Pirate - Duncan Falconer [128]
‘I put you in the jail because you accused me of cheating your Triad bosses.’
‘I was also ordered to check the amount of drugs you were putting on board. You are cheating the Triads.’
‘Cheating. A stupid word in our business. As long as everyone makes money, what is the problem?’
‘If you went to China and told them that, you wouldn’t live very long,’ she said.
‘And so let them come here,’ he said. ‘They would not because they are afraid to. Why do you think I keep Al-Shabaab happy? The Triads could not take on those guys. Not here in Somalia. And that’s why I had to punish you some more. I wanted to send them a message. I’m sure you enjoyed it just a little. Isn’t that why you came back?’ Lotto asked.
She turned to Stratton. ‘You’ve come for the jihadists, haven’t you?’ she said.
‘That’s all over,’ he said. ‘The camp and the missiles have been destroyed. We have the ships and the hostages will be free by now.’
Lotto opened his mouth slightly in horror at the news. His world was crumbling around him and it was all this man’s fault.
‘You avenged your friend?’ she said.
Stratton didn’t answer, he simply stared coldly at her. But she read a hint of satisfaction behind the veil of pain.
‘I’m glad for you,’ she said.
Stratton knew he should regard her with the same cold contempt he had for Lotto but still he could not. He suspected there was more to her story. ‘You don’t seem like the Triad type,’ he said.
‘I’m not a Triad. My father was.’
‘I liked working with your father,’ the Somali cut in.
‘Too much unfortunately,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘The Triads found out that Lotto and my father were cheating them. That’s how I ended up here. If I did not deliver the drugs and report on the weapons, they would kill all of my family. My mother, my sister and brother. Even my brother’s wife and children. I had no choice.’
‘I am feeling very bad about all of this,’ Lotto said. ‘There’s a lot I have been blind to. I am going to give you a lot of money too.’
Stratton wondered if the man really expected anyone to take him seriously. And did he really believe that after this little talk he was simply going to walk out of here? Stratton hadn’t decided what to do with the pair of them. He would take them down to the beach and introduce them to Downs. London could decide.
‘When you beat her, did she tell you I’d been on the ship and seen the weapons?’ he said.
‘I don’t think so,’ Lotto replied.
‘He’s lying,’ the girl said. ‘He asked me where I had been. I didn’t tell him at first. But the pain was too great and I thought he would stop. So I told him. He didn’t stop. He asked me where you had been. I told him the truth. And he continued with me.’
Lotto looked like a cornered animal.
‘So my next trip would’ve been to the Al-Shabaab camp?’ Stratton said.
‘In business terms, that was a long time ago,’ Lotto said and shrugged. ‘Now we can start again. I’ll give you twenty million dollars US. I have money here. Lots of it.’
He reached for a large cardboard box. Stratton stiffened a little, but the Somali kept moving like a sloth and pulled the box over, tipping dozens of bundles of hundred-dollar bills on to the floor.
‘It’s all yours. There are more boxes filled with money. I have euros and pounds. You too,’ he said, picking up a bundle and offering it to the girl. ‘Take it all.’
She didn’t move, her eyes fixed on his.
Lotto looked at Stratton for a sign that he was winning the operative over. He saw none.
‘Why’d you come back?’ Stratton asked the girl.
‘For my family. I had to finish my work.’
‘And Lotto?’
She was still looking at the Somali. ‘To kill him if I could.’
Lotto could feel the walls closing in.
Stratton was enjoying the man’s pain. ‘A nice idea,’ he said. ‘But we’ll have to leave that possibility for later. Right now you’re both coming with me.’
She looked from the pirate to him, but not with anger in her eyes. Only sadness.
‘I cannot go with you,’ she said. ‘If I do, I will fail and my family will die.’
Stratton appreciated her dilemma.