Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [56]
“Why is he postponing the inevitable?” Sami asked. “He’s up to something, Daniel. Another attempt on me perhaps?”
“Probably. Why don’t you just copy what’s on Stanley’s recorder and send it to each member of the consortium. That would do it.”
“I want to physically establish my place with them. A grand entrance, Daniel. That is what they expect. Then I want to play the recording and for them to see Lu for what he is. I want to break him in front of his peers. That is Stanley’s revenge.”
“Okay. I can understand that,” I conceded.
“I have had it copied and those copies are there in case Lu does get to me. Whatever happens, he is going to be thrown out of the syndicate and ruined in business.”
“Have you got a copy for the cops?”
“That’s not the way I work, Daniel. When he is ruined, Lu will die, if not at my hands then Jo’s, and if not Jo, then K will do it. If not K, can I count on you?”
“Of course. But he’s not going to get to you.”
“Not now,” he said. “No, not now, Daniel, and I’m coming back at him hopefully in a manner he doesn’t expect.”
“How so?”
“We’re going to find where he’s hidden the money.”
“That is a big ask, my friend.” And it was a big ask. Small as it might be in mass, Singapore probably has as many warehouses and factories as people. There were probably millions of places to hide just about anything you wanted to.
“Perhaps not,” Sami said with a smile. “I have many friends here in Singapore, a lot of them in official circles. As we speak, we are mapping Lu’s movements in the days since Stanley’s death.”
“How the hell can you do that?” I wanted to know. “You think he’s going to trace his movements on a nice big street map and give it to you?
Sami laughed at that.
“That’s not as far fetched as you might think, actually. Thankfully, we have some very powerful computers at our disposal,” Sami responded. “Digital CCTV vehicle footage with number plate recognition technology is being processed as we speak. Shortly we’ll have a very good idea of where Lu, or at least his Bentley, has been over the past few days.”
“Bloody hell,” I blurted. I got it then. If anyone had that sort of technology, it would have to be Singapore and the CIA perhaps. Imagine it. Load a vehicle’s license plates into a supercomputer and simply flash through a billion CCTV traffic images, all time-coded, of course. In a matter of minutes probably, you could track the movement of a lone vehicle—or a fleet of vehicles for that matter —throughout a city, or in this case the whole island.
Most citizens just aren’t aware that this sort of technology exists. That’s why so many bad guys get themselves caught—they just don’t know what’s going on behind the blank grey glass walls of the police fortresses. Driving past the police building on Cantonment Road is intimidating if you’ve got something to hide.
“Incidentally, I have a blueprint of the CCTV coverage with the zones marked. You’ll notice we never drive directly to or from any destination.”
“I have noticed you seem to be all over the place,” I replied, thinking of some of the convoluted routes I’d been taken along on my outings with Sami’s people.
“Stanley was very resourceful in his own way, Daniel. Most of our businesses here are totally legitimate, but not all. Stanley’s talent was meeting people and, shall we say, through subtle bribery or otherwise, getting them onside. Unfortunately, other elements in his life were not, shall we say, quite as I would have liked.” Sami paused. “Well, that’s past now. We will continue to take advantage of his good work and let the rest lie.” I could picture him sitting there just for a moment. There would be an expression of sadness at what was and what might have been. Then it was back to business. Like my friend, I knew only too well that dwelling on what might have been is fucking pointless.
“Okay,