“Do you know Victoria well enough to make it look like you live there?” asked Dyck.

“My wife and I have friends who live in Westshore, which is like a bedroom community for Victoria. Over the years we have gone there quite a bit. I know the local layout pretty well, including a few golf courses, restaurants, pubs, shopping … enough to get by.”

“What if you run into your friends?” asked Dyck.

“Bill and Marlene Earl,” smiled Jack. “Not a problem. He works for a specialized branch of the navy and has one of the highest security ratings there is. S-A for sure,” he added, with a glance at Rose who pursed her lips to keep from smiling. “They can be trusted,” added Jack, confidently.

Dyck frowned. “One of these days I would really like to get that special access security clearance to find out what else you two aren’t telling me.”

“Maybe someday they’ll make my position an inspector rank,” suggested Rose.

Dyck grinned. “Would you be allowed to tell me if they did?”

Rose smiled in response.

Dyck turned his attention back to Jack. “What if you’re not hired? What then?”

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” said Jack. “But if I am, better me than some poor chump who doesn’t know what’s going on. The fact that I do know gives me an edge.”

“Let’s say you’re hired,” said Connie. “If someone gets into a fistfight with you, it’s hardly proof of intent to murder. If they come at you with a weapon, it may be too late to save you.”

“I definitely want a good cover team nearby at all times,” said Jack. “The informant says they hire others to do the hits and make them look accidental.”

“One of those guys is obviously Ben Pike,” said Rose. “It would certainly be nice to identify the others.”

“I agree with you there. From what we know so far, weapons haven’t been used. If someone tries to throw me off a balcony, my idea is that we grab him, convince him to co-operate and get him to wear a wire against who hired him.”

“Hard for a cover team to protect you if you’re scuba-diving,” said Dyck.

“No worries. I’ll make it clear that I’m a non-swimmer, afraid of water, and most other things, such as mountain-climbing. I’ll come across as weak and easy to kill.”

“Your history indicates that you are anything but easy to kill,” mused Connie. “Someone could be in for a big surprise.”

“If I have a good cover team along with surveillance of the bad guys, we might get an indication about how they plan on doing it. For instance, if the bad guys meet with someone who later tries to do a hit-and-run on me, perhaps then that would be enough to apply for a wiretap.”

“That would probably work,” agreed Connie.

“Just make sure you don’t end up with a bad case of road rash, or worse,” said Laura, solemnly.

“Can’t say as I would appreciate trying to scrub tire tracks off my head, either, but I don’t see any other alternative at the moment. The priority is to identify who calls the shots and get evidence against him and Oskar both, as well as the hitmen. To do that, we’ll need wire.”

“I’ll prepare the wiretap application with everything we know,” said Connie. “If things go well, it won’t take long to add the critical information and get the order.”

“The critical information being an attempt on my life,” said Jack.

Connie nodded.

“The three murders we know about have all taken place outside of Canada,” said Rose. “If we do go ahead with the UC, it would likely involve the need for co-operation from foreign police agencies.”

“I’m okay with that,” said Jack, “providing my cover team is comprised of people I know. Ones who have been properly trained for the task.”

“I have to say, it sounds really dangerous to me,” said Dyck. “You could get yourself killed.”

“If I do get killed, I hope that a judge would authorize a wiretap then,” said Jack, sombrely.

Chapter Eighteen

Virgil answered his phone and immediately recognized Jack’s voice.

“What did you find out about your brother’s criteria for hiring his next victim?” asked Jack, gruffly.

“Fuck, you woke me up,” complained Virgil. “I spent the weekend partying with him on his boat. Caught the last ferry home last night.”

“Quit complaining. What did Oskar tell you?”

“He wants somebody from Victoria or Vancouver Island. He is only going to use the professional head-hunter recruitment type agencies in Victoria.”

“You told me before he uses different regions to diversify his victims. Big deal. I thought you said you were a smart guy. Is that all you know?”

“No, but give me a chance to wake up. He said they plan on doing the next guy in Asia.”

“That’s a big continent. Can you narrow it down?”

“He said they have legitimate business to do in a few places like China, Thailand, Malaysia … maybe Myanmar. He is hoping to get someone who has some knowledge of that part of the world to do the legit work first, before … you know, terminating his employment. He won’t be advertising that, but it is something he would prefer.”

“And the legit work would be?”

“Looking at different companies in regard to workplace safety, fair trade … ethical-type crap. Also someone who knows a bit about accounting and can look at books.”

“Is that it?”

“Yeah, except for schmoozing. He says he needs someone who is friendly and good with people because of all the corporate clients they need to suck up to.”

“If you hear or think of anything else, call me.”

“I expect he’ll be collecting applications this week.”

Jack cringed. He knew he didn’t have much time.

“You going to keep a close eye on who they hire?” asked Virgil.

“Yes.”

“Is it going to be you?”

“What do you mean?” asked Jack.

“Come on, I’m not stupid. You wouldn’t be all that interested in the criteria for hiring if you were only going to watch whoever he hires. You wouldn’t care. It’s you, isn’t it?”

“It might be,” admitted Jack.

“Might be?” laughed Virgil.

“I’ll be applying, but it doesn’t mean I’ll be picked.”

“Yeah, well I hope you are picked.”

“Put it this way, if something happens to me and your brother isn’t caught, you’re going to jail.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I didn’t mean it that way. I just want it all to be over.”

“Good.”

“Maybe you should use the team of people you have following me around to follow you instead.”

“Oh, uh, they are not following you at the moment because of other priorities. You are all on your own for a couple of weeks at least.”

Virgil hung up and gave a sarcastic laugh. He went to the kitchen and pulled up the blind to peer out the window. Like hell I’m not being watched. He wants to see if I’m going to go out and be naughty …

Virgil felt the sash cord around his fingers and smiled. It gave him an idea.

Go ahead and watch. You’ll see what a good boy I am. All in good time, my lovelies, all in good time …

“How did he respond?” asked Laura, when Jack hung up.

“He’ll figure I lied to him about saying there was no surveillance. I think it will keep him on the straight and narrow for today.”

“You think?”

“He’s tired and paranoid, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to go sit on his car and make sure he’s behaving himself. If he comes out, I don’t mind if you heat him up from a distance. He’ll think Special ‘O’ are doing their thing.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Laura.

“This afternoon I’ll pick up the electronic hardware and meet you at midnight to slap it on his car. I’m told these trackers are good for fifty hours of car movement before you have to change batteries. We’ll take turns monitoring the laptop.”