CHAPTER XX
Mike Loughlan stared vacantly at the ticker tape as it passed along the bottom of the screen. The news was out, Kimberly Sanderson was free, a fugitive on the run.
"I don't fucking believe it" he growled before turning off the TV and throwing the remote angrily at the other end of the sofa.
"How the fuck is she out ?" He shouted out loud again as he rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "What the fuck are they running there, I've seen kindergartens more secure than that.....Jeezus fucking Christ."
His mind ran in circles, had Bobby busted out his sister? There hadn't been much coverage about what had actually happened but from what he had heard it seemed it had been a very professional job, which meant expensive.
It was late Saturday evening, the last time Mike spoke with Bobby was Friday evening on his return from LA. They had spoken briefly about strategies for Monday, satisfied that at least the PR machine had got the fallout of the oil rig accident under control.
Only now did Mike second guess himself, had Bobby shown any signs that he hadn't picked up on ?
Mike considered the consequences, if Kim was out then what did it ....
"Oh no...." Mike said, his stomach doing a somersault as he realised the truth.
Rising from the sofa he walked purposefully to his den and sat himself at his desk and turned on the screen of his computer. While his computer began to awaken Mike poured himself a whisky from a decanter on his desk into a short glass.
"Come on, come on, be there......please be there...." Mike prayed.
Mike clicked away with his mouse, searching, searching.
"Oh no no no no no.....NOOOO" raged Loughlan.
On his screen the share account revealed the truth, an account that should have been loaded with cash ready to tidy up a short position remained at the same low amount it had been at the start of the week. The short position hadn't even been set up, no obligations were outstanding.
"Fuck, Victor.... what have you been doing?" Mike fumed but he had guessed something would be wrong.
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Bobby Sanderson looked out across the dark New York skyline from his penthouse apartment, his forehead resting on the glass in contemplation.
"What have I done?" he wondered.
"The right thing, my brother....." Kimberly whispered from inside his head.
"The right thing? The selfish thing ...." Bobby thought.
"You will be rich beyond your wildest dreams.....you will own the world..." Kimberly said.
"And at what cost ...?" Bobby asked.
"Only her freedom, she will be mine forever....and who will miss her when the world is in your hands, my brother?" Kimberly teased.
"You are sure ?" Bobby wondered.
"You see it, don't you, the patterns, it's all on a knife edge.....you can win it all.." Said Kimberly, her voice fading.
"Yes, I've seen it..... I'll own all of it..." Bobby said bitterly. He knew winning big meant someone would lose big too.
By now Kimberly would be crossing the Atlantic with her escort and all her toys to be deposited in her secret hideout, unseen and un-discoverable, except by the one they wanted and for sure everything would be in place to start his killer move, luck would be on his side.
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On the other side of the city the darkened registered office of "The Victim's Voice" occasionally shone with the dancing light from a torch.
Inside the office, Lucy, torch between teeth raided filing cabinets looking for anything that would help them shed light on how their stock broker friend was doing the charity such good service.
"So, you wanted to know about how I ended up working for the Broker?" Said Lisa from her car into Lucy's little earbud.
"Hm huh" mumbled Lucy in reply.
"Well basically I had been kicked off the force and was doing the TSA gig when, out of the blue one day Selena shows up and says she can help me get my old job back if I help her but.... I can't remember what it was..." Lisa explained.
Lucy took her torch from her mouth and checked through some papers.
"Do you recall meeting a guy called McGee?" Lucy whispered. She recognised his footsteps through Lisa's story.
"Oh yeah he....umm...that's right...just before......" Lisa struggled, something didn't quite sit right with her recollections.
"I don't know how he does it but it's like he's a hypnotist or something...he makes you forget" Lucy whispered as she begun searching another file.
"What is it I've forgotten, Lucy?" Lisa asked, a little troubled by her memory gap.
"You helped make sure someone got through security to a plane that day" Lucy said just as her eyes widened, she had seen something.
"Yes, you said they were some sort of VIP or something, so who was it ?" Lisa said sitting upright in her seat, curious, nervous, excited.
"M - L " replied Lucy in surprise.
"Who?" Lisa replied as she saw the torchlight dance across the window,
"Oh, sorry, not that, well she normally wears red and blue....and a cape..." Said Lucy cryptically.
"You're kidding me.....what did I do, did I behave? " Lisa asked, stressed at what she might of done in the heroines presence.
"I don't know...you'll have to ask...anyway....how is it looking out there?" Lucy wondered.
"All clear so far....... so....how did you and the broker...you know...." asked Lisa as she glanced around again checking for signs of trouble.
"The truth is, after getting a raw deal from my real family, then my adopted family, and then being betrayed by my alleged brothers in arms she snapped me up. And that's when I died....." Lucy explained in as she searched more folders.
"You mean your necklace, the bullet" Asked Lisa.
"Uh huh.....my betrayers decided to have a sniper kill me...but I had the best vest you could imagine..." Lucy replied.
"What were you wearing, a concrete wall ?" Lisa mused, she remembered that the large caliber round had been rendered into a thin disc.
" It was 'her' that caught it.... I don't know what relationship they have but she and The Broker are... I don't know, involved together somehow. What I do know is that I have a new family now, you, McGee, The Broker, maybe even SG...." Lucy said.
"Yeah, I guess, as long as The Broker doesn't push me I'm comfortable with my arrangement with her....and I guess if Supe's is ok with what we are doing then I'm ok too." Lisa reasoned.
"Ok, I think I have a name but I don't know who it is...." Lucy declared quietly.
"Who is it, who was directing Victor ?" Asked Lisa as she glanced up at the office window across the street.
"I think it's someone called Mike Loughlan" Lucy said in a low whisper.