Fallen Dynasties

by Nick James

  I nodded and smiled as I handed out three files. ‘I have found out that our weak point is Richard Head; he has been blackmailed and coerced.’

  Zhang Yong, who was the said man’s superior, said angrily, ‘I don’t believe it, he’s been with me for years.’

  I gave him a small smile. ‘The first time it happened he didn’t realise. Mr Head was being used unknowingly by a loan manager for the People’s Bank of China, his name was Han Su, who was recently murdered,’ I explained, and watched them wide eyed. ‘Su was linked to one of the heads of the Chinese mafia, who was murdered along with Su’s wife and family, during the said man’s funeral.’

  ‘What was it, money laundering?’ Wang Yong asked.

  I nodded. ‘I believe so. The rates they agreed were very low, and all loans were paid very quickly, so the interest rate was never a factor – plus, Su demanded no penalties to be paid due to the early repayment, which I believe we agreed.’

  This time it was the loans manager who joined in, although he did look abashed. ‘Yes, I did okay it. Because of the amounts of money they brought our way, I thought it was well worth the risk,’ Zhang admitted.

  ‘I’m guessing it didn’t play out?’ the chairman asked.

  ‘Head is gone. Any agreements he had with these people, due to whatever they had over him, no longer stand. We should return all trading back to our industry standard and state that these agreements were never approved higher up in the bank. Head had gone rogue,’ I said, and then saw the chairman look at the loans manager.

  ‘I agree. Zhang, get on it,’ Qiang stated firmly, smiling back at me. ‘Please, continue, Miss Li.’

  I had just poured myself some water to quench my parched throat. ‘This next bit is not just about Richard Head, but please stay with me,’ I explained, and they all nodded. ‘Mr Head was using the Dream app from Shimmering Dreams, and the dreams showed that he had fantasies about being seduced by a foreign nanny.’ I noticed that all the faces in the room looked at me with confusion. ‘Those were illegally downloaded by the owner of the company, Mr Peter Sanderson.’

  ‘Is that the company your fiancé works for?’ Wang Yong said. ‘And, congratulations, by the way.’

  I did sport a smile. ‘Thank you, sir, and yes, it is. Sam did some checking for me, which risked his job and our future, but he still did it for me,’ I said with a warmth in my heart that I could never explain, or ever tell Sam, because he would be smug about it. ‘He found evidence that Sanderson had looked into Head’s dreams, as well as more members of our bank and others.’

  ‘Okay, but they’re only dreams. How could that be construed as blackmail?’ Wang asked.

  ‘The Heads have just had a new child. The wife was happy at home, but Sanderson, through a subsidiary company, offered her the job of her dreams – and with that, Richard said she should take it and that they would get a nanny. Sanderson arranged for a Russian national to join the household, a Natalya Pavlishchev, who was paid to seduce Head, and succeeded. But before the marriage was destroyed, Sanderson stepped in with photos and recordings.’

  The group of three men just looked at me stunned. ‘As you will see with his recent works, a number of loans were made to Sanderson, who used the same firm of lawyers as us. This firm of lawyers brought clients who were willing to pay for carefully manufactured loans.’

  Li Qiang leaned forward with fury painted across his face. ‘What company of lawyers?’ he demanded. I could see his knuckles whiten.

  ‘Golden & Golden,’ I said slowly, and then jumped as his fist came crashing down, spilling his glass of water. ‘I have gone as far as I can. You either need a professional investigator or the police, but my fiancé’s actions must be redacted,’ I said, and they all agreed.

  The chairman stood up and bowed. ‘Thank you, Miss Li, you have gone beyond my expectations. And, of course, you and your fiancé will receive no fallout from any of this,’ he said, gesturing to the open files in front of them. ‘Please take the rest of the week off, and then you will retain your position as my PA from then on.’

  I bowed slightly, which they returned. After claiming my handbag, I headed out and to the shops, to buy a little gift to say thank you to Sammy.

  When my fiancé did return home, I screamed, ‘ON YOUR KNEES, SLAVE, MISTRESS LI DEMANDS IT!’ and tested out my new whip and costume, which had him stock-still and opened-mouth.

  Ideally, I should have practised with the whip beforehand, that way Sam wouldn’t have had a lovely bright red welt around his neck. Although, by the look of his body, it only encouraged him even more.

  Epilogue

  After Bunny’s meeting, Sam called in sick until the following week.

  The bank’s chairmen called in the police that he had read about in the paper who were investigating the shooting and Shimmering Dreams. Detective Sergeant Ian (Boycie) Stimpson and Detective Constable John (Marlene) Matthews brought together the fraud squad as well as the organised crime squad to go after Golden & Golden and Mr Peter Sanderson. It was discovered that the latter was blackmailing government officials in many different countries, which then involved the Home Office.

  Golden & Golden was sued by nearly every one of their clients, and the Golden brothers were disbarred for their dealings with Sanderson. Shimmering Dreams was put under a controlling body to make sure that no one person had control of so much information.

  Mr Peter Sanderson was convicted of fraud and blackmail, and imprisoned for only five years in an open prison. He was later found hanging from a light fitting after stabbing himself. His cellmate, a Chinese expat, said he was spouting suicidal rants all night, until it stopped at 1 a.m. in the morning. When he saw the man swing, he claimed he thought it was just a dream and rolled over. Nobody tried to investigate it.

  The two policemen refused to talk to Sam Blades when they visited Shimmering Dreams, mainly because he and his work colleagues were singing a certain TV programme’s theme tune: Only Fools and Horses. They really did hate that man, especially as they knew he had helped to take Sanderson down.

  Michael McAllister enjoyed time with his friends in the company’s flat, but there was only one girl for him. He hadn’t seen Mai Lee for nearly a year now, until he walked into his own flat and found a very naked Mai lying on his bed, with her arms crossed over her breasts, which seemed bigger to him.

  ‘Mai, you’re back!’ he said, and then saw several new scars on her body.

  ‘Hello, Mikey. Yes, I’m back – forever, if you like,’ she purred and uncrossed her legs, showing her one true love that she had left a part of her behind in a specialist hospital in Bangkok, as well as their savings. They didn’t leave the house all weekend. Michael and Mai were married a year later and lived in the suburbs of London with two adopted children.

  Tony ‘The Tiger’ Thompson was retired from the police after being chucked out of a showing of the new Star Wars movie after attempting to shag an ewok and a tall blonde-haired Jedi in the back row. With their savings, they moved to the Isle of Man, where Suzie was now pregnant with her second child, and Hannah her third. They surmised that Tony was keeping Hannah pregnant to keep her breasts large, even if he had to share the udders with his kid.

  The HR Manager John Dufresne decided to quit the netball scene and took up something more manly: rugby. He’s due back to work in six months after he is released from traction. He refused all visitors with the name Sam Blades and Mark Wayward. Although, Emily Stewart who worked with Sam, smuggled in a pink cheerleader’s pom-pom.

  The two receptionists at Shimmering Dreams didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but it was mainly the former, when a secret benefactor put their names and photos forward to be models for a cheap supermarket clothing line. They never found a human turd in their drawers, but somebody in dark clothing was seen gluing all their drawers shut.

  Mark Wayward and his fiancée, Kate, did get married. Mark demanded he should also be allowed to wear white, so, as a joke, Sam changed the invitations to say the dre
ss code was white clothing only. While Bunny and Sam thought it was a riot, Kate and her close friends, not surprisingly, did not. But the Blades at least won the fight at the reception; though they found out blood and white clothes do not go together.

  Beth and Sharon (Stoney) are still the Blades’ closest friends, to the point where Sam asked the latter to be his best man/woman because Mark was just too whipped to be classed as a man. For this, Sharon actually kissed him on the lips. Although she denied it and even got Sam to sign a document saying it never happened, but Bunny put the photo on the order of service.

  Sharon did get her wish to taser Sam, though, as he had treated Bunny to an illegal one to keep her safe at night. The police officer offered to show her good friend how it was used.

  Sam and Bunny Blades were married a year after Bunny’s meeting with the bosses. Everybody had a fun time. Apart from Mark; he was still annoyed about losing the best man title. But after Sharon put him in a chokehold, he had to agree. Sam danced with all willing participants, including the pierced barmaid, who claimed to have a new one. But he was pulled away by his good friend Beth before the search for metal got too in-depth.

  Bunny’s parents turned up and danced like demons, whereas Sam’s mum couldn’t make it as she and her friend Leslie had been kidnapped in the Golden Triangle by drug runners. The rumours are that they’re now tidying up and restructuring their organisation for them.

  Bunny’s friends Jamie and Simon were drunk off their arses, and the latter proceeded to lick wedding cake from his wife’s feet. Their daughter, Thalia, was asleep under a table with a bottle of gin and a waiter who she used as a pillow.

  But all agreed that the couple were totally in love, yet also surprised that Bunny hadn’t killed Sam…yet.

  The End

  Thank you all for reading The Misplaced Man trilogy by Nick James.

  There will be new stories written by Nick James which will be published in the latter stages of 2019 and through 2020.