A Modern Nemo 34

Mancini walked swiftly toward the Embark. Entering the bridge, he found Konstantiniadis speaking with the captain. Konstantiniadis noticed him and bade the captain to take his leave. As the captain exited through the door opposite, Mancini walked towards his boss. "We have a problem, Tony," he said.

"What is it, Tom?" asked Konstantiniadis.

"Somebody seems to have gotten wind of our operations. We may have to speed things up a notch."

"What do you mean?"

"Four of our men were killed after trailing two suspicious-looking characters who were asking around about why so many of our ships are moving  together as a group," Mancini explained. "I have a hunch the EOGC's indirectly involved."

Konstantiniadis' face darkened. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Bosque says the weapon used to kill two of our guys was standard-issue EOGC equipment."

"Bosque, eh? Isn't he an ex-EOGC soldier?"

"He is."

"But why would Eric Ong suddenly get interested in my operations? Are you sure it's really Eric Ong or somebody with EOGC connections?"

"It may well be the latter," replied Mancini. "I'll have Bosque get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, we need to move fast."

A Modern Nemo 33

Tom Mancini returned to his office and was taken aback when he saw Carlos Bosque sitting on his chair. Concealing his mild surprise he looked at the Asian man, who had his legs crossed and on the desk and smoking a cigar that he had taken from the cigar box.

"Did you find out anything, Bosque?" he asked coldly.

Bosque grinned, put his feet on the floor and stood up. "I don't know the identities of our quarry yet, Mr. Mancini," he replied as he walked toward the Green Oceans officer, "but I do know that a major organization has gotten wind of our activities and is actually trying to second-guess our objectives."

"Who?" demanded Mancini. "The US federal government? The European Union?"

"Whoever hired those people and killed our security men in the process apparently wants to keep his hands clean and his people's mouths shut. I suggest we should speed up with our operations before they overtake us."

"What do you mean? We have to move now?"

Bosque nodded.

"But it'll take days to get the entire fleet through the Suez Canal, not to mention, that many ships belonging to one company concentrated at one tiny spot will attract world attention."

"Not if we say our plan to move this many ships is part of our overall program of reshuffling the assignments of the various ships in he fleet."

Mancini looked at Bosque. "You're not coming, are you?" he asked.

"Oh, no," replied Bosque. "I'll be staying here to take care of our guests. Plus, I'll be doing some travelling to gather information. I think I'll start by going home and asking around."

"The EOGC, huh?" This, he knew about Carlos Bosque, a former member of the EOGC security forces. "You suspect the EOGC is behind this?"

"No," replied Bosque. "But there are many powerful entities doing business there. And besides, I suspect that our assassins were ex-EOGC servicemen. Those scissors recovered were standard-issue EOGC technical forces utilities."

"So we're dealing with hired guns at the moment, are we? Very well then. See to it that you give our guests a warm welcome."

"See to it that Mr. Konstantiniadis takes action," said Carlos Bosque as he walked out the door.

Mancini walked over to his desk and looked at the open cigar box. It was a gift from Konstantiniadis. Bosque had taken several cigars, in addition to the one he was smoking. Mancini clenched his teeth and fists and slammed to box shut.

Carlos Bosque, now Taro Mori, walked into at church later that day. He knelt at the rearmost pew with his back to the entrance of the bell tower. He took his hat off and made the sign of the cross in the Greek Orthodox style and bowed his head.

Presently heavy footsteps were heard behind him. A huge man with blond hair and a large, zigzag, scar on his chin loomed behind him. This man was bigger than Konstantiniadis, almost seven feet tall, and was almost completely draped in a black trench coat. The only other color came from a red turtle neck shirt that was barely visible  over the trench coat's collar. A deep, rumbling sound came from his throat.

Mori looked up. "Now, now, Joop." he said with a smile. "We should start by being hospitable."