Carte Blanche: A Michael Christian Mystery by Mike Saad

Author:Mike Saad [Saad, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael C. Saad, Sr.
Published: 2020-07-14T22:00:00+00:00

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MY ALARM JOSTLED ME AWAKE and it took a while for me to get my bearings in the room. The first thing I wanted to do was call home, but it was only about midnight in New Jersey. I tossed on my sweats and ran about five miles on the fitness center treadmill, and added some heavy dumbbell exercises.

I was missing my daily one-hour workout with my martial arts trainer, but I’d be back on track in a few days. So, I wrapped up my workout practicing kicks with a half-dozen chagi maneuvers, instead of running again on the treadmill.

I showered, had breakfast in my room, made up my case notes from yesterday, then waited for businesses to open in London before I called Barclays.

My call to them went easier than I thought. Although I only spoke with the secretary, she was most agreeable to adding me to the bank vice president’s schedule that morning at ten o’clock. I was about to ask for extra time, but she anticipated that as well, “Mr. Finch will only be able to meet with you for fifteen minutes tops. You see, he has a full calendar as it is.”

Well, if that was the way he was playing it, I would have to make my point clearly and concisely. And that would be where my carte blanche came in.

I reviewed my notes from the meeting with Flannery to be sure I knew how much was at risk with Barclays. And then I called Nidal Halima.

He answered on the first ring and when I introduced myself, he demandingly said, “I told you to call me right away.”

I wasn’t about to be pushed around by a suspect. “You said to call in the morning. It is morning. What do you want?”

“Why were you watching us last night at our home?” he asked.

“What makes you think we were watching you? And why did you run? What are you afraid of?” I responded. I was getting ready to hang up on him, but we both knew I would wait for an answer, so we could proceed to the reason for his call.

“We are afraid of nothing,” he replied. “We thought you were robbers and were coming after us.”

“Cut the crap, Halima,” I said. “Tell me why you wanted me to call.”

He said, “My brother and I know that you think we stole the company’s checks. We did not, but we might know who did.”

This was about the weakest attempt at a set up I had ever seen, but the only way I was going to find out what he was up to was to play along.

“Meet me at my hotel,” I suggested, knowing they would never agree.

“No,” he replied. “Meet us at the Transeget office, at twelve-thirty.”

I was actually pleasantly surprised about that, so I agreed. It would surely be safe to meet them there, and although it seemed unlikely, maybe they actually did have something to offer. But first I had to head over to Barclays and get our money back.

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