The Becić Connection

by Estelle Ryan

  We sat in silence while she worked on her laptop for closer to two minutes. Her eyes were huge when she looked up. “I’m sure I’ll find more, but so far, I found emails from the Collector ordering trolling leading up to the Afghanistan bombing and also the Egypt fire. Huh. Okay. So the first email account was only about the Seuso Treasure. This email account is where the Collector orders trolling jobs from Rene.”

  “That’s how the Collector first met Rene,” Zork said.

  “I will shamelessly speculate.” Francine winked at me. “But I’m sure I’ll find loads to back me up.”

  Manny sighed. “Spit it out, woman.”

  “The little I’ve seen about the Collector, I’m pretty sure he spies on everyone who works for him. I’m thinking he knows everything about Rene because they’ve already been working together for at least three years. The Egypt fire was three years ago.” She looked at Zork. “Have you found any other bombings or fires?”

  “Not yet.” His smile was wry. “I’m not the queen of the internet.”

  Francine laughed. “Keep looking. I’m sure we’ll find something else. Anyhoo... I’m thinking the Collector kept tabs on Rene and knew the moment Rene posted the ad about the treasure.”

  “Shit.” Colin pushed his hands through his hair. “I didn’t think the Collector was so closely connected to all of this.”

  I swiped my tablet screen and looked at the screenshot of the ad again. ‘Secret artefacts from Seuso Treasure hidden for decades. Contact for info and price.’ There was nothing new to be learned from it. I looked back at Francine. “The new email account? What emails have you found between Rene and the Collector?”

  She straightened. “Seven weeks ago, the Collector emailed Rene about a new trolling job. The job had two parts. Firstly, Rene had to gain access to the closed system of a brand-new cruise ship. Then the Collector wanted Rene to start sending out false information about safety on that luxury ship, saying that there was too much new untested technology on the ship. It was another Titanic waiting to happen and so on.”

  “What ship?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. The Collector sent this email the day before Rene posted about the treasure and then that conversation started.” She raised both shoulders. “So far I’ve uncovered seven email accounts for Rene. It might be in one of those.”

  “Ship?” Pink tapped on his tablet screen. “Hold on.” A few seconds later, he smiled. “Guess where Florian’s sister is at the moment.”

  “Bloody hellfire.” Manny slouched deeper in his chair. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  “Tell me about Florian’s sister.” I agreed with Manny. Our bits of information were beginning to show stronger connections.

  Pink lifted his hand. “I have information about her. I worked on it while you guys were upstairs.” He swiped his tablet screen. “Florian’s sister Marion is married to Gilles Moutet. They have two sons and a daughter. She is an accountant and he is a veterinarian. Their combined income is enough to send their children to private schools and live a very modest life. It looks like they’re sacrificing a lot for their kids’ education. From their social media it looks like they go on budget holidays.”

  “And they’re on a luxury cruise at the moment?” Nikki raised both eyebrows. “Seriously? How did a family of five on that income get onto that?”

  “They won it.” Pink swiped the screen again. “Marion really likes posting on social media. And she has zero privacy settings. That’s how I know about the private school and their holidays. Um... yes, this is the one.” He tilted his tablet screen for us to see. It was a photo of a proud-looking man, a laughing woman and three children standing in front of a large cruise ship. Their nonverbal cues loudly communicated their excitement. Pink turned his tablet back. “She posted a week earlier that she had entered a silly email competition and she’d won a cruise.”

  “Wow.” Francine’s mouth was slightly agape as she slowly shook her head. “If the Collector wanted to force Florian’s cooperation, how easy to fake a competition and give the luxury cruise prize to Florian’s sister. He then has her in his clutches and can get Florian to do his bidding. A different form of kidnapping and demanding a ransom. One of the oldest tricks in the book.”

  “Well, it works,” Pink said. “She posted photos of all their preparations for the trip and a few photos of them on the ship. Hmm.” He narrowed his eyes and read for a few seconds. “Yes, the cruise started in Portugal, sailed around the Mediterranean, stopped in different ports.” His eyebrows shot up. “Their last stop is here before returning to Portugal. They’re stopping here tonight.”

  “What bloody ship are we talking about here?” Manny looked from Francine to Luka.

  “Wait, I know about this.” Luka tapped his temple with his index finger. “Yes. A week ago, we received a briefing about a passenger ship that will have a firework display tonight to officially start tourist season in Rovinj. It’s the first cruise ship of the season to dock here.”

  “Yes, I remember.” Zork inclined his head. “This is the maiden cruise for some elite ship. It’s the first of its sort by a new cruise company owned by a billionaire.”

  “Um... are you talking about the Ved-ava?” Vinnie smiled when everyone’s attention turned to him. “Frannie?”

  Francine was typing on her laptop, then looked up at him, her smile surprised. “Yup. The ship’s name is the Ved-ava. How did you know?”

  Vinnie looked at Colin. “Kongo.”

  Colin jerked. “You have contact with him?”

  “Who or what the bloody hell is Kongo?” Manny glared at Vinnie. “Are we talking about the country or some lowlife scum?”

  “Kongo is...” Vinnie shrugged. “A good contact to have if we want to know what’s happening. He told me a few weeks ago about this cruise. He’d heard that with all the rich folks dripping with diamonds on that ship, it would be an epic heist.”

  “I have so many questions.” Luka repeated the statement he’d made numerous times before, his expression as suspicious as before.

  “I’m hearing a ‘but’.” Pink looked at Vinnie, ignoring Luka.

  “Security, dude.” Vinnie nodded at Francine. “Their system is top-of-the-line and that billionaire hired ex-SWAT, ex-SEALs, ex-everything to keep his rich guests safe. I told Kongo he has a better chance buying a Lotto ticket.”

  Luka pushed back his chair. “Who are you people?”

  “Your new friends, dude.” Vinnie’s smile was wide and mischievous.

  Luka pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

  “What else do you know about this ship?” Colin asked.

  “That’s all. I wasn’t really interested in stealing diamond necklaces, you know.” Vinnie snorted when Luka’s eyes widened. “Not this time.”

  “You’re going to give Luka a stomach ulcer, Vinster.” Francine pointed at her laptop. “I have all kinds of info on the ship. Wanna hear it?”

  “Only relevant information.” I didn’t want her to talk about the menu or spa treatments.

  She smiled at me, then looked at her laptop. “Okay, then I’m going to need a minute.”

  It never was a minute. I found it most vexing when neurotypicals said that.

  “Do I want to know more about Kongo?” Manny looked at Vinnie, then at Colin.

  Vinnie shrugged. “Not really. He’s a low-level criminal. Petty-ish stuff. But he loves gossip. That’s why he’s a good person to know. He knows about things before they even happen.”

  “And he’s a dreamer,” Colin said. “He’s always dreaming up ways to score the next big one.” He frowned at Vinnie. “And yes, he likes to gossip. About everything and everyone.”

  “Dude, you know I never give away anything. I just get him legless every time and he tells me stuff.” Vinnie laughed when I leaned away from him. “I don’t take his legs, Jen-girl. I get him drunk. Like off-his-legs drunk.”

  “I’m in the ship’s system.” Francine snapped her fingers, stoppi
ng all conversation. “Well, kind of. It’s a kind of a closed system and was harder than most to hack.” She looked at Pink and Zork. “I’m looping you guys in.”

  “Great.” Pink’s smile widened as he swiped the screen.

  We sat in silence for a few seconds while Zork joined Pink and Francine in working on their devices. I knew it wouldn’t be just one minute. They needed time to find relevant information.

  So I sat back, closed my eyes and did a quick recap. There was so much more I needed to know. What was special about this ship? Were there any more emails from the Collector that might reveal his identity? More importantly, reveal his plan? And where was Rene?

  Was the Collector planning a bombing like Luka had asked? My breath hitched at the thought that such a horrid event might happen here. In Rovinj. I thought about the many tourists I’d seen on the streets a block from our villa. I thought about all the people I cared about congregated in this villa.

  I glanced at my watch. It was eight minutes past six. Early evening. If we were to work with the time Florian had told Nikki, we had mere hours to prevent something of which we still had no details or even a location. Only speculation.

  We needed more information. We needed to act. We needed to save Florian’s sister and anyone else the Collector and Rene were planning on harming. “Francine, what have you found?”

  Chapter TWENTY

  “OOH, GIRLFRIEND.” FRANCINE typed another command onto her keyboard, her eyes widening even more. “Ooh, I’m finding a lot of nice stuff.”

  “Woman.” Manny shifted closer to look at her laptop screen. “Talk.”

  Francine sighed dramatically. “So... This is the cruise of a lifetime. I mean, wow. There are no tiny little cabins in the centre of the ship with no window and a shower the size of a matchbox. Nope. Every room is five-star.”

  “Francine.” I could no longer tolerate any neurotypical detours. All the metaphorical puzzle pieces were moving into place and it felt like my stomach was being twisted until it hurt. I didn’t like the direction my mind was going and I needed more facts to support my theory.

  She glanced at me. “Relevant. Yes. Well, this is kind of relevant, because Florian’s sister could never afford the ridiculous price tag for a twelve-day cruise. Seriously, they could buy new cars for each of their kids and still have cash left over.” She scrolled some more. “Yes. Okay. So the idea behind this cruise is to take people offline. Typical rich-people problems. Too much time online, doing business and being available.

  “The moment you set foot on the ship, your phone no longer receives any signals. Well, on the open sea, it’s quite obvious that there won’t be any cellular signals for phones, but they also don’t offer wifi on board.”

  “They have a signal jammer?” Colin asked.

  “Yes and no.” Francine wrinkled her nose. “I’m definitely going to check out the tech later, but from what I’m seeing here, they block only certain signals, but allow others through while you’re on board, even while in port. The signals blocked are anything you can get on your phone—internet as well as your phone service provider’s signal. No SMSs, no emails, no social media, no phone calls, no stress.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Manny’s lips twitched when Francine gasped.

  “More like my worst nightmare.” She shifted away from him. “I don’t know who you are anymore.”

  “The ship?” I didn’t succeed in keeping the frustration from my tone.

  Francine looked at her laptop. “It’s quite clearly explained that all their communication equipment is up to international code. There will never be a problem communicating with the shore. And their information brochure states that you can make a call from the captain’s quarters if there’s an emergency. But here’s where things get interesting.”

  “Everyone gets a small tablet when they check into their rooms.” Pink was looking at his tablet. “Smaller than mine.” He pointed at the tablet in my hands. “Like yours.”

  “And then everything IoT steps in,” Francine said. “With the tablet you can control everything in your room: temperature, music, movies. You can even turn the hot tub on with your tablet and order room service or book a massage. Yes, yes. Every room has its own hot tub.” She paused, then looked at me. “Can I please speculate? Pretty please? With loads of ch—”

  “What?” I glared at her.

  She beamed a smile at me. “I’m thinking that our Rene found his way into their system through one of the many connected IoT thingies like he’s done so many times before. He’s going to take over the ship.”

  “And do what with it?” Manny asked.

  “Ooh, that’s the fabulous part!” Francine shifted in her chair and looked at Pink. “You tell them. You found it.”

  Pink grew serious. “I found the list of passengers. There are seven hundred and thirteen passengers. And just over eight hundred crew members. But it’s the passengers we’re interested in.”

  “We ran their names. They’re rich, famous and not always honest.” Francine shifted to the edge of her chair, her expression bursting with delight. “It’s a cruise for rich semi-criminals.”

  “There is no such thing.” I thought about this new information. “Be specific. What do you mean, ‘not always honest’?”

  “There are eighty-nine names on the passenger list that raised red flags.” Pink grimaced, then smiled apologetically at me. “Eighty-nine passengers who are registered on French, Europol and Interpol data bases either as wanted criminals, convicted criminals or connected to convicted felons.”

  “Eighty-nine criminals on one ship.” Manny scratched his jaw. “Hell.”

  I studied Francine and pointed at her face. “Why are you excited?”

  “Not so much excited as totally intrigued. Okay, maybe a teensy bit excited.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “They had a super-duper exclusive party.”

  “Explain.” Manny’s frown deepened.

  Francine winked at him. “This wasn’t for the normal rich guys. I had a look around their system and found their VIP guest list for this party.”

  “Let me guess,” Colin said. “Eighty-nine names on that list.”

  “Ding, ding, ding! You win, you gorgeous male specimen.” Her smile widened even more. “There was an auction.”

  “What was auctioned?” Manny asked.

  “Man, this is juicy stuff.” Francine rubbed her hands together. “The list of items in the auction was seriously encrypted. But they don’t call me the queen of the internet for no reason.”

  I frowned. “Who calls you that?”

  “Zork did. Okay, fine. Nobody else does.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand, her bracelets jingling. “Anyhoo, I had a peek at that list. Wanna see it?”

  Manny growled a rude remark which made her laugh. Four seconds later, our devices pinged.

  “Shit.” Colin’s eyes were wide, his voice a shocked whisper. “Poppy Flowers by Van Gogh? The Concert by Vermeer?” He looked up from his tablet. “These are two of the most valuable paintings ever stolen.”

  “Um, dude.” Vinnie squinted at his phone. “What about this silver-gilt chalice thing?”

  Colin’s fingers stretched the image on his screen to zoom in. “My God, this is a fourteenth-century chalice. It’s listed on a database as Nazi-looted art.”

  “Which fits with the Collector’s partiality to silver.” Things were making more and more sense.

  “This would definitely fit his pattern.” Colin stared at his tablet, then looked at us. “I’m sure he wants to add this to his collection.”

  “Bloody hell.” Manny looked at me. “Doc? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  I exhaled angrily. “You know that’s a ridiculous question. I can’t know what you’re thinking.”

  “Then tell me what the bloody hell you are thinking.”

  I looked around the table. Despite my biting words at Manny, the nonverbal cues on everyone’s faces made me think we had all reached a simila
r conclusion. “All the evidence we’ve gathered so far brings me to believe that the Collector has plans for the ship.”

  Luka got up, his phone in his hand. “What are you saying?”

  “She won’t say it, so I will.” Manny looked pointedly at Luka’s phone. “Get someone you trust to that ship. There’s a bomb that’s going to blow them all to high heaven.”

  I gasped. It didn’t matter that all the evidence we had pointed to this. I simply hadn’t wanted to vocalise it. Or hear it. Luka stared at Manny, but didn’t lift his phone. His nonverbal cues shifted continuously as he internally processed this information.

  “Okay, wait.” Zork rested his elbows on the table, leaning in to look at all of us. “This auction can’t be legal. Why would this billionaire owner risk it?”

  Colin huffed a humourless laugh. “We had a case like this a few years ago. In international waters, pretty much anything goes. There is no governing law. If stolen art or forgeries or even drugs are sold in international waters, nothing can be done.”

  “Not until they enter Croatian waters.” Pink looked at Luka still watching us. “We need to find out if they’re out in international waters.”

  “Dammit.” Manny grunted. “Pink is right. If they are in international waters, you’ll have no jurisdiction there. Nor will we.”

  “When was this auction?” Nikki asked.

  Francine glanced at her wristwatch. Her eyes widened. “An hour and twenty minutes ago. Half past four to be exact. It was scheduled for an hour. Then canapés and drinks. At six—now—the whole ship is having a formal dinner.” She pushed her hand into her hair. “Oh, wow. They’re on their way to shore now for the firework display at eight.”

  “Bloody hell.” Manny rubbed his hands over his face. “All that artwork is already gone. Taken off the ship and on its way to God knows where.” He took a deep breath and looked at Luka. “We need to get on that ship.”

  “Let me see what I can do.” Luka walked towards the front door, tapping his phone’s screen.