CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

They all got into the lift. Maria started laughing. That was unlike her, she must have drunk more than Charles had realised. This put him on edge but he let it ride. He knew that it was wise always to overestimate the opposition, yet she derided them and said contemptuously, “They were so stupid. They must have realised we would have security. That was a suicide mission. The Russians couldn’t run an Empire like Di Maglio’s. They couldn’t do it even if they had the best of managers.”

“Let’s wait till we get the report,” warned Charles. “I have a suspicion that they’ve adopted a typical Di Maglio ruse. Hire a few stool pigeons as cannon fodder and make a botched attempt. That way they signal to us that they are serious. And they don’t risk killing us and screwing the deal. If the dead guys were Russian it was stupidity. But if they were local hoods, we should be warned. The bastards are watching and tracking us.”

Maddy asked, “When will you know?”

“I’ll call our contacts tomorrow morning. They’ll give me the police reports. But I bet they were local hoods.”

Maria laughed. She sensed something in the tone of his voice. She realised she had overstepped the mark. And she was sufficiently scared of him to correct her mistakes quickly, “Well, that shows they’ve learnt one thing. I guess we should be careful. Lock our doors tonight and be doubly vigilant”

Maddy giggled. “Yes, and everyone is gated. Nobody is allowed to leave their room, unless there is an attack.”

“That’s a stupid rule,” replied Maria. “I want another celebratory drink. We left half a magnum in the restaurant. We need to finish on a high note.”

Charles glanced over at her and noticed the look in her eyes. She knew he wanted her even if her earlier attitude had annoyed him. He knew she wanted him. It had always been like that when they faced danger. And it was especially like that if that danger involved any killings. Charles wondered if Maddy felt that need as well. She had killed today. However, he hoped they all realised that today was not such a day. Despite the killings, he wanted to be alone. And he only wanted to be with Jacqui.

They entered the suite with their guns drawn and checked it over room by room. Maria looked through the fridge and rejected all the drinks there. She called for room service and ordered yet another bottle of Bollinger. She had obviously decided that another magnum would be a bit excessive, even if there were three of them. Charles had definitely drunk less than both the girls. At times, they appeared quite sober. At others, they appeared less so. In any case the bottle arrived and they told the waiter to leave it unopened.

Charles opened the bottle with a gentle pop and poured them each a glass. He raised the question of their plans for the morning. They agreed that Maddy would work with Maria and arrange the multi-million dollar shipment. They would meet again in the afternoon to go over the plans. Meanwhile, Charles would head to the office and catch up on work out of London. He was still debating if anyone would warn him about the bank’s problems. He definitely would not prompt them.

His glass empty, he decided to make a move. He stood up, kissed each girl on the cheek and headed off to bed. He suspected, given how much they had drunk, that there could be fireworks later. He knew that Maria would be an eager participant, although he was not sure of Maddy. He wondered how he would deter them.

He stripped off and went to bed, lying there thinking through the events of the day. A baby had been born on the other side of the Atlantic. A botched murder attack, yet again, on this side. An evil old man, perhaps dying in a hospital, was not that far away.

And suddenly, he felt lonely. He felt isolated. He was lost in the muted silence of the hotel. The pipes talked. The corridors echoed briefly with distant voices. A door creaked somewhere in the distance. A phone rang. Then there was silence again. He thought again of Jacqui. Again he cursed Di Maglio and his world for keeping him away from her at a time like this. He shut his eyes and he slept.

The next day, Charles left before either of the girls were up. He had plenty to do, and some of it was not going to be done in the office. From the lobby downstairs he called Delaney.

He explained he could not depend on Galileo for all his needs. He had to ensure that Di Maglio didn’t leave the hospital. He had nobody to trust. He needed someone better and more dependable than the FBI.

Delaney didn’t react to Charles’ desire to see his father-in-law have an accident. He would be indifferent to the fact that he was a relative. For him, the man was one of those evil people he worked to destroy.

“As you’re going down to Wall Street, you need a contact place nearby. That’s quite easy as nobody watching is likely to be surprised at a chance meeting there. You know people and so, even if you were recognised, it wouldn’t matter. Where could you meet?” asked Delaney.

“There’s a hotel, just opposite the old World Trade Centre. It’s called the Millennium. It has a popular bar the yuppies like. I’ll be there at noon and wait till twelve thirty. The password should be your granddaughter’s second name.”

“You’ll be met. Ask them to show you their ID as well. It’ll impress you and you’ll realise why. Always better to be doubly sure.”

With that, Charles rang off and headed out of the hotel. Douglas was waiting with the car. They headed south.

“Is there any chance of us being attacked? I gather you had trouble last night.”

Charles was surprised. “How do you know?”

“The driver left me a message. Said it was better to have a gun. I had one already but he passed me another. There’s no reason for him to know anything about me, other than the fact that I drive you. They must think you’re pretty green if they believe that your driver is a mere chauffeur.”

“That’s true, but to them I’m just a money man. They may have heard about the fights before I married Jacqui, but I was more of an amateur then. I really was; even more than I am now. I only do the gangster bit when it is needed. It’s not my career.”

Douglas laughed. “You’d have been better than your father-in-law if it had been. But drugs and prostitution are out of fashion. Money is the best weapon now. And you know how to handle that.”

“Douglas, don’t think too much about what I do. It’s not healthy.”

Douglas said nothing. Charles thought about his words. He thought back to Maria’s comments the previous night. He had to be careful. This was dangerous territory and amateurs, however well meaning, had limited life expectancy.

The weeks ahead were going to be more fraught than he had hoped. It was with this in mind that, after having stopping off at Saks to buy a suit, he arrived at the New York office. He walked in. Nobody was expecting him. Nobody recognised him, at first.

Then McGarth’s secretary came in and took over. Charles was whisked up to the boardroom. He asked where McGarth was. He would be in later, he had a breakfast meeting and would only be in at ten thirty. The Honourable James’ son was also away from his desk. It was confirmed that was not unusual. It hardly surprised Charles, as his nocturnal habits had been one reason for their selection of him as the second fall guy in the Americas.

Charles called his father and was updated on the different positions. He carefully used his mobile to avoid being recorded on the tapes that were linked to the in-house phone system.

They had almost closed out all the trading positions. The banks had crystallised a huge number of losses and yet he had not been informed. Irrespective of their real innocence on any charge of having instigated the trades or manipulated the books, they were guilty of withholding information. Charles could hardly fail to feel pleased about that; this was their undoing rather than something he could have foreseen. The Honourable James and his revolting son; Dunkillen, Sir Brian and McGarth were heading for the big dipper in serious downward mode.

He called Jacqui. She was fine. The birth hadn’t been difficult. The baby was sleeping and feeding well. They would tell the world her name when he returned, hopefully at the weekend. He said he would look up Di Maglio that evening. He hinted that he didn’t like the prognosis. She didn’t react. She still felt bitter towards him and appeared to have shut him out of her life. Little Claire Jacqueline Di Maglio Rossi cried for attention and food in the background. Charles smiled as he heard his daughter’s voice for the first time. Jacqui told him he was soppy and she had to go back on shift.

He talked to the office, carefully using the office phone. The recording would be useful. He talked to the Honourable James and even asked him for a first cut of the last quarter’s results. He expected them any day but hadn’t had them yet. He queried if the Honourable James thought they‘d beat the budget. Charles was assured they were hopeful. Charles said he was impressed at the results in America and hinted that the Honourable James’ son seemed to have buckled down to his new role. He couldn’t get a reaction, which was unfortunate but not unexpected. There was no real love lost between the pair.

He asked to be transferred to Lord Dunkillin and asked him specifically how things were on the trading side. He enthused. He believed they would produce record results. Charles allowed him to prattle on and then finally talked to Sir Brian. He heard all was well and was assured that the business was booming. They all obviously knew the truth but were hoping against hope for a miracle. They were petrified of being forced off the gravy train and, in reality, out of the City, for they were in it too deep not to be deemed undesirable even by the low standards of many of their old chums.

Soon afterwards, McGarth walked in. He was full of his successes. Once again there was no mention of the trading losses. He showed Charles a pack he had prepared for the board the next week. Financial product sales outside of the dealing room were up. Investment funds were growing. New accounts were at a record. Charles asked to keep the paper. It was wonderful evidence of the man’s dishonesty and incompetence. McGarth happily left it with him, especially as Charles implied that he expected the remuneration committee to ensure that this result was reflected in the end of year bonus awards. Then having ensured that greed blossomed even more, he left for his lunchtime meeting. The last thing he wanted was for the bank to implode before he had sorted out Di Maglio and his erstwhile operations.

And if the fools he employed talked to their friends in similar vein, the share price would soar and that would allow his father to sell even more shares at even higher prices. Everything was going their way at the moment. More time meant just that they made more money. It was no issue if they waited the month they needed to rid them of the corrupt Di Maglio legacy.

Charles walked up Wall Street and across Broadway, then down to the glass fronted Millenium and up to its bar. Wall Street is not a place of lunchtime drinkers. In London the place would have been packed. Here it was half-empty. He sat and waited for the contact to appear. A tall man, with steel rimmed glances approached him. His thin face was topped with thinning slicked-back blond hair. He had a lop-sided smile and a quiet voice that said in a Southern burr, “Clarissa said you’d be here.”

“I guess you have a badge to show me.”

He calmly passed the black wallet over. In it was the presidential insignia; he was part of the President’s bodyguard. His unmistakable face was younger in his photo. But it was the same smile and the same gaunt appearance. A small, yellow piece of paper was stuck to the edge of the photo and it said in minuscule writing “I owe my life to Delaney.”

The waitress took their order for two sodas. “I need Di Maglio to pass away. Can you arrange it?”asked Charles.

“Why?” The voice was inquisitive but not shocked.

“You know our long game plan. Originally, we were to fabricate gang warfare. Now we can’t. It’s real. And there’s danger in that. I need to get rid of Di Maglio. Whatever his state, his presence threatens us. He could cause trouble. I always knew that. There’s a solution now. I need you to finish him. I’d have it done myself but I have no people I can trust for such a job. Just do it.”

“We’re not going to lose any sleep if he’s dead. We’ll do it tomorrow. His people want him moved back to his house. It’ll look like natural causes. Nobody will think he died of any cause other than from a cardiac arrest. You can trust us. We have drugs that nobody even knows about. And they won’t leave any traces.”

Charles looked at him suspiciously, “Are you wired?”

He smiled that lop-sided smile again, “Don’t you trust me?”

“I don’t trust many people. I trust Delaney. But I’ve no reason to trust you.”

He opened his jacket. There was a wire. A tape of everything they‘d said.

“Bastard,” Charles muttered fiercely. “Just do your job and keep out of my way.”

With that, Charles got up and strode over to the lift. He punched the button angrily. He stalked into the lift, paced it up and down. Then, with a face that looked like thunder, he left the hotel. He walked back to the office. He stopped and looked at the kiosks in Wall Street. He didn’t think that he’d been followed but couldn’t be sure.

He rode up to the executive floor in the office. He walked to the washroom. Nobody was there. He went into a cubicle. Then he took out his miniature recorder and played it back. He heard every word he had said. He heard the agent speak. He heard him confirm he was wired. He had him on tape. This was his insurance. It was strange that the agent hadn’t asked him if he was wired. Either he had slipped up or had assumed he would be anyway.

Charles walked over to the office and called Delaney, “I saw your friend. He can exit Di Maglio as he is my only option. But tell his superiors that the bust is off. He was wired. I don’t trust them any more.”

“I’ll call,” Delaney replied. “They said they wouldn’t. Is the bust really off?”

“It is for them. Stay on stand-by. I may find another place to do it, but only if they deliver on Di Maglio.”

Charles then called Maria and told her to come over. She arrived half an hour later. He came straight to the point.

“We have a change of plan. We need to divert the plane with the drug consignment. I don’t want it to land in the US. There’s a danger that they’ll set us up. We’ll land it in Canada. What airfield should we use?”

She hesitated, “There used to be a strip just north of Buffalo near Niagara. We used it a few times. It almost straddles the border. It should be OK now. It’s unusable in winter because of the weather. I can check if it’s still operative, I assume it will be. It was mainly used as a flying club’s place.”

“Good. And change the planes. We’ll split the cargo in two and put it on executive jets. We land them at the strip within a few minutes of each other. But, first of all, get me the exact location. And find out what the border control is like while you’re at it.”

She nodded, “Do I tell Maddy?”

“Once we’re organised and if I agree. There’s no need to tell her yet. She may tell Delaney and I want him to know as late as possible. The fewer who know, and the shorter they know for, the better.”

“What do we do tonight?” she asked.

“I have no plans. I want an early night. Best to get as much sleep as possible before the pace steps up. Tomorrow we head off for California. Maddy can stay here. But we’re visiting the bank there. I don’t want to be too close when the heist takes place. The further away we are the more credible it appears.”

He didn’t want to tell her that he also wanted to be out of New York when Di Maglio died. And it was for the same reason. But there was no way that he was going to admit that one to Maria.

The rest of the day was spent on the phone as they planned the bank’s demise. His father had sold more shares in IBE. Jacqui would spend a couple of hours at the office on Friday and adjust the share register by reshuffling certain holdings.

Jacqui would just move the stock out of the names of the big institutions to the new owners. Later, once Jack Ryder had bought back their stock at rock bottom prices, she would move the stock back in again.

None of the staff knew that she was also able to hack into the system, change records and then cover her tracks. The beauty of it all was that, in the end, the programme would eliminate all records of what had actually happened and then self-destruct. An expert would know there was a problem. But there would be no link with Jacqui, her terminal would have reverted to its normal view only. That meant that, officially, she could look at the records but not change them.

Charles called Jacqui but they kept the discussions down to family matters. She would leave the hospital that afternoon. Everything was arranged. They did not talk about the job needed on Friday for he was on the office phone. He had used his mobile for the discussion with his father. It was important that they completed their illicit sales of IBE shares quickly, it was impossible that the good or bad news about the bank, depending on who you were, would not break over the next week or so.

The losses on all their trades had crystallised and been paid away into the money launderer’s maze known as the international banking payment systems. And some of the larger loans would default at the end of the following week and start a roller coaster of failed loans for the bank.

The end game was now in play. The next two weeks would see the collapse of the Di Maglio Empire and of IBE. Meanwhile, the Empire carried on making its money and the IBE share price soared on to reach twenty-six dollars, more than fifty per cent up on the price at its launch.

Charles had some business calls and even accompanied McGarth to the New York Federal Reserve. McGarth painted the regulators the rosy picture that had become his trade mark. His patrician jowls quivered with excitement as he vouched that all was well in the bank. All the ratios were moving in the right direction. Their capital was strong. Their investment funds were performing well. Loan losses were negligible. In short, business was exceptional.

McGarth’s blindness to the danger of their situation was staggering. He was already aware that they had been burnt badly on the trading desks with hits of well into two billion for the US end alone.

And Charles knew that, within a week, their investment funds would also slump, as his father stopped manipulating the prices of the worthless shares they had bought; then worried clients would start to panic as their fund prices crashed.

Then the loans would start defaulting. And IBE stock would slump as the market absorbed one bad news announcement after another. The darling of the market had risen to a staggering price, and would now plummet to unknown depths as it edged close to bankruptcy amid a public display of incompetence and apparently fraud by its top management.

Charles just built up the image of his total innocence. He commented on his dependence on McGarth and his experienced management team. He noted that he would be doing a courtesy call to California. He stressed the shortness of his visit to New York. They were duped and there was no way that they could be surprised that he was too.

That was the last meeting and Charles declined the offer of a drink from McGarth. He needed to get up early for the West Coast the next morning. He wanted a quiet evening to go through papers from the family businesses. And with that he headed back to the hotel. Maria was there.

She told him what she had arranged, “I‘ve established the landing strip is still operative. It’s not manned normally. We’ve booked two slots on it for Friday and arranged our own ground crew. We have two of the latest executive jets. The locals in Canada think that they are arriving from Chicago, according to the manifest. The cover is that they’re bringing executives to see the Niagara Falls.

We’ve also rescheduled the South American flights and already had the cargo split. That wasn’t difficult, as it hadn’t been loaded anyway. We’re all set for Friday. I haven’t told Maddy. She won’t be happy not knowing but won’t make a fuss of it.”

She gave him the co-ordinates and expected timings. All was ready. They knew the room was clean of bugs but couldn’t be certain about the phone. Since the meeting with the US agent, Charles was not in the mood to take chances. The rooms had been empty at times during the day and phones could be tapped. He was comfortable about using the mobile with its scrambling device from the office but less so from the room. So he and Maria headed off down street and went over to Trump Tower. He called Delaney.

“Change of plan. First, you’ll need the Canadian police. I suspect they’ll need the US to help them as they are unlikely to have the right resources. But the hit will need to be early evening on Friday, New York time – that’s around six in the evening there. They’ll be told the co-ordinates around two that afternoon. You’ll need teams standing by in Toronto. They need all to be ready to scramble and fast.”

Delaney was angry at the lack of information but Charles cut him off, “Don’t preach at me. You had your chance and you blew it. Or at least your agent did. You’re playing it my way. This is for all of our protection. If anything else doesn’t go to plan, the whole deal is off and not just relocated.”

Delaney didn’t say another word. “I’m off to California tomorrow. I’ll call you from there,” said Charles. There was no answer. Charles sensed his anger but he knew that Delaney would control it. Delaney wanted the Empire dead even more than he did.

They called Maddy to join them and told her to set up the Russians between Toronto and Niagara. That gave little away as that area was littered with airstrips. She called a contact she had in the Russian camp “I have a big shipment. I want a hundred million for the location. I want fifty up front. It’s a big one. Two executive jets. It will be around a billion in value. That’s a few weeks supply for the US of A.”

There were voices on the other side and then she replied, “I’ll give the general area once the money’s in the account and the exact co-ordinates in time for you to make it there. You have a few days but I want the cash there by Thursday, or I’ll call off the planes.”

With that she cut them off. She turned to Charles and grinned. She sensed the Russians had fallen for it. Once the fifty million was in her account they would definitely have been duped. The Russians would believe her story of being unhappy with the cut she was getting. They understood greed and respected it.

She dialled again. This time she would be calling another Mafia syndicate. The story was similar. The code name was different. The other side agreed to pay. This time it was fifty million with twenty-five up front. The Italian Mafia were always tighter than the Russians. It came with their long traditions.

She smiled, “That’s all arranged then. It was so simple. I can’t believe it.”

Charles turned to Maddy, “I’m heading back from California to London. I need to be there on Thursday. Are you staying in New York after Thursday?”

“No. I’ll head back to Geneva once I give the green light to the Russians and Italians. I’ll arrive there on Friday morning and wait for the call with the exact location. Then I’ll contact you and we’ll have to see what’s left to be done.”

“Hopefully we can just stand back and watch the whole thing self destruct. The Empire will have lost a billion. The non-drug side will revolt. After all, they already tried to split off a few months ago.”

They walked back up to the hotel. The evening was peaceful and they all had plenty on their minds. There was something awesome about the events that were about to unravel. There was the death of Di Maglio. Then there was the fall of the Empire. Then there would be the spectacular collapse of the bank.

And then Charles would go into exile until they managed to find a way to make a comeback. But an exile helped by their tens of billions. They all had everything to play for. And, still, they had to be careful. Everything was not won yet.

Charles sent Douglas back to England with key papers. The main one was the indemnity from prosecution in the US. He also took a copy of the tape Charles had made of the talk with the US agent. He would give both to Jacqui who would keep them safely with some other useful mementoes they had. They were all incriminating and all would be useful, later, for blackmail or worse. In time he would put the originals in their Swiss bank vault and only keep copies in London. It always paid to keep these in duplicate and he trusted the Swiss for one thing above all; their commitment to banking secrecy and security.

They went to the coffee shop and had a light meal. They talked through what would happen once they had finished the scam. Maria knew she would be worth several hundred million. Charles asked Maddy what she’d do. She couldn’t say if she would go back to her old job because Maria didn’t know that she was a double agent in more senses than one. So she spun a yarn about always wanting a ranch and loving South America. She talked of Buenos Aires and yearned for its splendour. She reminisced about the restaurants she knew there. She remembered the late night dancing and the singing in the Tango district. She talked of the plains and riding on fiery horses.

Charles thought she was serious and wondered if Delaney knew of the millions she had transferred to her accounts in bribes and wondered if they would stay there. He was amazed at her innocence. She had always seemed oblivious to the dangers facing her when the Mafia knew her true identity. She seemed unaware of the risk of letting him have a hold on her through any embezzlement on her part.

Money corrupts; her millions were big money. Charles had a feeling that Miss Maddy Brown would never be a government employee again. He even wondered if she had salted away some money from the Empire. After all, she was a money laundering expert. Perhaps their gamekeeper had turned her hand to a bit of discreet poaching too?

They turned in early and they stayed apart for another night. Charles and Maria knew the game was coming to an end. Their paths would soon diverge and there was no going back. There would be no reminiscences. They had had their pleasure and now they would have to find other opportunities to satisfy their needs. Charles knew that he would never love Maria. He had not really loved Claire. Claire was for a fleeting moment when their lives were in unison. Those women needed him as a man rather than as a person. They served each other. That was all.

It was with these thoughts in mind that they headed for California. Maria dressed in her office outfit sat demurely beside him in the first class cabin of the plane. They breakfasted from paper bags and drank coffee from plastic cups as their carrier fought to prove it could cut costs and price more than the next man could. It was difficult to understand the selling of airline seats. A nation in love with the oil guzzling stretched limousine offered the most cramped flying conditions. And nobody complained. The plane equalled the bus and the bus didn’t have to be comfortable. So people accepted the tedium of discomfort.

In California, they did the official visit and saw the regulators once again. As they went back to the hotel in the evening, they saw the office had booked them rooms that were well apart. This did not worry them. They doubted they were in any danger there.

Charles called home and Jacqui told him the news he had waited for, “My father’s had a massive heart attack. He died a couple of hours ago.”

“How do you feel? Can you handle it all?”

“I’ve asked the lawyers to find the will. Aldo will organise the funeral with the family. It’ll be early next week. We’ll have to go to New York for it. I’ll tell you when. There should be quite a bit of money in the estate. I wonder who he left it to. I hope there’s not going to be a family row.”

Charles knew that was shorthand for her concern that the eventual loss of all the estate as it bailed out the bank in America could cause problems. For that reason, he hoped she was the beneficiary. But he could not be sure. In any event, it was ironic, if that were the case, they would themselves bail out the bank. That hadn’t been the aim in the beginning, but the bail-out would cost them much less than the gains they had made.

Jacqui seemed quite calm and assured him that she was well, “I suppose the attack tripped it off. He lived a pretty rough life. He drank too much. He was always stressed. He whored around. His body must have been in pretty bad shape. I can’t feel too sorry for him. I’m sad we rowed, but that was inevitable. We need to finish the job and make sure that the Empire doesn’t exist for any of our children. It caused enough misery for me.”

She then changed the subject and surprised him when she said, “I’ve bought our beach. It’s in the Maldives. It’s close to the main island and therefore easily accessible. It’s not a place for all-year. But it’s beautiful. I bought it unseen. If we don’t like it we can sell it. But we have a place for later in the year. It has a small airstrip that will take our plane. It has one house with a cottage in the grounds. I’ll send Douglas and his wife over once you’re back to look at it. Then we’ll get an interior designer in. We could spend a week or so there in September if we want.”

Charles understood the shorthand again. The place would be ready by then. He couldn’t see them getting away before then. But it meant that, at long last, they had a place. They would get a boat there, so they could sail as well as spend time on the beach. The Maldives would be humid in the summer months but would be an ideal winter location. They could spend several months there and then, perhaps, get a place in California for the summer. At least he hoped they could, as long as they did not become persona non grata in the US.

Charles rang Aldo and Giovanni. He couldn’t say he was sorry but he asked how it happened. They explained. If they felt any suspicion, they didn’t say a word. He then called Maria and told her. She seemed to accept it as normal, even ironic.

“I suspect that saves you from wondering whether to kill him,” she commented. “I always thought you had that truly on your mind. Get rid of the Empire and get rid of Di Maglio as an insurance policy.”

That insight surprised him, but he had the presence to laugh, “You know me too well. But it looks as if Mother Nature has let me off that decision. I wonder who’ll inherit. It would be ironic if it were Jacqui.” Maria savoured the irony, “You can pull back even now you know.”

“No. We go ahead. Just relax and soon you’ll be seriously rich. I’m going to crash out early tonight. I’ll have a meal in my room. We have a busy day till we get the flight home tomorrow evening. So let’s take it quietly. I’ll see you in the morning.”

The next day went smoothly and by evening they were heading back to London. Then on Friday they would really put the Empire into play. They had the centre seats in the first class cabin.

They drank champagne and ate their evening meal. They looked at each other nervously. For the first time, Maria seemed unsure, “Will it all work?” she whispered over to him.

He laughed away her doubts, “It’ll work. You’ll see. The money side is already in play. That’s just a matter of time. The Empire had to go. And the beginning of the end is Friday. I just don’t know how fast or slow it will be.”

She shook her head, “It’ll be fast. You can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll jump at the opportunity. The boss is gone. The bimbo is in command. The major hit happens. The Empire is bust. The Di Maglio private money is not there to fuel it. You’ll be seen as an unwilling owner when you don’t put up more cash. No, it’ll go and quickly.”

“What’ll happen, in your opinion?” Charles queried.

“The other rats will all seek to leave the sinking ship. They may even offer you money to get out. It will be either something front end or a share over the years. That’s the usual stuff. There will be new alliances. There will be new deals. Another Empire will arise from the ashes of the old.”

She was mocking him as well as answering the question. They might have purged themselves of guilt but not the world of evil. Charles knew that well enough. He had no regrets about the Empire. He disliked the people who ran large parts of it. He hated the death and destruction that it bought. He didn’t want it as part of Jacqui’s inheritance. He knew that it was now theirs, but he wanted to be rid of it.

Yet, others would sell the drugs to the addicts on the streets. Others would tempt new candidates through soft and into hard drugs. First, they would drag on some cannabis. Then they would sniff cocaine. And then, before they knew it, they would be hooked on heroin. They would look to finance their ugly habit and prostitution or crime would beckon for those who were pretty or tough enough; at least for as long as they were still pretty or able. The others would be destroyed by it all. Destroyed; other than the few who would break their habit before their habit broke them.

“But you will be far away,” he said to her.

“And so will you. We’ll have our memories. Mine start well. Then I stray. But then you saved me. You’re like a missionary. You plucked me from a life of sin and showed me a life of pretty rampant crime. And you showed me more. But soon I’m going to be a model citizen. As model as someone who is filthy rich can be.” She grinned, “And I’m looking forward to it.”

He lent over and whispered to her, “Will I have your address? I’d want to send you the odd Christmas card.”

She laughed, “Not just a Christmas card.”

“Maybe there will be more. But I’ll have to see who you’re living with. I wouldn’t want to cause trouble.”

Charles then called Jacqui on the phone. She had news. “Giovanni called. He knows all about the will. He believes that my father has left his entire estate to my mother. Apparently I get nothing. That doesn’t bother me. But it’s amusing that he left all to my mother. She’ll be overjoyed. Funny, isn’t it?”

Charles laughed. They had never had contact with Jacqui’s mother. Indeed, she had had no contact with her former husband. Now she would think that she had inherited billions. She would undoubtedly be at the funeral. She would never see a penny of the inheritance and she didn’t deserve to. Charles thought long live page thirty-three as he reminded himself of the added page to the sale agreement. Undoubtedly, their salvation would be her mother’s misfortune.

They slept through the flight and soon landed at Heathrow. Douglas was there. He whisked them to the house where, for the first time, Charles saw the new baby. Little Claire Jacqueline was asleep and looking peaceful in her pink crib. He held Jacqui’s hand as he got the first sight of his second daughter. They then walked over to the other bedroom and kissed the sleeping Juliet. They then kissed until a little voice said “What are you doing?” and they saw Juliet sitting up in her bed.

Charles picked her up again and kissed her on her forehead. “I was just saying hello, to you, the baby and your mother. Now sleep little one. It’s late.”

They left the room as their daughter fell asleep. On Friday they would need to be in the office. Jacqui had some final work to do on the share register for the last part of the big scam and Charles had to put everything into play.