The Cain Conspiracy (15 page)

While they were waiting, they looked around for a computer. They weren’t positive Gutawa had one but they searched anyway. They looked through the living room, and kitchen, before finally finding a laptop in a table drawer in his bedroom next to his bed. Lawson turned it on and searched through some files to see if there was anything of interest on there but she didn’t notice much of anything important. She then installed tracking software on the machine that would pick up any e-mails that he received and immediately send a copy of them to her without being traced. Gutawa could find the bug they installed if he was looking for it but it was likely he wouldn’t discover it for quite some time. Their wait didn’t last long, about an hour. Gutawa walked in the door and turned a light on, immediately seeing Lawson sitting on his couch.

“What you doing here?” Gutawa asked. Most Indonesians spoke English very capably.

“I want to talk to you. Come sit down,” Lawson told him.

“Get out of my house.”

“I think you best sit down,” Cain said from behind him.

Gutawa complied with their wishes, figuring they had other things on their minds if he did not.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Lawson said. “We just want information.”

“About what?”

“Eric Raines.”

“What about him?”

“We know you were one of his contacts,” she said.

“He died over six months ago.”

“No, he did not.”

Gutawa didn’t reply to her suggestion, looking at both of his visitors, not seeming very surprised by the allegation.

“Judging by the look on your face, you already knew that,” Cain said.

“I know nothing.”

“Well, we think you do,” Cain added, taking his Glock out of his belt, making sure Gutawa saw it.

“No. We don’t need that,” Lawson said. “Listen, we know he’s alive. We’ve seen him. You don’t have to hide it anymore.”

“Why you want to know where he is?”

“Because we need to know what he plans on doing. Whether he’s in trouble and needs our help, or whether he’s intending to do bad things. Either way, we need to find him.”

Gutawa kept looking at Cain, who clenched the grip of his gun in front of his body. Gutawa seemed quite sure the man would use the gun on him if he chose not to give them the information they were seeking.

“What you want to know?” he asked.

“What happened to him?” Lawson asked.

“He came to me one year ago asking for my help. He say he was in trouble with some people and he needed to disappear.”

“Trouble from who?”

“He say the people he works for were getting close to him and were going to kill him soon.”

“What? That’s crazy,” Lawson responded. “Nothing like that was true.”

“He come to me and asked if I could help him to become dead man. I say I cannot help in that matter but I know someone who can.”

“Who’d you send him to?” Cain asked.

“His name is Guntur. You can find him at Ragunan Zoo. He works there sometimes.”

Gutawa gave the pair Guntur’s physical description so they could find him. The three of them continued talking about Raines, trying to get an idea of what he was working on.

“Have you heard from Raines in the last six months?” Cain asked.

“I have not,” Gutawa answered.

“Do you know what his plans are?”

“No.”

Lawson and Cain talked with Gutawa for another hour, trying to extract more information out of him, but they got to the point where he had nothing else to tell them. He seemed to be forthright with them and didn’t appear to be holding anything back. He seemed rightfully afraid of the duo that broke into his house and knew they weren’t playing games.

“Here’s my info,” Cain said, writing his number on a piece of paper, and handing it to Gutawa. “You hear from him, you call me.”

“I will.”

“If I find out he contacts you and you don’t let me know, I’ll come back and kill you,” Cain bluntly stated.

“I understand.”

The pair left Gutawa’s home and went back to their hotel for the night. They were pleased with what they got out of Gutawa. Not only did he divulge the name of the man who helped Raines, they were sure they’d wind up getting something useful from his computer.

“Do you think he’ll contact Raines?” Lawson asked.

“I think it’s likely he will at some point.”

“Why?”

“If he feels loyal enough to him to help him disappear then it’s logical to assume he’s likely to contact him at some point to tell him people know he’s not dead and that they’re looking for him,” Cain responded.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Few days, maybe a week, maybe more. He’ll probably wait until he’s reasonably sure we’ve gone in a different direction.”

The Ragunan Zoo didn’t open until 8am the following morning so they had some time to wait. The zoo was a world class facility and housed over 500 species of plants and animals from around the world, including the Sumatran tiger and Komodo dragon. Once they got into their room they discovered they had a bit of a situation.

“There’s only one bed,” Cain stated.

“What?”

“You said it.”

“That can’t be. I booked…” Lawson started before realizing what happened.

“Yes?”

“When I made the reservations it was just you going. Once I changed the plans I forgot to change the hotel reservations,” she grimaced.

“Fantastic,” Cain sarcastically added.

“Wait, it’s fine. I’ll just call down to the desk and get another room.”

Lawson called down to the desk and requested another room. As she was speaking, her facial expressions indicated to Cain that she wasn’t having much luck. She hung up the phone with an almost painful expression.

“Well? How’d that turn out?” Cain asked, already knowing the answer.

“Umm, not well. It seems they’re all booked up for the night.”

“Well,” Cain sighed. “I guess you take the bed and I’ll take the floor.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s OK. I’ve been meaning to sleep on the floor lately. It’s a good chance to get my back used to it again.”

They both sat down and went on their computers for a little bit, Lawson to do some work on hers, Cain just surfing the internet. After an hour, Lawson put hers away and went to take a shower. After she finished, she came out in just a towel, barely covering her essentials. Cain tried not to pay attention but couldn’t help but take a few glances in her direction as she sauntered across the room. She went to her bag on the bed and pulled out a brush, noticing that Cain was periodically glancing over at her. She hadn’t been intimate with anyone since Raines broke up with her. It was nice to have someone still looking at her in a lusty manner. Cain, in an effort to get his mind off her, went in to take a shower as well. While he was showering Lawson had thoughts of surprising him in there, but she thought better of it, since it really wouldn’t be professional or appropriate at that time. She was attracted to him but she had second thoughts since she got burned the last time she had a relationship with one of her agents. She sat down on the bed and brushed her hair, getting thoughts of him out of her mind. He came out fifteen minutes later, just a towel covering his waist, and meandered over to the bed. His bag was next to Lawson’s. She got up to give Cain some room, brushing up against him, accidentally knocking his towel off him. They looked at each other, both unsure that they should go any further.

“Oh, what the Hell,” Lawson said, leaning in to kiss him.

Cain returned her kiss and unwrapped Lawson from her towel. He picked her up and laid her on the bed. Though they both knew they shouldn’t be doing it, neither was interested in stopping.

The following morning the two of them got dressed and immediately headed to the zoo. Although neither was ashamed or embarrassed by what happened the night before, it was a bit uncomfortable between them.

“About last night,” Lawson stated. “It was great.”

“But?”

“But we probably should leave it at that. It’s not a good idea for either one of us to get involved.”

“I agree,” Cain replied.

“Especially after what’s happened with Raines, I just don’t know if I can go through all that again.”

“It’s OK. Really. There’s nothing wrong with leaving things as they are. We had a fun night. I’m OK with that.”

“But it was great, wasn’t it?” Lawson asked, smiling.

“Yeah.”

They arrived at the zoo and went their separate ways, walking around trying to spot Guntur. If either of them spotted him they’d call the other to their location. They spent about five hours between walking and sitting, waiting to line Guntur up in their sights, before they finally got an eye on him. Cain was sitting by the Komodo dragon exhibit when he spotted him walking around, picking up litter, emptying trash cans. He called Lawson to let her know.

“I’ve got him,” Cain said.

“Where?”

“Come to the Komodo dragon exhibit.”

“On my way.”

To prevent him from leaving the area before Lawson got there, Cain started to approach their target.

“Guntur,” Cain said.

Guntur looked a little worried that the American knew his name. That could only mean bad news. He looked around like he was about to run.

“Let’s sit down for a minute,” Cain told him, opening his jacket to show his gun.

Cain hoped that letting Guntur see his weapon would make him think twice about taking off.

“Now, about sitting down,” Cain said once more.

Guntur shook his head, agreeing to Cain’s request. Cain grabbed hold of his arm to make sure he didn’t take off on him. They sat down on the bench as they waited for Lawson to appear.

“First thing is I’m not gonna hurt you,” Cain stated. “All I want is information. You take off on me or feed me a bunch of crap and I’m gonna change my mind. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Lawson quickly arrived, almost out of breath from scurrying over.

“How you know me?” Guntur asked.

“Doesn’t matter. We only want you to piece some things together for us,” Cain said.

“What can I tell you?” Guntur asked the pair.

“Eric Raines, what happened to him?”

“He died six months ago.”

“What’d I tell you?” Cain replied, shoving the gun in his side.

“What about him?” Guntur relented.

“We know you helped him fake his death,” Lawson stated. “How?”

Guntur seemed surprised his companions were asking about Raines, or even knew about him faking his death. Cain could see Guntur still had reservations about talking so he pushed the gun further into his side, causing the slightest bit of pain.

“I’m not telling you again,” Cain sternly told him.

“He was sent to me about faking his death.”

“I already know that.”

Guntur heavily sighed and resigned himself to telling the pair the information they were seeking. “We came up with blowing up a warehouse with him inside.”

“How’d you get around verifying the body?” Lawson asked.

“You must understand, the Indonesian government is very corrupt. For a few extra dollars you can find someone willing to switch records or create documents to say anything.”

“What exactly did he need you for?”

“He came to me with what he wanted. I know the proper people who can make that happen. I am mostly a middle man.”

“For a fee,” Cain stated.

“Of course.”

“I’m assuming you get paid well for that sort of thing.”

“Yes.”

“Then what are you doing working here?” Cain wondered.

“It’s good cover. Plus if I ever need to do business I can blend in. Plenty of people walking around here. Easy to get lost in the crowd,” Guntur explained.

“Did Raines tell you why he wanted to fake his death?” Lawson asked.

“No. Man who wants to do that has his own reasons. Not for me to know. Or to ask.”

“Do you know where he was going after leaving here?” Lawson pressed.

“No.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us about him? Anybody else he may have talked to while he was here?” Cain asked.

“No. As far as I know it was just me. I got the documents for him and off he went. What he did after me I couldn’t say.”

“OK,” Cain sighed in frustration.

“Wait, one other thing,” Guntur said. “When I let him know everything was taken care of he received a phone call in my presence.”

“What’d he say?”

“I don’t know. It was in a language I cannot understand.”

“How long did it last?”

“Only few minutes. He kept saying “nyet, nyet”. He seemed a little angry after he was done though.”

“Russian,” Cain said to Lawson.

“Kurylenko,” Lawson returned.

“They’re working together.”

Cain reached into his pocket and handed Guntur a 2,000 rupiah note. A big grin surfaced on Guntur’s face, appreciative of the money being handed to him. Cain also gave him his phone number, and received Guntur’s as well, in case he ever had any information for him.

“You learn anything else, you call me,” Cain said.

“You work for U.S. government?” Guntur asked.

“Maybe.”

“I ever hear anything else about different things, maybe I call you about that too?”

“I don’t wanna hear about old ladies getting hit in the street. But if it’s big, you let me know,” Cain said.

“And maybe I get more of these?” Guntur asked, holding the rupiah note up.

“Depends how good the information is.”

“Guntur only has good information,” he smiled.

“Well you take care of yourself.”

Cain and Lawson walked around the zoo for a little bit, looking at the animals, while also discussing Raines. They tried to figure out what his plans were or where he might be but didn’t have much luck coming up with any answers. After the zoo they went back to their hotel to continue brainstorming, Lawson trying to dig up anything she could on her computer. After still not coming up with anything, she called Sanders to let him know of their findings. Although finding out he was probably in league with Kurylenko was a good start, she wasn’t prepared to hear the news that Sanders had for her.