Chapter 12
An island in the Mediterranean
The door opened and Elizabeth Crawford spun round in the large leather chair behind the desk to find Louise and Harper entering the room. She had been lost in thought gazing at the view from the large bay window before the knock at the door. As always Harper resisted the usual rules and wasn’t wearing a large dress but Louise had decided to take up the practice since her return to the organisation. The seamstress had produced a pair of stunning dresses in light blue and green for Louise, it was the light blue options that Louise had chosen for this evening’s meeting. Elizabeth Crawford nodded to the three chairs arranged in a loose semi-circle sitting on the opposite side of the desk. Louise carefully lowered herself into the chair on the left-hand side as Elizabeth looked whilst Harper, in standard grey pant suit and black blouse, took the chair in the centre. “Ladies, thanks for coming along this evening. I just wanted the chance to run through things and get your thoughts on where we are with the current long-term operation.” There was a moment of silence from the other side of the desk before Harper stepped in.
“Well, from what I can tell everything seems to be going well. As far as I am aware nobody outside this room has managed to put everything we have been doing together and make any moves to prevent it. There have been some issues and what could be described as setbacks, obviously with Rousseau, Novak, Dubois, Linda, Schmidt and Martinez all currently in the hands of the Section there is a chance that they may divulge something, even a small morsel of information that may prove critical at this point in the process.” Elizabeth Crawford raised a hand to stop Harper at this point.
“Louise, have you been brought up to speed?” Louise nodded an affirmative. “Sorry, carry on Harper.”
“There was the issue when the reporter discovered that we had pulled a switch with Emily St Clare but that was mostly bad luck…”
“Mostly bad luck?” Louise asked.
“Yes, the reporter Elise Rodgers was sent to cover an event that our Emily St Clare attended and they literally bumped into each other. Emily St Clare had almost been a recluse since her retirement from the modelling game but it turns out the Elise Rodger’s mother was the photographer at St Clare’s last shoot and took her daughter along,” Harper shrugged and continued. “The reporter got curious and decided to investigate….it didn’t help Kirsty ran her mouth off at an unsecure location.”
“Alright Harper, this is not the time to discuss the Kirsty situation as we have that managed at the moment.” The tone of Elizabeth Crawford’s voice confirmed that the topic was closed.
“Anyway, we managed to neutralize the reporter before it was an issue and she is now enjoying the delights of a stay on the island,” Harper concluded and sat back in the chair.
“How can we control everyone else that the other side have?” Louise asked as she flattened and rearranged the skirt of her dress.
“I am not worried about Rousseau, she has no credibility, nor Dubois or Martinez, they don’t know enough about the organisation in general of about this operation specifically to cause any issues. Linda and Elsa are both granite so they are solid,” Elizabeth smiled when she said that, “but Novak could have been a problem, if she talks. More of what she might tell them in general terms rather than specifics. We have managed to compartmentalize this operation well enough.”
“That is why you snatched her niece?” Louise asked although she already knew the answer. As always Elizabeth Crawford seemed to be two steps ahead. Elizabeth just smiled at the question. “There are others out in the world that could cause a problem.” Louise commented. Harper gave her a look but having not been with the organization as long as Louise had and wasn’t fully aware of its history.
“Well they haven’t seen the need to get involved so far so let’s not complicate things any more than they are already but trying to figure in total unknowns.”
“How did your talk with the lawyer go?” Louise asked slightly changing the topic of conversation.
“I hope to have some positive news on that front very soon,” Elizabeth responded. There was a moment of silence before there was a knocked at the door. A second later Perrie opened the it and in walked Naomi Van Den Burgh. Naomi was no longer wearing her down suit but the clothes that she been wearing when snatched from her office, freshly laundered of course. “Naomi. Please come in at sit down. We were just talking about you as it happens.” A concerned look crossed the lawyers face. “Nothing to worry about. I was just telling the ladies that I was confident that you would take on our case.”
“I have thought about it and I can confirm that I have agreed to take on your case. I am intrigued at taking you on as client and delivering what you want.” Naomi replied after taking the vacant chair on the right-hand side of the desks.
“Glad to hear it. To complete the formalities Naomi Van Den Burgh please meet Harper and Louise. These two women are effectively my lieutenants and help with the day to day operational requirements of my organisation.” Naomi looked at the two women in turn, Louise offered a warm smile but Harper was stony faced.
“I assume that you confirmed receipt of your fee?” Elizabeth asked getting down to business.
“Yes, Tahani did let me check with my firm and interestingly they asked how I was enjoying my holiday,” Naomi commented. “Apparently the photographs look great on social media.”
“We had to come up with something to explain your absence and a last-minute holiday seemed the logical way to go,” Harper jumped in. “Our tech department is very good at what it does.”
“What if I had turned Elizabeth down?” Naomi asked.
“Well, accidents happen,” Harper said staring straight into Naomi eyes.
“Anyway,” Elizabeth said, trying to lighten the mood. “The tech team will supply you with a mobile and laptop with impenetrable security before you leave.”
“Will it also contain software that allows you to monitor my communications?”
“Of course,” Elizabeth said getting up and heading toward the drinks’ cabinet. “Can I get everyone a drink to celebrate our new partnership?” All three of the women nodded and Elizbeth prepared four drinks, she knew each woman’s preference and handed then out before raising a toast. There was a couple of minutes of almost silence as they all enjoyed their drinks as the sun coming through the large bay window. Naomi had to admit that the setting was stunning and under different circumstance she would be more relaxed and enjoying it but something told her that she couldn’t trust Elizabeth Crawford fully just yet. “Sorry to break the mood but I fell that we should get down to business. Now, is there anything that you would rather we did not discuss with you in the room?” Elizabeth asked. Naomi shook her head in response.
“As your lawyer it is best that I know everything. Especially with this type of negotiation. I cannot afford to be tripped up.”
“Everything?” Elizabeth queried, raising an eyebrow. “From the start?”
“In broad strokes. I don’t need the exact details about what you had for breakfast or every small crime that you may or may not have committed but…”
“What generally has gone on?” Elizabeth asked. Naomi nodded “We had better get a another drink and get comfortable then.”
“Let me get this round,” Louise said getting up with a swish of fabric and collecting the four glasses.
“I started out with the American Intelligence community and worked happily in that environment for a number of years. I started off with the Central Intelligence Agency and then my particular set of skills were noted and I was headhunted for recruitment into another arm of the Intelligence known as the Section.” Elizabeth paused, trying to find the correct word or phrase. “Well, until I was made a better offer.”
“A better offer?” Naomi asked.
“A story for the end of the evening rather than now,” Elizabeth responded taking the glass that Louise offered. “The Section was a black operations unit set up specifically as an intelligence gathering unit, specializing in industrial espionage, undercover operations and international criminal networks. Occasionally the Section would be called upon to make people disappear.”
“Disappear?” Naomi asked with a worried look on her face.
“Don’t worry, not in a Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci in a Martin Scorsese movie kind of way.” Elizabeth could see the tension leave Naomi’s body. “In the same way that you have disappeared for a week. It was all very civilized.” That was one way to describe it Naomi thought before switching her professional head back on. “Everything that you need will be loaded onto the laptop that we will supply you with before you leave. It will allow you to read it at your own leisure.”
“Thank you,” Naomi replied. “And if I have any questions……….”
“Just set up an appointment and we can either meet or have a conference call.” Naomi nodded.
“Now what about this current operation that you are running?” Elizabeth Crawford nodded at Harper to take up the story.
“When the boss first raised the possibility of going straight, we knew that it was going to take a lot of planning, hard work and some luck. So, we sat down and devised a strategy about how to go about it and we realized that what we need was leverage.”
“Leverage?”
“An object, or in this situation, information that can be used to exert a force over an individual,” Harper said flatly.
“Yes, to explain we had to have leverage on certain people to make this happen,” Louise interjected.
“Anyway,” Elizabeth Crawford decided to jump back in. “There were a lot of stories and rumours going around in some circles that there was a cache of information held somewhere that would contain a lot of things that could be used as leverage against a lot of influencial, powerful people. People that could make it easier to get an agreement for clemency.”
“As an example; it could be a certain official having an affair, or a top executive taking money from a criminal organization. I could go on but I am sure that you get the idea.” Elizabeth Crawford gave Naomi a pointed look and Naomi now knew where this woman had found out about her past transgression. “So, after a bit of digging around we confirmed that the Broker and Marcus St Clare had indeed collected a large amount of information that would help us so we went about getting it.”
“You will have heard of the Broker?” Harper asked Naomi between sips of her drink, bourbon and coke with two cubes of ice. The solicitor nodded her head. There wasn’t anyone that moved in their circles that would not be aware of the Broker, at least by reputation.
“I assume that obtaining this information wasn’t easy?” Naomi asked.
“No, indeed it was not. To kick things off we made contact with Milena Novak,” Elizabeth Crawford said.
“Milena Novak of Almost Famous Fashions?” Naomi asked.
“The very same. Let’s just say that some of her income isn’t from totally legitimate means. Anyway, there were two reasons for getting close. Firstly, it gave us another way into a legitimate business allowing us to diversify and expand that side of the operation and secondly it gave us a way to make contact with Emily St Clare.”
“Emily St Clare, the former model?”
“Yes, it turns that she is Marcus St Clare’s widow and is now a silent partner in the Broker’s extortion business,” Harper took up the story. “Now, whatever rumours you have heard about St Clare are true, he was a nasty and vindictive piece of work. Heaven knows how he managed to attract and keep a woman like Emily St Clare. However, I digress. Marcus was not the nicest person but he had the knack of getting people to divulge their worst secrets or submit to their innermost desires and when he teamed up with the Broker it gave them both a partner to work with to build their dossier of sin.”
“Which they did with relish,” Elizabeth chipped in.
“Now it took some time but we managed to confirm where this was kept. It was in a private Swiss bank in Bern. Now, that was the easy part. The vault where the dossier was kept could only be accessed by either the bank’s staff or customers and was protected a biometric security system.”
“So, did you use leverage to get access?” Naomi asked with a smirk whilst at the same time scribbling notes on a pad that she had taken from the desk.
“Not in the way that you probably think. No, we had to abduct Emily St Clare and brainwash her.” A look of surprised spread across Naomi’s face and the other three women smiled. “Don’t worry, we took very good care of her and there are no lasting effects from the treatment. My colleague Elsa Schmidt assures me and she is an expert in such things.”
“We grabbed during a visit to her health spa and brought her here for treatment.”
“Then in a week she walked into the bank’s vault and handed over the dossier,” Elizabeth Crawford said as if it was as easy as picking up the Sunday papers from the corner shop.
“What about personal appearances?” Naomi asked.
“We replaced her with a double,” Elizabeth said, clearly relishing the whole explaining the evil plan bit of the evening.
“My God!” Naomi exclaimed. “This is all getting a bit Bond villain. Remote, exotic lair, beautiful women, doppelgangers…….”
“I know, interesting. Isn’t it?” Elizabeth interrupted. “That reminds me. How is Keira getting along?”
“Fidgety would be the best description. I think that it will soon be time to make a decision,” Louise said before Harper could get in.
“Do you mind if I ask who Keira is?” Naomi asked.
“Our doppelganger,” Elizabeth replied.
“And you still have her on the island?”
“Yes, in the interests of operational security. However, unlike the guests she is free to roam and is never subject to bondage.”
“Out of interest. Who are the other guests?
“Shonali Shelpa Khan, the Bollywood star, Elise Rodgers, the reporter, Lara Sanchez, that is Novak’s niece and Raquel English who is an independent operator hired by….well no need to go into that story at the moment.”
“Gayle Hutton as well boss,” Louise added.
“Yes, I had almost forgotten about her. Remind me tomorrow and we can make the arrangements to get her off the island.” Louise and Harper exchanged what could have been termed a worried glance.
“Plus, Hayley and Kirsty,” Harper chipped in.
“They are completely different,” Elizabeth said with a hint of irritation.
“How would you plan to make a start on this?” Louise asked trying to change the subject.
“I suppose it would be to contact the relevant authorities in the jurisdictions that you are wanted and take their temperature about agreeing to some kind of deal that would include clemency.”
“Do you think that the U.S would agree?” Elizabeth asked “I have a lot of history with certain individuals and government bodies….”
“I had better start there then,” Naomi answered placing the pen between her teeth and slipping into deep thought. The three other women waited for Naomi to continue but she was obviously lost in her own head at the present time. No doubt thinking through the strategy on how to make Elizabeth Crawford’s plan possible.
“Our source confirms that Christina Howard seems to have disappeared from official duties.” Harper continued.
“I thought that Jaclyn may try something off the books. We just need a strategy to neutralise Christina.”
“Track her down and take her off the board?”
“No, something a bit more interesting might come along….”
“There is one major stumbling block,” Harper began. “In the US the heads of all federal law enforcement agencies have the right to object to these kind of deals….”
“And Jaclyn Sanders will never sign off on it,” Elizabeth Crawford said.
“And Jaclyn Sanders will never sign off on any deal for you,” Harper echoed.
“Well, in that case we will just have to do something to remove Jaclyn Sanders from the decision-making process.”
“Leverage?” Naomi questioned hesitantly.
“Unfortunately, she is the one person that we do not have any dirt on, and trust me I have tried to find it,” Elizabeth said with a sense of frustration as she slumped against the back of her large chair. “Jaclyn is the proverbial Boy Scout, clean as a whistle….”
“What about the other option?” Louise asked. Elizabeth knew exactly what Louise meant but she was trying to be coy in front of the lawyer.
“Another dead end I am afraid. No surviving family members and nobody close enough to use. We have burnt bridges with Hayley with our efforts to discredit her.”
“Where does that leave us?” Louise asked.
“In having to make some moves to take the Queen off the chessboard in addition to some of her Knights,” Elizabeth Crawford said somewhat cryptically. Naomi looked quizzically between the two women knowing that there was subtext but it going over her head completely.
“What about Miss Khan? Where does she fit in?” Naomi asked checking her notes.
“Well I was coming to that? It is a bit of a long story so I will pour another round of drinks first.”
Off the South Coast of France
The door to the cabin opened just as Alessandra finished wrapping Natascha’s body in the duvet. After turning off the camera Alessandra had quickly untied and redressed Natascha before pouring a lot of chloroform on the duvet as she couldn’t afford Natascha coming round any time soon and hoped that the fumes from the duvet would help to keep her in sleepy land. “Seems a shame to throw out a good duvet with the rubbish,” Chernov commented.
“I would have to change it anyway so best to dispose of it now.”
“Dump her body into the sea,” Chernov said to Ivan.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” Chernov raised an eyebrow at Alessandra’s suggestion. “I would put her body in one of the dinghies and let it be found. If she is reported as missing, the authorities might search for her. The tide will take the dinghy miles away from our course anyway.”
“That sounds sensible. You certainly are more than a pretty face,” Chernov ran a hand from her cheek to her chin, “Put her in one of the dinghies and make sure there is nothing that could identify it as coming from the yacht. Ivan nodded before hoisting the duvet and Natascha onto his shoulder like it was nothing and slowly carried her out of the cabin.
“Wait till I come along and check before you let the dinghy loose,” Alessandra shouted at the big Russian. “Can I get some time to tidy up and collect my thoughts?”
“Of course, babe,” Chernov responded and exited the cabin. After the door had been locked Alessandra quickly dressed, putting on a heavy coat from her wardrobe and grabbing a satellite phone and a bottle of water which she deposited in the inside pocket of the coat. Holding the coat closed around her body Alessandra made her way to the rear of the yacht were Ivan had already deposited the duvet containing Natascha in a bright yellow dinghy. Alessandra leaned down and managed to slip the satellite phone and water into the folds of the duvet.
“Goodbye Little Miss Snoop,” Alessandra said and nodded to Ivan who with one heave lifted the dingy and slid it off the deck and into the darkness. Alessandra couldn’t see the dinghy once it left the deck but heard the splash as in entered the water and hoped the Natascha would be alright. She had done as much as she could and the woman was no longer her problem.
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Off the South Coast of France
The rocking motion of the dingy did not help how Natascha was feeling at the moment, although she was alive so that was a positive. It had taken a while so her to work out why her head was thumping, the duvet that she had been wrapped in was drenched with chloroform and she had been constantly breathing in the fumes for who knew how long. Thankfully after sitting feeling sorry for herself about the situation she was in for around half an hour Natascha had found the bottle of water and satellite phone that she assumed Alessandra had stashed in the folds of the duvet. Natascha silently thanked the Italian and left it until later to try and figure out what the woman was doing and how it may impact her investigation. Now to make a call that she didn’t really want to make. Picking up the satellite phone Natascha checked for reception and punched in the number from memory. “Monique? It’s Natascha Taylor.”
“How are you doing?”
“Not too well to tell you the truth. Actually, that is what I am calling about. I need a big favour. I need to be picked up.”
“Sure, I am sure that I can arrange that. Where are you?”
“Well, that is the thing, I am not sure exactly, somewhere in the Mediterranean….I think.”
“Sounds like you have had an interesting night. I can’t wait to hear about it. We can track the signal from your satellite phone and find you that way.”
“That would be great. Much appreciated,” Natascha replied finally relaxing for the first time in what seemed a couple of days.
“When we have tracked you down and made the arrangements. I will call you back with an estimate of when I can get someone out to you.” Then the line went dead and Natascha set the phone down beside her and picked up the bottle of water. All she could do now was wait.