by Iles, Jo
Over the hum of the storage fridges in the basement, Jack started to make out the noises from the floor above him. It sounded like footsteps and doors clanging. Training his ears on the sound of the footsteps, he was able to hear a specific pair getting louder, and then the basement door opened and the footsteps continued down the flight of steps to the same steady beat. And there, standing in front of him, in her expensive shoes, was none other than Sonia Shum.
‘Oh, good. You’re awake,’ she cooed as she walked towards him, slowly revealing herself in the centre light. She was dressed in typical Sonia fashion, in a tight red dress that emphasised her bump. ‘You’ve been out for hours. Sorry about the head, but you know how it is: accidents happen. You’re lucky I didn’t have you gagged, but I knew you wouldn’t do anything stupid like make a racket,’ she went on. ‘Especially as you don’t have a clue what’s happened to your dearest Jessie.’
Jack stared at the woman before him. She was completely unrecognisable to him, but not because she was pregnant. Once upon a time he thought they’d been friends. That time was long past. There wasn’t a single trace of friendship left in the woman he saw before him. She was consumed by determination to achieve her own ends, whatever they were.
‘What are you doing, Sonia? This is crazy, even for you,’ Jack said, choosing not to rise to the Jessie bait. He knew she was goading him.
‘Perhaps. But, extreme times call for extreme measures. And call me psychic, but I had a feeling you wouldn’t give me what I want anyway, and I’m sick of waiting for you to do the right thing. Who knew pregnancy could make one so impatient?’ She said all this casually, wandering around the room and studying this box and then that crate, running her index finger along multiple surfaces, checking for dust and dirt. All the while her face looked as though she was smelling something rather disgusting.
‘What do you want, exactly?’ Jack growled at her.
‘Isn’t it obvious?’ she replied with a sigh. ‘I want all the secret documents that you keep stashed away for the government, up in Shanghai, transferred into my possession.’
‘Don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Jack retorted.
‘I want those documents, Jack,’ Sonia said, fixing him with a glare. ‘You don’t even know what you’re in possession of,’ she spat, launching at him suddenly. She didn’t touch him, but her quick movement was enough to make him flinch.
‘Like I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Jack replied, smiling at her visible annoyance.
‘I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you. I’m not the one tied up. I could do all manner of things to you,’ she said, sidling behind him and placing her hands on his shoulders. Jack tensed immediately under her touch. ‘Not to mention a certain English brunette.’
‘Leave Jessie out of this. It’s got nothing to do with her.’
‘My point exactly. If only the stupid little bitch had done as she was told and left you alone, she wouldn’t be in this mess now. But whether you like it or not, she’s involved now,’ Sonia said, leaning down to his ear so he could feel her breath on his neck.
‘I’ve destroyed them,’ Jack said quietly, changing his tactic.
‘Excuse me?’ Sonia enquired, completing her circle around him so she was now standing in front of him again, looking at his face.
‘I’ve destroyed all the documents,’ Jack repeated.
‘You’re bluffing,’ she said easily, a snakelike smile dancing across her lips. ‘I sincerely doubt you have the authority to destroy such things. But good try. And at least we all now know that you do know what I’m talking about. I expect the truth from now on, Jack. No more lying, and no more delaying tactics. No one is going to come and rescue you.’
Above their heads there was an almighty commotion, and both Sonia and Jack looked up at the ceiling as if expecting it to fall on their heads. They could hear shouting and furniture toppling over. Then after a few moments, there was silence, and the basement door opened noisily.
‘Found this one loitering outside,’ Charlie said as he made his way down the stairs, manhandling a less-than-compliant woman.
‘Jessie!’ Jack exclaimed when he saw who the woman was. ‘Charlie, let her go,’ Jack ordered.
‘Jack! Good to see you. And no, I’m not going to do that,’ Charlie replied with a sneer. He positioned another chair opposite Jack and roughly forced Jessie down into it. Then he bound her hands behind her. Jack looked on as Charlie took up an intimidating sentry-like position behind Jessie.
‘Are you okay?’ Jessie whispered across to Jack, tears in her eyes.
She looked frightened, but aside from that, Jack couldn’t see any other injury on her. He nodded quickly and was about to tell her that everything would be okay, when Sonia positioned herself between them and began her verbal assault on Jessie.
‘Nice outfit,’ Sonia said to Jessie, her tone mocking as she looked her prisoner up and down, pausing on the mismatched combination of running shoes and office attire. ‘And oh my! What do we have here? Diamonds?’ She pushed Jessie’s hair behind her ears so she could look at her earrings. Jessie didn’t flinch. She just looked at the woman like she wanted to scratch her eyes out. Despite the rapid rise and fall of her chest, Jack could see an undercurrent of steely resolve and underlying calm in Jessie’s eyes.
‘Jack gave them to me,’ Jessie replied eventually, her voice even.
‘Well, isn’t that nice. Although Jacky, they’re not so big now, are they? I thought you would have been a bit more generous than that.’ She turned her body sideways to include Jack in the conversation.
‘They’re perfect,’ Jessie said, drawing Sonia’s attention back to her. ‘So—these documents, Sonia. You want them. Jack has them. I'm guessing you've tried to held hold of them through illicit means, failed and this is your last-ditch attempt to gain possession. If you told him exactly why you wanted them, maybe he would be more inclined to give them to you.’ Jack threw her an alarmed look. He didn’t have a clue what the hell she was playing at, but this didn’t seem like an altogether good plan.
‘At last! Someone who’s not trying to deceive me with childish games,’ Sonia said, shooting Jack a warning look.’
‘They’re just boring meeting minutes. There isn’t anything in those files to warrant any of this ridiculous behaviour,’ Jack piped up loudly.
‘If that were really the case, then you wouldn’t have any qualms about handing them over. I'd be happy to compensate you accordingly,’ Sonia replied reasonably.
‘What’s in those files, Jack?’ Jessie asked him. ‘Tell me why we’re both here tied up and held against our will. What can be so important? I’d like to know.’ She looked at him without any of her usual emotion. Her expression was cold, and Jack couldn’t tell if she was acting or if she really was pissed off at him at having put her in her present predicament.
There was a pause. Everyone in the room seemed to be waiting for Jack to speak.
‘Tell her, Jack,’ Sonia prompted, clearly enjoying the rift she saw opening up between Jessie and Jack. ‘Tell her. Or I will,’ she added, bringing her face close to his. ‘No? Very well. Allow me to do the honours,’ Sonia continued, snapping back upright as she began to wander around the basement, around and between her two captives. ‘In Jack’s secret vault, in his secret bank in Shanghai, he has all manner of interesting things. Including a bunch of nondescript-looking files. But inside these files are minutes of high-ranking government meetings. Minutes that contain evidence of illegal vendettas and scapegoating campaigns against business leaders throughout China and Hong Kong.’
‘It’s all just rumours,’ Jack interrupted.
‘I don’t call my father’s office being bugged for the best part of two decades rumours, Jack,’ Sonia snapped.
‘If these files do contain what you think they contain, then this is not the way to bring a government down,’ Jessie pointed out, gesturing as best she could with her shoulders.
‘When people f
ind out about the abuses of power, the scapegoating and harassment, they will call for change,’ Sonia began wistfully. ‘The ends justify the means.’
‘Your motives sound awfully noble,’ Jessie said, ‘but you won’t be able to brush this stunt under the carpet. And I’m afraid you certainly won’t be able to hide the fact that you’ve been siphoning off funds from your company for months. Money that has evaded the tax authorities and somehow been laundered in Macau, before finding its way into the hands of separatist terror organisations.’
‘You don’t understand,’ Sonia roared at her passionately. ‘My vision isn’t going to pay for itself. This is bigger than Watergate. I will be remembered forever as the brave, free-thinking pioneer who freed a nation—and not just Old Man Shum’s daughter. Mark my words: things will change when I expose the list of supposed authority figures who have been paid exorbitant amounts of money to toe the line.’
‘Sounds like you want a revolution,’ Jessie muttered under her breath.
Jack just sat in stunned silence, watching Jessie skillfully extract Sonia’s incomplete plan, all of which was based on what Sonia perceived to be contained in those files.
‘Not quite. More like a civil coup,’ Sonia replied more calmly, as she flashed a narrow-eyed smile at Jessie. ‘It’s a shame, really, Jack. You could have been part of all of this,’ she went on, gesturing to the rather ungrand room around her. ‘We could have used your company to distribute the truth. I thought this would be something that you would have approved of.’
‘Not like this,’ Jack said huskily.
‘We could have made a great team,’ she said, strutting behind him and running her hands down his shoulders and arms, and touching her cheek to his. ‘I really did want you, you know. I wanted you for you, as well as for your contacts and the stupid documents in your safe. I even wanted your baby,’ she added, placing a hand over her belly and looking across at Jessie for a reaction.
‘But what about Charlie?’ Jessie asked, maintaining a neutral face despite the fact that Sonia had practically been draping herself all over Jack.
‘What about me?’ Charlie said, stepping forward from the shadows.
‘Why are you doing this, Charlie? What’s in it for you?’ Jessie asked, craning her head around to look at him.
‘Doing what?’ he replied, clearly unwilling to be drawn into the conversation.
‘Why are you doing Sonia’s dirty work?’ Jessie explained. ‘I didn’t have you down as a thug. I just don’t understand. You used to be a nice guy,’ Jessie said. ‘What can you possibly hope to achieve from kidnapping your own brother and his girlfriend? Do you seriously think that Sonia will ever see the light and let you whisk her off into the sunset? Be a father to her unborn child?’
Charlie looked genuinely surprised by Jessie’s words. ‘That’s not what I want from her,’ he managed slowly.
‘Like hell it’s not,’ Jessie stated bitterly. ‘I bet you tell yourself that all you’re doing this for is greed and money, but if she turned around and asked you to give it a try with her, you’d change your tune pretty quickly. For some inexplicable reason unbeknown to the rest of the world, you love this nutcase’—Jessie inclined her head towards Sonia—‘so much so, that even though you know that what she’s harping on about is a complete crock of shite, you’re still willing to follow her off to prison. I’m sure you’ll be able to exchange letters, and she can tell you all about what it’s like to give birth to your child in incarceration.’
Sonia slapped Jessie hard across the face, both women’s eyes gleaming with hatred and disgust.
‘Shut up!’ Sonia shouted. ‘Just shut up. Enough talking from you,’ she said, raising her eyebrows at Jessie. She turned her attention back to Jack. ‘You will come to Shanghai with me, and you will give me what I want,’ she demanded forcefully. ‘I will have those files.’
‘Or what?’ Jack asked bravely, squaring his jaw in anticipation of his own slap from her.
Sonia gave Charlie a brief nod, and Charlie placed his hands on Jessie’s shoulders with clear intent, as he began massaging her tense muscles.
‘You’re fucking amateurs,’ Jessie said disdainfully as she wriggled under Charlie’s hands. ‘The pair of you haven’t a clue what you’re doing. It’s like you’ve been watching too much TV or something.’
‘Amateurs?’ Sonia repeated, a malicious look in her eye. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that, little Miss Slaymaker,’ she added as she stooped slightly and pulled a pistol from a leg garter. She began gesticulating with it wildly, pointing it as though it were nothing more than a toy, let alone a lethal killing machine, first at Jessie and then at Jack.
Jack looked across at Jessie and saw her sat frozen and white-faced as Sonia continued to play around with the gun, now training it on Jack’s temple. Rather than look at Sonia and beg her not to hurt him, all Jack could do was stare at Jessie’s worried face as she stared back at the deathly black piece of metal in the crazy lady’s hand.
Chapter 45
Jessie had had enough. She’d gotten Sonia to talk about everything Rachel had asked her to. Surely Rachel’s secretive task force now had enough to come and arrest the psychopath bitch who’d been roaming about the place like a caged lion. Where the bloody hell was the backup? Jessie had uttered the safe word, TV, an absolute age ago. And that was before Sonia had had a gun in her hand. She’d looked dangerous then, but now she looked positively lethal. There was something just plain disturbing and fundamentally sickening about a heavily pregnant woman brandishing a gun. When Sonia had whipped that thing out, all Jessie could think was that her chances of ever signing up for that gym membership were rapidly decreasing.
As far as Jessie was concerned, Sonia had run quite mad. She’d hatched this whole plan based on rumours, and probably Chinese whispers, as to what Jack held in those files. In reality, she couldn’t be sure what on earth was in them. It was as though the woman had completely taken leave of her senses, and was now acting purely on irrational hormones.
And although he hadn’t said it, Jessie could sense that Charlie perhaps wasn’t a million miles from thinking the same thoughts. He stood in silence, watching Sonia act out the lead protagonist in her own weird and twisted show.
‘Freeze!’ shouted Rachel’s no-nonsense voice as she banged open the door. It’s about time, Jessie thought, relieved.
Rachel stepped confidently into the room, holding her handgun steady as a rock and trained on Sonia. Before anyone could even react, the room was swarming with other bodies, all wearing black. They’d secured the room in twenty seconds flat.
Obviously not feeling up for a gun fight with the recent arrivals, Sonia quickly surrendered her weapon and metamorphosed before Jessie’s eyes, from a scary threatening bitch to a frightened little woman who wouldn’t have dared hurt a fly. Charlie was cuffed and manhandled roughly up the stairs, much the same way he’d brought Jessie down them.
‘Nice of you to show up,’ Jessie muttered under her breath as Rachel herself bent to untie her bindings. Rachel only grunted in response.
Once freed, Jessie rushed straight to Jack’s side. He was rubbing his sore wrists, and one of the raiding party was giving the wound on his head rudimentary first aid. ‘Are you alright?’ she asked urgently, cupping his face in her hands and searching his eyes.
‘I am now this is all over,’ he replied, giving her a crooked smile. ‘I still don’t know exactly what happened. One minute I was walking through town to find you, the next it all went black and I woke up here.’
‘I’ll explain everything later,’ Jessie said, giving him a relieved smile. She turned to look at the man still dabbing gauze on Jack’s head. ‘Does he need to go to hospital?’
‘He should have a doctor check him over,’ the man said, plainly.
‘Seriously, I’m fine,’ Jack began to protest, but was silenced by a stern look from Jessie.
A few minutes later they made their way out into the bright daylight of the surface,
and Jessie had never been so glad to breathe in the noxious fumes of the city as she was in that moment. Charlie and Sonia were standing on the street, handcuffed, being read their rights.
‘One minute,’ Jessie said to Jack, and she changed direction abruptly. Instead of guiding Jack towards the waiting ambulance, she made a beeline for the terrible twosome.
‘How did they know?’ Charlie asked her blankly as she approached. ‘I was so careful.’
‘Not careful enough,’ Jessie replied, folding her arms across her chest and enjoying the perplexed look on his face. ‘You didn’t “catch” me. I came to be caught. And as for how they knew,’ Jessie gestured with her thumb to the boys in black, ‘I was wearing a wire. Maybe something for you to remember the next time you decide to break the law. If you ever get out of prison, that is,’ she finished.
‘Bitch,’ Charlie said under his breath.
‘My sentiments exactly,’ Sonia chimed in.
‘I hope you’ll learn something from this whole sorry escapade, Sonia,’ Jessie said neutrally.
‘And what’s that?’ she replied snidely. There wasn’t even a minuscule element of contrition in either her expression or her voice. Not a single indication that she had any regret for breaking multiple laws.
‘You cannot simply force your will on people and commit countless crimes. This is not how you engage change, Sonia. There are rules to follow,’ Jessie said reasonably.
‘What would you know? Do you really think Jack has changed for you? He’s still a womanising ruthless bastard, who’ll drop you as soon as someone younger and prettier comes along. You’re nothing special.’ Sonia gave her a wicked smile. Even though she was in handcuffs, some part of her brain still thought she had the upper hand.
Jessie decided to take some of Cicely Davenport’s advice. She stepped towards the other woman and, whilst she didn’t clench her fist and bop Sonia on the nose, she did give her a sharp slap across the face.
