Seated behind a cluttered desk sat a white coat covering a slender body that looked as if it would snap in two if a strong wind blew against it. Dr. Yang’s oversize head was completely bald and shined as a polished knob of teak. Large eyes peered at Tam through heavy glasses and the skin on his face looked more like old parchment.
“Sit down. I understand from my old friend, White Paper Fan, that this assignment for the Tong may be your least assignment. If this is so, and I have no reason to doubt it, I presume that you will do everything in you possibly can to complete your little project. The emerald is the key to my new healing hospital and I must have that stone soon so the hospital will open on time.”
Tam interrupted, “Why do you need a gem in order to open your hospital, or whatever you call it?”
“It’s really none of your business, Mr. Tam, but since you ask I will tell you. The miracle healing process that I have spent my lifetime researching and perfecting is based on the ancient understanding of the healing properties of a mineral called beryl that when colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium is commonly known as emerald. Emerald brings life, nourishment, and healing to the physical body. It floods the physical body with the green ray’s life-giving energy and gradually neutralizes the disharmonies that cause disease. If enough emerald is worn, it also works on healing the mental and emotional causes of physical illness. By strengthening your physical body’s weakest link, emerald uplifts, strengthens, and vitalizes your body as a whole, making it easier for you to open to higher states of consciousness. Therefore the Wittelsbach Emerald will set a new standard for healing in my Yang Life Institute and through out the world. That’s all you need to know. Just get that emerald for me, or you will wish your had remained in Honk Kong. I might add that even though White Paper fan has entrusted you with the necessary documentation and papers to bid on the emerald at the auction in Geneva, I really don’t trust you, and I have decided that there will be someone around you at all times keeping my eye on you. Do you understand, Mr. Tam?”
Tam wasn’t easily frightened, but this man sent shivers down his spine. He wasn’t sure if it was how self assured he was, his obvious relation to the Tong, or those ebony eyes that seemed to be dead yet seemed to burn straight through him. Tam shuttered.
“Now go back to Geneva, Mr. Tam, and remember this old Chinese proverb: Not only can water float a boat, it can sink it also. Leave quickly; I have much work still to do.”
CHAPTER 10
The telephone between the two beds jangled. Miriam retreated to the bathroom while David lifted the receiver to his ear and listened for a moment. He put his hand over the phone and asked, “Miriam, Servette’s driver is in the lobby. Are you ready?”
“Give me five, David.”
“We’ll be down in ten minutes.”
Fifteen minutes later, David and Miriam entered the lobby. A uniformed chauffer greeted them in one of the deepest voices they had ever heard, saying he would pull the car up front and walked out.
Half an hour later, the black Peugeot turned off the main thoroughfare and stopped in front of a large filigreed wrought iron gate. With no apparent signal from the residence, the gate swung open. The car proceeded toward a large apartment building on their left driving slowly on the circular drive through gardens that looked more like a botanical garden than a landscaped apartment complex. Their driver stopped the car under the portico of the building, got out and opened the door on Miriam’s side and then walked around to open the door for David. Without a word, he ushered them through the large ornate double-glass doors and stopped in front of the elevator. He pushed one of the buttons.
“Inspector Servette will meet you when you leave the lift,” the driver said in that deep voice. With a slight bow, he turned with military precision and proceeded back toward the car.
“Not much of a conversationalist,” David commented as the elevator closed.
“Sound like someone else I know,” Miriam said with a straight face.
The small elevator carried them up and when the doors opened, there standing on a white marble floor was Inspector Servette, dressed in ecru, linen slacks, a black silk shirt, the top two buttons undone, and black paten loafers without socks.
“Welcome to my home.”
The Inspector bent slightly and kissed the back of Miriam’s hand. Then, giving David a firm handshake, and led them into a glorious apartment filled with the most exquisite antiques they had ever seen. When they entered the living room, another man rose to greet them.
“David and Miriam, I’d like you to meet Mr. Max Bennett. Max is my dearest friend, one of the best undercover people I know. He has his hand on the pulse of every shady matter I need to know in this city. He speaks half-a-dozen languages, holds black belts in several martial arts and is the only person I know who can out-shoot me on the pistol range.”
“It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Bennett.” David reached out and warmly shook the hand extended to him. He could tell just by the grip that this was a man to reckon with. “From that introduction I certainly don’t want to be your enemy.”
“Max has agreed to be, how should I say, your ‘tourist guide’, while you are in Geneva. He will be with you constantly, in your hair, under your skin, even though you might not see him. I thought this would be a good time to get acquainted.”
Max turned. “Miriam, what a lovely name. Miriam was the daughter of Moses and a prophetess in the Old Testament, wasn’t she?”
“My namesake, Mr. Bennett, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Greetings completed, Inspector Servette indicated that they should sit, and then rang a small silver bell. A man several inches taller than the inspector flowed rather that walked into the room. He was the color of ebony and dressed in a long flowing red, blue and black caftan. His head was shaved, but the most remarkable feature was the one eye that was completely sealed shut by a dark diagonal scar that ran from his hairline to the bottom of his nose.
Servette relayed their drink orders to the tall African, and when the striking man left the room, said to the Mossad duo, “Let me tell you a little about my friend, Josef, there. Almost twenty years ago, I was on a mission to Sudan. I won’t go into detail, but in the heat of a, shall I say, most difficult situation, I rescued Josef from a sadistic torturer, and he has been my grateful shadow ever since. He lost his tongue as well as the eye in that conflict, so he can’t speak. But he sees everything with that right eye of his. There is no one I’d rather have on my side in any difficult situation. He also will be working with you along with Max here.”
The African returned to the room, served their drinks, and placed a tray of hors d’oeuvers on the large round coffee table in the middle of the room.
“Thank you, Josef. Many of these delicacies are specialties of the Sudan. Be assured that if Josef fixed them, they will be delicious. Help yourself, please. And one more thing — let’s not talk any business until after dinner — I can assure you, it will be a very special dinner.”
After an hour filled with lively conversation covering antiques, skiing trips to Zermatt, several people they knew in common and the weather in both Geneva and Israel, a gong rang quietly and Servette announced, “Josef is ready for us. I hope you are ready for Josef.”
Inspector Servette ushered them into the dining room and Miriam gasped. “You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble for us, Inspector.”
“Nonsense, my dear, it wasn’t any trouble at all. You see, Josef is so bored with our life here in Geneva that he positively begs me to have dinner parties several times a month just so he can have something to do. Miriam, please sit here, beside Max. David, sit there opposite, and I will sit here opposite the place set for my wife, bless her departed soul. Please forgive that little indulgence of mine, but when her place is set, I feel that she is still here with me.”