B.A. Hammer Returns Ch. 05

I went home and settled into my favorite chair with a cold beer. Mary was at the theater, and I needed to sort out my thoughts.

What do we know now?

1. Ahmad stumbled into a meeting where he saw a someone they didn't want him to see.
2. I am now sure they started following him shortly after that. Therefore, they knew I was on this case from the beginning.
3. Redthorne is concerned about the future of sales within Afghanistan due to political pressure.
4. Their desire to take advantage of the unstable Ukrainian situation to protect their profits made them put this plan in action.
5. AID has 500 men in Ukraine and Redthorne is shipping weapons to Romania.
6. They needed Carrington to help them get the permits to do this.
7. Me in the picture made Jones know he had to act. If he left me alone, he would be sure I would figure it out.
8. They now have a good frame of Ahmad that also gets rid of one of the witnesses to what they are doing.
9. There is one more witness they will need to deal with, Donald.

What are the problems now?

1. Convicting him only works if he doesn't say anything about what he knows.
2. The only way he wouldn't is if they went after his family.
3. I will need to contact Mahammad Alee and warn him. Since they have known about us from the beginning, they probably know about him also.
4. Can I keep Donald alive long enough to convince him they are going to kill him?
5. How do I contact him with them watching him?
6. Was Donald also the killer, or did they have a professional do it, and where is he?

What facts do we know about their plan?

1. The company they started to do this is Better World Ltd.
2. The money in BWL's account must be payments from their new customers.
3. They have the permits to ship to Romania.
4. AID has people in the Ukraine assisting them against Russia.
5. Ukraine is undoubtedly appreciative for the help and will not want to assist in announcing this to the world.
6. The only weakness in their plan is the validity of the permits. Now they can lay that on Carrington and plead ignorance of any wrongdoing.
7. Is having the weapons help Ukraine against Russia really a bad thing?
8. Can Brick get Ahmad off WITHOUT proving Redthorne's complicity?

I fell asleep pondering these things until Mary woke me. We went to bed and counted down her last days working.

I asked Brick to go see Ahmad and ask him if he knew where Muhammad had sent his family. He said he would talk to him this morning.

Brick called me around noon to tell me the District Attorney has decided to charge Ahmad. He will be arraigned the next day. He also told me Muhammad did not tell Ahmad where his family was sent. I decided I needed to call Muhammad and at least warn him.

I called his office and asked to speak to his assistant. "Hello, Mr. Hammer. I did not think we would be hearing from you again."

"I wasn't planning on calling you again. Circumstances have changed, and I needed to warn Mr. Alee."

"Can I forward a message to him?"

"This is something I believe I had better give him personally, sorry."

"I will forward your message to him."

"Thank you very much. Have a safe day."

I texted Zorro next. I got a quick text back with another address."

I drove around New York until I was sure no one was following me, and headed to the address I was given. Once inside, I was standing in front of Zorro.

"Will you leave me the hell alone?"

"Money, sir, money. I spoke about moving their money to a lower-level employee. I have a name for you now. Nicholas Donald. I also found an account in our client's name in the First National Bank. We believe it was planted. I was hoping you could move that money to Donald also, and, if there is any way you could get me the paperwork used to set up the account, that would be great. I also had another thought. Maybe we could put some of the money from the other account into a new account that can be traced back to the head of AID, Jake Jones. I just want to fuck with them and make this as confusing as I can. If you wish to "borrow" some for yourself, that will just add to the confusion."

"I can do all of that. Since there are millions floating around here, I might take my fee. If you wait for a few minutes, I will check on the First National account." I went to the couch and sat down.

A few minutes later, he came to me and handed me a piece of paper. "This is the form filled out to open the account. You see the signature of your client. Check to see if it matches his signature. If it does not, then you have the handwriting of your suspect. Now I will move the money tonight during their normal dump. This should cover this case. Please leave me alone."

"As you wish, thank you." I left quickly. He is becoming more and more nervous every time I see him. I won't be able to do this much longer. But I had the signature, and all the money is being moved to places that will cause confusion.

That afternoon I received a call from Muhammad Aziz. "You wish to warn me about something?"

"Yes. As I am sure you are aware, Ahmad Aziz is being charged with the murder of Watson Carrington."

"I am. What does this have to do with me?"

"We can put up a nice defense for him, but it would require a lot of messy details about the activities of these gun runners that would be made public. They don't like to have their dirty laundry in the newspapers. The only way they can keep it out of the public knowledge is if they make him not bring it up in court. The only way they can do that is to threaten his family. I believe they know you have them. I wanted to warn you they may come for you or your people."

"I knew this would happen when I took them in. I have already planned for this. They are out of the reach of those people, and my people are fully prepared to defend themselves. This is not the first time we have encountered gun runners. Thank you for calling me. When, and if, it is safe for them to return, I will have them returned."

"I can't thank you enough for what you are doing." I hung up and sat to consider what I had just heard.

Where can they have them that makes them safe from AID? Were they really prepared for this? I will just have to cross this problem off my list.

I went to see Brick. "They are arraigning Ahmad tomorrow. Do they really have their case prepared so quickly?"

"They seem to think it is a slam dunk. I don't understand how. I put together a trial case for them that I would use if I were trying this case."

"Can we run through that? Maybe I would be able to help with the holes."

Brick sat back and thought for a moment.

"Off the top of my head, here it is.

1. Ahmad works for Redthorne.
2. He is "friends" with Nicholas Donald. Donald can testify to whatever they wish.
3. He was paid a lot of money recently.
4. He was found coming out of the building of Watson Carrington's apartment.
5. The gun has his fingerprints on it. There was residue on his hands.
6. I am certain that Redthorne will have someone testify that Ahmad had no reason to know Carrington. It had to be personal.
7. Redthorne can spin this anyway they wish. They can say they knew nothing "irregular" about their wavers. That Carrington and Ahmad cooked the entire plot up on their own, and something went bad between them."

He's right, it is a solid case. "Now, what holes can we punch in it?"

We sat thinking for several minutes. I started. "The biggest hole is Donald. They must decide if killing him will only make Ahmad look more guilty. Otherwise, they let Donald get up on the stand and let us take our best shot."

"Yes. The money is the biggest motive." I had forgotten that.

"I forgot to give you this." I pulled the bank card out and gave it to Brick. "Check Ahmad's signature against this. If it doesn't match, we have something to go on."

Brick took the card and looked at it for a second. He then reached into his desk and pulled out a file. He sat for a few minutes comparing the card to his files. Finally, he handed me a contract and the card. "What do you think? Does it match?"

My hands shook as I laid the two documents down, side by side. This may be the ballgame.

"I don't think they do. We will have to get a handwriting expert confirm it."

"I agree. But this is something positive."

"One other thing. How many bullets were fired by the gun? The only way this works for this is for them to put the gun in his hand and fire it again."

"The gun was fired twice. Both bullets were found in the body."

"Of course, it was. I have two men following Donald. I told them to have one follow any suspicious people he meets. If they kill him, we must be there."

I went back to my office. Stevie was there. "Hey, Boss, I might have something for you."

"Good, I need some good news."

"The company looking at Redthorne is Specialized Defensive Services. They are negotiating to buy the entire company."

That is interesting. SDS is one of the largest suppliers of equipment for the US military. Until now, they have not provided the military with munitions. It has been the tanks, trucks, artillery, and hardware to support the munitions. It would seem they want to complete the loop and provide everything. They are also very sensitive to bad press. When you have a multi-billion-dollar budget that has one customer, you can't afford to piss that customer off. It is believed they have several Senators in their back pocket. We may have to check on Brick's friend, Senator Minton.

"That is great. Thanks, Stevie." He smiled and left. I called Ike to see if he had anything new.

"Yes, I do. There is another shipment that was supposed to ship this week. It seems they are delaying it. It probably has something to do with the waver."

"I'm sure it does. They can't take the chance right now. They are being sold to SDS."

"BOY, that does change things. SDS doesn't want anything out of the ordinary. Redthorne may be trying to sweep their Ukrainian project under the rug. I'm going to try and find out what is in this shipment." I thanked Ike and hung up. I called Brick to update him with this new information.

We are now getting a clearer picture of Redthorne's problem. They don't need anyone talking about this program. It might spook SDS. I need to find out Redthorne's real financial shape.

I went into Liz's office. "Liz, I need you to get with Homer and tear Redthorne's books apart. See if he can get into them. I need to know how strong they really are."

"You bet, boss."

I called Brick next. "Brick, Redthorne is being sold to Specialized Defensive Services."

"That is interesting."

"Yes. I must ask you this. Senator Minton is on the Senate Appropriations Committee. I am sure that was Carrington's in. We will need to find out his connections to SDS. Sorry."

"No, we need to know. I'm sure he isn't taking anything from them, but I will discuss it with him. "

I guess we have done everything we can think of. Next is the arraignment.