‘You know I thought we agreed my organization was handling this for the better of both your
interests?’ Claire said into the speaker.
‘When will this happen, so far all we see from our end is endless weekly calls like this one,’ a
voice from the speaker said in an annoyed tone.
‘Then you are not going to like the answer, it's the same as last week's one. We have a root, Mr. Yang, but we need to know if he is the main root or just a branch off of the main. Also how many branches of branches there are on this root system. Once we have that we can move. But, as I have previously explained, you have to move all at once, cut off the supply to the tree, the head of it all if you will. Once it is starved of food or in this case, information, it dies, but you must strike at all or most of the key roots at the sametime. This cuts off the flow of vital information, creates confusion and in the panic to re-establish control, mistakes are made that will expose the roots we didn’t know about allowing us to kill the entire organism. That is what we are waiting for, but on that front I have good news,’ Claire explained. ‘My agents have managed to attach themselves, in various ways to the people importing the rubies, that in turn had led to this,’ she added then the send button. ‘I’ll give you a few moments to decrypt the image.’
'Very nice, impressive,’ came responses.’ ‘How many agents do you have?’ came a question.
‘Now, now, that would be telling,’ Claire answered with a smile on her face. See knew both sides although seeding control to her still wanted to find out as much about her and FORCE as they could, it was all part of the game. She respected them for it, but offered nothing. ‘I will tell you I think it's time we made the spider run around a bit and check its web, that should give us the final strands we need. People think they're secure until they're not, then they make mistakes, panic is a partner in the next phase. Shall we say the same time and day a week from now for another update and please gentlemen don’t panic, your secrets are still safe,’ she added and ended the call.
‘Antsy bunch,’ Susan Janus said from the other side of the desk.
‘I can understand it,’ Claire smiled. ‘I hope they realise that just because we can make their misdoings go away does mean I will make them vanish.’
‘A little leverage for the future. That’s a bit of a dangerous game, especially with some of these characters,’ Tina Samuels chimed in.
‘Power used to be about guns and people, those are old ideas, Mr. Yang is about information, that’s the new power. His problem is he wants too much of it and it would appear all to himself and now he has awakened the dragon, can he adjust to the wind from the dragon's wings or will it sweep him away,’ Claire mused.
^^^
It was a long ride to Namkham, especially in the back of a truck Toyota Dyna Ano 77, but it was the best way to go undetected so Tami made the most of it as the truck drove along,
using sacks of rice as a seat and pillow. ‘ At least there is a cover to keep me dry and hidden,’
she thought.
^^^
Claire’s next call was decidedly more pleasant and informative.
‘Many of the ladies, some of them buyers, some of them wives or mistresses of the buyers have
taken a liking to my spa. We have moved ourselves about so that Salon agents are running my
places, except for Mai Trang she has come across something to do with shipping and stolen cars
or that is what it seems on the surface, she’s digging deeper,’ Yen Chau said.
‘How did this happen?’ Claire inquired.
I assigned her to surveillance on the upcoming shipment from Cara, seems there’s something about a Tong running part of the dock where the ship had to dock due to space and they like to have a cut if something is good, fish is not good, but she got involved in a way only Mai can,’ Yen answered.
‘Fill me in,’ Claire rescinded her voice light and excited.
‘Men or boys pretending to be men like many things, but cars and women are near the top. Mai has the cars and well she is a woman, beautiful in a non classic way, but she is sexy and well can be anything from cute to smouldering when she wants. Mai seems to have the ability to turn it off and on at will, and she seems to know just what to activate for the occasion.’
Claire had to agree, Mai was not the most classically beautiful agent, but she had “it” as well as all the requisite skills and an amazing body. ‘Small time punks, seems a waste of time, there must be more?’ Claire said.
‘Much more. This Tong runs that dock, but they also seem to have many legitimate companies, all in the refrigeration transportation business, shipping, trucking and those are tied to other bigger companies from outside Vietnam. I just finished her report, it makes for interesting reading on many levels as she’s been active, very active ingratiating herself to get deeper into this, if you follow,’ Yen said.
'Say no more,’ Claire mused. ‘I’ll print it on fireproof paper.’
‘Even that may not be enough,’Yeni said and hit send.
'How are the others doing?’
‘Very easy to get the men interested, you know all that takes and they like to brag, especially
when told how amazing they are. The women buyers, well compliment Salon treatments do
seem popular with them, extra special treatments, like the ones we used to give ICE agents, only
not lethal, well not yet anyway, They go away refreshed and never suspect a thing. All that is in
my other report I just sent,’ Yen explained.
‘How about you and Mr.Yang?’ Claire said after a pause.
‘He’s invited me to go on vacation with him to an island off Cambodia, Song Saa, private and isolated,’ she said
There was a long pause at Claire’s end before she spoke. ‘They’ll be no running away from him
there or,’ and for this she paused again.’You being able to run away.’
‘I appreciate the concern, but I’m a big girl, not like I haven’t faced situations like this before,’ Yen
said trying to calm Claire’s concern. ‘Really for a spy, you wear your heart in your sleeve,’
she added.
‘Only for the people I care about. This situation is so big and so complex, it's like nothing I’ve ever taken on before. Who knows what he’s capable of!’
‘And the same can be said for me,’ Yen answered.
Claire loved her confidence and frankly, she knew what Yen was capable of, still she worried but masked it.
‘I will talk to you in 10 days, when I come back. I have everything I need, Tina sent everything I requested and a few special items, thank her for me,’ Yen said and the call ended.
^^^
Mai stopped at the office at the end of the pier. She got out of the car on the far side of the
building entrance, a cinder block structure of no redeeming character, built solely for function,
with one door for entrance and another for exit, to a cacophony of smart ass remarks about her car,
mostly asking her if she wanted them to wind of her car before she left. Those remarks stopped
as she came around the car towards the entrance where her deriders, five of them leaned against
or lounged in chairs against the structure, changing to stares and open mouths.
Mai walked past them, pulling off her sunglasses as she strode freezing them in place with a
look and smile.
‘I’m here with paperwork for my shipment,’ she said to yet another young tuff who looked up from
his phone with a face that read unwanted interruption on it.
He looked at the paperwork, picked it up and went inside a small office emerging a few seconds
later.
‘$2000.00 American dollars,’ he said.
Mai knew instantly what was happening, a shakedown, she turned around and walked briskly out
the door back to her car as they laughed, the two from the office joining the others as they mocked
her. Mai now knew who the leader was. They insulted her and told her go get the money from
her husband. Their attempts at humour or belittling were poor, Mai had four older brothers, she’d
heard it all. She slowly opened the car door when finally one of them said what she’d been
waiting for.
‘Pedal your toy car out of here.’
She slipped on her sunglasses, looked up and smiled. ‘Tell you what I’ll give you $4000 if you
can beat me in a race.’
After a small silence and a long laugh from them they saw she was serious. They leader spoke
up. ‘Do you know Ha Long City?’
‘Of course I have several businesses here,’ Mai answered.
‘Out of the harbour, across the bridge onto the expressway to Hanoi then first exit north into the
hills for 25 kilometres, right across the bridge is the gates to my home, you beat us there you win,
we win you better have the money,’ he stated flatly.
Mai reached into her bag and pulled out a giant roll of money and waved it back on forth.. ‘Those
are yours,’ she said, pointing at the BRZ, Lancer and Golf GTi and smiling before getting into her
car, they scrambled to theirs. Mai programmed the directions into her GPS and swung in behind
them as they left the parking lot.
Mai let them take the lead, she tagged in behind the BRZ as they sped along the service road
and onto the on ramp and then across the bridge the speed increasing as the quartet weaved
and dodged the slower cars, the sound of car horns filling the air. Mai came hard up on the back
of the BRZ, pushing very close the touching as she saw the on ramp sign for the main highway,
she made a quick adjustment of the traction control, slid into the curve of the road and shifted up
into forth, took the inside and shot past the BRZ came in front them over to the far side of the road
and by the Lancer, out of the curve and onto the highway and up shift into 5th, a swing as she
was side by side with the GTi and the big boss. She looked over, caught his attention, gave him
a smile and blew him a kiss and went ahead, shifting into 6th and flying out of sight. When they
finally pulled up at the gates Mai was there waiting for them.
The Lancer driver flew out of his car and toward hers, angry at having lost, but more angry at
having lost to a woman. Mai stepped toward her car.
‘Open that hood bitch!,’ he barked, attempting to shove her aside.
Mai took the motion of his and kept it going, placing him in a hammer lock, using the point of her
shoe on the back of his knee then driving her knee into his forehead as he fell forward, the recoil
knocking him backward off his feet and to the pavement.
‘No one touches me or my car without my permission,’ she said with an air of control.
‘Fast and Furious,’ the leader said coming up to her. He motioned to his pack to remove the guy.
‘That’s some car, can I have a look,’ he asked.
‘Toyota Yaris WRC 380 horsepower, inline 4 cylinder turbo, direct injection, 6 speed hydraulic
shift, wide body, all wheel drive with adjustable front and rear slip differentials, just over 1200
kilograms, restrictors removed. It will make 280 kmh at max. You guys never had a chance, but
then again I wound it extra tight before we started,’ she smiled at him and he back at her. ‘You
want to drive it up,’ she said holding out the keys and glancing her head at the gates.
‘Go back to the docks and get this ladies goods ready, take my car as well,’ he said, tossing the
keys.
Mai knew exactly where the rest of the day and possibly night was going to end and she was
fine with that, if that’s what it took.
^^^
‘I wish you would stop saying his name, it makes me laugh every time, it sounds like someone
from a old Hollywood gangster movie,’ Alice said with a small laugh as they drove along the
Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge.
‘You know I owe him a great deal of money and he’s not the most patient man when it comes to
that,’ he said.
‘You need to relax Chen, he hasn’t come after you yet, I suspect because he wants to keep that
marker until he needs to use it, that’s the point you need to start worrying, we’re not there yet.
In fact this is going to be an interesting meeting, I suspect Mr. Jimmy Luk is not all he’s cracked
up to be and we can use that, you just have to let me handle the entire situation, are we very
clear on that,’ Alice said turning her head sideways and looking straight into his eyes.
‘Oh yes,’ he said without hesitation.
‘Jimmy Luk,’ she said and laughed again as the car came off the bridge and the GPS gave
instructions as Alice guide the Audi R8 Spyder down a series of narrow streets until Chen told
her to stop outside what appeared to be a old series of tenements dating back to the Portuguese
territory days.
‘These place has seen better days,’ Alice remarked, trying no to get dust or
something worse on her outfit.
‘The inside is not much better. He likes it that way, the regional government doesn’t bother him,’
Chen said as he held the door open for her.
The inside unfortunately matched what Chen had said. It was clean, in a loose use of the word,
but the kinds of people who came here, came not for the decor, but to gamble, illegally, away from
the government licensed casinos. Winnings weren’t reported and no one came under
surveillance or suspicion, hence Chen’s involvement.
There two hallways that diverged from the anteroom the two occupied, both led to double
swinging doors. Chen nervously led the way down one, Alice noticed a coat room that had an
opening to the other hallway. The ladies washroom was on the side they walked down, Alice
having no compunction to use it or even see it. Chen waited for her to catch up then nervously
knocked a few times, rather lightly on the door and stepped back. It opened a crack then closed,
then opened again, Chen stepping in, then being pulled in by two clenched fists, Alice took two
very quick steps coming up beside him. She could see a man in a chair, his back to the edge of
the bar off in the distance, the poor light making him hard to make you but Alice knew it had to be
the aforementioned Jimmy Luk, then he spoke.
‘It's too early even for you Chen. Perhaps I wasn’t clear the last time,’ he said and Alice saw his
head nod and she stepped into action.
The man holding Chen went to slap him, Alice’s hand shot up stopping it, she stepped in front
and looked slightly up at him. The Countess of Hamilton smiled nervously, doing her best to
look a little scared before her shoe jabbed just below his knee causing it to buckle. As he fell
down a sharp rap from her fist slammed into his Adam’s Apple then a knee into his balls. Alice
smiled, placed a hand softly on the back of his neck and pushed him over his body falling in a
curled and defeated ball of pain to the floor.
Alice strode forward as a second thug, seeing what had happened rushed at her launching into
a spinning back heel kick that she elegantly avoided with a graceful bend backward much like
she was being dipped by a partner doing the tango. Alice came up on the other side of him,
delivered a punch to his kidney then a double chop to his collarbones, the twin snapping of the
bones bouncing off the walls, he joined his compatriot on the floor.. Alice looked over her
shoulder to witness another man coming at her, she about caught the swinging arm of him and
used the momentum to throw him to the floor, his left arm outstretched, she braced it against her
leg and thrust it back breaking it at the elbow so it swung uselessly like a pendulum, a kick with
the sole of her heel careened his back, off the floor and him into unconsciousness.
‘Your establishment definitely needs to work on its hospitality skills not to mention its security
personnel, but we can discuss that later,’ Alice said as she took a shaken Chen by the hand and
walked toward the bar. ‘Chen wants to pay his marker in full,’ Alice smiled as her fingers dashed
across the keys of her phone and Jimmy’s pinged a few seconds later. ‘Your money,’ she said.
Jimmy glanced at his phone, then at Chen. ‘How did you get that amount?’ he asked.
Alice looked at him, he had been in a few scrapes in his life, but those had been a long time ago.
He had soft, manicured hands, his suit was too tight fitting and stylish to offer any freedom in a
fight. No this was a man you had climbed up and was doing his best to leave the more vulgar
aspects of business to more vulgar men.
‘You don’t look pleased Mr, Luk? I would think the otherwise should be true, after all what were
the chances of Chen ever being able to repay that debt to you or was that the plan all along,’
Alice smiled as she made herself a vodka/tonic.
‘Why should I look pleased, you have cost me three employees, who is going to compensate me
for that?’
‘Please Jimmy, don’t waste my time or insult my intelligence. If those are the best ruffians you
can employ, you’re not half the businessman I think you are or could be,’ she said letting the last
words come out slower before she took a sip of her drink.
‘Maybe I should hire you,’ he quipped back.
‘You couldn’t afford me.”
‘If I can’t how the hell can Chen, I know he doesn’t have that kind of money which means I should
be talking to you now that he’s all square and I never want to see him again,’ Jimmy said, giving
Chen a very nasty look.
‘Yes, you should listen to me and do exactly as I say, but you also need to be nice and respect
Chen. There is money and there is power, sometimes they go together, sometimes they are
separate, each party brings something to the table. I bring the money, Chen brings the power
and you Jimmy bring the information, both current and what is yet to be. Here, have a drink, it
will calm you down while I explain and do me a favour and get rid of your entourage,’ Alice
explained as she slid a drink toward him. ‘Do you have an office we can talk in, your boys over
there are making much too much noise,’ she added.
Jimmy Luk looked at her, he had never met anyone like Alice. Having seen what she could do,
he in truth wanted to see more, she was beautiful, confident and dressed stunningly, what he
wasn’t sure was if her next move would be against him, he knew enough not to want that, so he
picked up the drink and led the way to his office, Alice careful not to touch anything along the way.
‘Now this is much better,’ she said.
The room was well and tastefully appointed, a drinks cabinet, a private bathroom. Jimmy had an
antique walnut desk, a leather sofa pushed up against one side, the walls painted a tasteful
white with a bluish tinge. There were two chairs facing the desk and two more facing the sofa
with a mahogany coffee table between them. Alice chose a chair and nudged Chen into the one
next to her forcing Jimmy to the sofa and the low point, she had the advantage and meant to
continue to press it.
‘Curious thing about this room is the lack of pictures,’ Alice remarked then added. ‘Most private
offices of casino owners have plenty of pictures, usually autographed, of the owner or manager
with various celebrities, this office has none. You don’t strike me as a shrinking violet type
Mr. Luk.’
Jimmy was dealing with a combination of curiosity, annoyed and still alarmed by this woman,
but also a fascination with her, he assumed most men shared the last so gave it the least regard,
but the annoyed was growing into anger. Chen was way past any of those points but he hid it,
Alice was on his side.
‘What do you make here a week? Must be quite a bit, I mean, not much on furnishings or
aesthetics in the main room, I’m sure the others are just the same. You overcharge for the liquor,
but that’s to be expected because your quests can gamble in anonymity and you pay in cash,
no tax, so you must either be paying bribes to an assortment of people or you’ve done the smart
thing and they owe you money from gambling debts, I think the latter, you’re a smart businessman,
hence the lack of pictures, papers on your desk and I suspect ledgers in your desk. It's all in your
head and for, let's call it life insurance purposes, on various thumb drives and very secure cloud
accounts,’ Alice said, taking a sip of her drink. ‘My goodness this is dreadful, yours must be the
same, ‘she said looking at them. ‘That I suppose was to be expected given the quality of the
spirits. ‘Here let me make us new ones using better quality.’
Alice made the drinks while JImmy stared at Chen and he managed to not run for his life. He had
heard how Jimmy Luk dealt with people, some at high levels, he hoped it was too high to touch
but the longer Jimmy looked at him the less sure he became.
‘You’re very bold Miss,’ he finally said.
‘Yes, but I have the body to back up my words,’ she said, bending down right before him glass in
hand, the view and gesture very effective.
One of Jimmy’s hands slipped along the bottom of the sofa cushion where it was met by Alice’s
finger.
‘You watched the glass instead of the hand, a classic destruction. If you want to push that button
I’m not going to stop you, but then you’ll never hear my offer,’ she smiled and kissed the need of
his nose, that slight action somehow enough to arouse his manhood, his finger reversed course.
‘My name is Alice.’ she whispered then sat down and began.
‘I a few weeks the government is going to put up for auction a new casino license for Macau and
a very desirable parcel of land to build it on. How would you like a ten percent stake in the
ownership and the day to day operations at a very generous salary. I will spare you your two
questions and answer them. I want the ledgers and the books and everything else you have
either written down or in your head. If it’s as good as I know it will be, a clean slate, a position of
power, a new start. If you say no, I’ll rip your head open and take the information anyway then I’ll
give what’s left of you to the authorities so they can continue where I left off.’
‘You don’t understand…’ he stammered, truly scared by the change in Alice.
‘They don’t understand Jimmy, they don’t understand who they're dealing with and by the time
they do it will be too late. You don’t need to worry about your life, no one will get to you where
we’ll send you for a little while.’ she added.
‘Prison.’
‘If prison is a tropical island with white sands, beautiful women and every other amenity you can
imagine, then yes prison.’
‘Can I go to prison as well,’ Chen asked.
‘Maybe another time, you’re stuck with me for a while,’ Alice replied, trying not to roll her eyes.
‘You know what’s coming, one way or the other. I wouldn’t rip your head open, you know, that’s
the Middle Ages talking, I don’t miss those days. But the others might, everyone has a sell by date
Jimmy the question is when is yours.’
Alice flashed fingers across her phone and Jimmy’s phone pinged again. ‘Payment for your time
Jimmy, nice to see it coming in rather than going out. I imagine they take a nice cut every week.
Time and money Jimmy and you’re on the clock. What’s it going to be?’
‘How did she know so much? Chen must have told her and where did he get it from, probably the
security apparatus. Where did they get it from? Could some of his people be informers or as
Alice said, he is being set up. Did the people who owe him money somehow cut a deal. It was
all madness with too many angles to explore with the exception of one and only they had
confronted him,’ his mind raced.
‘Full managerial control?’ he said finally.
^^^
Yen was enjoying the island, the water was warm and clear, the food and service excellent and
Mr. Yang had been kept busy with endless meetings that he did not talk about when he returned
sometimes late into the night or early morning.
Today was another day like the others, he had gone off early in the morning, Yen had assumed
herself with a swim and workout and some yoga before a shower and a little sunbathing when
she heard the steps inside and turned her head.
‘Well a red letter day, you’re home before it's dark,’ she smiled and got up walking across the
deck, through the doors and into the main living space just as he put down his laptop.
‘I want to thank you for this wonderful solo holiday, I’m having a great time, swimming, sunning
and the other, it's been fantastic, i needed a break to relax and unwind, recharge the batteries, so
to speak,’ she said disappearing into the bedroom, he not sure what was going to happen next
given the tone of her voice. ‘The thing is I thought we would be relaxing together! I think we need
to have a talk,’ Yen said, walking to the desk in the room pulling out the chair and swinging it
around. He took the seat offered as Yen walked away towards the open doors, her hips dancing
her bum about in a hypnotic motion. She turned around in the doorway and gave him a look that
said one thing.
Her eyes fixed on him, she came back to him and proceeded to remove his jacket. Yen fixed her
eyes and his as she loosened then discarded his tie with a casual toss, then one by one, top
down, she undid the shirt buttons. Lee Gao could barely contain his excitement as she undid his
belt, then his button. ‘You seem a little tense,’ Yen hummed as one of her hands brushed against
his member, she felt it quaver on her fingertips, she smiled then lowered her head into his lap,
her teeth gripping his zipper and slowly pulling it down, her mouth brushing against his now
pulsing cock. Off came his shoes, socks and pants and shirt. Yen reached over his shoulder,
picked up a pair of scissors, looked at them, smiled and brought them down around his
underwear cutting them at the side with one snip. ‘There, that;s you,’ Yen purred, dropping the
scissors. ‘Now it’s just me.’
Yen hooked her thumbs into the sides of her bottom and shimmied slowly, very slowly as she
snaked them down her bronzed sunscreened form, then stepped out, reached behind, undid her
top and let it fall away. ‘I can see I have your attention, lets see how long I can hold it.’
Yen lowered herself into his lap deftly pinning his erect knob between her legs and holding it
there. ‘Let’s get down to business,’ Yen smiled and pulled out of lipstick, removed the top, then
proceeded to frost her lips while he watched in hungry fascination. Yen knew she had him on
the edge. She finished, slipped her arms around his neck and took her lips to his, her tongue
waiting for a few seconds before she gently pushed it inside his mouth and moved it around.
His hand cupped her wonderful ass testing whether he could lift her up and enjoin them. Yen
slipped the heel points into the supports on the chair and held firm, her taut thighs squeezing
him gently. Yen ran her nails up his sides as they kissed, she felt his rod pounding and yearning
to be encased inside her, slowly her hips began to rock back and forth, teasing his capture as
they kissed then she caught his tip, her motion pulled on it as his hands cupped her ass and
assisted. Yen drew forward, her nipples dancing about, his tongue licking and flicking about like
a snake until he softly closed about one and she gasped in joy tightening her arms and rocking
more forcefully as they came together.
‘Sometimes you have to drain a battery before you can recharge it fully,’ she panted.
The words were barely out of her mouth when he exploded! Yen raced her hips faster as the
chair moved forward and bounced from the force of his thrusts, her stroke was wonderful, the
subtle eddies she added to her motion heightened his orgasm, she had to hold them upright.
Yen quickly followed, her low moans and hot breath on his neck as he pushed into her to further
her enjoyment. Yen kissed his neck as they finished and relaxed for a few minutes before he
cupped her small ass to support her and got to his feet. Yen kicked off her shoes as he carried
her to the bed, her eyes fixed and the reassembled lipstick next to his laptop, his hard drive
copied and her software uploaded, she mused that you could mix business and pleasure,
five minutes later she confirmed that hypothesis.
