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“All right, we’ll keep an eye out for him.” Eddie turned and saw Murph peering at his screen in confusion. “What’s wrong? You can’t find the data?”
“No, that’s not it. I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”
“Then what?”
“It’s just strange,” Murph said and looked up at Eddie, his brows knitted together like he was about to deliver bad news. “I think this ship has a fire control system.”
At first, Eddie thought he was talking about a fire suppression system, but then he realized Murph would never confuse the terms control and suppression.
He meant the Magellan Sun was armed.
32
As Brekker had expected, getting into the warehouse had been a simple task once his men had taken out the guards at the front gate. Locsin hadn’t posted any of his soldiers outside, the mistake of someone who was overconfident in the security of his position. Now Brekker had the high ground in the warehouse office, which still bore the distinct smell of garlic body odor. Locsin and his men had taken up defensive positions next to the fire trucks. Van Der Waal, acting as the sniper, was up in the rafters of the warehouse while the rest of his men were spread out around the perimeter, ready to open fire at his command.
At first, the only response Brekker had received from Locsin about discussing his business proposal was a few potshots at his men and some choice curse words about their predicament, but, with several well-placed sniper rounds, Brekker made it clear that any attempt to fight back would come at a high price. He keyed the microphone for the warehouse PA system.
“Right now, you’re wondering who I am and how I found you here,” he said. “Alastair Lynch sends his best wishes. He couldn’t be here, however, because he’s feeling under the weather. Apparently, a couple of days without a dose of Typhoon will do that to a man.” He paused to let the information sink in.
“All right,” Locsin finally yelled back. “You have my attention. You’re obviously not with the authorities or we wouldn’t be talking like this. What do you want?”
“I have a business transaction that you might be interested in. Specifically, the Typhoon business. I think it could be lucrative for both of us.”
“Why should I trust you? You killed one of my men.”
“You and I both understand the need for force to make a point. Obviously, my point was that I could have killed you and all your men before you even knew I was here, but where would that have gotten me?”
Brekker knew Locsin’s type. Capturing him at gunpoint wouldn’t work. He may have been nabbed by the police once, but he wouldn’t let that happen again. Locsin would go down fighting rather than be taken alive. He’d never submit to the kind of torture that Lynch was going through.
Brekker continued, “If I hadn’t made my demonstration, would you have listened to me?”
“I’m listening now.”
“Good. Then I think we can help each other. I know you have found a supply of Typhoon secretly stored since World War Two.”
“I won’t tell you where it is.”
“I’m not expecting you to. But I may know where more of it is.”
“Then why are you talking to me?”
“Because I think you know where more of it is, too. It would be a shame for it to be destroyed before either of us could find it.”
Another pause. Brekker had hit a nerve.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“There’s a shipwreck somewhere in the Philippines that carried a large supply of Typhoon in its hold. It was sunk by a submarine during the Second World War. I know its location.”
“What is your proposal? You’re going to tell me where it is?”
So Locsin didn’t know about it. He must have another potential source of the drug. Interesting.
“It depends how much that knowledge is worth to you,” Brekker said.
“Why don’t you keep it for yourself?”
“I’m a pragmatic man, Mr. Locsin. The Typhoon may still be inside the ship or it may not. There’s no guarantee that the cargo was actually on board. And even if it had been, it might have been destroyed either in the sinking or by deterioration during the last seventy years on the ocean floor. I’d rather go for the sure thing than risk coming away with nothing.”
