Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 03 - Snow Cone (23 page)

-Chapter 37-

We knew Browning was still searching for us, and that Mayfield didn’t want to spook the fish.  Arresting Browning would only alert the other members of the Red Hand to scatter.  We needed a plan that wouldn’t bring attention to ourselves.  Plus Mayfield couldn’t pin anything on the man. 

My basic plan was for us to go to Switzerland and intercept the uranium.  It felt like a good plan when I thought of it, but now it sounded ridiculous.  We mulled over ideas as a group, and they grew crazier by the minute.  We had no money and no ties to the inside.  This was a dangerous organized crime syndicate.  What the hell were we thinking?

As usual
Galveston refused to be deterred.  He always told me brains win over brawn in these situations.  We decided to sleep on it instead.  Our minds always worked better in the morning. 

Sally and Jane got their own room since sleeping on the ground next to
Galveston was like sleeping next to a snoring moose, and I needed a comfy bed.  We played a game of rock-paper-scissors to see who would get their own bed.  Galveston and I lost and Alex won.  I was going to be forced to sleep next to the moose anyway.

I prepared myself for a night next to
Galveston.  I didn’t understand why I was being punished.  Galveston had excused himself to get an extra pillow from the front desk, so this was my last time to have some privacy.  I finished up in the bathroom and decided I would tell Jane goodnight. 

I walked to Jane and Sally’s room down the hall.  Jane greeted me at the door, and we exchanged a lovely kiss.

“Where is Sally?” I asked noticing that Jane was by herself.

“She went to get a blanket,” Sally replied.

“Uh-oh.  Galveston went to get a pillow.”  I was suspicious of a midnight rendezvous at ten o’clock. “Love you, Jane.  Good night.  I need to check on someone.”

“Good luck,” she replied, knowing who I was looking for.  I gave her once last peck on the cheek before I went down to the lobby. 

The hotel clerk explained that no one had come down for anything.  I was beginning to become frustrated.  We didn’t have time for these shenanigans.  Galveston could massage his love life later.  I had a new mystery on my hands—find Galveston.  If I found him, I was sure Sally was with him too.

I took the stairs back up to our room instead of the elevator.  I figured
Galveston wouldn’t be so dumb as to leave the hotel.  I got back to our hotel room floor and hadn’t found him.  Now I was becoming furious.  I was about to walk back into the hall but stopped.  I heard a whisper two flights above me.  The sound carried in the open stairwell.

I opened the door to the hall and then shut it.  The whispering stopped.  I crept up the stairs quietly and got to the last set before the stairs ran out on the top floor.  I turned the last corner and saw the two of them sitting on the top step, sharing kisses like teenagers.

My foot squeaked on the first step and even that didn’t make them stop.  I made myself known by clearing my throat and put a look of disapproval on my face.  They finally noticed me standing there.

“Roger!”
Galveston exclaimed, startled by me standing on the stairway.  “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Then what is it supposed to look like?” I fired back.

“Okay, maybe it’s exactly what it looks like,” he admitted.

“I know you’re both adults, but this isn’t the time for…” I stopped myself mid-sentence.  I realized I was going to say a ridiculous statement.  They were adults and could do whatever they wanted.  “Oh, go on,” I said. 

I turned quickly and went back down the stairs to our room.  Alex was already asleep and snoring loudly.  I got in bed and pulled my pillow over my head.  I was just about to fade into sleep when Galveston plopped down beside me, shaking the bed as he did.

“We said goodnight.  Thanks for the guilt,” he said dismissively.

I peered from underneath my pillow.  “I was just making sure you didn’t do something stupid.”

“Oh, it’s stupid that I think I’m falling in love with Sally?” he replied.

“No, dummy.  I thought you would try to leave and take her out,” I countered.

Galveston
paused.  “Yeah, that was probably a good idea to look for us.  I forget you know how I act when I’m in love.  To be honest, it had crossed my mind.”

“Good, then I’m not that crazy.  Now go to sleep.”

“She is incredible, isn’t she,” he stated.

“Yes, yes, incredible,” I replied to make him shut up.

“I think I’ve completely fallen for her,” Galveston started again.  “It’s like I have the Helsinki complex.”

“It’s the Stockholm syndrome, and no, you don’t have that.  She would have to be your captor.” 

“Well, I think she’s captured my heart and is holding it hostage,” he replied.

I thought I was going to be sick.  “Please go to sleep,” I pleaded.

“Okay, but I want you to know that my head is in this case.”

“Whatever,
Galveston.  Can I get some sleep now?”

“Alright, alright.  We’ll talk about her in the morning,” he proposed.

“Okay, whatever you say.”  The thought made me cringe, but it was par for the course in dealing with Galveston’s love life.

I figured our pillow talk would have held him over until morning, but I was wrong—very wrong.  I felt my shoulder shaking after I had drifted to sleep and turned to what was touching me.  I came face to face with
Galveston, staring at me with wide eyes.

“What is it now?  You know I was sleeping.  I don’t want to talk about your love life,” I said wearily.

“That kind of hurts, but I don’t want to talk about my love life.  I think I know how we’re going to get into the auction.”

My interest was piqued, mainly because
Galveston didn’t want to talk about his girlfriend.  “Go on, I’m listening.”

“The biggest obstacle I was facing was not how we could get in, but having the money to make it look like we should be there.”

“Do you have a bank account filled with millions of dollars?” I asked.

“I don’t but Nikos Christopoulos did.”

“That’s supposed to go to Veronica.  I don’t feel right taking it.”

“We won’t take it.  We’ll just borrow it,” he whispered.

“I don’t get it.  How is that going to get us in?” I questioned skeptically.

“Don’t worry.  I have it all figured out,” he said with a sly smile.

Galveston spent the next forty-five minutes explaining the plan.  I felt it was too dangerous, and Galveston didn’t disagree, but somehow he managed to convince me it could work.  Maybe it was the fatigue, or maybe I had just lost my mind, but I slowly began to believe him.  It was dangerous and insanely stupid.  It was just the type of plan we thrived on.

-Chapter 38-

As soon as everyone awoke, we informed them of our crazy, late night plan.  It didn’t go over well.  Jane was still feeling the sting from her encounter at Tony’s house.  Sally had seen her share with the explosion and her interview with Veronica, and Alex didn’t want to pose as anyone but himself ever again.

I thought our scheme was dead, but Galveston was a master at convincing others to go along with him.  I wasn’t sure if it was because he had a nice face, or that he was just that good at manipulation.

By the end of his talk, everyone was on board.  I knew we needed to move now before we lost our nerve.

We packed up quickly and left the hotel to go to the airport.  I sent a text to Mayfield to confirm that our passports were cleared to travel.  He notified me they were, and that he would allow it.  He knew not to take a chance on trying to stop us.  I put Jane and Alex in charge of the documents, since Mayfield didn’t know they were with us.

Before leaving
London, I asked Sally to call Veronica and inform her of our plan.  I figured it was the least we could do since we were borrowing money that was supposed to go to her.  Sally tried three times to reach her and never got an answer.  I believed that Mayfield had gotten her to a safer place, so I decided to call him for answers.  When I asked to speak to her, Mayfield informed me that she wasn’t at the address I’d given them.  I then threatened to cancel our deal and contact the London Police if I didn’t hear her voice when we landed in Switzerland.  Mayfield promised he would have an answer.

We flew to
Zurich without a problem, but there was an ominous message awaiting me from Mayfield.  I showed it to Galveston, and he shook his head.  We had another casualty—Veronica had been assassinated.  Mayfield pleaded with us to continue our deal.  He said the agents went to the location again, and Veronica had been shot hours earlier.  It was clear to us that an assassin’s bullet killed her.

I was crushed.  I hadn’t even met the woman, but I felt a deep remorse for her.  She was just another person that got in the way of the Red Hand.  Mayfield even gave his condolences.  Not so much that he cared about the woman, but that he had lost a treasure trove of information about the Red Hand.  Mayfield encouraged us to continue.  He had good reason to. 

I informed him the deal would continue.  We were in too deep.  My sorrow for the woman turned to anger as I thought about the Red Hand’s, and Browning’s, tactics.  They had no concern for human life.  All that mattered to them was the end goal, and anyone that got in the way would be eliminated.  I reminded myself to never forget that. 

Galveston
decided he wouldn’t tell Sally until the case was over.  She wanted Veronica safe.  The short visit with the woman had made a strong impression on her.  Galveston didn’t want her distracted when we needed her.  Unfortunately, Veronica had predicted her fate.  She knew the type of men who had killed her love, and she had resolved herself to the fact that she was next.  We had wanted to change that, but we had failed.

Galveston
and I were now more determined than ever to make sure she, and Tony, hadn’t died in vain.  We had to be smarter than the Red Hand, and we had to beat them at their own game.

We rented a car and the game was officially on.  Everyone knew their duties and awaited their time to perform. 
Galveston and I were first up to the plate.  Nikos’s accounts were at a small Swiss bank just outside the financial district in Zurich.  The building was nothing special.  I expected a colossus of a structure, but this bank could have passed as a restaurant. 

We walked inside and my preconceived notions of what I expected from a Swiss bank were shattered.  It looked like any other bank back home.  There were no massive vaults, retina scans, or an underground chamber filled with secrets.  I was secretly disappointed. 

I had read up on the withdrawal requirements, and they were surprisingly simple due to Nikos’s diligence.  He allowed withdrawals from the account without identification.  I assumed he did this so Veronica could withdraw the money directly from the bank without a record.  The Swiss had strict privacy and confidentiality laws that lent themselves to this type of transaction.   We would be able to access the account without a record of it.

Galveston
approached the bank teller and gave her the account number.  She accessed it and saw the requirements Nikos had spelled out in his letter.  She pushed a computer pad toward Galveston, and he punched in the identification numbers.  The woman printed the bank statement and gave it to him.  Galveston had to fight the urge to yell.  The dollar amount of the two accounts Nikos held were worth over 24 million Swiss francs, around $27 million U.S. dollars.

I sensed the dollar amount was going to be high but never this high. 
Galveston managed to keep his composure.  He took a deep breath and calmly asked for one million Swiss francs in denominations of one thousand francs.

The woman calmly pressed in a few numbers on her computer, and without saying another word, disappeared into the back of the building.  If there was a time to be nervous, this was the time.  We prayed Nikos had been telling us the truth.

The woman appeared again carrying a black case followed by a small man in a nice suit.  The man asked Galveston to go to a small windowless room.  The man followed Galveston to the room holding the case.  I watched helplessly as he disappeared behind a closed door.

The man was allowing
Galveston time to check his withdrawal.  When Galveston opened the case, he saw neatly arranged rows of one thousand denomination francs filled to the top.  He pretended to count through the money quickly and informed the man he was in agreement.  The man scribbled his name on a sheet and shook his hand.  Galveston gave him a wide smile and a thank you before leaving the room.

I watched him emerge without handcuffs, so I knew we were in the clear.  We had one operation down; about a million to go.  The games were over.  Now we moved on to war.

-Chapter 39-

We rehearsed at the hotel that night.  Everyone needed to know their duty down to the second.  We couldn’t afford even one screw-up.

Alex sat by himself working on another nearly identical black case we had bought at a local shop.  Jane approached him from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I got what you wanted.  The farmer gave me some strange looks.  How did you learn how to do this?” she asked.

“It’s all in the insane power of the internet.  I’ve dabbled with it before when I was bored, but nothing on this scale.  I hope it works.” Alex said as he continued to work on the case.

Jane just shook her head.  Alex looked like a mad scientist.

Sally was busy studying maps around the house where the meeting was to take place.  It was located above St. Moritz in the Alps.  The trail would be hard, but she believed she had picked a suitable route. 

Galveston
, Jane, and I rehearsed our part together.  We were the main group going in.  We went over a contingency plan in case things went wrong and began to rehearse again.  Jane instructed us using her acting skills and experience.  We not only had to act the part; we had to be these people.

“What is our operation going to be called?”
Galveston asked as we continued our rehearsal.

“I liked Snow Cone, but the CIA already used it.  How about Operation Fury?” I offered.

“That’s terrible.  I think we need to go with Operation Razor’s Edge.  That sounds cool.”

Jane interjected her thoughts on the subject.  “I don’t like either one of those.  How about Operation Cloak and Dagger?  I think that explains it well.  We’re going in concealed, and then we’re going to cut them.”

“Yikes, I like it, but you’re a little gruesome,” Galveston quipped.

“Yeah, Jane.  I think we need to talk,” I said with a smile.

The conversation had been a welcome break from our endless acting lessons and our fear of the unknown.  This wasn’t a customary mission.  We were walking into the lion’s den, the snake pit; whatever you wanted to call it.  Either way we were scared, but fear wouldn’t accomplish our goals.  Our plan was set, and we planned to execute it down to the letter.  We continued late into the night, refining our roles and duties. 

We awoke early the next morning and began the long drive from
Zurich to St. Moritz.  We arrived later in the afternoon and set up a makeshift communications center for Alex in our new hotel.  He was going to be our safety valve in case things went terribly wrong.

The auction was scheduled for 9:00 P.M., if Nikos’s notes proved correct.  Jane spent two hours making
Galveston and me completely unrecognizable.  She had picked up a few things about make-up from working in the theater business for so many years.  She transformed my nose, eyebrows, and hair until I resembled a man of eastern European descent.  She turned Galveston into a tanned man with shoulder length brown hair and thick eyebrows. 

I looked in the mirror and couldn’t believe it was me.  My nose was bigger, and I had a bridge under my eyebrows that made me appear tougher than I really was.  The latex rubber she had glued to my face was uncomfortable and stifling.

Galveston admired his overly tanned skin and flowing hair.  “This is a look I could get used to,” he remarked.

He thought he looked good, but I thought he looked like a man that should be on a cruise ship trying to impress rich, old ladies.

We put on an extra layer of clothing underneath our newly purchased suits.  It gave us some extra padding that made us appear larger. 

Jane prepared herself just as she would have for a play.  She heavily applied her make-up and used dark, red lipstick to accentuate her lips.  She appeared seductive, but sophisticated.  Her look put her right in line with her character.

Sally had a different task in the operation, and she was dressed in hiking gear.  She prepared her backpack carefully and rechecked her items.  She had the toughest job.

The hour approached eight o’clock, and we began to leave the hotel.  We decided to stick with the CIA’s original name for their operation, instead of going with our made up ones, so
Operation Snow Cone
was all set to begin.

The house of the auction was located on the side of a mountain.  It had a single, solitary road that led to it, and the entrance was blocked by a gate and two guards.  We drove past it twice to get an idea of the layout before dropping Sally off a half-mile from the entrance.

“Please, be safe,” Galveston whispered to her.

“I’m more worried about you,” she replied.  “I’ll be waiting.”  Sally touched his cheek. 

Galveston gave her a long hug and kiss before releasing her into the cold, dark night.  We watched her disappear into the snow as she started her long journey up the mountain.

“You okay?” I asked, noticing true concern on
Galveston’s face.

“Yeah,” he said slowly.  “So this is how it feels when you really care about someone—it sucks.”

I didn’t know what to say.  Galveston was beginning to think about someone other than himself for a change.

I turned the car around and drove back to the security gate.  Sally was going in behind the lines; we were going right through the front.

“Everyone ready?” I asked Galveston and Jane.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Jane said quickly.

We all took a deep breath before the guards stopped us at the gate.