The Four Corners of the Sky_ A Novel - Michael Malone [194]
“This is bullshit,” grumbled Dan.
Fierson’s voice sharpened. “Young man, we’ve heard enough from you. If you don’t want to be removed from the room, please keep quiet.” The government official turned his back on the detective. “Annie,” he soothingly went on, “I admire your desire to serve your country by testing the Lightning II. But this Queen of the Sea matter involves your country as well. We might not care for the kind of nation Cuba has become, but we can’t have an American con artist stealing its historic treasures. Can we?”
Annie looked at him for a moment. “No, sir.”
“If the statue is returned, quickly and intact, there would probably be very little reason—” he glanced with some disdain at the chunky FBI agent’s gnawing on the bun—“to call attention to its theft. Do you see my point, Lieutenant Goode?”
Annie twisted her neck side to side, trying to ease the stabs of pain. “Yes, sir, I do see it.”
“Good,” smiled Fierson. “We agree that such a treasure belongs either in a museum or…a church. Not to your father?”
“Yes, we agree.”
Dan blew a loud breath into the room but said nothing.
Fierson motioned to his aide, the young bone-thin woman, who checked through her clipboard and showed him a page of it. “All right then, to specifics. Access to the account at the branch of Banco Central in Havana depends upon a visual identification and knowledge of certain codes. Has your father confided these codes and the contents of a bank drawer to you?”
Annie scowled at Trevor. “Is there anything you didn’t tell them?” She turned to Fierson. “With respect, sir, what my father may have confided seems to me a personal matter.”
Fierson smoothed his tanned and manicured fingers across his lips. “I assure you it is not, or I wouldn’t be here. I would be fishing on Jupiter Island with my grandson.”
Flipping to the next page, the thin young woman placed her clipboard in his line of vision and pointed at something. He paused with a questioning look to her. She handed him a manila envelope.
Dan flung out his arms. “Are we ever going to say the name Feliz Diaz here today?”
There was puzzlement from the naval officers, a brief uncomfortable silence from the others.
Annie said, “I think Diaz tried to have my father killed for reneging on the sale of the Queen. I won’t do anything that will jeopardize my father’s safety.”
McAllister Fierson bent over to whisper something to Trevor and Willie. They spoke back and forth. Then the government official told Annie, “Assuming of course the FBI has access to Jack Peregrine, they will take any necessary steps to protect him. His best protection is to stay away from dangerous people.”
Annie looked up and down the row of solemn men. “I think he’s trying to do that.”
Embarrassed, Trevor still didn’t look at her as he asked, “Do you have this statue in your possession now?”
“No, I do not.” She smiled. “And I don’t think you’ve ever known me to lie.”
“No, I haven’t. Do you know where the statue is?”
She shook her head.
Dan glared at Trevor. “You skeeze. She trusted you.”
Annie grabbed Dan’s arm. “It’s okay.”
Fierson interrupted. “The minute your father’s in touch with you, you’re in touch with us and he’s brought into custody.”
Annie heard her father telling her to call the bluff. She took a deep breath, her hands flat on the desk, the gold buttons gleaming on the white cuffs of her naval jacket and looked steadily around the table, from one male face to another. “With respect, sir, I won’t bring my father into custody unless I have a written guarantee of his full immunity from prosecution.” She looked straight at Fierson. “That’s not a threat. The law’s position on my father is absolutely right.”
Dan leaned forward. “Bottom line, Mr. Fierson. Take it from the Miami police. She blew off every offer I made. She gave us total shit fits. And she likes me. She’ll go to jail but she won’t give him up.”
Fierson studied Annie.
She added, “I understand and accept what the repercussions for me could be. But this is my father. He’s dying. He has a horror of confinement.