Spoils of the Game (33 page)

“Do it,” said Austin.

Reif left the room for a minute and then returned. Within a minute or two, his assistant, Danielle, returned with a silver tray, ice, glasses, and a bottle of single-malt scotch. A couple of drinks later, and Austin was feeling better.

“Mr. Clay,” said Joost, “when you and your associates found these coins, you are sure that there were no bars or other large pieces of gold?”

“No, there were just twenty pots of coins, or whatever you call these things. I do not believe that there were any other items that could have been bars or containers that could have held bars. Why do you continue to ask this question?”

“Mr. Clay, there is strong historical evidence that there was real gold in the containers that the Venetians delivered. The only reason that the fake coins were produced was that Piccolo did not have any more than perhaps thirty or forty bars to his name. Even then, that was still a lot of money, and it is possible that the people Piccolo sent to rescue the boys recovered the bars. History can only tell us so much.”

About twenty minutes later, Austin left the bank. He had gone in with big dreams and left with nothing and everything. The problem would be how to tell this to Madeline. Austin checked his watch; it was ten-thirty. If he left now, he could be in Milan in time to get the flight to Nice that left at six. He went to the hotel, checked out, and hit the road.

The loss of the money left one big hole in the plan for Madeline’s nephew. Austin was going to contact a friend. If he had been thinking, he could have exercised this new plan B weeks ago, but things and relationships were a little different now. At about three o’clock, Austin got on his cell phone.

“Carol, this is Austin Clay. Is Dr. Bill in?”

“Oh, hi, Austin. How have you been?”

“Carol, if I told you, you would be in tears.”

“Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad.”

“Carol, the last few weeks have been amazing, and I am getting too old to handle some of the things that I have been doing. I am in Italy now driving down their version of an interstate and I know the time is like six or seven hours different. Was I able to catch him?”

“I would love to go to Italy, and yes, he is here. He is in Dr. Kennedy’s office. Hang on, I will get him.”

After about two minutes, Dr. Bill Pearson came on the phone. Dr. Bill, as Austin called him, was one of the leading neurologists in the country and a man on the cutting edge of related technology.

“Hey, Austin, you old snake, how the hell are you? Carol says you are in Italy.”

“I’m doing fine, but something has come up, and I might need your help.”

“No problem. How can I help?”

“Well, I will spare you the details, but I have been dating a woman I met in France, and in her family there is a little boy who has a nerve condition that causes him difficulty in walking. The French doctors claim that there may be some technology that could help, but the red tape in the French health system limits his access to any solution.”

“Do you know what the condition is?” asked Dr. Bill.

“I heard an explanation, but I never got a name. Apparently he had an injury, and with time, things have gotten worse, and now he is in a wheelchair most of the time. I am not sure the injury was handled well or fully understood at the time. What I want to do is fly the kid to the United States and make sure he is getting a decent chance. I was told that if some current research was funded, a cure or at least an improvement in his condition might be achieved.”

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning,” said Dr. Bill. “Before you send him over here, I want a copy of his records or as much information as his parents can get. If it helps with the red tape, have it sent directly to me here at the Mayo Clinic. Make sure I have contact information for the doctor. In the end, I might bring him here, or I might send him to a friend of mine. A number of trials are being run, and the results of one we are doing here are absolutely amazing. But before I get your hopes up, I have to understand what the problem is. When are you going to be back in the States?”

“Well, I was going to be over here for about one or two months working on a project that Caroline started, and it just seems to be going on and on and on. When I get back, we will go fishing like we did last year.”

“That was a blast. Good idea. Now, you know what to do, right?”

“I think so. I will start the procedure in a few days, and maybe in a week or two, you should have what you need.”

“Great. I will talk to you then, my friend,” said Dr. Bill.

“Hey, thank you. I owe you.”

Austin continued down the highway, cleaning up a number of unfinished issues.

“Could I please speak to Marie?”

“One moment, please.”

“Marie speaking.”

“Marie, this is Austin Clay.”

“Oh, hello, Mr. Clay. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Has everything been done as we discussed?”

“Oh, yes. I have a number of documents for you to sign, but once that is done, everything will be complete. I received the bank transfer, so all we need is your signature.”

“I should be available tomorrow. Could you bring the documents around four? I will sign whatever I need to.”

“Four would be fine. I will see you then.”

“Great, and thank you.”

It was coming to an end. This whole piece of insanity was coming to an end. Madeline was going to be a little disappointed, but perhaps not. Now he could look a little farther into the future.

Chapter 12

Antibes

“Hey, Madeline, it’s me.”

“Whose is me?”

“Mr. Austin Clay, to you.”

“I’m sorry, I never heard of you,” she teased.

“Well, I have heard of you, and the word on the street is that you are pretty hot.”

“Oh, now I know who you are. You are that American that makes me want to pull my hair out. You’re that American that dragged me into a treasure hunt that almost got me killed, and who still owes me for the shoes I ruined.”

“That’s me.”

“So what are you up to today, Mr. Clay? Do you now want me to be chased by headhunters, or perhaps swim with crocodiles?”

“I got space on the plane to Nice. Can you pick
me up?”

“Well, I will have to check my schedule. I am
very busy.”

“Please. I think it lands at a little after seven.

“I’ll be there. Are you going to tell me how things went today or not? I mean, how many millions will it be?”

“When I tell you what happened today, you will be amazed.”

“Well, I can hardly wait.”

The plane landed on time, and Madeline was waiting at the curb. The drive to Antibes took only a few minutes, and Madeline was dying to learn what had happened, but Austin was trying to be cool and put her off. The delay in learning the outcome of Austin’s trip to Zurich did not settle well in her mind, and she did not like Austin’s silence on the topic.

“I thought tonight we would stay in and count the money. Did you get the doctor info you wanted in the e-mail I sent you?” asked Madeline, trying to get any information she could from the reserved Austin.

“I got it, but I may have a better idea. Let’s get back to the house, and we will go through all of the details.”

As they drove up the road to the house, Austin was confirming one of the plans in his head. He had to be careful in the next few hours to keep Madeline’s head under control and to assure her that the big promise of helping her nephew was still on track. Madeline parked the car in the drive and ran to open the door. She was full of excitement. It was clear that she had recovered from her trauma.

The table on the terrace was set, and the warmth of the summer evening made for a perfect environment to break the news. In his own mind he was at peace with the status of everything. If he could pull it off, life could move forward. Austin left the terrace and went into the kitchen, where Madeline was placing a casserole in the oven.

“Well, it looks good, whatever it is.”

“Oh, you will love this. And if you don’t, just tell me that you do.”

“I love it already.”

“Look in the refrigerator.”

“Wow, look at that cake. Did you make that?”

“No. I am a good cook, but I am not a magician. I saw it in a shop in the village, and I knew you would like it.”

“Where is the wine?” said Austin, knowing that it might come in handy.

“Look in the bottom of the refrigerator. There should be two bottles. So when are you going to tell me?”

“Let’s get dinner out of the way so we can concentrate on the facts. My visit to Zurich was very interesting, and it turned out differently than I thought. The ABI bank people I spoke to were very helpful, and in the end I think the results we achieved will be the best.”

Dinner was all that Madeline had advertised. She looked great with candlelight on her face and the last glimmer of the sunset behind her. When dinner came to an end, Madeline rose, took some of the dishes to the kitchen, and brought out the second bottle of wine.

“It is not good news, is it?” said Madeline, catching Austin off guard.

“It’s not all bad.”

“Austin, I know you, and when you hesitate to tell me something, you are trying to control the conversation. It is a control thing with you. So are you going to tell me?”

“Okay. Let’s start with the good news. I had a discussion with a doctor friend of mine at the Mayo Clinic in the States. This is a guy that I know through my business relationships, and he is connected to all of the neurological technology in the world. If this guy doesn’t know it, no one does. He wants us to e-mail your nephew’s medical records to his office. If he thinks that there is something to be done, I will fly the boy to the United States and we will get the situation resolved, if it can be. I do not know why I did not think of the approach before, but I just didn’t. If we can get the records e-mailed in the next week or so, we should know something a few days later. So independent of the money, that is good news. Now, about the money. The coins were fakes.”

Austin’s comment was a shock and caught Madeline unprepared.

“Fakes!”

Austin reached into his pocket, pulled out a small bag of coins, and poured the contents onto the table.

“Madeline, I was dumb. I should have studied the coins in detail before we got involved with plans for a fortune. To be honest, I felt like a fool in Zurich. The bank arranged for a coin expert to look at the coins, and he knew in a few seconds that the coins were fakes. There won’t be any money. If you want to talk with the coin guy or the bank guy, here are their cards.”

Madeline looked past Austin, toward the ocean. She was silent for about a minute before saying, “I am not unhappy. I am not unhappy at all. I told you that the money was cursed, even if it is fake. If you think that your contacts in the United States can help Benjamin, that is all I ever really wanted.”

“I think I have Benjamin covered. Dr. Bill is the best there is. Madeline looked at the ocean again. It was becoming clear to Austin that something else was bothering her. He took the opportunity to reach for the small box he had hidden under the table.

“Here, I got you a present.” He was sure that this would distract her for a few minutes.

“Oh, I love presents. What is it?”

Within seconds she had removed the wrapping paper and opened the watch box.

“Oh, my, this looks so expensive. It is beautiful.”

“I just couldn’t go to Switzerland without getting you a watch.”

She loved the watch, but it wasn’t the confirmation that she wanted. She wanted to know that Austin wasn’t going to be fake in her life. She wanted to know that she was going to be a big part in his life. Was he giving her the watch to make up for the last week, or was there more to it? Madeline rose from the table, went over to Austin, and sat on his lap. She kissed him, and he kissed back. That told her what she wanted to know. Austin picked Madeline up and took her over to the cushions on the terrace. He continued to kiss her while he slowly undressed her. In the warmth of the summer evening, they spent the night on the terrace.

Morning came with the heat of the sun. By eight, Madeline was up and had gathered some orange juice and toast from the limited food she had at the house.

“This is not exactly breakfast in bed, but if we push a few of the cushions together, we can make the best of it.”

“I would have breakfast with you on a bed of nails.”

“Just for saying that, you can have the toast that I did not burn.”

“I have another surprise for you,” said Austin, who wanted to recharge the atmosphere.

“Another surprise?”

“Anyone who can make toast this good deserves another surprise.”

Madeline laid her naked body next to Austin. “I bet I can get you to tell me.”

“Oh, no, this is a big surprise, and I want you to be dressed by four, because that is when it is being delivered.”

“Delivered. Is it a car?”

“No, no. How much money do you think I have?”

“If you wanted to buy me a car, you could.”

“Well, maybe, but it is not a car. It is not that big a deal. I should not have told you anything, because now you will be disappointed.”

“Okay, I’ll wait, but I know it’s a car.”

Austin went to get showered and dressed. From the front window of the house he saw a car drive slowly past the driveway, and a few minutes later, the same car drove past again. It seemed strange to Austin, but it was no big deal. He knew that the person making the delivery was not due until four. He also knew that it wasn’t the police. When he returned to the kitchen, Madeline was busy cleaning up, and she asked Austin to take the trash out to the road. The road that went past the front of the house was little more than a gravel country lane. To the right he saw the same car he had seen earlier. After placing the garbage in the pickup bin, Austin started to return to the house, but he realized that whoever was in the car was opening the car door. Austin stepped behind a large tree and watched as a well-dressed woman with an olive complexion and long black hair exited the car … with a handgun.

Damn,
Austin said to himself. This was not what he expected. The healing of the last few days was going well, and he did not need this crap. And there was also a chance that someone was going to get killed. As the woman slowly walked down the road toward the house, he changed his position so that he could continue to hide while watching as best he could. Tears were streaming down the woman’s face. She stopped, turned around, and began walking toward her car; then she stopped again. For about a minute she stood and did not move, and then she began walking toward the house again.