Tales of Dirty Old Man Ch. 19

Koçi appeared to ponder Philippe's words, nodded firmly in agreement and turned back to the car. I took that to mean the end of the threat. I stooped and picked up the bundle of euros and tossed it underhand to the driver. He snagged it out of the air with one hand. The Albanians got into their cars, turned around and sped off down the drive.

I let a deep breath out, not realising I'd been holding it in.

"Do you think that's the end of it?" I asked Philippe.

"I believe so," he said. "The reality is he is a businessman and we've given him a way out in several ways. He can use the police raid to justify to his contacts his inability to produce the merchandise, and, of course, the cousin is going to suffer to save his face."

"I'm not going to shed any tears over that," I said. "But why would he have been worried about his contacts?"

"He was the middleman in the deal; he was selling her on to the Algerians in North Africa for their sex trade. She would have been shipped to North Africa and even I wouldn't have been able to find her there."

"Fuck!"

"We'll hang around for a couple of days but I think it's all over. I'll talk to the head office and suggest we leave a couple of guys here for the next week or so just to be sure. We'll keep Lisette guarded on a round-the-clock basis even longer, hopefully without her knowing about it."

"Good," I replied and turned to go back inside.

In the doorway stood Simone and Lisette. Simone had her arm around a white faced Lisette.

"So, this is what you were worried about, and why Philippe is still here," Lisette said.

I nodded.

"You should have told me."

"So much had happened and we had no idea if the risk was real or imagined. It just seemed simpler to keep the security around for a few extra days. We didn't want to worry you after all that you had been through."

"Is she safe?" Simone asked.

"Looks like it." I laughed softly, "I just turned down a lot of money for you young lady." I reached out and gave a friendly poke into her soft tummy to keep some lightness in the moment.

"Ohh, so how much am I worth?" Lise said with an inquisitive tone to her voice.

"From the looks of it, I'd say a couple of hundred thousand euros."

"So am I going to have to work off your lost income," she said with a grin.

I took Simone's hand; "I think we will find a way Young One for you to pay us back." I teased.

Lisette smiled at the thought and ran back into the house with us following closely behind.

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To be continued

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