by Sean Russell
After all, thriving in the world’s oldest profession was hard work. She gave it some more thought. Then she knew what she had to do. Tanko or Tanka or what’shis-name was going to want blood. He was not going to go to the police, but he was going to make sure he got his satisfaction, which meant nothing good for Amanda.
Mickey would take Amanda out of the country.
She would take her to Barbados. She had a couple of contacts there and she was sure she would find a place for her. Anywhere in that country was safer than Guyana for that child. On a personal note, Mickey did not consider Tanko to be a threat. He would be a fool to touch her, considering her client base. If he dared touch her, he would be a missing person for a very long time in a very short time.
Mickey smiled. It would be nice to visit Barbados.
She always had fun there. She would get Amanda a passport and a ticket and fly out with her the day after tomorrow. Mickey knew there were ways to do things and she knew which buttons to press. They were right there in her iphone. She took a double shot of brandy, and soon she was out cold.
* * *
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jade was not looking forward to her meeting with Jimmy. He was just creepy and she did not want to be associated with him. What did Phil get himself into? She had to find out. It was an unseasonably cool night, dark with no moon and few stars to illuminate the sky. The foreboding atmosphere presented by the weather only served to unsettle her. She spotted Jimmy sitting by the bar. Not that she could miss him, he was waving at her, his gold Cartier making itself evident. Her stomach churned but she willed herself to guts it up. She put a confident face on. At least where he sat was well lit and inviting.
She walked over to him. He offered her a seat. The waiter came over as if on cue. Jimmy offered her a drink and the waiter took her order and retreated.
“So let’s have it, let’s have a look.”
“My, we’re in a hurry.” Jimmy raised his eyebrows and leaned back. Then he smiled. “Goodnight, Jade.” Jade decided to be civil. There was no point in aggravating the man. He had what she wanted, and he was clearly in the mood for games. She was going to have to play if she hoped to get what she came for.
Jade knew how to play hard and she was prepared to play as hard as she needed.
“Goodnight Jimmy. You look fresh after having such a long day, especially at your age.” She smiled at him just a little tauntingly. Jimmy was absolutely unfazed.
“It’s all in the mind. I feel more energetic now than when I was in my thirties. I run five miles every day and spend one hour in the gym. I have the money and the time to be as healthy and as fit as I want to be.” He leaned forward and gazed into Jade’s eyes. “I have lots of energy to spare.”
Jade held his gaze, but kept focused on the task at hand. She was apprehensive about playing with this man. Gut’s it up, she thought to herself.
“Energy is relative. You may light a bulb, but not a city.” She dressed him down with her eyes.
“The pictures are upstairs in my penthouse. We can go now and look at them. I’ll send your drink up.”
Jade glimpsed the waiter out the corner of her eye.
“I’ll take my drink now.”
Jimmy waved him over. She took a sip of her drink, and her expression transmitted her approval. She followed Jimmy to his penthouse.
* * *
CHAPTER EIGHT
Philip Ferguson was born into money. He never had to struggle much. He was one of those fortunate souls who was a natural at most things. He was attractive with a smooth complexion and a smile that even Tyrese could envy. He had an athletic build, and he looked good in anything he wore, from cut off jeans to designer suits. His family knew struggle.
His father and uncle had built a huge construction business and hardware store chain. The businesses were worth about six million dollars. His father was in the process of closing a twenty million dollar contract for some luxury villas on the west coast. They worked hard and they were honest. They were known for the quality of their work and their attention to detail.
They also delivered on time. Their reputation grew over the years and they strove hard to maintain it. It was paying off.
Despite their success in building, the family did not feel that they had arrived. There were no professionals in the family, not even an engineer. Phil was the first to break that working-class mould. They spared no expense and gave him their full support in his legal pursuit. Phil heeded his father’s advice about his career choice, the advice being bestowed since Phil was age fourteen. Phil was unaware of the worth of his family’s business. He had viewed it with the same lack of respect as he viewed his father and his uncle setting off to work in cotton shirts, jeans and steel-tipped boots instead of wool suits with silk ties.
Phil was excited and proud to bring ‘respect’
to his hard-working family. He had little trouble at high school, university or even law school. He was a natural intellectual and disciplined enough not trip himself up by not doing the volume of work required to succeed academically.
Phil graduated from law school still holding his family values intact. He grew up in a Christian home with the values of honesty, integrity, loyalty and doing to others as you would have them do to you. These were what he was immersed in all his life. He felt lucky when he had the opportunity to work with J.C.
Chambers. Jimmy Cadogan was a well-established attorney who seemed very successful and business savvy. Phil’s father Isaac thought it was a great opportunity for Phil to learn and grow. He arranged for Phil’s interview with Jimmy through a mutual friend. Phil impressed Jimmy and was taken on as a junior partner.
Things went exceedingly well for the first two years.
His client base was building and he was making good money. Phil was living the life. Those two years were his honeymoon. Jimmy began to involve Phil more in his own private practice. Phil’s reputation as a sharp legal mind and his ability to produce results had grown in the firm. Jimmy intended to extract as much benefit as he could from this young human resource. It was also after those two years that Phil had met Jade and Jimmy’s misdirected interest in her awakened Phil’s disdain for the man.
Jimmy did not have time for rules, except incontrovertible ones, like the law of gravity. He was interested in results. If he had to bribe, lie or otherwise subvert ethical principles to win, he would. The more he used Phil to get results, the more he exposed him to his real moral fibre or lack thereof. It was also the more he endeavoured to coerce or inveigle Phil to his way of doing things.
Phil could not stomach the immoral, unethical culture of Jimmy’s practice. He resigned and put up his own shingle. Jimmy took this as a personal attack.
Jimmy was of the mindset that ‘if you are not with me then you are against me’. He was sure that he would destroy Phil’s practice within six months before his practice even really started. He had underestimated Phil’s financial backing through his family, and by extension their contacts. Phil had a ton of conveyances to start his practice. Phil was also a genuinely good lawyer with a way of making his clients feel that they were the most important people in the world.
His practice grew and established itself as one of the leading legal practices in the land.
* * *
CHAPTER NINE
Phil woke up suddenly again, but this time from a dream and not a nightmare. Jimmy was not in this one, Amanda was. He remembered Ms. Callender’s last appointment. She did set another appointment.
She turned up with a folder full of papers. She was prepared. She walked into his office looking sharp as usual in a yellow Dolce and Gabana minidress with matching Louis Vuitton bag, her feet embraced by an elegant pair of gold Jimmy Choos. She wore a question mark on her face as she walked in. Phil was on the phone with several stacks of files on his desk.
Another line started ringing. Then he was in another conversation. Just then his Blackberry rang and he was beginning to look overwhelmed. Amanda put
down her folder and bag. She picked up the Blackberry, stepped outside and took the call as she sat in the vacant secretary’s chair. She was cool, professional but still personable. She took notes from the call. The phone rang again and she took that call. Someone buzzed at the door; she let them in. She rescheduled their appointment. And so it went for two hours.
Phil emerged from his office with a wry smile, holding Amanda’s bag.
“Lunchtime, Ms. Callender.”
“It’s almost two.”
“That’s right. Time for lunch. I’m hungry.”
“So am I.”
“That’s why I’m taking you to lunch.”
“Really?”
“Let’s go.”
“What about your office, who’s going to run it?”
“If I don’t leave now it’s going to run me. I need to eat.”
Phil took her hand and ushered her out of her seat.
She took her bag and folder from him. They left for lunch in Phil’s car.
Phil remembered the drive to the restaurant. It was a typical sunny day in the Caribbean… absolutely beautiful. The bright sunshine illuminated the colours of the flowers, the trees, the houses, everything with a brilliance that could not be transmitted by any film, electronic or celluloid. You had to be there immersed in it to truly experience its the beauty. It was one of those days.
They sat at the restaurant on the waterfront eating and in easy, relaxed conversation. The sea was a brilliant blue contrasting at the horizon with the paler blue of the sky. The sun was still high enroute to creating a stunning sunset three short hours later.
Windsurfers with their multi-coloured sails decorated the ocean canvas which served as the picturesque backdrop for Phil and Amanda’s lunch date.
“So, Sandra called in sick this morning.”
“She left you stranded like that?”
“It’s not like that. She only fell ill this morning, and she tried to get someone to fill in, but she had no luck.
No one was available.”
“Tough luck.” Amanda made a quick, painful wince. It’s effect was cute. Phil smiled back.
“Jade sometimes fills in, or she would have if she were here, but she’s in London defending her thesis to complete her masters.”
“Ambitious woman.”
“Ambitious, bright, industrious, beautiful.”
“Sounds like a real catch.”
“She is.”
“Then you deserve her, you’re a catch too.” She looked deep into his eyes. She was not smiling.
Phil felt like she was probing his soul. He was not used to such intensity, such confidence. He broke the silence.
“You were a godsend today. It was getting crazy when you got to the office.”
She smiled.
“I noticed.”
“You had an appointment?”
“I did.”
“And you were prepared.” He gestured to her folder sitting in the vacant seat beside her bag.
“How did you get in? I did not buzz you in.”
“I walked in. It was not locked.”
“That’s right. Sandra said it was sticking sometimes.
She’ll have to make sure it gets done when she comes back to work. It’s a security concern. Anybody can walk in. Look at you.”
“Yeah, look at me.” She sat back. She looked at her waist, her chest and then directly at Phil. He followed her gaze with his until their eyes finally met.
The chemistry brewed and became electric. They were feeling each other, the way a man and a woman do when they are intensely attracted to each other and every word, every action, every nuance, really felt good.
“Yes, you should be charged with assault with criminal intent.”
“Are you going to prosecute me or defend me?” She gave him an obviously coy look.
Phil was getting intoxicated, and it was not from alcohol. It was her. He was falling into her. She was so much fun to talk to, so easy to be around. He was vulnerable. Jade was away for three weeks, so far away on her mission. Phil was spoilt. He loved company and was unaccustomed to being alone. The stress of the disorganized morning and Amanda being his saviour did not help. He did not want to have lunch anymore.
He wanted to have her for himself alone, just to talk, just to enjoy her—her essence, her presence. Without realizing it, he voiced his thoughts.
“Okay, my condo is ten minutes away, maybe twenty with the traffic. We can discuss your case.” Phil smiled. He was relieved, and a little embarrassed.
He had not intended to say what he said. Or did he?
“Let’s go to my place instead.”
*****
Amanda’s condo was two stories up with a view from the balcony overlooking the South Coast—Dover, St. Lawrence, Worthing and Hastings beaches were all a feast for the eyes from this vantage point. The condo was well-appointed, modern, but more classic than trendy with an open plan so that you could begin to enjoy the view immediately upon entering. Phil admired the place. She knows how to dress a room as well as she dresses herself.
There was some jazz filtering through the B&W
Diamond series speakers and they were sipping on a delightful Shiraz Amanda selected. Phil had started looking through her folder. He’d actually gotten as far as the cover when he became distracted.
His Blackberry burst into life, the ring tone exclaiming that it was Jade on the other end. She was on cloud nine. She had just got word that she had successfully defended her thesis. She had earned her masters. It had been her dream and she had been sidetracked because of her family’s poor finances, but with Phil’s support she had won. She was so grateful.
She was so happy and she was so in love with him.
She could not wait to hear his voice.
Phil was distracted. He did not open the folder.
Instead he responded to his auditory senses. He responded to Amanda’s voice. He did not hear his mobile… it was in his car, where he left it.
Jade was crestfallen. She really wanted to hear him. Her disappointment was fleeting though. She knew he was busy at work or with a client. Sometimes she thought he pushed himself too hard. She left him a text. She would hear from him soon enough. She would celebrate on her own… a mini celebration. The real one would take place at home with her husband.
Amanda was singing to Phil. She had a soft, sultry but slightly raspy voice. It was distinctive. No one had ever sung to Phil before. It was unreal. Her voice caressed his ears, the wine relaxed his mind, lowering his defenses.
She walked about the room as she sang. She came around the couch where he sat and stood in front of him. The silhouette of her very sexy body announced its presence to his eyes as the angling afternoon sunlight penetrated her dress. She drew him up to her.
“Let’s dance.”
“I was very much enjoying the show.”
“It’s time for you to get involved.” Phil was looking into her eyes. He was smiling now.
“This is where the performance becomes interactive.”
She pressed closer to him and they danced together slowly, intimately, like lovers do.
Phil was slipping quickly. He had never been in this situation before. He knew he should feel guilty, but he was overcome with another, more intense emotion.
His conscience made a last ditch effort to save his soul. It sent a message to his brain. Get out now, it said. It was too late in its attempt. It was ambushed.
Her lips met his. His lips, his tongue, his hands, everything else responded. It was all over. His conscience was ejected. It was as close to him as his Blackberry with Jade’s missed call was, sitting in his car.
* * *
CHAPTER TEN
Amanda lay on the bed, a king-sized one fitted with a mattress which practically caressed her as she lay down. It was a far cry the cramped quarters she had in her childhood when she always had to share.
She was accustomed to having her own bed now, and she’d had so much fun
sharing it with Phil Ferguson.
The man was blessed in all ways. What a man. He had the looks, the charm, the money, the status.
He also had the equipment and he sure knew how to use it. He could make a South American woman scream. Her body shuddered just remembering. She remembered with all her senses. It felt so real, like it was happening all over again. She wanted him again.
Now. The message came from between her legs. She called him on his cell, but he did not answer. She then sent him a very provocative text: ‘ I can’t stop thinking about this evening. I can’t wait to feel you inside me again. I’m going to start part two without you. ’ She was so horny that she decided to please herself, and then she went straight to sleep.
While Amanda slept, Phil was guilt-ridden. He had been immersed in the heady afterglow of their passionate encounter. He was high on endorphins when he entered his car. His mobile chirped, alerting him of a waiting text message. He had expected that, as well as a few missed calls. After all, he was a man in high demand.
The text was from Jade. His sexually induced euphoria disappeared. He became immediately sober and somber. The realization of what he just did struck him tangibly, as if Jade had kicked him in his balls.
Phil held himself to high moral standards and ethics. It came from his upbringing and his self-image as a lawyer who was the antithesis to the usual public perception that his less scrupulous colleagues had managed to invite. He had never crossed the line with a client before. It was unprofessional and unethical. He had never cheated on Jade before. He took his marital vows seriously, and believed in what they stood for.
He was in a deep mire of guilt. He had never fallen so short of his moral standings and he despised the weakness and lack of character that he showed. He ground his teeth together very hard. He raced out of the parking lot and virtually flew home. He would call Jade when he got there and had a chance to gather himself.
