‘In a matter of years we’d amassed a fortune, we ruled our manor with violence, if anyone tried to move in I would sort it, and hurting people never bothered me. We could have killed a lot more men than we did, and now all these years later I still fear for my mortal soul. I’ve never been a believer, not truly, but sometimes; I think if I’m wrong then I’m going straight to Hell.’
Dan blinked and coughed, he didn’t look at Chloe’s face, he wasn’t finished yet and Chloe remained silent and Dan was thankful for that.
‘When I was twenty I was in a relationship with this girl I’d grown up with, it wasn’t love or anything like that but she liked me and I liked her. It turned out so did Terry, I don’t know how it happened but I caught them in bed together, it destroyed me, not her betrayal but his. I’d always protected him, I’d always put him first and here he was in my bed with his head between my woman’s legs. I just left, I wanted to kill him, both of them but I just walked out, and away from that life. The rest you kind of already know.’
Dan raised his face and looked at Chloe; tears were streaming down her face. Chloe got to her feet and walked around the table. She put one leg over his and sat in his lap facing him. She quickly kissed him and kept her lips locked on his for several seconds. He could feel her tears on his face and could taste them on his lips.
Chloe broke the embrace and held his face in her hands. ‘Baby.’
Dan didn’t speak; there was nothing he could find to say.
‘I love you baby.’ Chloe said.
Dan nodded.
‘I love you, and thank you for telling me.’ Chloe kissed his bottom lip and his hands went around her back and he hugged her close and they stayed like that for a very long time. Neither of them talking, just holding each other tightly.
The sounds of Chloe throwing up in the small toilet woke Dan. He blinked a couple of times and looked at the luminous dial on his wrist watch. It was 3am. Dan got out of bed and padded barefoot across to the toilet; all the lights were off but there was enough light from the full moon through the wall of glass for him to be able to see clearly enough. The door to the toilet was ajar and he pushed it open.
Chloe was on her knees in front of the porcelain toilet bowl. She was naked and the moon showed her curvaceous buttocks squashed against the backs of her thighs. She held her hair back from her face with one hand and the other gripped the rim of the toilet as she threw up again.
‘You okay baby?’ Dan asked quietly so as not to make her jump.
Chloe nodded her head in affirmation. ‘Yes, just give me a moment.’
Dan crouched behind her and held her hair with his left hand, his right gently massaging between her shoulder blades. Chloe gripped the rim of the bowl with both her hands and managed to say, ‘Dan, thanks, I think that might be it all.’ She was wrong and another wave passed through her and her whole body shook from the force.
‘Argghh,’ she managed when the sickness passed, ‘I never wanted you to see my like this, it’s not attractive, and the smell, man!’
Chloe reached for the flush and water surged in to the bowl washing her vomit away.
‘I think that’s it.’ Chloe managed to get to her feet and Dan held her by her hips to keep her steady.
‘You’re sure?’
Chloe nodded, ‘Let me brush my teeth and then I’ll be out.’
‘Sure baby.’
Dan kissed her left shoulder and then left her to it.
He sat on the bed and waited for her. He heard Chloe brush her teeth, and then she took a pee and washed up.
Chloe came back in to the suite and sat next to Dan. The moon shone on her face and he could see how tired she looked. He took her hands in his and she scooted closer to him so that their thighs were touching.
‘Something you ate?’
Chloe shook her head, ‘No, something you said.’
Dan’s face filled with panic and Chloe smiled at him. ‘No not like that, I told you earlier, your past is the past, what you did hasn’t changed you in my eyes at all.’
‘So what is it then?’
‘You said Terry slept with your woman.’
Dan nodded his head. ‘So?’
‘So when we came to bed I lay here thinking long after you fell asleep, do you know you hardly make a noise when you’re asleep, sometimes I have to put my head on your chest to feel your heartbeat, what man doesn’t snore?’
Dan smiled.
‘Anyways the more I thought about what you’d told me the more I began to fret and the more worked up I got and then that was it; chunder-city here I come, I only managed to make it to the toilet in time.’
‘What got you worried, I’m totally lost.’
Chloe laughed, ‘I don’t want you thinking I’d ever cheat on you.’
‘That never entered my mind, and that’s what got you so worked up?’
‘Yeah, and I showed Terry my tits that night at the hotel, when you were both shocked by it.’
‘I remember.’
‘Yeah well after hearing what you told me I thought you might think I might like him because I showed him my tits, if I’d known what he’d done to you I’d have never done it and...’
Dan cut her off by pulling her back on to the bed; she snuggled against his side, her right thigh over his groin. Dan laughed at the ceiling.
‘My god Chloe, I never thought anything like that, sure my brother would if he could, but I trust you more than anyone, I can’t believe you got yourself worked up to the point of throwing up.’
Chloe chuckled, ‘Stupid right?’
‘Stupid, but kind of sweet too.’
Chloe turned her face in to his chest and kissed his right nipple.
‘I hate being sick, but I got myself so jazzed up, you know?’
‘I love you Chloe.’
‘Love you too.’
Dan felt her breasts against his side and she kissed his nipple once more and she felt him begin to stiffen against her thigh. Chloe slid on top of him and reached down and took hold of him and guided his hardness between her legs and the wetness waiting there for him.
In the early hours of the morning, as the sun rose above the rooftops of London Dan connected the laptop up to the hotel’s Wi-Fi service. Chloe was in the pool room taking a swim; she’d asked him to join her, her nakedness almost tempting him but he’d declined, he had too much to do before they caught their flight to Japan which was leaving before noon.
Dan quickly brought up the site he needed and with speed and agility began to work his fingers across the keyboard, he’d been at it for quite a while when he felt water dripping on to his back.
‘What are you up to?’ Chloe asked as she kissed his neck.
Dan could feel her bare naked breasts through his shirt and he concentrated hard on not getting aroused.
‘It’s complicated.’
‘That’s okay, I’m a clever person.’
‘Oh I know that.’
‘So, tell me.’
Dan quickly explained about how Terry had removed several computers from Rufus’ house, Chloe nodded remembering the men loading the van. Dan went on to tell her how the hard discs had contained banking transactions between Rufus and Japan, the recipient in Japan had turned out to be Nakatomi.
Chloe used a towel to dry her body. ‘With you so far.’
‘Well, if you know what you’re doing its pretty easy to get in to the bank’s mainframe where Nakatomi does all his banking. I’ve just accessed his account and I’m re-distributing his funds.’
Chloe stepped beside Dan so that she could see the laptop’s screen; all she could see were a series of numbered lines where digits rapidly scrolled from bottom to top. It made no sense to her.
‘I’ll trust you baby, but aren’t banks supposed to be very well protected?’
Dan smiled at her, her breasts were level with his face and it was tempting to lean forward and kiss them. He coughed and looked back at the laptop. Chloe smiled, she’d seen the hunger in his
eyes and she made a show of drying her large breasts with the towel.
‘Normally they’re very well encrypted but I’m using a virus that’s just eating its way through everything.’
‘Wow, you created a virus?’
Dan shook his head. ‘No, I’m good with a computer, but nowhere near that competent. Four years ago I was running a series of security diagnostics for a bank in Austria, it’s what I got paid to do all the time, anyhow I soon found that they had a major problem in the form of a multi layered hydra...’
‘A what?’
Dan laughed. ‘It’s complicated, it’s a very aggressive virus, hard to detect and impossible to destroy, but I was able to contain it, to imprison it so to speak. I tracked its origin to a twelve year boy in Wisconsin, poor kid didn’t even know what damage he‘d been causing. The virus was booted from the bank’s system, they paid me and that was that.’
‘And the hydra?’
‘I locked it up in cyberspace.’
Chloe wrapped the towel around her waist. ‘Until now.’
‘Exactly, right now this virus; this hydra is eating its way through Nakatomi’s vast fortune, slowly eating away at his funds, when it’s finished feasting Nakatomi is going to be a lot poorer than when he went to bed.’
‘Where’s the money going?’
‘Nowhere, it’s just being deleted from his account; the money will cease to exist as far as he is concerned.’
‘You’re making money disappear, to no longer exist!’ Chloe said in shock.
Dan nodded, ‘Nakatomi will soon be the poorest person in Asia.’
‘Fuck baby I never knew such things could be done.’
‘Anything’s possible.’
Chloe kissed the top of Dan’s head. ‘Have I ever told you that you’re a genius?’
‘No.’
‘You’re a genius.’ Chloe rested her breasts on his shoulders and once more looked over his head at the screen. ‘Not to doubt you honey, but won’t he notice all his money disappearing?’
Dan laughed. ‘Yeah, he’ll notice and he won’t be able to do a thing about it, by the time we get to him I’m hoping he’ll be a nervous wreck, nerves make people make mistakes.’
‘Like I said, you’re a genius.’ Chloe stood up straight, ‘I’m going to get dressed, have you ordered breakfast?’
Dan said that he hadn’t.
‘Okay, I’ll call down.’
Chloe slipped on a black satin push-up bra, matching knickers and a suspender belt; she was fastening the last of the suspender straps to her skin coloured stocking tops when Dan finally turned from the laptop. He saw her and smiled.
She dressed in a tight black satin skirt with slits up the sides and pulled on a black transparent vest top, the bra beneath easy to see as were the slopes of her breasts. Chloe slipped her feet in to a pair of shiny black stilettos and slapped Dan’s hand away as he made a playful grab for her as she passed him on the way to the dresser where she had set up her make-up.
The suite’s door buzzed and Chloe said, ‘Go get the food baby.’
Dan shook his head but went to answer the door. A couple of moments later Dan wheeled the breakfast in and poured them both a large mug of coffee. Dan savoured the strong taste and buttered a croissant. He watched Chloe’s reflection in the mirror as he chewed.
‘You always look stunning Chloe.’
‘You look pretty decent yourself,’ she replied as she applied mascara to her eye lashes.
Dan was wearing black trousers and a blue shirt with thick soled black shoes. He’d shaved earlier and smiled at Chloe. ‘Thanks get some coffee before I drink it all.’
Tokyo, JAPAN.
Twenty five million people crammed in to one of the smallest cities in Asia made for a culture shock for Chloe, she hadn’t expected so many cars, motorbikes and cycles, the noise was overpowering and the heavy polluted smog made it hard for her to breathe.
‘My God!’ Chloe exclaimed as they stood near a line of taxis outside of the airport.
People moved around them in a chaotic yet somehow orchestrated mass; the majority of faces half-hidden behind white masks that hid the mouth and nose of the wearer.
‘It’s been like this for years, I’m not a fan,’ Dan replied loudly so as he could be heard over the roar of the city.
‘You’ve been here before?’
Dan nodded. ‘On business, many times.’
Chloe clung to Dan’s side, she felt totally lost.
Dan was looking for a taxi when from the crowd a man stepped forward. Dan stepped in front of Chloe, instinctively shielding her and the man, realising that Dan was wary bowed his head and said, ‘I am so sorry to surprise you, my name is Mamitsu, Katsumoto sent me, you are Dan Adams, yes?’
Dan nodded.
‘Katsumoto hopes you will accept a ride, taxis are so cramped and they all over charge.’
Dan nodded; if the man had wanted to harm them surely he would have done so by now.
‘This way please, can I help with your baggage?’ Mamitsu asked; his English was very good.
Dan shook his head. ‘We can manage, thank you.’
Mamitsu nodded once and led them along the concourse to a black Mercedes.
Mamitsu stowed the laptop case and their suitcase in the boot. Chloe carried a small pull-string bag and Dan only had his wallet and documents, they were safe in the inside pocket of his black jacket.
Mamitsu opened the rear passenger door and Dan ushered Chloe in to the car. He joined her and Mamitsu closed the door before climbing in behind the wheel. He pulled out in to the heavy traffic.
‘It is only a couple of miles, but it will take almost an hour.’
Dan looked at the man’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. He could see Mamitsu was alert and very aware of the traffic around him. Dan relaxed slightly. ‘Thank you.’
Mamitsu nodded. He pressed a button and a black screen slid up from the seats, separating the front from the back. Over small speakers Mamitsu’s voice said, ‘Katsumoto told me that you would want your privacy, do not be alarmed, the windows are bullet proof as is the carriage and the tyres are self-inflating, you are perfectly safe. Should you require me press the intercom switch located on either rear door.’
Dan found and pressed the button, ‘Thank you Mamitsu.’
Chloe looked out at the city slowly crawling by and yawned.
Dan looked at her and said, ‘Can you do me a favour?’
Chloe smiled and tugged her skirt up her thighs to show her stocking tops and suspender straps.
‘You know me too well.’
Chloe rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Dan smiled and put his arm around her shoulders and breathed in her perfume. He looked at her exposed thighs; he had no wish to look at the city beyond the windows. He really did hate Tokyo.
From previous visits he knew that Japan was a country of contradictions. The Japanese were one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world and the people embraced all things modern but alongside this worship of modernity was the adherence of ancient traditions. Amid the skyscrapers were beautiful gardens of cherry blossoms and oriental gardens where old men tended to bonsai trees. He had no problem with the traditions of Japan; he just hated the smog infested streets of Tokyo.
Katsumoto was a refined looking man in his early sixties; he was perfectly attired and groomed and spoke with an accent-less English. He met them both in a vast sitting room where millions of dollars hung on the walls in the form of artworks, vases, ceremonial swords and intricate tapestries.
Chloe and Dan were seated on a sixteenth century bench, Dan looked down and smiled as Chloe crossed one leg delicately over the other, stocking-tops were revealed and she caught his smile and squeezed his hand in her hers.
Chloe ran her other hand through her long hair and swept it down over her shoulders; her attempt at modesty, the ends of her hair partially covered the slopes of her breasts beneath the see-through top. He
re, she felt slightly guilty about the way she dressed.
Dan sensed this and whispered, ‘Chloe you are who you are, don’t change that for anyone, especially people we don’t know.’
Chloe blushed slightly but felt better for his words.
Katsumoto had entered the room and Dan and Chloe had stood up to greet him. Three other men, subordinates, had followed the elderly gentleman in to the room.
Katsumoto held his hand out and Dan shook it.
‘Mister Adams, and your beautiful wife Chloe, my name is Katsumoto, I have been expecting you.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Dan said.
The man had a firm handshake.
‘You have a lovely home,’ Chloe said.
Katsumoto bowed his head slightly towards Chloe. ‘Thank you and you are far prettier than I was told, please; sit, both of you, can I offer you refreshments?’
‘We’re fine for now,’ Dan replied.
They sat back down on the bench and Katsumoto sat opposite them on a padded chair. Two of the men that had followed him in to the room took up positions by the doorway, the third, a man in his thirties, short and athletic in a black suit stood to Katsumoto’s right, his eyes constantly surveying the room.
‘This is my nephew Makati.’
The young man bowed his head at them but said nothing.
‘I apologise for all the men, but these are dangerous times that we live in Mister Adams.’
‘Yes, they are, and please call me Dan.’
‘Hai, as you wish.’
Dan watched the two men by the door, one whispered something to his companion in Japanese and they both leered at Chloe.
Dan turned back to Katsumoto and in fluent Japanese said, ‘Katsumoto, are all your associates so rude to guests in your house?’
Katsumoto visibly reddened and Makati turned ashen. Chloe was staring at Dan, she had no idea that he could speak Japanese, and she didn’t know what had just occurred but she could see how rattled Katsumoto and his nephew were.
Rage Against The Machine: Special Edition (Dan & Chloe Book 1) Page 27