The Scottish Banker of Surabaya

( 32 )

She let the car run for five minutes with the air conditioning on full blast as she gathered her thoughts. The problem she had now was that the secondary objective of recovering some money had gone sharply sideways. If everything he’d said was true, there was no way she was going to get her hands on the thirty million unless she was willing to take on the Italians.

So what if she took the million he had offered and left with it? Even that wasn’t without its problems. Would he be able to get his hands on the money today? And if he couldn’t, did that mean he would meet with the Italians tonight? How much trust could she put in him? She would have to talk to Uncle about the Italians and about Cameron’s offer.

For once he answered the Kowloon apartment phone himself. “Wei.”

“Uncle, it’s Ava.”

“How did it go?”

She paused. She hadn’t told him the schedule. “Well enough,” she said, realizing that he and Perkasa had probably talked the night before.

“No problems picking him up?”

“No. It was easier than I would have thought possible.”

“Good, good.”

“No, Uncle, not quite so good. I’ve just finished questioning him and things aren’t what we supposed. In fact, things are a lot more complicated than I ever imagined.”

She could hear Lourdes puttering around in the background, then Uncle saying thank-you to her for his tea. “What is the problem?” he finally asked.

Ava began to explain. She spoke for almost twenty minutes, uninterrupted, only hesitating when she heard him cough and then later, when she said the word ’Ndrangheta and Uncle seemed to stop breathing.

When she was finished, Uncle didn’t say anything right away, but she could imagine him sitting in his easy chair, a tray by his side holding the teapot and his morning newspapers, his eyes hooded, lips lightly compressed as he absorbed what she had related. “I know of them,” he finally said.

“The Italians?”

“Yes. A hundred families bound together by money and blood — and oaths that they value above their lives. When they first came here, to Asia, for drugs mainly, we did not know what to make of them. Some of my colleagues thought they were like the other Italians: open to side deals. They soon learned differently. There is a hardness, a dedication, a viciousness to them that makes them difficult partners. I am not surprised they have done so well. I am surprised that they are so clever. That Indonesian bank setup is brilliant.”

“Assuming it’s real.”

“You doubt the banker?”

“No, but I still want to confirm what I’ve been told.”

“And then?”

“And then we’ll know for sure. And then we can decide what to do.”

“How can you confirm?” he asked.

“Well, I’m not going to talk to the Italians. In fact I wouldn’t even risk talking to anyone about them,” she said. “But Cameron told me that all the loans the bank has made have been to various companies registered to the Italians and their relatives and friends. One of his major jobs is to paper those deals, make them look legitimate. I want to have a look at them, see who we’re actually dealing with.”

“Ava, you said the banker is supposed to meet the Italians for dinner tonight,” Uncle said slowly.

“Yes.”

“How quickly can you access that information?”

“If I have Cameron’s passwords and he tells me where to look in the bank’s database, I don’t see why I couldn’t do it in the next few hours.”

“Could you download it all?”

“If I can access it, I can download it,” she said. “Why?”

“I am thinking, that is all, and I need to think some more. The thing is, I do not want you to stay in Surabaya. I want to you to get out of there today.”

“Let me confirm what I’ve been told.”

“Not if it means you cannot leave today.”

Ava did some rough calculations. “Uncle, if I can’t get the information by noon, then there is something wrong with either me or the information.”

“You call me back by then.”

“I will.”

“And in the meantime I am going to hold a seat for you on a flight to Hong Kong.”

There it is again, Ava thought, caution gone to excess. They had always been careful, but this was more than that. “How about Perkasa?”

“You need to tell him what I said about the Italians. He is a good man. He knows how to keep his mouth shut. He also knows how to disappear.”

“And Uncle — the banker?”

“That will depend on what you find out, I think.”

“I was thinking the same.”

“We have some time,” he said. “You go discover what you can. Me, I want to consider this thing in more detail. With these Italians you cannot afford to make mistakes; you cannot afford to leave loose ends.”

Perkasa was where she had left him in the kitchen. “I think you should phone Waru and Prayogo and ask them to come back. I may need a drive to my hotel and we can’t leave Cameron alone.”

“What did Uncle say?”

“The Italians are trouble. We need to be careful.”

“I’ll call the boys,” he said, his face impassive.

Ava grabbed her notebook and walked through the kitchen and out onto the back porch. Cameron was slumped forward in the chair, the sun beating down on his naked legs, his head, the back of his neck. Even after being washed down, he still reeked of excrement. She stood a few metres away and shouted, “Cameron, wake up. I need to talk to you.”

He raised his head. “I’m thirsty again,” he moaned.

“In a minute. First we talk.”

“About?”

“I want to access the bank’s computer system.”

He shook his head. “I told you, they control the money. They’re the only ones who can transfer it. And even if they weren’t and you found a way to do it, don’t think they wouldn’t find out who did it and where it went.”

“I have no immediate interest in moving money from the bank. I spoke to my partner about our conversation this morning and he doesn’t quite believe you. He wants me to confirm your story about the loans and real estate transactions. Those are recorded somewhere in your system, I’m assuming.”

“Yes, of course they are.”

“And you have access to them?”

“They are my records.”

“Then this should be easy, shouldn’t it.”

“Why would —”

“My partner wants me to confirm your story. That’s all you need to know,” Ava said.

“I’m thirsty,” he said again.

She was tempted not to concede him even that, but time was passing. “I’ll get you something,” she said.

When she walked into the kitchen, Perkasa was already seated in one of the chairs, waiting for her. “He needs another glass of water,” she told him.

“The boys are on their way here,” he said.

She opened her notebook and reviewed the details. When she went back outside, Perkasa was giving water to Cameron. When he was done, she asked, “How do I get to the bank records?”

“Go to www.regcalindo.com.”

“Not the bank’s site?”

“We have several.”

“Okay,” she said, spelling the web address back to him.

He nodded. “I have three passwords. The first one is ‘andycolin’ — all lowercase. That’ll get you into the main directory and let you access all kinds of general information, including some financials — mainly the bullshit ones. Within the directory you’ll see a tab for assets. Enter ‘chriskaren’ — again lowercase, and ‘chris’ with ch, not k. Under ‘Assets’ there are, I think, eight headers. The one you want is at the bottom and it’s called ‘Projected Income.’ The password to get you in is ‘karenchriscolin.’”

“One word, all lowercase?”

“Aye.”

“And this will show me the loans?”

“All of them.”

“Are they referenced?”

“And f*cking cross-referenced,” he said, as if she’d doubted his professionalism.

The things people cling to when they’re in trouble . . . Ava thought. “That should satisfy my partner,” she said.

“Then what?”

“Then we talk about your million dollars, and if we can work something out you should be free to join your Italian friends for dinner tonight.”

He groaned. “You don’t need this tape or handcuffs anymore.”

“No, we need to conclude our business first.”

Waru came out with Prayogo. The brothers looked at Cameron and then glanced quickly at each other.

“Apologize to Waru for the mess,” Ava said to Perkasa. “And tell him that we’re doubling his fee to make up for it.”

The men spoke among themselves. When they were finished, Perkasa said to Ava, “No problem with Waru. He just wants to know if you want to leave the banker out here like this. Or can they wash him off properly and move him back indoors?”

“Leave him here,” Ava said. “But get one of the boys to fish Cameron’s wallet out of his pocket. I may need it later.”