Ash Ketchum: Hunt For Jade Dragon

Ch. 14 Fugitive

Bank of Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland

The flight from Lima to Geneva took a little more than fourteen hours. Pierre had cars waiting for them at the airport and the board was taken to the Metropole Hotel, on the bank of Lake Geneva, while Giovanni, in a separate car, went directly to the offices of the Bank of Geneva.

"It's good to be back in Switzerland," Giovanni said to the driver as they left the hotel.

"It is always good to be in Switzerland," the driver replied. "Would you like me to wait for you?"

"Yes," Giovanni said. "I should only be an hour or so."

The car pulled up to the curb in front of the bank, and inside, Giovanni took the elevator to the seventh floor, to Pierre's office. Pierre's secretary, a mature Frenchwoman, greeted him as he entered.

"Bienvenue, Monsieur Giovanni. Mr. Pierre and his associates are expecting you. Please go on back."

"Merci," Giovanni said as he walked past her desk her. He suddenly turned back. "His associates?"

"Yes, Monsieur,"

Giovanni walked past the reception area to Pierre's office and opened the door. Pierre Gilles was sitting at his desk. He looked up when Giovanni entered. His face his was pale and his hand his was wrapped in white gauze.

"Pierre, what happened to your hand?"

Pierre shook his head. "I am very sorry, Giovanni. I had no choice." Giovanni walked farther into the room. "What are you talking about?"

"He gave me no choice."

"Who?" Giovanni said.

"That would be me," Cyrus said. He walked into the office flanked by Alain and Selene and four Galactic guards. The guards immediately surrounded Giovanni. "And I believe Mr. Pierre is referring to the sizable transfers we just made."

Giovanni turned white. "Call security," he said to Pierre.

"Sakaki, what kind of welcome is that?" Cyrus said calmly. "After traveling halfway across the world, I thought you would at least offer me a drink."

Giovanni glared at him, red with rage. He would have lunged at him were it not for the guards surrounding him.

"No?" Cyrus said. "Then I'll help myself." He walked over to the credenza on the far side of the office and poured himself a drink from a crystal decanter. "Ah, the good stuff. No wonder you bank here." He stepped back toward Giovanni. "Of course, I would have preferred that you had gone down with the Ampere, but, as it turns out, it is fortuitous that you didn't. Otherwise I might have had some trouble locating a few of your accounts."

Giovanni looked back at Pierre. "What have you done?"

"I had no choice, Sakaki. All the money has been transferred."

Giovanni leaned in. "Surely not . . . everything."

Pierre grimaced. "Everything."

"How could they have even known about those accounts?"

Pierre glanced over at Selene, who smiled darkly. "They have ways of getting into your head."

"It's done, Sakaki," Cyrus said. "Everything is gone. Except you, of course. You're still here. Now, I could easily remedy that and shoot you right now, but where would the fun be in that? So I propose a challenge. You are a fugitive from nearly every civilized country and now you have no money to run. Oh, and I put a million-dollar bounty on your head. Let's see just how long you can survive. Pierre, call Interpol. Inform them that a known fugitive has entered your bank."

Pierre blotted his forehead with a handkerchief. "Please, Admiral Cyrus. . ."

"Wrong answer," Cyrus said. "Alain. . ."

"Yes, sir."

"Help Mr. Pierre understand how much I dislike being disobeyed. He still has one hand with flesh."

"Please, no," Pierre said, lifting the phone. "I'll call right now. I'll alert Interpol immediately." He pushed a button on his phone. "Connect me with security."

Cyrus turned to Giovanni. "It's pathetic, isn't it, how quickly loyalties turn? You really can't trust anyone these days. Now, if I were you, and thankfully I'm not, I would run. And joining the others isn't in your best interest. I've already sent guards to the Metropole to collect them." Cyrus grinned. "Some of the EGGs and I have a bet on how long you can resist capture." He flourished a hand. "It's a game of sorts." He turned to Pierre. "If you please."

Pierre spoke into the phone. "This is Pierre Gilles of Bank of Geneva. I would like to report a known fugitive who has been seen in our bank. Yes. Immediately." He hung up and looked at Giovanni. "I am very sorry."

"You will pay, Cyrus," Giovanni said.

"Yes, so you've said," Cyrus said. "But I'm still waiting for the bill." His dark gaze turned to amusement. "Now please hurry. If you're captured today I'll lose the bet. And you of all people should know"--he leaned forward and his voice dropped--"that I hate to lose."

An alarm sounded. Giovanni glanced once more at Pierre, then turned and ran out of the building.

Cyrus laughed. "That went well."

Pierre used his bandaged hand his to blot the sweat from his forehead his. "I've done everything you asked. You'll release my wife and daughter now?"

Cyrus looked at him quizzically. "Of course not."

Pierre blanched. "But you said that if I cooperated. . ."

"Yes, I did," Cyrus said. "Allow me to explain. There is a fable about a man who comes to a riverbank and is about to cross when he sees a viper. The viper says to the man, 'I would also like to cross the river. Would you please carry me across?' The man replies, 'No, you're a viper. You'll bite me and I'll die.' 'Don't be foolish,' the viper says. 'If I bite you, we'll both drown.'

"The man, convinced by the snake's reasoning, puts the viper on his back and swims across the river. As he reaches the opposite bank the viper bites the man and slithers off. As the man lies dying he says, 'I carried you across. You said you wouldn't bite me.' 'Sorry,' the viper replied. 'I'm a viper. It's in my nature.'

A broad smile crossed Cyrus's face and he leaned forward. "Thanks for the lift, Pierre, but I can't really help myself. It's in my nature."

"What will you do with my family?"

"Your wife and daughter will be held as GPs."

"What are GPS?"

"They'll find out soon enough. Unfortunately, you won't. Now, if you'll excuse me, we're needed in Taiwan." Cyrus said to Alain, "We'll be in the car. Finish him." Cyrus walked out of the office followed by Selene and his guards.

Pierre just stared at Alain in horror. "Please. . ." Alain reached out his hand. "It won't hurt . . . for long."

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This chapter is dedicated to Amour4Evah for reminding me to update today. Thanks for reading Dude!