Turning to her bodyguards she asked,
“Eric, Ernie; fancy a chance to say hello to the biggest cocaine trafficker the world has ever known?” Their grins said, ‘Yes.’ Jemima smiled at Tiny and said,
“Is that ok?” In reply Tiny shrugged with no enthusiasm, but said to her bodyguards,
“She’s your problem. Keep her safe.”
Chapter 41
“I rushed without thinking. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Ernest groaned.
“Waiting an extra minute would have been enough. What?” Ernest asked, having missed Juanita’s reply whilst berating himself.
“If we had captured Charles it would have dented their confidence and left them with an additional problem to deal with. However, we would have had to put him somewhere secure and remote guarded him. Limbo would be crawling with demons searching for one of their own and Helena with dented pride would have been a more dangerous adversary. Charles slipping away was a blessing. We also have bigger spooks to keep us occupied. We need to meet with William, Ben, Annabel and Jemima altogether. With all of them surrounded by SAS guards, face to face will be hazardous. So we’re going to organise an omnipresent meeting.”
Ernest nodded not understanding what she’d said or how it was to be achieved, but desperate to look as if he knew what he was doing. Reasonableness overcame his dented ego and his nod became a tentative shake of the head. Jonas looked at Juanita and shrugged with a confused expression. Ignoring their obtuseness, Juanita took Ernest’s hand on one side and Jonas on the other, and then nodded twice.
At once, they were looking down on the inside of the three Range Rovers; the interiors forming a rough circle with the outer edges of each view blending with the next. Juanita shuffled the views of the Range Rover Interiors so that the four people she needed to talk to were next to each other in the configuration they were looking at. She took Ernest’s and Jonas’s hands again and they sank down to just above the circle enclosing the three Range Rover interiors. Juanita waited a moment and then contacted William and Annabel, appearing in their minds simultaneously.
“Good morning William, Annabel. Please do not react to my voice, just listen to what I have to say. Ernest and I need to talk to you all together as a matter of urgency, but we haven’t time to repeat everything four times. Ben and Jemima have not experienced voices in their heads talking to them before and with the number of other people around them they will need to stay calm. William, please talk to them and explain what will happen. We will be back in two minutes.”
Ernest and Juanita watched as William went to the other Range Rovers and spoke to Ben and Jemima. They saw them nod and then sit looking out of the car windows while the hubbub of activity continued around them.
“Good morning, sorry for the urgency, but we needed to keep you abreast off events away from here. Helena and Charles are aware the safe wasn’t empty, so Felicity will know too. She’ll also have been told that there is no threat from the material left behind by Jonathan Andrews. As Felicity has gone over to the other side, we have to assume that Satan will become involved. His ‘offspring’ must be protected at all costs. I have begun to feel tremors emanating from below that strengthen, as the ships get closer. Helena has been given huge additional powers to ensure this goes well and that you are all eliminated. Your guards will be unable to deal with the forces that Helena will have from below. When do the police arrive?”
William answered for all of them as he had been talking with Tiny when the calls to the police and Border Agency had been made.
“The ships will be docking around the country at three o’clock this afternoon. Tiny has arranged for help from the National Deep Rummage Teams. They are going to each location to be in place and synchronised at ten minutes to three as the ships are pulling along side. The police have been contacted by the National Deep Rummage Teams and undercover officers will have blanketed the area around each dock in anticipation of their arrival.”
Juanita sat thinking for a moment, then nodded,
“Ok, not much else you can do. Ernest, Jonas and I will keep a close watch on Felicity and Helena. If you need us do not hesitate, call.”
“There is one other thing,” Jemima said.
“Pablo, the head of the cartel supplying the drugs and a cousin to Felicity and I has decided to accompany the Southampton boat for its final few miles. He will be travelling to meet his biggest customer, but Felicity doesn’t know he is coming or that he will be aboard when the boat docks. I’m not even sure if she remembers what he looks like. I want to pretend to be Felicity, be wired and trap the malignant arsehole into incriminating himself. My two bodyguards will go with me for protection and to impress. Colombians love exhibitionism. If you need bodyguards it implies a certain ‘je ne sais quoi,’ you have power you’re dangerous. Can you check he is on the ship and let me know what he looks like?”
Juanita smiled, liking the bravado and spirit.
“Of course. How will you contact him to bring him to you ashore?”
Smiling at Ben she said,
“Ben’s going to hack his computer or phone. Either will also impress him and encourage him to trust me.”
Ben just smiled, tiredness etching his face and began typing.
***
William paced the room in the CHC warehouse they had commandeered as an operational headquarters. He looked around at the hive of activity and felt impotent. Ben was typing into his MacBook Pro, hacking Pablo’s email and phone accounts. He had already managed to hack the boats control computers and had inserted an undetectable virus that would allow them to control this ship if they needed to.
Tiny was leaning over large-scale maps of the area around Fawley as well as shipping charts of the approaches to Southampton. William couldn’t hear the conversation he was having with the ex-SAS bodyguards, but he thought they were being briefed on what was going to happen when the ship docked and Jemima met Pablo. He had watched Tiny earlier when he had been coordinating the other teams in Felixstowe and Liverpool and had recognised the professionalism of the ex-special services soldier. Tiny was wasted as a nightclub doorman, something William would be discussing with him when all of this was over.
He looked to the other side of the room and saw Annabel help Jemima get comfortable in her wheelchair and then inject her with morphine so she would be able to meet Pablo. It had become apparent to everyone that Jemima was not only far tougher than she had appeared, but was mentally strong enough to be capable of coping with all the shit her sister and her grandfather had thrown at her. Everything he saw in Jemima made him glad that Ben had fallen in love with such a beautiful, talented woman.
“William?” The sound of his own name being called out broke into his day dreaming and hauled him back to the here and now. He turned and realised that the voice had been Ben’s. He walked the short distance to him and said,
“Hi Ben. How’s your journey into the depths of Pablo’s telecommunications?”
“Slow very slow. The man is serious about his security. However;” he smiled as he said this,
“He has a massive ego that has left him with a small gap in his armour. Look.” He turned his MacBook Pro around so William could see the screen.
“He called the ship at thirteen hundred hours; one o’clock requesting permission to land. They knew he was there. He had been tracked since he left the French mainland. I have also managed to hack the ship’s communication system. This is the captain to his number one.” Ben typed and then William heard,
‘He’s on his way. He wanted us to know he was on his way. That we can see him on the radar and have been able to for the past ten minutes is irrelevant, he still needs to announce himself’
Number one replied,
‘And jeopardise all of us with his irreverent behaviour. A mobile phone. For a security conscious, intelligent leader, he is a fool isn’t he? This is Cartagena Star to Fawley coastguard.’
“Shit, no. The ship he’s meeting is the Teak Trader. Who the
hell is the Cartagena Star?” Ben opened the live shipping map he had been referring to constantly and saw that the Cartagena Star was one of the container ships.
***
“What?”
“The safe isn’t empty.”
“What?”
“Concentrate for fuck’s sake.” Charles’s impatience at his granddaughter’s lack of perception bubbled to the surface. He tried again to get through her distraction and give information he knew she needed.
“Jonathan Andrews, the Home Secretary, his safe only appears to be empty. Ernest’s guide Juanita is a lot more powerful than Helena had anticipated. She has put a false front on the safe so that it appears the contents have been removed.”
“How does that help?” Felicity asked, still not concentrating on the conversation she was having.
“No one knows that he has left anything embarrassing if not incriminating. Second, because she has put a false front on no one can see there is anything in the safe.”
Felicity smiled and said,
“Tripped by her own ingenuity. What else?”
Charles paused for a moment before continuing. For this next, part he needed her focused.
“Pablo is here. He flew to Paris yesterday, enjoyed a debauched night at the Georges Cinq, and is flying out to join the ship as it comes up the Channel past Portland. It seems he wants to meet his largest customer in person.”
Felicity looked confused for a moment.
“We met years ago, I was about seventeen and he was thirteen. He spent the entire summer trying to fuck me.” Felicity smiled remembering him.
“He was very good. Why didn’t he let me know? We need to make arrangements.”
“He did let you know, or I should say he let Thrasher know.”
Felicities face suffused with rage.
“That bastard is dead.”
Charles grimaced and continued,
“That’s only a small part of your problems. Freddie is in custody. He was taken when he went to deal with Annabel Anderson at Fawley. He was taped admitting to the killings of both Jonas and Ernest and alluding to other killings. He also implicated me and ‘another’ when he was trying to scare information out of her. She was wearing a wire. Team Bacchus had got to her first.”
Felicity faced had paled as she listened to Charles.
“Did neither you or Helena see fit to stop him if you were aware of all of this?”
“Helena pieced it together when we knew he had been taken. William has hired ex SAS bodyguards and a friend called Tiny. They are very resourceful. They have moved into the warehouse and are using it as their headquarters.” Charles looked at her and saw a frightened woman who was loosing control. He knew he needed to offer guidance and stiffen her resolve, before the whole house of cards came tumbling down.
“Felicity you need to act, this is spiralling out of control when it should have been business as usual. Can I give you some advice?” Felicity nodded.
“You need to prioritise. Freddie is history forget him for the moment. If he considers indiscretion, then have him silenced. Pablo is a more immediate problem. He has no idea that he could be walking into a shit storm. You need to contact him and warn him you have some issues shore side and he might want to stay clear.”
Felicity had regained her waspish attitude and replied,
“Are you fucking senile? Tell the man who is delivering six tonnes of cocaine that we might have a problem and if he doesn’t fuck off he might end up in jail? I would be dead. We need to ensure that we get to Pablo ahead of Bacchus and whisk him off somewhere away from them and stop his prying eyes. Charles you need to redeem yourself, as does your spook girlfriend. I need Bacchus and all of his extended family, guards and hangers on disabled; out of the game. Have the authorities been contacted? Police? Customs?”
Charles looked at her not answering, thinking. When he saw she wanted to interrupt his train of thought, he held up a hand to silence her. She yielded to his authority without thinking, forgetting he was dead and she the only sentient being in the room.
“I need to speak with Helena when she returns from her meeting with her boss. You’ve got him eating out of your hand haven’t you? Anyway when I see her I might have found a way to get you out of this mess and for the Cortez’s to come out on top.”
Chapter 42
Jemima was struggling to understand what Ben was saying. The repeated doses of morphine had taken their toll and her ability to understand even simple straightforward statements was beginning to fade. Ben tried to get through to her again before she began her call to Pablo.
“The ship that Pablo called wasn't the ship carrying the timber it was the container vessel. Both ships are owned by Cameron Holdings, but why would he call a ship that isn’t carrying his cocaine, unless it is. If the container ships are carrying the cocaine, I need to get an inventory of the contents of each of the containers. The National Deep Rummage Team will need to have some idea of where to start looking. We need to know which of the vessels is carrying the cocaine. Can you find out from Pablo if the cocaine is on the timber ship or on the container ship?” Jemima stared at him for a moment and then nodded, smiling.
Ben sat Jemima next to him at the makeshift desk and handed her a Bluetooth headset to put on. She slid the headset onto her head with exaggerated care and then looked at Ben and gave him thumbs up and a happy grin.
“Ok, let’s do this,” she said.
Ben looked at the pale face and glazed eyes with pinpoint pupils and smiled at her, his nerves causing a small facial tic.
“Are you sure you’re ok?”
Not giving her time to answer Annabel interrupted from her position behind Jemima. Shooting Ben an annoyed glance, she shook her head at him and said to Jemima to encourage her,
“Of course she is. Let’s lure this bastard out. Ready Ben?”
Ben hesitated for a moment and then nodded and said,
“Ok, dialling in five, four, three, two, one, go.” The dial tone and then the sound of the Jemima’s mobile phone connecting and ringing filled the room. Everybody stood still, lest they make an inadvertent noise while Jemima was talking. The phone rang for ten, then fifteen seconds before a confident voice with a strong Spanish accent answered.
“Si?”
“Pablo, Felicity here.” Jemima said. Her voice had changed so that the timbre and pitch were now higher than they had been and had a harder edge. The new sound could be Felicity.
“How did you get this number?” he growled.
“It would appear your security isn’t as fool proof as you hoped. Your assistant when we were advised of your visit, I asked for a contact number for you and here we are, very sloppy.”
The explosion of undirected rage that came out of the receiver caused Jemima to smile. Score one to Team Bacchus.
“I will meet you on board when you dock in,” she paused as if looking at her watch,
“Ninety minutes. I will be bringing two assistants, chair pushers. I had a small accident that necessitates a spell in a wheelchair. Alert your security team so that we do not have any unfortunate accidents.” The threat was veiled, but there. Don’t fuck with me on my territory or it might not end well.
“I will come to you and we can talk while the ship goes through all of the tedious formalities your country insists on.”
Jemima smiled with relief, gotcha. He had acknowledged this was her game.
“Of course, you can land on the area in front of the warehouse. Fifteen minutes?”
“Until then.”
***
“Tiny, are we set?” William asked.
“As we can be. I’m not expecting too much in the way of action. When we see Pablo, the boys will disable him and any guards he brings with him. The customs officers and Police will be ready to stream onto the ship as soon as it docks and start searching the timber. I have set watchers on all of the approach roads in case Felicity sends anyone to meet the ship and all of this has been duplicated at each of
the destination ports.”
William nodded looking uncomfortable. He couldn’t think of anything that his friend had forgotten or overlooked, but still something was nagging at him.
“This is too easy.” William said. He wanted to tell Tiny that he knew that Felicity was in league with the devil, that she had the assistance of her dead grandfather and a demonic spirit guide and that she would be planning all kinds of trouble he couldn’t begin to be ready for.
Tiny looked across to William, nodded in agreement and said,
“I know. I don’t understand why CHC don’t have any staff here. Security, workers to help with offloading, anyone. I’ve checked with people at each of the other ports and it’s the same. No activity at any of the CHC facilities. Nothing. If your information is correct and they’re bringing in tonnes and tonnes of cocaine, wouldn’t they want to have a presence even a discreet surreptitious presence?”
William jumped up out of his chair knocking it over and started to move towards the door shouting for Annabel and Ben. As he got to the door he turned and said to Tiny
“Thank you. I think you have given me the answer.”
He pushed the door open and jogged through, leaving a bemused Tiny and still calling for Ben and Annabel.
William jogged across the open warehouse to where Ben, Annabel and Jemima where and arrived gasping.
“Are you ok?” Annabel asked looking worried by his gasping.
“What’s wrong?”
William lowered his bulk into the chair that Ben had given up for him and gasping he said,
“We’re not going to find anything.” He was interrupted by a paroxysm of coughing that left him breathless and shaking. Trying to allay Annabel and Ben’s concern he said
Bacchus and Sanderson (Deceased) Page 34
