“He’s clean, Chief Inspector.”
Congreve slid two pairs of plasticuffs toward her and said, “Cuff them both, please, Detective Kissl.”
“I found this under the mother’s shawl, sir,” she said, coming around the counter to hand Ambrose a very lightweight assault rifle, fitted with a silencer.
“Another interesting gun,” Ambrose said, smiling at Ding while checking the rifle’s magazine. “Take a look. Russian-made SR-3 Vikhr fitted with a SIG Sauer silencer. Extended stock, very light trigger pull. Your mother, too, has excellent taste.”
The woman spat twice on the floor.
“How charming your dear mother is. Take good care of this, Detective Sergeant Kissl. It’s loaded with twenty high-calibre rounds and set on semiautomatic fire. No safety. Just point and shoot. If you need to, of course.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ve got the mother, you take him.”
Sigrid had the assault weapon trained on the old woman now, so Congreve reached across the glass and grabbed the suspect by his skinny neck, yanking him forward so that he was stretched forward across the countertop until his feet left the ground. Ambrose pressed the muzzle of his pistol into the soft tissue between the man’s eyes. “What do you know about the death of Leo Hermann?”
“Nothing.”
“Try again.”
“I knew him, sure, but I didn’t actually kill him.”
“Well, Ding, I might not actually kill you.”
“No dice,” Ding said.
“What’s going on back there at the rear of the store? The detective sergeant and I want to have a quick look-see.”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? You seem like a smart enough fellow. Did you not know that high-ranking British diplomats and Metropolitan Police officers are exempt from prosecution for homicide?”
“Bullshit.”
“Listen to me, you little prick. No matter what happens from here out, you and your mother are going to prison for a long, long time. I know exactly who you are and what you have done. Detective Sergeant Kissl can positively identify you. So, here’s what I’m offering. Either you take me back there, get me inside your operations room, and give me the information I’m here for … or I have the Stadtspolizei arrest your mother and remove her to a location where I will make dead certain you’ll never see her alive again. How does that sound”
“Bullshit.”
“So, make a decision, Mr. Wong. Either say you’ll cooperate fully with my investigation from here on in and I’ll see what I can do for your lovely mum. Or say good-bye to your mother right this second and tell her you’ll see her in the hereafter. Pick one. That’s my final offer.”
Ding’s shoulders slumped and he looked over at the old woman.
“Sorry, Mother.”
“You weak! You loser!”
“I will show you.”
“We’ll be right back, dear,” Ambrose said, winking at the mother as he passed her by.
It was a sweatshop like you might find in the financial backwaters down near the docks of old Shanghai. Semi-dark and dreary. Twenty or thirty frantic Chinese moneyboys on their iPhones, moving massive sums of currency and gold certificates around the world and back, packed inside a fifty-by-sixty-foot freezing cold room packed to the gunwales with mainframe computers and workstations, with three or four attractive young women running around delivering coffee and collecting trade chits.
The second the steel door hissed open and Ding entered the room followed by fellow rotund Englishman with a gun in the middle of his back, the room went dead quiet.
“Tell them what you’re going to tell them, son. In Mandarin so I can be in on the joke. Do it now.”
“Attention everyone,” Ding said in Chinese, “The man with me is a British police detective. In exchange for our full cooperation, he is willing to protect us to the extent that he can. That’s in case there are any charges against me, or any one of you. Now he is going to ask you some questions. Each of you will answer truthfully, and in clear, loud English. Is that fully understood? Say nothing if you don’t understand, stay silent if you do.”
The room remained dead silent.
“You’re good, son,” Ambrose said, slightly amazed at the man’s sudden transformation into a serious, well-educated businessman.
“I am a man of my word.”
“So am I. First question. Ask them if they, or anyone they know, is aware of foreign nationals hacking into the protected private accounts of British citizens, or primary accounts held in trust for Her Majesty’s government or for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, herself. Tell them to raise their hands if they are aware of these recent cyber-attacks on Swiss banking.”
Wong translated and said, “Answer by raising your right hand.”
Six hands shot up immediately.
Ambrose said, “You six men please rise and go stand along the far wall.”
They did so, and Ambrose continued, with Ding’s translation.
“Are any of you, or anyone that you may be aware of, working in collusion with foreign agents who may be hacking into protected Swiss bank accounts and property holdings, such as gold, silver, platinum, or other valuable commodities?” Wong translated.
Four hands went up.
“Please join your colleagues at the rear.” Wong told them the next translation. “There is a man residing in Switzerland with whom Scotland Yard detectives would like to have a word. He uses the code name Sorcerer. Are you, or is anyone you know, aware of this man?”
Two hands.
“You two remain standing and stay where you are. Thank you, your help will be recognized by the courts. Final question. Do you two gentlemen who admit to knowing the Sorcerer know the location where he can be found?”
No response. Ambrose looked at Ding. “Tell them again.”
“I’m going to repeat the question. Remember that if you do not respond truthfully, evidence will be brought against you that will result in prison sentences of not less than twenty years.”
Nothing.
“You’ve got thirty seconds to stay out of jail. Starting … now … twenty seconds … fifteen … ten …”
Ding Wong had started shaking, and sweat was pouring down his face. As Ambrose’s clock ticked down, Ding’s own hand began to slowly rise into the air. “I know who he is.”
Ambrose removed his pistol from the small of Ding’s back and holstered it. Then he gently asked the suspect to turn around and face him.
“Thank you. You are a much smarter man than I gave you credit for. I will need you to come with me and give your sworn testimony about any information about the man known as Sorcerer. Detective Sergeant Kissl has already contacted local police, and they are on their way. They will take these men into custody. Those who cooperated will all receive due process, just as I said. Do you have anything more to say?”
“And my mother?”
“I’ll make sure she’s well taken care of, son. One last thing before we go. You say you know the Sorcerer. You say you know his current location. Tell me where he is now and save yourself a whole lot of unpleasantness when we arrive at Stadtspolizei headquarters.”
Ding confessed all, tears running down his cheeks.
Later, in the interrogation room at police headquarters, Ding Wong and his employees told Ambrose and the police everything they wanted to know.
Case closed.
Almost.