She grinned. “Hey, there’s nothing about your story that is anything but far-fetched.”
Sam laughed. “All right.”
He input the eight-digit number, using the Australian date formatting.
A moment later, the numbers flashed, as they had previously.
Sam said, “See… I told you it wouldn’t work.”
Then it clicked open.
She caught his glance. “You were saying?”
Sam swallowed. “Moment of truth. Who am I? A good person having a bad day, or a bad person getting his comeuppance?”
“You’re not involved in organized crime and you’re not with the Russian mafia!”
“If you say so.”
He opened the suitcase.
Inside were several piles of US hundred-dollar notes. At a glance, each bundle had a hundred notes or ten thousand dollars. There were ten bundles, meaning there was a hundred thousand US dollars in cash. Next to it was a similar pile of Russian 5,000-ruble notes. He did the math, and instinctively knew the rough exchange rate. There was 6.5 million rubles. The equivalent of a hundred thousand US dollars.
Separating the two different currencies, were a series of six passports.
Sam picked up one of them, opened it. The face was his own. The name, date of birth, and country, all foreign.
He picked up the rest of the passports, and ran his fingers through them.
They were all his passports.
All perfectly produced fakes.
There was only one more item among the treasure filled suitcase. An old video cassette with no name on it.
Sam took a deep breath and crossed his arms. “Still don’t believe I’m involved with the Russian Mafia?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Sam watched Catarina’s reaction.
Her gaze darted from the suitcase back to him. “All right, I admit, it looks pretty bad.”
Sam showed her the fake passports. “Hey, the good news is, if I’m not involved in organized crime, chances are I’m a spy… the downside of course, I really don’t know what I’m fighting for or on whose side I am.”
Catarina picked up the video cassette. “Maybe this might tell you?”
“Yeah, maybe. Who the hell uses a VHS anymore?”
She frowned. “Nobody. Whoever put information on this wanted to make it difficult for anyone to find.”
Sam shrugged. “Sure. It’s going to be difficult, but not impossible. I’m sure a quick search on eBay would reveal several of the antique VCRs for next to nothing.”
“Yeah, but that’s going to take time. Whoever left you with that suitcase probably knew that if you broke the code and got inside, you’d struggle to find a VCR in time to play it before the seventy-two hours were up and you were supposed to be in The Hague.”
“So, we just need to get really lucky and find some old timer nearby who still likes to watch old movies on VHS?”
She stared at the tape and frowned. “It gets worse than that.”
“Really? How?”
“This isn’t VHS, it’s a Betamax.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sam sighed. “What’s a Betamax? Is Betamax some sort of new invention that I can’t remember? Something to do with the whole global amnesia thing?”
“No. It’s older than VHS. Betamax was first released in 1975 while VHS trailed along with its release in 1976. What ensued was a bitter format war, which ultimately was won by VHS.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know this stuff?”
She shrugged. “I remember my dad mentioning it somewhere. What can I say, I retain useless information? It’s one of the oddities of the human brain and its unique cataloguing system. I can tell you exact dates of random facts, but had to take my biochemistry exams twice.”
“Okay, so now I need to find someone really old. What sort of movies were originally played on Betamax? Maybe an aficionado of some classic films might still have a Betamax player?”
She blushed and bit her lower lip. “You sure you want to know?”
He grinned. “Don’t keep me waiting. We’re only talking about my life here…”
Her eyes flashed. “It was used to bring adult films into the private homes of viewers…”
Sam paused, taking that in for a moment. He said, “You mean… we now have to find a porn dealer who specializes in classic originals from 1975?”
She shrugged. “Like I said, whoever placed this recording here, did so knowing full well that it would take you weeks to find out what was recorded on it.”
Sam shoved the tape in the suitcase and closed it.
Sam said, “I don’t suppose you know of any nearby antique stores?”
“Nothing that’s likely to stock a Betamax.”
“There must be a better way of doing this. What about my friends?”
“What about them?”
“Surely I must have friends, right? You said I wasn’t an asshole, so where are all my friends… you know, the ones who will drop whatever it is they’re doing and come help you out when the proverbial fecal matter hits the fan?”
“Good question. I don’t know. It’s been a long time. Like I said, with the exception of last night, I haven’t spoken to you in a very long time.”
“But what about my friends when we were together. You said we were together for two years. Surely I must have introduced you to some of my friends in that time?”
She grimaced. “To be honest, we traveled a lot. Did a lot of things on our own.”
“Really. I’m starting to think maybe my life wasn’t so rosy. Surely, I had other friends?”
She paused and thought about it. “Wait… you had a best friend. A big guy… you played sports, and SCUBA dived and competed in everything together. I think you were even talking about joining the marines together?”
A best friend. That sounds better. “What’s his name?”
“Tom Bower.”
“Any chance you still have his cell number?”
She laughed. “When we were together, I didn’t even own a cell phone.”
“Really?”
“No. We had cell phones. But I never got Tom’s number. Don’t worry, I have the internet. I’m sure I can find out.”
“Great.”
A few minutes of Googling later and she found what they needed. “It says here that you’re working for your dad’s company in shipping.”
“Really? Sounds boring. So my dad won out after all and I joined the family business?”
“It would appear so.” Catarina continued to scroll down the webpage. “Apparently you head up a salvage and rescue vessel, named the Tahila.”
“Nice name,” Sam said. “I wonder what it means?”
“Who knows. Probably something your dad liked?”
“Probably. What does she look like?”
Catarina clicked on the link and the image of the ship came up. “Woah! That doesn’t look like a salvage vessel. That looks more like a cross between a luxury yacht and a battleship.”
Sam grinned. “Maybe my job’s less boring than it first sounded?”
Leaning over her shoulder, he clicked on the link titled, Expeditions and Discoveries.
The webpage opened up and a long list of accolades unfolded.
Sam ran his eyes across them…
Located the Mahogany Ship
Discovered remnants of the Stolen City of Atlantis
Located the Last Airship, named Magdalena
Traversed the Aleutian Portal…
Sam said, “These read like bad adventure novels…”
“Hey, you’ve been busy…”
“Looks like it. Wish I could remember some of it.”
“Maybe you will one day?”
“I hope so. Hey, click on crew members.”