Philip Kerr - The Five Year Plan (1998)

'That's a lot of trust in a bunch of Russkies,' observed Nudelli. 'You say you want to rip one of these transports off. What's to stop them ripping off their clients?'

Dave said, 'Because the first time would also be the last time. And because some of these clients don't have much choice in the matter. These days there are only a few ways to launder drug money, which is what this mostly is. Being caught with dollars is almost worse than being pinched with cocaine. Some of the South American cartels are making so much money they've got nowhere to put it. Sometimes they end up just burying it in the ground and letting it rot. Guy in Homestead? He lost two million that way. Used to be that you could buy yourself a nice bank in Panama or Venezuela. But then the authorities wised up. The Group of Seven Industrial Countries set up the Financial Action Task Force back in 1989. And that's when the bad guy money started going to the former Soviet Union.

'From what I've heard, Moscow's just like Chicago was back in the twenties. If you've got the money you can buy just about anything you want. Bombs, missiles, armies, whole fuckin' towns. Country's one gigantic garage sale. All it takes is dollars. You can't buy shit with their own currency. Beats me how Uncle Sam manages to get a handle on the US economy with so much American money around. I mean what's a government for, if not to control the supply of money? It's no surprise to me our economy's a piece of shit. The dollar's carrying half the world on its green back. Anyway, coming back to your original question, Tony. These guys want to do business with Americans. With South Americans. People with dollars. Help set them up with a bank so that they can start to do business together. Contra deals, that kind of thing. Co-operation is at the heart of good business.'

Nudelli nodded and said, 'So what's your play?'

'I need a yacht to book onto the transatlantic tug. I need another crewman to help me pull the job. Halfway across the Atlantic -- that's as far away from European and American navies as you can get -- we overpower the crews of the tug and the other yachts. At night, so they're not expecting trouble. We take the money from the Russian yachts and transfer it to the boat nearest the stern. Then we float out and cruise towards a prearranged rendezvous with a tanker we'll have sailing in the opposite direction, on a legitimate voyage. Something that's coming back here maybe. We put the money on the tanker and then scuttle the motor yacht, just to throw people off the scent.'

Al said, 'What's the haul?'

'The Russians have started making as many as two or three bookings per transport. Three yachts, six or seven staterooms per yacht, at two mill each.'

'Jesus,' said Al. 'That's over forty million.'

'Could be,' agreed Dave. 'But I figure a minimum twenty-five.'

'There's gonna be a lot of firepower on board to protect a piece of change like that,' said Al.

Once again, Dave shook his head, his eyes narrowing as they caught the sun. Nudelli turned around, then waved at the large expanse of window that framed their view of Biscayne Bay. South Miami and Coconut Grove lay hidden on the other side of the horizon some five miles away to the west. It was the best view Dave had ever seen of his hometown.

'Fix the blind, will ya, Al? The sun's in Dave's eyes.'

'It's OK, I like the sun.'

But Al was already unfolding louvred shutters across the window.

'Tony hates the fuckin' sun,' he explained. 'Only guy in Key Biscayne with an indoor swimming pool.'

'After five years in Homestead I could use some vitamin D.'

Nudelli tongued the flex from his mouth and grimaced. He said, 'After five years, you wanna be careful of that skin of yours. Sun ain't like it used to be. Niggers, even the fuckin' oranges go careful these days, 'cos of this hole those idiots made in the ozone layer. Even the goddamn fish are getting skin cancer. I read that somewhere. Didn't I? Al?'

Al said, 'It was me who read it to you, from the paper. And they was Australian fish. Not Americans.'

'As if it matters what nationality they are. Lots of ways Florida is like Australia. They don't call us the Sunshine State for nuthin'. Take my advice, Dave. Get yourself a hat. Everyone in our line of business used to wear a hat. Even the lousy cops wore hats. You could tell a lot about a guy from the way he wore his hat too. And with the sun we got now? Believe me, hats are makin' a comeback, and I don't mean the little peaks you see the niggers and the spies wearing. I mean a proper hat. English style.'

'Sounds like good advice.'

Al said, 'Before the sunshine interrupted us, you were about to tell us what kind of security they got to protect all this dirty money.'

'SYT allows just a couple of crew per boat. Any more than that and they'd be drawing attention to themselves. Three boats means six crew. It's reasonable to assume they'll be armed of course. But with the element of surprise I figure me and another guy could take care of them.'

'Suppose someone radios for help,' objected Al.

Nudelli grimaced irritably and said, 'Suppose he fixes all the fuckin' radios at the same time as he fixes all the crews.'

Dave said, 'That's about the size of it.'

'How'd'you find out about this?'

'You share a cell with a man for four years, a man tells you pretty much everything. Gergiev, that was his name. Clever guy. He's out of St Petersburg, right? And they're big rivals of the Moscow mob. Anyway, he knew about these transports and planned this whole thing. We were going to do the job together, only the Feds had him deported the minute he came out of the joint. One big score, that was the idea. Matter of fact I got a letter from him the day of my release. He told me that he's trying to get back here, and that if I try this without him he'll kill me. But he's not much help back in Russia and I don't figure this job can wait. And I think he overrates his chances of ever getting another visa. Only now I've got nobody to help me set it up.'

'And you figured it was this guy who sent Willy Barizon to see you, right?'

'Gergiev was going to find the right boat, and the stake money to get it. I was going to captain it. Supply the maritime know-how. You could say that's what I bring to the deal. All my life I've been into boats. My father used to work on yachts. From time to time, I've even owned a couple of smaller ones myself. Learned to sail, learned navigation. Even got my ticket. Gergiev might figure I'm double-crossing him. But that's not true. I'll take care of him out of my end on this deal.'

'Which is?'

'If I get the right backing: someone to stake me for the boat, I figure fifty-fifty. Maybe twelve to fifteen mill each.'

Nudelli asked, 'What kind of boat do you need?'

'Not too big, not too small. Maybe sixty or seventy feet. Room enough for all that cash and with a good top speed supposing we can be nearest the stern. The main thing is it has to look the part. Like it's worth the trouble of mailing it across the ocean, y'know? I should say a value around 1.5 mill.'

Nudelli said nothing.

'Out of my final share of course,' Dave added, hoping to sweeten the deal. 'Say 60,000 bucks for the passage which I'll also cover myself--'

Al said, 'A 81.5 million boat you propose to abandon or flush down the toilet. Am I right?'

'Yes, that's right. My guess is that the authorities will spend the first few days looking for this yacht or the one we have to steal. That is if they come looking at all. Remember this is illegal cash. If anyone does come looking I figure they'll try the Azores first working on the principle that this is the nearest land to where we take down the score.'

'You seem to have thought it all out,' said Nudelli.

Dave shrugged and said, 'Had five years to think it through, Tony.'