AllFreeNovel
Share Us
David looked over one shoulder and then the other. “Not here. Not in front of the others.” After looking around the room one more time, David gestured for Atwa to follow him.
The two men walked through the crowd, David stopping every few feet to accept another hug or handshake. He feigned reciprocity as the men showered affection on him, which was made all the more difficult by the fact that he was about to send them to their deaths. As they stepped outside, Atwa stopped; his look of concern now much deeper.
David pointed to the butcher’s Mercedes sedan. “In private.” David walked around the other side and climbed into the backseat. Atwa joined him and when both doors were closed David breathed a barely discernible sigh of relief.
26
Rapp was willing to play the general’s game for a while. Moro would undoubtedly remain defiant right up to the moment he was confronted with the evidence. “Tell me, General, do you dislike America?”
Moro pondered the question with a puzzled look on his oily face. “I’m not sure what you are asking me.”
“It isn’t a difficult question. Do you like America? Yes or no?”
“That depends. There are things about America that I like, and there are things that I don’t like.”
“Fair enough. What about China?”
The Filipino’s eyes screwed a bit tighter at hearing this. “I have no opinion on China.”
“Really?” asked Rapp in a surprised tone. “That surprises me.”
Any sense of Moro’s air of amusement had evaporated at the mention of the world’s most populous country. “What are you hinting at, Mr. Rapp?”
Changing gears, Rapp leaned back and said, “I would like to do business with you, General. As I said, I am a practical man, and I’ve been told you are too. I want Abu Sayyaf crushed, and I don’t care what it takes. If I have to pay a certain person large amounts of cash to make sure the job gets done, then that’s what I am willing to do.”
“I am not sure,” said Moro, squinting up at the tent’s ceiling, “but I think I am offended by what you have just proposed.”
Rapp looked him right in the eye and shook his head disbelievingly. “No, you aren’t. As I’ve already said, I know certain things about you, and I know it is impossible that you are offended by what I just proposed.”
Moro took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. It appeared that the American was privy to his business arrangement. Choosing his words carefully, he said, “What exactly did you come here for, Mr. Rapp?”
“I came to make you a better offer than the one you already have.”
“I’m listening.” The general leaned back and folded his arms across his chest.
“We know about your accounts in Hong Kong and Jakarta. We know you’ve been spying for the Chinese since the early eighties, and we know Abu Sayyaf pays you off so that you don’t get too aggressive in pursuing them.”
Moro studied Rapp with cautious eyes. Finally he said, “I’m still listening.”
“As I’ve already stated, I’m a practical man. Although I’m not entirely comfortable with your connection to Beijing, I can live with it for the time being. Abu Sayyaf is an entirely different matter. That I cannot live with.”
“Mr. Rapp, I still have no idea what you are talking about.”
Rapp reached into his vest pocket while keeping his eyes locked on Moro. He pulled out an envelope and tossed it onto the general’s desk. Rapp watched as Moro emptied the envelope’s contents and began leafing through the various pages. They consisted of bank and phone records.
After Moro was done looking over the documents he placed them back in the envelope and set the package carefully in the middle of his desk. So the American did know his secret, or at least part of it, but Moro was not willing to admit guilt so easily. “I don’t know what any of this is about.”
In a deadpan voice, Rapp said, “There’s more. We have radio and telephone intercepts. Your voiceprint has been matched beyond any reasonable doubt.”
Moro stared unwaveringly at his adversary as he desperately scrambled for a way out of this ambush. After nearly a minute of silence, he decided there was only one option. “How many people know about this?” Moro nodded at the envelope.
“Enough.”
“How many in my country?”
“A select few.”
The sour expression on Moro’s face betrayed his feelings about this piece of information. “Does Colonel Barboza know?”
