The Open Coffin: Prelude to Murder

CHAPTER 5

"You must be Victor and Vincent Camba. Brothers, I suppose?" Lajuvic said smiling as he offered his hand.

"I am Victor, Sir and this is my brother Vincent," Victor replied courteously as he shook hands with Lajuvic.

Vincent also took Lajuvic's hand, and greeted, "Good afternoon, Sir."

"I am glad that you arrived here safely. So, how was the trip?" the Serbian-turned Filipino asked.

"Fine, Sir," was Victor's reply.

"Please, have a seat, then we'll start with our business," Lajuvic's tone became formal.

As soon as Victor and Vincent were seated in front of Drazen Lajuvic's desk, Lajuvic began, what Victor recalled, the interview.

"What do you know about guns?" Lajuvic began.

To Victor and Vincent, the question was rather odd. What does it have to do with pharmaceutical? Victor thought. For sure they would be distributing or selling medicines if they were hired, so why asked about their knowledge of guns? As Victor recalled, the question did not make any sense.

"We know some guns: 45, 38, armalite, Sir," Victor replied. Vincent was looking at him.

"How about high-powered guns?" Lajuvic asked.

"Our knowledge of guns is limited, Sir," it was Vincent who replied.

"With due respect, Sir," Victor asked, "what does this have to do with medicines? Aren't we supposed to be distributing pharmaceutical products?"

The Serbian stared at Victor and grinned meaningfully. He said, "We sell medicines indeed. But a of different kind. A medicine for the power hungry politicians, civilians who maintain private armies, and yes, even rebels who want to grab power."

Then it dawned upon Victor and Vincent that the medicines Lajuvic was talking about were guns—high-powered guns, and that he was a big time gun-runner. Victor knew that gun-running was a lucrative business, yet illegal. If the authorities could not smell their activity, they would be earning huge amount of money. It's a different story, however, if they got caught. So they had to be extra careful.

Victor finally asked, "Vincent and I have limited knowledge of guns, so how can we become your hotshot salesmen?"

"You will learn the rope, son." Lajuvic said. "We will train you. Now, look at here, I'm giving you the rare opportunity of earning big bucks. We're talking about million peso-commision if you are smart enough—if you know what I mean."

Vincent looked at Drazen Lajuvic and said, "I can sense that by the way you're talking, sir, you are implying that I and Vic are now hired."

"Precisely," Lajuvic said, "I want you, guys in my boat. So, what do you say?"

Victor and Vincent thought for a while. Then Victor looked at his brother and nodded. At last, Victor said, "Okay, we're in sir. When do we start?"

"Good! Good!" Drazen laughed gleefully, "I am sure you made the right decision. Welcome to the lucrative world of gun-running!" He extended his hand to Victor and Vincent.

Victor recalled that Drazen Lajuvic introduced him and Vincent to a certain Diego Labrador. Lajuvic told them that Diego would orient them about the nature of their work. Diego told them that they would be furnished with names and addresses of prospective customers. He oriented them on how to meet a customer, who pretended to be a hospital representative or a pharmacy operator. Each kind of weapon had "generic name." For example, an AK-47 assault rifle was called "anti-pyretic," or a rocket-propelled grenade was called "anti-hestamine." There were anti-bacterial capsules (rocket launchers), dihydrochloride (anti-tank missile), etc. All these Victor and Vincent had to memorize. At first, they had difficulty memorizing those "generic names" but after several months, they became experts.