Shelia stared at the embossed invitation, the paper was expensive, but contained no other information than what was printed on it. The lab had spent a whole day analzing it and came back with little more information than what was able to be deducted off of just looking at it.
A local print shop in Split had made them for Roman as per one of his assistants directions, and they were all mailed at the same time. From the Humanintel on the street, all the local diplomats had gotten one. Shelia's had been forwarded to her by the agency, after they had gone over it. One thing was clear, it was a strange trap, but a trap none the less. Why was he inviting every spy in the Adriatic region to party on his boat ?
The note read as follows.
Mr. Roman requests the pleasure of your company on Saturday at Dock 19, Split harbor.
For the grand arrival of his new boat the famous " Christina O", Casual attire is permited
and refreshments will be served. A short trip out to the islands and back will be taken.
Please plan accordingly. Ship leaves promptly at 5 p.m.
No need to RSVP, all persons holding this invite will be allowed on board.
Sincerly Roman
Shelia put the note in her bag, trap or no trap she was going to attend, the problem being, what was Roman planning, and who of the spooks now in Split would recognize her?
She was to meet up with the three brothers in a few hours out on Hvar, and she hadn't decided what to tell them yet.
Dave Coontail was still deep undercover and hadn't reported in yet, perhaps he had some intel on what was going on. The details on the ship were more historical than informative.
The 'Christina O' was originally built in 1943 as a Canadian convoy escort, purchased in 1954 by Onassis and converted into a megayacht, it became his residence. Many famous people have been guests on the ship including the 'James Bond' writer Ian Flemming, an ironic twist now that so many real spies were invited to attend a party on it's decks. After Onassis death in 1975 it changed hands many times, most recently it was dry docked in Greece where Roman bought it from a company that had restored it for a Persian firm that went bankrupt, and the boat came up on the open market for 35 million Euro's. Roman had just bought the boat, and it was sailing over to Split for the opening of the tourist season, and the annual boat show. The bay would be crawling with yachts of all types and sizes, making the meager customs officials overloaded, the perfect time to slip something thru the ports. As the brothers always said, " Overload the system and just slip on in" something they had done time and time again.
Shelia placed the photos of the boat and its layout in her purse and left the wheel house communication station on the yacht she was staying on, allowing the captain back in. Moving down to her cabin she removed the secret panel under the bed and pulled out the customized high pressure tranqualizer gun made for her and slipped it into her purse.
To no one she said outloud.
" Let the party begin"
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Shelia had custom made, the special high power compressed nitrogen, traqualizer gun for the hopeful capture of Roman. She wanted him alive, for very personal reasons, and a lot of professional ones. The gun was a four shot cartridge driven unit the department of natural resources guys used to capture wild game, modified down to a pistol size no larger than a full frame 1911 .45 acp. It really was a handsome weapon, she had used it once before, knowing it to be effective and accurate gun.
She knew that she could break him, if given the time to interrogate him properly, with out interuption. She knew there was little hope of bringing him into custody and doing things formally, so she hoped to be able to do it clandestinly, even on his own boat.
Built into a SLR camera she carried with her was a recording device for sound and video. Also a compartment with some powerful drugs that should help him be more cooperative. She also kept a small supply of pharmacutical grade 'ruffies' the date rape drug, on her. It seemed to work well on both men and women, to forget or make hazy what ever happened with her.
Shelia wondered what she was going to do with the " Brothers".
Wineburg had said before she left that they had a special role to fill in this whole operation. To her it seemed that they were loose canons, waiting to wreck a very delicate situation. But Wineburg was very addement about having all of them involved at the same time, saying.
" An act of force is a way of sending a message, and our Russian friends are very slow to understand, so we will mearly tack up the level of violence, so they can hear us speak. The Yanks will do a very good job of that for us, thats what those kind of boys are good at."
He smiled and patted Shelia on the shoulder, in a fatherly kind of way. Then walked from the room, she still didn't know completly what he meant by that.
Shelia sat at her computer, inputting in code her most recent report, she was still trying to figure out what Rick was doing making contact with the Reporter girl, who was to be in Split the next morning.
He was infuriating to her, and intriging at the same time. Unlike his older brothers he seemed to be a real player, but had some red-neck tedancies that made him a bit of a challenge to figure out. Sure he was charming and good looking, and she would normally of just bedded him to find out more, but something won't let her get that close to him.
She had been given a contact in the town of Hvar that was to have information about Roman's side business in the "sex" trade, and she might need some back up of the physical kind, she was trying to decide which of the brothers she would take on this job.
Unfortunatly the best one for this little side trip was Rick.
She would have to do a little side interrorgation into his motivations with the reporter while she had his undistracted time.
Meanwhile on the 'Christina O' preperations for the big party were underway, and the boat was a flurry of activity in the calm morning hours. The large white ship was chugging along at a steady pace, the greenish blue waters of the adriatic sea its open freeway. By nightfall they would arrive in Split and the next evening would be the party.
Roman satchair overlooking the swimning pool being transformed into a dance floor. The inlaid wood, slowly creating the image of a bull. The big boat was a ego stroker, but it was also the location of a soon to be held slaughter, of Roman's making. He was just having the last of his personal stuff taken off the ship, including the girl. In an hour they would meet up with another boat, unload all his personal stuff and equipment, and he would sail in with the 'Chritsina O' a empty vessel as far as he was concerned.
At some point later in the day Lolita was to meet up with him, coming in by helicopter, her presence always cheered him up. If he had girlfriend, she would have been it, but he didn't make those kind of personal connections, it was something that had been turned off in his brain, years ago.
But she looked really great on his arm, didn't ask any questions of him and played her part well, a gentlemans agreement of sorts. He supported her with cars and houses and funds, she provided a cover and a bed when he desired it. Her career of modeling was keeping her just busy enough to keep her out of his hair, and available enough for his needs.
She was a tall cool glass of water, as one french paper called her. At almost six feet tall and of a dark complexion, her althletic build got her fitness model photo shoots and small film rolls. She had dark brown eyes and dyed blonde hair most of the time, but this was always changing, for shoots or roles, what ever the director thought she should have. It didn't matter, what ever color, she always looked good. She was full looks, but the animal in her could always come out, a mink hy-breed with very distinct genetic enhancements, she was a killer at heart to, with the looks of a innocent victim.
Roman had not used any of his own personal money on this boat, it was heavily insured because of it, so if something accidental happened, it was no personal loss for him.
He had be working on his exit plan for the last few weeks, knowing that working with the hooded men would come to a end at some point, and the money would not be flowing at floodgate stage for much longer, he was planning out how to enjoy the rest of his life. How to live like a king, but not have to act like one, it was more complicated than he would have thought.
Meanwhile at the dock in Hvar, Shelia sat eating a light breakfast of fruit and yogurt, watching the bay. She had spent her morning run doing some recon for the evenings activities, and was putting all the info down in code in her notebook.
Hvar had become a 'Hot spot' destination for the young and rich party crowd. Who were just showing up for the week of boat shows and hosted parties. The marina now full of all types and sizes of boats the two dock agents were up early, spending the day gathering fees and directing traffic. They didn't even have time to inspect any boats, slipping some thing in or out of this area would be easy for anyone, something big would be just a little bit harder, but not much.
Shelia looked over her notes, checking her distance measurements againest the tourist map she had open on the table. The two story, stone farm house was just three miles out of town. The "Farm" was really a compound, she had discovered, a large fully functioning brothel, very high end.
It was a surprisingly large outfit once you got around the high stone wall that ran by the road. The large barn had been turned into a club like dance hall, with bedrooms for rent or private business use above, the old grainery was some sort of mechanical building with central heating and security lines. The whole perimeter was watched by hidden cameras. At least three security personal walked the grounds dressed as farmers, subachine guns under their light jackets.
Somewhere in the maze of buildings and cars, vineyards and gardens was a contact she needed information from, and she wasn't going to go in alone. That was where Rick came in, he looked the part of some rich playboy, going to get his thrills. When they showed up, she would run through the plan, then get them ready for the arrival of Roman.
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