The Malhoa Connection

by Estelle Ryan

  “What kind of connections to Conhecedor?” Daniel asked.

  “Oh, this shipment from Morocco two years ago was paid for by Conhecedor. Very straightforward. But the more recent one was paid for by a company that has Conhecedor as one of its investors.” It was only the slight increase in blinking that belied Inge’s innocent expression. Her deceptive skills were well-honed. “But I haven’t been able to connect the other company to Conhecedor yet. Or to trace it. Or to figure out if it means anything at all.”

  I bit down on my bottom lip to prevent myself from challenging her. She was clearly lying, but with the complex dynamic and especially with Colin’s history with Paulo, I didn’t consider confronting her wise. There was a reason she was not revealing everything she knew. I just didn’t know whether it was to keep us at arm’s length or to keep this information from Paulo. I hated the games people played.

  “I can’t believe you people are so willing to trust the cops.” Paulo walked to a large cabinet, entered a lengthy code and put the rifle inside before shutting the door. He turned around. “But you are here, so what the hell.” He pointed at the manifests. “My guy said that Conhecedor is closing shop and they have a last shipment incoming.”

  “And how would your guy know this?” Manny studied Paul through narrowed eyes.

  “He told me Conhecedor requested an expedited invoice. Usually, the port authorities issue invoices as soon as possible, but sometimes there are delays. My guy said Conhecedor insisted on receiving the invoice the moment the shipment arrived. They wanted to pay the invoice and have everything cleared so they can close their account with the port.”

  “And when is this shipment arriving?” Daniel asked.

  “Soon.”

  I shook my head, then pointed at Paulo’s face. “That lie wasn’t even hidden.”

  “Who the fuck are you to tell me I’m lying?” Paulo’s last words came out loud, his face turning red, his posture hostile.

  “Dude.” Vinnie’s sigh was exaggerated as if speaking to a wayward child. “You’re gonna hurt your brain and your intestines if you continue these outbursts. Damn. It must be exhausting to be you.”

  Armando laughed. Then laughed harder when Paulo swore viciously.

  I studied Paulo. “You’re using your outbursts to hide something important.”

  “Ooh, you’re good.” For a moment, Inge’s expression was guileless, her enjoyment genuine. “What Mr Shouty-Pants here doesn’t want to tell you is that Jake got us access to Conhecedor’s email account.” She raised her hand towards Manny when he leaned forward. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s all kinds of illegal, but look around at your current audience. Want to know what we found?”

  Manny’s shoulders dropped. “Pray, do tell.”

  Inge giggled, her affected persona back. “There’s a container from Conhecedor in the shipyard as we speak.”

  Paulo swore viciously and stormed off to the empty steel table. He hit the surface hard with his fist, his muscle tension revealing pent-up aggression.

  “Um.” Jake glanced nervously at Paulo, then leaned towards us. “We were busy planning on getting in there to see what’s in the container.”

  “And just how were you planning on doing that?” Manny looked at Paulo as he returned and glared at Jake. “Lisbon’s ports have top-of-the-range security. Is your contact at the port going to give you access?”

  Paulo glowered at Manny, his inner battle visible in his micro-expressions.

  “You know we need these guys, Paulo.” Armando sighed. “Put your psychotic pride away and let’s get this done.”

  Paulo looked around the room until his gaze met Manny’s. He nodded, then pointed at Colin without looking in our direction. “But he’s not coming to the shipyard.”

  “No problem.” Colin’s tone was neutral. He’d been quiet this whole time, only observing. “I’ll stay here and look at your other findings.”

  “We’ll keep this small.” Manny jerked his chin towards Daniel. “Dan and I will go. Paulo, you can bring one from your team.”

  “I’ll go.” Jake raised his hand as if he were in a classroom, eager to answer the teacher’s question.

  It was most intriguing how relieved both Armando and Inge were that Jake had offered. Paulo gave a tight nod in agreement.

  “Your guy will get us in? Or do I need to make a call?” Manny asked Paulo.

  “It’s already done. My guy is waiting for us.”

  “Then let’s do this.” Manny gave Vinnie and Colin a meaningful look before he turned away.

  I watched as Manny, Daniel, Paulo and Jake weaved through the crates and boxes and disappeared up the stairs. It was only when we heard the sound of the door shutting behind them that Colin turned to Armando and Inge. “Want to tell us the rest now?”

  Chapter TEN

  “I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE here. I swear, Paulo is going to get us killed if we don’t change course.” Inge took a step closer to Armando and I made a note of her trust in him. Her relief at our presence was real. As was her disquiet every time she mentioned Paulo. “We didn’t know if you would agree, but I’m so happy Armando managed to convince you to come. I hope you will be able to control Paulo. I’m really scared he’s going to take this too far.”

  “Too far?” Colin asked.

  Inge swallowed, then pulled her shoulders back. “That man is a psycho. I’m worried he’s going to get people hurt or even worse.”

  Armando put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sorry you were alone with them.”

  “Meh.” She patted his hand and smiled up at him. “I can handle them. I did. A few times Paulo was about to lose his shit. And Jake’s skittishness didn’t help. Anyway, that’s not important now.”

  It was fascinating to watch her transformation. Gone was the hunched-over, lost middle-aged woman. She still wasn’t presenting us with her real thoughts or emotions, but she was much more open. And confident.

  “You still haven’t answered my question.” Colin was also studying Inge and Armando. I wondered what he saw between them that softened his expression, lifting the corners of his mouth with a gentle smile.

  “Um... oh. Yes.” Armando lifted his hand off Inge’s shoulder and waved at all the papers pinned to the boxes. “What else do we know? A lot. And nothing.”

  Colin sighed tiredly. “Armando, no games. Say what you need to say.”

  “This honesty thing is not easy, you know.” Armando rubbed the back of his neck, then inhaled deeply. “Okay, here goes. I don’t have proof of anything, but Inge and I suspect that Paulo has another motivation to get rid of the Collector.”

  “What motivation?” Colin asked.

  “Before you answer, first tell us the motivation he gave you.” I needed that information to create context.

  “Paulo convinced me to join this crusade at a time I was... not myself. It was two weeks after Jessie and James.” He glanced at Inge. “Anyway, he told me what the Collector did to him to gain his cooperation. It... it’s awful. And it convinced me in that moment.”

  “Paulo told us the Collector threatened him by causing an accident that killed his brother-in-law.” Inge pressed her shoulder against Armando’s in quiet support.

  “You don’t believe this.” I saw the doubt on their faces. “Why not?”

  “Look, make no mistake—I completely believe that the Collector would do this.” Inge rolled her shoulders as if to ward off a shudder. “But Paulo is just as deranged in his head. Twice he mentioned how much he hates everyone, but he hates his family the most. Not once when he told us the story of his brother-in-law did I get the impression that he wanted to protect his family. Or that he was even sad about his brother-in-law’s death.”

  “She’s right.” Armando paused, then nodded as if he’d made an internal decision. “I know that Paulo has created these kind of accidents before. I wouldn’t be surprised if his brother-in-law did something to piss him off and Paulo was the one who fiddled with the car. He knows cars.
He would know how to cause an accident without leaving a trace.”

  “Dude, you really shouldn’t have joined his party.” Vinnie shook his head and took his tablet from one of the larger pockets in his jacket. “Especially if you knew what he’s done before.”

  “Hindsight and all that.” Armando sighed.

  “What’s done is done. We’re here now.” Inge glared at Vinnie. “Don’t judge.”

  “You’re digressing.” I hated that. “If this alleged accident isn’t Paulo’s motivation, what do you think is?”

  “Money.” Armando looked at Colin. “You know him. He’s always been motivated by money.”

  Inge grunted. “And that’s just the thing. He has more money than God. If I did my calculations right—”

  “Which she always does,” Armando added.

  “—then his net worth is around seven hundred and seventy million euros.” She smiled when Vinnie swore and Colin whistled softly. “These are conservative calculations. And only on the assets I know are in his portfolio.”

  “That’s a fuckton of money.” Vinnie looked up from his tablet. “Why would he want more?”

  “Everyone has their own definition of enough.” And I was confident that Armando’s and Inge’s definitions were very different to mine. “For some people, possibly Paulo, no amount will ever be enough. They might have a number in mind, but as soon as they reach it, they adjust it higher.”

  “That’s definitely Paulo.” Inge nodded. “I’m totally guessing here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s shooting for a billion or more.”

  Colin looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, then looked at Inge, his eyes narrowed. “And you think Paulo has intel that the Collector has at least two hundred and thirty million in cash somewhere?”

  “To make up one billion?” Vinnie swore and viciously tapped his tablet screen.

  “I’m convinced of this.” Armando tilted his head. “Maybe not of the exact amount, but Paulo knows something we don’t.”

  “Something?” I hated generic statements.

  Armando paused, closing his eyes for a moment. He was visibly struggling with the concept of sharing information that could very likely bring him wealth. He inhaled deeply, opened his eyes. “A huge haul. Paulo runs his mouth when he’s irritated.”

  “Which is all the time.” Inge rolled her eyes. Again.

  Armando snorted. “I don’t know if we’re just special, but his hackles are raised nonstop. Then he talks about his so-called conquests—all the info he’s stolen and how much power he has to destroy the world. Sometimes he sounds like a cartoon character.”

  “This huge haul?” I could see Armando was warming up to the topic of Paulo’s character and I wanted to stay on point. For now. Later, Paulo’s character traits might be important.

  “Ah, yes. He was arguing with Jake about something ridiculous when he shouted that he’s going to get this final haul and he’ll be free of idiots like us.”

  “They had a big blowup,” Inge said. “Jake is terrified of the Collector and only wanted to find him and kill him.”

  “Kill him?” Vinnie looked up from his tablet. “We didn’t sign up for assassinations.”

  “Neither did we.” Armando’s smile dropped. “At first, Paulo sounded equally disgusted with the idea. Then he started yelling about this haul the Collector has and that Jake could only kill the Collector after he—Paulo, that is—found this haul.”

  “And then they started shouting about sharing the haul.” Inge sighed. “Those two are exhausting, so I left.”

  “We left.” Armando crossed his arms. “That was when I realised I made a mistake teaming up with them. And that we needed help.”

  “Do you know what this haul is?” Colin asked. “Art? Cash? Intel?”

  “Nope.” Inge shook her head. “Even though he runs his mouth, he never reveals the truly important parts. Just enough to intimidate, threaten or brag.” The corners of her mouth turned down. “He’s using us to do his dirty work.”

  “That would explain why he is so pissed off that you brought us here.” Vinnie lowered his tablet, his eyes widening. “Oh, dude! The old man is going to blow a gasket when he finds out you’re using us like this.”

  Armando uncrossed his arms, his faux half-smile back as he raised one eyebrow.

  Colin laughed. “You can put away your charms, Armando. We’ve all seen right through it. Vin is right. You’re not only using us to stop the Collector, you’re also using us to protect yourselves from Paulo. You should’ve told us.”

  The genuine disquiet in both Armando and Inge was strong enough to bring a tightness to my chest.

  Inge swallowed and looked at me. “He’s unpredictable. Some days, I think he’s just a jackass. The other days... he really scares me.” She turned to Colin. “The big reason I mostly ignored you when you guys arrived is that I knew you would be a trigger for Paulo. I’m really glad you didn’t say much. We might not be standing here right now if you had.”

  For a few moments, we stood in silence. I studied Armando and Inge. They glanced at Vinnie, who was swiping his tablet screen, frowning. Then Armando glanced at some printouts pinned to a box behind Inge. She turned, her eyes widening slightly before she turned back, stepping to the side to block our view.

  I narrowed my eyes at her, ignoring her trepidation as I moved closer to see what she was trying to hide. All the printouts were from the same document. A shiver of fear went down my back as I thought of Manny and Daniel. “What are you not telling us about the shipping manifests?”

  “I love how brilliant you are.” Inge’s expression didn’t agree with her statement. She was deeply worried.

  “Inge?” Colin walked closer and took my hand, studying the manifests. “Did you send our guys into danger?”

  “Oh, no.” She shook her head vehemently. “We wouldn’t do that. No, we think that shipping container is a red herring.”

  “What connection does fish hav...” I sighed when Colin squeezed my hand and I recalled the meaning of the idiom. “Another inane use of language.”

  Colin smiled at me, then turned to Armando. “We? You also believe this?”

  Armando nodded and inhaled to speak, but paused when I raised my hand. I studied him for another three seconds. “Do you think the Collector is manipulating us with this information or is Paulo trying to divert our attention?”

  “Oh, definitely the Collector,” Armando said. “But Paulo is playing along. I think he knows where to look, but he doesn’t want us to look there in case we find this haul he wants all for himself.”

  “And where would that be?” Colin asked.

  Armando nodded at Inge to move away from the printouts and he stepped closer. “See these shipments? Like Inge told you, we traced them to that Conhecedor company. Inge was the one who noticed a page missing from these printouts.”

  “I was looking for more shipments that connected to Conhecedor when I noticed that,” Inge said. “I’m not a hacker, but I know people who know people. So I got them to hack the port and give me the complete manifests. Long, illegal story short: There’s another shipment that arrived last week and is currently at an art gallery.”

  I had so many questions, it was hard to decide where to begin. I sorted through them in my mind. “How did you connect this shipment to the Collector? Through Conhecedor?”

  “No.” Armando smiled. “Well, no and yes. Conhecedor has done a lot of business with Oizys. This small company insures a lot of valuables. It insured this shipment and the other two we’ve connected to the Collector. When Inge noticed that, we looked harder at the contents of that shipment.” He paused. “A lot of artworks.”

  “Well, it’s actually the fact that Paulo hid it from us that made us look so hard at it,” Inge said. “But yes, the container currently at Vieira Fine Art Gallery has art listed on its manifest.”

  “And the container at the shipyard?” Vinnie didn’t look up from his tablet.

  “We don’t know.
” Paulo clearly wasn’t pleased with this admission.

  “No, dude.” A slow smile spread on Vinnie’s face. “We know exactly.”

  Armando’s eyebrows shot up his forehead when Vinnie turned his tablet. On the screen was a video feed coming from Daniel’s button camera.

  They were standing in front of a stained blue container. Jake was pulling open one door, revealing a dark interior. He reached for the second door and walked to the right as he pulled it completely open. Vinnie turned up the sound in time for us to hear Manny swear. “So many bloody crates.”

  “They have to protect the art when it’s being shipped.” Paulo’s tone conveyed his condescension as he came into view, walking into the container.

  “Oh, my golly.” Inge waved her hand at Vinnie’s tablet. “What’s that? How are you getting that?”

  Vinnie raised one eyebrow and returned his attention to the footage.

  Armando’s half-smile was as fake as Inge’s wide-eyed shock. “Inge, that’s a body camera showing us what Paulo’s up to. These bastards are spying on us.”

  Colin gave Armando a long look. “Did you really think we wouldn’t come prepared?”

  It was almost comical when both Inge and Armando raised one shoulder in faux innocence. Inge was more successful than Armando in hiding her smile when she brought her attention back to the tablet. Vinnie had changed views to Manny’s bodycam. It appeared he was leaning against the door of the crate watching the others.

  Paulo had already opened three slim crates and had removed the paintings inside. Jake was helping while Daniel was systematically opening crates and removing more paintings.

  “Be careful,” Paulo snapped at Jake when the latter dropped a small landscape painting. “These things are worth more than your sorry hide.”

  Manny’s bodycam jerked. Then a loud bark of laughter came through the speakers. “Oh, Mary and Joseph, this is too bloody funny.”