The Shudder Lingers

by David Vander

  Stacey replied, “Wow Gerald, I’m glad you got the family out in time, and I’m glad that you are OK. Do you think Daniella was behind Inspector Jonas’s release and the raid on your home?”

  Gerald laughed cynically, “I not only think so, I now know it.”

  Stacey reacted in surprise, “What do you mean know it?

  Gerald smirked, “In the few days that I have been undercover, I have got relatively close to both of them. I saw them together back at the house in Rondebosch, the day after they raided my place. I witnessed her handing him a wad of cash as well.”

  Stacey said, “Surely the police have been keeping an eye out on the various houses, and would have arrested him again?”

  Gerald laughed again, “Jonas and the police are quite clearly on her payroll. The real news however is that I reached out to a contact in one of the government security agencies and found out that she is a paid intelligence informer.”

  Stacey had not followed, “What do you mean a paid informer?”

  Gerald explained, “It means that she is being paid to be a government spy and is a criminal at the same time. She is effectively judge and jury. She is using her informer status to point the police at anyone who is likely to challenge her criminal activities, thereby getting rid of the opposition, while rapidly growing her criminal network and power base. She has almost become an untouchable.”

  Stacey was left in awe, “My word. I find it hard to believe. I clearly underestimated her. Am I assuming correctly that she is using WKJD for money-laundering purposes?” Gerald nodded. “Damn her. What are we going to do?”

  Gerald suddenly dived straight at her, wrestling her to the ground and covering her mouth with his hand. She was caught completely by surprise, and fearing for her life, she started fighting back. He was clearly much stronger and pinned her down. Only then did she see the fear in his eyes, before he whispered in her ear, “Keep very quiet. Two police officers have just entered the warehouse. Follow me quietly to the corner, I have an escape route.”

  She felt her anxiety levels rise, but obediently crawled after Gerald. He slowly lifted a trapdoor and showed her what looked like an oversized laundry chute. He gesticulated urgently for her to enter the chute. She wanted to argue, when she heard the wooden floorboards creak somewhere near them, which spurred her into action, sliding her body into the chute. Within seconds she was hurtling downwards and was flung out onto a hard concrete floor below, where she had landed on her coccyx, with the impact jolting right through her body. She rolled away as Gerald came barrelling towards her. He cried out in pain as he landed, having injured his back. They both staggered up and he pointed down the alley. She raced ahead of him and turned the corner. Thankfully they were in a crowded street where some form of protest was taking place. They merged into the large group, catching their breath, and gave each other a high-five.

  Gerald rubbed his back, “That landing hurt. I’m going to be sore for a few days.”

  Seeing him in agony, she looked down and realised that the padding from her Fatpants had helped her avoid any potential injury. As she looked up, she saw two police officers come out of the alley exit. They stared at the large crowd, then up and down the road, before disappearing back down the alley. She sighed in relief. They had managed to slip away undetected.

  Gerald said, “I think we can now leave. There is an old fishermen’s pub down the street. I’ll meet you there in ten minutes.” She nodded, as he left the safety of the large group first. As he left her, she became aware of many in the group staring at her, probably wondering what she was doing in the middle of a protesting group of men only. She ignored the stares, and tailed Gerald by some fifty metres. She waited outside the pub for a few minutes before following him in.

  He was standing at the bar counter and had already ordered two beers. He passed her one as she came to stand next to him. She took a sip of the ice-cold beer, “Well, that was an exciting encounter. I can just imagine what Slade would have to say. Anyway, what do we do now?”

  He replied, “Well it looks as if the police now know about the harbour stakeout room. I need to move to the next safe house.”

  Stacey then said, “I think we should find a way for Daniella and her gangs to turn on each other.”

  Gerald gulped the rest of his beer down, and glanced at her, “Great idea. But how exactly do you think we do that?”

  She said, “I have an idea forming. I’ll work on it tonight.”

  He smiled at her, “Glad to hear. Let’s meet tomorrow.” They left the old pub, agreed to a meeting place for the following day and departed in separate directions.

  Stacey arrived back at the safe house and noticed that someone had been to replenish food supplies. She also noted that someone had thought about her, as there was decent coffee amongst the supplies. She gratefully made herself a cup of coffee and switched on the television to catch up with the news.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Stacey and Gerald met each other in the gardens outside Parliament in the Cape Town city centre the next morning. She found him sitting on a park bench and sat down close to him without looking at him, so that for anyone watching it was would appear to be two strangers sitting on the same bench.

  Gerald said, “So any ideas on how we turn Daniella and her gangs on each other?”

  Stacey answered without turning her head. “I have given it some thought, but I certainly don’t have all the details yet. I think we need to approach it from two angles, one a social media campaign against the criminal elements in Cape Town, which will hopefully place the spotlight on the likes of Daniella, Inspector Jonas and the gangs who terrorise the neighbourhoods.”

  Gerald replied, “You mean like the Arab Spring type movement in North Africa a while ago?”

  “Yes” she replied, “The second approach is finding a way in which we can send contradictory messages to various people associated with Daniella and her cronies, using a divide-and-conquer approach based on the breakdown of trust.”

  Gerald whistled softly, “I think you might just be onto something. If they stop trusting each other, then the power of their syndicates starts to fall apart.”

  “Exactly,” she replied.

  They chatted for a few minutes, sketching out ideas and possible plans, until they felt that they had the makings of a strategy and some of the key steps to follow next.

  Once they had completed their discussion, Stacey asked, “Will you help me with something Gerald?”

  “Of course. What do you need from me?”

  She replied, “I am concerned about Slade’s safety. I know that going undercover has clear rules of no contact, but I need to see him for just five minutes.”

  Gerald sighed, “You know that is a very dangerous suggestion, for both of you.” He glanced at her and saw the plea in her eyes, “OK, there is a way, but only five minutes.”

  Had she not been undercover, Stacey might have jumped up and hugged him, but she coolly replied instead, “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

  Gerald replied, “We can use an old strategy I once used for undercover operations. I will get Slade to leave the office and head to a nearby grocery store. We will tag team on the contact, allowing us to have eyes on each other. You will then have a few minutes to talk to him. Whilst I am not happy about it, it gives me a chance to test if Daniella is having him followed.”

  Stacey frowned, “Does it put him at risk?”

  He replied, “There is always risk, but as long as you follow my rules, it will be relatively OK.” They sat for a few more minutes, as he outlined the rules and the danger signs, stressing the key abort options.

  An hour later, they were in position outside of WKJD’s offices. Slade exited the building and without looking around, headed away from the offices. From where Stacey was she could see Gerald at the next traffic light, again dressed as a beggar. He approached Slade and she could see a brief discussion taking place, after which Slade reached into his wallet and gave him some ca
sh.

  Her excitement at seeing Slade, almost caused her to lose focus on the scouting the area. Snapping her attention back to the task at hand she immediately saw someone following Slade. Gerald was looking her way when she gave him the signal; he nodded and turned his attention in the general direction of the man dressed in black and wearing large sunglasses. Stacey was walking on the opposite side of the street from Slade, and she watched as he crossed over to her side of the street. She glanced over her shoulder to see Gerald harassing the man that had supposedly been following Slade.

  Slade was slightly ahead of her and walked into the grocery store on the street corner. She felt her heart jump with joy as she followed him in. He headed into the far back corner and stood facing the large fruit and vegetable rack, fiddling on his mobile phone. Stacey went and stood no further than a few feet from him, pretending to check out the vegetables on offer. She whispered, “Hello my darling, it is so good to see you. I wish I could hug you and just hold onto you.”

  Slade replied, “My word, I miss you too. Are you OK? I wish this was all over.”

  She wasted no time and gave him a brief overview of the social media campaign and asked that he get Elon’s support in making it impactful. Lastly Slade, is there any chance you can leave town, and work from somewhere else? I fear for your safety at the moment.”

  He replied, “Oddly, I feel the same way, but I don’t want to leave Cape Town and leave you on your own.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said confidently.

  He replied, I suppose there is a chance we can do some of the new project for Richard from Johannesburg.”

  Stacey felt a shudder and instantly knew that something was wrong. She peered out of the corner of her eye, and saw Daniella approaching from about twenty metres away, “Slade, keep looking at your phone, Daniella is approaching.” With that she slid quietly away and disappeared behind the shelving into a small storeroom that Gerald had told her about. She slipped in and quickly reversed the jacket she was wearing, it was red on the outside and black on the inside. She whipped off the blond wig and pulled on the red wig. Within seconds she had changed her appearance.

  She steeled herself for the moment where she would need to pass close by Slade and Daniella. She felt the sweat drops forming on her forehead and in the palms of her hands, as she grabbed the trolley that Gerald had left outside the storeroom and started pushing it down the aisle, only metres from where Daniella had approached Slade. She paused briefly to listen.

  Daniella was now next to Slade, and asked, “Who was that woman you were talking to?”

  Slade’s voice came through firmly, “Hi Daniella. What woman are you talking about?”

  She replied, “The fat one that was next to you with the red jacket on.”

  Slade played his part to perfection, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, I was only here to get some fruit and I got sidetracked, checking on some sports results. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

  Stacey did not wait for any further conversation, as she checked to see that her jacket was firmly zipped up and no red was showing. She hurriedly pushed the trolley to a far entrance, left it in the aisle and exited the grocery store. Fear gripped her once again, as she almost bowled over the same man who had earlier been following Slade. He cursed her but did not even look at her. She picked up the pace, and half a minute later she was in a taxi. She was breathing heavily and whispered to herself, “Phew that was far too close for comfort.”

  Only when she was back at the safe house did she relax. The thing that bothered her most was how quickly someone had followed Slade, and more importantly, how quickly Daniella had appeared on the scene. She prayed that Slade would be safe.

  Staring into the mirror, she suddenly burst out laughing, as she recalled how Daniella had referred to her as the fat woman. The Fatpants had certainly helped her disguise. As she was taking off her wig, she heard footsteps coming up the staircase. She froze, and was instantly gripped by fear, had someone followed her?

  Seconds later, the door was opened, and she heard Magriet’ s welcoming voice, “Sarie, are you here?”

  Stacey rushed out of the dressing room, and hugged Magriet, “It is so good to see you.”

  Magriet smiled, “I’m glad to see that you are alive and well. I hear via the grapevine that you have had an interesting few days.” She held out a shopping bag, and passed it to Stacey, “Here, I thought you could do with some good food.”

  Stacey peeked in and smiled in appreciation. She made them some coffee, and they sat down to catch up on recent events. Stacey was grateful for the company and asked many questions. After a few moments, she asked, “Do you have any idea how Daniella reacted to my video?”

  Magriet answered, “She played it very cool in public, simply putting out a media release, about more fake news. The bad news is, she has put the word out on the streets and amongst the gangs, that she wants you dead.”

  Even though Stacey, had anticipated such a response, hearing the words sent a chilling reminder that this was a seriously high-stakes game, which could cost her life is she was not careful. She swallowed. “Thanks, I will do my best to be careful. Is Slade going to be OK?”

  Magriet replied, “He will be. She has put word out that nobody touches him. We assume that she knows that at some point you will try and see him or reach out to him. As far as she is concerned, he is live bait, and you are the catch. I’m sorry to be so blunt about it.”

  Needing to stay calm, Stacey changed the subject and they went through the details of the social media campaign.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Stacey had agreed with Gerald that she would stay indoors for a few days, as the social media campaign would have been launched, and Daniella would be increasing the hunt for anyone who may ruin her criminal activities. Three days after she had last been out, she started seeing the social media campaign featured on the local news channels. The campaign was simple, it was an emotional message, appealing to all victims that had been impacted by crime, to stand together, to start saying no. As she watched the odd bit of news coverage, it became apparent that serious money had been put behind the campaign, and she could only assume that it was Elon who had backed the initiative. According to one news channel, the social media hits had passed fifty thousand in just two days. She allowed herself to gloat just a little.

  After a few days inside, she again left the safe house, with the glare from the sunlight burning her eyes and she was grateful for the large hat and dark sunglasses. She had agreed to meet Gerald at a flea market, which would allow them to be lost in the crowds. After a few minutes, she saw Gerald at a stall, selling rusks, and she took her time before approaching him, trying to assess if anyone had either followed her or was watching him. After fifteen minutes, she was sure that the coast was clear, so she went into his little stall, and plonked down on one of the two deck chairs. She kept her large hat on and watched with interest as shoppers browsed around for bargains. Gerald sat down and offered her a cup of coffee, and some of the delicious homemade muesli rusks.

  Gerald leant closer, “I am the bearer of good news, firstly, Slade has left for Johannesburg for a week or two to work on a project and secondly, your social media campaign is gaining momentum—”

  “Great, I’m glad he is safe!” she interjected.

  He continued, “Best of all is that the social media campaign is upsetting Daniella. She has told the various police officers on her payroll to find the culprits and have them arrested. She has told them that it is a cover for foreign criminals who want to kill the police. Not surprisingly, they believe her.” He noticed the concerned look in her eyes, “Not to worry Stacey, these guys are good, the sources will not be traced.”

  She replied, “Thanks Gerald, what about the second part of our plan. How do we start destabilising the criminal gangs and breaking down the trust?”

  Gerald dug into his jacket and pulled out a rolled up document, “Please read this and memorise i
t. It contains details of some of the known gangs, drug dealers, police and other thugs that I have been able to connect to Daniella.” He passed along the document and got up to serve someone.

  She took off her sunglasses but kept the broad-brimmed hat pulled down tightly. She read the list several times and memorised the names, addresses and numbers. She closed her eyes and repeated the information several times until she was sure she had it securely stored in her memory. She looked up at Gerald and replied, “I have memorised it.”

  He took the document from her, took out some matches, and set fire to it. He then looked at her and whispered the strategy for each person, how to connect with them and what to say. She agreed with most and challenged some of the suggestions. After an hour, they agreed. He passed her a package of envelopes in a plastic packet, which she took and placed in her shoulder bag. They shook hands, and she got up to leave, “Thanks Gerald. I’ll see you in two days’ time at our next rendezvous.”

  “Just remember not to touch the envelopes. No fingerprints. Good luck and be safe,” he said as he waved goodbye. Without looking back, she melted away into the crowd.