probably considered his request as a dare to go back to wherever she currently lived and figure out how to survive on her own without a job.
Stubborn woman, he thought as he anticipated meeting her for coffee tomorrow morning. He glanced down at his watch, cringing when he realized that he’d only get about three hours of sleep before meeting the lovely woman.
Ealayk allaena, as soon as he saw Faye, Zantar vowed to figure out how to get her to move into his hotel suite. Maybe he could offer her some sort of job. She was a smart, creative woman. He was positive that there would be a position for her within his government.
As soon as that thought hit him, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before this moment. Probably because her presence caused him to think of…other things. If he’d been thinking properly, he might have come up with the idea the first day he’d met her. Or more accurately, the first day he’d seen the damage to her hands. Aljahim, he should have asked about that damage on the first day. But he’d been too overwhelmed with her eyes. And her lips. Well, all of her, actually.
The cell phone’s ringing woke Scott up. He looked around, trying to figure out what time it was while answering the phone with a growled, “What the hell do you want?”
Rubbing his eyes, he picked up the watch sitting on the bedside table, squinting as he tried to read the numbers. Damn watch! He’d paid over fifty thousand dollars for the damn thing, and he still couldn’t read the stupid numbers! All he knew was that it was some time around two o’clock in the morning. Or maybe it was ten minutes after some other hour. It was still dark out. That’s all that mattered, he thought, mentally going through a litany of expletives.
“You told me that you had the situation under control,” a creaky, angry voice snapped through the phone.
It was the cold, almost friendly tone of voice that got through to him and caused him to jerk awake, jackknifing up in bed.
Soft, feminine hands smoothed over his back but he jerked away from the touch, shoving the irritating hands away. He felt his elbow hit something and he heard a soft gasp but couldn’t take the time to figure out what he’d done.
“Sir!” Scott croaked out, trying to control the panic that was now creating a tight band around his chest, making it hard to breathe. There wasn’t much that scared him in this world. But this man…Harvey Neville was one of the most terrifying, most inhumane people Scott had ever encountered. He was also the wealthiest. Of all the people who topped the wealthiest charts, Scott suspected that this man was worth ten times more than all of them. No one knew about this guy’s work though. He was evil even beyond anything Scott could ever imagine.
The freak paid well though. That was the only reason Scott had signed up to work for the bastard!
“People are interfering with my business, Mr. Roland. I don’t like people interfering. You told me that you could handle the situation in Citran and the surrounding countries more effectively than your two predecessors. Now I’m discovering that you lied!”
Scott swallowed, not sure what the hell was going on. “I assure you, Mr. Neville, that everything is under control. I’m here in the capital monitoring the news from my sources inside the government. The trucks in Citran are able to come and go from the underground staging area easily. They leave during the night hours when everyone is asleep. The efiasia is being excavated at high quantities and shipped out in your containers. We’re actually ahead of our delivery schedule at the moment.”
There was a hissing sound and Scott suspected that the man was inhaling through his narrow nasal passages. “And the towns? The residents will be out of the way on schedule so the real work can be accomplished? That first idiot, Jeffrey something-or-other, thought he had the town under control and look how that turned out!” The man paused for a scary moment. “I don’t want anything to hinder my progress. That mineral is essential to my plans, Mr. Roland. You might be ahead of schedule now, but anything could change that status.”
“Yes!” Scott assured him, mentally going through his list of potential obstacles. He stood up and grabbed the woman’s clothes, pulling open the hotel room door and throwing her clothes out. She squeaked in fury, but Scott ignored her, taking her arm and pushing her out as well, all the while assuring Mr. Neville that everything was going as planned.
“You bastard!” the prostitute hissed, grabbing the skimpy dress she’d worn on the street corner the previous evening, pressing it against her naked breasts. Scott ignored her, turning and tripping over something. When he looked down at the floor, he saw that the woman’s ridiculous platform shoes were lying there. He might have tossed them there last night after he’d had sex with the woman. He vaguely remembered telling her to keep them on.
“Yes, sir, the trucks are carrying dirt at a rate of five thousand tons a day. The underground explosions are effective at breaking up the rocks to expose the efiasia veins, but since everything is being done underground, there isn’t any evidence that anything is changing up on ground level. Even if the satellites took images of the area, they wouldn’t notice any changes. The trucks are coming and going through underground passageways that hide their movements.” He yanked open the hotel room door once again and threw the shoes out, slamming the door closed again. He heard the woman screech again and suspected that one of the shoes had hit her. But he didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to sooth her hurt feelings. He was too busy not getting killed in some horrific way by this man’s minions.
“That all sounds perfect, Mr. Roland.” There was a long pause and Scott wondered if the man had hung up on him. But then Scott heard papers shifting in the background and clenched the phone more tightly. “It has come to my attention that the leader of…” another pause, “Citran…is visiting the capital of Skyla. I think he should be the first leader to sign the mining documents. Most of the minerals I want are underneath his country and since he’s away from Citran, he might not know what’s going on. It should be easy enough to get him to sign the contracts so that I am covered in the case of any…issues.” Another pause and Scott wondered if the man was certifiably insane. “Get Sheik al Abouss to sign the papers or get him out of the way.” Then there was a muted click, and the line went dead.
Scott glanced at the phone, ensuring that the call had truly been terminated before letting out a long breath as he fell backwards on to the bed. For a moment, he stared up at the ceiling, wondering if he should just cut his losses and get out of town, find another job. One that wouldn’t end with his excruciating death.
Unfortunately, he’d spent almost all of what he’d earned, so leaving right now, with just the cash left over from his last payment, would mean he wasn’t quite as well off as he’d like to be. Scott knew that he had an issue with spending. He liked shiny things and liked living like a king. He loved the way people treated him when he paid for their drinks or meals, or when he found a pleasing prostitute to soothe his sore muscles. He chuckled at that last thought.
Should he just get away? He considered the option, but then he remembered of all the lovely money still to be earned and smiled, opening his eyes. Yeah, Scott knew that he was a greedy bastard. But he didn’t care. He liked money. Correction, he liked all of the things he could buy with his money.