Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [62]
“Yes.”
“And Thomas?”
“Yes?”
“A secure place to stay and weapons.”
“I will arrange it.”
“When the authorities release Raymond’s body, please arrange for an undertaker to prepare him to be transported back to his home.”
The call was terminated before Thomas Lu could reply. Lu leaned back in his chair and sighed. It was done. He didn’t care that Carlos Mendez thought him a total abject coward. That had helped Mendez believe him. Now he had placed Sami Somsak firmly in the Colombian’s sights he was free, off the hook, and he had two billion dollars.
22
The van slowed and turned into an access way. I could see a heavy steel and mesh gate in front of us. The gate was sliding open as we approached. The driver didn’t stop. We were in an industrial compound of some sort. I had glimpses of tall steel and concrete-sided buildings as we threaded our way through them. I could see several large trucks with concrete mixers mounted.
“Cement plant,” Jo was saying to me. “When Sami found out Lu owned the warehouse next door, he bought a major stake in this.”
“Today?” I blurted out. After all, until just hours ago we had no idea of the location of the money. I knew Sami moved quickly, but this was incredible.
“Today,” Jo confirmed, “as soon as we knew where the money was, Sami got on the phone. He knows everyone.”
“Yeah, he does,” I agreed. “It’ll be a very good investment when Intella goes ahead.”
“Oh yes,” Jo replied with a chuckle.
The van stopped and then backed up. I heard the sound of a heavy door opening and then we were inside a warehouse. The door closed in front of us. Jo stood, then went and opened the transit’s rear door. I followed him out.
The warehouse was three-quarters full of bags of what I took to be cement. It was about half the size of a football field and made of steel with corrugated metal cladding. The few lights hanging from the ceiling were huge and dulled by the dust that hung in the air.
Jo led the way down the narrow aisle that ran from the front to the rear of the stacks of cement bags. The door at the rear was just a pedestrian one. Jo signalled me to his side as he opened it. The rain was still falling and the gloom told me that night was coming early.
A few metres beyond the door was a tall mesh fence topped with razor wire. Beyond that was another industrial compound. Three large metal and concrete warehouses were spaced down the centre of the rectangular lot. Several lights on tall poles dotted around the compound fought the rain and the gathering dark.
Jo had a pair of compact binoculars to his eyes. The light-gathering properties of the lenses would turn the gloom back into day.
“Front warehouse is the target. There is a man doing a beat across the rear of that building. No sentry in front, the gatehouse covers that.” Jo handed the glasses to me. I waited for several seconds before a lone figure in a rain cape came to the corner of the second warehouse. He glanced down the length of the lot and then retreated back the way he had come. I held up my wrist and waited, counting down the seconds.
“Ninety seconds,” I said when the sentry reappeared. He repeated his actions and vanished again. “Dark and wet, he’ll have trouble seeing anything.”
“Yes. We cut the wire and get into cover behind the second warehouse and make our way to the rear of the target building and take him out. There’s a small doorway there, probably alarmed. We send three to the front and go in.”
“Why hasn’t he got more men outside?” I wondered aloud. The lone sentry wasn’t exactly heavy security.
“He’s got cameras,” Jo replied. “On the four front light towers.” I focussed the glasses on the nearest of the four towers and then switched to the other one I could see from our position. He was right. The three light towers in the front third of the compound each had a camera mounted to one side of the light. No doubt the fourth in the far right of the compound was no different. Each of the cameras I could see had a small antenna protruding from