“You have my father’s number.”
“Please excuse me, Danni. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“Ah, Luca, you never have to worry about that.”
Borgia fought down a bolt of anger. The woman was impudence itself. “Am I permitted to inquire about the length of the delay?”
“Twenty-four hours.”
“That long?”
“I can tell you one thing we’ve learned. I don’t think you will find it good news. The last action Mr. De Bourbon performed before destroying his computer was to send an email from his personal address. It appears he’d opened a message from a Mr. Paul Malloy approximately ninety seconds before. Does the name mean anything?”
“Go on.”
“There was a packet attached.”
“A packet?”
“Files. We have no idea what they contained. However, if you were worried about the theft of corporate materials—”
“How many?”
“Impossible to say.”
“Can you at least tell me who he sent the files to?”
“For the moment, no, but soon.”
The sound of footsteps congregating in the welcome hall drifted into the bedroom. The Germans had arrived. General Hugo Voss, chief of the country’s elite counterterrorism force, GSG 9, along with his deputy, and Renata König, the leader of the New Germany party, a potent voice from the Right.
“Give me a name, Danni. I want to know to whom De Bourbon sent that message and what exactly was in that packet.”
Borgia ended the call before she could respond.Take that.He walked to the door and peered downstairs, glimpsing several dark uniforms. More guests would be arriving at any moment. It was imperative none found out about De Bourbon and the threat he posed. He closed the door and placed another call.
“Any change?”
“Stubborn as ever,” said Colonel Albert Tan. “Let me arrange for an accident. A fight in the cell. An unstable prisoner. These things happen.”
“And then? It’s urgent we recover the information De Bourbon stole.”
“I can be quite convincing.”
“I have no doubt of that, but I prefer a lighter hand. At least for now.”
It wasn’t just a question of recovering the information De Bourbon had stolen. Borgia needed to know the actions he’d taken to carry out his threat against Malloy. First and foremost, if he’d sent sensitive information to a journalist.
“I beg you to reconsider.”
Borgia could hear the disappointment in Tan’s voice. The man was a thug. Like a carpenter, give him a hammer, and, well…easy enough to guess the results. Better to go the other way. The carrot, not the stick.
“For now, we play the game by De Bourbon’s rules. Let him believe we are cooperating. There will be more than enough time to deal with him after we get back what’s ours.”
Borgia ended the call. He reconsidered his words to Colonel Tan. If anyone were to take care of De Bourbon, it would not be the Thais. They were impetuous, undisciplined, and messy. God forbid De Bourbon’s name appeared in the newspaper beneath the headlineFORMER EUROPEAN BUSINESSMAN MURDERED IN THAI JAIL CELL. Borgia might not know much about computers, but he knew more than enough about the Internet and the word “viral.”
A steadier hand was needed.
Still, it was time to start cleaning things up before they got any messier.
