Jenny awoke with a start, trembling and sweating. This was the first dream of this kind she’d had for several years, since the time of Leo’s abduction. She had inherited a sixth sense from her mother and come to dread the moments when strange and disturbing images came to her in the night, heralding some unknown event, future, past or present. On several occasions, the gift had helped to discover hidden secrets or provided clues in the problems she had been faced with, but the experience wasn’t a pleasant one and it always left her feeling worried and vulnerable.
Jenny had spent Friday night with Bill in London, and after dinner in Covent Garden they went back to his flat. He was still furious about the bank Internet fraud and the evening wasn’t a huge success, he was obviously having difficulty in putting the matter behind him and making the most of their time together. On Saturday, she took the train back to her house in Ipswich, had a quiet day and evening on her own, then watched some TV and went to bed at eleven. Bill’s story was still on her mind and it had taken her a while to fall asleep, only to be woken by the dream. She knew this particular dream was a warning, a warning about the Internet and about Leo. Something had happened or was going to happen to him, but as always, she didn’t know what it was, and Jenny didn’t like not knowing things. She got up, drew the curtains back and shivered. It was a grey, miserable rainy day. Going into the kitchen to make her morning cup of tea, she checked the clock. It was six-thirty, ten-thirty in Dubai. She put the kettle on, then picked up her phone.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
‘Hi, Aunt Jenny. It’s great to hear from you. I was just thinking of calling you, great minds, you know. How are things? Where are you right now?’
‘Hello Leo. I’m at home in Ipswich and it’s raining and cold, so please don’t tell me how lovely it is there or in Marbella.’
‘I’m sure you’ll be going down there soon. You lead a charmed life between the UK and Spain, lucky lady.’
They talked for a while about his job, Emma and Jenny’s business interests until she asked, innocently, ‘So, how’s your love life down there? I hope it’s not all work and no play.’
Leo was immediately suspicious. ‘Is that you or Mum speaking?’
‘I haven’t talked to your mother for over a week. Can’t I take an interest in my favourite nephew without being accused of conspiring with her?’
‘OK, sorry Jenny. It’s getting frenetic here. We’ve got an impossible deadline to meet and we’re already a week late, so I guess I’m a bit on edge. Anyway, I haven’t had time to check out the local talent yet, so no news is bad news on that subject. Give me time and I’ll be scoring like my new guy, Ed.’
‘Ed? Who’s he?’
Leo brought her up-to-date on Ed’s talent for picking up girls. ‘He’s a Scouser, so I guess he was born with the gift of the gab.’
‘Well, watch out he doesn’t talk his way into trouble and take you with him.’
‘OK. What exactly does that mean?’ Leo knew his aunt’s reputation for thinking outside the box, but she had never tried to influence anything he did, or if so, he’d never been aware of it.
‘Just that Dubai isn’t Newcastle, or even California. There’s an awful lot of get-rich-quick scam artists and dubious characters, and they’re not trustworthy. I’ve met a few in my investment business and I haven’t yet known one I would trust with my money, never mind my nephew.’
‘Got it, message received and understood. Leo is not to speak to or accept sweets from strangers without consulting Aunt Jenny. That right?’
Jenny laughed. ‘Let’s just say your mother and I worry for you. You happen to be our entire next generation and you’re in a new, foreign country surrounded by all kinds of risks and strangers, so I’m just saying please be careful. Promise me?’
‘Fair enough, Jenny. I know you and Mum are concerned about me, and I’m a very lucky guy. But believe me, I’m fine, and I’ll make sure I stay fine. Is that OK?’
They said goodbye and Leo put away his phone, wondering, Now what the hell was all that about?
Ipswich, England
Jenny sat thinking for a few minutes, then she went through her old handwritten phone book, looking for the name of someone she hadn’t called in a long while. The number was still valid, and after exchanging some catch-up small talk, she said, ‘I can’t explain why, but I have a feeling we may be needing some help in the not too distant future. Can I count on your assistance if it turns out that way?’
‘No need to ask, Jenny. Just call when you need me, tell me where I should go and I’ll be on the next plane.’
Jenny saved the number in her Contacts list. She knew she would need it before too long.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
It was eleven on Sunday evening and Leo was back at Club 27. He’d left Ed in the lab, still wrestling with the Mark VII testing, but after a fourteen-hour day he needed a break. He had two other motives, the first being DeeJai D. It was the disc jockey’s last performance and Leo yearned for another dose of his Led Zeppelin mix; it was unique, genius and mind-blowing, and he might never again have the chance to enjoy it. Then, of course, there was Angela. He was intrigued by the woman and definitely attracted to her. A potentially dangerous combination, he knew, but it beat reading, checking and rewriting code until his eyes were crossed. Ed had come in the afternoon, so his punishment was to take over for the night shift. Time was getting short and there was a seemingly inexhaustible list of things to get done.
The club was much quieter than it had been on Friday, and he got himself a beer then hung around DeeJai’s stand until the Englishman recognised him. ‘Hey, Leo. How you doing? Where’s your girlfriend? I guess you want another dose of Jimmy Page?’
‘Cool, if you can get round to it. Last session before you go home?’
‘Not yet, not for a while. Got a few gigs in Asia en route for Oz and New Zealand. No time to rest.’
Leo laughed. ‘Sounds really tough, how’d you like to swap jobs? I hope you have a great trip. It’s great to see yet another Geordie making good music. I’ll sit it out until you press the button.’
‘Let me get them in the mood, it won’t take too long.’
‘Thanks, DeeJai.’ Leo went and sat at the bar. He was lost in thought, thinking about Angela, wondering if she would come in tonight, when he heard a voice.
‘Hi, Leo. I didn’t know you hung out here.’
He looked up to see his boss, Shen Fu Liáng, standing there alongside Daniel Oberhart and a young woman. ‘Shen, what a surprise. Nice to see you out of the office. Hi Daniel,’ he said, as pleasantly as he could.
The Chinaman turned to the woman. ‘Elodie Delacroix, meet Leo Stewart, he’s my new resident prodigy at XPC.’
Leo noted the ‘my’ ownership claim, but just smiled at Elodie and shook hands. She was a very attractive woman, dark hair, thirtyish, with a voluptuous figure clad in a red and gold silk shirt hanging over black stretch trousers, and a diamond bracelet on her wrist that looked to Leo to be worth a million dollars.
‘Nice to meet you, Leo. I hope you don’t mind me saying you don’t look or sound very Scottish. Where do you come from?’
The comment didn’t bother Leo. He was used to this reaction when he met people for the first time. ‘I was born in Rwanda, but I’ve lived in the UK and US all my life, so that may explain my appearance.’
‘Rwanda, eh? How exotic.’ She gave him a seductive smile and toasted him with her glass. He had an uncomfortable feeling she was toying with him.
Shen insisted on buying drinks and he accepted a glass of champagne. Daniel had a beer in his hand and refused a top-up. Leo thought he seemed annoyed at having his one-on-one time with his boss interrupted by the company newcomer.
‘Cheers, Elodie,’ he toasted her. ‘Have you been in Dubai long?’
‘I came with Shen when XPC opened up. It seems like just yesterday. I really like it here. And you?’ She had a soft, throaty voice with a hint of a French accent.
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Leo was surprised that Shen hadn’t told her of his arrival to replace Scotty. She must know what happened, he reasoned, it’s the kind of thing you’d tell your partner. New SVP from California working for me and all that. ‘Just five weeks,’ he replied, ‘and it seems like five years.’ He laughed, in case she didn’t understand his English sense of humour.
‘Is working for Shen that bad?’ she riposted.
‘Not really, but we’re real busy, so it’s good to take a night off.’
‘You chose the right place to cool out.’
‘Which part of France are you from?’ he asked.
Shen intervened, ‘Close, Leo. Elodie’s Belgian actually, from Brussels.’
He avoided making an obvious Brexit joke, and instead asked, ‘Is French one of your languages, Shen?’
‘Un petit peu,’ the Chinaman answered with a self-deprecating smile.
Leo chatted with Elodie and asked her about her life and travels. She was an interesting woman with a great sense of humour, and he almost missed the intro to his song. He was about to excuse himself to go over to DeeJai’s podium when she looked over his shoulder and said excitedly, ‘Angela, chérie, you decided to come after all.’
Leo couldn’t believe it. His mystery woman was standing right next to him, hugging both Elodie and Shen and shaking hands with Daniel, obviously a good friend of them all. ‘Hello Angela,’ he said, before they could introduce him, ‘it’s good to see you again.’
She kissed his cheek, ‘Hi Leo. It’s time for our dance.’
This time, after another exhausting exhibition of frantic gyrations, Angela agreed to have a drink with them. Leo was impressed to see that Elodie was also a good dancer, affecting a jive style with Shen which he found cool to watch. He’s not bad either, he noticed. Strange combination of contradictions, that guy. His boss ordered a bottle of Laurent Perrier and they sat in the bar. It was quite empty since everyone was on the dance floor; DeeJai had upped the volume, so they ended up shouting at each other across the table. After a few minutes of this, Angela stood up and announced she was tired.
‘Me too,’ he said. ‘Can I take you anywhere?’ She was wearing a shirt and shorts over leggings and it was a very warm night. He figured she was dressed appropriately for the bike.
‘You have your car here?’
‘My Harley. But the back seat’s really comfortable. And I’ve got Led Zeppelin on the music system.’
‘We’ll take you in the car, it’s more relaxing,’ Elodie interjected, while Shen went over to the bar to pay the bill.
She thought for a moment, ‘No thanks. It’ll be my first time on a Harley.’ She winked at Leo.
Angela rented an apartment in the Dubai Marina, between the club and Jumeirah Beach, where Leo lived. The sensation of her face pressing against his back, and her arms around his waist, made him wish the five-minute ride was much longer. It was twelve-thirty when they rode up to the building and he reluctantly helped her off the machine.
He walked her to the entrance and she kissed his cheek. ‘Thanks, Leo. That’s a really cool ride. Will you be going to the club again, now that DeeJai’s leaving? No more “Stairway to Heaven”.’
‘That depends,’ he replied enigmatically.
‘On what?’
‘Whether you’ll be there.’
‘You don’t know anything about me,’ she said. ‘Do you want to come up and find out all my dark secrets?’
He hesitated. He did want to get to know her better, she was an intriguing and captivating woman, but Ed was expecting him at six in the morning and he had to read the evening’s test results before the meeting. ‘I’ve got an early start,’ he replied reluctantly. ‘Can I take a rain check and call you later in the week?’
‘Sure. Don’t wait too long.’
She gave him her number and he put it in his phone. ‘You want to tell me your full name?’
‘Angela da Sousa, that’s it.’ She gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. ‘Drive carefully. Goodnight, Leo.’
EIGHTEEN
London, England
Monday, 5 July 2017
‘Tsunami? An interesting nom de scène, but not, I hope, an apposite one. The original meaning is a “Seismic sea wave”, but since the 2004 catastrophe which took more than a quarter of a million lives, a new definition has been created. I believe it is, an arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities or amounts. Did you know, Ilona, that the natural phenomenon which struck Indonesia is thought to have had the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs? A mere wave from the sea! And they say that we are responsible for what happens on our planet. Such human arrogance.’
It was Monday morning and Dr Hugh Middleton was back from his conference, which he’d categorised as ‘ineffectual and pointless’. Ilona had just played him General Chillicott’s telephone message and he had decided to put on his erudite face, as he often did.
As usual, she didn’t respond, and he asked, ‘Have you ever heard the name mentioned before?’ He knew her contacts in the east were second to none.
‘Never. I talked to Ilya, at the Ukrainian Security Service, and he’s never heard it either. He’s going to do some searches, and thinks it’s likely that such a word will crop up somewhere. They’ve got so many files on the Russian Security Service that if anyone can find it, he can.’
‘Please drop Billy a note to thank him for his informative revelations and give him my regards.’
‘I think it would be better if you spoke to him yourself. He didn’t sound very happy with you.’
Middleton swung round in his chair. ‘What did he say?’
‘He thinks there’s something more than a casual commercial interest behind your interest in Lee-Win and Leo Stewart, and he doesn’t like secrets.’ She refrained from seconding Chillicott’s opinion.
‘I see. Very well, I’ll speak to him and assuage his fears.’
She was about to leave the room when he said, ‘By the way. There was something else I thought of over the weekend, when I was attempting to ignore the banality going on around me. Can we find out anything about the senior people at XPC? There may be a clue there somewhere, if we’re in luck.’
Once again, her suspicions were aroused. ‘Hmm. Interesting idea. I’ll get onto it as soon as I have a moment away from these new contracts.’ She changed the subject. ‘Business is booming, I’m delighted to say.’
‘It is indeed, and it’s a terrible indictment of the state of international Internet security. In a few years these governments will be looking back at this period, saying, “Why didn’t we actually do something about the situation then, instead of paying lip service by commissioning more and more expensive reports from people like IGIS?”’
‘Hugh, please stop complaining about how good business is. Sometimes I think you would prefer failure to success.’
‘You’re right, and I apologise, I have enjoyed both and the latter is infinitely preferable. Long may it continue.’
London, England
Emma said, ‘I haven’t spoken to Leo for a while. Too busy trying to finish my bloody book, I haven’t got a minute to spare. How is he? He’d have called me if there was anything special.’ She and Jenny were in Jo Greenwell’s office for their regular Monday editorial meeting of Thinking Woman Magazine, and her sister had mentioned her call with Leo.
‘He seemed fine, no problems. But he sounded very busy, he’s just hired a new man from the UK, a Liverpudlian called Ed Muire. He likes him.’
‘I’m pleased to hear it, I know he’s up against a tough deadline and he’ll need help to deliver on time. I’ve got the same problem, mother and son, both in the same boat.’
‘Except you can’t hire someone to help you write your book. How’s it going?’
‘I’m about fifty pages away from “The End”. It doesn’t sound a lot, but I’m finding it harder and harder to get the words on paper. I think I’m running out of ideas.’
‘Nonsense. Your last one
was the best so far, the sales proved that. Biggest success since the one about Leo. Oops, sorry, shouldn’t have said that.’ She looked around, but no one was paying attention.
‘Don’t worry, that’s past history now, Leo’s twenty-three and there’s no more possibility of him or me having a problem. And no one’s interested in what happened in South Africa seven years ago. By the way, what did you call him about?’
‘Oh, I don’t really know, no special reason. Just making sure my nephew’s happy down there in the desert.’
‘Thanks, sis.’ Emma squeezed her sister’s hand and they went back to their meeting with Jo, Jenny hoping this time her dream was just a dream.
Washington DC, USA
‘I believe I owe you an apology, Billy,’ Hugh Middleton said. It was Monday afternoon and he’d called the general as promised.
‘Oh, Ilona told you what I said about the XPC enquiry?’
‘Exactly. Apparently you suspect me of some infamous, ulterior motive in my research into the company and in connection with young Master Stewart.’
‘Either that, or you should have been a clairvoyant. There’s more suspicious circumstances surrounding that outfit than a bunch of hyenas around a wounded antelope.’
‘Quite remarkable, I agree, but I assure you, purely coincidental. It’s simply a consequence of our conversation about Leo last month. When you told me that he was urgently summoned from California to Dubai to replace a predecessor who died of poisoning, my protective instincts were aroused. I am a great believer in cause and effect and in my humble opinion, a suspicious death followed by an unusual event deserves investigation.’
‘Well, looks like your instincts might be right on the button, this time. This Tsunami character is closely linked to the Soviets, and I’d like to know what the involvment is with Lee-Win and XPC. Are you doing any more investigating on your end?’
‘I have asked Ilona to look into the XPC senior management. If we can’t find anything at the top, we may succeed further down the pyramid. I promise to reveal whatever we discover, if and when we do so. Are you content with that?’
The African Diamond Trilogy Box Set Page 122
