A Chance Encounter by Rae Shaw (e manga reader TXT) 📗

‘I think Stazki initiated this act of revenge not Zustaller,’ said Jackson. ‘I can't see him being that reckless. I expect he found out what Stazki was up to and turned up in person to see you out of curiosity. They gave up on Mark. I’d put too tight a ring about him. Zustaller may be gone, but there are always others.’ His quiet voice tapered into nothing, then his eyes lit up as he remembered something. ‘As for your handbag.’ He retrieved it from a plain carrier bag by his chair. ‘Chris assumed you'd like it back.’

‘Honey, the all-important handbag.’ Mark grinned and passed it over to Julianna.

She unzipped a compartment. She stared at the contents for a few seconds before bursting into laughter, the shaky, tired laugh of somebody who had found the answer to a puzzle.

The smile dropped off Mark’s face. ‘What?’

‘I had to activate my tracker somehow,’ she explained. ‘They had my handbag and I needed access to it. I took a gamble. I hoped they'd be squeamish about handling sanitary stuff. I told them my period had started, and I needed the tampon in my bag. So they brought it to me and I activated the beacon while fishing out the tampon.’

‘Clever,’ Mark said. ‘What’s the joke?’

‘I only had the one.’ Julianna delved into her handbag and held up a handful of tampons in their wrappers. ‘They took it to the other farmhouse to fill it with supplies for me. All those nightmarish threats and they took the time to fetch me tampons.’ She laughed, but it wasn't a joyful laughter. She wiped a tear from her face. She couldn't stop crying. Mark held her close.

Jackson leaned forward and touched Julianna’s arm. ‘I know you think if the handbag hadn’t moved, the police would have come to the right farmhouse and the girl might not have been assaulted. But you know they wouldn’t have got there in time. ‘

‘I had to listen—’

‘Please, Julianna, don’t go there,’ Mark said gravely, and she heeded his interruption – there was no point in replaying things over and over in her head, it would drive her crazy.

Jackson continued. ‘Though it delayed your rescue and put you at risk in the shoot-out, the police were able to locate the second farmhouse with your tracker. Not only have the police being able to recover the body of their colleague, and his body would have disappeared without trace, they've found a mountain of information, data, maps, details of routes and most importantly a client list. In the coming days many police forces across Europe will be kept very busy ripping apart the dregs of Zustaller’s network.’

‘All for a pile of tampons.’ Luke chuckled. ‘I’d love to present this case in court.’

The nurse entered the room and paused in bemusement as laughter greeted her arrival.

~ * ~

The small convoy of cars pulled up outside Fasleigh House. Mark and Julianna, along with Luke and Sophia, would have preferred to be in their own homes, but Jackson, in an enigmatic and quite fierce fashion, told them they were to rest at his house until he received the all clear from his security team that none of the remnants of Zustaller’s gang were after them. Julianna heard the executive bite in his voice. It still amazed her that he had the ability to snap orders at others and not lose their respect.

Hettie greeted her husband on the doorstep. Jackson lifted her off her feet with his embrace. Julianna looked away, somewhat embarrassed by the intimacy. They were her employers, a state of affairs she couldn't escape.

‘Lunch is laid out; you must be very hungry.’ Hettie swept them into the house with her busy arms. ‘The kids are waiting for you in the snug.’

Hettie hugged Julianna with an overt display, almost squeezing the breath out of her. ‘Oh, my dear. Thank heavens you're safe.’

She kissed Mark, too.

Julianna reclaimed him, wove her fingers through his and followed him into the house.

  44

Mark

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Mark, together with Julianna, Luke, Sophia and Jackson, ate in the kitchen. The spread was a cold buffet and easy food for queasy stomachs. Mark, unsettled by exhaustion, picked at his. Having finished playing hostess, Hettie slipped out of the room and joined the children.

Jackson piled the food high on his plate. ‘I am so hungry.’ He quickly reduced the mound while the others toyed with theirs.

‘Why are we here, Jackson?’ Luke asked. ‘Something else is going on.’

‘Can’t hide a thing from you, can I?’ Jackson winked.

‘You were rather adamant we should remain behind your fences, so don’t be coy.’ Luke sharpened his tone.

‘Alright.’ Jackson leaned back in her chair and eyed the two couples. Julianna remained pale but her hands holding the cutlery were steady. ‘Are you okay, Julianna?’ he asked gently.

‘Yes.’ Julianna’s stoicism was remarkable, and enviable.

Jackson tossed his fine linen napkin on to his empty plate. ‘At the moment there’s a frenzy of ongoing activity. People are moving, trying to cover their tracks and the enforcement agencies are casting many nets. Both Zustaller’s gang, and the other trafficking gang, are in a state of flux. I find Zustaller’s failure to control his empire ironic.’

A faint smile crossed Jackson’s face. ‘This is a man who acquired territorial gangs, like he tried to with Mark’s father's in Manchester. His assets weren't just money, they were human. Rather like mergers and acquisitions, he built a business up from a base. But it appears he had no means to control his sprawling empire. There were betrayals and infiltrators from both rivals and law enforcement agencies. He stretched himself too thin and failed to contract to protect his interests. Not that I’m disappointed, but he was a crap executive.’

‘But he’s gone,’ Luke said in an exasperated tone. ‘But I'm here. So is Sophia.