by Iris Bolling
“So do I,” Cainan agreed.
“Are we talking about the Audrey Hepburn looking woman with her hair in a bun; high heel wearing Dunning woman you were involved with?” Sereena asked Cainan with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t let that bun fool you,” Mike chuckled as he turned to Cainan. “As for you, it is about to get real. You wanted a taste of AnnieMarie?” Mike chuckled. “You are about to get a mouth full.”
“I can handle Annie,” Cainan declared.
Mike laughed out loud. “You keep thinking that. As soon as everything is secure, she will make her way over here. You let me know how that goes for you.”
Jerome checked his watch. “Grace and AnnieMaire should be wrapping up public relations surrounding Jonathan’s detainment. That gives us a few hours to plan our departure.”
“Christina arranged for the corporate jet to be ready at a moment’s notice,” Mike announced.
“Has the pilot been checked out?” Sereena asked. “And what about the crew?
“We are the crew.”
Sereena glared at Jerome. “Umm…excuse me. “Who is flying this plane?”
Jerome replied without looking up. “I’m flying the plane. El you will take the first pilot position.” He glanced at Sereena, “You and Roark, if he decides to join us, and my remaining men will round out the security team.”
Sereena glanced at Cainan. “Is he for real?”
Cainan nodded. “Yes. Don’t worry about the flight. You will be fine.”
“Afraid of flying?” Mike asked.
“Prefer to drive,” Sereena replied.
“How did you get here from New Jersey?”
“I drove,” she raised an eyebrow. “You have a problem with that?”
Mike smiled. “You drove eight hours when you could have taken an hour flight. Sounds a little inconvenient to me.”
“Here’s the equipment you requested, sir.” A young man said as he walked in pulling a trolley of black duffel bags with him.
Jerome nodded. “There is a bag for each of you. We will have a briefing on what is inside and how to use the equipment. From the moment we leave this property, each of you will be dressed in body armor. Get used to carrying the extra weight for the duration of the trial.”
“The agency has vests,” Sereena said as the young man held one out for her.
“The agency does not have these,” Jerome stated as he pulled out small white boxes. “We will communicate through these only.” He passed small boxes around the room. “If someone does not have one of these they are not privy to our conversations. I’m going to suggest each of you get some shut eye tonight. It may be the last time you get a full night’s sleep until the trial is over. There are ten bedrooms upstairs, two on the main floor and three in the basement. We will meet in the monitoring room at eighteen hundred hours. The house will be under surveillance by my men. Once AnnieMarie enters, the house will be on lock down.” He closed up his tablet. “Warner,” he stepped over to stand in front of Cainan. “My life for yours.”
“I appreciate that, Jerome.” They shook hands. Jerome turned then walked out of the room followed by his men.
Mike glanced at Cainan. “The Dunnings have your back. Whatever resources we have at our disposal will be used to protect you. Once this is said and done, I’m going to kick your ass for getting my sister involved.”
Sereena jumped up. “You will have to go through me to get to him.”
Mike’s eyes slowly raked over her from head to toe. “It will be my pleasure.” He said then walked out of the room.
Sereena watched as the man strutted from the room. The internal heat she was feeling from his eyes scanning over her confused her. It would have to be pushed aside for now. She swung around to Cainan. “Who in the hell are these people and how do they have access to internal FBI investigative files?”
CHAPTER 4
There were a number of empty seats at the board meeting. It was the first thing AnnieMarie noticed when she walked in. Myles, Chrystina, Gary, Preston Long and Lynn Sterling were the only members present. With Jonathan, Grace and Mike absent, it appeared what her Uncle Walker had attempted to do before his death had succeeded. The blessing in her estimation was the fact, his attempt to take over the board was not successful and it ultimately cost him his life. The question in her mind was how to proceed with so many balls of fire aimed at them. AnnieMarie took her seat as Myles began.
“We are going to dispense with formality,” Myles said as he looked around the table. “We have a number of issues we must address expeditiously. Preston, I fear your duties will have to cover not only the vacancy left by Elaine’s departure, but for now, you will have to cover Cainan Scott’s department until further notice. I realize you have a few personal issues to address. Know we,” he glanced at Gary and AnnieMarie, “are going to support you in every way.”
Preston nodded.
“Gary, you will cover IT and Security until Mike returns. Lynn, I will need you and your staff to handle Customer Service in addition to Risk Management until further notice.” He hesitated. “I cannot impress upon you the importance of not skipping a beat in the months to come. The media is going to hound us on the situation in the UK in addition to the change in ranking for Dunning. There are going to be questions on Elaine Jacobson’s departure. A non-disclosure agreement was a part of her dismissal package, however, we all know there are ways to get a story out to the media if we so desire. AnnieMarie, you will be working overtime trying to keep up with everything coming at us. First, it is imperative to get Jonathan back on U.S. grounds. Tell us what you know, AnnieMarie.”
“Jonathan is not under arrest,” AnnieMarie began. “There is an accusation from Richard Dewberry the President of Phase International. My sources in London indicate there is no proof of any wrong doing, period. There was a glitch in Phase International’s system that lasted for more than 48 hours. The customers reacted accordingly. Phase’s stability was brought into question due to the length of time it took them to correct the issue.”
“What is the impact to Dunning?” Preston asked.
“Legal liability as far as I can tell is null and void.” AnnieMarie replied. “However, publicly, this could be a nightmare. We have always worked with a sense of integrity. It has been our trademark from inception. Anything that puts our moral standings in question will hurt us all around. Our motto, Family Integrity First and Foremost, will be dead in the water.”
“How do we protect Dunning and Jonathan?” Gary asked.
“Stand up to the accusation,” AnnieMarie stated. “Each time Dewberry makes a statement regarding the incident, we have one response, prove it or face a defamation of character lawsuit.”
Myles sat up. “Do you think that is wise?”
“We need to shut them up,” AnnieMarie stated. “If they want to have this discussion in the privacy of their board room, fine. What we will not allow is for them to prosecute us in the court of public opinion without proof.”
“Should we threaten them with a lawsuit?” Lynn asked. “Are we certain Jonathan did not cause this situation?”
“It doesn’t matter whether he did or did not,” Preston spoke. “Confronting them to put up or shut up is the way to stop the constant drip-drip to the public.”
“Right,” Gary added. “Public opinion is what we want to control. I say take it to them.” He glanced at AnnieMarie with a nod.
AnnieMarie watched Myles think through the suggestion. “We cannot allow them to have the microphone to the public alone. We have to respond to their accusations with vigor and anger.”
Myles glanced around the table, then nodded. “We will try your way, AnnieMarie.”
She smiled. “Now, to the shooting this morning,” AnnieMarie sighed. “We were able to contain the details of the incident. I do not anticipate any backlash or additional questions from the media.”
“We dodged a bullet, no pun intended,” Preston smiled at AnnieMarie. “My question however,
is what happened with Cainan?”
AnnieMarie looked to Myles to explain the situation to the board. To her surprise, he did not share the information about Cainan with the board. She had to wonder why? Was he still concerned for Cainan’s safety?
“Cainan has a personal situation he has to deal with. We are going to give him the time he needs to handle his family.” His eyes met hers then moved on. “Preston the BIT account has been transferred over. Spencer Whitfield will be our intermediary. Put a team together to ensure a smooth transition. We are going to have a challenging next few days. Let’s see if we can get through the noise without blowing ourselves up. Gary, AnnieMarie and Preston,” he stood. “Ten minutes, my office.”
AnnieMarie nodded as she watched people leaving the room.
“Have you spoken with Cainan?” Gary asked as he walked over to her.
“No, well yes, but only for a minute,” she replied as she picked up her tablet while walking towards the door. Gary stopped her progress by touching her arm. AnnieMarie turned to face him.
“AnnieMarie, talk to Cainan. You are not going to get the answers you need until you do. Don’t put it off. Make your statement on Phase. Turn the media over to Phillip. Go talk to Cainan.” He kissed her on her cheek, “You will feel better after you do. Come on. Big brother has demanded our presence.”
The two walked out of the boardroom and were met by Mike as he stepped off the elevator.
“Is everything set?” AnnieMarie asked.
“Yes,” Mike replied as he fell into step with them.
“How is Cainan?”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “Do you care at this point?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t care Mike,” she replied.
“I don’t know AnnieMarie. If someone I cared about had been shot, nothing would stop me from seeing that person with my own eyes,” he shrugged. “Where are you two heading?”
“To Myles’s office,” Gary said as he took a quick glance at his sister.
“Good. I’m heading in that direction to give him an update.”
“Mike,” AnnieMarie stepped in front of him. “I do care. I am, however, pissed that he did not trust me with his secret.”
“Hmmm…forgive the man for trying to protect the woman he loves.” Mike said as he opened and held the door to Myles’s office for her to enter.
AnnieMarie walked through.
“Give her a break, Mike,” Gary said. “This is a bit much for all of us to understand.”
They walked into Myles’s office to see his out-going secretary, Mrs. Vasquez, and his secretary in training, Annatasha, placing documents on the conference table. Myles, Chrystina, their soon to be sister-in-law, and Preston were already seated.
“Have a seat guys,” Myles pointed to some chairs. “We have quite a bit to coordinate.” He directed his next statement to Preston. “There are a number of family issues I will need to bring you up on. For now, we’re going to deal with Jonathan and Cainan.” He turned to the occupants at the table. “I spoke with Jonathan. He has assured me nothing that happened with Phase had any connection to Dunning. Grace indicates there is no legal reason for the authorities to detain him after questioning. However, the events have placed Dewberry in an unflattering position with the board at Phase. In fact, she believes they are looking to replace him with Jonathan.”
“What?” Gary sat up. “Is Jonathan receptive to their advances?”
“No.” Myles replied emphatically. “We knew Jonathan was a well sought after commodity when we reached out. He chose us.”
“With that,” Chrystina chimed in, “Dewberry is going to use everything and the kitchen sink to come after us. In front of you is everything I could find on Richard Dewberry. I believe it is important to know all we can about the enemy. And make no mistake, Dewberry, not Phase International is the enemy.”
“Phase is the organization,” Mike stated. “How much power can Dewberry have without their support?”
“This is where the waters are a bit muddy,” Chrystina explained. “The Dewberrys have been the controlling force behind Phase for generations. Englanders are big on classification and loyalty. If they believe Richard Dewberry can pull them out of the rubble on this, all the support he needs will be there for him. Richard Dewberry is not as brilliant as his father. Jonathan was the force behind Dewberry’s success. The incident with their system shutdown is bringing that realization to light. No one in the organization could discover and solve the problem before the harm was done. As soon as Jonathan arrived in London, he appeared before the board. His offer to take a look at the system was accepted and the problem was cleared.”
“If he cleared up the situation, why did the authorities detain him?” AnnieMarie asked.
“Richard Dewberry,” Myles explained. “He accused Jonathan of creating the situation in the first place. If you look at the facts, the authorities had to investigate the accusation. Jonathan left Phase to come work for one of their competitors.”
“Did Grace say when they will be returning to the states?” AnnieMarie asked.
“As soon as every possible question the authorities have is answered. Now, to Cainan. I did not answer your question at the board meeting Preston. I can answer it now. Cainan is an FBI agent who has been working for Dunning under the Witness Protection Program. His real name is Cainan Scott Warner. The people who he has to testify against located him and tried to kill him. For now, he will be returning east to testify.”
AnnieMarie watched the astonished look on Preston’s face. She had to smile at his response.
“It seems I’ve been living in an alternate universe where up is down and down is up.”
“I understand your feelings,” she replied.
“For obvious reasons, that information needs to remain within the family,” Myles stated. “We have offered our security to ensure Cainan’s safe return to New Jersey. Mike is coordinating with the security team.”
“The terms of his transfer are being kept under wraps,” Mike explained. “We are working with the FBI to ensure Cainan is covered on all fronts. Once this case is over, we want him to have options of where he wants to go next in his life.”
“Any idea when the trial will start?” AnnieMarie asked.
“No,” Mike replied. “Due to the change in circumstances the prosecution is pushing the court for a start date.”
“This could go on for weeks or months,” Chrystina added to the conversation. “I will reach out to the Attorney General’s office to see if we can be included on any updates with the case. Other than being allowed to handle Cainan’s transfers, the FBI is being very territorial on the case.”
“With good reason,” Mike stated. “This is a huge case that could be dangerous. I’d like to stay by his side during this case, Myles. I do not feel comfortable leaving him. There is a reason the FBI did not trust their own people to protect Cainan.”
“Do you think he is in danger from his own people?” AnnieMarie asked.
“I think we are the only people Cainan knows for a fact he can trust.” Mike replied.
The thought of Cainan being in danger from the people trying to kill him and his own agency made her a little nervous for him. As angry as she was with him in that moment, the fear of something happening to him became overwhelming. Gary was right, she needed to talk with Cainan.
“Take whatever time you need to have his back,” Myles nodded. “Keep us updated. We need to prepare for Elaine. AnnieMarie, I believe we will be attacked in the media by her. Adding that to what is happening with Dewberry, how much damage can we anticipate?”
“With the two sandwiching us in the middle, it could create a PR nightmare. However, we have resources in place the minute Elaine rears her ugly little head. It will not be difficult to plant information that will place her as the brains behind the attempted takeover of the bank. With Angelina Long under psychiatric care, and Walker Jr. dead, she can be planted as the face of the failed attempt. Elaine is under contr
ol. I plan to put more of my team’s energy on Dewberry.”
$ $ $
“You dare to send your people into my territory without clearing it through me!” Nikolai Pavlovsky yelled into the phone.
“This had nothing to do with you or your organization.” Johnnie Giuliani replied.
“Your disrespect is noted. We will repay in kind.”
“We do not wish to have a war with you,” Giuliani replied. “This man is a danger to my organization and I will take every step necessary to protect my family.”
“This is my territory. No one… no one executes a hit on my turf without clearing it through me.” Nikoli declared. “The Dunning family is protected. Do not return for any member, Giuliani. If you do, I will annihilate you, every member of your family, your entire organization and their families. The only representation of your existence will be your graves.”
CHAPTER 5
The vehicle pulled through the secure gates then drove around to the four car garage bay. The S560 Mercedes Coupe parked in the second bay. AnnieMarie sat behind the wheel willing herself to gather her nerves for the confrontation that was about to take place. The day began with gun fire. Would it end the same way, she wondered. She was so angry with Cainan and knew if she had a gun on her she would shoot him for doing this to them.
The door to the third bay of the garage opened. AnnieMarie did not move or worry. She knew Mike was right behind her and was anticipating his arrival. When he opened her door she closed her eyes, took a deep breath then looked up at him.
“Promise me.”
“I promise,” Mike said before she could continue. “I know how you feel about this man and I know how he feels about you. I promise not to kill him after this is all over with.”
AnnieMarie smiled at her brother. “You know that is not what I am asking.”
“I know, but it made you smile,” Mike held his hand out. “Come on. You have put this conversation off all day. You have questions you need to get answers to that only Cainan can give you. I promise you will feel better after you talk to him.”
