The Syncode

Chapter 14: An Enigma Part II and A Little Romance

Winslow Granville sighed in relief and closed his eyes as the plane took him away from Majuro and back to Macao. It had been a little hairy making the reservations so quickly; he would not have got on had someone else not cancelled at the last minute. 

On learning of the death of Marcus Ortega, Winslow knew it was only a matter of hours before Mycroft or Julian Holmes linked The Mining Bee to him. Unfortunately, the dock master would not lease the boat (who's real name was the Oleanda), to Ortega as it belonged to Eddie Maddison. It had taken a phone call to his contact in the Marshallese Presidential Cabinet to allow Winslow to cosign the form. He hated the fact that it left a paper trail directly to him, but it couldn't be helped. No one but Ortega had been expected to survive.

Andrena had been furious that both Julian Holmes and Miss Hartwell survived; she showed no pity for the dead ex-Marine. "It was his own fault he was so careless! Something on board must have alerted Mr. Holmes to the danger. Your man obviously underestimated who he was dealing with." Andrena had only been sorry to have lost a mercenary in her plans to eliminate the Holmes's. Winslow knew she would use any and all of her resources to at least keep him safe, if only for the large amount of contacts he had within various governments, the Marshallese being one of them. Winslow knew that she preferred others to act as the middle man to execute her plans, further securing her anonymity. 

His phone buzzed an incoming call. 

"Andrena. On my way back to Macao. De Silva at the Cabinet will closely monitor the Holmes's and keep me informed of their plans. Seems Julian Holmes is on his way back to Australia."

Winslow could hear the lacquered nails tapping on her polished desktop, indicating either impatience or deep thought.

"So soon? He had at least three days booked at Bikendrik with that woman, didn't he?"

"He did seem in rather a hurry. De Silva mentioned a route around normal procedures to speed things up, though he did pay the resort in full for the three booked nights."

"I'm sure Julian Holmes could well afford it. And it was a government aircraft that he went back on? Our sources mention he arrived on a civilian charter."

"He did. I had the feeling the brothers may have found something, though they had nothing on them that I could see when they walked out of the lab buildings. Our men went back and scoured the place to see if the team had missed something. Nothing was disturbed, although it was noted that one of the office desk drawers were open. On comparing the photos they had taken before the Holmes's arrival, it had been shut."

"They did find something! Why weren't those desks checked beforehand? You disappoint me, Winslow," she added dangerously.

A spike of fear trilled down his spine, his mouth suddenly dry. "It was a hidden compartment, and one that even the most sophisticated reconnaissance personnel would miss."

"Leaving the bloody Holmes's to find it!" she shouted, bringing a fist down on the table. "And the other two were not to leave those islands alive! Especially that woman!" A string of Serbian curses  blistered his ear as he held the receiver at arm's length.

Winslow cringed in his seat. This didn't bode well for him; except for the fact he was the only one trustworthy enough to stick out his neck for her, and she knew it. Otherwise, he would have been replaced immediately and most likely 'retired.'

 Collecting herself, she took a deep breath. "Well, what is done is done. We know they found something. I assume your De Silva supplied a mole to be included with the cleaning staff during the rest of their stay there?"

"Yes, I believe they are to board the Boeing once or twice a week as needed; they and a nurse Atherton. I thought about going to her, but as she lives alone with no family or relatives, there are no real bargaining tools with that one. She is a rather surly old codger and quite set in her ways - definitely not bribe material. However, Runica Tansi is the ideal candidate. Her family is quite large and poor. Both parents and the three daughters are working to put at least two of them through college in Oahu. She jumped at the chance to help them... and us as well," he purred. Hopefully this information would help to placate his employer.