And that was the night Rubin met Laura Blackwall, and Duncan met Nicola Knight. They had been a good distraction for both men at a time when a good distraction was well needed...
16.
Gasoline Ally..
Soon enough August was upon them and they had got a month's discharge leave which meant they had a month before both Duncan and Rubin where due to finish their twelve years of service. Duncan and Rubin had spent the last few years making contacts. Larry (Lamb) Simpson was one chap who was talented like them. He had a job lined up in one of the big insurance companies in London.
One of their first jobs upon leaving was to be an armed escort for Lamb, and a nice consignment of jewels heading for the Saudi’s. It wasn’t exactly the kind of work they wanted to do, but it paid extremely well, and it could go into the ‘pot’ for their goal of renting an office and purchasing the necessary equipment they needed to operate.
They had also branched into up close and personnel security, again they saw this as a means to an end, and it paid the bills. They found the work somewhat tedious, but with the money that was being thrown at them, they couldn’t exactly refuse. From September 1997 to 1999 they worked nonstop. Rubin thought ‘all work and no play made ‘Rubin’ a very dull boy’, much to Duncan’s amusement. Over the two years Rubin had started to compile a little black book. In it contained the names of various ladies he had met over the years. Rubin would look through it at every city they visited. Yes Rubin had ladies everywhere, and one that would service his every appetite it seemed. Duncan would watch Rubin flicking through the book on the flights. A smile would form on his face as he read through it, up-dating his various notes he had on them. Duncan managed to manhandle the said book off him on one return flight. Rubin was not a happy bunny as Duncan prized the book out of his fingers. Trying to read it while Rubin, fought to retrieve it.
“Don’t know why you’re worried,” he said throwing the book back to Rubin, having seen he had wasted time and effort, much to Rubin’s amusement. “You’ve written it in code,” as Rubin roared laughing slapping his hand on his thigh, much to Duncan’s annoyance. “But why the code?” Duncan asked perplexed but amused at Rubin’s antics.
“That’s easy, my good man,” as he finally stopped smacking his knee laughing. “Now I have your brain thinking what do my codes mean, and I know you Dunc,” he sighed as he thumbed through it, “your brain is now cogging, I can hear the wheels turning in your head,” and he pointed to his head and swirled his finger as he spoke. “You don’t actually care about what I’ve got in here, now for you it’s the not knowing what it says which is eating at you,” and he smiled returning his attention back into the book.
Duncan sat calmly back into his chair; unhappy due to the fact the Rubin was quite correct. He didn’t give a hoot what the contents were. He had to bloody know what it meant. He signalled over to Rubin, his arm extended, he lifted two fingers beckoning Rubin to hand him over the book, like Bruce Lee, signalling his opponent to attack. Rubin smiled to himself, Duncan could be so predictable at times. It was good to see Duncan back to his old self. Their names were not to be mentioned. He had seen Duncan read that letter, a year to the day, when he had first received it. That letter had kept Duncan on the straight and narrow. They had a few nights when he was merry, but, Duncan never slipped back into that hole, although around those dates, Rubin made sure that he shadowed Duncan, and didn’t give him a minute to himself. The wee black ‘bookie of nookie’, which Duncan had deciphered at a glance, was pulled out. And a busy week was had by both chaps.
By September 1999, they had rented a lovely swanky office in Park Lane. They had hired a pretty receptionist, with Rubin’s promise, of not talking to her in any shape or fashion in a personal way, only for business purposes, full stop. Rubin was made to reluctantly agree before the interviews commenced. He didn’t speak to Duncan for one whole day, insisting on sending him notes written in Morse code. By the first hour of Sarah’s working day, Rubin had walked past her desk a minimum of eight times. Duncan was getting bored at deciphering notes like ‘You are a wanker, to ‘you are a C U next Tuesday,’ and so on. Although Duncan did find it amusing to see Rubin return to his desk and scribble these notes furiously before they were paper planed onto his desk. Mind you, to be fair to Rubin, Sarah was a complete knock out. Duncan had hired her deliberately for all the wrong reasons, and that was to provoke Rubin, he had chosen very well, even if he did say so himself. By lunch time he had caught Rubin sitting on the corner of her desk, as he chatted to Sarah, who was obviously smitten with him, as her elbow’s leaned on the desk holding her head, while she swooned at his patter.
Yes, he had to hand it to Rubes, she had only been here since nine am, and by one o’clock Rubin was taking her out for lunch. So much for keeping it in his pants Duncan laughed to himself and that was how the decision was made for Duncan to be in charge of all recruitment from now on, and unfortunately, with Rubin not being able to keep it in his pants, it meant that the likes of the Sarah’s in this world, could not be employed by them. I needn’t tell you, Sarah didn’t last the week, and had left by the Wednesday, well actually she was dismissed as she came into work wearing the same clothes she had the day before, which meant only one thing!! Rubin had definitely gone there. Duncan was bollocking Rubin, in the privacy of their office, giving him a good dressing down.
“Rubes seriously, you can’t be dipping your wick in the staff pool. You of all people should know about shitting on your own doorstep,” he muttered, clearly annoyed with Rubes for his fraternization with Sarah. “Seriously Rubes, you can’t be doing shit like this, we’ve worked too hard for the last couple of years doing grunt work to get this far,” he shook his head dismayed with Rubin. “I mean it Rube, no more, or you and I will fall out,” he smiled at Rubin who was looking rather sheepish after his dressing down.
“I’m sorry, I will try and be a good boy next time,” he beamed a smile at Duncan who still shook his head at Rubin. “Anyway, you set me up,” he looked over at Duncan who was now trying to look innocent and offended at Rubin’s comment. “Don’t give me that,” he laughed. “You set me up to fail,” he winked at Duncan and moved sitting back at his desk, swiftly popping his feet up on his desk as he leaned back into his chair, his hands behind his head. “Set up by my oldest friend, I didn’t stand a chance did I?” He looked over at Duncan who had also returned to his desk. “Well I didn’t, you set me up with hiring the best looking girl you could. Funny how she was exactly my type Dunc,” he winked at him knowingly.
“Well what can I say Rubes. It’s not like you resisted temptation though is it?” he laughed. “My friend you can be a tad predictable too you know,” Duncan felt good, a little self-righteous, remembering Rubes ‘Wee black bookie of nookie’ code comment.
“So I take it we’re even?” Rubin flashed Duncan a smile.
“Yes we are my good man,” he laughed back. “But you’re still on a ‘No sleeping with the employees’ rule.”
“We didn’t sleep,” replied Rubin smugly.
“Enough,” Duncan raised his hand. “Seriously Rubes, keep it in your pants from now on, I mean it.”
“Fair enough,” replied Rubin a little sheepish, but still sitting there, looking very smug with himself.
“Didn’t sleep,” Duncan looked over at Rubes shaking his head in dismay. “Seriously,” and the two chaps broke out into fits of laughter.
That week Duncan replaced Sarah, with another young lady with the name of Beth. Beth would also be a temptation to Rubin, she was definitely his type too, however, she wasn’t the typical stereo typed air head receptionist like her predecessor. Beth not only had lots of va va vroom, but had an amazing secretarial skill set. She came highly recommended by a contact, and after Duncan had completed a full security profile check on her. He was more than happy to have her start that day upon her suggestion. It was fun to watch Rubin work his charm, but to no avail. He was miffed at first, but soon got used to the quick
witted Beth, who had a snappy quick response for every one liner Rubin came out with.
By the end of the week, Rubin was more than miffed. His powers of persuasion had failed him; it was uncharacteristic of him to have failed so miserably. It left him talking to Duncan about it. Duncan tried to keep a straight face, at times it was very hard too, as it seemed Rubin was clearly upset; convinced his mojo was leaving him at the tender age of thirty-five.
“I just don’t understand Dunc, I’ve never not been able to hit one into the back of the net,” Rubin looked deep in contemplation. “Old man, I think my days with the ladies are numbered,” he looked very sullen.
Duncan of course tried to keep a straight face, while he spoke, walking over to Rubin’s desk and placing a manly hand of strength onto his friend’s shoulder to show his support,
“Old man, I think you should only be worried if you can’t get the flag to rise up the pole if you know what I mean?” and he heartily slapped his friend on the back as he retreated back to his desk, leaving Rubin, recovering from the slap and cursing at him, as he saw Duncan double over laughing.
Having Beth there meant they could be out and about, doing their thing. Over the years they had done various things in the line of work, guns for hire, to more specialized lines of work for the Ministry Of Defense, on a consultancy bases. They had one millionaire, who wanted his wife followed. Rubin being the clever chappy he was, made sure Duncan didn’t see him, as he would have been ejected from their offices in the blink of an eye. But it did feel good sending the guy out with a flea in his ear, with the ‘We don’t do that kind of work.’ Having done a number of shitty jobs over the years, those were paid exceptionally well, hence them doing them. It was nice to be able to turn down work like this. Over the years they had built up a good name for themselves as problem solvers/fixers. They worked as a team, Duncan the strategic brain, and Rubin, the brawn, and like Duncan, he was an accomplished linguist. They could blend in anywhere, to any surroundings or situation.
Life was good, they had both paid off their mortgages, and ‘Deirdre’ had been retired to Rubin’s garage, where poor ‘Betsy’ still lay. Both chaps were driving top of the range vehicles, and had both acquired various properties overseas. Yes life was good.
Why is it, when you’re on the pigs back, someone’s always there to grease the pig?
Lamb had come into their office one day looking rather worried. His attire was that of a man who slept in his clothes. Duncan never had much time for him. He found him to be a vulgar oath at the best of times, He sat there listening intently at Lamb, who was pleading with an arms folded Rubin who was standing in the front of his desk , listening to every word that was said, who shot Duncan a few looks when he heard what his comrade had to say.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do?” The man shuffled in his seat uncomfortably. “All roads are leading to me having taken the money, and my accounts have been cleaned out, my army benefits are being paid out to Theresa my ex, they have me as dead. You have to help me lads. I promise you, I have nothing to do with any of this. Someone is framing me and I want to know who it is. I still have a service revolver and believe me, they will be sorry they fucked with the wrong person.”
Both men looked at each other, and then back to Larry Simpson aka Lamb.
“Someone is after me, they have even applied for a mortgage on some property that I haven’t a clue about, but, I’ve been turned down for this mortgage due to my credit history being so appalling, and then there's money being transferred out of the company's accounts and someone is directing it all into another account - one I have no clue about. It's been there long enough to look like I took it and I just don't know what to do. They have even broken into my house and have shrunk my suits. I don’t know how they have done it, but they have.” He lifted his arms up, showing them the obvious difference in size between the two lengths of his arm. “See? Look.” He extended his legs showing the same problem, one leg was very much shorter to the other. “They have even used break and clutch fluid on my car, in like a random drive-by attack, but seeing as my car is the only one on the street?” he shook his head.
It was Duncan that stepped forward from behind his desk and walked over to the chap, whose face had turned a nice shade of red with the anger.
“So, just to make sure,” The chap nodded his head then looked at Rubin, knowing he had an ally due to them having served together. “You do NOT have a gambling problem, because that’s what it looks like to me, that you have no money so you are stealing from your company?”
“Exactly lad’s, that’s why I need your help.” He looked at Rubin. “You owe me ‘Gem’.”
He cast his eyes down, ashamed that he had pulled that card, but he was at his wits end, and felt he was left with no choice. Duncan took charge of the situation, guiding Lamb out of his seat, and to the door. He spoke while he escorted him to the elevators.
“Look, we can’t promise anything, but I will look into it, and that’s all I can promise at the moment. At the end of the day, work has to come first. But I can promise you, we will have a lookie and see what can be done, and that will even the score between you and Gem, you understand?” he said through gritted teeth.
“Got it,” the chap averted his eyes to the floor, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to pull that one out of the hat again. He extended his arm out to Duncan. “Nice to see you ‘Chopper’ sorry about that personal issue, you had a few years ago.” His eyes widened as he saw Duncan’s face in response to what he had just said, he pulled back his unshaken hand. Thankfully he was saved by the bell, when the lift doors pinged and he stepped in. Duncan stood there, and watched the doors close, before returning to his and Rubin’s office. He sat down at his desk, and stared out of the window at the view from the 22nd floor.
“Rubes, what do you make of Lambs story?”
Rubin stood there before answering his friend.
“He looked panicked to me; I would say he’s telling the truth. He has far too much to lose Dunc,”
He dragged his bottom lip under his front teeth. Duncan saw this and instantly flipped open his laptop, and started to frantically tap at the keys like a well-seasoned secretary. Rubin walked around the desk and watched over Duncan’s shoulder as he did his thing.
“Jesus Duncan, watching you do that, you make some of it look easy, I wished I had paid more attention at Uni now,” he chortled to himself.
“Well if you weren’t so busy trying to sleep with every female on campus,” his eyes remained focused on the screen, as his fingers rattled the keyboard again. “Well I’m in the Mainframe at our good friends the MOD. Nice that program installed smoothly before we finished working on the last job there. Now, this sneaky wee backdoor remote access is for us to use anytime we want, like now, without being compromised. But this isn’t like the normal access routes we normally take, and have all seeing eyes on you at all times, this is untraceable, just how I like it.”
Rubin stepped back and let Duncan to do his thing, returning to his desk. When ‘Lamb’ had first called him up, yes he had thought he was a little nuts when he first explained his situation. From what Lamb had shown him, it really did look like he was up to his neck in debt. It was amazing to see the bank statements he had previously shown him, with his bonus of thirty thousand, after brokering a deal. He even showed him the paperwork to back it up. In a few short weeks Lamb’s accounts had been put into the red, completely depleted of all funds. For a chap like Lamb to live hand to mouth as he had been doing for the last few days, it sounded quite comical, due to the fact he was known as a very extravagant man. To see him looking as dishevelled as he was today was alarming. Of course there was no way Beth was going to let him pass without his intervention. He looked and smelled terrible, but he had said that was because on a weekly basis, things had been left to fester in his office, cleverly hidden until the smells became so pungent that it would be thick enough to attach to his garments. And as for his poor state of dres
s, this of course caused a humongous amount of stress for Lamb, as he was known for spending money on an exceptional tailor based in Saville Row. Someone was definitely making Lambs life, very difficult indeed, hitting him where it hurt him, in every way.
He knew with Duncan being on the case, things would be sorted for Lamb. Yes, he felt like he did owe Lamb, his connections, and in his network. They had got to where they were now because of contacts and clients like him. Doing the things they did, was something you didn’t advertise. Plus the fact that Lamb had got him out of a very tight spot in a brothel in Germany, he never forgot a good turn and nor did Duncan.
By the end of the week Duncan had compiled a dossier on Lamb, with that, and the information Lamb had provided, like the bank statements, Duncan had quite a file. They met Lamb at his office, the two men could smell the pungent, rancid smells omitting from Lambs boxed, one windowed room as they approached it. Both men scrunched their noses in protest at the offensive smell. Lamb greeted them at the door. He still looked a sight and was still wearing the ill-fitting suits that he had no choice in wearing as he was unable to replace them.
He ushered them into his office, walking in after them and standing in the middle of the room, while Duncan moved to his desk and Rubin started a seek and find mission. In no time Rubin found a lovely festering piece of Stilton cheese. It looked like it had been there for some time, stashed behind the heating system. He pulled out the cheese, displaying it in the palm of his hand, laughing to himself.
Dragonflies The Duncan Peters Files Page 17