Counterpoint (25 page)

Max looked his usual self, smart but
casual, perhaps a slightly older style would have been more
appropriate for his age though, Amy thought. She admitted to
herself that she fancied Max a lot, but Geoff was much better and
more important, available.

When they reached the private
helicopter, Amy was feeling a bit overwhelmed and wondered with
whom she was getting involved. Still the novelty of her first
helicopter flight got her through the moment of anxiety. Carla
explained to Amy that the helicopter belonged to her employer, and
so did the house in the mountains. Amy felt much better about
things and relaxed into girly conversation, happy to bask in the
reflected glory of it all.

Carla checked with the Office that both
car and chauffeur were still available, and they were.

“We are going to scrounge a lift from
here to my little hideaway,” explained Carla, after they had landed
at the Duke’s home, then made their way to the underground garage.
The Duke’s Rolls took them down the mountain into the Town.
Understandably, Amy became apprehensive when it drove towards a
security gate, and then apparently, into a warehouse. She expected
a normal house somewhere in town.

Carla seldom had the opportunity to
show off her home, it was a closely guarded secret, but she loved
the look of amazement when her guests saw it.

The contrast of a dark warehouse on one
side of the door and the wonderland lit garden, and character brick
house on the other, inside another building, was unexpected. Amy
was wide-eyed and open-mouthed as she entered the entrance hall of
the house; she was speechless until she saw the statuette on the
table. The spot lighting lit it to the best possible effect. It
sparkled and glowed like a living thing.

“So this must be the statuette that man
wanted,” she murmured. “No wonder he wanted it back!” Amy said,
turning to Carla, “You know; David was so upset about his toilet
door being broken down, he didn’t seem to care about what might
have happened to me. If only he could see this!”

"Come on in," said Max, “Maria has laid
tea for us.”

“You have a maid as well?” Gasped Amy,
“What do you do all day? No! Don’t tell me, I can guess by Max’s
grin.”

“Actually, we are hardly ever here, we
are busy most of the time in different parts of the world,” said
Max.

“You have never said what you actually
do for a living?” Questioned Amy. “Never mind all that,” said
Carla, deflecting warmly. “Let’s settle you in and then have a good
conversation about everything. There are many things you will want
to know and what we do, won’t interest you, really.”

“Well!” Said Amy after tea, “What have
you two got me into, why did that man come on David’s yacht and
demand I gave him back the statuette?”

Carla looked at Max; he spoke first.
“From your description I believe the man was a villain called
Philippe. Carla and I were instructed to obtain the statuette from
an agent in Sri Lanka, taking it through customs, all perfectly
legal I might add, and deliver it to another agent. We did all
this, but somehow Philippe intercepted the second agent and tried
to take it from him. I fitted a tracking device to the container of
the artefact and managed to recover it from a crashed helicopter,
in the Indian jungle. Philippe turned up there just as I was
leaving and tried to kill me, and take it from me. I got lucky and
escaped. No one knows to whom it belongs; every part of the
transaction was untraceable so we could not return it. Carla is now
the undisputed owner; I gave it to her as a token of my love.”
Carla smiled and squeezed his hand.

Amy took in everything Max said and was
far from satisfied. “So why did this Philippe pick on me?”

“I believe he thought you were me,”
continued Carla. “Had I known he would pick on you, I would have
warned you, you were extremely lucky to have escaped with your
life, actually. Rest assured, you are safe here.”

“What happens when I leave here?”
Demanded Amy. “He could track me down, and I might not be so lucky
next time.”

“Max and I have discussed this, and we
plan to let him have the statuette in return for his word not to
pursue any of us, for things that have happened in the past.” Max
looked slightly surprised and shot an inquiring glance at Carla.
She flashed a quick smile back and said, “I hope you will feel safe
now Amy.”

“Well, yes, if he agrees! When will
this all take place?”

“I will make arrangements tomorrow,”
said Carla. “What about the damage to the man’s face persisted
Amy?”

“Well, he tried to kill me, so I had to
take desperate measures. He came off worse.”

“Oh come on!” Sneered Amy “I’m not
daft! How could you beat a professional killer like him, I know
what he’s like, I’ve met him.”

“Well, you escaped, didn’t you?” Carla
reasoned.

“That’s different; I had the help of
members of the public on my side.”

“We both had good luck on our side!”
Carla suggested.

Carla knew Amy would not be satisfied
with less than the truth. She explained that Tim had cocked up a
deal involving the large transaction of money and because he died,
Philippe came after her to get it back. She carried on with the
story from where the Mercedes entered the tunnel and how Philippe
almost had the drop on her, but had to regain control of the car
first. The car crashed, and he lost the side of his face in the
accident. Carla walked away unhurt because she was wearing a seat
belt.

It all sounded
plausible to Amy, so she let the matter drop. “What did this
Philippe mean when he referred to me as
my
daughter
?” Asked Amy

“I think we had better clear up some
other matters first,” said Max. “Firstly, you and Carla are twins.
I had a hair of yours compared with one of Carla’s and the DNA
matches exactly.”

Carla looked at Amy. The tears welled
up in her eyes as she reached out and pulled an astonished Amy
close to her. Both girls hugged tightly and burst into tears of
joy.

Max felt so pleased to see them
together, their deep emotion got to him, and he wiped tears from
his eyes before they noticed. It was a while before the girls’
regained composure and could talk again.

Both girls felt sure Lana had been
their mother and were keen to swap their personal knowledge of Lana
to build a better picture in their minds. They decided to talk with
Sam Leighton in the morning, to find out what he knew, and if the
Duke had any records they could look at.

“Do you think Philippe could be our
father?” Asked Amy. The question fell like a tray of the best
crystal glass on a marble floor. Both Carla and Max refused to
entertain the possibility. No man, even an evil bastard like
Philippe could father such beautiful girls, and be prepared to hurt
or kill them, without the slightest qualm. Surely, he would have
known Lana was pregnant if he were the father, even if no one else
did. The Duke was the only real possibility.

The Duke and Lana must have had a bust
up, and Lana went away. Finding she was pregnant, she kept the
secret to herself and returned after the babies were adopted. After
her death, the Duke must have found out and tracked Carla down.
Perhaps he did not know there were twins or could only find the one
child. Being a man of many secrets, perhaps he did not want to
admit his marital mistake, or that he had children. Perhaps he
could not tell all this to his child, or to one child, knowing the
other was missing. Anyway, he did his best with Carla in the short
time he knew her.

Max remembered the deep look of love
for Carla on the Duke’s face, when she presented Max to him. Max
thought then it was a strange and extreme depth of emotion, for a
man to have, for a girl that was not his own. Anyway, the Duke had
been a vital and virile man apparently, but according to Carla, he
had not been intimate with her. Why else would any normal man with
such power over a beautiful girl, avoid making love to her? No, the
Duke was the father, no mistake. Amy by nature was different to
Carla, but both were highly intelligent, physically, they were
extraordinarily lithe and co-ordinated, and had remarkable
stamina.

These were obvious qualities , the Duke
had, a rare genetic component.

“No!” Said Max, “I firmly believe the
Duke is your father.”

The next morning, Amy decided to call
Geoff. She had hoped he would phone her, she did not want to seem
too keen, but could not bear being on her own. Carla had Max, and
knowing she was her twin, rejected the idea of tempting Max from
her. She missed Geoff badly and wanted him with her. Flipping open
her mobile she dialled his number. It would not connect. The signal
was maximum strength, but the phone would not work.

“Carla! Can I use your phone? I need to
make a call.”

“Sorry, not from here, I’m afraid; your
cell phone can be traced to this location.”

“So can yours!” Replied Amy.

“Yes, but no one outside The
Organisation knows my number.”

“Well, I must make this call,” Amy
replied angrily.

“Who is it, you need to call?” Queried
Carla?

Amy nearly snapped back a “mind your
own damn business” but said; “I met a nice guy at the airport, his
name is Geoff and I would like to go out with him one evening.”

“Fine, I can take you into the town,
and then you can call from there,” said Carla cheerily.

Even as Carla replied, the hairs on her
neck stood up and alarm bells rang in her head, as the thought of
the craggy faced man flashed into focus.

Carla shopped for food while Amy made
her call. Geoff sounded extremely pleased to hear from her, and she
was delighted to hear his warm and eager voice, not realising why.
Geoff had been trying continuously to call her, but Carla’s
security jamming prevented connection.

After some pleasantries, Geoff said he
would meet her on her own the next day, for lunch in the village at
12.30. They agreed a place and ended the call. Carla skilfully
pried into the relationship, but Amy was not forthcoming, she was
used to keeping her affairs to herself.

When the girls were out, Max had a call
from Sam Leighton, on the direct line.

He wanted to see Max and Carla, to
bring them up to date with various things that were happening in
The Organisation, which they were involved in. Max explained he had
a guest, Carla’s twin staying with them. To Max’s surprise, he
asked to see her as well, on a social basis.

“She must be treated as an outsider as
far as the Organisation is concerned.” He stressed.

A car called for them in due course and
took them to the mountain. Sam greeted them in the Duke’s
penthouse, considered a great honour. When the Duke was alive, only
Carla had free access to his private quarters.

Most parts of the gardens, and above
ground areas of the building were impressive and had breathtaking
views. The lounge made you feel like you were on top of the world,
as it spread out before you, from three sides. To be here you had
to be special, it left you feeling charged with spiritual energy,
omnipotent, and invincible. Amy was awestruck at the beauty and
magnificence of the house and the view.

Sam knew, at the mention of the
existence of Carla’s sister that Carla would ask certain questions
of him. He would have to answer, or she would use her knowledge of
The Organisation, to prise them out of him. If she took the news
badly, well, that would be her problem.

After introductions, and the serving of
drinks, Sam addressed the girls without hesitation.

“When the Duke died, we had access to
his personal records, and briefly it goes like this. Lana had an
affair, became pregnant by her lover, and left the Duke for a short
time to have the child, or as it now appears, twins. Because she
loved the Duke she kept the truth from him."

“She knew she had made a mistake with
her lover, it only took place because the Duke had neglected her,
in his effort to build this empire. When she returned, their love
flourished again, and all was fine.”

“Like any mother, she longed to see her
children, although it would be impossible if not cruel, to let them
know she was related to them.”

“About nine months before she died, she
went back to England and using a private detective agency managed
to find one of the children; you Amy!”

“Carla had run away from her foster
parents and was lost to her. It appears from various letters, that
having met Amy on the pretext of a researcher, she decided to tell
the Duke and at least enjoy the love and company of her daughter.
She felt certain the Duke would forgive her, his immense pride was
small, in comparison with his love for Lana, and he knew he had
failed her when she left the first time.”

“He always wanted children, but felt
the risks from The Organisation were too great. He feared the child
might be taken and held for ransom.”

“It looks likely; Lana met her lover on
the road home from the airport. She probably told him, she was
going to tell the Duke, and gave him a chance to go into hiding. We
tracked down the man who sabotaged her car, as she talked with her
lover, in his car. Before the man died, he had told us that he had
tied a rope to the front brake pipes, one end to each side. As the
car drove off, the rope loop dragged out between the rear wheels.
At the first bend, one side of the loop, trapped under the rear
tyre, ripped off the flexible brake pipe. This would have caused a
slight thump, but nothing to alarm the driver. Later the snaking
rope would have become trapped under the other tyre, and the other
pipe was pulled off.”

“As you know the approach to the Angel
Pass is winding, followed by a steep, downward slope with a bend at
the bottom, as it meets the pass itself. With no foot brake, the
hand-brake or gears would have failed to slow the car. At this
point, the car went out of control, through the safety barrier, and
into the abyss.”