The Song of Mawu. Jeff Edwards

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      Thorpe shook his head, ‘That crap may have worked at one time, but we know better now. We have the DVD of a certain prominent judge and we know for sure that Green used the videos to gain your friend Toby Brown a favourable decision in a court case. You and your friends even showed a DVD to the Prime Minister.’

      Eliza realised that it would be silly to continue denying the videos existence. The time for that had long passed. She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture to Thorpe, ‘Who cares about a bunch of silly men paying to have sex all those years ago.’

      ‘The Prime Minister cares.’

      ‘He only wants them for his own purposes. Mrs Green wanted them used to do good in the world and that doesn’t mean turning them over to the government. Besides, he didn’t seem to care too much when his own brother was exposed.’

      ‘The British Government will never kowtow to a bunch of blackmailers.’

      Eliza smiled, ‘The PM did seem to enjoy all the wonderful publicity that assisting The Fund brought to his re-election campaign.’

      Thorpe’s agent had opened the lap-top and now handed over the hard drive, which Thorpe slipped into his coat pocket, ‘Why are you going to Jersey?’ he asked.

      ‘Holidays.’

      ‘Bullshit! You’re not due to stay more than one day. You were delivering the hard drive to The Fund’s bank, weren’t you?’

      ‘Not now. You have the hard drive. But it won’t do you any good. It will end up like the other one.’

      ‘Not if we remove your little surprise first. It can’t self-destruct if there’s no acid phial.’

      Eliza appeared to pale in shock as that fact struck home. Thorpe smiled at her discomfort. He rose from his chair and made toward the door. ‘Well then Miss Strang, I hope you have a delightful flight and a pleasant ‘holiday’ in Jersey.’

      ***

      Eliza was escorted back to the lounge by a single agent and then left to await her flight.

      The other travellers gave her a wide berth as she took her seat but she gave them a cheerful grin and concentrated once again on her phone calls.

      ‘You heard?’ she asked.

      ‘Everything. It went well.’

      Eliza smiled, ‘He’s not going to be too happy when he finds there’s no phial of acid and no video files on that hard drive.’

      ‘You’ll be well on your way by then. Good luck.’

      ***

      Several hours later Eliza had checked into her hotel room where she showered and climbed into bed for a good night’s sleep.

      She ate breakfast the following morning in the restaurant located off the lobby and after returning to her room was able to confirm that it had been searched by experts in her absence.

      Smiling to herself she dialled the front desk, ‘I forgot to ask when I arrived last night. Did a package arrive for me?’

      The receptionist checked and reported, ‘Yes Miss Strang we have it here. Do you want us to bring it up or are you going to call down to collect it?’

      ‘I was wondering if you could do me a favour? Could you have the concierge arrange to have it delivered to Mr Lionel Rafter at the Jersey International Bank for me?’

      ‘Of course. We’ll have it delivered as soon as the bank opens.’

      ‘Thank you very much.’

      ***

      At precisely ten o’clock that morning Eliza presented herself at the Jersey International Bank and was conducted to the office of its President, Lionel Rafter.

      ‘Welcome!’ he beamed as he rose and shook her hand, ‘It’s good to meet one of the bank’s female owners at last.’

      Eliza saw that there was a brown paper wrapped package on his desk and breathed a sigh of relief.

      ‘I see my package has arrived.’

      ‘Yes of course. Do you want to open it in private? I can make an office available to you.’

      ‘No. I need to show you the contents and give you instructions as to what to do with them.’

      ‘I’m intrigued.’

      Lionel Rafter handed the package to her, ‘It’s surprisingly heavy for its size. I would have guessed a gold ingot but I know the weight of gold and it’s too light for that. Jewellery perhaps?’

      ‘No, but the contents are extremely valuable,’ said Eliza as she unwrapped it. ‘We forwarded it to our Singapore office from headquarters and had Wendy Chung forward it back to my hotel here in Jersey.’

      ‘I’ve met Wendy and her sister. How are they?’

      ‘I’m told they’re fine,’ replied Eliza, as she finally revealed the contents of the package.

      ‘If I know my computer science, I’d say they were hard drives.’

      Eliza smiled, ‘Correct. They’re identical. One is for you to hold in your vault. Guard it with your life.’

      ‘Of course I will. And the other?’

      ‘That one you can hand over to Inland Security when they call with a Search Warrant.’

      Lionel Rafter hid his surprise well, ‘How can you be sure that Inland Security will come looking?’

      ‘They searched my room this morning and found nothing. I was probably followed here. They’ll be at the courthouse as we speak, seeking the order.’

      ‘I can claim that we know nothing about this matter.’

      ‘That’s not what we want. Be polite and give them what they’re looking for. We don’t want you getting in trouble with the authorities.’

      ‘It seems a lot of trouble to go to. Why not simply hand it over to the authorities yourself?’

      Eliza smiled, ‘Smoke and mirrors. While they’re busy looking in one direction, the real game is taking place elsewhere.’

      Lionel Rafter nodded in understanding.

      Eliza stood and shook his hand, ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to Paris to catch.’

      14

      By the time Eliza’s flight landed in Lobacra she was exhausted. Making connections at numerous airports had robbed her of any sleep and the bumpy flight into Namola had her wishing once more for the private jet that had last taken her out of this country.

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