The Maltese Cat is officially a business consultant. In actuality, he has been involved in corporate espionage for most of his career. He targets corrupt businessmen and politicians and makes a handsome living out of correcting their inequities.
“Escheatment”, Book 1 in the Maltese Cat Book Series continues with new exciting adventures. Enjoy: Chapters 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8, 9 & 10, Chapter 11, Chapters 12 & 13, 14-16, 17, 18, Chapters 19 & 20,
Chapter 21, 22 & 23, 24, 25, 26, 27-29, Chapter 30, 31-32, 33-34, 35 & 36, Chapters 37-39, 40-41, chapters 42-43, 44-45, 46-47 Chapters 48-49, 50-51, chapters 52-53, 54, 55-56,Chapters 57-59, 60-61, 62-63, 64-65, 66-68, 69-70, 71-72, 73-75, 76-77, chapters 78-80.
Chapter 83:
James Is Sentenced
James was sitting in a concrete-walled room, interrogated by the terrorists. He was duct-taped to a metal chair which was bolted to the ground. He had no idea where he was. One moment he was in the company of the lascivious Yasmim in a private room at the Club Xanadu and the next thing he knew it was black. He had a hood over his head when he awoke and he was in this chair. James had no idea how long he had been unconscious nor how long he had been sitting, but all the muscles in his body ached.
The hood was pulled from his head and a light blazed at him from a floor lamp. He couldn’t focus due to the intensity of the light. He realized that someone was directly in front of him but he could see no one. The man spoke softly and calmly.
“Ah, you are back with us.” The man’s voice had an odd, lilting accent. James could identify neither the accent nor the voice.
“Where am I?”
“Yours is not to ask. It is I who shall be asking the questions.”
“Who are you?”
The man ignored James’s question and continued. “Where is the money you had in the Swiss account?”
“You already know that. Why are you asking?”
“Because you have my money.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“I sorely doubt that you could forget about such a large sum of money.”
“You guys already have my money. Egli told me what your thugs did.”
“Ah, yes. Mr. Egli.”
“Yeah, that jerk. He buckled right under.”
“Yes, and he told us last week that you had arranged for the money to be withdrawn. That is how we found you.”
¨The money was never yours!” James screamed.
¨It was in our bank account,” the man explained calmly.
“But it wasn’t yours! You didn’t earn it.”
“Did you?”
“You better believe it! I worked hard for it. The money was just passed through your account. That wasn’t its end destination.”
“So you admit that you used our account.”
“Just to pass it through!” James said in a voice almost pleading.
“You used our account without paying.”
“What does that matter? It was just booked in and out.”
“There are charges. You must pay.”
“What charges?”
”In everything you do in life, every decision you make, there is a price.”
“So what do you want me to do about it?” asked James defiantly.
The voice in the darkness was calm but the threat was unnervingly clear.
“Now…you must pay.”
James stiffened and felt the coldness of a primeval fear course through his bones as it finally dawned on him that he was not dealing simply with federal auditors.
Epilogue
Afghanistan
From the mouth of the caves, Karzai Shanzad and his deputy, Ali Tareen, looked out over the rocky landscape. A few armed men were milling around under the sunny, cloudless sky. The deputy addressed his superior. “We still have no new weapons as promised. The American Army hijacked the caravan last week. What are we going to do?”
The commander was as calm as ever.
“There are other alternatives. I have heard that we have a new ally in Saudi Arabia. A powerful man, who can be of great help against our common enemy.”
“A Saudi?” cried Ali Tareen. “The Saudis are just the running dogs of the Americans! They export their own brand of terror. Since when has a Wahhabi been of any good?”
“This is different. He poses as a Saudi prince but, in reality, he is a Yemeni prince, who has no love for the Saudis. In fact, he is on their most wanted list. For that, and many other reasons, he is known as The Rogue Prince…
THE END
Make sure to read the second book in the Maltese Cat series, entitled Pogrom, which takes the Maltese Cat to Saudi Arabia on his most important and most dangerous case ever. Available now at Amazon.com and other book outlets.
Read also Luminosity – The Fifth Book in The Maltese Cat Book Series.
