Unhappily Ever After Bk. 01 Ch. 04

"He made it to cover but received a scratch on his calf. It certainly wasn't enough to prevent him from completing the patrol. I'd show you the scratch, but it was on the leg he later lost when he got a bit too close to an IED."

"I like my version better," Tommy said. "It has greater pulling power."

Charlie was laughing by this time; although I noticed she didn't return my handkerchief.

"Aaron's right," she said. "You're a real bastard, Tommy Jones."

---oooBJSooo---

With lunch out of the way, we adjourned to the meeting room, but not before I'd thanked Mother for the excellent lunch. I was sure she had cooked it herself as I knew that the Nepalese people were mostly Hindu, which precluded them from handling bovine meat.

Tommy had set up an agenda for our meeting, which included suggestions about the best way to bring down my enemies; who Tommy referred to as our enemies.

Most of the items listed on his agenda were either things we had already discussed or things we already had in the pipeline.

"I've got most of the deep background research done on the staff at MCL and have identified everyone who has been involved in any of the recorded events," Tommy said. "I've also taken the liberty of making up a set of videos to send out to the spouses and significant others of those who have participated. All you have to do is give me the nod.

"I've also set up a couple of files containing the whole shooting match. They're poised to be sent to whichever regulatory authorities might be interested.

"The really interesting stuff, however, came from a dive into MCL's servers and the bank accounts of everyone concerned. I think you'll be surprised at what I'm discovering. But I've only just started, so I'd prefer not to preempt my findings until I've completed my investigation.

"Suffice it to say, however, it is beginning to look like Sam has done well from her extracurricular activities."

"Okay," I said, "Well, here's another little bit of intriguing news for you. While you've been looking at the minutiae, my legal friend has been looking at the bigger picture.

"While quietly asking around, gathering industry-specific information about the players on the pretext that he was looking at expanding his operation and was thinking about approaching one or two of MCL's junior partners, he heard a whisper that pricked his ears. If it holds water, it appears that the state police have been using a few well-respected lawyers as confidential informants.

"Apparently, there are quite a few major criminals who wouldn't be behind bars if their lawyers hadn't passed on information to the police that allowed them to find evidence supporting the charges for which they were convicted. Nathan-fucking-Kingston was one of the people named in that whisper. As were those of a few of his associates; both senior and junior."

"Double bingo!" Tommy shouted, leaping to his feet. "We've got the bastards!"

He paced around the room, muttering to himself.

"Now hang on. Let's not be too hasty. We've got to think this through. It's got to be done in the right order, or it could blow up in our faces."

I could see that a few things I'd said during our discussion had got his mind ticking over, and he began pacing around the room. After a few minutes, he realised we were still there.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I need to think about this for a while. Would you mind if I kicked you out so I can concentrate?"

"I don't think so," I said.

"What about you, Charlie? Do you mind if he kicks us out?"

"Not in the least," she said. "I've got better things to do with my time than watch a demented computer scientist wandering around throwing his arms about and talking to himself."

"Before I go," I said to Tommy, "I should tell you that the whisper, rumour or whatever you want to call it also suggested that the State Crime Commission might have already started an investigation into the allegations."

"That's even better," he said without elaboration.

Mother met us as we left the room, steering us towards the side entrance. The gate opened as we approached it. Once back out in the street, I took us by a circuitous route to where we could catch a cab. We were making our way into my office carpark two cab-rides and twenty minutes later.

---oooBJSooo---

It had just gone three o'clock when we walked through the front door of my three-story office building and into the foyer, where we were greeted by Kathy, one of my receptionists. After introducing Kathy and Charlie - as Ms Brown - we caught the elevator to the third-level administration offices; the second level was the drafting and procurement staffing floor.

Kathy must have called ahead to let Shirley know we had arrived because, upon entering the meeting room after dumping our gear in my office, she had everything set up for afternoon tea.

I had just finished introducing Charlie and Shirley when we were joined by Todd Manyweather. His immediate response when he saw Charlie was one of instant recognition. That was immediately followed by a flash of pure lust. It only lasted for a millisecond, but it was unmistakable. The really interesting thing, though, was that Charlie displayed that same look. After all this time, it appeared that these two still hungered after each other.

I chided myself for imagining things. But, having just turned from shaking hands with Shirley, Charlie was standing where I could see her eyes. The look she gave him was the same as that she had given me the previous night. I was sure that, had the opportunity presented itself, she would jump his bones without a second's thought. And his look told me that he wouldn't be fighting her off. In fact, I was in no doubt that Todd Manyweather would do everything in his power to make sure it happened.

But it wasn't only the look that set my warning bells ringing. Charlie was standing close enough to me that I could smell her arousal. Just the sight of him had made her start leaking sexual lubricant. She was wet with desire.

While Todd recovered quickly, their handshake when I introduced them tended to linger. I saw Shirly looking over at me enquiringly.

"Later," I mouthed at her.

"Ms Brown will be with us for a while and will be my shadow," I said. "She is studying for her PhD and had asked me to be one of her crash test dummies. She is fully aware of what is going on in my life, and I'm happy for her to sit in on any discussions we might have.

"The purpose of this meeting is to bring you up to date with what is going on and how those events might affect this business," I said as we sat down at the large boardroom table. Shirley poured the tea and coffee and placed a platter of pastries in the centre of the table before taking her seat.

"First things first, however. I notice that my car is still sitting in the carpark. Does that mean nothing happened during my absence?"

"No," Todd answered. "As you'd suggested, we locked two cameras on your car after you left this morning. Two gentlemen of Middle-Eastern appearance approached your car about mid-morning and somehow managed to open the fuel cap. I watched as they inserted a cylindrical item in the filler pipe before closing the cap and walking away."

He had reverted to police talk. It was as if he was delivering a verbal report to a superior officer in the military police; either that or giving evidence in a courtroom.

"After ensuring they had left the area and that no one else was watching, I grabbed the spare remote lock we keep here for emergencies and moved the car around the back and into one of our service bays. I then removed the cylinder they had stuffed down the pipe.

"I must admit that I was concerned that they may have placed a pipe bomb in there. But what I found was an airtight stainless-steel cylinder half filled with a white powder, which I ascertained was Methamphetamine. I didn't weigh it, but I estimate it would have weighed about two hundred grams. As soon as I had removed it, I drove the car back around to the carpark and returned it to its usual bay.

"Less than half an hour later, three unmarked police cars turned up, followed by a blue police van. Six fully-kitted Special Weapons Team members piled out of the van and took up positions around your car.

"Long story short. When one of the detectives came to the reception counter to ask about the car's ownership, Kathy had the good sense to call me. Of course, I was already on my way down to see what was happening in our carpark.

"By the time I got there, they already had a tilt truck backing up to your car and were preparing to load it and take it away for examination.

"After finding the man in charge - a Detective Inspector Stephen Gray of the drug squad - I learned that they were acting on a tip-off that there was a large quantity of drugs stashed in the car and that they were planning to take it back to their forensic laboratory to verify that fact.

"By that time, the gates had been closed to prevent the television news crews that were beginning to appear on the scene from entering the property. Obviously, someone had alerted them to the raid. My money was on the police.

"Long story short, I was able to prevent their confiscation of your vehicle by reminding the detective that it was parked on private property and that a warrant would be required before its seizure could be affected.

"Despite his attempts to argue that he didn't need one because of a reasonable suspicion that drugs were present in the vehicle and that his entry onto the property was justified because of information received from a reliable source, I was able to convince him that nothing he said met the criterion of reasonable suspicion under the current Police Powers and Responsibilities Act.

"After threatening to return with the required warrant, they left.

"I'd be very careful while driving home," he said. "They have you in their sights. And I wouldn't put it past them to try to fit you up."

Before dismissing Todd, I asked him to send the video of the car tampering and close-up stills of the two men involved to my phone. After seeing how he and Charlie had reacted to each other, I didn't want to give them an opportunity to renew old acquaintanceships before I'd had a chance to talk to her. After he'd gone, I excused myself and, leaving Shirley to look after Charlie, I went to my private office to make a few phone calls.

When I returned to the meeting room, I called Todd, telling him to expect a visit from a gentleman who would refer to him using his name and former rank. He was to give him the cylinder he'd removed from the fuel filler pipe. I wanted it off the premises as quickly as possible. What I didn't tell him was that I also wanted its contents tested at the earliest opportunity.

"You're then to arrange to have my Chrysler loaded onto a truck and taken out to my home," I instructed.

I then put him on hold and turned to Charlie.

"I want you to go with the truck and use my clicker to open the gate." I gave her my keyring, removing only the house keys. The ring now contained only my gate and garage openers and the remote car lock.

"I then want you to put the car into the garage. You'll have to wait for me to arrive before going into the house, though. It's not only the security codes I'm concerned about. There are a couple of other things that might spoil your day. So it would be best if you were to be patient."

"While you're loading my car onto the truck for transportation," I said, reconnecting with Todd, "you might like to remove the GPS locator someone has attached to it. "I'd suggest you attach it to one of our trucks; perhaps the one that will be going out to the most distant job site tomorrow. It's time we started leading these bastards on a merry chase."

Before shutting down my call to Todd, I asked him to rejoin us as soon as he had made whatever arrangements were necessary. I wanted him in the room to hear what I had to say. He was back with us ten minutes later.

While awaiting the arrival of our own tilt truck, I spent half an hour expanding on my earlier explanation and why things like the bugging of my car and the police raid were happening.

"I will not be anyone's cuckold," I said at the end of my explanation, "either willingly or otherwise.

"There will be no turning back so far as my marriage is concerned. It's over. And those who've been instrumental in destroying it will live to rue the day they set this train in motion.

"Once bitten, twice shy, however. I will not be so generous should anyone try to do it to me a second time."

I saw a brief look pass between Todd and Charlie, which told me that that was exactly what they had in mind. Whether my warning would be enough to put a stop to their plans remained to be seen. I acknowledged, though, that the fact they even entertained such plans was enough to cancel any ideas I might have had about a future with Charlie in it.

The problem was that she was already in my life and in a way I hadn't originally envisaged. She now knew too much to let her walk away. I was going to have to take Sun Tzu's and Michael Corleone's advice on board: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer".

While Charlie wasn't exactly an enemy, I strongly suspected she was a betrayer-in-waiting. I would never be able to trust her; not completely. She was my female equivalent of Jesus' Judas.

Todd was the same. He was someone I relied upon to have my back concerning my business. But he would prove to be my Brutus. The trouble is that I would achieve nothing by getting rid of him; not at this time, anyway. That would only absolve him of his obligation to me and give him a free run at Charlie. It would also mean I would be without a security crew because he had instilled in them a deep sense of loyalty to him. Where he went, they would go.

This was developing into a multi-layered game of chess. Although I enjoyed the game - and was an accomplished player - I was becoming tired of having to stay six or seven steps ahead of others' moves and machinations. I thanked God that I had the members of my old squad - and only Tommy knows how many others - watching silently in the background.

Luck was on my side once again; either that or we were working too fast for the enemy to regroup. Charlie had left with the car carrier, and Todd had left to prepare for the drug cylinder's hand-off. Shirley and I were alone. She joined me in my office after clearing away the afternoon tea things. I'd borrowed Charlie's wand and had given it a sweep. It was free of bugs.

Before breaking up after the meeting, I had impressed upon Todd the need for daily sweeps of the whole office area.

"The people my opponents are employing are not all as gormless as the two who planted the drugs today," I said. "I wouldn't put it past them to infiltrate our cleaning crew so they can get into the heart of the operation to plant intelligence-gathering devices."

We talked around that scenario for a few minutes before everyone went about fulfilling their individual tasks.

Despite all the checking, however, I had a niggling feeling deep down in my gut that I was still being watched. It was a feeling I'd learned not to ignore, so I invited Shirley to join me outside.

I led her to a coffee shop across the street from my office, where I ordered iced water for both of us. It was late in the day, so we had the place to ourselves.

---oooBJSooo---

"So, how bad is it?" Shirley asked after we'd taken our seats.

"Well, I wouldn't stand too close to me if I were you," I told her. "There's a war going on here, and I don't think the enemy is too concerned about collateral damage."

"But these people are only lawyers," she said. "What in heaven's name are they doing sending people out to beat you up?"

"Oh, the beating was only meant to be a warning. A message telling me not to interfere. When that failed, it changed from a warning to something more permanent. I think they realised that I wasn't someone who took kindly to being threatened.

"What happened here today was their Plan B. They apparently decided that, rather than trying to kill me, they'd destroy me in a way that would make anything I had on them sound like the words of a morally and financially bankrupt man.

"I have no doubt they'll keep trying for their Plan-A solution, but I'm hoping they've put it on the back burner until they find out how much I know and if I've set up a dead man's switch."

"What's that?" Shirley asked.

"It's a mechanism that will allow for the immediate release of whatever information I have on them should I be killed or seriously injured. The Taliban and al Qaeda suicide bombers use it in Iraq and Afghanistan so they can get close to their targets. One of my jobs was to pop off the bastards before they could get anywhere near one of our manned checkpoints.

"I've already got my deadman's switch set up. Once word of that fact gets back to them, it should give me a bit of breathing space. Their attempt at fitting me up for a drug charge is going to backfire on them; badly. But not in a way they might expect."

"It appears you're not as stupid as you look," Shirley said.

"Oh, I don't know," I responded with a goofy look and crossed eyes. "I married Sam, didn't I?"

"Well, yes. But I have to admit that she also had me fooled; right up until a year ago. That was when I started to suspect that she might not be as faithful a wife as I'd first thought. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure."

"You and I have been working together for so long our brains must be in sync," I said. It was about the same time - perhaps a little longer - that I first started suspecting Sam of cheating. However, I kept it to myself because I didn't know how broad or deep her infidelity was. I only discovered that a little over a month ago.

"Last Friday night's performance was Kingston's way of getting back at me for disrespecting him by sending her back to him with the message that I wasn't about to accept being his cuckold. It was the public announcement of a transfer of ownership; although 'ownership' is probably the wrong word, as it appears Sam had never been mine to start with. From what I learned that night, Sam had been spreading her legs for her bosses, their clients and others since she started working for MCL and has continued to do so for the whole time we've been married."

"And Ms Brown?" Shirley asked. "How does she fit into this whole thing?"

"She's my bodyguard," I answered. "After the first attempt on my life, a friend suggested that I needed someone to watch my back. When I arrived home on Monday night, I found that he'd arranged for that person to be Ms Brown."

And that's it? There's nothing more to it?"

One of the reasons I employ Shirly is her intelligence. She is very quick to pick up on vibes and to sense tensions and things that aren't quite right.

"Well, there wasn't. But then there was," I admitted.

"And do you see a long-term relationship developing out of your lust for each other?"

"I sort of did," I acknowledged. "But I now see that that was probably a case of wishful thinking."

"So you caught the look that passed between Todd and your Ms Brown?"

"I did," I responded.

I then told her about the affair they'd had while they'd been deployed with the military police and Charlie's admission that she'd come to love his aggressive lovemaking style and his controlling manner.

"I have no doubt it'll be only a matter of days - a week at most - before they'll be bumping bellies," I said.

"But, apart from the fact that he'll be cheating on his wife - which automatically puts him in my bad books - I have no control over their actions. It's probably best that it happens now rather than later.