A Dubious Artifact (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 6)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  “Just five men did all of this?” Heller said in disbelief.

  “We also think one got away.”

  “Why do you say that?” Heller questioned.

  “One of our men in the back yard was found with a knife in his throat. It was after the fighting. He was found by some trees.”

  “How many did we lose?”

  “We lost eleven men total,” Joe replied with military like efficiency.

  “Was Dr. Behl one of them, I hope?” Heller asked. “We left her in the meeting room. She was cuffed and gagged.”

  “We didn’t find her in the building,” he answered.

  “What about the artifact, it was also in the meeting room?”

  “That’s gone too. The window was open,” he further explained. Heller rubbed his chin as he thought.

  He now looked at the Chinese man. “Where did you get him?” Heller asked as he pointed in the direction of the professor.

  “He was in a van that was running by the front door. I’m guessing he was the getaway driver. He looks more like a professor though.”

  “I’m guessing he was both.” Heller reasoned. “He is going to provide us with some answers. He knows something about the artifact that we don’t. But why would they take Barbara?”

  ***

  Suddenly the sound of many sirens coming up the driveway filled the room. Everyone realized that the police were arriving.

  Heller said, “We need to get all of us away from this mess before the police find you. We need to go right now.” He headed to a door in the back of the room and threw it open while talking into his phone

  “Close the door behind us,” Heller ordered. “We are going to the warehouse. Meet us there later,” Heller said to the men in the room. Then he left.

  The three old men, the Chinese prisoner, Heller, and his bodyguard went through the door. It led to a small enclosed patio with eight foot cinder block walls surrounding three sides. The far wall was also covered in ivy. Heller rushed to the ivy and thrust his hand inside the plant. Everyone heard an audible click. Heller motioned to the bodyguard who then pulled on the vines and a doorway quickly appeared.

  “Through here, hurry,” the bodyguard motioned.

  As soon as they all were outside, the bodyguard pulled the secret door shut. The men were now in a stand of thick trees at the end of Fogel’s property. Heller led the way and they soon found themselves on a sidewalk. Two vans pulled up immediately and they piled in.

  Heller sat in the front seat of one of the vans in shock. In the span of just a few minutes, he had lost Dr. Behl’s money, lost Dr. Behl, lost the artifact, and eleven of his good men. His entire plan had turned to shit. The house he now owned was also in shambles and the police would be looking for him. He decided that he was having a bad day.

  ***

  Back at the house, the police were swarming everywhere. They found the dead men in the living room, the many bodyguards around the house, the five Chinese intruders, but could not find anyone alive that had been involved in the shooting. They decided to arrest everyone, even the funeral driver and his helper. The mess became more complicated the next morning when a lawyer filed several documents with the government that changed ownership of the house. It would take the police several days to piece together what actually happened in the big house.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Heller and his men reached the warehouse in ten minutes. It was where the local chapter of the Effort was headquartered. It wasn’t an old rundown building, like you would think. It was very modern and had all the equipment of a successful working distribution system. The “Standby Trucking Company” was actually a money-making venture. All the employees were full members of the Effort. The local Effort leader’s name was Bob Bloom. He was the President of the company. He reported to one of the three old men of the inner circle. The old man’s name was Albert Spitz.

  The vans pulled up to a door. It quickly rolled up and the vans drove in. The door immediately closed. Heller didn’t want any of the locals to identify him so he told his bodyguard to make sure no one entered the building without his permission. The two van drivers and the man guarding the warehouse were sent outside to patrol the parameter before Heller left the van. Not even Bob Bloom could enter without Heller’s approval. It was ten minutes before he got there.

  Heller’s bodyguard dragged the Chinese professor from the van and soon he was spread eagled on a steel package-sorting table. Fear resonated from his old body as they strapped him in. His eyes darted everywhere. The gag in his mouth prevented him from telling Heller there was no need for torture. He had decided would tell them everything he knew about the mission. It wasn’t worth his life.

  The gag was suddenly ripped from his mouth. He drew in a large breath and was about to tell them everything, but Heller beat him to the punch.

  “What is your name?”

  “I am Professor Wang Ho of Shanghai University,” he quickly said. “I will tell you anything you want to know,” he quickly added.

  “You most certainly will,” Heller leered at the man.

  “No, I want to really,” the professor replied sincerely. It came out like he was begging.

  “Break his pinkie,” Heller said to the body guard. “That should get his attention.”

  “There is no need to torture me. Please I will help you,” the professor pleaded.

  “Do it,” Heller ordered with anger in his voice.

  Without hesitation the bodyguard grabbed a hammer from a workbench and mashed it on the professor’s hand. He was not accurate with his aim and actually broke the last two fingers of the professor’s left hand. Wang Ho howled in pain and withered on the steel table. Disbelief showed in his wide eyes.

  “Now, are you ready to talk?” Heller said patiently as the professor wailed in pain.

  “Should I do it again?” The bodyguard asked as he raised the hammer.

  “It can only get worse for you if you don’t oblige.”

  “I’ll talk, I’ll talk. Ask me anything,” Wang Ho screamed.

  “Who do you work for?” Heller demanded.

  “They will kill me,” Wang Ho replied through waves of pain.

  “What do you think we will do if you don’t give us the information we require?” Heller sarcastically replied.

  The professor said nothing for a few seconds. “We are working for the Chinese government. They want the artifact. Our mission is to get it back, by using any means,” Wang Ho said.

  “Why do they want the artifact?” Heller asked.

  “It contains two ancient formulas. One is for making gold and the other is for extending a person’s life. Didn’t you know that?”

  Heller was stunned, but covered his amazement by asking a question. “How many men do you have?”

  “There were originally seven of us.”

  “We only found five dead men.”

  “Then Zao Ping has gotten away. He is a very dangerous man. He is the leader of the group. If anyone got away, it would have been him.”

  “So, he is the one with the artifact,” Heller announced thoughtfully.

  “I really don’t know. I was just told to keep the engine running. Zao Ping never came back.”

  “But why did he take the woman?”

  “Wait, I’m sure he didn’t take a woman. He would have simply killed her. That is what he does. He leaves no evidence,” the professor replied.

  Heller crossed his arms and thought about the answer for a minute. “So, someone else has taken the woman then,” Heller said.

  “But who could that be?” One of the old men said as he started to shift uncomfortable when he realized not one group but two groups had invaded their sanctuary.

  “It might be the people that originally had the artifact. They are good at trickery. Maybe they made an agreement with Dr. Behl when she was in the house and we couldn’t hear. Maybe they came here to rescue her,” the Albert Spitz offered.

  “Have someone check out their hom
e immediately,” Heller ordered Bloom. “If they are there, bring them to me.”

  “On it, boss, But…?” Bob Bloom hesitated.

  “What?” Heller screamed

  “Don’t you want to use Homeland Security personal? They would be better for this. One of the men with them was FBI,” Bloom reasoned.

  “You’re right,” he said as he noticed disapproval on the old men’s faces. Heller whipped out his cellphone and made the call.

  A contact at Homeland Security picked up the phone. He was not part of the Effort, but he reported to Heller.

  “Find out where FBI Agent Gregory Gamble is right now. Go above any security clearances, if you need to. I need to find him, pronto.” Heller closed his phone and headed back to the professor.

  “The professor has more to tell us,” Bloom said.

  “We have bigger problems to deal with first,” Heller said to everyone in the room.

  “What do you mean?” Spitz asked. He seemed annoyed at Heller.

  “If we don’t find Dr. Behl, we will all be in a shit storm. She knows almost everything about the Effort,” Heller relayed to the other men.

  “You mean, you will be in a shit storm, don’t you, Mr. Heller,” Albert Spitz was old, but still could think. “Your position at Homeland Security would be at jeopardy. She doesn’t even know the names of the rest of us. And besides, we all know what you really want is her money.”

  “She is our top priority. Kill him,” Heller pointed to the professor. “We don’t have time to spend on a worthless piece of junk.”

  “Wait,” Wang Ho cried out. “I am not useless.”

  “What do you mean?” laughed Heller. “I know all about your artifact. But do you know that someone put a hole through the formulas on it?”

  “I heard the original audio tapes. I knew that they shot a hole in the artifacts. I didn’t tell Zao Ping,” the professor said.

  “But what about the formulas, are they still usable?”

  “Yes, I believe that we can still read the formulas,” Wang Ho said quickly.

  “How?”

  “We have pictures of fragments of the formulas. They are in a book, but we don’t know the order. The artifact will still have the order and we can piece together the real formulas from the pictures in the book.”

  “Is that so?” a stunned Heller said.

  “But you understand,” the professor continued, “that only I can do this. The language is very ancient, there are only a few people in the world that can piece it together,” Wang Ho spoke like his life depended on what he said.

  “Interesting,” Heller said as his hand rubbed his chin.

  “But you must find the artifact before Zao Ping. Once he finds it, he will be whisked out of the country. Then China will have more gold than anyone and their leaders will live longer,” Wang Ho yelled to Heller.

  “Hmmm,” Heller said.

  “Here him out,” Albert Spitz suddenly ordered. The two other old men where now interested too.

  “Okay, how do we find Zao Ping?”

  “He has several contacts in Chicago, but he will need guns. For guns, he will go to a woman in Chinatown. Her name is Zho How.”

  “How will we find this woman?” Albert Spitz asked.

  “I can tell you where her shop is located and when she is there,” the professor explained.

  “We need to kidnap her,” Heller quickly announced.

  “It will take some time to get enough men. We need at least five good men for that task,” Bloom said.

  “How long before we can go?”

  “Maybe five hours,” Bloom replied.

  “I want to do it now,” he screamed. He was clearly agitated and it was affecting his judgment.

  “Hold on Mr. Heller,” Albert Spitz said as he raised his cane to get everyone’s attention. “In the last few hours, we have lost eleven bodyguards to the Chinese, another ten men have been arrested by the police; we need to think about our resources, they are not unlimited.”

  “I don’t care, set it up,” Heller ordered as his phone rang. He opened it and stepped away from the group.

  ***

  “Agent Gamble is headed for a safe house in Wisconsin,” his contact said. “I’m told that he has a woman that he intends to interrogate.”

  “Dr. Behl,” Heller hissed as he closed the phone. He looked at Bloom.

  “I’ll get more men,” offered Bloom.

  “We need to make sure she doesn’t give anything away. We’ll kill everyone at the house.”

  “Hold it sonny,” Spitz said to the Bloom. “We need to have a meeting of the inner circle. Let’s go into the office over there,” he pointed with his cane.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  As soon as the door to the office was closed, Heller asked Albert why they were having a meeting in the middle of a crisis.

  “First of all,” Spitz started. “When Henry Fogel died, we lost our leader. We have not elected a new leader yet. You can’t assume the position without a vote, and we don’t have enough people for a quorum.”

  “But I set this all up so that we would get rid of Dr. Behl and get all of her money,” he shot back. “It was my plan all along.”

  “And how well has that plan worked?” Albert Spitz said sarcastically.

  “But who is in charge then?” a confused Heller asked.

  “I am. I am the eldest member of the surviving inner circle. You need to read our bylaws, my friend. You will take orders from me now.”

  “What…this can’t be,” Heller yelled, but he could see the other members of the board agreeing with Spitz. He could also see a handgun in Spitz’s hand.

  “Do you agree? Mr. Heller.”

  Realizing he had lost all control and his real priority was to stay alive long enough to rebound. He had no choice. “I agree.”

  “Good, now let’s think this problem through, shall we,” Albert Spitz said.

  “But we must kill Dr. Behl,” Heller pleaded.

  “I understand that,” Spitz croaked. “But I think that we should also take down these Chinese devils, or have we all forgotten what the Third Reich stands for?”

  Another of the old men spoke. “We can get rid of some offensive Chinese spies, steal all their guns and money and still get Dr. Behl. It just takes planning.”

  “I’m listening,” Heller responded.

  “You have all the contacts at Homeland Security. We know there are guns at the shop of this woman Zho How, right? Have your people raid her store first thing in the morning. Capture her and have your men turn their backs while we steal enough guns to go after Dr. Behl. We then immediately go to the safe house and eliminate the second problem, those other people. We will also recover the artifact. Then, we have the professor put the formulas on paper in a language we can read. You will also be an American hero for breaking up a Chinese spy ring. Homeland Security will reward you. What could be better,” Albert Spitz said expansively.

  “God, that will work,” Heller said excitedly.

  “It must be done that way,” Albert Spitz replied.

  ***

  “How many men should we use to attack the safe house?”

  “Bring twenty-five men and you are going to lead them,” Spitz replied.

  “Well, I’d better get started then,” Heller said as he left the room.

  ***

  “What do you think? Will Heller be able to pull this off without exposing the Effort?” one of the old men asked.

  “In the end, Heller will be dead. Anyone defending the safe house will identify and shoot the leader first. That’s what they are trained to do. I need to talk to his bodyguard,” Albert Spitz told both men. “Send him in here immediately.”

  “Albert, you seem energized by all this?” one of the old men said.

  “I haven’t had this much fun since we invaded Poland,” Spitz replied.

  Unfortunately for him, Wolf was listening.

  Part Four

  The Setup

  C
hapter Forty-Six

  Like most major cities in America, Chicago has a Chinatown. It is actually the second oldest Chinese settlement in America dating back to 1869. At that time, many Chinese fled the west coast of America. The exodus was actually caused by their good work. Many had come to America to help build railroads. After the first transcontinental railroad was completed, there was a breakout of anti-Chinese violence and persecution especially in California. Many Chinese decided to flee and headed east to Chicago. They originally settled in the south loop in the growing city and soon expanded south and west into today’s Chinatown.

  The center of Chinatown is now the intersection of Wentworth Avenue and Cermak Avenue, just southwest of the loop. There are many restaurants, banks, general merchandise stores, and even herbs shops that cater to tourists and the now huge Chinese population in the area. Many of the buildings are decorated in Chinese style with gaudy signs in Chinese and smells of Chinese food floating through the air. A walk down Wentworth Avenue feels like being in Beijing.

  That is, however, only the surface that the inhabitants and business owners want you to see. They want you to believe that it is a happy little community, but in Chinatown there is a lot more hidden then in view. Behind the buildings, in non-descript warehouses, and in cellars there are the usual evils the Chinese bring with them wherever they settle. There are several gambling halls, massage houses that are really brothels, gang houses, forged document centers, money laundering shops, and, of course, weapon sellers. It is the home of many additional illegal activities like drug selling and human trafficking. Chicago’s Chinatown is also the mid-west center of China’s vast spy network. This was where Zao Ping was taken immediately after he left the Fogel estate.

  His first stop was to a Chinese doctor who examined his wound and stitched it up. He told him that he would walk with a limp for a while, but the doctor further explained the wound was not serious and would eventually heal. That is, if Zao Ping did not exert himself too much over the next few days. He also gave him some pain pills that had been illegally smuggled into Chicago from mainland China.