Dark Secrets

by Doug Pountain

  “Well they couldn’t hang him the other way up as he had been beheaded, and better still his head was nailed between his legs”.

  “That’s such a shame, I was just beginning to like him, do we know anything else Graham”?

  “Well the other marks on his body would indicate that someone had a long conversation with him before they killed him. He obviously must have told them about his conversation with you at the O2, and me by phone but they will be unable to trace my mobile because I got rid of it after my second call to him”.

  “It looks to me as though someone else knew about his dealings with the Ambassadors wife, and whoever they are we must assume that he told them about the information he gave us about the money in Lucerne. But as far as I am aware Aslanov is still in Russia, but that doesn’t mean he is not involved, but my money is now on Herr Blosch’s Father in Law. I have been told by the Security Service that about an hour before the body was found, his Father in Law telephoned Aslanov who was not very happy about the call”.

  “Hang on a minute, I have just had a text”. Said Graham. And there was a short pause in the conversation as he checked his mobile.

  “Well how about that”. He said.

  “Why what is it”? Asked David.

  “Well it would appear that the Nigerian who negotiated the loan from the World Bank in the first place has just been fished out of the Thames, did he jump or was he pushed? I am going to make a few calls before I go to bed, so come over early tomorrow David, and by then we may be able to possibly make a little more sense of it all”.

  “Alright Graham, we will see you in the morning”.

  “What did Graham want”? Asked Joyce.

  “Well it appears things are moving quite quickly, and he wants us there in the morning”. David told her, but he decided not to say anything about the murders tonight as he didn’t really know how Joyce would react to the news or even understand how this sort of brutality could be connected to her new life, so instead they just sat with their drinks with just a few candles burning in the lounge.

  “Well, did you enjoy yourself this evening”? He asked Joyce.

  “It was the best time I have ever had, and everyone was so gentle and caring, they just wanted to please each other, it was wonderful, what about you”?

  “You know Joyce I would never have realised how much fun it is watching people and changing partners, but if I were in a steady relationship I don’t think I would like to share. I mean if we were a couple I would want you for myself”.

  “Oh that’s lovely David and I love you for saying that, but let’s play that by ear shall we, so how about we go to bed and finish the night properly if you know what I mean”.

  “Joyce, are you still not wearing any nickers”?

  “Let me show you”. She replied. As David chased her into the bedroom.

  CHAPTER 6

  As usual Joyce was the first to rise on a cold and wet London morning, leaving David still snoring in bed. She made herself a cup of tea and sat on the sofa looking out of the window at the apartment opposite where the curtains were still closed, remembering all the fun of the previous evening and how exciting it was to have sex with different partners while observing and also being observed while doing so, but then her mind also reflected on what David had said to her, that if they were a proper couple in a relationship how he wouldn’t want to share, and she thought to herself. “What a beautiful thing to say”.

  She eventually finished her drink before making David a cup of coffee and taking it through to him. “Come on Mr Sleepy Head we have work to do”.

  David was never the best of risers, and by the time he was up Joyce had showered and dressed.

  “I could get used to someone bringing me a drink in bed in the morning, do you offer any other services to a man such as me”?

  “You had enough service last night, but I will as a special treat make you some toast if you are interested”.

  “Are you sure there is no other special service you offer”?

  “Maybe later, but it all depends on the day ahead and what Graham has to say, now move your arse”.

  He looked at her before he told her the full details of the previous night’s telephone conversation,

  “Look, I realise that you are trying to protect me, but I fully understand that our work is so intertwined with some of the biggest bastards on earth, and that people are bound to act in ways that have an effect other people’s lives. Greed is a terrible thing, it will eat your soul away and I know that some will kill to retain what they have, so let me play a full part in what we do. I am no longer that frightened little girl from Leicester, and I want to live my life to the limit in whatever direction that maybe. I am never going back to being dead, and I will tell you straight that at some point in the future I will kill my husband and his sister regardless of the consequences”.

  For the first time David could see the steely determination in her eyes, and he now fully realised that she had finally moved on. He knew that the instinct that is present in every person was slowly rising to the surface of this once timid and abused woman. The killer within her was now there for him to see, this was the girl that only a very short time ago had been beaten and degraded for so many years just to allow a man to control her, but not anymore. He realised that she was now using her supressed sexuality to give her the strength and confidence to overcome her fear, and she had done exactly as David had told her.

  “You say when, you say how and you say with who”. This was now her life with her rules, and God help anyone who got in her way, and David himself now looked at her with a little apprehension of his own, and as such he quickly finished his toast before he too showered and dressed.

  “We will take the car this morning as the traffic shouldn’t be too bad”.

  “Well if that’s the case it must be my turn to drive. You examined me enough last night and I didn’t hear any complaints, so give me the keys please”.

  He was understandably a little daunted by the fact that he had submitted so quickly to Joyce’s demands to take the wheel of his beloved four week old “F” Type Jaguar. They were both now ready and they made their way outside to the parking area and to David’s car. The idea appeared completely alien to him to be sat in the passenger seat as Joyce pressed the starter button, and the mighty Jaguar engine roared into life before she burst into laughter at the look of fear on David’s face.

  “I don’t really want to drive it, I just wanted to frighten the shit out of you”. And she got out of the car giggling uncontrollably. The colour in David’s face changed in seconds, Joyce couldn’t stop laughing and she had by now lost total control of herself.

  “I think I have just peed myself, but luckily I put some nickers on this morning”.

  David went over to her and she handed him the keys and he slapped her bottom, which only made her laugh even more. Eventually she managed to regain her composure as he gave her a large hug and kissed her.

  “You really had me there for a moment, he said, now let’s go and get some work done”.

  All the way there she kept looking and smiling at David, and he did his best to pretend that he hadn’t been conned in such a big way by Joyce, but he was now well aware what this beautiful young woman was starting to mean to him. She was sexy, she was very intelligent and she, unlike other women he had known now realised that she was the equal of any man, and Joyce was now starting to finally become her own person.

  David had been right, there was very little traffic on the road and within 40 minutes they arrived at docklands and made their way up to the apartment where Graham and Carol were waiting for them.

  “If we are not careful this whole operation will go tits up and I am not having that. According to my information it appears Herr Blosch assumed that his Father in Law had robbed him of the 100,000 dollars that I took from his account, and as he now had the information on the two billion dollars in Aslanov’s kitty in Lucerne, it appears that he decided to try an
d relieve him of the money himself, which as you now know ended up being a very bad decision for him”.

  “It looks as though he tried to get access to the money but couldn’t do it, but he left a trail behind that led directly back to him. Now this is where it gets both interesting and complicated. Well we know that Herr Blosch’s Father in Law is quite a nasty character, but I hadn’t realised how nasty. He is Italian, and now this is where it gets even more interesting, the latest we have is that he is from one of the families in Chicago and he really is a very nasty bastard. We think he has killed at least 12 people so far, now also including his Son in Law, Blosch, who I think had no idea just how big his Wife’s Father was in the mob. But according to U.K. Immigration there is no record of him entering the country, and Joyce you will like this a lot. Your friend at the bank, Cathy is believe it or not, the Daughter of Aslanov from his first marriage”.

  “Hang on a minute, if that’s the case then the son whose wife was killed by Aslanov for talking to the FSB in Russia must be Cathy’s Half-Brother, have I got that right”? Asked Joyce.

  “That’s exactly right, which would appear to indicate that the American and Russian Mafia are working together, and it looks on the surface like it was the Italians who did the dirty work and bribed the Nigerian bank official for the information on the account details of the ten billion dollars. But the Russians are the ones who are moving it, but this money is for something very specific, but as yet I have no idea what”. Said Graham.

  “Look Joyce this is starting to get very heavy, and so I am going to pull you out of the bank and let someone else worry about retrieving the money, I am not going to put any of my team at risk”. But this statement served only to raise the hackles on Joyce’s neck.

  “So you are willing to let them get away with the money, and never mind about a murder that we could have been responsible for, don’t forget it was us who exposed Herr Blosch. I know he got greedy, but his death is down to us. I want to go in there tomorrow, I have worked bloody hard getting ready for this and now you tell me it’s over, well no fucking way, I want to be there when their plan goes tits up and not ours”. And they all looked at Joyce before Carol joined in the conversation.

  “I have to agree with Joyce, we need to see this thing through or our reputation goes down the drain. We have spent years getting to the point where we are now and we have some of the best talent outside of the Security Services, we can do what they can’t, and so I am going to freeze my arse off tomorrow in the back of the van in the car park whether you like it or not.” And Graham was astounded by the determination of the women,

  “What’s your opinion David”?

  “Well I have to agree with them also, we have come this far and I believe, as you do that this money has a special purpose which as yet we are not aware of, there is something very deep and very sinister going on here and I myself would like to know exactly what it is. We are definitely not being told the full story I am certain of that, and I think the Americans have a very different agenda to our own country. I also believe that we are being used to cover up something, if this money were to go completely astray, then they can blame the U.K. for the fuck up”.

  “Alright then, if everyone is happy then we will carry on exactly as planned tomorrow, but I am going to do something I have never done before. I am going to bring in Roger and Carl. I don’t like using all the team on one job, but I think this one calls for it”.

  “That’s a good idea, Carl is already in America isn’t he”? Said Carol.

  “Yes he is”. Replied Graham.

  “May I ask who they are”? Said Joyce.

  “They are the other two members of our team, and fortunately Carl, as I said is already working on a project for the U.S. Treasury. He is with their permission trying to hack into their systems”.

  “I don’t understand”. Said Joyce.

  “Let me explain in more detail. Their people set up the security protocols on their different financial systems and its Carl’s job to hack into it and bypass their security, and so far with great success. It’s something we do for different companies and governments when they want to beef up or test their systems and if it’s one thing Carl really enjoys, it’s beating the Yanks”.

  “Now you are starting to understand Joyce more of what we do, and as time goes by and you progress you will also learn how to do many different things. Some are legal and some certainly not, but that’s what we get paid for. And again as time goes by you will find that your skills will develop way beyond your imagination, but that’s for another day, let’s concentrate on tomorrow and the job in hand”.

  “So David, if Cathy diverts any money it will definitely go into that special government account using the software mods that are now installed on the banks systems”. Asked Joyce.

  “Yes it will, but she will have no idea until someone checks the funds in Lucerne, and then the shit will fly, but I am still very curious to know what the money is actually for, I am certain that it has a specific purpose”. Replied David.

  “Where is Roger at the moment”? Asked David.

  “He is still in France, but he is bored out of his skull. He keeps telling the bank exactly what they need to do to prevent being hacked, but then they do the complete opposite and then it takes him seconds to break down the work they have done, he really is pissed off”.

  “I will phone him now and send him on to Rome, he is half Italian so he will be more than happy about going, plus the weathers far better anyway, and he already knows a few people there so we may be able to get a grip on things from that end”. Said Graham.

  David stood silently in thought before he said. “I still have a strange feeling that someone here has more information, and that civil servant was also very concerned about us having any contact with the PMs Office. I have a thought that he could be operating at well above his pay grade and we are being steered away from what is really happening just to get hold of the remaining money, I think it should now be our turn to lead, let’s throw them a real wobbler”.

  “What do you suggest”? Asked Graham.

  “Well instead of the money, which we assume will be transferred tomorrow, going into that special account and then it’s totally out of our control, why don’t we put it in our own account and let’s see who actually comes after us”.

  “What a good idea, even if it is a little dangerous”. Said Graham. But this conversation was very worrying to Joyce and also very confusing.

  “Right Joyce, carry on tomorrow exactly as before but at some stage I will need you to divert Cathy’s attention for a few moments while I control her terminal, is that alright with you”?

  She looked at David for a moment before she replied. “Yes, I can do that very easily”.

  Graham picked up the phone and contacted Roger in France and told him what to do. “Put him on speaker phone, I would like to say hello”. Said David.

  “Long time no see, how are you Roger”?

  “I have never been so fucking bored in my life, the French are so slow, and every day they have a two hour lunch, then eventually when they get back they are all pissed, and so then we have a meeting until it’s time to finish, what a bunch of tosser’s”.

  “I understand from Carol that you are looking after our new young lady, and she also tells me that she is red hot, so keep your hands off her until I meet her, she is bound to prefer me anyway, because you are just too ugly”.

  “Can I have a say in all this”. Said Joyce. As she joined in the conversation.

  “He is looking after me very well, but I am so looking forward to meeting you”.

  “Well that’s alright then”. He replied.

  “I bet David doesn’t let you drive his new car though”. Said Roger. Which Joyce found highly amusing.

  “Are you going to fly to Rome”? Asked Carol.

  “No I will drive, otherwise I won’t have any transport, send me an email please Graham and let me know what’s happening and I will re
ad it when I arrive. It will take the French a few days before they even notice that I am not there anyway, speak to you all later when I arrive”. And the line went silent.

  “I will send the French an email telling them he will be away for a few days, which should keep them happy”. Said Carol.

  “Right, that’s Roger underway and so now I will speak to Carl, he loves a challenge and he will do anything to score a point over the Americans, let’s see if he can find out anything at that end. I will give him a few more hours yet as he will still be in bed”.

  Carol turned to Joyce with a reassuring smile.

  “So now you see what we can do Joyce, because we are small everyone who we carry out work for knows us personally and also that any information we get in an operation is always very secure and totally confidential. Small is beautiful”.

  “Graham knew all three men before he set them on, and so he trusts them with his life. They all use different identities whenever they are working, just for their own safety, and now we have you. We did have one other man a few years back but he disappeared while he was working and it was after that when Graham had a price put on his head. At the time we were tracking a man in Africa who we were told by the South African Authorities was dealing in conflict diamonds. We got very close to him but someone tipped him off and then our man was never heard of again and it was then the dealer took out a contract on Graham, but David got to the dealer first”.

  “I assume you mean David killed him”. Said Joyce.

  “You assume correct, David is one of the best agents on the planet. He has had endless of offers of work from all over the world, but we are a team, that’s how we work, and that’s what protects us and keeps us safe”.

  The fact that David had previously killed someone came as no surprise to Joyce, the more she knew, the more she understood, and the more she wanted this life. The thought of death can be a massive boost to keeping you alert and alive. She spent the rest of the day with Carol and David as they started to teach her the ins and outs of hacking.