by Brian Cain
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Malinda made her way into the terminal from the plane at Sydney airport, The Large Figure scanning the awaiting crowd as he walked just in front of her. He stepped to one side as a little girl came running towards them.
“Mummy mummy!” she cried.
Malinda caught the excited youngster in her arms, “Tammy!” Malinda continued holding Tammy in her arms as she greeted her mother and father. They made their way to Malinda’s parents’ chauffeur driven Mercedes Limousine in the car park, now flanked by two large figures scanning the crowd as they went.
Three burly men sat in a black Holden Statesman not far from the Mercedes Limousine, one talking on his mobile phone.
“It’s her, Sly, her parents have met her here.”
“Can you grab her there now and the kid?” asked Morgan.
“No way. Two gorillas, the Miller twins.”
“Shit, come back here straight away and make sure the Millers don’t see you,” finished Morgan.
The black Statesman stopped briefly at the large electric gates, which opened after an armed guard had glanced inside. It progressed up the long driveway, stopping outside the main door of the two-storey mansion with a commanding view of the Sydney opera house and Harbour Bridge. The occupants made their way to Morgan in the indoor pool. Morgan was lounging on the steps of the pool with the water lapping his chest, puffing on a huge cigar. His medium length, wavy fair hair was still perfectly dry. He looked a lot younger than his forty-five years. Cosmetic surgery and regular exercise gave him the appearance of a well kept thirty year old. He pushed away the naked blonde girl who clung to him and looked up at the stocky bearded character who had just entered, with his cold, dark green eyes.
“The Miller twins. Just who we needed. Tomorrow my divorce, along with half my fortune, goes to that bitch. Forget about doing anything at all for now. The cops would love Lance Miller and his brother to fix me up for them, then carry on like they couldn’t solve the case leaving them to take the cream of my operations. That bitch.”
The bearded character interrupted, “One well placed shot from the top of a tall building, Sly, and this woman’s history, no problem.”
Morgan threw his cigar in the pool and screamed with disapproval. “You don’t just shoot a senator’s daughter down in the street, stupid!! We have to back off or suffer the consequences. Malinda knows a lot about what goes on around here and her father’s one of the richest and most powerful people in politics in this country. If she spills the beans who knows what would happen. We’d have to shut up shop and bolt! On the other side the cops are using the Miller twins to sort anybody out they want. I’ve lost six of my biggest dealers in the last twelve months; just disappeared into thin air and now the Millers are somehow tangled up with her. We could be next, so if you so much as spit on the sidewalk towards her at the moment you won’t have to worry about the cops, or the Millers, I’ll kick your arse myself. Do you understand that? Me being able to do something was just wishful thinking, forget it!” Morgan dried himself while his three hoods stood motionless.
The bearded character spoke. “We should have a good think about this Sly, the flight she came in on came from Adelaide. She may go back there.”
Morgan looked encouraged, “That’s a point, when she starts to move in other circles that may provide an opportunity. Get our airlines contact to keep screening the outgoing flights for her and the kid. That’s how we found out she was coming and that’s how we’ll find out she’s leaving and we’ll find out what she’s been up to in Adelaide. Good thinking and do nothing until then. She took us by surprise the first time. She’s probably come to pick up the kid and sign the divorce papers tomorrow. The divorce settlement may keep her happy for a while, but only a bullet will buy her silence.”
Meanwhile, Malinda was enjoying a stately dinner that evening put on by her parents at their Sydney home. Servants fussed around the table and she thought how much happier she would be preparing something simple for her and Jason at home in Adelaide. In two weeks she had found more there than she had put together in the rest of her life.
“What do you have planned for your stay, Malinda?” asked her father.
“I want to get the divorce over and done with and move my office operations to Adelaide. Take Tammy back with me and live happily ever after.”
“I take it things are going well with Jason?” asked her mother.
“Yes, he’s dying to meet Tammy. I want to go back on Friday if possible. His band is doing really well and is coming to Sydney in a couple of weeks to record an album, so you can see him then.”
“Will you come over with him then?” asked her father, he fussed with his table napkin.
“No. I want to get Tammy settled in school. She can go to the same school as Jason and I did as children.”
“We are so pleased things are improving for you Malinda. We are still very worried about Morgan. I have to go to Canberra tomorrow and I want you to see my lawyer first thing in the morning. To sign the papers and he will make sure that Morgan does the right thing. If he doesn’t I want to know straight away, but we don’t expect any problems.”
“Thank you dad. Savanna my business partner is flying in on Tuesday to help me with catching up on work and then she’s coming to Adelaide to meet Jason before she goes back to Paris. We are launching a new range of cosmetics in America and we have a lot to discuss with our directors before we go, so we’ll be very busy.”
Malinda had allowed Tammy to stay up late, they had been apart and were very excited at seeing each other again. Malinda told her all about Jason, instead of reading her a bedtime story. Tammy asked many questions about Jason, she was as excited about Jason as Jason was about her. Malinda sensed an invisible bond; they both feel asleep on the same bed, looking forward to going home.
Monday morning and Malinda was escorted by the Miller twins to her father’s lawyer’s city office, where she signed several documents regarding her divorce settlement.
“Quite a good deal we’ve been able to negotiate for you Mrs Morgan, or should I say Miss McDonald, now,” bragged Geoff Harrison, a lawyer in the McDonald law firm.
“I didn’t want all this! I would have been happy with a separation with no money involved. It’s you and my father who arranged all this.”
“Come, come, now Malinda, we are just making sure that you and your daughter’s future is secure and let’s face it, that couldn’t happen to a nicer man than Sly Morgan.”
“I think a hundred and forty million dollars should cover my daughter’s and my food and rent for quite some time! I didn’t think he was worth as much as that.”
“Sly Morgan is worth nothing, but he has a lot of money. We’re sure we don’t know half of what he’s got, but we were able to pull a few strings here and there, even to the point of leaving your fortune out of it all together. If he had not agreed your father would have had him closed down completely and still could do so if he causes any problems. As of midday today you’re single and one hundred and forty million dollars richer.”
Malinda shuffled the papers in front of her. “My will. Have you done the changes I asked for to my will so I can sign that as well?”
The lawyer opened a desk draw and pulled out a file. “Yes, here it is just as you asked. Are you sure you want to leave everything to this Jason Brinkly? Tammy hasn’t really been catered for.”
Malinda checked, then signed her will, “That’s good, thanks Geoff. She has been catered for. You wouldn’t understand Jason. She already has him and that’s all she’ll ever need.”
While Malinda was busy with the lawyer, Lance Miller, The Large Figure, had been instructed by Malinda’s father to take a message to Morgan. Miller pulled alongside the intercom at the gate of Morgan’s mansion.
“Who is it?” a voice asked.
“Lance Miller. I have a message to give Mr Morgan personally from Mr McDonald.”
“This is Morgan, what’s the message?”
“It’s
a very important personal message and I have to give it to you personally. Nobody else is to hear.”
Morgan was scared. “I’ll come to the gate; you can give it to me there.”
Miller got out of his car and waited with his face touching the upright steel bars of the gates that were wide enough to get an arm through. An armed man stood in the bushes just to his right, but Miller paid him no attention. A perfect white fifty seven Cadillac came slowly down the drive and stopped three car lengths from the closed gates. Morgan got out with two other men, making sure their firearms were in full view.
“What was the message?” shouted Morgan.
Miller didn’t move a muscle, resting his hands on the crossbar of the gates, “Like I said, it’s for your ears only!”
Morgan walked to within three metres of Miller while his two hoods spread out and levelled their weapons at Miller. “Well?”
Miller remained perfectly still; Morgan was unable to make eye contact through Millers sunglasses. “This is really important, I suggest we whisper,” said Miller.
Miller’s cool manner had settled Morgan and he walked closer. When within reach, Miller’s arms shot out in the wink of an eye grabbing Morgan’s suit lapels and crashing Morgan against the gate with their noses touching.
“First tell your monkeys to put the toys away,” growled Miller.
Morgan was shaking. “Put the guns down, now!!” shouted Morgan.
The hoods dropped their weapons and put their hands on the roof of the Cadillac. The guard in the bushes came into view throwing his weapon on the lawn and holding his hands high.
Miller spoke in a whispering growl. “Mr McDonald wants to make it real clear that if you so much as look in the direction of his daughter in future, things will get very uncomfortable for you. He told me that you beat her and he wanted me to show you what it felt like.” Miller brought his knee through the bars and into Morgan’s groin, Morgan groaned and lent forwards, his face protruding through the bars. Miller punched him square in the face, spreading his nose out in a mass of blood and sending him crashing backwards to the ground. Miller drew an automatic forty five pistol from his body holster inside his suit, firing two quick rounds into the windscreen of the Cadillac, smashing it to pieces.
“Don’t even think about it!!” Miller screamed as he walked slowly backwards towards his vehicle with his weapon waving menacingly backwards and forwards. He kept the gun pointed in their direction out the driver’s side window as he lit up the back wheels of his seventy one Ford Mustang in reverse, creating a cloud of smoke into which he disappeared. Morgan made his way back to his mansion where he went into a fit of rage throwing anything he could pick up and overturning furniture. He screamed at the top of his voice while doing it.
“Miller and that bitch, you’re dead; if it’s the last thing I do I’ll get you!”
Tuesday, Malinda met Savanna at the airport. They made their way to a towering office block in the city and the lift took them to the top floor, head office for the world-wide Malvanna cosmetic and modelling empire. They had arranged for a meeting of directors of all international sub branches for a yearly review and planning seminar over three days. Savanna had explained the corporate details to Malinda on the way from the airport and after she had outlined their progress, she was keen to know of Malinda’s new love.
“So he’s a rock ‘n’ roll star; not really your style is it Malinda?” asked Savanna.
“Jason, he was my childhood sweetheart and the first one, you know.”
“Really! What a freak out. What’s he like now?”
“Handsome, loving, polite, talented.”
Savanna interrupted, “Rich.”
“No, he’s stony broke.”
Savanna looked puzzled, “Well if he’s not rich what use is he.”
Malinda shook her head. “Of all the rich guys you married Savanna what did you really get out of your relationships?”
“As much as I could when it all went sour. I won’t marry again. I’m worth too much now and I may lose some of it.”
“I’m never having another relationship for money ever again. I would have married Jason years ago, but money clouded my dreams. I thought I would always be happy if I was rich, but I was really empty until I went and found Jason. Now I can see my and Tammy’s destiny and I feel so full of life itself.”
Savanna shook her head. “God, you sound like a Mills and Boon book, I hope I don’t catch whatever you’ve got; I’ll stay in the fast lane with all my boyfriends, I like it that way.”
There was a knock on the door and the first of the directors began to arrive, gradually filling the seats around the conference table. By Friday afternoon the guidelines for renewed thrusts into the American market of cosmetics had been passed and budget reviews and profit margins checked and rechecked. Malvanna Corporation had lifted profit margins across the board by a massive fifteen percent and a celebration was organised for all concerned.
Saturday morning Malinda had a modelling photo session for their new range of cosmetics, which was usually done by Savanna as well, but she was not feeling well and arranged to see a doctor. Malvanna pushed different lines of cosmetics for light and dark coloured hair, Malinda doing the dark line with her long jet black hair and Savanna doing the light line with her pure blonde curls. Modelling was how they had both got started and had met in the first place. Now their faces were on all their own products and they still remained two of the most photographed women in the world.
Sunday Savanna struggled through her modelling session and by Sunday night had decided to return to Paris as she was feeling worse. The doctor she saw the previous day had taken some blood and done some tests, but was sure it was due to the overload of work during the last couple of weeks. He advised she rest up for a few days, which was now possible with Malinda back on deck. Head office would have to stay in Sydney for now as it was too big a task to move it to Adelaide quickly, if ever, and Malinda would control things from home on an experimental basis.
Malinda booked a flight to Adelaide for Monday morning having to reluctantly agree with her father that Miller accompany her, as there was still a possibility that Morgan may try to get revenge. An hour after she had made her booking on Sunday afternoon Morgan’s phone rang.
“Hello, Morgan.”
“Bingo Sly, her and the kid tomorrow morning to Adelaide," a voice replied.
“OK, get her tailed. Find out what she’s up to there. ”
“One slight problem Sly, Lance Miller is on the same flight.”
“Damn! Got any ideas? Know anyone who would be game enough?”
Complete silence for a few seconds then the voice replied, “We could send a woman. I know one we could trust, Miller wouldn’t expect that.”
“Great idea. Can you fix it? Just get the basic information; where, who with and why. Tell her to spend only a couple of days so Miller doesn’t wake up, then get straight back to us.”
“No problem, can fix,” replied the voice and hung up. Morgan nodded as he put the phone down, hatred embedded deep in his smile.
Malinda and Tammy waved Savanna goodbye early Sunday morning on a flight back to Paris. Savanna would come to Adelaide on a social visit when she felt better. Malinda then rushed to the domestic terminal to rendezvous with her parents who had come to see her off.
“Be sure to get Jason to come and see us when he’s here, love; we’d love to see him again,” said Malinda’s mother as she kissed her goodbye.
“Remember Malinda, Miller must stay for a few days at least. You know what Morgan’s like,” said her father.
“It’ll be all right dad. Jason’s there all the time but I promise, if you insist.”
Miller stood at the entrance to the loading tunnel scanning the people who boarded the plane. He tagged on behind Malinda and Tammy as they came through, but paid no mind to a short leather-clad woman wearing a red wig as she sat only one seat away from Malinda and Tammy.
