The look on Pru’s face softened, though a sense of suspicion remained. “How can we trust you?”
Rand began laughing. “Oh, darling, these are the fools who still believe the world is a good place. They’re more than willing to shoot down anyone who challenges them to prove it. But their word, I have found, is plated in gold.”
Kurt sat back, sinking into the bolster on the comfortable couch. Rand was in. His sister would be in, too. Now to convince him to risk everything one more time. “I need to know where Ahab is hiding. And I need a way to get there.”
“What makes you think I have that information?” Rand asked.
“Because you’re the first person I’ve encountered in two years who didn’t think he was dead. If you did, my letter wouldn’t have bothered you in the least. Which means you know he’s alive, and you’ve probably done some work for him along the way.”
Rand bit his lip and looked around, irritated at himself. “Never was a good poker player.”
“Are you still working with him?”
“No,” Rand said.
“We don’t smuggle the things he deals in,” Pru insisted.
“What does a smuggler named Prudence deal in?” Kurt asked.
She looked at Rand.
“Go ahead,” he said. “What difference can it make at this point?”
As she spoke, Rand pressed an intercom button and ordered a spread of lunch to be brought up.
“We smuggle high-tech chips and other items into China,” she said. “Things your government has banned them from purchasing. And then we smuggle out rare earths and specialized magnets that their government has stopped shipping to the West.”
“It’s been a beautiful setup,” Rand boasted. “Everyone loves us now.”
“I can see why that would help you,” Joe said. “As a user of powerful magnets, I thank you.”
Kurt wondered how hard Joe had hit his head when the boat crashed. He’d never heard him quite like this. He was either smitten or concussed. Maybe a little bit of both. “Back to Ahab. Where can we find him?”
“He doesn’t exactly keep me apprised of his whereabouts,” Rand insisted.
An elevator door opened at the back of the room. A small wheeled robot carrying two trays of food maneuvered through the room toward them. The aroma was delectable. Kurt saw perfectly prepared sashimi and freshly sliced mangoes. Glasses of beer in frosted mugs looked undeniably thirst-quenching.
“He’s hiding now,” Kurt said, returning to the subject of Ahab. “Waiting to make his next move. Does he have a favorite place to hole up?”
“What makes you think I would know?”
“Because you rescued him from the freighter,” Kurt said.
Rand stared.
“I shot Ahab and his boat to shreds,” Kurt said, recounting the basics. “We found it drifting a mile from the ship. It was swamped, half-submerged, and empty. His men were floating in the sea, butAhab was nowhere to be found. There were no other ships in the area. No helicopters for him to jump onto. No way for him to escape. Data points that led everyone to believe he was dead. But he’s alive, which means someone had to pick him up in a submersible. Otherwise, we would have spotted his rescuer. I’m guessing it was you.”
Rand passed the trays of food out with great pride and precision. After taking a bite, he dabbed his mouth and then looked at Kurt. He shrugged. “You know, I always thought you NUMA guys would figure that out. Who else would understand the utility of a long-range submersible?”
“Shame on us,” Kurt said. “We thought we’d won the day. Where did you take him?”
“Taipei first,” Rand admitted. “He needed doctors. He needed to go somewhere the Chinese wouldn’t be able to get to him. Taiwan fit the bill.”
Kurt nodded. “And then?”
Rand hesitated once more and then rubbed his hair back and forth as if speaking the truth was causing him pain. “Siabat Island,” he said finally. “It’s a small atoll between here and Taiwan. There’s an abandoned American air base there, left over from the Cold War. Ahab uses the old hangars as a workshop and staging area. If he’s on the island, that’s where he’ll be. But he won’t be alone.”
Kurt raised his eyebrows and offered a sinister grin. “Neither will we.”
