Counterpoint

by John Day

  "Nonsense," said Max. “Mrs Yeltsin looks pleasant enough, I don’t think we will have any trouble we’re not expecting,” Carla scowled, she knew what her senses were telling her, and it was not good news.

  Carla spotted the driver; she was on the far side of the party, so Carla made a circuitous route towards her. Standing close to the girl in the jostling crowd, Carla felt her up, body armour, a small automatic in the pit of her back, no shoulder holster, and knife probably inside right sleeve. Hands beautifully manicured, short nails, calloused knuckles on the joints and long powerful fingers. Shoes with strong, broad heels, thick soles, elegant style uppers, probably concealed weapons.

  The tall girl resisted the push and jostle of the crowd as though she was a concrete bollard. Even so, a feigned push by Carla caused her to move away from Mrs Yeltsin. Carla flowed into the space, feeling and dipping the girl’s pocket under the cover of a large carrier bag. She surged forward like any other frantic shopper on the trail of a bargain, into the crowd.

  Max approached Mrs Yeltsin head-on and stopped as the party walked up to him. Smiling Max offered his hand, which was not taken. Mrs Yeltsin smiled back from between the two front girls. “My name is Jack Stone, ” he said still smiling, “Your husband hired my son recently, I need to contact him. Here is his photograph,” he said as he thrust it towards her. Mrs Yeltsin took it, glanced at it and handed it back saying “Sorry I can’t help you. Perhaps you should speak to my husband. We are holding a party tomorrow afternoon, around the pool, and dinner in the evening. Please come along, bring your partner as well.”

  “I’d love to,” replied Max. “Make sure you bring your swimming costumes for the afternoon and a change of clothes for dinner, or you won’t be able to join us. There will be staff on hand to attend to your needs, so we will see you at 2:30pm.” A girl offered a card with the house address and signed on the back. “Present the card at the gate and you will be let in.”

  Mrs Yeltsin offered her hand, Max shook it, and the group walked away from him.

  Five minutes later Carla phoned to say she was driving the Lexus back to the lock-up. Max found the hired car, drove back to meet Carla, then they both went back to her hotel.

  “How did it go with you?” She asked Max.

  “I don’t know really, it was as if she was expecting me. We have been invited back to their place for a bit of a bash tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll meet Gregor himself. Funny invitation though, she insisted we met at the pool in our swimwear.”

  “Routine really, ” replied Carla. “I bet you don’t get to talk to him until you have had a fair time in the water. It tends to spoil any electronic bugs on you, assuming you can find anywhere to put one.”

  “You’re bloody amazing; you know every trick in the book, don’t you?”

  “I know a few, “she smiled, angelically.

  After some necessary preparations, Max and Carla arrived at the Yeltsin’s house. The gate man saw the card and let them in.

  From the number of extremely expensive cars, Max estimated there must be at least 40 parked there. When they got out of their car they were welcomed by an attendant in some sort of uniform and directed to a small bedroom on the first floor where they could change for the pool and later, prepare for dinner that evening.

  The house was magnificent inside, plenty of character and old world charm with polished hardwood joinery, dark timber beams, white moulded plaster and exposed stone walls. Massive portrait paintings adorned the walls of the impressive curved, polished marble staircase, with smaller landscapes along the passageways.

  At intervals along the long, wide landing were side-tables lit with cosy table lamps and decorated with large sprays of fresh flowers.

  Heavy oak doors set in polished and carved stone frames led to the moderate, but adequate double guest bedrooms complete with fully featured en-suite bathroom facilities.

  A note on the dressing table in their room informed them that a hairdresser and beautician were available if they needed any assistance.

  The pool was on the terrace area at the back of the house that cantilevered out of the cliff-face. A 1.5 metre high wall around its perimeter was all the prevented a person falling to their death in the city below. This view was breathtaking; the city lay sprawled out below as far as the eye could see. Cars and buildings looked like toys, so far below

  Snacks and drinks were available from the bar, as much and whatever you wanted. The guests range from elderly men and women, to young families. Gregor certainly knew how to give a good time.

  “Where are our host and hostess?” Said Max as he surveyed the crowded area. “Gregor went to the pool when we came out on the terrace,” commented Carla. “What a girl, she doesn’t miss a thing,” Max thought. “Let’s have a splash about then, ” he replied, and they dived into the large, rather crowded pool.

  10 minutes later they climbed out. Before they could look up, two fresh white, neatly folded luxury towels were offered to them, by one of the girls that accompanied Mrs Yeltsin to the shops. She was the girl Carla lifted the car keys from. If she recognised Carla, she didn’t show it.

  In a friendly voice, she asked them both to follow her to meet the host. Her English was excellent and with the strong Russian accent, it was most attractive Max thought.

  Carla appraised the girl. Her beauty, grace, and perfect physique must have made her the envy of every woman. Carla hated her already and hung on to Max’s hairy arm in a he’s mine so don’t mess with me look.

  Gregor welcomed them both as if they were special to him.

  Max introduced Carla as Miss Jane Tyler, whom he met on the plane coming over. Max thought, the man is just like the impression he got from the portrait in the office reception hall. “Well Jack I understand from Alanya my wife that you wanted to talk to me about your son Matt Stone.”

  “Yes,” said Max as he fidgeted with the contents of his waistband, pausing his reply for a moment until he retrieved a small plastic pouch from it. “Perhaps you would look at this,” he said, as he quickly thrust something from the pouch into Gregor’s hand. It was just a photo of Matt, but Gregor was taken by surprise by the expert way Max had passed it to him, relying on Gregor’s reflex action to grab it before realising what he had done. Gregor took it and glanced at it and said, surprised, “Yes, I know what he looks like.”

  Then Max took it back again and re-pouched it. “Sorry, I assumed you had so many people working for you, you might have found it helpful. Well, anyway,” he continued “I have lost touch with him and must speak with him about a personal matter” Carla could tell from the body language that Gregor did not believe a word of what was said, but went along with it nevertheless.

  “Yes, Matt applied for a job as a security agent for one of my companies, but I felt his military skills would be wasted in that role, so I didn’t hire him.”

  “Oh! That is a shame; I seem to have come to a dead end,” replied Max. “I think you might be right,” said Gregor smiling; an evil twinkle appeared in his large brown eyes. “Still, never give up,” he said,” and I insist you both still join us at dinner.”

  “Well, as long as there is room for us,” said Max, “You have so many guests here.”

  “Not many will be dining with us, so space is not a problem,” he replied firmly.

  “Okay then we would love to,” agreed Max, looking sideways, anxiously at Carla. She just smiled sweetly back at both him and Gregor.

  The girl with the towels suggested they came with her to the bar and snacks. It was obviously a closing of the meeting with Gregor, as he waved politely and stepped away.

  “I don’t know where all this playacting is going to lead,” said Carla. “Gregor is not going to let you walk out of here with his fingerprints. I was impressed though how you did it, so quick he didn’t expect it. Still, unless you get away, you’re a dead man walking.”

  “Oh! Thanks, you make me feel so secure.”

  “Well, I’m paddling the same canoe, “r
eplied Carla in a controlled tone.

  They spent the afternoon talking and swimming, trying to come up with a way of leaving. Sure, they could just get in their car and drive out, but the security personnel were watching them like hawks. Movement in the direction of the gate, was blocked by the guards, in a quiet but threatening way.

  The time had come to dress for dinner. Still no plan yet. “We might as well make the best of it,” said Max, but Carla was too uptight to reply. Her face was natural, not tensed in any way, but her eyes were intense, and either, focused hard as she thought or darted back and forth as her lightning brain search for answers.

  There were only 27 guests at dinner, all the young families with children and older people had left. The youngest there was a 19-year-old girl in a frumpy dress and rather thick-rimmed glasses. Carla sat opposite her at the dining table and managed to have a sort of conversation with her. Surprisingly the girl, Anna, knew everyone there. Her mother and father were in the process of buying a large warehouse type building from Gregor. Somehow, they had worked a shrewd deal, a deal that for some reason, Gregor could not refuse. Had they got something on the cunning Russian?

  Although small fry by Gregor’s business standards her parents were extremely well known and even influential. Their large circle of friends included everyone at the table.

  Several seats away a single middle-aged man in a white dinner jacket and blue cummerbund endured a boring conversation with the man and woman sat on either side of him. No one seemed to know him except the host and hostess.

  At the end of the splendid meal, everyone split up into small groups and chatted. Max thought he had the makings of an escape plan and mentioned it to Carla. She agreed it was the best plan so far, being the only one.

  Shadowed by one of the security girls, Carla walked with Anna to her bedroom, stopping to collect her own clothes first. The girl and her parents were going to leave shortly. Carla had to get her part of the plan completed before the parents appeared in Anna’s room, to collect their things.

  Max managed to bore the man in the blue cummerbund to the point of leaving the party, and followed the old man to see which room he was in. Max was also shadowed by another security girl, so he made a drunken pass at her and invited her into his room. The girl declined and watched him go into his room and close the door. The girl then remained on the landing outside.

  Somehow Max had to get into the cummerbund man’s room, three rooms away. Opening the window, Max peered out. Above the window was a thin-gauge pressed metal gutter. He tried hanging from it to see if would take his weight. It would, but the blackness of the night and the hard paving below, killed that idea. He could not bring himself to dangle in space from it. Looking around the room for inspiration, he decided to remove all his clothes, picked up his wine glass and filled it with Cologne. He listened at the door for a moment, there were no voices, and then he lurched out onto the landing wearing nothing but a big smile, a rapidly stiffening penis, and his wine glass. The security girl had seen many things in her young life, but she was surprised and angry at this sudden and flagrant exhibition. Max feigned a lurch towards her from the stability of the doorframe swinging his glass in her direction. Before she could push him away, he threw the Cologne in her face, lowered his head and charged at her belly. The force of his charge smacked her body and head hard against the stone wall. Blinded by the alcohol based Cologne, dazed and winded she uttered a short yelping grunt, unheard over the background music and voices from downstairs. In spite of her injuries, she rammed her knee hard into Max’s bent over body with a force that lifted his feet off the stone floor. Her elbow, aimed at his spine to displace vertebrae and sever his spinal cord, missed by 100 mm to one side jamming viciously into the back of his ribs, causing him to yelp with pain. With all his strength, he straightened up, smashing the back of his head under her chin. The whiplash blow threw her head hard against the stone wall again, and she slumped forward, unconscious. Hoisting her over his shoulder, he went back into his room, grabbed his clothes and bag, and still carrying her, he strode along the landing to the cummerbund man’s room. Max barged in, threw the girl on the bed, and kicked the door closed behind him.

  The man beamed with delight at Max’s firm naked body. Max was shocked at the unexpected reaction and stood gaping for several seconds. “Don’t you want the girl then?” Max blurted, for want of something better to say.

  “Well, she’s not my first choice,” replied the man, and he moved to grab Max. A single right hook sent the old man sprawling on top of the girl. He went out like a light.

  Max pulled the outer clothes off the man and dressed in them, using torn linen carefully folded as padding to match the man’s bulk.

  Fully dressed, Max looked in the mirror. To his dismay, he realised, no one would be fooled by the disguise. The height, body bulk, and clothes were ideal, just his head was wrong. Max had a shaved head; the man had a reasonable head of brown hair.

  Max checked the man’s small suitcase and found some small scissors and a tube of glue like substance. If he cut the man’s hair and glued it on, perhaps it would be OK. Max teased out the man’s hair and went to cut it. “Christ! The old bugger is wearing a wig!” He exclaimed in delight. The wig was stuck on the man’s bald head with the glue substance. Max tugged the wig off and fitted it to his own head. With a quick comb out it looked OK.

  Next Max ripped the flex off the small table lamp plugged into the wall socket and separated the live and neutral wires, then joined them as one long wire. One end he connected to the metal shower hose.

  Then he wrenched a nearby wall light off its fixings to reveal its wiring. The shower hose and separated flex was only just long enough to reach the exposed lamp wiring. Max hoped the 110 volts electrical system was fitted with circuit breakers rather than fuses, or he was likely to get badly burned. He flashed his flex wire onto the lamp wire. There was a small arc of electricity and the remaining wall light and main room lights went out. He made a proper connection to the wires and left the room with the man’s suitcase. He paused for a moment. The landing, hall, and reception rooms where only lit from small lamps plugged into wall sockets, obviously a different circuit. People were clamouring in the gloom and staff rushed about trying to calm everyone and restore the main lighting. The gentle background music still played on. Several doors opened as occupants of their bedrooms stepped out to see what was going on. Anna emerged from one of the rooms and said as she passed them, “I am going home now anyway, but hope to see you again soon.”

  Security personnel were rushing up stairs, as Max made his way down. “Time I was going anyway. Had a fabulous time, Thanks,” and went out to the cars. He heard Anna call to her parents in the hall, see you in the car!

  As soon as she was outside away from everyone she ran to catch up with Max. He turned as he heard her approach and waited for her to catch up. He kissed her passionately in plain view of the Gate’s security men. By pressing the unlock button on the car key, he identified the old man’s car. They both got into the car and drove slowly through the opening gate.

  Max accelerated rapidly away and down the long winding mountain road towards safety and the lock-up. As he expected, it was only a matter of minutes before several cars poured out of the gateway behind them, their pursuers hot on their trail. The slight lead though, was all they needed to escape.

  “You looked pretty convincing as Anna,” said Max.

  “You made quite a good old queer yourself,” replied Carla.

  “What! You knew he was queer,” exclaimed Max.

  “Why, yes of course, it stood out a mile, ” she said grinning. “I bet he thought he was in for a good time when you told him to take his clothes off.”

  “Ah! Well, no, it wasn’t quite like that really.” Then he told her all about what had happened. She laughed uncontrollably at the thought of Max prancing about naked with the girl and the man.

  “We were lucky they didn’t just replace the fuse and turn the ligh
ts back on,” said Carla. “They probably did, but until they removed my wiring, it would just short out again. Must have had them running up all over the place trying to find out where the fault was.”

  Back at the lockup, they dumped the car a few streets away, wiped down the interior to remove prints and changed into the water utility uniforms. All the special equipment they needed was checked off as it was loaded, and the cocaine transferred into the Lexus. Fake number plates were clipped onto the vehicles, to cover the originals. The last thing they needed was to be stopped by the police. The journey to the Yeltsin’s house was relatively quick so early in the morning. There was hardly any traffic about.

  Chapter - Cocaine on tap.

  The water supply to the Yeltsin’s house was pumped up from the valley below and as usual for an isolated supply, the pipe ran in an open duct or in some places, it was fixed to the rock face overlooking the road. The pump was a small capacity type, designed to slowly top up the large water tanks in the roof of the house. Max had noticed a saddle type repair joint to the pipe near the house and this suited his plan perfectly.

  The van pulled up at the gate of Gregor’s house. Carla got out and spoke in a perfect American accent to the security man there. “We are flushing out the water supply because some bacteria have got into the system. Can you drain off your water storage tanks as well please? By the time everyone wakes up, the tanks will be full enough to use so don’t worry. We will be done in an hour,” she added. “By the way, if there is a slight taste to the water, it will be the chemical to kill the bugs, it won’t hurt you so again, don’t worry it will soon clear.”