DRAGONJULS Storybook
Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: See Part One
Part 12
Chapter Nineteen
Hudson knew her next action went against her policy of having no direct contact with anyone who would be physically involved with her plans for Catherine Devonshire and Jace Bardley. Her Munich contact had stated that personal contact with the lynch pin of her project against Catherine appeared the only solution to gain complete trust. Hudson had disagreed at first; her money should be good enough. Then again, it hadn't been for that fucking fringe group they'd almost collapsed all her plans before they had even stepped off the drawing board. So here she was in the middle of a small German town she couldn't even pronounce, impatiently waiting in a far from desirable bar for her 'lynch pin'.
"Ms Hudson?" a heavily accented voice asked at her left shoulder.
Hudson looked up at the mountain of a person that had asked the question, she wasn't sure in the dim recesses of the establishment is the person was male or female, even the voice was difficult to decipher. "Who wants to know?"
"As sharp as you are beautiful," the voice responded, and without invitation sat down heavily on the opposite bench to the one Hudson sat at, with the old and worn and heavily beer stained wooden table separating them.
"Thanks, but you didn't answer my question." Hudson looked at the now seated figure opposite her, it was a woman, not beautiful by any standards; she would have said ugly in her opinion, but that was all in the eye of the beholder wasn't it?
"I believe you have an interesting proposition for me? The name is Schmidt," the German looking at her with a forceful glare, accentuating the stony faced features.
Hudson smiled, "Then yes, I'm Clarissa Hudson, Ms. Schmidt pleased to meet you." Hudson held out her slender hand and was forced to turn her eyes towards the woman, who clasped her hand in a bone-breaking shake.
"Ms Hudson, welcome to 'Rudy's'," replied the heavily accented German, whose eyes held a cold menacing expression. If Hudson had any compassion in her heart, she would have been frightened by the appraisal.
"Ms Schmidt I have been informed by a reliable source that you have had dealings with a person I'm interested in?" Hudson purred and saw the German relax a little.
"I know of many persons, who exactly?" her eyes hooded and watchful as she waited for the response.
"Catherine Warriorson, but no excuse me, in the circumstances you will know her as Catherine Devonshire, I believe that title will be familiar to you?" Hudson marvelled at the differing reactions she got when the two names were mentioned, but today was slightly different a new reaction. Hate! Hate in the very primal form.
"You know where the rich bitch is?" a snarling response resembling a rabid dog.
"Oh yes! I know where she currently resides, but I need you to do something that will scare the hell out of her first and then........you get to do whatever you want with Catherine, what ever you want!" Hudson gave a devilish grin.
"Why can't I just have her? Once you tell me her location, you have no cards to play." The German stated practically.
"Because I want my pound of flesh too. I'm going to pay well for the privilege. Do you understand me? You have only just been released from prison am I right?" Hudson knew everything about the evil bitch in front of her, she wouldn't have been happy to be on her hit list.
"Yeah, so what?" was the angry defensive reply.
"I want you to have some fun with Devonshire's 'friend'! Whatever you want, in whatever way you prefer. She's considered very pretty by many standards and Catherine is besotted with her and will do anything, anything for her, so I'm reliably informed. I'll even pay you 60,000 US dollars, for the pleasure. Are you interested in my proposition?" Hudson smiled but her eyes cold as the arctic skies.
The German looked sceptical. "What do you get out of it?" was the suspicious reply.
Hudson gave one of her demonic laughs and relaxed into her bench seat. "Me? What do I get? I get the pleasure of seeing Catherine brought to her knees and knowing she hasn't a clue as to who was responsible and why. Oh, I'm going to enjoy it immensely, BELIEVE ME!"
"I hear she's a very resourceful woman, this game doesn't sound plausible. There's something else you're not telling me?" The German didn't think Devonshire or her 'friend' would make it easy for anyone to dupe them easily.
"Catherine Devonshire is as blind as a bat, she will never know who was behind any of the events that will eventually bring her to her knees, in fact, she won't know it's happening until it's out of her control. That is already being taken care of, in numerous ways, all unrelated but effective." Hudson looked around the bar and decided that a small toast wouldn't be a bad thing about now, motioning for the waiter she ordered a couple of drinks.
"Is that metaphorically blind or real?"
"Real, a touch of mystery behind the events but she's quite definitely blind; highly desirable in the circumstances wouldn't you say?"
The waiter brought over the drinks.
Lifting her scotch and water to the other parties' straight vodka, the glasses chinked and in unison chanted. "To revenge, how sweet that sounds and how fatal it will be!"
* * * * * * *
Colin Montgomery had played one of his aces when he'd approached Grace in the stables, but he'd let so many opportunities slip through his fingers in the past year and even before that. Love wasn't for the feint hearted and his heart was strong, especially when it came to the woman who had ensnared it and no matter what the circumstances, he couldn't wrestle it from her captivity. He never wanted to either, so here he was guiding the most beautiful woman he would ever meet in his life to a small table in the corner of the only decent Italian restaurant for a hundred miles. Not that the choice to dine out in the area had vast possibilities, but he'd heard from others that the reputation was excellent, he hoped Grace liked Italian.
The waiter pulled out the chair for Grace as Colin removed his hand from her elbow. He then sat down opposite her and inwardly smiled at her smoothing down the dress she'd worn, he suspected that she hadn't worn a dress for months, maybe years; she just didn't look comfortable to him. "I hope you like Italian Grace? Although you can have something other than Italian, they have a varied menu?" the said menus arrived at that point and the waiter asked them if they wanted drinks, after ordering a Chianti and water, they were left alone to contemplate their choices from the much used menu's.
"I'm fine with Italian Colin, don't worry, it looks a nice place." Grace responded, her nervous hands fiddling with the dress she'd worn. Why the hell she had, was beyond her, the last time she'd worn a dress was at her dad's funeral and before that god knows when.
"You look beautiful Grace." Colin smiled the emotion slowly moving over his face and up to his grey eyes that held so much affection. Now she knew why!
"Thanks, you look quite handsome yourself." Grace knew it was an inane remark and regretted it as soon as she'd uttered it but it was to late.
Colin blushed slightly at the words; he'd worn the only decent suit he possessed, as his wardrobe was pretty basic. His concession to taking Fiona out had been new shirts and boots, but he was definitely going to buy some decent clothes if Grace looked like that everytime he took her out, she deserved nothing less.
They both looked at each other over the table and smiled ruefully. "We've been very stupid Grace," Colin began and noticed the slight shift in her shoulders as he'd said it.
"In what way?" Grace asked cautiously.
"I should have been more persistent in persuading you to accept a date with me, I should have tried harder," he replied slowly,
"As I recall you asked on several occasions and I declined, doesn't look stupid to me from your angle Colin, I'm surprised you still want to try, assuming this is a date?" Grace had decided that honesty was the only way now with Colin, he deserved no less from her.
"You had other things on your mind as I recall and yes, I hope this is a date." his mind recalling a certain doctor and sadness came over his features briefly.
Grace saw the sadness etched briefly in his face and knew the reason for it. "I never loved him."
Colin looked at her, surprised at her confession and without prompting replied softly, "I know!"
"You do huh? What about you Colin have you ever been in love?" Grace asked him simply, but her stomach churned in anticipation of his answer.
"Yeah, once." He smiled at her and then the waiter came over to take their orders.
Several minutes later, Grace didn't know if she was supposed to ask whom, or when, or if he still did? It was perplexing, "Do I know her?"
What the hell, she had never been a coward when it came to sensitive conversations before so why become one now!
"Yes you do!" He grinned at her and picked up his glass of Chianti and raised it, Grace slowly raised hers and looked at him with a small smile of inquiry in her own. "Salute Grace, may all your worries be little ones."
"Salute Colin, I hope the same for you too!" Grace managed to say through dry lips.
"Then that's going to be fine, because I believe that between us those worries might just be something we can create together what do you think?" Colin's expression had become enigmatic.
Grace was puzzled; she knew what she wanted the words to mean but did he? Christ, why do men always persist in using phrases that had double meanings at the most crucial time? "I guess it depends on how much fun you have in creating them." She could be equally as dual purpose.
Colin laughed at the remark and choked slightly on his drink, his eyes dancing with glee. "I think creating them with you will be fun, glorious fun Grace, do you think, you might have the same fun with me?"
Grace saw the slight tension around his eyes as he waited for her answer. Moving her hand slowly across the table to avoid tipping over any of the water in the glasses in the vicinity of his hand, she put her smaller hand over his. "There's only one way to find out, we try it."
Turning her hand over into his fully, he squeezed the hand gently and would have said more but their meal arrived. Relinquishing her hand slowly he smiled at her and snared her in a glance that had her heart beating wildly in her chest. She wasn't sure if it was the piping hot food recently put before her making her perspire, or his eyes.
This first date wasn't over yet, but it was working out wonderfully well so far.
* * * * *
Catherine paced around her study in the apartment, 'It was bloody criminal that she was here in America and Jace was in New Zealand and that bastard of an ex-husband of Jace's had been in my home close to her. He's not getting either of them, no way! Elena could decide if she wanted to see her father when she was old enough, okay, maybe twenty-one was a little over the top but it's how she felt about the whole issue. Never! Would have been her original choice of reply. Hell, Jace had surprised her when she'd said that about the birth certificate, it had brought it home in a very positive way that Jace was hers. There wasn't anyone on this earth that was ever going to stop them having a fulfilling long life together she was certain. Once she'd solved the puzzle at Xianthos regarding the traitor, she would go home and the family would never be split up again, if she had to go away again they would go together or not at all,' Catherine almost spoke her thoughts aloud as her pacing continued.
Walking over to the window and looking out, she would have seen the dark recess of the lake eerily quiet of it's flocks of birds that inhabited the lake during the day, overlooking the park had its advantages. There were couples strolling in the evening moonlight, and the odd vagrant rifling through the waste bins until a cop dispersed them. Catherine saw none of this; she only imagined it from her previous stay over six years ago. When she'd lived here previously it hadn't felt like a home, it was a base of operation. She slept in the room, she occasionally dined here and entertained lovers when she saw fit, but it wasn't home. Susan's remark about sex and tea had amused her and made her realise just how empty her life had been then, even with Adam and Lucas in the background.
It was amazing how someone could come into your life so suddenly and spin it around on it's axis and you never felt a thing until you tried to deny it and get off the revolving movement. Denying Jace had been the biggest mistake of her life so far, now she couldn't deny the woman anything, well almost anything. Going home at this stage wasn't an available option. She needed the time to find out what was going on and why. She wanted to keep her family safe and to her reasoning, that meant staying away from them for the next couple of weeks; by then she should know more specifics about what the threat was and how to handle it. If she was the intended target, at least her family didn't have to be here to witness it! She intended for them to be safe; that came first with the tall woman.
"Hey Rio, time I got our superbly dense physio to take you for a short walk before we go to bed, what do you think?" Catherine gently caressed the dog's ears. That was one plus of being blind the possession of this animal, it was amazing his rapport with her. When she got her sight back she was going to keep him, regardless of the fact that he could be helpful elsewhere. To her, the achievement of gaining her sight wasn't a pipe dream; it was a driving force in her life. She would get it back and she would get it back before her children had grown up too!
Opening the door of the study, she ambled out and went towards the lounge where she could hear the TV. Striding towards the open plan arrangement, she saw shapes of furniture and then movement from the middle of the room as a body shape moved into the middle of her peripheral view. "Catherine, what can I do for you?" Danni asked quietly.
"I need you to walk Rio for a few minutes and then I'm going to retire." Catherine replied shortly, her anger barely disguised, she'd had enough of other people's stupidity, what with her security personnel and now Danni, it was time to remove the kid gloves and pack a punch or two that she was famous for, enough of this softly, softly approach.
"No problem, come on Rio, let's go and see what we can see out in the park boy." Danni's voice heavily subdued.
"Have you packed to leave yet?" Catherine quirked ups her eyebrow at the younger woman as she spit out the question.
"Not yet, but I will. I have to clear it with Constance about her apartment, but I will do that tomorrow morning early. I'll be gone when you get back in the evening." Danni said slowly, watching Catherine's stance grow more predatory. Danni realized she really had no true insight or actual knowledge of the dynamic woman that stood a few feet away and it suddenly became very frightening to her.
"You know you can only stay until I leave in about two weeks?" Catherine informed her slowly, thinking Danni was pretty dumb about some subjects, why not that one too.
"Yes, I know, hopefully that will be enough to get them on the road to recovery." Danni shuffled towards the hall.
"Fine." Catherine stated coldly.
"I take it my services are no longer required when you go back home?" Danni knew the answer to that before she'd said the words and looked at the flicker of annoyance and disgust on Catherine's face at the thought.
Several minutes passed as both women regarded each other, one closely in fear, the other turning her head from side to side in careful thought.
"I never had you down as a trouble maker Danni, playful and mischievous maybe, but trouble no! I made a mistake when I didn't intervene at the beginning with you and Jace. She didn't deserve any of the stupid bloody ribbing you gave her. You upset her constantly because she never understood the antagonism, and I never did anything about it. I thought it was innocent fun, no hassle, you could both handle it, and well I was wrong! I didn't take you down in the hospital when you mentioned my wanting your body, that was a mistake too, but I didn't want to disturb the only person who has ever brought me peace in this world with an angry outburst over some childish immature remark. Only this time you have overstepped the boundary that only Jace will ever be allowed to cross with me. You have demeaned the woman I love, by making it appear that my intentions to her have been anything but honourable. You have made the world a watcher in my life again by your cheap sensational remarks about my lifestyle. I do not forgive it Danni; I could say I hate you and I'd be forgiven for thinking like that in the circumstances, but really I feel sorry for you! Thank the woman that I love for allowing this compassion Danni, because had this been any other time in my life, you would have been a broken woman in more ways than one by the time I finished with you!" Catherine spoke slowly and precisely, each word emphasised the listener clearly aware of the magnitude of the accusations.
"I'm sorry." Danni said totally deflated by the unexpected tirade from Catherine.
Turning away from Danni and shaking her head, wondering if the immature girl inside the body of a woman would ever grow up. As she reached for her bedroom door handle she turned back seeing the shadowy figure of Danni and Rio at the external door about to open it to leave for the walk.
"I'm not a nice woman Danni, as much as I have had some of the edges smoothed in the past year or so. I never forget this type of indiscretion. If I ever find that you have said anything underhand about Jace, my family, friends or me in the future, I will hunt you down and skin you alive. Do you understand me?" Catherine growled menacingly as she opened the door to her room.
Danni watched the cruel persona shift into place on Catherine's face, even her sightless eyes held the true menace of the woman and she was ready to go to the hospital tonight and ask Constance for her apartment keys. This woman before her was incredibly dangerous and if she didn't know better, evil too. I wonder how Jace lived with that? "I understand completely," she murmured softly but explicitly.
Danni watched Catherine move into her room and shut the door; it's closing resonating around the silent hallway. Tears that she'd wanted to cry since talking to Susan, slowly trailing down her cheeks. Taking the leash that was used for Rio when Catherine didn't need him, she opened the door and let them out for a walk into the night air. A stroll in the park was a much more promising prospect than being in the apartment with a pissed off Catherine Devonshire.
************
Chapter Twenty
Jace looked around the kitchen and smiled at the sight. Jake was explaining the rules of soccer to Faith, who had taken to the quiet boy in a generous grandmotherly way. Grace's mother had settled in at the ranch remarkably well. The initial couple of days had been difficult but now almost three weeks later you would never have known she hadn't always lived there. Lisa was giggling over something Grace was saying to her and having her nose tweaked too. Grace looked happy and so she should, her nightly visitations to the town or the foreman's house to be with Colin, had caused her mother to raise her eyebrows in question. But to give Faith her due, she had been reticent to ask anything of her eldest daughter, not wanting the magic atmosphere surrounding her daughter to disappear.
"Hey Grace what time are you meeting Colin tonight? You're a little later than normal." Jace smiled warmly at her friend; it was wonderful to see the resonating sparkle in those gentle brown eyes.
Grace tweaked Lisa's nose one last time and sat herself down next to Jace and whispered in her ear. "Actually I don't know, he had something to collect from the town and said he might be late, but he would be over as soon as possible. He was very mysterious."
"Good or bad mysterious?" Jace chuckled at her friend Grace's eyes, which never left the external kitchen door, anticipation evident in her body movements that she expected him to be the next person to enter.
"Hard to say, he was smiling though." Grace continued to fix her gaze at the door.
"Yeah, well, he's always smiling these days and one wonders why? He's been kind of secretive about the security on the ranch too. I hear we have more gadgets than Fort Knox; Catherine has never said anything about it. So, I'm not sure if it's a belt and braces move by Colin or something Catherine has requested. I guess I'd better ask her tomorrow when she calls." Jace looked towards the door herself, willing it to open and let Grace off her nervous hook waiting for him.
"I know, it's crazy all the panels he has in the house and he even has one in the bedroom would you believe?" Grace spoke absently and didn't realise what she'd implied until Jace finally choked out a strangled laugh.
"What? What?"
"I know I'm sleeping with the boss, but are you sleeping with the second in command on this ranch; must be something to do with that aura of power huh?" Jace teased her as she saw the red flush on her friend's cheeks.
"I.......Jace don't be ridiculous, what a thing to say, my mother's in the room!" Grace spluttered over the remark.
Jace laughed loudly this time and had to endure the interested expressions from the others in the room. "Anything we would want to know?" Faith asked looking at Jace and her daughter.
"No, Faith we were just discussing the......the weather!" Jace finally managed through her laughter.
"Right, that's right mother the weather, getting colder out." Grace kicked Jace's foot under the table gently.
Jace smirked and then the external door opened and in walked a snow covered Colin Montgomery, his eyes immediately tracking to Grace and smiling broadly. "Hi everyone, it's snowing again, going to be chilly out tonight." Colin told them, certainly having the appearance of a snowman to emphasise the point.
"Great to see you back in one piece Colin, going anywhere interesting tonight?" Jace asked him and she received a playful slap on her thigh for her efforts.
"I was thinking of asking Grace if she wanted to see the new movie showing in town." He looked sheepishly round the room and noticed all the interested smiles at his statement.
"What movie is it Colin?" Lisa asked as she bounced from her chair to put her arms round his legs, his attention now captured by the small redhead.
Jace took that moment to whisper to her friend. "How romantic, and I thought he was going to ask you to go with him to see his etchings."
Grace choked into her coffee that she'd been drinking. "Are you asking for trouble Jace or what?"
"Or what probably, oh come on, I'm teasing you. Paybacks are a bitch though, aren't they Grace?" Jace gave her a very mischievous glance, her green eyes sparkling.
"Catherine needs to get back here sooner rather than later, you are way out of control Bardley do you know that?" Grace smiled at her friend and stood up from her seat.
"She'll be home soon, she promised me. Anyway I suspect that I was right the first time, you won't be home early will you Grace, checking out security panels and all that entails, a long session I would suspect?" Jace gave her an innocent look.
"Jace, I'm going to pay you back for you're Smart Alec remarks have no fear." Grace mussed the blonde's hair and moved out of the kitchen to the hall to collect her coat and put her boots on.
Colin extracting himself from Lisa, ruffled Jake's hair and smiled shyly at Faith before he followed Grace with a silly grin on his face, winking at Jace as he left.
Lisa unbeknownst to anyone had slipped out into the hall with the two lovers.
Faith looked at the teacup she held thoughtfully and then turned to Jake to continue their previous conversation, the child fairly glowed when he talked about his passion for soccer.
Jace looked with interest out of the kitchen window, watching the snow grow steadily deeper, it really was snowing hard and she could feel the temperature dropping swiftly. Suddenly a small hand was tugging on her arm to get her attention.
"Lisa darling, what's wrong?" Jace smiled at the child. She had become especially dear to Jace; the child was just so loveable and always happy, nothing ever fazed her.
Lisa crawled closer to Jace and glanced around the room, and conspiratorially whispered into her ear. "They are kissing out in the hall Jace."
Jace put a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh and composing herself she looked at Lisa with a friendly smile. "Who Lisa?"
"Grace and Colin, he had her in his arms and they were kissing, you know?" the child continued to whisper.
"Oh yeah I know how that works Lisa, are you upset?" Jace wasn't quite sure what the child was attempting to convey.
"I'm not upset Jace, but why do they have to kiss in secret and not like you and Catherine do everywhere in the house! Doesn't her mom like Colin?" This time Jace did chuckle, more from her own embarrassment at the statement. This kid sure knew how to keep the adults on their toes with her innocent comments, wonder what she was going to be like as a teenager, sometimes it didn't bare thinking about.
"Well......it's kinda like a game......yeah a game with them at the moment, you know you play hide and seek with Jake? Grace and Colin are doing something similar about finding places to kiss without being found out." Hades she hoped that made sense.
Lisa eyed her with her warm blue eyes and a slow smile appeared. "That's cool Jace, I wonder if Jake will play that game with me?"
"Ah, well Lisa when you're older, maybe you can try it but I think Jake would be a little upset if you tried that now." Jace looked down into her coffee mug and thought. 'Catherine will kill me for putting that thought into her head, Hades, I want to kill me, and Jake, oh yeah, Jake will most definitely kill me!'
"How old will I need to be Jace? Lisa asked in interest.
Clearing her throat, she answered seriously. "Well, it's one of those past-times for adults Lisa, so you have to be......twenty-one around here before Catherine would allow that," crossing her fingers and hoping for mercy from this child.
Lisa laughed. "Oh good, I don't like kissing boys anyway, but I might when I'm older. So is Grace twenty-one Jace?"
"Yes, she is darling. Now, how about we go and see if Elena is awake in the lounge." Jace changed the subject; the baby monitor that she had linked in all the rooms hadn't signified her daughter's wakefulness, but it was a good ruse.
"Sure, can I hold her please, if I sit on the chair and be extra careful?" Lisa smiled sweetly, the other issues now forgotten.
"What a good idea." Jace held out her hand for the child and they went to the lounge. It was determined control that stopped Jace from mopping her brow.
* * * * *
Tito Yashima paced the floor outside Catherine's office. He'd been waiting for an audience with her for over two hours. All the other VP's had speculated on who would replace Paul Strong and he had been disturbed and intrigued when she had called his office and asked him to arrive in New York as soon as possible. He knew the request had been a directive, but she had tempered it with making sure that all the business interests had been taken care of. No way did she want to loose any more market confidence and that had meant that her original request two weeks ago was now being acted upon.
Rumours had abounded in all areas of the world about Catherine's tactics in the last few weeks. She'd attended press conference after press conference to salvage Xianthos's position in the global market. Her word was the only one that could, and had saved the further slide of the corporate value. Her changes in New York had bordered on obsession in her dealing with security issues on the building and the personnel. Everyone in the New York office had been vetted and reclassified for access around the building. A new security system had been installed within ten days of her taking back the reigns of Xianthos; it was almost paranoid in it's measures. Getting into the building could take anything from five minutes to fifty depending on the circumstances of the visit. Even the police were amazed at her continued reassessment of the security measures on every third day. All external contractors had to arrive at the building at least one hour prior to the working day allotted to them for final security clearance. Money and personnel in this venture had not been an issue. Devonshire's statement to the personnel on site had been blunt and unequivocal. "My employees, my building, my responsibility, you do what I say." Few had disagreed and even fewer had murmured any disagreement, those that had, had been immediately removed from their positions. A memo to every VP had instigated new security measure policies and Catherine had made it clear that she was shortly to appoint someone to travel to every site in the world and assess each individual situation.
The view from gossip sources had stated that she had finally flipped. Maybe the knock to her head when she'd been blinded in the mystery accident that no one could get a handle on had muddled her brain in some ways. The profit forecast for the year would be hit heavily with the new measures she had introduced; it would not go down well with the market analysts. But when had Catherine Devonshire given any credence to market analysts on forecasts, it was after all her money.
"Mr Yashimo, Ms Devonshire will see you now if you will please go through the door to your left." Rita Tuscany informed the man who had been pacing restlessly in her office area for over an hour!
Yashimo appeared to bow slightly to the woman, and went towards the door and his boss. Walking inside the room, it was a conference facility room; with a large rectangular table in solid oak and from what he could judge in the short glance round about ten chairs in oak, but with a royal blue seat cushion. His eyes scanned the room for other people, seeing first a young woman seated in a chair towards the far end of the room with papers and folders spread out in front of her and had her hands clasped resting on the tables surface. The young woman glanced at him and smiled briefly, before turning back to gaze at a list in front of her. He then noticed the tall woman looking out of the window onto the New York street, then the dog at her side, sitting patiently for her command.
"Ms Devonshire." Tito spoke softly into the room.
Turning Catherine Devonshire looked at the shape that had entered the room and pierced him with what she hoped was her best imitation of a glare, accuracy always a little hard to judge in the circumstances. "Mr Yashimo, glad you could finally answer my request." Her words clipped.
Tito looked at the woman, she was as formidable now as she had been the last time he had seen her. Being blind did not detract anything from the quality of the persona she emitted. That persona being one of a predator and a successful one also, her whole bearing indicating one false move and she would have trapped him with a powerful claw. There was electricity about her that made you feel the static building and move out of the way before you got burnt by it. "I'm sorry it has taken so long, you did say to make sure all the business interests were clear first?"
"Yes, I did. I know what you have done to ensure that, thank you. Please Tito sit, I will introduce you to the only other person who will be party to our discussions today, Ms. Clare Fallon." Catherine moved towards the seat at the head of the table and gracefully seated herself and clicked her fingers at Rio to have him join her.
"Ms Fallon this is Mr Yashimo my VP for Asia, your suspect." Catherine said enigmatically, evoking a choked sound from the small man and a shocked glance, which Catherine couldn't see in her direction from Clare. "Now that the formalities are over let's get this crap put to bed! Clare, all yours."
Clare glanced at the pale features of the man, although it was difficult to tell with his own skin tone if that was normal or invoked by Ms Devonshire's statement. "Mr Yashimo I have evidence that suggests that you have been hacking into the corporate personnel files and taking data, which is sensitive and classified." Noting the man's unflinching stare and his obvious disbelief at the situation, she continued. "I will show you the paths and the security used and then perhaps you can enlighten us?"
Stunned by the remarks, all Tito could do was nod in her direction.
Catherine listened intently to the quietly spoken woman impart all the relevant facts and dates and how they had come to the conclusion that it was his password that had hacked the information. The evidence damning in the extreme, and it was hard to look the man in the face as Clare finally finished her report.
"Have you anything to say in your defence Tito, considering this is a criminal offence and their maybe repercussions that have yet to be felt?" Catherine calmly pointed out, her hands placed palm down on the oak table, her fingers drumming on the surface.
The small man looked at Clare and noted her quiet repose; waiting for his answer, the puzzle was his boss. He thought that she would have had security lock him up by now if all the facts were correct. They did appear to be correct, that is if you were a spectator looking at the problem with interest. "I do not know how it was done, but I didn't breach the computer security access with my password. I have not been to Europe in over a year, the dates are difficult to assimilate at the moment but I can check my personal diary to confirm my locations and the business dealings at the time! I did not do what you have accuse me of."
Catherine gave him a raised eyebrow and a small cruel smile passed over her lips. "You know that it does not matter where in the world you are Tito, you can access any computer network with the correct protocols and someone with the authority level you have could perhaps cajole someone into that role? We are in the age of technology, I'm sure you realise that?"
The small man looked down at the empty table surface and saw his career, family and literally his life pass before him. He was no match for this woman, if she wanted his blood, he could do what his ancestors did in the circumstances of disgrace commit hara-kiri.
"You have nothing more to say?" Catherine asked her hands now tapping the table vigorously.
"I have no explanation." Tito muttered.
"HELL MAN! Will you please get your miserable face off the bloody floor and for once in your life become more than the spineless half wit I'm becoming to think you are and challenge the situation? I know you didn't do it, so how come you don't have the backbone to convince this young woman that you're innocent? Am I employing wimps in the corporation or intelligent brave men and women who can stand up for themselves? You want to be a fall guy for someone else? Go ahead Tito, Clare here will help you all the way, but I was always taught that the Japanese were a honourable race, which prided themselves on honesty and integrity. Not to mention the most important factor in my believing you was Paul Strong's faith in you, and he was rarely wrong!" Catherine pushed the intercom button to her left and asked for some refreshments.
"Mr Yashimo did you ever give your password to anyone else in your organisation?" Clare asked him trying to jog the man out of his depressive state.
"No!" Yashimo replied, but something was niggling him with a faint memory.
Rita walked into the room with tea, coffee and soft drinks, not knowing what the small man liked as a beverage.
"Ms Devonshire, detective Kelsey is in the reception area and he wondered if you had a few minutes to spare him; he said it was important?" Rita advised Catherine as she placed a mug of tea to the side of her right hand.
"Interesting! Advise reception I will see him and contact security that the detective will be allowed in with his gun, but he must have the bullets removed." Catherine picked up the tea and began to sip it, her smile of appreciation evident.
"If he doesn't want to relinquish the bullets Ms. Devonshire?" Rita knew what the answer would be; she'd heard the expression numerous times before.
"My employees, my building, my responsibility, he does what I say." Catherine replied icily.
"No problem, I will let security know that." Rita walked out of the office and smiled, she had yet to give on that issue and even if it were the President of the United States she would have told him the same, Rita was sure of that.
"Surely you can relax the rules for an officer of the law?" Tito asked surprised at her stance.
Catherine turned her ice blue unfocused eyes in his direction and gave him a precise gaze. "I do not want a repeat of three weeks ago and I can assure you, I trust no one in this building, no one, that should be clear enough to everyone by now."
Clare scrapped back her chair and went over to look out of the window, Tito was surprised at the young woman's retreat from the table, and surely Ms Devonshire would need to dismiss her. "Ms Fallon was in the room when the shooting occurred Tito, Mr Strong was instrumental in her being alive today." Catherine had sensed the question in the air as Clare had moved towards the window, it still being the early days in her recuperation from the trauma of the events of that day.
"I'm sorry, it was a shock for everyone who knew the deceased but to have been there too, indeed it must be very traumatic." Tito said sympathetically.
"So, Tito have you ever given out your password to anyone and I mean anyone, even your wife, perhaps at the height of passion maybe?" Catherine knew she had rattled the man as she heard a shift in his chair and he rose to his small stature.
"I......that is most impertinent of you, I would never, never discuss business when I'm with my wife!" the small man replied very indignant.
"Oh, so it's not the height of passion that got to you, it's the wife bit?" Catherine toyed with him.
"I have never discussed my password with anyone outside the organisation." Tito responded, refusing to bite at the bait she offered.
Catherine smirked, that was the key. "Okay, I'll accept that, so who in the organisation have you discussed passwords with?"
Catherine felt the subtle shift of Clare behind her and knew that the younger woman was listening intently to the conversation. "We that is, I have discussed it with one person only but surely he would not have used it, he has no need to he has exactly the same access." Tito almost dismissed the idea as absurd when it dawned on him that this wasn't a normal request. "He wouldn't?"
"Sounds like he did, maybe you should enlighten us?" Catherine gave him an inquisitive glance and waited for him to continue.
"It was after the last conference when you dropped the bombshell about moving people around the world. We had a few drinks and the topic came up, I cannot remember why......." Tito continued to relate the conversation and the identity of the person.
Rita knocked on the door and then opened it for detective Kelsey who walked in a little red in the face. "Glad you decided to take my advice Kelsey." Catherine smiled at him, knowing she had very likely ruffled his feathers.
"Did I have a choice if I wanted to see you?" he blustered angrily and then looked at the others in the room. "Don't we need to be alone for this?"
"Oh no, not this time, if you have the information we have been discussing for several days detective, I think I might just be in a position to collaborate it and bingo we get to nail the bastard." Catherine sounded extremely happy with herself, as well she might, it could be her chance to go home.
Catherine motioned for him to sit and continue. Clare took a deep breath and joined them at the table, her eyes a little red rimmed.
"Well, it appears that the money has been routed through several banks and institutions but the original transaction has been traced to a small bank in Kenya and the name of the depositor G T Cuthbert! Have you ever heard of him?" Detective Kelsey asked, noting that no one appeared surprised by the name.
"Have we heard of him detective? Oh yes we've heard of him and I'm going to love taking down one of my own, absolutely love it." Catherine purred, but her demeanour one of the aggressive feline about to pounce on an unwary prey.
All three sets of eyes looked at the expression on the tall woman's face and realised
that she wasn't in the right frame of mind to ask if it was time to celebrate anything.
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