Unwelcome Protector

by Alexa Wallace

  Ada was unable to stay quiet. 'I don't believe you,' she shouted angrily. 'Let me speak to him.'

  'My dear, I'm so relieved to hear your voice. Are you safe? If only you'd been more open with me yesterday about your concerns, none of this confusion would have occurred. Your journalist friend has led you astray.'

  'Let me speak to my grandfather!'

  'I can assure you, Ada, he's just as keen to speak to you, but at the moment it's logistically impossible. He's resting at another location.'

  Ada was on the point of saying she had a good idea of where that location was, but she held her tongue. Her feeling now was overwhelming relief. She was as sure as she could be under the circumstances that her grandfather was alive and probably unharmed. There was no point in continuing to feel guilty about being the cause of this predicament. She couldn't undo anything that had happened. She had to summon up confidence and look ahead to the task in hand.

  'I'm only moments away from calling the police,' she said as forcefully as she could. 'And then everything you've been doing up at Silver Springs will become public.'

  'You won't be referring this matter to the police, or to any other authority,' said Zina, her voice now hard. 'I have every wish to resolve this impasse amicably but I can't say the same for my associates. If you refuse to do what I ask, I cannot answer for George's safety.'

  Ada felt a cold knot form in the pit of her stomach. 'Are you threatening my grandfather?'

  'I'm involved in a game of chess, Ada, and I'm as much a pawn as you are. If you don't return the code you stole, our old friend the knight will be eliminated from the chessboard and I'll be unable to defend him.'

  'You're lying,' said Ada, hearing the desperation in her own voice. 'You're the queen in this match. You have the power to stop the game.'

  'You're forgetting the king, Ada, and in this game there are more than one. I've made certain agreements with certain people in certain countries that I cannot now renege on. My course is set. You must do as I say.'

  Ada could feel nothing but shock. Zina was behaving like a common criminal. She was implying that her grandfather might die if the code copies were not returned. Did she really mean it? Ada had no other choice but to take the threat seriously. Her grandfather's life was in danger and involving the police would only increase that danger. She had to submit to Zina.

  'I think you're using your associates as cover,' said Marlowe, with a reassuring glance at Ada. 'You have the power to stop this whole thing right now. You're just pretending that it's out of your hands. You're acting out of pure vindictiveness because Ada has stood up to you.'

  Zina was silent for several long seconds. Then she spoke, her voice full of scorn. 'Thank you for that entertaining assessment, Mr Marlowe. Pure shallow, tabloid journalism. I'd expect no less from someone of your breed. Keep it for your gullible audience who, I've heard, are deserting you in droves. I don't know why an intelligent young woman like Ada ever thought she could rely on you for help. You're a minor actor in this play, Marlowe. Know your place and keep your mouth shut.'

  Ada understood that Marlowe had tried to anger Zina to penetrate her guard in some way, to make her divulge some piece of useful information. But the attempt had failed. She realised for the first time that Zina was made of a kind of steel that she thought only hardened men possessed. For most of her life she'd thought of Zina as something else completely. Much of the shock she felt was from this new reality. She'd now discovered that the woman she'd always thought of as a friend and protector was an enemy. She wanted to cry but held it back. What she needed now was the courage to do a job that she knew she couldn't do alone. She looked at Marlowe. His dark eyes returned her gaze calmly. He'd made her a promise. She intended to hold him to it.

  'Where are you?' Ada said.

  'In beautiful Sydney harbour,' said Zina, her tone now pleasant and charming. 'Naturally I can't tell you where. I'm sure we can arrange a meeting for tonight. George will be fully rested by then. Please return the SIM card to your phone, my dear, and wait for my call.'

  'I lost the second copy of the code,' Ada said quickly. 'It was in my jacket pocket. It must have happened when I ran off the road this morning.'

  'Please don't play games with me, Ada. You'll only make things worse. I'll check with my security men. They witnessed the entire absurd debacle. They'll search for it. If you're lying...'

  'It's the truth.'

  'We'll see, my dear. By the way, you damaged my prototype electric car. You can't imagine how much development money I've sunk into that little toy. However, I promise not to hold it against you. I'll be content with the return of my property. You've made the right decision. Until tonight.'

  She hung up.

  'Did you get all that?' Marlowe said to Tony.

  Tony nodded, 'All of it. We can play it to the cops.'

  'No police,' Ada said firmly. 'You said we had to confirm that Zina was behind my grandfather's disappearance. Well, now we have. But I've changed my mind about the police. It's too dangerous to call them now. Zina would react badly. I'd be putting my grandfather at risk. I have to do what she wants.'

  'And I've changed my mind as well,' said Marlowe firmly. 'I was against calling the police earlier, but now I think we have no choice. We can't rescue George. We don't know where he is.'

  Ada stayed quiet. This was not the moment to reveal what she knew. Or thought she knew. She needed more time to think it all through. 'I've made up my mind,' she said.

  'We have our conversation with Zina as evidence,' Marlowe said. 'It's all the police need to take action. If you give in to Zina nothing will change. She'll continue to deal with criminals and foreign governments. Who knows how much damage she'll do.'

  'Don't lecture me! You promised to help me rescue my grandfather. This is the only way to do it without any risk to him.'

  'How do you know Zina will keep her word?' said Marlowe, frustration in his voice. 'And what about her so-called associates? Twist and the Russian. How will they react?'

  'You promised me,' Ada said stubbornly. 'Did you mean it?' She could see his face begin to darken with anger.

  'The whole conspiracy will just disappear,' he said. 'After all the danger you put yourself through this morning, after all the time and effort I've put into chasing this story for months, now it will all just evaporate.'

  'The story! That's all you care about! I don't give a damn about the story, or about the future or what Zina will get away with. I'm only interested in now, and what might happen to my grandfather.'

  'I think Zina is crazy,' said Tony, breaking in. 'Whatever you decide to do you'd better do it fast.'

  Ada breathed a small sigh of relief. Tony's intervention had served to calm her down. She couldn't say the same for Marlowe. His anger seemed to have darkened his tan and his brown eyes seemed almost to glow. She returned his stare.

  'By the way,' said Tony, 'how did Zina know to ring us here? And exactly on midday?'

  'The time was coincidental, it doesn't matter,' Ada said. 'She knew our location because your boss forgot to remove the SIM card from his phone, even though I told him to.'

  'Now I'm being reprimanded,' Marlowe said with a tinge of sarcasm. His anger appeared to have mostly dissolved. 'She would have found a way to contact us eventually. At least now we know where we stand.'

  Ada had to admit he was right. She knew exactly where she stood. No police, which meant safety for her grandfather, and a promise of help from Marlowe that she could rely on. She was beginning to realise that Alex Marlowe was not the pushy, opinionated journalist she'd at first thought. She was even prepared to admit that she trusted him. It was proving hard to forget his closeness earlier in the upstairs bedroom and the relief she'd felt at his words of support.

  At some point she would have to reveal to him what she knew about her grandfather's likely location. But first she had to think through all that had happened. Maybe she could come up with an alternative plan of action that would rescue her grandfat
her and bypass Zina completely. That way she could rid herself of the guilt she was beginning to feel for all the damage she'd caused by her hasty action in the early hours of this morning. With a little planning she could put it right. She figured she had about six hours before Zina called with her instructions. Would it be time enough?

  Back at Vaucluse, Alex left Ada and Tony in the kitchen and went upstairs to his office to think. Not everything had gone according to plan at Paddington. He'd been jolted back and forth by events, first by the emotional contact with Ada, unplanned and unwished for, and then the phone call from Zina, unexpected and unwelcome.

  For the first time in years he was breaking his two rules of engagement: don't put the source in danger, and no personal involvement. He had knowledge of a crime but was hiding it from the police, which, without a doubt, was endangering his source. The fact that it was her idea was irrelevant. As well, his source was holding him to a promise he'd made in a moment of weakness. Emotional involvement. What the hell was happening to him?

  The call from Zina had slapped a whole new face on his predicament and turned it upside down. He felt he was no longer in control and taking orders from Ada. He needed advice from someone with experience who could stand outside it all and judge dispassionately. He rang his editor at Millennium TV.

  'That's the situation, Pete,' he said after describing the events of the long morning.

  'You're sailing close to the wind, buddy,' Pete said. 'We could get into big trouble with the law if you screw it up.'

  'Wouldn't be the first time,' said Alex drily.

  'What if someone gets hurt?'

  'If the exchange happens as planned, and if Zina doesn't do something completely crazy, we should be alright.'

  'Are you sure you're not getting too close to this Ada woman? She sounds like someone who's too smart for her own good. She might decide to go it alone and leave you in the dust.'

  'I know what you're thinking,' Alex said. 'That won't happen again.' He was damn sure it wouldn't.

  'Normally I'd run something like this past our lawyers, but they're a bunch of pussyfooting wimps. They'll just advise you to go to the cops. Then we'll lose control of whole story.'

  'That's what I'm afraid of.'

  'Okay then, go with the flow. But make sure you update your old man. Don't let him find out later what's been happening. He's due back in Sydney in a few hours. He'll probably tell you to go ahead, despite the risks. He knows how important this story is. But a warning will give him a chance to organise remedial action if it's needed. He has enough influence here and there to keep a lid on it if things go wrong.'

  'Thanks, Pete.'

  'And Alex, you're taking risks with other people's lives as well as your own. Tread carefully.'

  'I'll keep you in the loop,' Alex said, and hung up.

  The conversation made him feel a little more confident, but not much. On the face of it, what he'd said was true. If the swap went well—the code for George Byron—he had no cause for worry. But what game was Ada playing? She'd told him she had copies—plural—of the security code. He guessed she had two. Was she lying to Zina or had she suddenly remembered that she'd lost the second copy. And where was the first copy hidden anyway? She hadn't told him that. She was entitled to keep it to herself, he supposed, for safety reasons, but if she was lying and Zina found out, the whole thing could end in disaster.

  But what a lie! And she'd done it on the spur of the moment and under stress. She was slicker and gutsier than he'd thought. If she could get away with it she had a big ace up her sleeve. It meant that if she traded one copy for her grandfather and they got him home safe, she still had a second copy to take to the authorities. A win-win for her, and for him. He would still have control of the story. What else was she keeping from him? He was beginning to admire her more and more. But was it just admiration? He shook his head to rid his mind of the disturbing notion that had begun to form. No personal involvement. He had to remember that, and keep repeating it.

  He picked up the phone and dialled his father's number.

  'Ralph? Alex. Where are you?'

  'Melbourne airport. I've got ten minutes. Is this good news or bad?'

  'Both.'

  'Why am I not surprised?'

  'The good news is good. The bad news might become really bad if things don't work out.'

  'Tell me the good news first.'

  Alex recounted the full events of the morning and left nothing out.

  'I've never met Lorenzina Stone,' said Ralph finally, 'but I've heard about her. She's a tough cookie, and she's very well connected. Are you sure you haven't bitten off more than you can chew?'

  'Pete gave me the okay.'

  'That doesn't mean much. When he was a reporter he took more chances than you.'

  'What do you think?'

  'Is the young woman in any danger?'

  'Ada has known Zina most of her life. I don't think Zina would harm her.'

  'What about these other bozos? Twist and what's-his-name?'

  'Tursunov. That's where it's cloudy. They could be a problem if they're acting independently.'

  Ralph was silent for a few seconds. 'Keep on it. We'll talk more when I get back.'

  'We don't have much time.'

  'I'll think about it on the way up. By the way, have you spoken to your mother lately?'

  'Last week. She's fine.'

  'Does she ask after me?'

  'Occasionally.'

  'She never rings me.'

  'You never ring her.'

  'She left me. I didn't leave her.'

  'You spend too much time on business.'

  'Look who's talking.'

  'Dad...'

  'I know, I know. I'll see you in a few hours.' Ralph hung up.

  Was he turning out to be like his father? He hoped not. Ralph had a knack for interfering when he wasn't invited, but his experience would be useful. He'd been a newsman most of his life and the tales of his adventures in breaking top stories, even if half true, would fill a book. Alex could only cross his fingers and hope the old man wouldn't try to take over completely. He needed to make his own mark, and Ada Byron had given him the chance to do it.

  ***

  On the deck of a stately yacht moored in Rushcutters Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs, Lorenzina Stone put down her phone and lay back in the midday sunshine.

  She almost—but not quite—felt like shedding a tear, but tears would be out of place on such a glorious day. Nevertheless, she would be more than justified in having a quiet weep. The young woman she had raised as child for a few short years had turned against her and betrayed her. Was Ada entirely to blame? Had she come under the malign influence of the snooping journalist Marlowe? Not at first, perhaps. Mr Twist had assured her that to his knowledge Ada had never met Marlowe until this morning. But it was obvious now they were conspiring against her and endangering, in the gravest way, the company that she'd struggled to build over many years almost singlehanded.

  Hadn't it always been so? Hadn't she always had to struggle? Hadn't she so often been betrayed? Well, it was a woman's lot in life to battle against society's expectations and the underhanded methods of men. To achieve her dreams, a woman had to be more ruthless than any man. Other women found this hard to accept, but not her. Luckily, that truth had become obvious to her in her youth. She'd learned her lesson early and she had never forgotten it.

  Except just the one time, when she'd let a man into her life and allowed him to penetrate the barriers. Naturally the experiment had been a disappointment. It had not been Jason's fault entirely, she had to admit. She was a demanding woman, her standards were high and she was, after all, more intelligent than any man she'd ever met. He'd tried hard, she had to give him that. He thought he could change her. He said he saw something in her that could grow and make her see life in a different way.

  She'd even believed him for a while, though not with any great conviction, and for a few years at least they'd been like any other c
ouple. But the Colombian incident changed everything. How long ago was it? Could it possibly have been two decades? What exactly had happened there? Sometimes she had trouble remembering the details. Ada's parents had died in the rebel attack, a tragedy for the young child. She herself had been badly wounded and, her doctors had told her, heavily traumatised. A fool of a psychiatrist had recommended medication. Naturally she'd refused. In her positive moments she was sure she'd fully recovered. But in her negative moments...

  Why did she rise to anger so quickly at times? Why did she so often say things she later regretted? And the greatest mystery of all: why had Jason eventually turned against her? They'd long ago ceased to be a couple except in name only, but they had at least remained friends. Or so she'd thought. But in recent years his arguments, his obstructions, his refusal to cooperate in her plans for the company's future had became intolerable.

  She'd made an error, she now knew, in enlisting the help of Striver Twist in persuading Jason to see reason. Poor Striver had anger management problems and sometimes allowed events to run away with him. After the tragedy had happened, after Jason had suffered that deathly fall, poor Striver had confessed it all to her. What else could she do but forgive him and shield him from recrimination?

  That episode in her life was long over, but now the young child she'd once regarded as a daughter had betrayed her. The child had become a woman standing in her way. Was she about to suffer another tragedy in her life? Yes, no one could deny it; she had every reason to shed tears under today's sunny sky.

  She heard the sound of footsteps on the deck.

  'Mr Twist, why are you spending so much time below in the darkness?'

  'This fascinating vessel requires careful maintenance, ma'am, and our phone tracking software is exquisitely complex. I've been tending to all of that. Besides, the bright sun hurts my eyes.'

  'Fifteen minutes a day is all you need to produce the vitamin D our bodies need. Don't neglect your health, Mr Twist.'