The Shudder Lingers Read online

  Pacing around the office though, she became nervous. Not having Slade around for a few days made her feel vulnerable. Some self-doubt crept in about her ability to tackle the situation on her own. She sat down at her laptop again and searched the secondary server, and it quickly became apparent that there had been quite a lot of activity on that while she had been away. There were also several new folders which were password-protected, and labelled with obvious code words, except one which was labelled Rhino. She tried opening them using the previous passwords, but access to the folders was denied.

  She searched the folders where the previous perlemoen invoices had been kept, and her attention was drawn immediately to an invoice dated three days ago. With a sinking feeling, she realised that the smuggling may have commenced again. She scoured the emails and recognised a request for another invoice dated the next day. She immediately called Gerald, “Morning, how are you doing?”

  He replied, “Great thanks. Things have been quiet and peaceful for a change.”

  She chirped, “Well, I guess that is about to change. It seems like there was another smuggling invoice three days ago, and another one planned for tomorrow.”

  He was silent for a while, “Why am I not surprised? Given everything we learned from Larney, the ship that did the smuggling is coming in this afternoon. I think I will do a stakeout later this afternoon. After the last stakeout, you probably won’t want to join.”

  She pondered for a few seconds, “That’s rather presumptuous. I think I’ll come along. Send me a message and collect me later.”

  He replied, “I’m surprised, but why not. It is much more public, so we should be a lot safer than the remote West Coast. See you later.”

  After hanging up on the call, she found herself trembling slightly. She thought to herself, maybe the stakeout is not a good idea. She toyed with the idea for a while and decided to call Slade. His mobile phone just rang, eventually going onto voice mail. She recalled that they would be spending the day out in the bush in the Kruger Park with the anti-poaching units, so they would not have signal access.

  She went back in to the secondary server, and aimlessly searched again. She was again drawn to the images of maps with red circles marked on them. She tried to make sense of the maps, but there was no logical structure to them, and many of them were focused on the traditional townships of Cape Town. She also found several recently saved screenshots of Google Earth, similar to the images. She whispered to herself, “There must be something to this. I cannot see the link to the perlemoen smuggling, but there must be a connection.” She went to a whiteboard and stood before it with a pen in her hand. She drew a map of the Western Cape and marked the red circles, and then marked where the perlemoen warehouse was. Her mind was racing, but then came back to what Emily had said, the guys with Daniella wore suits, whereas everyone involved with the warehouse were fishermen.

  She was so focused on the white board that she did not make out the sound of high heels walking down the corridor, and only when she heard Emily greet Daniella, did Stacey snap out of her deepest thoughts. She tried frantically to wipe the board clean, but at least half of the board still had red circles on it by the time Daniella was inside the office.

  Daniella stopped, and with hands on her hips said in a loud voice, “What the heck is this? Why the red circles?”

  Fear gripped Stacey, and she feverishly wiped the rest of the board clean. She continued to wipe away at the already clean board, before feebly saying, “Just thinking about the rhino project and where the likely poaching areas could be.”

  Daniella walked up her and stopped right in front of her, “Rhinos on a map of the Western Cape. You lying little bitch. Looks like you refuse to back off. You have been warned before. It’s time to up the ante.” With that she let out a loud, creepy laugh and walked out. Stacey felt a shudder and goose bumps appeared all over her body. She felt her face flush.

  Emily came rushing in, “Are you OK? I couldn’t help but hear that laugh. That woman is evil.”

  Stacey had slumped into a chair, “I’ll be fine thanks Emily. Just a bottle of water please.”

  She tried calling Slade again, but still no answer. She remained slumped in the chair, and self-doubt started playing tricks on her mind. She stared at the ceiling, asking herself, why am I so drawn to this complexity? Why can’t I just walk away and leave it be? No answer was forthcoming, and she remained in that position on the chair for thirty minutes, her thoughts hurtling down a rollercoaster of self-doubt.

  Her mobile phone buzzed, and she stared at the text message. It was from Gerald, “I will collect you outside your office in thirty minutes.”

  She headed downstairs and waited by the curb side, putting on her sunglasses to avoid the glare. She became aware of a large black SUV about half a block away, with two guys in suits inside. She noted their creepy appearances, similar to what Emily had described. Looking behind her, she saw Daniella exit the building with a huge black man in a suit, both heading directly towards the black SUV. They all got into the SUV and it sped away. Instinct made her turn away so as not to be seen. Seconds later, Gerald pulled up and she got in, breathing a sigh of relief.

  She shared the events of the day with Gerald on the short drive to the harbour. He was silent for a full minute, before replying, “My intuition is that this has become greater than just perlemoen smuggling. Going out there this afternoon is just a hunch. I just cannot seem to put a finger on it.” They soon arrived at the old building from which they had first observed the containers. As they approached the entrance, Stacey became aware of someone staring at her. She casually looked around and saw a stocky man across the street looking at them, but he did not seem too concerned with them entering. Once inside she alerted Gerald who peeked through a crack in the door. There was no apparent reaction from the man.

  They soon found themselves in the small stakeout room and each took up a pair of binoculars. They scoured the harbour area below and soon found the small ship which had previously been involved in the smuggling, now in the process of docking. Stacey was first to notice the containers on board and exclaimed, “Gerald, those are the same containers that have been used to store the perlemoen. I recall that one container number, and the swish of orange paint across the top.”

  He confirmed immediately, “Spot on, they appear to be the same containers.”

  While they were watching, a waiting truck had moved alongside the ship apparently to receive the first container with the swish of orange paint on it. As the container was being swung across the ship, a black SUV drove into sight and pulled up next to the truck. Two tough-looking men dressed in black jumped out of the front and headed onto the ship’s ramp. Moments later they escorted two of the crew with what appeared to be stainless steel boxes about the size of a normal suitcase. The trunk lid was flipped, and the two stainless steel boxes were rapidly loaded. The two tough guys then hopped back into the SUV and sped away.

  Gerald sat back and stated, “Very interesting, I was always under the impression that these guys were smuggling perlemoen out, I had no idea that they may be smuggling something in. There must be some connection. I now fear the worst.”

  Stacey looked quizzically at him, “What do you mean fear the worst?”

  A worried look crossed his face, “It could be drugs. I have a feeling that the perlemoen was just the tip of the iceberg.”

  She felt her knees give way and sank into the old couch behind her. “What now?” she asked.

  He was again looking out of the window, “We will need to be a lot more careful, and I am going to need reinforcements. I don’t have enough men to take this on.”

  Hoping for another answer, she asked, “Are you sure it is drugs?”

  He scratched his forehead, “I hope it is not, but my years of experience tells me, it is. As you know the Western Cape is riddled with gangs and the use of drugs is rife across the Cape Flats and townships.” They sat in silence for a while. He slowly put down the bino
culars and said, “Let’s go, there’s nothing more here for now. I will get teams back here tomorrow.”

  The short drive was made in silence, with Stacey’s mind scrambled with uncertainty. She contemplated getting out of WKJD. She quietly asked herself, “Why me? Do I really need this in my life?” Attempting to shake thoughts of Daniella and possible drug smuggling, were in vain. Horrific images of drug users and gang warfare, flashed before her. Gerald had dropped her at home and she stumbled into her apartment in a blurry daze.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Stacey was traumatised right through the night, as the horrific images continued to taunt her, and she found herself curled up in a tight ball. All the lights were on, and yet her mind still attempted to play tricks and created artificial shadows. She shouted out loud, “Am I going mad? Am I losing it?”

  She eventually stirred from a troubled night, when the sound of a siren blared from the streets below. She could hardly see, as her eyes were caked with grit. She fumbled to the kitchen and popped the kettle on, desperate for a cup of coffee, when she had a realisation. The red circles on the maps were linked to the drugs! Her subconscious had obviously unravelled the various images, and it was clear to her that the red circles represented the highest areas of gang violence in the Western Cape, and also possibly the key drug areas.

  Stacey took her coffee and went out to the balcony. Dark black clouds were hanging low over the city, almost reflecting her apprehensive mind-set, when she contemplated Daniella and the possible criminal elements associated with her. Part of her wanted to run a mile, while part wanted to keep fighting, to beat Daniella and her evil ways. She stilled herself and prayed for wisdom, hoping to find answers to the complexities of the situation. Sipping her coffee, and finding it ice-cold, she realised that she had been in a daze for nearly two hours.

  Her phone was ringing, and excitedly she saw that it was Slade, “Morning, I am so happy to hear your voice. Missing you like crazy.”

  “Good morning. Missing you as well. What's up in Cape Town?”

  She responded, “I'm not sure where to even start. All I can say is that Daniella is definitely up to something. Our offices have all sorts of strange guys lurking around, and Daniella has been overly aggressive. I went with Gerald to the harbour, and it looks like they are smuggling something in, possibly drugs—”

  Interrupting her, he blurted out, “I thought we had an agreement that you would not do any more stakeouts. I don’t want you injured or killed, or anything along those lines. Please promise me you won't do that again!”

  Ignoring the plea, she changed the subject, “How are you, and how is the project going?”

  He replied, “I'm great thanks. The project is shaping up well and the team is having a great time. Only Cheung seems agitated and frustrated. Every time we go into the bush he wants to send photos via his mobile phone, but there is no signal. When we get back to camp he is often involved in rather animated conversations with someone in Mandarin.”

  "Strange I must say. I wonder what he is up to.”

  "I really don't know,” he mused. “Anyway, the good news is that I will be home in two days. Look forward to holding you in my arms. I love you.”

  She felt excited, “l love you too. Enjoy your last day in the bush. See you soon.”

  “Can't wait and stay out of any private investigator type antics please!” He rang off.

  After a long shower, she dressed and headed into work. As she exited the elevator she was surprised to see Daniella talking to Inspector Jonas. Her mind was racing as to why he might be here, but she politely greeted them, “Morning Daniella; Inspector.” Neither responded, so she just walked nonchalantly past and headed to her office.

  Emily had piled up various documents that required her undivided attention, but she was more interested in going into the secondary server. She attempted accessing it but was immediately denied access. She admonished herself for typing the wrong password and tried again. Again, access was denied, and with that her computer started shutting down. “What the heck is going on?” she asked herself aloud. Her question was soon answered as Daniella, Jackie and Inspector Jonas all came storming into her office.

  Daniella came up and leant menacingly over the chair where Stacey was seated, “Inspector, it would seem that we have found our hacker. This smart-ass kid thinks she is the boss, but all she can do is hack and attempt to steal our valuable intellectual capital. You might as well arrest her on the spot.”

  Inspector Jonas shifted uncomfortably, unable to respond. Seizing the momentary lapse, Stacey jumped up and shoved Daniella backwards. With a bold courage which surprised even herself, she jabbed a finger at Daniella, “I am sick and tired of your crap! You are fired. I suggest you vacate this building right now.” This dramatic reaction surprised everyone, and Jackie was the first to silently skulk out of the door. Inspector Jonas was slowly shuffling in the same direction. She seized the moment again, and headed towards Daniella, “What are you waiting for?”

  Daniella breathed deeply and hissed back, “You have now gone too far, you little bitch. Your days are numbered, and the clock is ticking. Start saying goodbye to life.” She slowly walked backwards continuing to stare at Stacey, “By the way, you can’t fire me. In fact, nobody can. I will continue running my business, despite your little threat.” As she turned she let out another eerie laugh that echoed down the corridors.

  Stacey felt the all too familiar shudder run down her back, more pronounced than ever before. Despite her earlier boldness she felt scared and genuinely feared for her life. Emily walked in a few minutes later with a cappuccino, placing it on the desk in front of her. She then placed a comforting hand on Stacey's shoulder, before quietly retreating. Stacey took the cup and stared out of the window. Her mind was numb, unable to process anything. She was drawn out of her trance when there was a gentle knock on the door. It was an office cleaner, “Afternoon Ma’am, can I clean your office?” Stacey looked up in surprise. Her mind had drifted endlessly and several hours had passed. She waved in the cleaner and stood up. Her whole body was stiff and riddled with tension.

  A reminder popped up on her mobile phone, it was for drinks. She recalled pre-arranging it with Kate, Lizzie and a few girlfriends a while back. She headed out, feeling somewhat guilty that she had not done an iota of work all day.

  She opted to walk the few blocks to a street cafe, where everyone was seated, and already enjoying a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. After greeting and hugging them all, she sat down, and Lizzie passed her a glass of wine. Clearly they were all in a jovial mood, giggling at virtually anything that passed anyone's lips. Without realising it, she was very quickly into her second glass of wine and joined in the free-flowing chatter and laughter. Despite all the issues plaguing their individual lives, the evening seemed to allow the lid to be lifted, allowing them the freedom to just enjoy each other's company. It was rather late when they finally wrapped up the evening, hailing a taxi to take them all home.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Slade came through the airport doors and rushed over to give Stacey a strong manly hug, “My word, I missed you.”

  She felt tears of joy running down her face, and just hugged him in silence. It was only when they had got into the car that she started talking, “Please don't stay away again. If at all possible I want to spend every day of my life with you.”

  Slade paused, knowing that a statement like that, had some deeper meaning, before asking, “As delighted as I am to spend each day with you, I sense something else.”

  Without facing him, she replied, “Life is short. I just don't want to be separated from you.” He stared at her as she was driving, knowing in his heart, that everything about them was just so right. He turned in his seat to observe her more closely, he felt his heart flutter, as he gazed at her beauty.

  Unexpectedly he said, “Stacey, we got engaged a while ago, and never really talked about a wedding date. You are right when you say life is short. Why don't we
get married soon? Let's give it a month for planning and get married.”

  She swerved the car in surprise, before straightening the car, and while holding the steering wheel with both hands, quickly glanced at him, “I think you are mad if you think I can get a wedding planned in a month. Despite you losing your marbles, why not?”

  He grinned from ear to ear, “I know it sounds insane, but let's just do it. Thanks for being complicit to my madness.” They both laughed out loud, before he stated, “So a month from now is a Saturday, the 28th of May. Best you start getting organised Miss Perfection.”

  She let out a nervous laugh, “I can't believe I just agreed to it.” He smiled and let out a loud “whoop, whoop!” “Before you change your mind, let me re-emphasise, that it is one month away. But seriously, earlier you said life is short, why was that?”

  He noticed that she seemed to withdraw instantly, and it took a full minute before she replied, “It was just the way Daniella threatened me. There was something ominous in her tone.” He stared at her, realising the real danger, given what Daniella was capable of. For the first time, he started to have concerns about them staying involved with WKJD.

  They agreed to get some work done and go out for dinner later in the evening. Stacey sat down and stared at the growing pile of documents on her desk and the never-ending string of unanswered emails. Before settling in to the task at hand she called Gerald, “Good morning Gerald. How are you?”

  He was not his normal bubbly self, “Busy Stacey, busy.”

  She continued, “It might not be relevant information, but Daniella has twigged onto me going into the secondary server. She seems to be aware that I was going into the files with the maps and red circles. She then threatened me with my life and tried to get Inspector Jonas to arrest me for hacking into the server—”