Page 27 of Beaches

“Levi Kaplan. And all of his locations where he keeps the girls and POWs.” Burkhard closed his eyes and paced back and forth.

“You don’t ask for much, do you? Do you have any idea what that sadistic bastard does to people? Not just women. Men.”

“We know,” said Rory. “We closed down one place. We want the rest, and then we want him.”

“Many have tried,” said Burkhard. He stared at the men, then started to laugh, shaking his head. “It just occurred to me that others have tried but didn’t succeed because he had something on them. But you guys are so fucking squeaky clean he wouldn’t find anything on you, would he?”

“We all do stupid shit,” said Alec. “The girls. Give us the girls, and then we’ll find him and the men.”

“Just so you know, I would have given you the locations of the girls for free. I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet with him once at a location in Malaysia. I was younger then. Not as ballsy. I wasn’t even sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Those poor kids were so abused, so starved and catatonic, I couldn’t stomach it.”

“Yet you didn’t stop him,” said Miller.

“No. I didn’t. I was young and stupid enough to leave an anonymous tip with the local authorities. They told me it was illegal to make prank calls. I knew he owned them, and I knew I couldn’t do business with a man like him.

“There have been rumors for years that he was the guy that would take POWs off your hands. If you had nowhere else to hide them, he and his sadistic fuck brother would bring them to remote locations and let them die off slowly or hold them for negotiation at some later time. I seriously doubt any of them actually made it to that point. But he’d damn sure keep them on some fucking island. For a hefty fee, of course.”

“Of course,” frowned Jean. “Where are the other brothels?”

“One recently burned to the ground, which I strongly suspect you all had something to with it. The other six are in six different countries. They all look the same. Absolutely identical in every way.”

Tailor handed him a sheet of paper and a pen and told him to write them down.

“Are you going after him? He sees you coming he’s going to shoot first and torture later. He’s a short, portly guy. Big around the middle from sitting on his ass all these years. But don’t underestimate him. He doesn’t like to be embarrassed, so keep that in mind. He’s also positive that nothing will stop him. One good thing is, if you end him, you end this. He has no wife, no children.” He scribbled the locations of the six that he was aware of and handed it back to Tailor.

“If there are more, I’ll find out for you. You’re going to need help in those countries that you can’t trust, and it can’t be the authorities. Maybe the military, but I don’t know.”

“If we need help, will you give us a hand?” asked Major. Burkhard stared at the man who he did not want as his enemy. But he also knew that he couldn’t be his friend.

“If I can. I will. Levi is worse than his father or brother. He likes the smell of blood, and he likes watching the women suffer. He was the one who found some guy in Russia to show them how to train the girls so they wouldn’t scream. Fucker is sick. His brother kept him from killing those on the islands. I guess his military code prevented him from doing anything so honorable,” he said with disdain. “If he’s no longer around, you need to get to them fast.”

“Where are the islands?” asked Tailor.

“I don’t know. That’s the truth. The islands were all places he discovered through his old man. If I had to guess, they were some of the same islands that the Japanese and their allies hid after the war. They were all unpopulated.”

“That actually helps,” said Miller. “Okay. You can take your crates now.”

“Gee, thanks,” frowned Burkhard. “Listen, if this is going to become a habit, maybe we should exchange numbers or something. I mean, stealing my shipments isn’t exactly the safest way to reach me.”

“We did alright,” smirked Major. Burkhard grinned at him, nodding. He handed him a white card with his number.

“Just for shits and giggles, call me if you need something. I’m not the man you believe me to be. Yeah, I sell weapons. But I don’t deal in flesh or drugs.”

“No, but the men you sell those weapons to do,” said Jean. “They don’t know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. It seems you still have traces of that gene within you.”

“Fair enough,” nodded Burkhard. “One other thing. Someone high up in the U.S. government is still protecting Kaplan. I don’t know who. I don’t know why. All I know is that man has had nothing stick to him. Nothing. Take care of yourself, Major.”

“You too, Burkhard.”

Burkhard waved his men over with a forklift, and they moved the weapons onto the plane. As they took off, Jean looked at Major.

“We’ll have to stop him one day,” he said to the younger man.

“He knows that. He’s well aware, and so am I. I just hope he turns around before I have to kill him.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Ace was seated at his computer station with a dozen screens glaring his way. When they heard the communication with Burkhard, they immediately began searching for all the known islands that Japanese soldiers hid on post-WWII. Many, as suspected, were not Japanese islands at all. They belonged to the Philippines, Taiwan, or Malaysia.

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