The Last Enemy - Parts 1,2 & 3 - 1934-2054
Page 40
Chapter 29
Valerio drove into Zurich the afternoon of April 21, 2017, roughly a month after the kidnap attempt. He took the morning flight to Stuttgart, Germany and then hired a car using a fake driving license that had been provided by Tarek. He had to brief Louis about the latest developments, and the only way to do it was in person, since they could no longer trust any other means of communication. They met at Louis’ house, which was under surveillance of a Swiss police patrol. They walked along Witikonerstrasse for a few minutes, then took a taxi to the city center, walked along the lake shore and boarded of the boats that were touring the lake. They sat at the bar inside the boat. It was impossible for someone to have followed them.
“How miserable is your life, Louis?” Valerio started, staring at his friend. It was clear he had not had a decent sleep in weeks.
“I am seriously starting to regret the discovery, Valerio,” sighed Louis. “The Swiss police are treating me more like a criminal than a victim. After two weeks of having my face on all the major newspapers, all of my neighbors recognize me and make sure to steer clear. I could eventually get over it, but Dora cannot bear the growing social isolation. She is feeling more and more depressed and this is affecting the pregnancy. In addition to that, three days ago there was an attack on the pill factory. The building was completely burned down. The firefighters said it was probably due to a short circuit. Bullshit. I designed every detail of that building, it was one of the safest in this country. It was destroyed, and Swiss authorities are siding with the attackers for some reason. I have no idea of who they might be. The Mossad? The CIA? Or our dear friend, Mr. Lee?”
Valerio let Louis rant on, to allow him to discharge his tension. The boat was just about in the middle of the lake, when Valerio interrupted him. For sure somebody on the other side of the lake was waiting to listen in on their conversation, so he had to convey the important part of the message.
“Listen, Louis, the situation is bad but we still have a chance. The Swiss are being manipulated by the Mossad, I checked with my connections in the German press and they confirmed the local media is being fed by companies that are typically used by the Israelis to spread their own ideas. There is worse news, though. Do you remember the case of the airliner that went missing over the Indian Ocean a few weeks ago? For a couple of weeks it hit all the headlines, now the story is brought up only on aviation media and it will soon be put on the backburner. Well, we know for sure that it was not coincidental and it is in fact linked to Telomerax...”
Louis snapped back to reality in an instance and interrupted Valerio.
“We know? How do we know?”
“Rasim Al-Manna, the head of the Arab Emirates counterintelligence service, was on that flight. Shortly after the tragedy, the government of the Emirates received evidence that it was a brutal warning, not to mess up with the Telomerax trade.”
Louis was getting impatient.
“Jesus Christ, how do you know this? You are just embellishing the story, aren’t you. Or does it come from Tarek?”
“The tragedy kind of took a turn in our favor. After the death of Rasim, Tarek was called by the rulers of Abu Dhabi. They informed him that Rasim had made some very dangerous deals with the Russians, and this was the retaliation. Then, they asked him to take Rasim’s place to sort it out...”
“So now Tarek is head of the Arab Emirates counterintelligence?,” Louis cut in with a faint smile, “This is a piece of good news, at least.”
“It is, because it gave Tarek access to information we did not have before. Unfortunately it is mostly bad news,” Valerio continued. “Rasim had been invited to Taiwan, as a trap set by George. Rasim had invited Tarek to join, but Tarek missed the plane. He was fishing and had gotten trapped in a mangrove. By the time he managed to clear his motorboat from the vegetation, it was too late to catch the flight.”
A long silence followed, then Louis asked the question that Valerio and Tarek had been asking themselves for weeks now.
“Was George aware that Rasim may have brought Tarek along? Did George actually ask Rasim to take Tarek to Taiwan with him or did Rasim have a plan of his own?”
“We do not know. Rasim left no evidence and neither Tarek nor I want to ask George. One thing is sure, he did not even try to contact any of us since the accident.”
Another long minute of silence followed. This time Valerio began again.
“Louis, we are under attack. And those who are after us do not mind killing hundreds of innocent people to hit their target. I do not want to take a position on George, at least not for now. I do not want to blame him, yet we can no longer trust him. We have to reorganize ourselves, and this is possible in only two places right now. One is to join Tarek in Abu Dhabi..”
“..and the other one is to go to Brazil with Helena,” Louis completed the sentence and continued, “I pick this one. Dora told me several times she would like to share the experience of raising the baby with the help of Helena, which by the way will be a boy.”
The thought of the baby seemed to revive Louis, so Valerio lingered on the subject.
“A boy! Congratulations, Louis! What are you going to name him?”
“He will be Dorian, the last name however is still to be decided...it depends on the next set of passports that Tarek sends us,” Louis responded with a grin and then continued. “There is also another issue, can we still trust commercial airlines? What if they discover our identity and decide to shoot us down on our way to Brazil?”
“Tarek analyzed the risks and came up with a plan,” Valerio said, as he placed a cardboard box about the size of a book in front of Louis. “Here you have three sets of passports and the airline itinerary. It is a bit complicated, but it should allow you to elude surveillance. It is all about timing. You have to leave Switzerland within six days from now.”
“Six days?,” Louis stared in disbelief. “My goodness, I have to dismantle the lab in my house and..”
“Tarek and Helena calculated that is the time you need to transfer your assets to the new accounts, set up by Helena in Panama,” Valerio cut in. “As for the lab, just make sure you destroy all the sensitive data in your computers. Unfortunately, all what Dora and you can bring along has to fit in two carry-ons.” Valerio paused, he saw that Louis’ face was lost in thought. He started talking to himself, his eyes fixed on the table.
“I hate escaping like a thief. Worse still, I am inflicting this on Dora. Despite all of our achievements, or actually because of them, she has to escape her world just like her father did, only with a son in her womb.”
The boat slowed down, and was moored at the pier. The movement brought Louis back to the decision he had to make. He looked back at Valerio, then quickly grabbed the box and put it into his pocket. Valerio was trying to find something to say to console him, when Louis abruptly asked him,
“Are you coming to Brazil, too?”
“No,” Valerio answered. “I am going to live in Dubai, for now.”
“I could have bet my house on that. Not that I need it anymore.” Louis commented. Before Valerio could reply, he hugged him, disembarked, and took the first taxi home.