A Dubious Curse (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 8) Read online

“Well, I can think of two reasons,” Previne said. “First, they were afraid she might escape. It would be fairly easy to find a blue person, wouldn’t it?”

  “Well, we did,” Loni joked.

  “The second reason would be they wanted to keep her healthy and prevent her from contracting any diseases.”

  “I’m not following,” Eric admitted.

  “For many years, colloidal silver has been promoted as alternative medicine. Proponents claim cure-all results, but it has never been proven and there are some nasty side effects, like turning a person’s skin blue,” Previne said. “Remember, the girls have been hidden away in a cave for a year, Ganbold probably wanted to keep them healthy.”

  “Is there a cure?” Kim asked with great concern.

  “There is no known cure, but there have been major breakthroughs in laser technology, which can reclaim the true color of her skin,” Previne read from her computer. Kim translated for Skye, who grinned from ear to ear.

  “Are the other girls in the mine blue, too?” Banyon quickly asked.

  After talking at length with Skye, Kim translated. “Yes, they are all blue, like her. She also wants to tell you the women live in terrible conditions. While they are not beaten or physically harmed and they are able to go anywhere in the facility, they do not have any clothes to wear and are fed minimum rations, in addition to being blue. Ganbold wants them naked, blue, and weak so they won’t attempt to escape.”

  “We have to save them, Colt,” Loni pleaded again. “The fact that he turned them blue suggests he has no intentions of letting them live.”

  “Kim, ask Skye if she can draw a map of the inside of the facility?” Banyon asked. “It will be useful when we raid the mine.”

  “She has already mentioned that she will do that,” Kim told him.

  “Once she has finished the map, get it scanned and uploaded on a computer, so we can send it to the SWAT team,” Banyon ordered.

  “Okay,” Kim replied.

  “Now, let’s move on to other topics. Maya, you and Lisa should start reviewing the book of the Vril,” he instructed the startled women.

  “Yes, sir,” Maya saluted and passed the book to Lisa. Banyon watched as she opened the book.

  “The rest of you, sit tight. I’ll be right back,” Banyon said, turning towards the door to the lower deck.

  “Where are you going?” Loni asked.

  “I’m going to get us some answers,” he replied.

  “Wait, I have one more question for Skye,” Loni protested.

  “Well, ask away,” Banyon said, gesturing to Skye with his hand. He had already reached the doorway, but he stopped to listen to the question and answer.

  “Ask her how she was able to escape,” Loni asked Kim.

  Kim posed the question to Skye, and she responded with fire in her eyes. He translated each sentence as soon as she finished it. “She says a guard followed them everywhere, but once in a while, they let the girls outside of the mine late at night when no one else would be around. One night, she noticed the tunnel door could be opened from the inside without a key. A plan immediately began to form in her mind.”

  “Did she tell the other women?” Loni asked.

  “No, it was too dangerous. She decided that only she would be able to go if she wanted to save all of them.”

  “That’s true bravery,” Loni noted.

  Skye continued. “In order to go to the bathroom, the girls had to go from the bottom floor to the living facilities, which were located on the top floor. They had to pass through two doors, which were on a direct line to the tunnel exit. Skye says she spent days stealing rations and water and putting them in a bag under her bunk. She also stole a scarf from one of the guard’s lockers to use like a loincloth.”

  “Yuck,” Loni commented.

  “A few days ago, she realized there was no one else in the living quarters and enacted her plan.”

  “How did she do it?” Loni pressed.

  “Well, on the way back from the bathroom, she stopped at her bed and took out the bag of rations. She also hefted a big rock she had easily smuggled into the living quarters from the third floor. She hid the rock behind her back as she walked to the door. The guard gave her a questioning look, but relaxed when she told him she wanted to go outside and have a picnic. When she came close to him, he expected a reward to take her outside the mine.”

  Suddenly, Skye kicked out with her leg from the table, emphasizing how she had subdued the guard. The men in the room cringed. The attack needed little explanation. She also demonstrated how she had grabbed the rock with both hands and smashed it on the guard’s head. “He was out cold,” Kim said. “She began to run and was still running when you two captured her.”

  olf, do you have any updates?” Banyon asked. He had left the room and was in one of the bedrooms.

  “I most certainly do,” a happy Wolf replied.

  “I have several questions, but give me your update first.”

  “Maria Orsic is pleased that Lisa has finally touched the book of the Vril, and she wants to thank you for arranging it. She can now leave to go to a true utopia, but she has decided to help you first.”

  “How?”

  “She has moved her bubble directly in front of Harold and changed her image to how she looked in 1919. Harold has already noticed her and is not watching you. She said she will keep him diverted for fifteen minutes, so you can discuss your plans without him knowing what you discuss. She will then will herself to heaven and disappear. Harold will think she was the one who was helping you. It will give us another diversion.”

  “That’s great news,” Banyon gushed. “But I need a couple of answers before I head back to the group. Can you tell me the other name of the man called Ganbold?”

  “Of course. In America, he goes by the name of Kevin Ag.”

  “How many guards does he have in his facilities?”

  “There are ten, and they are all highly trained mercenaries, all Mongolians.”

  Banyon quickly returned to the cabin and addressed the group. “Okay, we have ten minutes to discuss the curses to stop Harold and Barry and my plan to stop the Effort from chasing the book. So, let’s get started.”

  “Did you find the name that Ganbold is using now?” Loni asked.

  “He is using the name of Kevin Ag,” Banyon smiled as he replied.

  “Hey, Ag is the atomic symbol for silver,” Previne noted.

  t that very moment, Kevin Ag was standing in front of a window built high on the wall of his underground fortress. The window was in the middle of the second floor of his facility, overlooking the open third floor. It was in the closed mine he had bought several years ago. He gazed out, watching the five women feverishly working at small computer stations below him.

  He wore an immaculate charcoal grey suit and his characteristic bright red tie. He appeared very dapper and looked like he was heading to a charity fundraiser and not stuck in an old mine shaft in Nevada. He had lived in the mine for two months, only leaving to make some deals. Now his nerves were on edge.

  His five-foot-two-inch, wiry body was tense. He ran his fingers through his dyed, jet-black hair while willing his people to complete the project. He had stood in this position many times before over the past year. He was very concerned, as not everything was going well. He needed to personally drive his people to work harder.

  While he watched the slow progress of his Mongolian women, he knew his financial resources were dwindling away at an alarming rate. The purchase of the mine and the renovations cost a fortune. It cost money to provide for all the people in the cave. It cost him money to grease the bureaucrats in the various countries to gather the lists. It cost him more money to set up the accounts. He had sunk everything into the project. The continuous drain of his money put him in a foul mood.

  “How much longer?” he demanded in Russian as he spoke to his second in command without turning his head to look at him.

  “We have about eight hours mo
re data to input, and then we have to test the system, but we will be ready on time,” Jason Petrov replied nonchalantly as he sat at his desk reviewing data. Petrov was the only non-Mongolian on the entire project. All of the others workers and all of the guards had been imported from Mongolia.

  Jason Petrov was young. He was just over 23 years old, and he had never left the state of Iowa until Kevin Ag had hired him. He felt himself fortunate to have been found by Kevin Ag. Jason had a college degree in advanced computer design, but he used his skills to become a super-hacker. He hired out his services to anyone who wanted to gain access to a database or system. He had made good money until local law enforcement had tracked him down and arrested him. He was sitting in jail, waiting for his trial, when Kevin Ag appeared in Iowa, of all places, and bailed him out. Kevin Ag said he had need for his services and would make Jason rich. Ag’s real motivations for hiring Petrov were that he spoke fluent Russian and was a crook. Just like Kevin Ag. That had been two years ago. Jason lived in a small trailer, parked just outside the mine entrance, but spent over twelve hours a day working on the complex computer program.

  What Jason didn’t understand was that Kevin Ag wasn’t any ordinary crook. He was evil and extremely cheap. Jason and the young girls working on the project were slated to be buried deep in the mine shaft once they had finished the project. Ag never intended to pay anybody who worked on the project. He even had a plan for the ten mercenaries who guarded the facility. He wanted all the money for himself.

  Kevin Ag next called to his personal bodyguard, also in Russian. He stood in a corner like a statue. He was a brute of a man, named Nergui, which translates to ‘nameless’ in English. Nergui had no neck, tree trunks for legs, and more body hair than some animals.

  “Do you have any news on the one girl who escaped?” He asked the gorilla-like man.

  Nergui was a huge man with ugly features which reminded people of a thirteenth century marauding Mongol. He said little and showed no mercy when ordered to a task by his master. “We have searched the surrounding area and have found no sign of her. She is probably dead,” he replied officially.

  “You idiot!” Kevin screamed. “I saw a picture of her this morning on television. She is out there somewhere.”

  Nergui walked over to Kevin Ag and stood behind the little man, making him look like a giant. His face, as always, bore a scowl. “The town is called Rachel and is almost fifty miles from here. She was already starving and thirsty, and that was why she went into the town. The next town is more than fifty miles away. There is nothing in between, and there has been no new sighting of her since. She is dead or dying in the desert.” He stood with his huge arms crossed.

  “I have told you to never stand behind me, especially where I can’t see you,” Kevin roared without turning around. He had accepted the giant’s logic, but he needed to remind him of who was the boss.

  “Sorry,” Nergui replied, abruptly leaving to stand in a corner.

  “Don’t be nervous, Mr. Ag. This will work perfectly,” Jason promised his boss. “My preliminary tests show everything is working fine.”

  “If it doesn’t work, I will be ruined and everybody will pay,” Kevin Ag answered with fire and vengeance in his voice.

  “No one will be able to track the purchases,” Jason insisted. “Each programmed purchase of silver futures will be bounced off of several satellites. They will originate in a country in which the government will not provide any information to any other country, especially America, and the people who are making the purchases are actually already dead. There are no records of the people who are buying the silver futures,” Jason assured his boss.

  “I know, that’s how I designed the system,” Kevin Ag responded sarcastically.

  Ignoring the comment, Jason continued, “As soon as the transfers are made to the dead people’s accounts, the system will automatically change the ownership and transfer the shares to your account in Switzerland. Once there, the shares will become invisible. No one will know that you are the owner.”

  “This better work,” Kevin Ag growled between gritted teeth.

  “And every purchase is so small that no one will even bother to investigate. Even if they did, they couldn’t get any information from the dead owners. The plan is perfect,” Jason gushed as he spread his arms. “We just have a few bugs worked out.”

  Kevin Ag was still nervous, because he was not the ultimate backer— it wasn’t his money that was being used for the project. It belonged to people in another country. The three billion dollars needed for the sting actually came from a Russian Mafia leader in Moscow. Ag didn’t control enough money to finance the project himself, so he had brought in a partner. Kevin Ag knew that if he failed, there was no place on Earth where he would be safe.

  “A few bugs are what worry me,” Kevin Ag replied with anger in his voice. “I want the guards doubled and I want the women to work harder until we are finished,” he ordered, turning on his heel and leaving the room, marching with his head held high.

  he meeting in the cabin of the houseboat continued for another ten minutes. Banyon knew the Maria Orsic was keeping Harold Bass occupied, so he laid out his plans. Once Banyon closed the meeting, everybody adjourned to the upper deck for some cocktails. The Patel twins agreed to cook dinner and they stayed in the lower cabin to prepare the meal. Banyon refrained from drinking, as he knew he would be needed during the takedown later in the evening. The upper deck was crowded; people were talking and joking, music was playing, and the bar was heavily used. Spirits were very high.

  Bart also decided they only needed two guards during the dinner hour, so Steve and Guido sat on chairs on the lower deck, guarding the channel. When the food was ready, Heather and Mandy would take their places while the men ate and, then they would rotate.

  The satellite phone began ringing, interrupting the revelry. Bart, who was still in the pilothouse, grabbed the phone and answered it. It was the President. He wanted to talk to Colton Banyon. Bart made his way over to Banyon, who took the phone and returned to the pilothouse.

  “Mr. President,” Banyon addressed him.

  “Well, it appears that you are right about the attempt to corner the silver market,” the big man admitted without preamble. “My advisors tell me the conditions are right for an attempt on the market.”

  “Are we going after them tonight?” Banyon quickly asked.

  “According to my advisors, we’d better, or when dawn breaks, where you are on Pacific Time, the financial world will be in complete collapse,” the President replied. “But I need some answers to set this up.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Banyon sincerely answered. “Ask your questions.”

  “Where is the facility actually located?”

  “It is underground, in an old mine, in Ely, Nevada. The name of the mine is ‘The Ely Silver and Copper Consortium’. The owner is a man who goes by the name of Kevin Ag. He is the ringleader.”

  “I’ll have people do the research on the mine and him,” the President noted. “Do you know how many defenders are in the facility?”

  “Yes,” Banyon replied. “There are ten mercenaries, all from Mongolia. Then, there is Kevin Ag and a guy named Jason Petrov—he is the computer guy. He is the only person who is not Asian. There are also five young Asian women there, but they are prisoners. You will be able to tell who they are, because their skin is blue.”

  “What?” the President incredulously stammered.

  “It’s a long story, but they need to be rescued. They also will not have any clothes,” Banyon sheepishly told the President.

  “We’ll rustle up some blankets for the women. I’m not even going to ask why they are naked,” the President promised.

  “They are prisoners,” Banyon replied. “I’m sure their guards don’t want them to attempt to smuggle any information in or out, sir. You know that many drug cartels also keep their laborers naked, so they can’t steal the drugs.”

  “Yes, I guess I knew that
,” the President replied thoughtfully. Changing the subject, the President asked, “Are there any alarms or surveillance devices we should know about, or can we sneak up on them?”

  “No surveillance devices. And there is only one entrance and exit to the tunnel. I’m sure they will have it defended.”

  “Any idea of the layout?”

  “I do have a hand-drawn map of the interior. We will send it to you as soon as we are off the phone.”

  “But you will be able to direct the takedown, right?” The President was very concerned about sending men into an unknown facility. He needed Banyon’s eyes to insure success.

  “I will be able to help,” Banyon offered.

  “Bart has already negotiated a two-million-dollar fee for your help. Is that acceptable?” The President asked.

  “Thank you, sir. But what about the NSA agents?”

  “They are already on the road to Ely and should be there in less than two hours. I will be in contact with them from the Situation Room. We are also going to chopper in two SWAT teams from Las Vegas to open the tunnel.”

  “How many men are you sending in total?”

  “There are six NSA agents and twelve SWAT members. The local police will also be notified, and they will prevent anyone from leaving the mine.”

  “What’s the takedown plan?” Banyon asked.

  “We are going to cut the power and cable to the mine just before we go in. The SWAT team has night-vision goggles. Once we are in and have taken out the guards, the NSA people will capture Ag and the other guy. It will also prevent them from implementing the automated purchases.” The President, an ex-marine, seemed to be looking forward to the action. Banyon had heard his exuberance before.

  “Oh, there is one more thing,” Banyon noted.

  “What’s that?”

  “Most of the people in the mine don’t speak English. You’ll need a Russian translator on your team. They all understand Russian.”

  “Russian? I thought you said these guys are Mongolian,” the President said with confusion in his voice.