Unhappily Ever After Bk. 01 Ch. 04

"Having seen how they both reacted in the meeting room, even if Charlie could resist him for long enough to establish a long-term relationship with me, she would eventually surrender to him.

"I could love her 'til the cows came home - and she might even love me just as deeply - but that wouldn't stop her. She'd have to go to him. The attraction was too great. I smelt it.

"And the fact that he works for me won't make an ounce of difference to him. I saw it in his eyes. He won't give up chasing her."

"I was wondering if you had picked up on her scent," Shirley said.

"It's a pity, really. I could see that you had already developed strong feelings for her. And I could see that she had those same strong feelings for you; right up until Todd entered the room. In an instant, you became yesterday's man. And she became sexually aroused. That's what you could smell. You probably didn't notice it, but I saw his penis starting to swell in his trousers. I don't doubt that had they had the room to themselves, they would have been at it like rabbits.

"I'm afraid I must agree with your assessment of the situation," she continued. "Despite how she might feel towards you, it will not be enough to keep her from giving herself to Todd. And if it's not Todd, it will be someone like him. The only way to keep her would be for you to become even more dominant than Todd. And I don't believe you have that in you.

"Oh, I know you can be as tough as nails and as cold as ice when it's needed. But I also know how you feel about bullies and bullying."

"You're right," I said. "If I had to change to that extent to keep a woman, all I'd have would be a relationship based purely on sex. I don't want that. I want a fully-rounded relationship. One in which we can communicate on the same level and talk about things as equals. One in which we can enjoy the same recreational pursuits and laugh at the same or similar things. One in which my partner and I are on the same wavelength.

"Sure, sex is part of the mix. But it shouldn't be the only common denominator."

As we stood to return to the office, Shirley pulled me into a hug. After we returned to the office, she left me with my thoughts.

As soon as I sat behind my desk, I pulled up the photos of the two men who'd tampered with my car on my personal phone and downloaded them to my computer. I then sent them to my burner phone. After confirming that they had been received, I attached them to a text, which I sent to Jim Freeman.

"Do you know these men?" I texted. "Middle Eastern - Lebanese? - who tried to set me up with 200 grams of ice today. I'd like to identify their employer. Be ready with gap-filler.

"It appears their boss has taken up the contract. YKW."

It wasn't long before I received a reply.

"Lebanese scum. Expansion underway. It appears they and their boss, Adnan Kakim, have already disappeared. Tnx."

It appeared that Tommy's people were working overtime to keep up with the events as they happened. I didn't expect he would have found out who sent the two saboteurs so quickly. And I certainly didn't expect that he would have 'disappeared' him - them - so quickly. But that's the motto of the Commandos: Strike Swiftly.

My next text was to him.

"Urgent we talk," my message said. "No time for meet. Call you on new BP ASAP."

I then left my office, borrowed one of the company's vehicles and went in search of an electronics store. Ten minutes later, I was back in the office with a new burner phone. After tagging it with the number, 'two' - my original burner didn't need to be marked; it was number one by default - I plugged it into its charger and set it up.

Ten minutes after arriving back in my office, we'd exchanged numbers, and I told Shirley I was leaving early. Within another few minutes, I was sitting in a local park talking to Tommy. He, too, was using a different burner phone. I imagined he bought them by the gross.

My first question was about the parcel - we both knew enough not to go into specifics. He responded that its contents had arrived at their intended destination and that a sample had been sent for testing.

"Good man," I said. "I suspect I know where they came from. If I'm right, we've opened a can of worms, and we'll need to get a lid on it sooner rather than later. But having proof of its source will help us when it comes to turning the tables."

I then told him that we would discuss how I planned to do that when we got together.

My next point for discussion was about the connection between my companion and a member of my staff.

"That's my bad," he said. "It didn't even twig that your staff member was the person your companion had known in a past life. It appears to be one of those rare situations that turns out to be a true coincidence.

"Do you want me to replace your companion?"

"It's too late in the game for that," I said. "I think we're just going to have to live with it; at this stage, at least. I think it would be wise to keep them both under surveillance, though. But that job is going to have to be done by someone outside your usual crew. I don't want either of the targets to know they are being tailed.

"I don't believe there is a security risk, so a one-man detail on each of them should be enough. I really only want to know if and when they get together.

"I suggest, however, that you take a look at both their backgrounds. I don't want any more nasty little 'coincidences' popping up to surprise us in the future."

"Consider it done," Tommy said. "I have a civilian PI I've done some work for who had some good people working for him. I'm sure he'll be willing to help out. They'll be under someone's watchful eye from first thing tomorrow morning. I'll let our people know, so they don't think it's you they're following."

We ended our call by setting up the protocols for using our voice communications and arranging for him to text me an appointment time so we could discuss a few other matters tomorrow. We still needed to develop strategies for destroying Kingston and his associates. I knew what I had in mind but needed to know if Tommy's people could handle the delivery side of things or if I would have to bring in people from outside.

I was fairly confident that Jim Freeman would stand by his offer of help. I was just a bit hesitant about owing him any favours; despite him professing otherwise.

---oooBJSooo---

I had barely finished talking to Tommy when I received a call on my personal mobile phone. As I didn't recognise the number, I set the phone to record the conversation. I needn't have bothered. It was from Matt White, my young security friend from the previous Friday night. Although I had called him that night, I hadn't gotten around to setting him up in my address book. He was calling to talk about my job offer.

While I'm not a great believer in coincidences, I do believe that certain things happen at certain times for a reason. Matt's call was a case in point. In amongst everything else that was going on in my life, Charlie and Todd's disturbing encounter had made me wonder where Todd's loyalties lay.

I also wondered if I'd trusted him too much and had allowed him to take too much control over my business operations. My greatest fear was that I had given him funds and the autonomy to set up his own private army.

From what I could see, he and his people did an excellent job of protecting my assets. But were the members of his security team loyal to the company or to Todd Manyweather? I was beginning to suspect that the latter was probably the case. Matt White might just be the man to help me confirm my suspicions.

After arranging to meet with Matt at the King Alfred pub in about half an hour, I called my human resources department manager to let her know she would be receiving an application from a young Maori man in the next day or so.

"Unless he proves to be totally unsuitable," I said, "I want you to employ him as a labourer. The young man helped me out of a difficult situation a little while ago, and I'd like to repay the favour if I can. Please keep my interest in his hire to yourself, though. I don't want people to think I've gone soft. You can throw him into George Casey's crew."

I then called George to let him know about the new hire. George knew that I like to repay favours owed. It had been just such a situation that brought him into the fold not long after I had started the business.

"Give him three weeks to acclimatise," I said. "You'll know by then whether or not he's going to work out. With his security experience, if he doesn't work out as a site worker, I might be able to find a place for him in Todd's team.

"And he's Maori, you say," George commented. "A Jew would have a better chance of survival among that lot."

That was my first real inkling that I had a major problem with my security crew. I was aware that most of them were ex-military and that they had a special bond with Todd Manyweather, but I was certainly not aware of any racial antipathy among them. There was no way known that I wanted my business to have any connection with any racist or white supremacist movement.

"Why is this the first I'm hearing about this, George?" I asked.

"I thought you knew and approved," George replied.

"You can't think very highly of me then," I bit back at him, disconnecting the call.

'Fuck me, roan!' I thought. 'Does it ever stop raining?'

Pulling out my original burner phone, I sent an urgent text to Tommy Jones requesting that he look for any connection to white supremacist movements while conducting his background check on my chief of security.

"And warn your PI friend to be extremely careful when tailing him," I typed. "These people are dangerous. The more so because many of them are ex-military."

As I finished packing my laptop into the backpack that constituted my portable office, the reason for the obvious friction between Todd Manyweather and my company's accountant, Manny Finkelstein, became abundantly clear.

Manny was a large man who had grown up in South Africa. He had seen the worst that a racist society could throw at anyone and laughed at Todd's attempts to stir him. I'd seen my accountant crushing walnuts in the palms of his hands and had often thought that Todd was very lucky that Manny was a gentle giant.

I'd also seen him playing Rugby, a sport where his less-than-gentle side could escape for eighty minutes. He was not a man I would like to have coming after me when the fire in his belly had been stoked.

---oooBJSooo---

I left the park and flagged the first cab I saw moving in a direction away from the pub. Two cabs later, I arrived at the King Alfred for my meeting with Matt. Hopefully, I'd lost all my less-than-friendly tails without losing my watchers.

"What are you having?" I asked as I dropped my bag on the barstool beside him at the stand-up table he had selected.

"Just tonic water will be fine," he said. "I'm working tonight." That response added points to the ones he had already put on the scoreboard on Friday night.

After returning to the table with a large tonic for him and a large beer for me, we toasted each other. He had already slaked whatever thirst he might have had while waiting for me, but I was thirsty. Half my glass disappeared before it left my lips.

We talked about a few mundane things before we got down to business.

"Why do you want to come to work for me?" I asked him.

"Two reasons," he said. "The first is so I can escape living like a flying fox. Instead of only coming out to play after the sun had gone down, I want to return to living in the daylight.

"The second is so I can spend more time with my daughter. What I didn't tell you the other night was that when I threw my wife and former best friend out of the house on the night I caught them, that was the last I saw of either of them. She didn't come back for her clothes - he was earning some big bickies - or any of her other possessions. Nor did she come back for our daughter, who was only two at the time. She simply abandoned us both.

"I started divorce proceedings twelve months after she'd left, and six months later, we were no longer married. But she still had a year to dispute the distribution of our assets and claim custody of our child. She never laid claim to anything, and the courts eventually awarded me full custody of Cheree.

"I couldn't manage to work and look after my daughter on my own, so we moved back in with my widowed mother. My father had been killed in an industrial accident a couple of years earlier, and the insurance payouts had allowed her to pay off the mortgage on their home. It also gave her enough to get by for the rest of her life. But she was lonely.

"My mother took on the role of mother for Cheree, which suited her down to the ground. It also freed me up to go back to work. Unfortunately, the only work I could find was providing security at festivals, gigs and functions like the one you attended last Friday. Cheree and I hardly get to see each other.

"I'd been studying part-time for my business degree and was about two-thirds of the way through when the shit hit the fan. With all the night work, I haven't been able to get back to my studies. Hopefully, that would change if I were to get a daytime job.

"Cheree is now six and is in second grade at school. But the only time we get to spend together is for a few short hours between when I get up to go to work and when it's time for her to go to bed. Even weekends are shot because that's when I get most of my work.

"I try to make Sunday our day, but that doesn't always work out.

"Looking at it objectively, I recognise that the body-building thing is only a way for me to work off my anger at what Cheree's mother did to us."

Matt's story was difficult to hear. But it made me glad that Sam and I hadn't started a family. I would hate to have the additional stress of raising a couple of children while trying to get a handle on everything else that was going on around me. Every time I learned more about this young man, he put more points on the scoreboard.

"Assuming you get through the interview process with my HR manager. How soon could you start work?" I asked.

"The next day," Matt responded. "I'm employed on a contract basis, and I work for two or three security agencies. I submit an invoice to each for the hours I've worked, and they pay me within a few days. All I have to do is let them know I'm no longer available."

"So, if you got the nod after your interview tomorrow, would you be available to start work on Thursday?"

"Yes, I guess I would."

"Okay," I said. "You've managed to get your security licence, so I'll take it as read that there's nothing in your background that will raise its ugly head when HR does its background check."

"No, Sir."

"Good," I said. "If everything goes well, you'll be put on George Casey's crew. He's a tough boss, but he'll help you overcome the hurdles you'll face during your acclimatisation period if he sees some potential in you. You'll have to work hard to earn his respect and to give him a reason to help you, though.

"There will only be four people in the company who will know of a connection between us: you, me, George and the HR manager. I wish it were just you and me, but I had to bring the other two in to get you on board. I don't want it to go beyond that number, however, so keep it to yourself.

"The reason for that secrecy is that, while you will be learning the ropes - and acquiring the other benefits we spoke about on Friday night - I want you to act as my eyes and ears on the job sites. Without making it obvious, I want you to keep an eye out for anything that doesn't look kosher.

"I've got a sneaking suspicion that stuff is walking off the sites. I also believe it's happening with the collusion or active involvement of the security team members.

"Just remember. Eyes and ears only. I don't want you to become physically involved. I need you to gather intelligence. If I'm right, these are very dangerous people. Oh, and I should warn you, they won't like you because of your skin colour. So keep your mouth shut and your temper under control.

"I know it will be hard to walk away when they want you to stand your ground and take them on. But remember what I showed you last Friday night. You're not ready for such a fight yet. Whenever you're in a situation where you feel like you're behaving like a coward, think about your daughter. She needs her father. Just walk away.

"Having said that, I don't expect you to do this additional work for free. In addition to the minimum wage you'll be earning as a labourer, I want you to submit an invoice for thirty-eight hours each week as a consulting health and safety auditor - OHS Consulting or something similar. Bill me for those hours at forty-five dollars per."

I saw his eyes wide in surprise.

"What?" I asked. "Not enough?"

"Too much," he said. "I'm only paid thirty-two dollars an hour as a contract security guard."

"Yes," I acknowledged. "But they don't want you to play at being something you're not. I'm paying you extra to play the coward; which is something I know you could never be. Had you been a coward, you would never have followed me down into that carpark the other night.

"Just remember that. It doesn't matter what others might think about you. You and I know that any cowardice you might display is only an act. Hopefully, there will come a time when you will be able to show the truth to your detractors. But you'll have to keep your personal feelings in check until that time comes.

We spent another few minutes talking about his upcoming interview. I also referred him to a boxing gym I frequent, suggesting that it would be the place for him to start remodelling his body and his mind. It was also a good place for us to meet up to pass on information.

I suggested that he pick up a burner phone so we had an emergency communication channel.

"Text only," I said to him as he prepared to leave. "Just send me a text saying, OHS, on the number you have for me, and I'll acknowledge it from my burner. That will be our contact link from then on. Don't forget to scrub the original call once contact has been made. My burner number is to be the only number to be stored in your pre-paid.

"Bill me for the phone on your first invoice."

As soon as Matt had left, I texted Charlie asking her to bring her car into town to pick me up at the King Alfred. I told her we'd eat in town.

"On my way," she texted back.

Almost as soon as I'd finished texting, Brad walked in the door. It wasn't unexpected. This was his after-work local, after all.

"You're working late," I said as he dropped onto the stool that had so recently been occupied by Matt White.

"It's been a long day." He replied. "It started out badly, then you paid me a visit. It turned to shit from there. But what else is new?

"Are you on your own? Or are you waiting for someone?"

"Yes, and yes," I answered before leaving to get us both a beer.

"Yes, I'm on my own. And yes, I'm waiting for Charlie to pick me up," I said as I deposited the two large beers onto the table and resumed my seat.

I then told him about the attempted fit-up with the drugs and how Todd had managed to turn the tables on the police.

"You have the luck of the Devil," Brad said. "That's twice now that you've avoided their traps."

"Luck doesn't have much to do with it," I said. "As soon as they pulled that cuckolding stunt and the attempted ambush last Friday night, I knew I'd had a target pinned to my back. That's when my survival instincts kicked in." I didn't tell him about my watchers. Nor did I say anything about the close call he and I had had the previous evening.