A Dubious Artifact (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 6)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  “These men are here to help you,” Zho How said in a voice that was as smooth as butter. “Now, shall we get down to business?”

  Before he could answer the bell over the door rang again and an old man entered. One of the men behind Zho How went to usher him out. As soon as the man looked at the counter, he turned and fled on his own. The Tong locked the door and put up the closed sign. No one would even look in the window now.

  “What is it that you desire?” Zho How said like a woman of the streets.

  “I need guns and men. I already told you,” he growled.

  “Let’s see what you have to trade?”

  Zao Ping reached into the leather pouch and brought out a solid gold bar. He dropped it on the counter with a thud. “How many guns and men for this gold?” he demanded. In most Asian countries gold was the medium of trade. It was untraceable, maintained its value, and prevented the government from collecting taxes. It worked best in illegal transactions like this one.

  Zho How scooped up the bar and immediately placed it on the scale she also used to measure herbs. The scale said the gold weighed eight pounds. Like many Chinese, she was very good at math.

  “This much gold will get you ten guns and ten men. Is there anything else?” Zho How looked him straight in the eyes. She was an excellent negotiator.

  Zao Ping brought out a second bar and again dropped it on the counter. When Zho How went to pick up the bar to weigh it, her delicate hand was suddenly covered by Zao Ping’s much larger and stronger hand. As she looked at him in surprise, he started to squeeze. She was clearly in pain when he made his next and final offer.

  “I want twenty-five men, twenty-five automatic machine guns, transportation for all the men, and twenty thousand dollars in cash.”

  “Release my hand,” she pleaded. “I don’t think well when I am in pain. You want the best deal don’t you?”

  “You will give me what I want, your country demands that you help,” he growled as he increased the pressure.

  “I’m an American citizen,” she responded. “I believe in capitalism now and free enterprise,” she replied with an edge of sarcasm. “If you don’t release my hand, I can’t help you in your mission.”

  “I usually just take what I want,” he threatened.

  Pain clearly showed in her bright almond eyes, but she was very tough. “Is it your goal that both of us should suffer today? The Tong will never let you leave Chinatown alive if you continue to hurt me.”

  “I have no time to spend being nice,” he replied. “My mission is more important then you could possible suspect.”

  “So, continue on your big mission, in good health,” Zho How replied. “But first let my hand go.”

  He did as she asked. “So you agree?” he hoped.

  “Here is my final offer. I will give you twenty men, twenty guns, transportation and five thousand in cash,” she said as she rubbed her crushed hand.

  He nodded in agreement and she nodded back. The deal was done. One of the Tong members picked up the gold and left the room. “How quickly do you need the men?”

  “We need to leave by eight-thirty this morning,” he replied.

  She pulled back her sleeve and looked at her watch. It was seven-twenty. She quickly turned to the other two men. She told them to collect the guns from the vault in the basement and to have twenty men at the warehouse. It was four blocks up the street. She told them to be there by eight-fifteen. They left to do her bidding. She then turned back and studied Zao Ping.

  “You’ve a lot of violent rage in you, Zao Ping. I’m going to throw in thirty minutes with one of my best girls to calm you down. She will be at the warehouse waiting for you when you get there, alright?” She then wrote the address and a note to the girl on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

  “I’ll probably beat her,” Zao Ping announced.

  “That bad, huh. In that case I’ll throw in two girls. One for beating and one for pleasure,” Zho How smiled at him.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  With their business wrapped up Zho How and Zao Ping spent ten minutes discussing his mission. While she had no love for the Tong, they were vital to her business and she didn’t want to lose too many of them in a gun battle. He told her they were needed more for intimidation and he would be the one taking all the risk. He wanted to kill everyone himself the safe house. He wanted to do it with his bare hands. He did not discuss the artifact with her.

  With their discussion done, Zao Ping turned and headed for the front door. Before he got there the sound of sirens filled the air. Several cars with flashing headlights pulled up in front of the store. He turned back to Zho How and was about to accuse her of treachery. Fire was in his eyes.

  “I did not do this,” she yelled at him. “Quickly, you must leave by the secret exit.” Zho How pulled the curtain aside just as he leaped over the counter.

  “Where do I go?” he asked as he ran past her.

  “Go down the stairs into the basement. Next to the vault is a door. It leads to the basement of the store next door. Hurry,” she urged him. “Go to the address I gave you. I will protect you for as long as I can,” she added.

  He raced down the stairs, spotted the door and was exiting the food store next door before the Homeland Security agents could break down Zho How’s glass door front. No one in the food store noticed him come out of the back room as they were busy craning their necks to see out the front window of the store. He turned down the street and went towards the warehouse.

  Zho How quickly pressed another button under the counter and locked the gun vault in the basement. She stood calmly with her arms in her sleeves at the counter as Agent Boyd sauntered through the door with a warrant in his hand.

  “I have a warrant for your arrest,” Agent Boyd stated clearly. He slapped the piece of paper on the counter.

  “On what grounds?” she asked with a tilt of her attractive head. “I am but a poor shop owner.”

  “Sure you are,” the agent said sarcastically. “And I’m Buddha,” he added.

  “Nice to meet you Mr. Buddha,” she coolly replied.

  “Where is the gun vault?”

  “I don’t believe in guns or violence.”

  “Guess we will have to do this the hard way. You’re under arrest.”

  She said nothing but slowly removed her arms from the sleeves of her coat and held them straight out for him to cuff. “I want a lawyer,” she announced before he could read her the Mirandize statement.

  He walked behind the counter and spun the tiny woman around. He cuffed her with her hands behind her back. He then led her out the door to a waiting Homeland Security car, while passing nine agents that now flooded into the building. She smiled as he plopped her in the car. Zao Ping had gotten away.

  It took the agents fifteen minutes to find the gun vault even through it was in plain sight in the back of the basement. After the expert lock technician employed by Homeland Security studied the vault, he placed a call to Agent Boyd. He was standing outside the car where Zho How was sequestered.

  “The friggin vault is on a time lock. It is going to take me awhile to get it open,” the technician told the agent.

  “How long?”

  “Probably two hours,” he replied.

  “Damn,” Agent Boyd said as he cut off the call. He had hoped they would catch the weapons dealer off guard. He now needed to make another call to pass on the bad news.

  ***

  “Heller,” David Heller answered the phone

  “Boyd here. She locked the gun vault before we were able to arrest her. It’s going to take several hours to get it open.” Agent Boyd could hear the noise of many motorcycles and cars revving their engines in the back ground.

  “Well, we don’t have enough time. I’m sure we have enough fire power anyway. Twenty-seven men showed up and they are all armed. We can handle it.”

  “Sorry, we tried our best,” Agent Boyd apologized.

  “I still want as many guns as
you can take,” he ordered. “We can always use more guns in the future.”

  “I’ll deliver what we can later today to the warehouse,” Agent Boyd promised. “Good luck today.”

  Heller closed his phone and studied the parking lot. There were eleven choppers and five SUV’s waiting for the signal to take off. Everyone was gunning their engines or pacing nervously. The first group to leave would include Bob Bloom as the leader. Two SUVs and four bikers were in the first wave. Heller’s group would leave five minutes later, followed by the third group lead by Spitz.

  He raised his arm for everyone to see. “We go now,” he said dramatically. He dropped his arm and the first wave hit the road.

  As he watched the first group leave, Heller had an eerie feeling like General George Custer must have had as he headed towards the Little Big Horn. He was sure that Albert Spitz would not make it back, but he also wondered about himself.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Zao Ping reached the warehouse location safely. During the ten minute walk he called the man who followed Banyon’s group. The man had placed a call to him around 3:00 A.M. the night before and gave him the location of the safe house.

  “Anything new,” Zao Ping asked without the niceties of any greeting. “Is there any activity?”

  “No one else has entered the driveway,” the man supplied. “I snuck up the driveway a little while ago. I walked it until I could see the house. It is very crude — just a log cabin — and not very big as well.”

  “What is your estimate of their fire power?”

  “Maybe some shot guns are in the house, but when they left the home in Chicago, none of them carried any special weapons.”

  “Well, my friend, they were firing something at me a few hours ago.”

  “You can expect hand guns,” the man quickly added.

  “How many people will we have to kill?”

  “There are nine of them in the house and four are women. That is all. I have seen no others.”

  “Wait a couple of hours and then try to find out how many people are really there,” Zao Ping ordered. “We will be on the road, but I need to know how many will die by my hand.”

  “It will be done.”

  “Then get some sleep, we will be there in about four hours. You must be ready and alert. As soon as I have what I need, I will come to you and you will take me where I want to go. Is that clear?”

  “I don’t need any sleep, I am well trained,” the man replied. “Call me when you get here so that I may tell you where to find me,” the man quickly replied. Zao Ping had just set up his exit plan. What would happen to the men with him was of no concern.

  ***

  As he headed to the entrance door, he noticed several tough looking men going inside. These are my men, he thought and smiled. Suddenly, two of them grabbed him and threw him against the brick wall. They pinned him there.

  “Where do you think you’re going, old man?” one of the men spat at him and placed his arm across Zao Ping’s throat. Zao Ping was only thirty-three years old, but these men were young, very young.

  “I am the man that has paid for your services,” Zao Ping growled. “Now get off me and let me inside.” One of the Tong’s from the weapons dealer’s store quickly appeared and told them men to let him go.

  Zao Ping swaggered inside the warehouse like a general on an inspection tour. He immediately saw much activity. He saw four large land rover vehicles that could seat six men each in them. All their doors were open. Men milled around looking at and checking their new weapons. They were all Chinese built AK-47’s. He could hear the constant click of triggers and firing pins being tested. Near the back of the building, bullets were being added to gun clips. When he looked to his right, he saw a room with a large window. Standing in the window were eight young Chinese girls in various stages of undress. They waved, showed off their breasts, pasted their bodies against the glass and made explicit sexual gestures towards him. They were there to satisfy the men and especially him.

  He moved to the center of the room before he spoke. He clapped his hands and all the noise quickly stopped. “Comrades,” Zao Ping opened. “Today we meet the enemy head on. We will travel to a remote location in someplace called Wisconsin.” Zao Ping said it so distastefully that several of the men laughed.

  “There we will attack a house that contains only nine people and four are just women. You must kill them all. I am after something that was stolen from our homeland and I have been charged with bringing it back. We leave at eight-twenty-five exactly. That is all.” The men dispersed and Zao Ping walked away.

  He continued to appear like he was on an inspection tour, walking slowly with his hands behind his back. He soon stood before the window where the girls called to him. All eight were vying for his attention. They knew that Zho How would provide a bonus to the woman that pleased the visitor.

  “I’ll take the two on the end,” Zao Ping pointed like he was buying fresh meat. A Tong stood next to him.

  “You can just go into that room and take them right there, they’re used to it. The others will even help,” the Tong told him.

  “I prefer a private room. Sometimes I am a little aggressive,” Zao Ping pointed out to the Tong man.

  “In that case, take the two in the middle. They don’t mind being beaten.”

  “Make it so,” Zao Ping agreed.

  “I’ll send them to the room next door,” he pointed. There are also some toys in the room if you need them.”

  “Come and get me when it is time to go. I need to work out some frustrations.”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Meanwhile Colton Banyon was leaning on the railing of the deck outside the kitchen of the log cabin. He stared into the woods and could see reflections off the lake through the trees. Since the cabin was built on a knoll, he could see for a great distance. He saw only trees. He was just finishing his second cup of coffee and still had not completely calmed down yet.

  The fact that Previne had attempted to seduce him caused him great concerned. The attempt at seduction was not new. She had seduced him many times before, but then she was under a curse placed by her grandfather. When Eric and Pramilla were married, the curse was supposed to end and set the Patel women free of their sexually compulsive desire for a man of good character. They had each confessed that Banyon was such a man.

  But Previne clearly was on the prowl for him. He had stood in the middle of the room like a zombie as he watched her beckon to him. A seductive smile followed her silent words. Her hand moved to her lips and she wet them, sucking each finger like a lollipop. Banyon was frozen as he watched her wanton sex act until Loni began to stir and roll over. He bolted from the room, just as she turned her head. He quickly crossed the upstairs landing and had taken the first step down the stairs when the door to the second bathroom opened and Eric bounced out, all showered and refreshed. As he stood at the railing on the deck, Banyon thought about their conversation on the stairs.

  “Hey Colt,” he said as a greeting.

  “Morning Eric,” Banyon replied in a hoarse voice.

  “You were smart to get up early,” Eric said.

  “Why do you say that?” Banyon asked as he continued down the stairs.

  “Too much going on in the bedroom,” he replied. “Tom and Greg got up before me to get away from it.”

  Suddenly suspicious, Banyon asked, “What are you talking about?”

  “Didn’t you notice Previne?”

  “I wasn’t trying to,” Banyon lied.

  “What? She must have had two orgasms before I left. It was making me very horny. I had grabbed Pramilla, but she told me to go away. I think that Greg had the same problem with Maya.”

  “I missed all that?” Banyon said in disbelief.

  “These Patel women are something else,” Eric told him. “You know, Pramilla and I live in the same house with Previne in India. It’s tough man.”

  Suddenly interested, Banyon said, “Why do you say that?”<
br />
  “No one can tell them apart. You know that. I mean, I’ll be in the kitchen getting some juice or something and Pramilla will show up in a sheer nightgown. I’ll go and rub against her or something and find out later that it was Previne. Sometimes, I’m not sure who is in bed with me. Pramilla doesn’t seem to mind at all. It is crazy man. It’s like they think women should share.”

  “Not Loni,” Banyon laughed.

  “Maya is no different,” Eric continued. “But I can tell it’s her because she has larger breasts.”

  “She tempts you too?”

  “Whenever she is around, man.”

  ***

  Time passed as Banyon continued to contemplate the behavior of the Patel women. He wondered if the curse was really over or had the women morphed into some sort of sexual adventurists. Or was there something that he was missing. Was Previne after me in particular or just any man that she desired? He wondered if Loni noticed their behavior. That could lead to a lot of trouble for Colton Banyon.

  He heard voices in the kitchen and turned to see who it was. He had left the sliding door open, so he was able to hear anyone in the kitchen. All four women were gathered around the kitchen breakfast bar, looking fresh and happy. As he watched from the outside, they poured coffee and chatted away.

  “Loni, I’m telling you that it is good for a relationship,” one of the Patel women said with a smile as she sipped her coffee.

  “I could never do anything like that,” she said back. “Besides, then you would want me to reciprocate and I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “But you told us you are always looking for ways to spice up your sex life,” another woman pointed out. “Eric is very spicy.”

  “I just don’t see Colt going for it. He is such a stick in the mud. He freaked out when I put the pole I use for dancing in our bedroom. He is not the type to share.”

  “I’ll bet that we could convince him,” Previne said with a sinister smile.

  “By the way, that was a good idea you had Previne. The pole I mean,” Loni replied with enthusiasm.