"A crack in the alliance."
[EARLIER]
'How dare you! This is not what we planned.'
It had been risky coming here but what choice did she have?
'Oh on the contrary Jennifer my dear. This is exactly what we planned.'
The sun was shining again. Uri Takiyoma was glad. It made the views from his ninth storey hotel suite the more appealing. He poured two drinks from a cabinet. It was after just after ten, not too soon for champagne in his opinion.
He had been stood watching a double masted yacht arrive in the marina just off to his right. He had placed its value at over five million. Not the most expensive boat he could see but it was close and why people needed to put their wealth on show was always a puzzle to him. Wealth never guaranteed power. On the contrary displaying how much money you had had more to do with one's insecurities than anything else.
He sighed, one of despair at not just his fellow peers who seemed to have more money than sense but also from what would now be an interruption to the peace and solitude he had just been feeling as he gazed out of his hotel window.
'Mr Attwood,' he said picking up the glasses of champagne, 'needed a reason to hate your brother. Killing his friend gave him one.'
He turned slowly round. The young Miss Stamford was dressed elegantly in a light cream coloured dress pulled tightly around the waist with a thin red belt. He never doubted her beauty. That was unequivocal. What he had always doubted was her ability to remain rational and calm.
Power did not come from violence or force but from subtleties and variances. It required someone to think and move with light feet. It required someone to look at a problem objectively and without emotion something he again doubted his Miss Stamford was able to do.
He greeted her with a smile. He reached out and handed her a glass noticing as he did so how the bubbles in the liquid shone brightly in the morning sunlight though he had to concede that the light in Singapore was not nearly the same as that in Switzerland where there seemed to be a far greater degree of radiance.
'But he already hates him,' scowled Jenny bringing her glass close and tightening her grip around the thin delicate stem. 'I've seen to that.'
A Mr Haruki Nakamura sat slouched in the background on a white leather bound sofa. Wherever Uri went so did his friend.
Nakamura had not taken his eyes off Jenny since she had arrived. She despised him. No more than that. She was afraid of him. She could only imagine what his role had been in the killing of John. Short and stocky he was a man who never blinked, who was always watching you and he always left you with a feeling that he could snap your neck at a moment's notice.
Uri sighed again though it was deeper this time and more exaggerated.
'You may be good at your little mind games,' he said calmly. 'But if you are to carry out this little plan of yours then forgive me for saying it but he needs more than just words. He needs to feel hatred. He needs to have a personal involvement and I have given him one.'
Jenny's eyes were distracted by the sight of Nakamura. The fore fingers of both hands began to rotate around each of her thumbs.
'It was his friend,' she said, a lump sticking in her throat. 'You killed his friend.'
Uri followed her gaze with a noticeable hint of pleasure. He also noticed the quiver in her voice. Power, he mused, was far too illusive for his Miss Stamford. She may think she had it but it had always been an illusion.
In truth he had never cared for this silly little rich woman. When she came to him all those years ago with a plan he naturally agreed but not for the reasons he gave. That had always been his own closely guarded secret. Power after all required modesty and empathy for it to work and he had given her that in abundance but now that they were close to the finish line a different approach was needed.
He was after all holding all of the cards. She needed him. She needed his expertise and his power but if one thing that was clear was that once this was all over then he would not need her at all.
He hardened his voice.
'Unlike you,' he continued, 'I have not become personally involved. You came to me to help destroy your family and as far as I am concerned this is still the case.'
Anxiety was suddenly etched in her eyes. This call of hers was unannounced. It was another example of her lack of clarity and it amounted to one thing.
That she was starting to become unravelled.
'Paris,' he announced sharply.
'But you could have killed us!'
'Oh come,' Uri scoffed raising his head. 'I think you are placing a little too much theatrical zeal into that vivid imagination of yours.' He shrugged. 'He was merely a vagrant told to frighten you so I could see what sort of person your man was. See what sort of fire he had in his belly and I must admit I thought your man dealt with him admirably. You should be proud of what he did and,' he said sweeping his gaze over and towards his man sat a few feet away, 'I doubt my friend Mr Nakamura could have done any better.'
And this was when Jenny Stamford finally realised that she was no longer in charge, a thought so frightening that it sent a shiver to run down her neck and sweep rapidly out and across her shoulders.
This man was supposed to have been her friend.
He was supposed to have been carrying out her wishes. It had been her plan and yet standing here now Jenny could not help but feel that all of this, everything that she had planned was for one person and one person only.
Mr Uri Takiyoma.
For Jenny, her motives had always been clear, to exact revenge on her family. To heal the gaping wound in her heart. To get what was rightfully hers.
But another game, a hidden game, was also being played and that sudden realisation scared her. It meant venturing into the unknown and that was something she had not done in a long time.
She was genuinely devastated when she had heard of John's death. It was not planned and so her sympathy for Kirk was unrehearsed and the anger now at how her plan was being manipulated was also beginning to offer dividends.
She thought rapidly of a way out.
She knew Kirk liked her. Maybe he would run away with her, bring Amy and they could all live in hiding somewhere. She had money. She had contacts. It would be difficult but not impossible to go off the grid as it were.
Feelings she thought she could never have again had started to resurface and so she knew she could one day love him in return and he had already defended her once. He could do it again. She knew he would risk his life for her. He would be her Isaac all over again. He would protect her against Uri and Mr Nakamura.
They could run away and be happy. Just the three of them.
But Takiyoma could tell what she was thinking. With an empty glass still in his hand he lowered his voice as he told her to be careful.
'Before you make any alternative plans let me say that I have invested a lot of time and effort in this plan of ours. People you do not want to upset are also interested in the outcome. You came to me remember?'
Jenny nodded reluctantly. Uri smiled.
'Then let us agree to merely conclude our arrangement and afterwards go our separate ways.'
He paused for effect and then added.
'Because if you back away now Jennifer I cannot guarantee the outcome.'
But she didn't want this.
She didn't want to be surrounded by death anymore and he had no right to threaten her.
Her face turned into a snarl.
'I gave you the Namuesis,' she cried. 'You have all the paintings. What more do you want?'
At that and out of the corner of her eye she saw Nakamura rise off his sofa and begin the walk towards her. She flinched. She took a step back but Uri merely held up his hand and waved his friend away.
He waited a while reflecting on what had been asked.
What did he want?
'Everything,' he said. 'I want everything.'
He then told Jenny that she was an enigma.
'You get hurt and you want to take revenge when all the time you are still this poor little frightened school girl who only wants to be loved.' Another condescending smile. 'It's cute,' he said. 'I have to admit, but villain you are not.'
At that a volcano that had been smouldering inside her suddenly erupted. A raw passion she had not felt in a long time emerged from the pit of her stomach and she literally spat out the next few words.
'Don't you ever begin to think you know what I went through,' she snarled viciously, 'or how I am coping. You can have your pound of flesh but when I'm finished we are through do you hear - through and by god don't you ever underestimate what I can do to you because so far I haven't done too badly.'
With that she launched her glass against the far wall shattering it into an explosion of tiny pieces. She made her way to the front door and turned.
'Just make sure you are in the car and ready when I phone. Do you hear?'
She stormed towards the elevator, her heart pounding in her chest, the tightening of her abdomen making her feel sick but at the same time a real determination welling up inside her that if she could only make her lovely Kirk see things her way then together they had a chance.
She exited the lobby entrance wiping away a tear. It was still only eleven O'clock and she wanted her man to have another few hours in bed.
Then she thought defiantly, she would do everything in her power to make her plan work.
+ + + + + + + + + + +
Wow!
Did any of you see that coming?
So it's anyone's guess now where this is going to end up.
Who exactly has been in charge all along?
More to the point who will be left standing at the end?
Your comments as always make my day :)
Take care.
JU.