The Financial Terrorist Page 10
“Where’s nanny?”
“She’s asleep. She was tired after the journey.”
Juliet nodded seriously, “I’ll watch on my own. Can I come over if I want?”
Jacqui cuddled her and said, “Of course, you can. You know you always can.” And the two smiled sweetly at each other and then lent forward and gave each other a kiss. Charles could sometimes see the mother in Jacqui taking over. Luckily, they were rich enough to handle both business and family. And, soon, they would be even richer. But first of all they needed to resolve their immediate local difficulties.
As they sat around the table, Charles turned to Claire. They had several things to resolve. “How is this going to be kept quiet, or, if it gets public, how do we sell it to the bank regulators? And finally, what the hell was the cause of all this mayhem?” He turned to Jacqui, “I suspect your father may know the answer to the last question.”
It was with grim determination that Jacqui got on the phone. There was no way that she was going to allow her father to do anything that put Juliet at risk. He answered the phone himself.
“What happened?” he asked, when Jacqui said they had had some problems on the way in.
There was a furious response, punctuated by brusque comments from the other end of the phone. “What happened? Someone tried to blow us up. Of course we are all right. But we’re trying to do some big deals here and your associates are not helping them. I will not have your foul business interests putting my daughter at risk. I don’t care if you didn’t tell them to attack us. They attacked us because of your business. So it’s your fault... No, I won’t stop yelling at you.”
Charles gently took the phone from her. She let him and dropped her head into her hands. Claire went over to her and put her arm around her. It seemed to calm her. Charles took up the phone and told Di Maglio precisely what had happened. There were two leads to follow so far. Firstly, the driver in New York, and, secondly, the owners of this Zorba outfit.
Di Maglio said, “We can’t get the driver. He’s under night and day police guard. He won’t talk to us.”
“Does he know anything about your operations?”
“He knows nothing that can cause us any problems.”
“Then I’d leave him well alone for the moment and depend on the police for information. Do you believe that Rastinov is still alive?” queried Charles.
“I have a horrible feeling he is. There has definitely been some fairly vicious infighting inside the Russian Mafia. They are causing us a lot of trouble. We can manage that.”
Charles felt a slight panic as he wondered if the re-appearance of the Russian Mafia boss could impact his dealings with the regulators. He suspected Di Maglio could manage the news coverage, but asked all the same, “What about the publicity about the New York attack?”
“We’ll manage that. You won’t be mentioned by name. There has been news of the attack. It’s been billed as a car hijack attempt and robbery. That way nobody really expects names. There is too great a danger of a copycat attempt and so the police refuse to release information about the innocent parties. Although I am astounded that anyone could see you as an innocent.” Di Maglio laughed appreciatively at his joke.
Charles ignored him, “I guess that’s all right. Can you also handle the attacks in LA? That will be both at the airport and at the freeway.”
“Your names won’t be released for the same reason. The police are already putting the news out that it was a spoof attack on a famous name by some publicity seekers. They have issued a statement about seeking the perpetrators who placed the public at serious risk of injury. They say they are following leads and expect to trace the attackers within days. Everyone will think it was an attack on some celebrity. You may feature in some of the tabloids but that’s about as close you get to being one of them!” Again Di Maglio laughed at his joke.
But Charles wanted to be sure, “What about the car at the airport?”
“That’s not even rating much on the networks. It was an old car catching alight. The petrol tank exploded. It sounds pretty boring. The couple Claire scared off appear to think that she was police. I gather one wet himself with fright. Guys with wet pants don’t fancy being interviewed. It doesn’t look macho!” Again he roared with laughter.
“All right,” agreed Charles, “So we can kill publicity. But we need bodyguards. I would like to bring Maria over but I need her for the business in London. We also will need a new nanny. Our current one is about two inches away from a nervous breakdown. Can you get me a better one?”
“I’ll arrange one. Jacqui will approve. I know the right girl. She knows nothing about fighting or guns. But she’s a member of a family and that means she knows how to handle such events. She’s a nice girl, a trained nanny. She’d love to go with you to London. She won’t spy on you. Don’t worry.”
Charles responded coldly, “You do read my thoughts well. But I need the right girl till you sort out your Russian associates.”
His relationship with his father-in-law had always been quite cool. He felt at the moment that it was distinctly frosty, at least from his side.
“All right then. All I can do is try to get my people to track Zorba. I will be in LA on Tuesday. That way I can play with Juliet while you play with the regulators.” Again Di Maglio laughed at his wit.
Charles was unimpressed. His thoughts were on protecting his family and he told Di Maglio, “We need better security. Claire will look after Juliet rather than us. I’ll be armed at all times. But I’d like some better support. Can you send a couple of guards? I feel better with your people than with the local police.”
Di Maglio was willing to help. They would have the required guards by morning. Then life could return more to normal. Charles breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to the others, “That’s sorted out. He’ll trace whatever he can. The good news is that we should get no publicity. But we are going to have to be careful. We have some big deals in the offing and I don’t want anything to distract us. I suspect that this has something to do with the news he wanted to share with us when we have a family conference on Wednesday; it’s definitely more than just the likelihood that Rastinov is alive.”
Jacqui smiled back, albeit a bit wanly. “I’d like to pop into the shops. I really need some clothes. All I have is my work stuff. And they are New York rather than California. Could Claire and I go shopping? You could stay here with Juliet. I’ll get a couple of casual things for you.”
“That’s fine. Will the nanny wake?”
“No chance,” laughed Claire. “She’ll be out till tomorrow. I fed her a pretty big dose. Let me use the bathroom in my room. It’s just through the door there. Open your side of the connecting door and I’ll open mine. We need to be able to get from one room to the other without moving outside. I won’t use it unless needed. You two lovebirds can operate as normal.”
She grinned pleasantly at both of them. Charles thought back to the time they were all together in Barbados. This was unlike that but, somehow, despite all the problems they had experienced, he started to feel in a holiday mood.
The two women were out for about ten minutes. They then met up, having tidied up and changed. “Let’s go,” called Jacqui with the enthusiasm she always showed when off on a shopping spree.
“If you buy lots, buy another case as well.”
“Mummy, Mummy,” called Juliet. “Buy me a present.”
“Hey, why should you get a present?”
“I’m going to be a good girl while daddy looks after me.”
“You better be,” Charles said with mock anger as he ruffled her hair. She giggled and they sat cuddled together, watching another cartoon. One great thing about looking after a child is that one can watch cartoons to one’s heart’s content. And there was nothing more relaxing than that. As the door shut behind Jacqui and Claire, they sat down for a peaceful afternoon in front of the giant TV screen.
CHAPTER FIVE
She then took up her doll and started to make her up. The attempt was not too good and the poor doll’s face was soon smudged. Juliet looked at her father and shook her head. He looked in the bag and found the remover. She told him, “Mummy uses tissues with hers.”
She trotted over to get a tissue from the bathroom, walking from the room to the main bedroom. The bathroom was off that room. Her scream jerked Charles to his feet. He was wearing a gun in his leg holster and had drawn it as he got up from the sofa. In a bound, he was in the bedroom and headed for the bathroom. She was there and alone, pointing at the bath and crying.
He could see nothing there and tried to get her to tell him what was wrong. She was crying so much that she couldn’t speak. He looked carefully again and then saw what had shocked her. Crawling out of the plughole was a large insect. It was totally indifferent to the noise and just concentrating on escaping from wherever it came.
He slipped the gun back into his leg holster. Juliet had not appeared to notice it in any event. “It’s only a sort of spider. It shouldn’t be here. Shall I get rid of it?” he said. She nodded seriously, her eyes still full of tears. He took down the hand shower and flushed the beastie down the plughole.
“There Juliet, spider has gone. He won’t come back. He wouldn’t have hurt you. You’re a big girl and he would have been scared of you. Now don’t cry, we’ll look after you. We always will.”
She nodded and he took the tissue and wiped away her tears. “You’ve smudged your make-up.”
“Shall I wipe it off like Mummy does after she’s been crying?”
Charles automatically nodded, and she jumped up to get the make-up remover he had shown her earlier. He followed her into the room. Two things had shaken him. The first was the scream. The second was the comment on Jacqui. When did she cry? What was the cause?
Juliet came back. She was smiling now. She sat in front of the mirror again and removed the gunge with the same enthusiasm with which she had applied it. She then tackled the doll in similar fashion. Charles moved over and removed the bits that had been left behind from both of them.
“There” he said. “It’s now as good as when Mummy removes her make up. When does she cry and smudge hers?”
“She says I mustn’t tell.”
“But she only means other people. You can tell me.”
She looked serious again, “She cries when grandpa calls.”
She meant Di Maglio. His father was known as gramps. “Oh come on Juliet, why would she cry if grandpa calls?”
“‘He shouts at her. She cries.”
At that moment there was a slight noise outside the door. His nerves were still on edge after her scream. He went over and looked through the spy hole, expecting it was Claire and Jacqui. It wasn’t them. It was two women he didn’t recognise. They had stopped in front of the door, and one was looking in her bag. She had obviously mislaid something and was searching through it.
They whispered to each other. People who whisper in hotel corridors are usually not supposed to be there. Charles glanced back to the lounge area. Juliet was happily playing pretend with her doll. He was alone with her. There was no way that he could hide her elsewhere. He needed to be able to see where she was. He took the gun from his leg holster and waited to see what happened.
He looked at them carefully. They were dressed in short skirts and wore low cut blouses. They had long hair, one a redhead and the other a blonde. They were in their twenties. Their coats were thrown over their shoulders. Their appearance and demeanour were out of place. He then realised, he had been stupid. They were hookers and they had managed to get past reception. He heard one of them say “604” as she read from a piece of paper she had fished out of her bag. That must be along the corridor. They were 611 and also had the rooms on either side of the suite. He breathed a sigh of relief, watching the two hookers move down the corridor. Then he heard a faint movement in the other room.
Only the nanny was there. She couldn’t be up. Claire had told him that she had administered enough sedative to knock her out till the next morning. He moved carefully towards the connecting door. Juliet was still playing with her doll. He kept the gun away from her. There was no need for her to see it. Was the noise outside a decoy to allow someone to break into the other room? Or was he just getting paranoid?
He waited outside the room. The door led into the lounge area of their suite. He placed himself besides it so that anyone opening it would fail to see him from the adjacent room. He looked over to Juliet. She was still playing. She looked at him. He beckoned her to come over, putting his fingers to his lips. She looked puzzled and started to come over. Then the door by him opened. A woman came through and ran towards Juliet.
Juliet ran back away from Charles. She was scared. He held back in case there was someone else in the room. There was no movement, but he could not delay and so he went forward. “Put your hands in the air slowly. No sudden moves. Turn round.”
She was a tall middle aged woman. She was dressed in dark trousers and a dark sweater. That was classical intruder garb. She wasn’t scared, and he sensed she was not surprised. That meant she knew he was there, and that meant that she had an accomplice, or perhaps accomplices. He waited, sensing that only half the battle had taken place. Juliet was watching this scene quietly. She was obviously puzzled rather than frightened.
The tall woman stood still with her hands in the air and stared at the gun. He heard a rustle behind him. But he was too late. He felt a stab. He felt to the seat of his trousers and sensed the fluid being injected. He whirled round and grabbed at the syringe. That’s what it was. He yanked it out and threw it down. His head was whirling. The room went round and round. The tall woman was laughing now, Charles saw two of her. There was a smaller woman nearer him. She grinned evilly. He fell to his knees. He fought against the drug. He needed to protect Juliet.
Then Juliet screamed. The tall woman had bent to pick her up. That allowed him to see through the haze that was forming in front of his eyes. He realised he had a gun in his hand. He tried to say something but couldn’t. As Juliet screamed again, he sensed the tall woman had let go of her and jerked upright. She was holding her hand where Juliet had bitten her. Juliet was running towards the bedroom. He pulled himself to his knees again with one desperate burst of strength and pain and shot at the tall woman. There was another scream. This time it was from her as she stumbled back. He sensed he must have hit her, but did not know how badly as he could not see her for the haze. He swung round to the other woman who was moving towards him. Then the room went black and everything started whirling round. Then, there was darkness and silence.
They heard the scream of the child. They started as the gun blasted. They looked at each other as the second and unknown scream carried through the hall, Jacqui and Claire dropped their shopping bags and moved towards the suite. Jacqui had drawn her gun. Claire was checking the corridor for signs of anybody. Her gun was also in her hand. It was strange. No reaction from anywhere. Did people think it was a television on too loud? They registered, considered and then ignored the reasons. They needed to get to the suite.
Claire motioned to Jacqui to cover the door. She stood by the wall, facing the corridor, her gun at the ready. Claire went to the door of her own room just up the corridor and carefully pushed the electronic card into its slot. The door opened silently, the only reaction being a green light on the top of the lock. Claire moved into her room. She moved to the connecting door. It was a double door with locks in both rooms. On her side it was already open but the second door was closed. The door was solid and she couldn’t see who or what was
on the other side. She had to be quiet and she had to be fast. The only things that would play in her favour would be the element of surprise, and her ability to call on Jacqui for support once she was inside.
The door opened into the sitting room of the suite and there was no way they could fail to hear her coming. They would hear and see her, perhaps when she turned the handle to open the door, perhaps when she opened it. She thought through the room layout. Whoever had Charles and Juliet was unlikely to have placed them against the door. But there was a risk if she had to shoot her way in. She hoped that the door would not creak. Gently, she opened it an inch at a time. There was no sound from the sitting room but she could hear voices in the bedroom beyond. As she came through the door, she could make them out: “The bastard shot me,” a woman’s voice said. “They said he wouldn’t shoot a woman. He shot me.”
Then there was another voice. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve trussed up the brat. We’ll put a shawl round her and anyone will think she’s asleep. All I have to do is hold her face in my shoulder.”
“I need to stop this bleeding,” said the other. I can’t walk through the place like this. My clothes are covered in blood.”
“Put your coat on. But get a towel from the bathroom and tie it over the wound. It’ll have to be a face towel. Look I’ll get your coat from next door so we can check it looks OK. The brat can’t move, she won’t bite you again. But we need to get away and fast, or the little bitch’s mother will be back with the blonde bodyguard.”
Claire realised that someone was coming to the sitting room. It was going to be the uninjured one. She was now sure that there were only two of them. She slipped silently to the ground and hid behind a sofa. The woman walked in past the sofa and didn’t know what hit her as Claire, using the gun as a club, smashed it down on her head. Claire caught her as she fell and placed her on the ground. The sound of the blow had not travelled and that had been the only noise. Claire grabbed a tie back from the curtains and quickly hooked it over the woman’s neck, tying the other end to her foot which she pulled behind her back. It took seconds to do. It also took Claire seconds to frisk her and remove the small handgun from its holster. The woman could yell when she came to. But by then it would not matter.