Don't Start Something

"You don't remember who that was, do you?" Peta asked.

"Grant Beresford, he even rang me to see what influence I could bring to bear on the subject. I liked you too much to get involved, and that caused problems as well."

"I think that we have the reason for this. For some reason unknown to me, my beautiful wife has become dis-satisfied with our marriage, and your wife has seized on the opportunity to inject Grant back into the equation." I was slowly getting my head around this.

"Or Emma has been having a relationship with Grant and is using her mother to get you out of the picture." Peta said with a look of sheer hatred on her face.

"Or Grant has decided that he wants both the company and Emma and has instigated this for his own end." Martin said. "One of the reasons that I didn't want Emma to marry him was that I didn't trust him. His father was a shady character and, as they say, 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' This apple would appear to be a very rotten one."

"Whatever the reason, we have to stop it. We need to get to the people running that Trust and tie up their shares and then force a board meeting to stop this in its tracks. Can you talk to the company lawyers and see if there have been any laws broken in this. If there has it could become the big stick that we can use to break this scheme wide open."

"Will do. And now I'd better say goodnight to you two lovebirds before my lateness raises questions at home."

I wondered how he'd come to the conclusion that there was something going on between Peta and me. And then I realised that we had sat side by side at the table and, as the evening progressed, our shoulders had become welded together and every time we looked at each other, the look was held longer than necessary.

Martin smiled at us and, as I walked with him to the door, he had his hand on my shoulder in an act of familiarity that was new to me. It was as if he had come to realise that the future of both of us was now inextricably linked. "We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in." He looked at me. "If I were you I'd save my energy for the job at hand, you can catch up on the other later. Don't give Emma anything that she can use against you, and if you know anyone who can sweep this apartment for bugs, I would suggest that you do it, and check for a camera in your bedroom, I'd hate to see the smile on her face when she sees your arse bouncing up and down. If there's a camera there, find it and destroy it and hope that it doesn't have a Wi-Fi link to an outside device."

"Do you mean this?" Peta was standing there with a small camera in her hand. "Whoever set this wasn't very creative, probably figured that you would be so shaken by the events of today that you wouldn't go looking for it. I don't know whether she would have been expecting anything to happen or she was just hedging her bets, she may even have spies in the place who had figured out that we were close enough that I might help you. Whatever, I think we should screw with her brain. I think that I might call my brother, he has talents that might just work for us."

Her brother Michael did have talents. The camera had a memory card and this he took out and plugged into a porn web site and downloaded a whole bunch of the most degrading porn that I have ever seen, filling all the available space, it was a 16 GB card so that took some doing. I watched for a few minutes before giving up in disgust. There was no Wi-Fi connectivity on the camera so we figured that she would have to retrieve it to remove the memory card. Tomorrow we would arrange for a locksmith the change the locks, but only after she had paid her visit.

Michael sat in his car, just up the road from my apartment the next morning, and watched as we left, Peta scrunched down so no-one could see her, to go nowhere in particular. Emma must also have been watching because she arrived some five minutes later and let herself in to my apartment. She was in there just long enough to remove the memory card and replace it with a fresh one, before leaving in something of a hurry, she couldn't wait to see what I had got up to. A fly on her wall would have been a fascinating place to be when she looked at what was on the card, she would be totally pissed off.

My mobile rang while we were sitting in a café having a coffee and something disgustingly decadent to eat. "What the fuck do you think you're playing at?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean?"

"Wouldn't have a clue. I have to thank you for fixing up that apartment for me, you always did have good taste." Peta was struggling to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

"Since when have you been watching porn?"

"Watching porn? Have you taken leave of your senses, I've never watched porn."

This wasn't entirely true, but she's not to know that. "Ooh, you are going to pay for this."

"Pay for what. Look Emma, I'm not overjoyed at what you and Mummy Dearest have done to me, but I'm not angry enough to do anything to hurt you. I'm just going to have to try and forget this whole sordid episode and get on with my life the best way that I can. I suggest that you do the same." I pushed the 'kill' button on my phone before she had a chance to reply.

If she thought that I could be a bastard with the porn download, she would have that opinion confirmed tomorrow morning when she came around. Taped to the door, right above the shiny new dead bolt would be an envelope, written on which was the message; 'take me I'm useless' and inside the key to the previous lock.

"You did what?" Emma's mother Eliza was angry as hell at her daughter.

"When we were furnishing his apartment I had a camera installed in his bedroom hoping to catch him doing something that we could use. I suspect that he is having an affair with his P.A. and needed proof. The bastard found it and filled the memory card with porn."

"You silly little bitch! Now he has something on you that he can use. You are going to have to remove that camera so that there is no trace, and soon."

"I'll do it first thing in the morning, as soon as he leaves."

"When he left this morning, was he on his own?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, he's up to something. We'll have to keep an eye on him. Now, we have to call a Board meeting as soon as possible so that I can get rid of your father before he has a chance to do anything. He's really upset about us getting rid of Ewan and he'll probably suspect that he's next. We have to act before he does."

Martin was in conversation with Morgan Alexander, the company lawyer, a tall, slim woman who still managed to look many years younger than her fifty years. "Your Father-in-Law was a shrewd man who knew his women well and made provisions for such a scenario. My first move will be to take out a court injunction preventing any further share transfers and revoking those that have already taken place. That will set a very hungry cat amongst the pigeons."

"Can we do that?"

"Under the terms of his Will, yes. When he died, his shares went to your Mother-in-Law, but it was to be held in a Trust Fund on which she could draw. Under those provisions, when she died her shares could not be transferred to anyone, but retained in that same Trust for the benefit of her children, of which there was only one, your wife, Eliza. Now, the shares are to remain in that Trust in perpetuity, no-one can sell them or transfer them to any other person or entity."

"But there are other shares in a Trust, what are they?"

"They are a failsafe bundle of shares. They are held in a separate Trust so that no changes can be made to the provisions of his Will without a 75 percent vote in favour. With your holdings and those in this Trust, you can effectively block any share transactions detrimental to the company. The Trustees are under instruction to block any transactions that will diminish the family holdings in the company."

"But who are the Trustees, and shouldn't we speak with them to warn them of what is happening?"

"They already know and have instigated this injunction."

"But how?"

"We, that is this Law firm, are the Trustees. We are merely obeying his instructions to the letter. There is one other thing."

"What other thing?"

"There is a clause in his Memorandum of Intent that covers this situation."

"And that is?"

"I can't reveal it at this time, but will if your wife and daughter persist with what they are doing. Tell me, your Son-in-Law Ewan, what is he like, I mean as a person?"

"I can't speak too highly of him, I wish that I had him as a son and not my daughter."

"Fair enough. It's as we thought."

"So what happens now?"

"We get the injunction this morning and then we wait for the shit to hit the fan."

"What do we do about Grant Beresford?"

"He's the guy that's working on Emma, right?"

"Yeah, I don't like him and would love to see him get what's coming to him."

"Don't start something that could get you hurt, leave him to us. We have this covered."

"So what can I tell Ewan?"

"Just tell him that everything's under control for the time being, but to expect some fireworks later today when they get the good news that they can do nothing with the shares."

Peta and I were at her place with Michael. "You should have seen her when she read the note that you left her. Actually you can see her." He placed the card from his camcorder into Peta's computer and the screen was filled with a close-up of a very unhappy Emma. You didn't have to be an expert lip-reader to understand what she was saying and the F-bomb featured prominently. "Mother, the fucking bastard's changed the locks so that I can't get in and get the camera. What are we going to do?"

"You have contacted the Conveyancer and checked the Title transfer has gone through?" Peta asked.

"Yes, it went through yesterday. The apartment is in my name now. I bet they didn't think that I'd check on that."

"They would have probably have counted on you not thinking of that, what with all of the dramas of yesterday."

"She has a lot to learn about me, about us. I wonder what they'll do next."

"In all probability try and push the share transfers through as quickly as possible. I think that we should contact Martin and see what he's found out from the Lawyers."

My phone rang, I answered it and put it on speaker. "Ewan, it's Martin, we have taken out an injunction preventing further share transfers and rescinding those that have already been transferred. I thought that I should ring and warn you that things are likely to get a little messy."

"We know they will. She had a camera planted in my bedroom. If we hadn't found it she might have been chuckling all the way to the bank by now, but we found it and gave her something to think about. We have also changed the locks on the doors, I don't know why she thought that we wouldn't think of that, or the camera, but you should have heard the language when she went around to get to the camera this morning after she'd seen what was on the memory card. 16GB's of really heavy porn."

"I think that you and Peta should make yourselves scarce for a while, I know that I am. I'm off to Melbourne on a business trip. I'll call Eliza from there and tell her that I was called down there suddenly and would be back tomorrow. Then I'm jumping on a plane to London."

"But what if they try something while you're gone?"

"They can do nothing, legally that is, for the time being until there's a court hearing on that injunction. The company Lawyers will handle that, they seem to have an ace up their sleeve. In the meantime, a low profile is the name of the game, and I suggest somewhere other than your apartment or Peta's place. They are capable of putting two and two together and coming up with you and Peta."

We decided that we needed to be devious in our departure. I retrieved the SM from my apartment garage and drove it to a mate's workshop where we stashed it in a back corner under a cover. We then drove Peta's car to a parking station near the airport that specialises in storage of cars for those people travelling for more than a day or two. It was from there that we caught a cab to a car rental agency and rented an inconspicuous hatch for the long drive to her grand-parents farm. We supposed that when we didn't surface for a couple of days they would start looking and set their nets far and wide. Eventually they would find us, but hopefully it wouldn't be before this had reached a satisfactory conclusion.

There was a down side to this, we weren't around when it hit the fan. "What the fuck are you playing at?" Grant's voice was loud enough not to need a phone.

"What do you mean? We've done nothing."

"The share transfers have been cancelled."

"What? That can't be, I signed the documents authorising them two weeks ago, and they can't be cancelled."

"They not only can, but have been. I suggest that you speak to your husband and find out what's behind this, Ewan couldn't have done anything, he doesn't have the authority, or does he?"

"Not anymore he doesn't."

She rang Martin and caught him just as he left the arrivals hall at Tullamarine. "Martin, where are you, I need to speak to you."

"I'm on my way to the Melbourne office for an emergency meeting. I'll be back tomorrow."

"What do you know about the cancelling of share transfers?"

"I didn't know that any shares were being transferred, who authorised that?"

"I did. But there has been an injunction taken out by the company Lawyers cancelling the transactions."

"I guess that they have a reason for doing that. Look, we'll discuss it when I get home."

"I guess that I'll have to wait until then. 'Bye."

The next drama happened when Martin never arrived home. There was little that Eliza could do about it until the next morning and, after a phone call, she had to add his name to the growing list of the disappeared personnel. She had already been informed by Grant that I hadn't been in my apartment all evening. "What about that bitch of a P.A, of his, Peta?"

"She hasn't been home either."

"Are you sure?"

"Look, I've hired the best to watch their places and, if they say that neither of them were home last night, then neither of them were."

"What about Ewan's car, is it still in the garage at his apartment?"

"No, it wasn't there when my guys got there yesterday afternoon and they kept a watch for it arriving back, but it never did."

"What about her car?"

"Hasn't been seen."

"It would appear that the two of them have gone to ground somewhere. Find them and quickly."

Eliza then rang the office and spoke to Rhonda. "Has Martin called in this morning?"

"No, why?"

"He rang from Melbourne yesterday and said that he'd be home this morning, but I haven't seen him."

"I don't know anything about that. He rang in yesterday morning and told me that he had meetings all morning and would be in sometime during the afternoon. It's not like him not to show up when he said that he would. I'm worried, he hasn't been himself lately, not since he had to fire Ewan. That really upset him."

"Well, when you see him tell him to ring me straight away, it's important."

Rhonda smiled to herself, she knew that something was going down with the company and that Martin had been to see the company Lawyers about it. She had got the impression that, whatever it was, it would lead to a confrontation between Martin and Eliza that would see major changes to the company structure. She also hoped that Martin would come out on top, because she did not like Eliza at all.

"What do you mean that they have disappeared?" Grant was getting desperate.

"We have located her car in a parking station near the airport. We contacted our tame cop and he made enquiries with all of the airlines and they have not flown out on either domestic or international flights."

"Which means that they are still in the country. Try the car rentals, start close to the airport and work out. If that fails try the bus station and the trains. There has to be some trace of them."

Eliza and Emma were not happy, they didn't want me and Peta running around on the loose with the potential of causing trouble for them. "I don't need to tell you that they need to be found. I know that Ewan is behind this court injunction, and he's probably gotten Martin on his side. Between them they can fuck up this business totally. In the mean time I have spoken to my Lawyer and he has told me that the injunction should be lifted in the next day or two, and that we should be ready to move as quickly as possible to get this transaction through, or we stand to lose the lot. I don't know where he gets that idea from, but we have to assume that he knows what he's talking about."

"Don't worry, we'll find them and put an end to this whole fiasco."

"While you're looking for people, Martin seems to have gone missing. I want him found as well."

"My men are stretched to their limits just looking for Ewan and Peta, they have no more men to bring in. You'll need to either cough up for us to hire additional men or hire another firm to chase Martin."

"Do what you have to do, I don't care."

It took time, several hours in fact, for the team to locate Ewan and Peta. They found the rental agency that had rented them a car. Armed with the registration number, they began a search, firstly of hotel car parks, and then other accommodation, until someone got the bright idea that they could be staying with relatives. A search of likely candidates settled on Peta's grandparents who ran a horse stud and Bed and Breakfast in the Hunter Valley.

The use of high powered binoculars from the boundary fence located the rental car. "We've found them." Grant was told. "They are staying with her grandparents in the Hunter Valley."

"Stay there, I'm on my way."

It was just on dusk when he arrived where the agent was parked. "They haven't moved. They have been wandering around the property looking at the horses in the paddocks, and playing with the family dogs, all very domestic. It would seem that they are here for the duration."

"How many other people are there?"

"Just her grandparents, there are no guests in the B&B cabins, and the staff have all gone home."

"Good. It's time for those two meddling people to cease to exist." He had taken a package from the boot of his car. "This should do the trick." It was a package of C4 complete with detonators and a remote trigger.

"What the fuck are you doing? That'll blow them to kingdom come."

"From there they can't harm us."

"Count me out, I want no part in this." These were to be his last words, a muffled 'pop' and he fell to the ground. Grant tucked the silenced 9mm Glock into the waist band of his trousers.

He waited until it was dark before opening the gate and heading down the long driveway towards the cabin where he had seen Ewan and Peta heading after dinner. He figured that they would be otherwise occupied and not hear his arrival.

He was just placing the explosives under the cabin when he heard a low growl from behind him. He turned to face the noise to be confronted by a set of white teeth surrounded by a grey beard. It was a dog, and he knew enough about dogs to realise that a dog that bares its teeth and growls at you is not afraid of you. A dog that barks is defending his territory, but is probably more afraid of you than the other way round, and you can probably bluff it. You have no show of bluffing a dog that growls at you. He edged his hand slowly towards his waist band, trying not to make a sudden movement that would attract the attention of the dog. Slowly withdrawing the Glock from his belt he swung it towards the teeth. He never made it, a set of strong jaws clamped onto his wrist. His scream of pain was loud and, even if they had been in a deep sleep, would have woken Peta and I, as well as her grandparents.