THE BRIDGE TO CARACAS (Volume 1 of The King Trilogy)

CHAPTER 57

Mike glanced at the stately grandfather clock in the corner of the ornate boardroom of Turner, Peterson, Greenwell, and Worthy. It was 10:05 a.m. In two ticks of the second hand, one of the double oak doors swung open and a neatly dressed, curvaceous young brunette appeared. "Good morning," she sang, smiling warmly. "My name is Kate Daniel. I'm Mr. Turner's private secretary." She placed a silver tray and urn filled with hot coffee on the polished mahogany table in front of Mike and Karen. On the tray were two gold rimmed coffee cups and saucers, along with matching cream and sugar bowls. "He asked me to tell you he'll be with you very shortly," she said before leaving the room.

Mike had barely filled Karen's cup when the door burst open and Dan Turner rushed in. He closed the door behind him and hurried to a chair on the opposite side of the table. "Good morning," he said as he placed his black briefcase on the table. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's get started. We have a lot to do."

"Dan, Karen and I have something to tell you. Before we do, I want it clearly understood that we enjoy lawyer client status," Mike cautioned.

Turner stared at Mike over his spectacles, and then gave him a barely perceptible nod.

"Is that understood, Dan?" Mike said, demanding a verbal response.

"Of course it is. What is it?"

"Karen and I have decided to leave the country."

Turner winced and jerked his head sideways. "Sure you have! You need to relax from the stress and pressure of it all, so you're going to trundle off somewhere on a nice little vacation."

"It's not a holiday, Dan."

Turner gave Mike his patented penetrating stare. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in? Do you have any idea how much trouble you will be in if you leave the country? In the unlikely event you make it out, you'll immediately forfeit your bail bonds and you'll be the subjects of international extradition agreements. When they catch you, they'll have you back in this country before you know it. Then they'll have you both incarcerated with no possibility of bail."

Mike continued as though Turner had never spoken. "Dan, we're absolutely convinced that Karen's husband has set us up, and we don't think there's any way we can prove it if we stay here. We would rather risk it all than stay here and allow this travesty of justice to continue."

"Did you tell me that Karen's husband has gone to Venezuela?" Turner glinted steely eyes, preparing to bargain now that he realized how very serious Mike was.

Mike nodded.

"How do you know you're going to find him there?"

Mike handed the piece of paper containing Servito's Caracas address to Turner. "Take a look at this." Turner examined the paper for several seconds, and then looked up at Mike. "It's obviously an address in Caracas. What's the significance?"

"Karen recognized the writing. It's her husband's."

"Where did you get it?"

"When we found out that Servito hadn't taken Phillip to school, we guessed that they had gone to his farm. So we decided to go there. On our way, we spotted Servito's limousine in a service station. We chased it until it crashed into a retaining wall in North Toronto. The driver was Jerrold Allison, a bagman for Servito. We found that piece of paper inside Allison's false passport."

"So you're going to Caracas on the basis of that information?"

"It's a long shot," Mike conceded. "But we think it's our only chance."

"Okay. You're obviously still convinced that Jim Servito set the two of you up. Help me to believe you're right."

"Well while Servito was staring down the barrel of his gun at us and pushing Karen's little boy onto his private airplane, he made it very clear he knew that Karen and I had been charged by the feds. That wasn't public knowledge, Dan. He also asked how I liked the new performance improving additive in my gasoline. There was only one way he could have known...he put it in there."