B.A. Hammer Returns Ch. 04

BA Hammer Returns Ch 4

"Good God. Carrington's dead?"

"Yeah. Short time ago."

"Okay, I'll get Blackstone there."

I called Brick. I know it's two in the morning, but emergencies do happen. He surprisingly answered after a couple of rings.

"Hallo."

"Sorry to call like this. Carrington has been murdered and they have arrested Ahmad. Maybe you could go see him in the morning?"

"Yeah, first thing. This changes everything."

"Yeah." He hung up.

While Brick was at the police station the next morning, I called Ike and asked him to have the two men following Ahmad last night to come by and see us. He said they would be there by noon.

I would have to wait for Brick to get back so I can find out what happened from Ahmad's point of view. Until then, I needed to speed up this investigation.

I texted Zorro with two words, "Anything yet?". He responded immediately with a request to come and see him. He gave me a different address. How many buildings does this man own? Whatever, I headed to see him. After the routine, I was standing in front of another bank of computers.

He came in from the other room looking like he had just got out of the shower. He had a robe on that would do in any exclusive high rent hotel resort. "I heard about your friend. I figured you'd be calling."

He handed me a large folder. "This is everything on Better World Ltd. I had to go through three shell companies and a non-profit, but the owner is Redthorne. Most of their assets are in the Bahamas. Redthorne has parked over $200 million in various accounts in the Seychelles under this name. It is a new company, only two years old."

"That fits when Carrington brought Samuel Butters to life."

Zorro turned and picked up another folder. "Speaking of both, Butters has an account in the same offshore bank Redthorne uses. There has been more than a million dollars deposited there since it was opened. Carrington has, or should I say, had been more careful with his real accounts. Everything looks normal in them. It looks like he made a million from Redthorne in the first two years."

"Do we have account numbers and bank names for this stuff? I may have to prove the connection. Can we prove Carrington is Butters?"

Zorro laughed and handed me another folder. Inside was an identity card for Samuel Butters. It had a picture of Carrington. He also gave me the account numbers and bank involved.

"You may want to hurry with that. Since he won't be needing that money any longer, and since an official of Redthorne is his second signor on his accounts, I intend to move the money out this evening."

"That will warn them how far we have gotten in their business. You need to leave the money there and let them get it back. There must be another way you can tap Redthorne's money?"

"It will be okay. I am moving it to a lower-level exec in Redthorne who also has an account there. I figure we might as well start the infighting now."

"Does this guy have the computer chops to pull something like this off?"

"He thinks he does, but he doesn't. But it's close enough to fool his bosses. They will just be looking for a pasty anyway. I will eventually get my pound of flesh from these vultures when I want. That should pay me for those folders. I believe our business is over."

"Of course, except for one thing. Can you please notify me when the money is moved, and then, when Redthorne finds out?"

"Yes, I will text you "Sun" when it is moved and "moon" when they find out."

"That should conclude our business. Thanks again, Zorro." I was gone.

By the time I returned to my office Stephanie had a message from Brick saying he was back and for me to come up. He headed to his office and entered through his private door.

Brick was first. "Ahmad seems to be holding up okay. They have not charged him yet, but they are going to. First, Ahmad's story. He said he got a call from someone saying he was Carrington around 10 PM. He said Carrington had a message from Afghanistan that Nicholas Donald needed translating right away. Donald is an employee of Redthorne that they both know. He claimed he had gotten Ahmad's name and number from Donald. He said Donald was on his way to his apartment then. He asked if Ahmad could get there by 11 PM so they could get it over with?

Ahmad said he arrived a few minutes before 11 and was buzzed in immediately. When he got to Carrington's apartment, he was admitted into the room by Donald. He was told Carrington was in the shower and offered Ahmad a drink. Ahmad is Muslim and doesn't drink, but he took a glass of water from Donald. As they sat and talked, Ahmad felt woozy, and he passed out. When he came around, Carrington was lying on the floor with a bullet hole in him. The gun was in Ahmad's hand. He dropped it and ran without thinking. He glanced at his watch as he ran out. It said 11:20. Apparently someone heard the shot because the police met him in the lobby as he was running out. That's it."

"The frame is good. If Donald has an accident before he can be interviewed."

Brick nodded. "Yeah, he ain't too bright. He must not have seen any of the movies about the accomplices not living to tell."

"I see a car accident, or one of Putin's favorites, a fall down a flight of stairs real soon in his future."

I got up to leave. "I have the two men who were following Ahmad last night coming to see me. You can talk to them if you want."

"Wait, TWO."

"Yeah, it occurred to me that Redthorne was following him also. So, our first guy was following Ahmad, and our second guy was watching for their man. I wanted him followed when we discovered who he was."

"Sneaky little bastard, aren't you? Okay, let me know."

By the time I got back to my office, Ike and his men were there. We all gathered in the meeting room beside my office.

"BA, this is Bobby Wills and Ned Knowles. They are the two men following Ahmad last night."

I shook both men's hands. "Thanks for coming in so quickly." They both nodded. "Which one was following Ahmad?" Wills held up his hand. "Ok, you go first."

He took out a notebook. I guess some people still use notebooks. Whatever, concentrate, dummy. "I went on duty at 9 PM. Same as Ned. I stationed myself where I could see the door of his apartment building and his car. I settled in for a long night. Nothing has happened on any of the other nights, and I was not expecting this to be any different. However, around 10:30 PM he exited the building and left in his car. I followed. He arrived at 17765 Roosevelt Street, Manhattan at 10:51 PM and was buzzed into the building. At 11:10 PM this man exited the building." He handed me a picture of the man I assumed was Donald as he walked under a streetlight. "The police arrived at 11:22 PM and entered the building. More police arrived and I figured it was time to leave. It was starting to look like a convention around there. As I was leaving, they brought Ahmad out and put him in a car. That's it."

"Very thorough and concise. Thank you very much. Ned, what about you?"

Ned got his book out, and began "As Bobby said, they left at 10:30 PM. I waited to see if any other cars followed. One did. It was a dark sedan, license plate number "G39 7CB". It followed them and I followed him to the same address Bobby listed. He dropped way back and parked. He stayed until the police arrived, then he left. I followed him. He went to the AID building in Brooklyn. When he went inside, I left."

"Also, very concise. I appreciate both of you. I know there were many long, boring nights. If you would be so kind as to give these statements to Stephanie outside. Thanks." Both men nodded and went to Stephanie's desk.

"Well, what do you think, Ike?"

"They will need a motive for Ahmad. Maybe we should look for money somewhere. It will have to be either personal, or profit."

"That's an excellent idea" I picked up the phone and asked Liz to come in." When she arrived, I told her what I wanted. "This may sound strange, but I want you to research Ahmad for bank account, etc. Please do it immediately. Thanks." She didn't blink, just popped up and was gone.

"If she comes back with some account Ahmad doesn't know about, that could be it. My guess is it will be easy to find. They need the police to find it, and they don't want them to miss it."

"Right." Ike sat quietly for a moment. "Now we know why Jones called you. He wanted everyone to run around protecting our loved ones while he set up this frame."

"So, it would seem. No one said he was stupid. I'm going to see if the cops will let me see Ahmad with Brick. I may have to ask Ed O'Sullivan about this." Ed was a Captain of Detectives and an old friend. "Do we have anything about shipments toward the Ukraine for Redthorne?"

"No, but my contacts say there has been a couple of shipments to Tulcea, Romania.

"Why Tulcea?"

"Well, for one thing, it is a large port at the mouth of the Danube, and it is not too far from the Ukrainian border. For another, Romania is a member of NATO. It is far easier to ship Redthorne's hardware there. All they would need is a waver from the pentagon or Congress."

"Enter Carrington. Okay, we can see where this is going. Thanks."

Ike left with his men, and I called Brick to see if he could get me in with him the next time. He told me it would not be before they charged him.

I called Stevie to see how he was doing. He said he would be here in a couple of hours.

For the next couple of hours, I busied myself with paperwork I had been letting slip. I had William in for checks and his financial report and Liz to update me on how many investigations we had, and how they were going. I still needed to make money. I was sure Ahmad couldn't pay me or Brick. I owe him, but Brick doesn't. Liz told me not to worry. We had more than a dozen cases our people were working on, and the billing had been consistent, even including our Broadway "freebies" we do for people in the theater that can't afford to pay. We don't turn any of them away. Willie does most of those cases, and he knows everyone, big and small, on Broadway.

Stevie arrived as I was finishing up with Liz. He came in and sat down. "Liz, you're as pretty ever. Say hey to Ike for me."

"Sure, Stevie." She sailed out of my office. Stevie has that effect on women.

"Stevie, Ike says his contacts say there are nearly 500 AID "advisors" in the Ukraine now. Did you find that out?"

"Yeah, and AID has a large, new office in Romania."

"Let me guess, Tulcea?"

Stevie just laughed. "What am I running around snooping for, when you just divine it?"

"No, Ike says there have been some shipments from Redthorne to Tulcea. I just put two and two together. Anything else?"

"Nothing definite, but some of my investment guys are whispering about Redthorne preparing for a large new investment in their company. It's not completely private. It has a couple of large investors, but we don't know who they are. There is a big deal coming, they are sure about that."

"Thanks, Stevie. I knew I could count on you." Stevie smiled and went out to see if he could flirt with Stephanie.

Liz came running in as Stevie was leaving. "We have a problem. I found a new, large account in Ahmad's name at First National. It has $50,000 in it."

"Great, I will need Zorro to get me ID info on the account." She left.

Now I need to talk to Ahmad. That would be up to Brick.