Sun on the Rocks - The Shabby Sheik
Page 14
Chapter Thirteen
Clarity saw Hari go pale when Guligher requested the keys of his MG. The Sheik gave the police superintendent his car keys, and saw him hop in the sports car. Hari wanted to prevent any damage to the car by warning the police officer that the vehicle could drive on its own, but Clarity tapped his elbow, whispering to him not to reveal anything about the car to the police officer.
"I'm going to go on a drive with the car, going to the airport, to see what is happening there, and ensure there is nothing strange with it," said Guligher.
"Ensure the new spare landing gear for my plane has been delivered," said Hari. The superintendent ignored him and drove away, with Raleigh and Ibsen riding in the front passenger seat and the back seat of the convertible, respectively.
Clarity pulled the Sheik away from the roadside, and lead him inside the police sports utility vehicle waiting for them outside the offices of Kuwait Capital. An officer sat with them in the back seat. Clarity sat closer to the Sheik, moving towards the center of the Ford Interceptor utility vehicle recently acquired. She leafed through a copy of the Virgin Islands Daily News newspaper, seeing her name on the front page.
Mistress of Hari Al-Najib found with the Sheik during investigation of his holdings and the Scrub Leaks scandal. A woman named Clarity Nice, who adopted a fake identity in the new offices of the Consortium of Journalists in Tortola has been spotted inside a convertible MG, with Sheik Al-Najib, whose business holdings are currently under investigation by British Virgin Islands authorities. The investigation revolves around a hidden part of one the Sheik's companies, SRA-199, known as Regina Holdings. According to an undisclosed informant, the hidden company of the Sheik owns several important real estate properties, including full ownership or shares in real estate vehicles owning Rio Sul Center building in Rio de Janeiro, the Martinelli building in Sao Paolo, Brazil, the Capital Gate office Tower in Abu Dhabi, which inclines eighteen degrees west and reaches five hundred twenty feet, Almas Tower in Dubai, home of a diamond retail trading area where diamond cutting and exchange takes place, the spectacular KK100 skyscraper in Shenzen, China, the Minsheng Bank building in Wuhai, China, and the Bank Misr building in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia, a twenty nine floor high rise.
No comments on the investigation or on the ownership of these properties have been issued by the entourage of the Sheik, known for its liking of unclothed gatherings inside his lavish plane while he is away. An employee of Panama law firm Augiers Urbina, who until recently, has been representing the interests of the Sheik, someone named Octavio Benegas, has been singled out as the potential informant having leaked the information about the assets of the Sheik. The guy better run for shelter, for a leak of this calibre puts a lot of prominent people in the forefront, whereas these people usually like the background.
The plane of Sheik Al-Najib, known as Heir Force One, has been kept on the ground without fuel at the airport, until all the issues are clear. Peripheral issues include the role of an aircraft spare parts salesperson named Arnold, an employee of kerosene BVI provider Sand Petroleum who entered the airport premises without an official employee badge, and who claims that he is a royal aircraft supplier to the Sheik and to his plane. Arnold showed a landing gear tire, apparently taken from a Caribbean Airlines plane parked near Heir Force One, as proof that he was a genuine aircraft salesperson. The tire was accepted by the personal coach of the Sheik, Mr. Merhab, alledging there could be alternative uses for the tire, related to personal development of the Sheik, something like big tire weightlifting, if not big tire gymnastics.
Clarity folded the newspaper. As they drove through the highway following the coast, the driver began tweaking the mobile workstation of the vehicle, to access the information on file by police regarding Hari and Clarity.
"White collar irregularities, I see. Any requests before you go to jail?"
"Yeah, a dip naked in the ocean," said Clarity. Might as well enjoy the Caribbean before going to jail, she thought, it was an important boost for morale.
"Just to keep my smartphone, I have photographs of my girlfriend," said Hari. He was thinking of Lohvia, not of Nora. The officer nodded and stopped the car in a rest area, turning around while Clarity took off her clothes, leading Hari, who wanted to watch Clarity swim naked, away towards the road. The teleoperator dove into the pleasant Caribbean waters naked, letting the sun warm her face. Swimming naked allowed her to shed off stress and toxins, and it also kept her close to nature, and connected to herself, with just being comfortable as she was, without having to pretend she was anyone else. After a twenty minute swim and drying in the sun, she headed back to the police car, donning her clothes again.
Hari pleaded not guilty to the charges of money laundering to the prison warden, even before there was any trial date assigned. The warden in charge was a heavy guy, who gave Clarity and Hari a document, titled Information for Visitors arrested in the British Virgin Islands, explaining that they had the right to make one phone call before entering their cell. Hari began negotiating with the superintendent of the prison, who added that their stay in jail could last several months.
"Any chance to shorten our stay with bail, using the funds of my account showing up in Cuba?" The warden called Guligher, the police superintendent, who said no.
"Bail has been set at four million dollars, you will have to find additional funds and transfer them here, there are no more funds in your account here in Tortola. Given the extent of this investigation, pre-trial arrest is not appealable, your definite trial is going to be held in a few months I would say."
Clarity remained speechless. A few months in jail was not a holiday in the Caribbean. She called Lanai, who was still in Singapore, at the National Library, investigating Chinese documents on alchemy.
"You are in the British Virgin Islands, not a bad place, make the best of it."
"Considering jail is not a hotel, all right, yeah, I'll do what I can to do that. Can you come in and help me out though? Because I'd like to get out of here."
"I don't have any money to pay for the ticket, I have to stay in Singapore for now, working with your friend, Lamond Liew, at reception, to pay living expenses. Take care Clarity, I have to go, my skype credit is dipping to zero."
The call ended, leaving Clarity on her own. Hari called Hakeem, then Merhab, then his girlfriend Lohvia, but none of the calls were going through. Airport security had traced the number of Hari and was diverting the calls back to his smartphone. The Sheik opted for calling Fonsito, in the hope that the janitor of Augiers Urbina would learn how to be a lawyer and would get them bail. The employee agreed to show up in prison the next day, after his morning walk in the marina. A guard led Clarity and Hari to the conversation booth, an area with a plexiglass separator equipped with a retro payphone handset and cord. Nobody checked the credentials of Fonsito. The long discussion with the janitor began.
"No, you are not in danger of jail,"said Hari. "Bail, you got to get us bail, so that we can get out of here." Fonsito ignored the meaning of the word, but he was happy to show up as lawyer, as long as his morning walk in the marina was not in danger.
"You're going to have to explain that word, I only sniffed around legal documents when the partners were away from their office. I've never heard of that word."
"Money," said Hari, "bail is money, call my retainer Hakeem, he is in a large plane at the airport, a Boeing 767, the one with the throne, you cannot miss it. Tell him to sell some stock from my portfolio and get four million dollars in cash."
Hari looked around, noticing no one was looking. Clarity saw him hand the clerk his smartphone, which he could not use inside the prison premises, through a slit below the separator.
"Use the smartphone to find him." Fonsito had questions, but they were dismissed by Hari, used to having people work for him. The following day, Fonsito showed up for a visit with Ahmed and the smartphone of the Sheik.
"Sir, your smartphone," said Ahmed. He slid the device under the slit and Ha
ri grabbed it before anyone noticed.
"I forgot the name of your retainer," said Fonsito, "but I found someone else, who knew you, by looking at your agenda. I brought him here so you can talk to him."
The money for the bail was not there, unfortunately. Hari asked Ahmed to gather the funds for bail, and the clerk said he would look into it, after making the request to bank headquarters in Kuwait and talking to the father of the Sheik. He added that gathering the funds might take several months. Hari turned to Fonsito, thinking twice about thrashing Ahmed.
"That's not what I asked for, Fonsito." Clarity told Hari to thank Fonsito for his work, because you never knew when someone could become helpful in unknown ways. Hari wanted to toss the legal clerk in one of the cells, and to crash his smartphone on the wall of his prison cell, but eventually, he agreed to do as Clarity suggested.
"All right, thank you for your work, Fonsito, keep up the good work. If you do the firewalk like me, some day you might be able to be a shabby attorney." Both clerks left the prison satisfied of having carried out their tasks properly.
Clarity glanced at the shabby clothes of Hari, not quite comfortable with the match of his clothing and the surroundings.
"Get some new clothes, will you, those clothes are making me nervous," she said. Hari wondered why Clarity was so distressed by his clothes, but he needed all of the support from Clarity and agreed to her suggestion. Paragraph two of the visitor information document, said you could not hold cash in prison, and so the Sheik had to use all of his skill in order to order new clothes. He gave his shabby shirt to one of the guards, and got a skype connection with Dubai duty free shop in exchange.
"Yes, this is Sheik Al-Najib, send the Ralph Lauren polo size large, and the brown or beige twill fabric cotton pants to prison cell five two in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Yes, express courier, please. Yeah, add two bean bag cushions. Yes, on credit, yes I know, no worries. I have plenty of cash, simply put it to my name, I will send a moneygram when I get a chance."
The next day, the new clothes and the bean bag cushions arrived, and the Sheik became the most chic prisoner of Tortola. Clarity wondered whether the change of clothing gear would have an effect on the mindset of Hari.
"Feels so odd," said Hari.
"Really? Like what?"
"Not sure, there are no holes in the shirt, this clothing gear feels out of place somehow, can't think properly, it doesn't feel bad though."
Realizing that they were stuck together in jail, both of them began to work on a plan to escape. Clarity ensured that the charger of Hari's phone was working and charged the device. Tweaking with the on-off button, she noticed that calls were not going through but the device was working and the applications were working. They began to talk to the various guards inside the prison, until they found the dumbest one. Hari was confident about his choice.
"This one," said Hari, "he likes the idea of losses like me and he doesn't mind failure, or failing, or making mistakes."
The following day, Clarity led Hari to the patio of the prison, with the guard behind him. While Clarity ensured nobody was watching them, Hari offered the guard a penny stock, in exchange for leading them out of their cell, and letting them climb up the stairs of one of the prison walls in two days, along with their bean bags. Two days later, at nightfall, they had a regular dinner and moved to their cell, until all inmates were asleep. At one in the morning, the guard came to lead them out of their cell and took them to the west wall of the prison. Clarity turned on the smartphone of the Sheik, and the guard allowed outgoing calls to go through. Hearing the noise of tires screeching in the asphalt, Clarity saw the MG of the Sheik approach the walls of the prison at dismal speed, stopping right below them, with brakes screeching again. Clarity pushed Hari over the wall with his bean bag and followed him, jumping towards the car, with her bean bag below her. The wall was nine feet high and the puffy bags cushioned the fall. A third weight landed on Clarity's bean bag cushion, the guard had jumped as well.
"I've always wanted to do this, jump on a bean bag cushion," said the guard.
"You can't come with us," said Clarity.
From the front passenger seat, the teleoperator pressed the remote driving button of the smartphone and the MG backed away from the prison wall, veering right with a screech, dropping the guard on the ground with one of the bean bags. Hari was under the second bean bag cushion in the back seat area, also in the car. Clarity set the car on forward drive mode and the navigation planner north west, away from Tortola, towards Cane Garden Bay. The convertible found the road and sped away from their jail at eighty miles an hour. Clarity breathed in relief, feeling the fresh air of the night inside the convertible. She turned her head, seeing a stream of light from the prison beam up the wall area, into the darkness of the night. Hari emerged from the back seat, his hair dishevelled by the struggle with the cushion.
"What do we do now?" He asked.
"Find the money to buy Veuve Ponsard or Laurent Varignon, either of those champagne companies. We've got to bring people or money here in order to leave this place. Someone will notice we've left that jail."