Bacchus and Sanderson (Deceased) (47 page)

“Jonathan Andrews, the Home Secretary, his safe only appears to be empty. Ernest’s guide Juanita is a lot more powerful than Helena had anticipated. She has put a false front on the safe so that it appears the contents have been removed.”

“How does that help?” Felicity asked, still not concentrating on the conversation she was having.

“No one knows that he has left anything embarrassing if not incriminating. Second, because she has put a false front on no one can see there is anything in the safe.”

Felicity smiled and said,

“Tripped by her own ingenuity. What else?”

Charles paused for a moment before continuing. For this next, part he needed her focused.

“Pablo is here. He flew to Paris yesterday, enjoyed a debauched night at the Georges Cinq, and is flying out to join the ship as it comes up the Channel past Portland. It seems he wants to meet his largest customer in person.”

Felicity looked confused for a moment.

“We met years ago, I was about seventeen and he was thirteen. He spent the entire summer trying to fuck me.” Felicity smiled remembering him.

“He was very good. Why didn’t he let me know? We need to make arrangements.”

“He did let you know, or I should say he let Thrasher know.”

Felicities face suffused with rage.

“That bastard is dead.”

Charles grimaced and continued,

“That’s only a small part of your problems. Freddie is in custody. He was taken when he went to deal with Annabel Anderson at Fawley. He was taped admitting to the killings of both Jonas and Ernest and alluding to other killings. He also implicated me and ‘another’ when he was trying to scare information out of her. She was wearing a wire. Team Bacchus had got to her first.”

Felicity faced had paled as she listened to Charles.

“Did neither you or Helena see fit to stop him if you were aware of all of this?”

“Helena pieced it together when we knew he had been taken. William has hired ex SAS bodyguards and a friend called Tiny. They are very resourceful. They have moved into the warehouse and are using it as their headquarters.” Charles looked at her and saw a frightened woman who was loosing control. He knew he needed to offer guidance and stiffen her resolve, before the whole house of cards came tumbling down.

“Felicity you need to act, this is spiralling out of control when it should have been business as usual. Can I give you some advice?” Felicity nodded.

“You need to prioritise. Freddie is history forget him for the moment. If he considers indiscretion, then have him silenced. Pablo is a more immediate problem. He has no idea that he could be walking into a shit storm. You need to contact him and warn him you have some issues shore side and he might want to stay clear.”

              Felicity had regained her waspish attitude and replied,

“Are you fucking senile? Tell the man who is delivering six tonnes of cocaine that we might have a problem and if he doesn’t fuck off he might end up in jail? I would be dead. We need to ensure that we get to Pablo ahead of Bacchus and whisk him off somewhere away from them and stop his prying eyes. Charles you need to redeem yourself, as does your spook girlfriend. I need Bacchus and all of his extended family, guards and hangers on disabled; out of the game. Have the authorities been contacted? Police? Customs?”

              Charles looked at her not answering, thinking. When he saw she wanted to interrupt his train of thought, he held up a hand to silence her. She yielded to his authority without thinking, forgetting he was dead and she the only sentient being in the room.

“I need to speak with Helena when she returns from her meeting with her boss. You’ve got him eating out of your hand haven’t you? Anyway when I see her I might have found a way to get you out of this mess and for the Cortez’s to come out on top.”

Jemima was struggling to understand what Ben was saying. The repeated doses of morphine had taken their toll and her ability to understand even simple straightforward statements was beginning to fade. Ben tried to get through to her again before she began her call to Pablo.

“The ship that Pablo called wasn't the ship carrying the timber it was the container vessel. Both ships are owned by Cameron Holdings, but why would he call a ship that isn’t carrying his cocaine, unless it is. If the container ships are carrying the cocaine, I need to get an inventory of the contents of each of the containers. The National Deep Rummage Team will need to have some idea of where to start looking. We need to know which of the vessels is carrying the cocaine. Can you find out from Pablo if the cocaine is on the timber ship or on the container ship?” Jemima stared at him for a moment and then nodded, smiling.

              Ben sat Jemima next to him at the makeshift desk and handed her a Bluetooth headset to put on. She slid the headset onto her head with exaggerated care and then looked at Ben and gave him thumbs up and a happy grin.

“Ok, let’s do this,” she said.

Ben looked at the pale face and glazed eyes with pinpoint pupils and smiled at her, his nerves causing a small facial tic.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

Not giving her time to answer Annabel interrupted from her position behind Jemima. Shooting Ben an annoyed glance, she shook her head at him and said to Jemima to encourage her,

“Of course she is. Let’s lure this bastard out. Ready Ben?”

Ben hesitated for a moment and then nodded and said,

“Ok, dialling in five, four, three, two, one, go.” The dial tone and then the sound of the Jemima’s mobile phone connecting and ringing filled the room. Everybody stood still, lest they make an inadvertent noise while Jemima was talking. The phone rang for ten, then fifteen seconds before a confident voice with a strong Spanish accent answered.

“Si?”

“Pablo, Felicity here.” Jemima said. Her voice had changed so that the timbre and pitch were now higher than they had been and had a harder edge. The new sound could be Felicity.

“How did you get this number?” he growled.

“It would appear your security isn’t as fool proof as you hoped. Your assistant when we were advised of your visit, I asked for a contact number for you and here we are, very sloppy.”

The explosion of undirected rage that came out of the receiver caused Jemima to smile. Score one to Team Bacchus.

“I will meet you on board when you dock in,” she paused as if looking at her watch,

“Ninety minutes. I will be bringing two assistants, chair pushers. I had a small accident that necessitates a spell in a wheelchair. Alert your security team so that we do not have any unfortunate accidents.” The threat was veiled, but there. Don’t fuck with me on my territory or it might not end well.

“I will come to you and we can talk while the ship goes through all of the tedious formalities your country insists on.”

Jemima smiled with relief, gotcha. He had acknowledged this was her game.

“Of course, you can land on the area in front of the warehouse. Fifteen minutes?”

“Until then.”

***

              “Tiny, are we set?” William asked.

“As we can be. I’m not expecting too much in the way of action. When we see Pablo, the boys will disable him and any guards he brings with him. The customs officers and Police will be ready to stream onto the ship as soon as it docks and start searching the timber. I have set watchers on all of the approach roads in case Felicity sends anyone to meet the ship and all of this has been duplicated at each of the destination ports.”

              William nodded looking uncomfortable. He couldn’t think of anything that his friend had forgotten or overlooked, but still something was nagging at him.

“This is too easy.” William said. He wanted to tell Tiny that he knew that Felicity was in league with the devil, that she had the assistance of her dead grandfather and a demonic spirit guide and that she would be planning all kinds of trouble he couldn’t begin to be ready for.

Tiny looked across to William, nodded in agreement and said,

“I know. I don’t understand why CHC don’t have any staff here. Security, workers to help with offloading, anyone. I’ve checked with people at each of the other ports and it’s the same. No activity at any of the CHC facilities. Nothing. If your information is correct and they’re bringing in tonnes and tonnes of cocaine, wouldn’t they want to have a presence even a discreet surreptitious presence?”

William jumped up out of his chair knocking it over and started to move towards the door shouting for Annabel and Ben. As he got to the door he turned and said to Tiny

“Thank you. I think you have given me the answer.”

He pushed the door open and jogged through, leaving a bemused Tiny and still calling for Ben and Annabel.

              William jogged across the open warehouse to where Ben, Annabel and Jemima where and arrived gasping.

“Are you ok?” Annabel asked looking worried by his gasping.

“What’s wrong?”

William lowered his bulk into the chair that Ben had given up for him and gasping he said,

“We’re not going to find anything.” He was interrupted by a paroxysm of coughing that left him breathless and shaking. Trying to allay Annabel and Ben’s concern he said

“Note to self: get fitter. As I was saying before my body interrupted, I don’t think we’re going to find anything when the ships dock. At least we aren’t unless Juanita can help.”

Jemima looked worried and said,

“I’m not wrong. These are the ships and the cocaine is being transported inside the timber.”

William held up a placatory hand and said,

“Juanita, Ernest, Jonas we need you; now.”

The room remained empty, which was unusual. Ernest and Juanita had told William that if he needed them then they were only a call away.

He looked at Annabel, then Ben and then Jemima to see if they sensed the presence of the ghosts or if they could feel anything different in the room. They all shook their heads one after another. In irritation, he called again. This time his voice was demanding.

“Juanita, Ernest, Jonas we need you; now”

              The three ghosts appeared to tumble into the room, arriving flustered and harassed. Juanita spoke before William had time to question them on their tardiness.

“We’ve lost them. Charles and Helena have vanished. Ernest and Jonas were tracking Charles I was tracking Helena. She went below to see Satan and I lost contact with her. Charles went to Felicity and left soon afterwards looking excited and elated. Moments later he disappeared. I can only assume that he is with Helena.”

William looked concerned, but it was Ben who spoke first.

“When you track your subjects, don’t you get close enough to know what they are doing and saying?”

Juanita replied,

“Sometimes yes. In this situation when Ernest is tracking he can’t get close enough to see or listen. He has to stay back out of range as he hasn’t the experience to get closer without being detected.”

William now seemed worried pacing the room and muttering to himself while Juanita talked with Ben.

“Juanita,” William said, “the illusion you created in the safe of the Home Secretary. Was that technically challenging for you?”

“For me no, but I have many hundreds of years of experience.”

William thought for a moment framing his next question.

“Is scale a problem? If the illusion you create is larger does that increase the complexity?” Juanita shook her head, letting William walk her through his thinking.

“Could Helena do it on a larger scale?”

Juanita looked at William and then nodded.

“When the customs personnel along with the police storm aboard these ships, I don’t think they will find anything. We can’t let that happen. We have worked hard to ensure the police, customs and additional security is at each of the locations the ships are docking at. Jemima and Ben have worked out how the drugs are being hidden and imported and on which ships they are arriving on. All of this work, organisation and determination can’t be for nothing.” William finished the sentence with such vehemence that Juanita was left speechless. She looked at the faces before her and each one of them was radiating the same determination and passion as William.

“We might be able to do something. This isn’t perfect. Helena, Charles and Satan will all be trying to stop us from blocking. It could get dangerous. You will all be targets. Jemima and Annabel you’ve experienced what they will stoop to. That was Felicity and Freddie. When the spirit world gets involved, it will get a lot nastier and more personal.”

Ernest interrupted Juanita saying,

“Helicopter will arrive in two minutes. It’s Pablo.” As Ernest enunciated his final syllable the door to the office burst open and one of the bodyguards rushed in and said,

“Mr Bacchus, a helicopter approaching, ETA two minutes.” Tiny came in followed by Jemima’s bodyguards. Looking at Jemima he said,