Out of control

by John Dysart

  “We now know that Dugain orchestrated the plot against Liam and Bioscope and he is blackmailing you to keep you quiet. Both of these things are reprehensible. Blackmail is vicious and industrial espionage, in my book, is simply theft. The trouble is that what was done isn’t a crime and, even if it was, we can’t prove it.

  “We also know that he is buying the shares of Bioscope for some reason or other. Again, no crime. It’s reasonable to assume that he might try to buy more to get control. I presume that, if he approached you, you wouldn’t sell?”

  “I certainly don’t want to sell but, to be perfectly honest, if he threatened to use the photograph, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  I hadn’t thought of that but I could understand his predicament.

  “Let’s not worry about that until it happens, or if it happens.”

  “What about the death of the girl?” asked Antoine. “Could the motive for that be that he was getting rid of all the links so that nobody could connect him with the theft of the information. And the car accident you mentioned could have been for the same reason.”

  “No. I don’t think so. I think that’s the work of a man called Macek.”

  “Who’s he?”

  So I told him all we knew about him and how we thought that it was a separate story about girls and drug trafficking.

  He mulled this over.

  “Did you say that this girl had once worked for LyonPharma in France?” I nodded.

  “And then she went to work with this man Macek in Edinburgh?”

  I nodded again.

  “Don’t you think there’s a possibility that you might be wrong?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that the two are somehow linked?”

  “You mean that Dugain is a part of this trade in girls and he’s using the company as a vehicle to set up a drugs and prostitution network?”

  “And he’s feeding girls from Romania through the company into France. He’s running two businesses at the same time.”

  I tried to finish off his reasoning.

  “And he’s had to act to protect each of his businesses. He gains control of Bioscope, either to get at their research data or, quite simply, to prevent them from making a complaint and he arranges the disposal of the girl to protect the drug business.”

  “It’s possible. He could be the brains behind it all or he could be being used by the guys back in Bucharest.”

  I mulled this over. It had a certain logic to it and it was a fit with what we knew.

  “If that is the case how in the hell do we prove it?”

  Then I had another thought.

  “You said that you thought that Dugain was Romanian. Irina worked for LyonPharma in France and in Scotland. And I heard from Brian Dawson, the ex-Sales and Marketing director in Edinburgh, that there is a new girl in Edinburgh following on from Irina who has also worked for a while in Lyon. I wonder if we could find out if LyonPharma was the first job each of these girls had when they arrived in France.”

  Antoine emptied the remains of the bottle into our glasses and said “So where do we go from here?”

  I got up and wandered around a bit. I think better on my feet. An inkling of an idea was forming in my head.

  “We do this. You try to find out, discreetly, Dugain’s origins. Is he indeed originally from Romania? And if you could find out if LyonPharma was Irina Vasilescu’s first job in France that would be useful. I’ll ask Pierre to go to Bucharest and talk to Irina’s parents and try to find out what the name of the outfit is that recruited her and, if possible, the names of the guys who run it. I can get their address from Inspector Ross in Stirling.

  “And we’ll see what that gives us.”

  The whole thing was delicate because Dugain had that damned photograph and we had to ensure that he couldn’t use it.

  “Do either you or Pierre have any friends reasonably highly placed in the police in Lyon? Someone you can trust?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “If I can organise it that Dugain is hauled in for questioning could he raid LyonPharma’s offices and get possession of the camera with the original photographs and agree to destroy it? You’d have to tell him why. Do you know him well enough to ask that?”

  “If I give him an idea of what’s behind it all I think that would be possible.”

  “I would need his name and phone number so that I can give it to Ross. He would contact him, tell him what’s happened and make the request.”

  “I’ll talk to him and let you know. But what have you got in mind?”

  “Using Dugain’s weakness - but something else needs to happen first.” Antoine looked puzzled but I didn’t explain any further. He’d probably think I was crazy.

  I had been reviewing in my mind all I knew about the man and had an idea.

  Chapter 17

  I was back home in Letham by late afternoon the next day.

  We had had a very pleasant dinner ‘à trois’, marred only by the difficulty I had had to begin with, in the presence of Madeleine, as images of the photograph kept coming into my mind – a thing which I suppose was only natural. But I soon managed to wipe them out. Before leaving the next morning I asked them both not to mention to Pierre that I had visited them. Antoine readily agreed although Madeleine was a bit puzzled by the request.

  The following morning, as soon as I had breakfasted I called Inspector Ross who had no problem giving me the address of Irina’s parents. I phoned Pierre and asked him if he fancied a trip to Bucharest. I explained what I wanted him to do - discreetly – and he agreed to go. He’d report back to me as soon as he could.

  I checked up on Liam who was happily recuperating at the farm.

  I phoned Helen to see if anything more had happened while I’d been away. Nothing. But I did warn her that if by any chance she was contacted by Dugain about selling her own shares she shouldn’t reject the idea completely. She should give him the idea that it might be possible. “Stall him,” I said.

  “What do you mean? I’m certainly not selling to him.”

  “I’m not saying that he will. But there’s an outside possibility that he might. So if, by any chance, he does contact you don’t discount it out of hand. Trust me, Helen. I have an idea. I’ll explain more fully next time I see you.”

  She agreed, but reluctantly.

  There wasn’t much more I could do for the moment. I was waiting for Dugain’s next move - if he made one.

  Then I called Mike. ”I’m back,” I announced.

  “So you didn’t get a bullet in your head?” he growled, obviously still a bit pissed off with me.

  “No, but I did learn a few things and I think we have to act. Is Sophie still with you?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good. I’ll treat you both to supper. I can update you then.”

  “Are you paying?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Blimey. Must be good news if Bob Bruce is putting his hand in his pocket. Can I choose the restaurant?”

  “How about the George Hotel in Perth at around seven thirty?”

  “Fine. We’ll be there.”

  “By the way, before you hang up. Did you get in touch with Brian Dawson? Did you manage to get the name and address of that girl?”

  He said he had.

  Mid-way through the afternoon Antoine called me with the news I had been expecting.

  “I’ve just had Dugain on the phone asking me if I would be willing to sell him my shares in Bioscope. You were right.”

  I gave myself a mental pat on the back.

  “What did you say?”

  “As we agreed, I told him that I wasn’t interested in selling. He pushed a bit and I told him that I had a loyalty towards Helen Mackie and I had promised her that as long as she kept her shares I would keep mine. He asked me if I would sell if she did.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him I would think about it. I
t wasn’t impossible, I said.”

  Having dealt with all that I decided I needed a break. Too much excitement at my age wasn’t good for me. There was a day when I would have taken it all in my stride but I had to admit that I was slowing up a bit.

  After lunch I retired to my comfortable armchair to return to the further adventures of T.E. Lawrence.

  *

  When Mike and Sophie arrived at the George that evening they looked a picture of health – Sophie as gorgeous as ever, Mike as proud as ever. A couple of long mountain treks had resulted in Mike and Oscar bagging another couple of Munros.

  We settled into our corner table and halfway through the meal I steered the conversation towards the problems we had.

  “So, Mike, how much have you blabbed to Sophie?”

  He looked uncomfortable. “Just enough so that she has a rough idea of what’s going on.”

  “So what does that mean?”

  Sophie replied for him. “Don’t be hard on him, Bob. I could tell that something was going on after he slammed the phone down on you the other day. He was worried about you so I wheedled it out of him. He didn’t have any choice but to tell me.”

  “How come?”

  She grinned and glanced fondly at Mike. “I told him if he didn’t tell me I was going to go and sleep with Oscar.”

  Mike looked at me helplessly. “What could I do?”

  I had no suitable riposte ready so I dropped it.

  “What did he tell you then?”

  “He told me about Liam being fired from his job in Stirling and why. He said that the girl who had seemingly been responsible had been murdered and he told me that the accident wasn’t an accident. He is very worried, Bob, that this business might be dangerous and…”

  Mike finished the sentence for her.

  “….you’re not as young as you used to be and maybe you need a bit of looking after.”

  I let that pass, touched by the fact that my brother was concerned for my well-being.

  I filled Sophie in with a few more details that I thought it better she knew about. I also gave her a description of the ‘accident’. I didn’t say who I thought was behind it but she put two and two together.

  She didn’t need any further explanation about the patent business and I discovered that I had an ally in my desire to try and do something about the poor girls that were being used by these Romanians. She was as disgusted and angry as I was. When I said that, despite Mike trying to persuade me to drop the whole thing, I was determined to do what we could to find out more and then go to the police with it, she was all in favour.

  So I came back to the issue about the new girl who had arrived at LyonPharma.

  Mike confirmed that he had a name and an address. Her name was Ana Panescu and she was living in a flat with another couple of girls near the Meadows.

  “We need to know if, by any chance, she would be willing to help us if she could give us any information about Macek. She should be able to have access to something because she works in the IT department. I’ve no idea if she will or not but it’s worth a try.”

  “So you agree that I should go and see her?” asked Mike.

  “No. I think you should both go.”

  “You mean Sophie as well?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I don’t want Sophie mixed up in this. If word gets back to Macek and he comes after me, that’s not a problem. I can handle that, but I’m not having Sophie exposed to that kind of stuff.”

  “Mike, listen. This kid could be frightened, vulnerable, scared. It has to be handled very carefully. We have to gain her confidence. We have to be able to reassure her that, if it turns nasty, we can look after her. Sophie would be much better at the first bit and you should be able to reassure her that we can keep her safe. Also she’s in IT so she and Sophie will have something in common. That might help as well. It’s a job for two people. You must see that.”

  “So you don’t think I could handle it ‘carefully’ on my own?”

  “To be frank, I doubt it, Mike. If I needed protection or muscle there’s no one I’d rather turn to but, in this particular case, I think Sophie would have more chance of gaining her confidence.”

  Sophie saved the day. “Mike, darling, I agree with Bob. And I want to be involved. I hate these kinds of people and if I can do anything to help get them locked away, then I’m up for it. Besides, with you looking after me there’ll be no danger.”

  Finishing her pitch with a kiss, Mike was helpless. Game over. What more could he say?

  So we agreed that they would both go over to Edinburgh and try to approach Ana. The objective we agreed was to get her out of there. If they found that she was trapped in the system and wanted out they would organize her escape and take her up to Lochbervie.

  They’d have to establish contact and find out how the land lay. Then they would probably need to plan a second meeting. We had agreed that the idea of leaving her in place as a mole, feeding up information, was too dangerous, bearing in mind what had happened to Irina. One sniff of danger, it seemed, and Macek would just simply eliminate her. I had decided on Lochbervie as the safest place. It was isolated and strangers would be noticed more easily and also the narrow winding highland roads would make it easier for us to identify any pursuit if they were followed. I told them I would warn Maggie. The weekend would be a good time for her to run as she wouldn’t be missed until Monday. That meant Mike and Sophie going through to Edinburgh on Wednesday to give them plenty of time.

  I drove home to Letham, happy that things were moving and, I admit, rather excited at the prospect of a bit of action – a small rush of adrenalin just like I had felt during our tussle with AIM Investments. Golf and gardening is all very well but you do need a change now and again, especially at the age of sixty seven - and doing something like this helps you to feel you’re still of some use to society.

  But for the next couple of days golf and gardening would be fine. It would help me get my breath back. Then I’d go up to the hotel and give Maggie a surprise by arriving sooner than usual.

  I went via Doune to check in on how Liam was progressing. That was when Heather nobbled me.

  She came in from feeding the horses while Liam and I were chatting. “What’s this I hear about someone trying to bump you off, Bob?”

  Liam looked across at me, managing to look both sheepish and apologetic at the same time.

  She had wanted to know all about the accident and, trying to satisfy her need for all the details, Liam had let something slip and the truth had come out.

  I told her not to worry. “It’s better that you don’t know any more about it. There’s no more danger and, even if there was, Mike will look after me.”

  “Mike! He didn’t do much of a job looking after you the last time.”

  “True. But he did save my life in the end.”

  She had to reluctantly admit that that was true.

  “And anyway,” I went on “If the baddies think you know anything about it they might come and do in your horses.”

  That quietened her.

  As I drove on up to Lochbervie I reviewed the information we were hoping to get. Would Ana help us? What might Pierre learn from his trip to Bucharest? Could Antoine find out anymore about Dugain’s origins? ........ and could I last the pace?

  Maggie was delighted to see me a day earlier than anticipated.

  “Cruise all booked?” she asked after we had unwound from our welcoming embrace.

  “All fixed and I’ve brought all the brochures with me. We’ll look at them after supper.”

  So we pored over photographs of elegant dining rooms, spacious cabins, mountains soaring out of deep grey seas. We would be visiting Trondheim, Narvik and even going up into the Arctic Circle. I was reprimanded for seeming to be more interested in the wine list which had been included in the literature.

  By the time we were finished reading all the material I was getting quite excited about the whole prospect.

>   When she realised that we would be up above the Arctic Circle Maggie reckoned that it would be so cold up there that we would probably have to stay tightly cuddled up in bed all day to keep warm.

  So we called it a day around eleven and went up to bed to practise.

  Chapter 18

  The following evening, while Maggie was finishing off serving the last guest in the dining room and I was in the bar reading the newspaper, they arrived. I heard a car drawing up and got up to see Sophie come in with her arm protectively round a small slip of a girl clad in jeans and a hooded anorak.

  Sophie was smiling broadly. “Mission completed, Bob,” she said.”This is Ana.”

  The girl smiled timidly from under her hood and held out her hand.

  I welcomed her and we sat down in the deserted bar. Mike arrived a few minutes later in a second car, also with a triumphant look on his face and bristling with energy.

  “Hi, Ana, did you enjoy your drive through the beautiful mountains of Scotland?”

  “Yes thanks, Mike,” Her voice was soft and quiet.

  She was sitting very close to Sophie, hands clasped tightly together, clearly nervous at meeting someone new. Her knuckles were white with tension and she looked fixedly at the floor. She didn’t look much over twenty, if that, from what I could see of her face which was quite attractive in a pixie kind of way.

  Sophie put her arm round her protectively. “Don’t worry, Ana. You’re safe now.”

  Seeing Mike behind the bar she called over. “Mike, what about a drink for us as well and could you bring in the bags from the car? Don’t forget my laptop.”

  I sat quietly. Sophie was clearly in charge and I was happy to be an onlooker.

  Then she got up. “Bob, we’ll go and find Maggie and see if it’s possible to have a sandwich or something. We’ve got work to do. Guess what?” She turned to Ana and said “Show Bob what you’ve brought.”

  The girl dug into her anorak pocket and pulled out an iPhone. She put it on the table with a nervous gesture, as if she was glad to get rid of it.

  “Who do you think that belongs to?” said Sophie.

  “I haven’t a clue.”