This is the twenty-ninth episode of the novel Two Tamas in Paradise. There are fifty episodes. This is the fourth novel in the Trace Troy South Pacific Adventure series.
It may now be purchased on Amazon. It is available in paperback or Kindle digital format.
The Scheme
The fishing tournament accomplished its purpose. Tensions calmed.
Makani brought and iced tea to the pilothouse for Trace.
“I thought you might like this,” Makani said.
Trace sipped. “Hits the spot. Thanks, Makani.”
Makani leaned close to Trace. “Makani talk to blonde woman.”
“Were you able to find out much?” Trace said.
“She talk very much,” Makani said. “She say Makani easy talk to.”
“Sounds like you have her eating out of your hand,” Trace said.
“You bet,” Makani said. “Makanis look interested. Ask a question, wrinkle forehead, hold chin. It all work.”
Trace wrinkled his brow and rubbed his chin. “Go ahead, Makani, tell me how you are feeling.”
Makani laughed. “That good.”
Trace smiled and returned to his natural pose. “What were you about to find out?”
“They have big plan,” Makani said. “They get more people to move to island. Then ask for independence. Become country. Then sell things.”
“Like what?” Trace said.
“I no understand but make her think I do,” Makani said. “Sell credentials?” Makani asked, confused.
“That sounds like a good scam,” Trace said. “They are playing a dangerous game. They are trying to scam people who want to scam other people. It’s not much different than our last trip. If you can sell things, like citizenship and ambassadorships, it makes the person a special type of person. They have this thing called diplomatic immunity. If you are a diplomat from another country, there are things you can do illegally, and if you get caught, there is no punishment. It opens privileges for you; you are treated better.”
“Not fair,” Makani said.
“No, it’s not,” Trace said. “Another thing, if you have credentials saying you have a position in another country's government, it opens opportunities to secure loans from banks and governments. Sometimes banks or the government don’t check. They have the view that it’s not their money, so they can be reckless with it.”
“She say something about corporations,” Makani said.
“Dummy corporations, probably,” Trace said.
“I think she say that,” Makani said. “What is it?”
“Right now, you and I can start a business out of thin air,” Trace said.
“How?” Makani said.
“Let’s start a company, call it Makani Enterprises,” Trace said.
“I like that,” Makani said. “I feel important already.”
“I thought you would,” Trace said.
“So what Makani Enterprises do?” Makani said.
“Capital investments,” Trace said. “You give Makani money, and he invests it for you. Your corporation is in the Oeno Islands. It’s a piece of paper. No office, no employees, only you, and it’s all in your head. You might have a bank account, The Bank of Oeno. Which will be phony, too. You sell promises you can’t keep or never intend on keeping. What you keep is the money that bought the promise.”
“I understand,” Makani said. “With gold, Makani should be wise.”
“If those people knew what you had,” Trace said, “they’d try to get you to invest in their scheme somehow.”
“What Trace going to do?” Makani asked.
“They paid us a fair amount to deliver them and their cargo to Oeno,” Trace said. “We will do that and go home.”
“And be hard to arrest,” Makani said. “They from other country. Have immunity, right?”
“That’s it,” Trace said. “The woman you got the information from was not wise to do that. She told you, not thinking you were trying to use the information against her. She’s not smart. Because she’s not smart, don’t tell anyone else. If it should get back to her or the other passengers, it could be bad for her.”
“She nice,” Makani said. “Like you say, not smart. Not smart, not make person bad.”
“That’s right,” Trace said. “I think Maxwell is the one to worry about.”
“I look his eyes,” Makani said. “Evil eyes. Remind Makani of shark.”
“Me too,” Trace said.
Makani returned to below. With the pilothouse empty, Trace had time to mull over the things Makani told him. He was sure there was much more to the scheme than Makani could tell, but he was confident of all that was told.
Trace grabbed the mic to the ship’s intercom. “Attention, we will be at Rarotonga Island tomorrow before noon. I want to meet with all passengers, mealtime, this evening. Adam, report to the pilothouse.”
A couple of minutes later, Adam climbed up from below.
“Want me to take over for a while?” Adam said.
“No,” Trace said and told Adam all that Makani had heard.
“I don’t think that’s a surprise,” Adam said. “So we deliver them and forget them.”
“Yeah,” Trace said. “I just wanted to know certain things if something comes up. If we have some idea what is going on, we can make informed decisions.
“I hate to keep Coyote or Sage in the dark about this,” Trace said.
“It’s really none of their business,” Adam said.
“Certainly not at this point,” Trace said. “I know Coyote.”
“As do I,” Adam said.
“Sometimes it doesn’t take much to set him off,” Trace said, “and the next thing you know, the whole bag of beans is spilled. And that could put the dumb blonde on the return trip to Suva.”
“I’d drop her off at the nearest island with an airstrip and pay her way to anyplace she’d want to go,” Trace said.
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