Albert looked at his sister and said, “You’re not worried about Customs finding it when they go through the airport?”
“They won’t be going through the airport. Twenty is too many people to fly. This time we’ll send them by ship. And when it’s all over, we’ll be debt-free with cash in hand. That’s all any business owner could ask for.”
Chapter 10
HANNA AND HER brother, Albert, spent much of the rest of the afternoon visiting various contacts around Amsterdam. They hoped someone could tell them something about what had happened in Miami. There was no way Hanna was going to lose that much money without getting some kind of explanation.
But so far, they hadn’t gotten much information. The longer this went on, the more frustrated Hanna became. And if Hanna was frustrated, Albert was on the verge of fury.
They crossed into the Noord District by way of the Coentunnel and walked until they were a couple of blocks from the city office on Buikslotermeerplein. Their contact would meet them near the bronze statue of children playing.
At the edge of the park, Albert nudged his sister and pointed to a young woman and a man huddled in conversation.
Hanna said, “What about them?” Then the woman looked up and Hanna saw her clearly. It was the girl who’d had Emile Rostoff’s initials carved in her face, an E on her right cheek and an R on her left. Each scar covered almost the entire cheek.
The missing end of her nose was also jarring, but in a different way. It took a moment to recognize the blunted tip of an otherwise normal nose.
The man next to her was missing the fingers on his right hand.
The image of the two sent a shudder through Hanna, just as it was intended to. That was one of the reasons Emile Rostoff could live in a waterfront penthouse without anyone ever touching him: everyone was terrified of him.
Hanna and Albert had spent most of their lives in Amsterdam. They hadn’t heard of this kind of violence until the Russians arrived en masse and took control of much of the city’s criminal enterprises.
Hanna looked away from the Rostoff victims and spotted Heinrich, her contact from the city office, a corpulent little bald man who’d been bleeding her dry for years by claiming to have connections in law enforcement worldwide.
She saw a smile spread across the man’s face as he watched her approach the bench he sat on. She’d never really liked the way Heinrich looked at her. Hanna knew his preference was for young girls because she’d provided him with some over the years, but the grubby, forty-five-year-old civil servant didn’t impress her as being particularly discriminating when it came to women.
Hanna did like the way Heinrich’s smile faded instantly when he noticed Albert walking a few feet behind her. Her big brother had looked out for her ever since they were kids.
A light breeze blew the man’s thinning hair into odd angles. Even though temperatures were mild now in the late summer, he had sweat stains blossoming under his arms.
She wasted no time on small talk. “I’m quite bothered about losing an entire load in Miami.”
Heinrich hesitated, then said, “Is that why your brother is with you?”
Hanna said, “Don’t worry about Albert. I just need a few answers.”
“I would prefer to speak with you alone.”
Albert stepped closer; he towered above the seated man. “What’s wrong, Heinrich? You got something to hide?” He didn’t wait for an answer. Albert plopped down on the bench right next to him. He pulled a long survival knife from under his light jacket. Then he made a show out of using it to clean his fingernails.
Hanna stayed on her feet. She looked down at Heinrich with her hands on her hips like a schoolmarm. “No games. Do you know anything about it or not?”
“The American FBI got the tip from the Dutch national police about your man with the kids,” Heinrich told her.
“You know who gave the tip?”
He shook his head, but Hanna couldn’t tell if it was a nervous gesture or if he was saying no.
Albert slammed the point of the knife into the bench’s wooden seat less than an inch from Heinrich’s leg. That made him jump. Albert said, “C’mon, Heinrich, it’s not like someone from the Dutch police will cut off a body part if you tell us who called the tip in to the Americans.”
Heinrich said, “I think you both know who it was.”
Albert said, “Tell us.”
“I thought we were business associates. I don’t appreciate being threatened,” Heinrich said.
Albert jerked the knife out of the bench and swung it like a tennis racket toward the civil servant’s face. He froze it just as the edge of the blade touched Heinrich’s throat.
Both men sat perfectly still, like statues. A thin trickle of blood dripped from the tiny cut Albert’s knife had made.
Even Hanna flinched at the suddenness of the action and the sight of blood. But she held steady as Heinrich whimpered.
Albert acted as if nothing had happened and smiled as he said, “A name?” He lowered the knife.
Heinrich hyperventilated as he lifted his left hand to feel his neck. He mumbled, “Detective Marie Meijer.”
Albert said, “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Chapter 11
HANNA CALLED FOR a cab, then turned to her brother and said, “Was that really necessary?”
Albert put on an innocent look. “What? You mean the shave I gave to fat boy? People are beginning to take advantage of us. They no longer fear us. Something’s got to change.”
“You have a point. But threatening a public official, no matter how petty or corrupt, could come back to haunt us.”
“If you weren’t with me, I would’ve sliced off one of his fingers or an ear. Just to show that we mean business.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that we’re facing scrutiny by the national police as well as the Koninklijke Marechaussee. We have to be careful.”
Albert said, “I trained with the Koninklijke Marechaussee when I was in the army. They’re mostly muscle. They don’t really investigate. This all has to do with that one detective, Marie Meijer. She has it in for us.”
Hanna nodded. He was right.
“I have no idea what we ever did to her,” Albert said. “Maybe we should offer her a cut of our profits.”
“I don’t think so. She’s a true believer. A bribe won’t work this time.”
“I could deal with her. Permanently. I could even make it look like an accident, although that’s more work and less fun. Drop her in the Markermeer.”
“No. Bodies always wash up on the shore eventually. Besides, cops never give up chasing someone who’s killed another cop.”
Albert looked down the road at the approaching cab and pouted like a little boy. “You don’t let me have any fun at all.”
Chapter 12
Miami
THE TASK FORCE was officially called Operation Guardian, mostly because when it was known as International Criminal Investigations, ICI, everyone referred to it as “Icky.” Now we had an okay name and office space in North Miami Beach, a few miles from the main FBI office.
No one outside of law enforcement seemed to understand that Interpol didn’t make arrests. Interpol was just a global organization that shared information. For instance, if there was a jewelry heist in Paris that was somehow connected to Miami, a French detective would fly to Florida and work with either the FBI or the Miami police.