The Somali Deception Episode IV (A Cameron Kincaid Serial) (9 page)

Demetrius frowned, “You found
another fool.”
 

Nikos scowled, “I figured if I
could take Abbo out of the mix and get Dada the deal, he would cut me in, and I
was right.
 
We agreed he would
charge ten euros a ton and give me three.
 
He was happy to make the deal.
 
He already had almost all of the arranged hijacking contracts.
 
He was already going after control of
Abbo’s gun trade in Dubai, and with control of the waste and fisheries, he
would have everything.”

“You’re heir to a billionaire,”
said Cameron.
 
“Why bother for a few
million euros?”

Alastair frowned, “All of this
trouble because of daddy issues.”

Pepe shook his head, “He wanted
to prove he could undermine the old man.”

Demetrius gazed at Nikos in
disbelief.
 
“You are my son,” he
said.
 
“Why would you do this?”

“To show you I could,” said
Nikos.
 
“Hijacking the Kalinihta was
easy to pin on Abbo.
 
Feizel was
onboard from the start.
 
I convinced
him we were the new generation, the next regime.
 
He ate that up.”

“You are the next generation,”
said Demetrius.

“Yes, but like me, Feizel did
not want to wait for his father to die to take his turn.
 
He wanted to show his father that he was
capable of doing more in their clan.
 
Dada provided the men to take the Kalinihta, and the Somali Marines had
taken the compound north of Kismayu from the Merca Group, close enough to call
the place Abbo’s.
 
Feizel loved the
plan.
 
My old buddy Feizel was
partying with me all the way from the Seychelles to the compound.
 
Dada even supplied the additional
explosives to level the place when we left.
 
Bit overkill I admit.
 
I thought the over the top explosions
would be the give away.”

Cameron was puzzled.
 
“Feizel had a gun pointed at you.”

“Yes, he thought that was part
of the plan, and well, it was.
 
I
put an unloaded gun in his hands and told him we would be safe if he pointed it
at me,” said Nikos.
 
“He was so high
he would have done whatever I told him.”

Pepe stared stone-faced at
Nikos, and then said, “He kept waving the gun back and forth.”

“My .50 caliber Desert Eagle is
gold-plated, very heavy, and I don’t think he ever held a gun before,” said
Nikos.
 
“He did not even know the
thing was Israeli or he probably would not have touched it.
 
The only part of my plan that was
missing was how to safely get myself out of there without anyone finding too
much out.”
 
Nikos leered at his
father.
 
“Your people may have been
too thorough.”

Alastair shook his head.
 
“And that’s where I came in.”

Nikos nodded at Alastair.
 
“Alastair had been my safari guide in
Kenya, and I had gotten to know him.
 
I knew he had once been a commando.
 
I invited him to ski in Gstaad where he blended right in.
 
Did you fellows know your friend here is
descended from the peerage?
 
His
real name is not even Main, that’s his middle name.
 
His real name is Alastair Main
Bulteel-Boyd.”
 
Nikos winked at Alastair.
 
“You didn’t think I knew.
 
Bulteel-Boyd in the SAS before the GCP
and then off the radar for a while, I did a background check of course.
 
That’s how I found out we both knew
Christine and then, more importantly.”
 
Nikos tilted his head back toward Pepe.
 
“I accidently make the connection of how
he knew Christine, he saw a photo of me with my arm around her, and recognized
her right away.
 
I remember he told
me that if anything ever happened to Christine, there would be a string of
commandos at the door.”
 
Nikos held
his hands up in the air.
 
“And then
like magic everything came together, and he was right, you two flew into the
rescue with no questions asked.”

Pepe swung his Berretta over
toward Alastair’s face.
 
His already
red eyes glazing, “You did this for money.”

Alastair held his hand up in
defense toward Pepe.
 
“Whoa!
 
Whoa!
 
He played me the same as you.
 
I thought we would find her in
Dubai.
 
When Abbo mentioned Dada I
suspected a double-cross and tracked Nikos here.”

Demetrius grabbed his son’s
shoulder.
 
“Why do you have the
girl?” he asked.

“At the compound everything was
falling into place.
 
Dada’s man
Tijon, the bald giant, had shown me the exhilaration of pain when I let him
beat me.
 
The adrenalin mixed with
the cocaine Feizel and I did back at the compound helped me see my --,” Nikos
pursed his lip, “--invincibility.
 
I
knew I could finally begin to make things really happen, to shape things the
way I wanted them to be.
 
I had
manipulated you, Abbo, Dada, Feizel, Alastair, everybody.
 
I never felt so in control with so much
power, a puppet master.
 
I told
Christine that soon I was going to be making changes when we were free –
she of course believed we were prisoners – anyway, I told her I was going
to change my life and I wanted her with me, by my side.”
 
Nikos tossed his hands in the air.
 
“She laughed at me, can you believe, at
me?
 
She told me I had been doing too
many drugs with Feizel.
 
So I took
her.”

“So you took her?” asked Pepe.

“To teach her a lesson.
 
To show her I could own her like
anything else.
 
I don’t know.
 
I did not think everything through.
 
I flew her to the boat in Monaco, and
have kept her out of it until I could figure everything out.”

“What is she on?” asked Pepe.

“Only tranquilizers, nothing
more.
 
I figured once she woke up
and realized she had to stay with me everything would work out.”

* * *
* *

Talamanca Bay, Ibiza

Talamanca Bay was far cooler by
comparison to the inland climes of Ibiza.
 
With six adults occupying the Azulejo’s main cabin, the small space was
beginning to become quite warm.
 
The
fury of Demetrius Stratos and Pepe Laroque increased the temperature of the
cabin several degrees.
 
Both men
were angry with Nikos, each for their own reason yet the nature was the
same.
 
Nikos was disloyal and had
betrayed the trust of those around him.
 
Demetrius was angered by his son’s disloyalty to him, and Pepe was angered
by Nikos’ betrayal to Christine.
 
Nikos was separated from reality, delusional.
 
An heir to thousands of millions, he had
created a deception within deceptions to suit unnecessary petty needs,
manipulating some, and sacrificing others indiscriminately.

Demetrius took in a deep nasal
breath.
 
“Take her out of here,” he
said to the three gunmen.
 
“This
needs to end now.”
 
He shifted his
conversation between the three former Legionnaires.
 
Each of them still held a weapon, all
aimed in his general direction.
 
“I
did not want to believe you.”
 
He
pressed his lips tightly together.
 
“I have already set aside an account for you --,” he paused, “-- for
your trouble.”
 
Demetrius flashed
his eyes toward Christine, half conscious on Alastair’s shoulder.
 
“There is an exceptional amount set
aside for Miss Laroque.”

Cameron did not take Demetrius’
statements as an offer to lower his weapon, nor did Alastair or Pepe.
 
The tone in which the Greek spoke was
not at all convincing.
 
The three
knew far too much.

To confirm Cameron’s
foreshadowing, Demetrius turned to him, and then slipped his hand under the
bottom of his linen shirt.
 
Cameron
extended his neck and slightly raised his Ruger.

“Relax,” said Demetrius.
 
From the waist of his linen pants
Demetrius retrieved an item familiar to Cameron.
 
He held the piece of metal harmlessly
across his open palm.
 
Cameron’s
eyes went wide as did Pepe’s.
 
“Back
in Gstaad you were admiring my collection,” said Demetrius.
 
“I know you know what this is.”

Alastair craned his neck.
 
“What do you have?” he asked.
 
“A knife?”

“A dagger,” said Pepe.

Cameron frowned, “A Rex Mundi
dagger to be more specific.”

“What is a Rex Mundi dagger?”
asked Alastair.
 
“May I have a
look?”

Cameron glanced at Alastair then
back into the eyes of Demetrius.
 
“Rex
Mundi, King of the World,” said Cameron.

“King of the what?” asked
Alastair.

Cameron’s brow furrowed.
 
“A terrorist group Pepe and I stumbled
upon up in Canada.”

Pepe added, “More like a secret
cult.
 
They carry these
daggers.
 
Cameron and I have quite a
collection.”

Cameron stepped back from the
Greek.
 
“The Rex Mundi operatives we
encountered were soldiers.
 
The
person that told us about the Rex Mundi implied the people running the show
were quite well off.”

Demetrius smiled and
nodded.
 
“Your friend was quite
correct,” he said.
 
“Then again she
is well versed in our ways.”

Cameron heard the word ‘is’ and
that meant that the Rex Mundi never tracked down Nicole, and that they were
unaware of what had happened to Marie.
 
They were unaware that Marie had died in the cabin on Lake Ontario, a
victim of the Rex Mundi’s pursuit.
 
To realize that Demetrius Stratos was part of the twisted clandestine
organization that had relentlessly pursued him and the two innocent women of
faith he had escorted from New York to Canada, wretched his stomach.

As if looking into Cameron’s
mind Demetrius said, “The cell put into action was very sloppy.”
 
Demetrius shifted his body back toward
the center of the cabin and at the same time, he twirled the dagger from his palm,
toward his other hand, so that an index finger was on each end, and then he
began to playfully roll the knife in concentric circles, appearing to amuse
himself while he spoke.
 
“Ironic
that I now owe you a total of three counts of gratitude, Mister Kincaid.”

“Yes, ironic,” said Cameron.

“You saved my son.”
 
Demetrius flashed his eyes at Nikos then
back to his dagger.
 
“Well, you and
I both thought you saved him, just the same, and you alerted me to this, shall
we say situation.
 
The greatest
thanks I bare, is for the extermination of that cockroach Dada.”
 
He locked his eyes onto Pepe.
 
“More accordingly I should thank you.”

In a challenge to himself,
Demetrius began to spin the dagger more rapidly.

“Dada you see, was not long for
power anyway, a mere pawn.
 
Worse
Dada resisted the true powers that be, colluding with my own son.”
 
Demetrius shook his head, “tsk, tsk,
tsk.”

Demetrius simultaneously
straightened his neck and stopped the rotation of the dagger.
 
“Things are in place for a reason.”
 
Reduced to a toy, he clutched the dagger
by the hilt yet held the knife away from himself, inspecting the ornament and
design.
 
The object appeared foreign
to him.
 
“You know my family, during
and before World War II, were Nazi collaborators.”
 
He met eyes with Cameron and nodded his
head.
 
“Really, we were.”
 
He then turned to Alastair.
 
“Immediately after the war we allied
with the British.
 
Before all of
that, we collaborated with the Turks, and the Brits again before that, always a
grander plan spinning the wheel.”
 
He moved the hand holding the dagger in a broad circle to illustrate.

Demetrius stopped for an
elaborate pause, the attention of the four other men in the room drawn to the
hovering metal blade, drawn to him.