Polar Quest

33

As Kilkenny and Tao were getting ready to leave for dinner at a restaurant up the beach, the condo phone rang.

‘Hello?’ Kilkenny answered.

‘Oh, good, you haven’t stepped out for the evening. Mr Kilkenny, it’s Hugh Harley, I spoke with you and your associate earlier today.’

‘What can I do for you?’

‘Well, I received word a short while ago from my lawyer and I am permitted to speak with you regarding those stock trades. I know you’re interested in discerning whether any improprieties have taken place with regard to insider trading, and I’ve spoken with my client about the matter. He lives here and has agreed to meet with you to put your suspicions to rest. Unfortunately, the rest of his week is a bit of a mess. Are you and your associate available to meet with him tonight?’

‘Yes,’ Kilkenny replied. ‘At your office?’

‘No, my home. We’re playing cards tonight, usual group, and it’s more convenient for everyone. Shall we say around nine?’

‘That’s fine.’ Kilkenny wrote down the directions to Harley’s beach house.

Kilkenny and Tao had some difficulty finding Harley’s home as the dense foliage between the street and the building proved to be a near perfect camouflage. Were it not for a gray, weather-worn sign with Harley’s name carved into it, Kilkenny doubted he would have found the place at all.

He parked beside two other cars in the gravel driveway. The beach house was a modest structure built on pilings with broad eaves for protection from the sun. Noticing headlights in the driveway, Harley stepped out onto the front porch.

‘No trouble finding the place, I hope?’

‘Only passed it twice,’ Kilkenny admitted.

‘Well, I do like my privacy. Please come in.’

He led Kilkenny and Tao into a large room that enjoyed an expansive view of the Caribbean and was furnished with comfortable informality. On one side of the room, three men sat around a card table drinking. A fourth stood at the bar mixing a drink.

‘Here we are,’ Harley said, guiding them toward the bar.

Kilkenny stopped abruptly when Summer Duroc turned to face him. Duroc caught Kilkenny’s reaction of surprise and recognition. Harley fled the room and behind them, the three card players were on their feet and rushing toward them.

‘Nolan!’ Tao shouted.

As he spun around, Kilkenny grabbed a floor lamp and swung it like a baseball bat. The weighted base connected with the nearest man’s midsection, doubling him over onto the floor. Tao pushed a chair at one of the men moving at her, then kicked high into the jaw of the other.

Duroc closed in and attacked Kilkenny from behind, throwing tight quick punches into his lower back. Reacting to the pain, Kilkenny swung the bony point of his elbow back and struck Duroc’s head just above the ear. Duroc staggered back, dazed by the blow.

Kilkenny’s first opponent regained his breath and lunged forward. Like a matador, Kilkenny sidestepped the charge and drove his foot into the side of his attacker’s knee. The leg buckled and the man skidded onto the floor. Duroc grabbed a fifth of Bombay Sapphire off the bar and swung it into the back of Kilkenny’s head. The bottle made a dull thud when it struck and snapped at the neck. Kilkenny immediately dropped to the floor.

Duroc dropped the bottle’s neck and joined the attack on Tao. He dodged a wide arcing kick aimed at his head, grabbed her ankle, and twisted her off her footing. The last of Duroc’s men still standing tackled her as she fell onto the floor.

‘Harley, tie her up,’ Duroc ordered as he held Tao’s arms behind her back.

The banker cautiously returned carrying several short lengths of nylon fishing line. He quickly bound Tao’s wrists and ankles, avoiding contact with her as if her touch alone might be dangerous. With Tao restrained, Duroc stood up and studied the wreckage. Kilkenny lay in a heap, unmoving.

‘Him too?’ Harley asked.

Duroc nodded. Harley was still obviously shaken by the sudden violence and regarded Kilkenny like a dangerous animal that might abruptly spring up at him. He finished binding Kilkenny and backed away from Duroc’s two prisoners. The two beaten men slowly regrouped themselves.

‘Sit her up,’ Duroc ordered.

The man who’d been kicked in the face grabbed Tao roughly and sat her on the floor.

‘Why are you here?’

Tao returned his question with silence and a stare of indifference that barely masked her inner hostility. Experience told Duroc he would get nothing from her.

‘Search them,’ he commanded.

The men pawed Tao, despite the fact that her long-sleeved top and Capri pants left little room for concealment. Her small clutch yielded two slim wallets, one of which contained Tao’s SEC identification. The search of Kilkenny’s unconscious form produced the keys to the rental car and the condo and Kilkenny’s wallet.

‘You both travel light,’ Duroc commented, finding only their driver’s licenses and a few credit cards between them.

He studied the driver’s licenses and noted that both were issued by the state of Michigan. Kilkenny’s was somewhat worn while Tab’s appeared freshly minted.

‘I checked, and you are not from the SEC,’ Duroc said to Tao. ‘I don’t know what game you and your friend here are playing, but it has come to an end. Gag her and take them both to the boat.’

Duroc and his men carried Kilkenny and Tao down to the deserted beach. A Zodiac boat sat on the sand just above the high-tide mark. They placed them in the Zodiac, then dragged it out into the lapping waves.

‘Dump them in deep water, understand?’ Duroc said as he tossed the wallets and the condo keys to one of the men. ‘I don’t want their bodies washing ashore.’

The two men nodded then pulled themselves into the boat. The outboard motor turned over on the first pull, and the Zodiac motored out across the calm surface of the Caribbean.

As he walked to Harley’s house, Duroc handed his remaining man the keys to Kilkenny’s rental car. ‘Drop it off at the rental agency tomorrow around noon, when they are the busiest.’

The man nodded and left, and Duroc returned to the beach house. Harley was already pouring himself another stiff drink.

‘Monsieur Harley, I thank you for your assistance in making the arrangements for tonight.’

‘You can thank me after you get my bill,’ Harley replied. ‘The men I hired were not inexpensive, but they’ll do as you’ve instructed. I’ve taken the liberty of deducting their fee from your account prior to transferring the balance to Switzerland.’

Duroc nodded his assent and picked up a canvas bag he’d brought with him. ‘And what of the stock trades?’

‘I’ve altered the records on my computer, running the trades through dummy accounts so there’s no direct link back to your holding company.’

Duroc pulled a silenced Glock pistol from the bag and fired four shots. The first two rounds disappeared into Harley’s chest, the frangible projectiles exploding into tiny shards of twisted metal. Duroc’s second pair punched through Harley’s forehead and shredded his brain.