Sunshine or Lead Page 29

  Kimbo heard none of the commotion from the East Bedroom just a few feet down the hall from Manny. He sat silently in his room thinking about what lay in store for him. He knew the Chinese government might come after him. He believed Manny’s assessment that he technically didn’t break any laws promulgating the hoax and that his facilitation of computer equipment thefts were likely beyond the statutes of limitation.

  Kimbo had all of his properties mortgaged to the hilt to aggressively trade what he believed would be the wild fluctuation in Ameriprobe’s stock. With the President’s speech, he knew there would not be any action on the stock tomorrow. He would not become a billionaire. In all, at sixty years old, he would have just a few million dollars in assets left.

  Kimbo checked to see how Ameriprobe was trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange; it was trading flat. He let his mind wander as he lay in bed reading stories of the day. The Chinese State-run media was saying that Zhou was killed and Wong Ka Kui was arrested for allowing Zhou to pressure a few people into stealing secrets for his personal profit. The article quotes Premier Mao, who assured the world that China was a hub of innovation itself, and said China would make more efforts to sync its patent office with the world patent office to show even more respect for sovereignty in intellectual property.

  Kimbo was intrigued by the statement and wondered if it was an empty promise. He knew that China did not adhere to patents registered by the United States Patent Office or World Patent Office. Kimbo felt happy that maybe a little sunshine would help encourage transparency and fairness in world commerce.

  What surprised Kimbo the most was another article in which Premier Mao responded to President Shortree’s speech. Premier Mao stated that any and all foreign-living citizens and former citizens are welcome home and that China, too, does not fear global competition. Premier Mao boasted his government saved the lives of Xiaowan’s parents. Kimbo was glad and relieved to know they seemed safe. With the program this public now, it would be hard for Premier Mao to harm her parents. If Zhou was the only casualty, his scheme would be a great success even if it didn’t make him rich beyond belief.

  Kimbo’s eyes were tired so he set his tablet down on the nightstand, pulled the cord on the lamp next to his bed, and closed his eyes. He fell asleep with comfort eluding him and spent the night dreaming about a life in prison.

  Aaron woke up with his back tied in knots. He laughed out loud at his thoughts of the discomfort, loud enough to wake Tina. She said, “Morning Aaron. What’s so funny?”

  Aaron said, “This mattress fucking sucks. They should go to Hope’s Mattresses and replace this piece of shit.”

  Tina looked at him. “The mattress storefront where the girl with the big boobs worked?”

  “I don’t remember telling you about Eva’s boobs.”

  “You think I didn’t see a picture of the girlfriend of the man that you killed? It still haunts me every day.”

  Aaron’s smile faded. He realized that even in the Queen’s Bedroom inside the White House, the two of them would be forever scarred by what happened on their last trip to Washington D.C. “I can’t wait to get home.”

  “As much as I love travel, I’m ready to spend some downtime at home too. I know that you thought about teaching for a while. Any chance, now that you’re a celebrity lawyer, we could get you to just take boring cases and teach boring classes for a while?”

  “That sounds great. Maybe I’ll even write a book about my adventures. Think anyone would read it?”

  Tina kissed him on the lips and said, “I would.”

  Chapter 36

  The stock market opened on Monday morning with so much news regarding Ameriprobe and the flu cure being a hoax that the stock never popped or dropped.

  On Tuesday, Aaron, Tina, Xiaowan, James, Manny, and Kimbo were all free to go back to California, provided they agreed to be available for video conferences or travel back to D.C.

  Manny and Kimbo decided to stay in Washington D.C. for a few days to see how things would shake out. Manny wanted to visit a half dozen restaurants so his wife flew out to join him in a room at the Mayflower. Nat was tasked with watching Kimbo. Rather than do so covertly, she joined him and Manny nearly every time they went out.

  Manny, his wife, Kimbo, and Nat made quite an interesting group when out and about. People weren’t sure if Nat was Kimbo’s daughter or wife, but it wasn’t out of the norm. Powerful men in Washington D.C. were often found in the company of young beautiful women.

  Aurora’s new assignment was to support the U.S. Attorney in the prosecution and investigation of Anthony Wai, Helen Cluntz, and the Chinese spy program.

  Aaron and Tina, flying commercially to John Wayne airport in Orange County, said goodbye to James and Xiaowan at the Washington Dulles Airport; James and Xiaowan were headed to Los Angeles. They said goodbye to Aurora at the White House. She had a flight to San Diego to look into Nannette’s death.

  After an uneventful trip back to their home in Orange County, Aaron started replying to emails and phone messages while Tina cooked “what’s here” dinner. Frozen ground beef, garlic, and onions led to the creation of a fragrant pasta sauce that was served over penne.

  Aaron saw there was a PDF attached to an email from the client that asked him to look into the anti-SLAPP motion. The claim was based on brothers bickering about insults one made about the other’s job. ‘Slander per se?’ Aaron wondered. It sounded like the perfect case for a distraction. Aaron was getting ready to start researching the motion when Tina called to Aaron that dinner was ready. He left his monitor on, thinking he would be right back to work after a hearty and flavorful dinner.

  “Fantastic. Thank you for cooking.”

  “Thank you. So I know we just got back, but how does a week in Italy sound? Relaxing, eating pasta and pizza, seeing sights.”

  “And drinking wine with you. None of this crazy politics shit. Sounds great.”

  “You had enough of politics, Aaron? And even I would say that helping Xiaowan and staying in the Queen’s Bedroom at the White House was pretty cool. No one tried to kill us.”

  Aaron pulled his arms back and forth, stretching his chest muscles and feeling almost fully healed from the stab wound.

  Ominously, only two hours after they got home and totally unexpectedly, the doorbell rang. Tina asked, “Are we expecting anyone?”

  Aaron shook his head while answering, “No one even knows where we live or that we’re home.”

  “I’ll get it,” Tina said.

  Aaron shook his head. “Tina, I’ll get the door. I want you to dash upstairs and get one of the guns, just in case.”

  Tina nodded and calmly pushed herself away from the table, then jogged upstairs. She had spent four evenings at the shooting range and was accurate at close range so she felt comfortable carrying and handling her revolver. She tried a myriad of modern sliding semi-automatic pistols like the Glock she used in Washington D.C. but found she was more comfortable with a revolver.

  Tina placed her finger on the fingerprint scanner of her gun’s lockbox. When it unlocked, she pulled out the gun, calmly pressed the release button, and flipped open the revolving bullet chamber like an old pro. She confirmed all six chambers were loaded, snapped the chamber back into place, and held the weapon pointing down, finger off the trigger, like she was trained.

  Aaron looked through the peep hole, breathed a sigh of relief, and unlocked the door. As he opened the door, he realized something must be wrong if Aurora is here. “Everything okay?”

  “Helen Cluntz wants to make a deal.”

  Tina called out from upstairs, “Who is it, Aaron?”

  Aaron told Aurora, “Come on in,” then yelled, “It’s Aurora.”

  Tina kept the gun with her and walked downstairs. When she saw Aurora, she asked, “Aurora, is everything okay?”

  Aurora saw the gun in her hand. “Everything is good. I’m proud of you, Tina. Always err on the side of caution.”

  Aaron closed and lock
ed the door behind Aurora. “Something smells good.”

  “Have you had dinner? We have plenty,” Tina offered

  “Tina’s pasta is good. She made a ton of food, please join us.”

  “Thank you, sounds wonderful. I almost stopped at a drive-thru on the way up here but I didn’t want to waste even one minute.”

  Tina served Aurora a bowl that sat untouched while Aurora filled them in. “So Helen Cluntz said she would trade information linking the Chinese American attorney Anthony Wai, who killed Nannette Allenby in the San Diego federal prison, to the Chinese espionage scandal. She would identify all the remaining hidden assets, which she says includes at least two hundred thousand ounces of hidden gold.”

  “What is that, two hundred fifty million dollars?”

  Aurora nodded. “I have a dozen agents working on identifying every house that Helen and Montgomery Singe ever lived at or owned, and will get warrants to search the yards with metal detectors if the current owners won’t let us in without warrants. I arranged that on my drive up here.”

  Aurora continued, “We’ve been doing our best to search all of Anthony Wai’s records, but we are hitting a road block. No judge will issue a warrant to search his law firm’s records without having exact specificity of what we are looking for. We think Helen can get us that.”

  “What do we need her for?” Aaron asked and glanced down at his bowl.

  “All sorts of information, including nailing Anthony Wai for the murder of Nannette Allenby.”

  “That was a community service, don’t make any deal on that account. Better to let this Wai guy go free than Helen. She’s behind everything. She gave the order for us to be killed and stole or covered up the theft of a hundred billion dollars from the United States.”

  “She doesn’t want to go free. She wants witness protection and house arrest with GPS monitoring.”

  “Fuck that. You and the President might go for it?”

  Aurora took a breath. “It’s a quarter billion dollars that she could lead us right to and she can help provide information on a secret quasi-government conspiracy that started long ago.”

  Tears started to form in Tina’s eyes. “You mean she’s going to get away with it? She tried to kill us. She almost did kill us both.”

  “Tina’s right. She has to go to prison. No way can they put her up in some house where she can escape, with who knows how much money squirreled away somewhere. Don’t let that happen, Aurora.”

  “I hear you guys. I’m on your side. But it won’t be our call.”

  Aaron glanced around the room then looked back at Aurora. “Shit. But if we can get this information without her, there’s no need to take a deal.”

  “True. And Nannette Allenby would have been great to have as a witness. Her death might make it a little harder to tie things together. We haven’t been able to find anyone else that was involved yet. We believe there has to be others.”

  “And Helen will give them up?”

  “Looks like she’s a rat scurrying to save her own life and will roll over on everyone to save herself.”

  Aaron reached out and took Tina’s hand. “If I can help, let me know. Any chance Anthony will roll on the program so you won’t need Helen?”

  “Right now, we don’t know that he is anything more than a lawyer who acted in self-defense. Helen could be lying.”

  The room fell silent. Tina moved Aaron’s hand towards his bowl. “Let’s all eat a little something and figure out what we can do.”

  The three spent the next two hours talking about the situation until exhaustion overtook everyone. Aurora spent the night in their guest room and was on the road to San Diego at five am to beat the traffic.

  Chapter 37

  Early Wednesday morning, Aurora went to take Anthony Wai into custody at the same San Diego federal prison where he killed Nannette Allenby.

  Anthony expected that he might be charged with murder but thought that the video tape without the audio would exonerate him. And with the great Felton Oseff representing him, he was sure the worst he would face is an involuntary manslaughter charge and a few months in jail. He would probably avoid prison altogether.

  To Anthony’s chagrin, Felton Oseff wouldn’t be able to represent him because Felton already agreed to represent Helen Cluntz and their interests diverged. As he sat in an interrogation room, he had a quick stroke of inspiration.

  As soon as Aurora entered the room, Anthony said, “I’d like my attorney present.”

  “Who is your attorney?”

  “Aaron Baker.”

  Aurora’s jaw dropped. That was the last name she could possibly expect. “You have retained Aaron Baker?”

  “Not formally. Yet. Do you have his phone number because I’d like to call him before we start?”

  Aurora put her cell phone on the table just out of reach of Anthony’s handcuffed arms, turned on the speakerphone, and dialed Aaron’s number.

  “Aaron Baker,” he answered while lying under the covers in bed just after ten in the morning.

  “It’s Aurora and I am sitting here with a prospective client of yours so I’m going to leave the room and let you two talk.”

  “Who?”

  “Hi Mr. Baker. This is Anthony Wai.”

  Aaron kicked the covers off his body and sat up. “What is this about?”

  “I want to hire you, Mr. Baker. I have been accused of murder and being a part of a criminal organization run by Helen Cluntz. I want you as my attorney.”

  Half expecting to wake up at any second from a dream, Aaron stared, dumfounded, at the back of the bedroom door.

  “Mr. Baker?”

  “Yes. Sorry. I’m just in a bit of disbelief that you would call me to represent you. I think that we would have a serious conflict of interest. You’re an attorney. You know this.”

  “Come down and hear me out. We both want to take Helen Cluntz down. I don’t see much conflict in that.”

  Aaron looked at his alarm clock. “I can be down there by noon or so.”

  “See you then.”

  * * *

  Felton Oseff met with his new client, Helen Cluntz, in a private professional consultation room. She was cagey and smart. You don’t become the head of a secret organization that had the explicit consent of various presidents going back over forty years without an abundance of caution.

  She told Felton that she could give the location of the rest of the gold and the identity of every single living person remaining within her organization. She also said she could identify another twenty that are no longer alive.

  “Our group was designed to always have seven members, recruited for life with exceptional benefits. Three are recently deceased plus me. That leaves three others that are alive and well that I can trade for a more comfortable life. And when I do, they may come after me.”

  Synthesizing all he knew about his young law partner, Anthony Wai, Felton had a sneaking suspicion that he was a part of Helen’s club. “Is Anthony Wai one of your members? Did you have him kill Nannette?”

  Helen looked blankly at him. “I cannot confirm or deny until we have a deal, counselor.”

  “The attorney-client privilege has already attached. No matter what you tell me now, unless it’s a future crime, is confidential.”

  “Even so, I would prefer to know I have your undivided loyalty before disclosing anything of substance.”

  Felton put his thumbs under his suspender straps and gently pulled the suspenders off his body by moving his hands up and down. “It would make sense. Anthony is a terrific lawyer. A great kid. He got some amazing clients for the firm and made partner incredibly quickly. It makes sense that he had help from some organization.”

  She shrugged.

  “He’s been like my son, my brother, my best friend. And I have been so proud of him for so long. It would be very hard for me to represent you against his interest.” Felton’s 6’8” frame lumbered up out of his chair. “My back,” he said as he twisted his body
from left to right, loosening it up. He ran his thumbs under his suspenders and swayed back and forth again.

  “You’re the best criminal defense lawyer of this generation. We know you have represented clients that you didn’t want to. I think you can figure out a way…if you’re motivated.”

  “Money?”

  “An even million for the negotiation, if I can avoid prison.”

  Felton careened his neck to the left and then the right. “I cannot do contingency on criminal defense, it’s against the law.”

  “I won’t tell if you don’t. We’ll say a flat fee of half a million; and if you succeed, I’ll give you a bonus.”

  At that moment, a switch was flipped in Felton’s mind. It was as if he was on autopilot and not conscious of his words and actions. “Ms. Cluntz, you are a lifelong criminal and sociopath.” Felton unhooked his suspenders from the front of his pants so that they were clasped on in the back only.

  She looked at him curiously. “So?”

  His suspenders were linked to the back button of his pants. He pulled on them so that the suspenders were in front of his waist. He kept pulling and they stretched a foot past the center of his body, but he somehow knew it wouldn’t be enough. Without thinking, he pulled with all his might and ripped the rear button off his pants causing the suspenders to come loose.

  “Anthony Wai is nothing but a number to you. Number five of seven. And you are willing to throw him under the bus.”

  Helen had a look of fear in her eyes and she tried to assure him. “It’s not like that. It’s not like that.” Fear turned into panic. “Ten million. Ten million. What’s he to you anyway?”

  Felton calmly walked behind her as she started shrieking, “Guard, guard, help! Help!”

  She was standing shackle-free and started pushing at Felton with all the power her one hundred twenty pound body could muster. She began slashing at him with her nails, inflicting little cuts that had no effect.