by John Day
Night after night she replayed in her mind, the wonderful time they’d had together. The horrific aspects seemed inconsequential now, when she was safe in her bed. Each night, alone, she would pine for him. She would eventually drop off, into a troubled sleep.
There was one unexpected surprise for her though. It arrived by special courier in an armoured security truck - a very small, wooden box, containing Benny’s second bottle of Chanel Grand Extrait.
Apparently, Ellen asked him to send it and Walter had collected it from Benny – personally!
***
Ellen Fox decided to take her share in artwork and bullion - she had no need for money. Putting the items in a vault seemed the sensible thing to do.
There was no need to trust Benny to convert it to cash, the value would continue to appreciate and she could sell them off, if and when she felt like it.
Her only regret was that, in spite of her manipulation, she never managed to lure Sarah into her bed.
***
Walter took his share in bullion. His life was perfect already, with Ellen in it, so it made no difference to him. He lived for the thrill of the chase, not the wealth. His precious metal snuggled in, next to Ellen’s, in her vault.
From time to time, he thought about the night with Sarah. She was a lovely, straightforward girl, perfect to wine, dine and make love to. There were a lot of those girls in Walter’s life, already.
***
Benny had the first pick of the artworks and took most of the platinum. By now, his apartment was a bit cramped, so he decided to make enquiries about other apartment owners in the block.
His source of information was a cleaning lady. Although he had no use for a cleaner, he hired the one who cleaned for the people next door.
Apparently, they lost a packet with a prominent investment company and were barely scraping by.
The cleaner’s friends thought it was financial wizardry that allowed her and her family to afford a holiday abroad that year.
In the grand scheme of things, Benny’s cleaner had been touched favourably by the ripple of time.
***
Charles Henshaw invested his money in top of the range, state of the art equipment, including a deep-sea submersible.
Whatever deal he struck with his men, it seemed to satisfy all of them. As directors of the new Underwater Exploration Company, they were already earning good money from lucrative contracts they would never have had access to, without their new equipment.
***
The ripples in time caused by Grupenfurer Franz Kaltman when he had loaded his secret cargo, didn’t affect everyone favourably.
Major Perez sold a gold bar to pay off his gambling debts. Although he avoided the bullet from those to whom he owed money, one of the soldiers murdered him for keeping all four bars and not sharing them as promised.
When Perez died, he took the secret hiding place of the three remaining bars, to his grave. None of his men received a peso for their part in transporting the haul through the jungle.
A new dawn.
Months after the Celeste was unloaded, fate played a fresh card. It was another ripple in time that had started to resonate again from a different era altogether.
At the four corners of the world, four mobile phones rang simultaneously for a conference call. The recipients looked at their phones to see who was calling them.
“It’s that devious little shit Benny,” remarked Ellen, in Iceland. “I wonder what he wants?”
“Who the… I don’t believe it… he is the last person I would expect to hear from.
“Hello Benny. I hope you have got something worth calling me for. You have just reminded me, I never paid you back for cutting the tow rope to U-159.” Walter Norris threatened, from Cuba.
“Well hi there, Benny, always a pleasure to hear your falsetto tones. I can tell you are excited about something.”
Alan feigned friendliness, from his office in New York, it never hurt to be polite. Besides, he never did get even with Benny, for abandoning them on the submarine. Perhaps this was a golden opportunity?
“Oh, it’s you! You’ve got a pair, after leaving us to die on that frightful submarine. What do you want? I have important meetings to prepare for, and I am pressed for time”
Sarah hated the snivelling, deceitful little Russian, and even preferred working on a stack of leases in her London office, to giving him the time of day.
Benny was certainly excited. His shrill, quavering nasal whine said it all.
“It is heart-warming to speak to you all from Egypt. I have discovered the location of the City of the Sands and I need your help to …”
The end.
Follow the five friends in their next exciting adventure, out soon.
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See also the following books by John Day.
A WW2 spy thriller.
Espionage – London.
D.S. Penny Britain Crime series.
Deadly Intent. Book 1
Charm of the Devil. Book 2
Unlawful Death. Book 3 (out soon)
Adventure thrillers.
Secret Cargo. Book 1. The 5 series
City of the Sands. Book 2 The 5 series. (out soon)
Criminal. Book 1 Max & Carla series
Deep Secret. Book 2 Max & Carla series.
Fugitive. Book 3 Max & Carla series.
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