Dark Secrets

by Doug Pountain

  “I have only been to Benidorm once on a plane, and that was years ago, and then I met that bastard who ruined my life. But he will pay for it as will his sister, but that’s something for me to look forward to in the future, a sort of prize, but right now this is my life and my time with my rules. I really will kill that fucking heap of shit”.

  CHAPTER 9

  The time past very quickly for Joyce as she watched a film and had another drink before she too opted for a little sleep, and in what seemed like no time at all the stewardess was bringing round fresh warm towels and orange juice and any kind of snacks that where requested. Graham and David decided on cheese on toast, were as Carol and Joyce chose something lighter, toast and marmalade. The aircraft slowly descended into JFK on a cold and wet evening, and being First Class they exited the plane first. As Joyce made her way downstairs from the upper deck and walked through the door, she turned and looked at the other passengers who were in the economy section and realised how tired they all looked after spending seven hours in an uncomfortable seat and eating stodge from a plastic tray for their meals.

  As they entered the very light and airy and also very busy arrivals hall, all the Premier customers were escorted to a separate area to await their baggage before passing through U.S. Immigration, “Joyce don’t forget to say you are here on holiday, whatever you do don’t mention business” and she nodded her head in agreement. It was only a very short time later before the carousel produced their bags, and with their luggage now on their trolleys the journey through Immigration was swift. The group were soon outside the terminal where Graham had already arranged for a limousine to pick them up and take them to the hotel.

  Joyce looked on as they drove through Queens and into Manhattan, she was mesmerised by the number of cars going in all directions and the constant sounding of car horns, the buildings were so tall and yet it appeared that the lights were on in every room, she really was so excited.

  “The Hotel has an Italian Restaurant and so we will have a proper meal there and hopefully Carl and Roger will meet us there later, but knowing those two they will also come for some food especially if I am paying”. Said Graham.

  “How does anyone find their way around this place, there are so many roads”. Said Joyce as she tried to take it all in.

  “It’s really quite simple, what you have to remember is that Avenues go up and down and Streets go across, so you can’t really get lost”. Replied David with a smile knowing it wasn’t as simple as it sounds.

  Eventually the car pulled up outside of the Hotel and a porter came to open the door and help everyone out of the limousine and take care of all the luggage while the group made their way to the reception desk, and while Graham and David checked them in Carol said to Joyce.

  “I meant to ask you, did you sleep with David the other night at the house, and if you did what was it like”?

  “No I slept in the bed while David made do with the chair”. She replied.

  “Oh that’s a shame, I was desperate to find out what he is like in bed”. Replied Carol as Graham came over with the keys.

  “Look I have got you a room with two singles beds, I wanted it to appear as if we were just two couples, is that all right? He asked Joyce.

  “Yes that’s fine unless David starts to snore”.

  “I have also booked a table for six in an hour, and so I thought we would shower and change and that will give the others time to get here and then you can meet them properly”.

  The porter escorted them from the ornate marbled entrance hall of the hotel, and the lift took them all swiftly to the 14th floor. David and Joyce’s room looked out onto Maddison Avenue.

  “David, come quickly and look, you can see the Empire State Building from the window”.

  “So it’s still there then? It was in the same place the last time I was here”.

  “Oh don’t be such a spoil sport”. She replied.

  “I am sorry I didn’t mean to ruin the moment, I can see you really are very excited”.

  “I am very excited and it’s also making me feel very sexy too, but I think the moment has gone now”. Said Joyce.

  “No no, don’t lose the moment, I think the empire state building is such a wonderful sight, let me look out of the window and see it too”. David quickly replied.

  “Now you are taking the mickey out of me”. And David put his arms around her and kissed her neck.

  “Look, if you do that one more time I will make you undress me and force me to make love, what do you say to that”?

  David kissed her neck again several more times before he move his hands further down her body and very gently squeezed her bottom, this was one of Joyce’s most erogenous zones and she sighed with delight. He unzipped her dress and it slowly fell to the floor and a second later it was accompanied by her bra. She lay on the bed quite happily while David undressed completely before he kissed her from her feet up, finally reaching her knickers where he spent several minutes kissing her vagina through her pants before he finally removed them, Joyce was by now very excited and moved on top and made love to David as he fondled her ample breasts and stroked her now very erect nipples before they both finally climaxed very happy with themselves.

  “Look at the time, said Joyce and we have still got to have a shower yet”.

  “Well that will take me no more than 5 minutes, but I expect you will need at least an hour”. Said David as Joyce threw a pillow at him before they both quickly showered and changed and seconds later there was a bang on the door.

  “Are you two ready yet because I am famished”? It was Carol chasing them up.

  “Yes we are just coming, we will see you down stairs. Carol are you very dolled up”?

  “No, I have just put on some jeans”.

  “Oh well in that case I will too. Joyce opened her case, I hope these jeans are not too creased”. And she to put them on and stood looking at herself in the mirror.

  “Wow look at your arse in those, shall we skip dinner and go for full sex again”?

  “No we will not, I want to meet Carl and Roger, come on let’s go”.

  They made their way downstairs and into the bar, and seconds later they were joined by two very tall well-dressed men who were also very good looking, Carol ran to them and kissed them both, while Graham and David and the two men shook hands and then shared a group man hug. “Let me introduce you to Joyce”. Said Graham, before Carl was the first to step forward.

  “Now you can see that I am much more handsome than the others, and if you would like to see my particulars in private I am available for consultations, oh, and by the way none of us do Political Correctness, we are all mates here”.

  “Well that’s good because I won’t take offence at Sexist remarks if you are my mate”. She replied.

  He kissed her on both cheeks and told her how beautiful she looked. Now Roger moved forward and being half Italian he knew exactly how to beat Carl at a greeting. He bowed and held her hands before kissing each one in turn, he then held her in his arms and spoke to her in Italian, and telling her that she was as beautiful as the stars in the sky and how he would like to see her naked and make love to her in every position possible all night long, and for the first time Joyce blushed as he translated his welcome into English. David smiled. “That’s the trouble with Wop’s, they can only charm”. And they had a friendly tussle.

  “Men never really grow up do they? It’s like going out with ten year olds when they all get together. You wouldn’t believe they are all a bunch of crooks would you”? Said Carol.

  Joyce was so lit up with the occasion and it showed on her face and in her eyes, these people would die for each other as would she for her friends. Here she was in New York and about to eat in this very Posh Hotel with true friends who didn’t care about her past, they just wanted her for who and what she was. There was no pretence here, what you see is what you get, and this was how Joyce was now going to live her life, yes, she would play a part and be whoe
ver she was required to be to do her job, but deep down inside she was still Joyce but also a killer.

  They were very soon escorted to a table by the Head Waiter, and he described all the special dishes of the day that were not shown on the extensive menu, and he left them alone to ponder their choice of food as the wine waiter arrived. Let’s have bubbly to celebrate being all together again as it doesn’t happen very often, and also to welcome Joyce to our gang of criminals who are allowed to break the law and get away with it. Ten minutes later with their choices made, Carl said.

  “Right let’s talk business. I told you about the upstate meeting with Aslanov and the Senators, well I am now being told that it was much bigger than just a hello. Apparently there was a Russian diplomat and some senior military men, and wait for it, Senator Dixon”.

  “Is he the one who is calling for much closer ties with Russia”? Said Carol.

  “He is, but he also secretly has grand designs on the White House”. Replied Carl.

  Well the President is not the most well liked that the Americans have had, and the rumour still persists that he is considering taking back Crimea from the Russian’s for the Ukraine, and also remember we still have North Korea, and that could certainly be a nuclear threat that he has pondered on several times already”. Said Roger.

  “Your right, he is a very difficult man to assess, but he is still the President put there by the people”.

  “Carl, in your opinion what is this looking like”? Asked Graham.

  “Well we know that the two billion that was in the Lucerne account has now gone and then suddenly the amount of activity of Aslanov and the Senators increases, so there is definitely a link. My personal opinion is that they plan to take out the President and replace him with Dixon, I don’t know how, but that is just the feeling I have.” This statement silenced the group completely.

  “What about the American secret service”? Asked David, I am more than surprised they don’t appear to know or be doing anything”.

  “The problem with most of the agencies here, is that they don’t talk to each other, they are really only interested in getting one over on each other, they are patriotic obviously, but they are also very interested in their own personal glory. But remember you can buy a lot of glory with the sort of money we are talking about, and so it is a good job they didn’t get all of that ten billion, but I guarantee they have access to much more than that, you have to remember that amount of money is just peanuts to the Americans. But our main problem is knowing who we can trust, replied Graham and that includes their security services, so let’s be careful”.

  “There are only 6 people in the world I trust and 5 are at this table, the only other one is Sir Richard Baxter at MI5, and so I think I need to call him and tell him what we know. But I am also of the opinion that the opposition will also know in the next few days that we are here and I am certain they would like to speak to us”.

  Graham sat silently with his drink as he pondered the group’s next move. “Look, Roger and David will go upstate tomorrow and telephone the Russian Embassy from up there, and that will stop them tracking us too closely, I want you to leave a message for Aslanov. They will obviously deny all knowledge of him, but say you want him to call you in the next fifteen minutes regarding an Eight billion dollar investment. Have you got spare mobiles”?

  “Yes, about six of them”. Carl replied.

  “Right, give him the fifteen minutes and if there isn’t any contact dump the phone, and if he does call you, which I think he will, tell him you will deal with him only if he calls off the hit and cancels the contract on us, that’s if he wants his money back that is”.

  “I want to know everything about him, where he eats, where he goes for entertainment, in fact I need to get into this man’s head, he has a plan and I want to know what it is. Now let’s eat together as friends should, because I believe that tomorrow we start to turn this job back in our favour. We are not going to run anymore, but we need Aslanov to think we are sleeping with him, even going to the toilet with him, and that we know his every move in advance”.

  Just then one of Grahams phones beeped, “Well well, I didn’t expect that”.

  “Why, what is it”? Asked Carl.

  “I have just had a text from Sir Richard telling me that the American Ambassador in London is travelling back to the States tomorrow in secret. Richard has asked me to meet him at the Airport, and also Richard has also informed him of everything we know, the Ambassador is an old and trusted friend of Richard’s”.

  “Don’t forget Graham that he won’t come through the arrivals terminal, he will be picked up on the tarmac”. Said Carol.

  “Apparently hat’s all taken care of, Richard wants Joyce and I to go into Times Square tomorrow morning at 7am and stand by the Police booth and a car will pick us up and take us to the Meeting”.

  “Well that’s still not going to change our other plans”. Said Carol. David and Roger can drive upstate and Carl and I can watch the Russian Embassy rear entrance from Carl’s car”.

  “That sounds like a good plan, let’s get this bastard looking over his shoulder, and maybe then we can find out exactly what’s happening”.

  Joyce’s head was buzzing, so this is what it is like to do a real job, a secret job she thought. Here she was, the frightened abused girl from Leicester now involved with possibly the inner workings of another country, and now also going to meet the U.S. Ambassador, who it appeared was now very concerned about his country. This was also bearing in mind that the information he had been given by Sir Richard was obviously serious enough to make him return home. But he also trusted our information enough to want to speak to us first before speaking to his own Security Services which would point to him having his own serious doubts and reservations regarding confidential information and security.

  Joyce looked at everyone with a little trepidation. “May I say that so far we have not discussed Aslanov’s Daughter, Cathy or the Italian, Fermi”?

  Roger leaned forward, “I have his address and Carl and I are going there after dinner to have a look around, that’s assuming he is not at home of course”.

  “What a good idea”. Said Joyce.

  Carol turned to everyone. “I am still very unsure as to how Aslanov gets out and about, bearing in mind he is not supposed to be in the country anyway, but as always if you know the right people and have the money then you can do anything. But on the surface it would appear that this apparent corruption is getting far deeper into the fabric of security and politics, but again that’s nothing new for America”.

  Even though the group were a little jet lagged they ate and drank together discussing all the finer details of their plan.

  “You do realise that Aslanov, no matter what he says is not going to take the contract off you”.

  “I fully realise that, but I want him in the open, he is the key to everything and I now realise that Fermi is just a go between who thinks he is much bigger than he actually is. He is just a pimp, a throwback to the time of the real mobsters like Al Capone, he is just a thief and murderer. Aslanov is the brains, but I also still believe that Mother Russia is involved somewhere in this, and when Fermi has served his purpose he will be history”.

  Roger looked along the table at his friends, “Graham is quite right about Fermi, I know the families and they are not stupid, this is their country and I believe they could be an ally. I realise that sounds kind of silly, but these organisations are enormous now, they are part of the very fabric of American society, alright some parts of their structure depends on corruption and the weakness of others, but they also have access to some very important people including politicians so let’s not close that door, you have to remember some of my relatives work for them”.

  Carol was by now starting to show the exertions of the day, “Well I am going to bed now, I need some real sleep. Carl I will see you in the morning about 9am if that’s alright”?

  “Looking forward to sitting in a ca
r with you”. He replied.

  “Joyce, book an alarm call for 6am, and Roger and Carl do what you have to do later. But I really wish I could track Aslanov’s phone, I will have to do that later, good night everyone and good hunting for tomorrow. But I must admit that I am still very concerned about Fermi’s daughter who is now a widow and Aslanov’s Daughter, those two could be loose cannons and so be aware of the consequences”. Said Graham.

  The friends all shook hands and hugged, “It was very nice to meet you Joyce, and don’t forget I am always available should you require any personal attention”.

  Roger now stepped forward and spoke to her in Italian before kissing her goodnight. The others made their way upstairs and to their rooms where David and Joyce had one final drink from their mini bar. David don’t mention sex because I am knackered and I have an early start tomorrow.

  “I am pleased you said that because I can hardly keep my eyes open”. He replied, goodnight”.

  “Joyce lay there for a few minutes in the dark, she could see the blue lights on the top of the Empire State Building through the window as she gradually drifted off to sleep with her mind on many things.

  CHAPTER 10

  The telephone rang at Joyce’s bedside and she quickly picked it up. “Good morning Ma’am, this is your early morning call, its 6am” thank you she replied and replaced the receiver.

  David was still fast asleep having heard nothing, well at least I can have a shower in piece she thought. By 6.15 she was dressed and putting on her makeup when there was a knock at the door.

  “Are you ready”? Asked Graham,

  “I certainly am”. She replied.

  “Let’s get a coffee and a muffin and I have called a cab to be here at 6.45 so we have got just enough time”.

  “Have you heard from Carl and Roger yet”? She asked.

  “I have, but there was someone there at Fermi’s apartment last night and so they didn’t go in, but we all have things to do today, so that job may have to wait a little longer”.