Thank you for reading my story, I hope that you enjoy it. Love Mica xx, Yorkshire England. All email comments good or bad welcomed. I will try and reply to each and every one but please note that all email comments from an invalid email address will be deleted immediately and will not be read.
The further adventures of Liz the Agent. The previous stories in the series will help set the scene if you are new. If you want to know more about Liz, my story Justice gives her back story.
A few weeks had passed since Ali had suggested that we lived together, and I had rebuffed him. The plant equipment shipments were now only a few days away. They had been offloaded at Felixstowe and were awaiting final shipping having cleared customs. I had all the paperwork to hand. I had personally dismissed all the staff at three sites, basically telling them that when the business had been sold, that those sales had not included transferring the staff to the new owners. The same had happened at the Leeds site, however Ali had met with George, the main mechanic, and had determined he could be rehired, it seems that they had come to an agreement.
New signage had been ordered for each site and had started to be installed, and Ali had organised a marketing and advertisement campaign, mostly on local radio. Everything seemed to be moving ahead with the new legal business that would enable Ali to legitimise some of his less than legitimate income.
"We'll go out for a meal," he said, "to celebrate the first arrivals. Where do you want to go?"
"Okay," I replied, "let's have a Chinese."
I thought that he did well to not pull a face, I know he isn't that keen on Chinese food, but I am, and so, I chose. Well, he had asked where I wanted to go, so bad luck Ali, suck it up. He said that he would pick me up at around six thirty and that gave me an opportunity to get ready.
I had a rare bath, usually a shower suffices, and a soak in luxury bath salts. I had been at the Leeds site most of the day, and always felt grubby when I came away from site even though I wasn't hands on, just in the office. George, the newly rehired site manager, was quite enthusiastic about the new future, I just thought it was early days yet, let's see if there is an appetite locally for small Chinese built plant.
Agreements had been made and I was being paid eight thousand pounds sterling a month into a Bangladeshi bank. I had set up an account in the Caymans, amazing how easy such things are these days, and would be transferring half of the Bangladeshi money to there, I would have irons in two fires should I need them. I was also being paid two thousand pounds sterling a month into my new UK business account. That I would declare and pay tax and national insurance on. There was no point in setting up a pension plan, one reason was that I was using a false identity, the other being that people in my line of work didn't usually retire and collect a pension. No, my foreign accounts were my pension plan. Any odd cash that Ali gave me I was stashing in a safe box in the garage roof. Flight funds if you will.
The bath water was warm and lapped over my groin, a small tickle of pleasure, not enough to warrant play, but enough to give me a pleasant glow. Once finished and dried I went and selected my lingerie. Peach lace bra and suspender belt, no knickers of course, hate the things, and an ivory mid length dress with deep front to show my cleavage. This would be worn with black patent four inch heels and sheer nude stockings with a rear seam. I knew that I would look stunning, a lot of money had been invested in my body by the Government, mostly so that other parts of the government couldn't find the real me, but it gave me a heck of a confidence when I had to undertake these undercover roles. Far more confidence than I had ever had as Emily.
At the appointed time Ali rang my door bell and I left the house, locked up and followed him to his car. It was a short journey, relatively, to the restaurant, just on the outskirt of central Bradford, which was a surprise as Bradford wasn't known for Chinese cuisine. We were shown to a ground floor table that wasn't next to the window or to the kitchens, a pretty good spot.
We looked through the menu's and chose the crispy duck pancakes to start, doesn't everyone? Mains were to be a curry for Ali and a special chow mein for me. Bottled water and a glass of white wine for me, Ali having a Chinese beer.
"I hope that these venture works," I said to Ali.
"Indeed, but if it doesn't, we will simply try something else. It is a very good idea that you had, certainly not one I would have thought of, my ideas were limited pretty much to small cash ventures such as Barber shops or Pizza houses."
"And they are fine, but they are well known by the Revenue to be potential money laundering ventures, it puts you under the spotlight. This is totally different. It might only do a few thousand each month at each site, but it should be invisible to the Revenue. Plus it has provided a conduit for your other requirement." That of course being his gun running.
We chatted over the starters, mostly how we hoped to take the ventures forward and I was just finishing my glass of wine when Ali grabbed my arm.
"Hush Liz. Go to the toilet, go now and stay there for ten minutes, just do as I say, go."
I just looked at him? What was he going on about?
"Liz, go now, I am not joking. When you come out, get an Uber home."
The penny suddenly dropped, okay, so, rather than the toilets I walked past them into the kitchens, and out of the other side and into a different street. I dialled the special number Ali had given me for his drivers, the Ali's Uber number, and called it.
"It's Liz, there's an Issue."
"I can see you," the driver said, "get in the back and sit down low."
Up the street a car flashed its lights and then accelerated and stopped next to me, I got in the back.
The driver was talking on his mobile phone, he didn't realise, but I could understand every word. He was telling someone to get people here now, that the Boss was in trouble, come prepared.
"Right Liz, let's get you home, I am sure the Boss will want to know that you are safe."
"Thank you," I said, "I have no idea why, but he just told me to go and hide for ten minutes. I thought it best to ring you."
"You did the right thing. Now, enjoy the ride, we won't be speeding or calling attention to ourselves."
I sat back. I guessed Ali spotted an enemy or a rival crime lord or whatever they called each other, and not knowing how it might go, he just wanted me out of harm's way. It took about fifteen minutes to get home, and once inside I closed and locked the door, made myself a cup of tea, and sat in the lounge looking out. I had the lights off, no one could see me, but I would see anyone outside.
I could see Victor standing at the edge of his drive looking down the street. I had never noticed him do that before. The Uber that bought me home was a legitimate Uber taxi, the driver just had a different private mobile number. It would look like an innocent regular taxi, so nothing to arouse suspicion. What was Victor up to?
I sat there for about an hour before Ali appeared. Victor had gone in a few minutes before and so the bit of the street I could see was empty. Ali walked up my drive. I got up and unlocked and opened my door.
"What was that all about?" I asked him.
He shut the front door behind me and we went and sat in the lounge, again with the lights off.
"I have competitors," he said, "and sometimes, they see things differently to me."
"Was it an attempted hit?" I asked, it was all I could think of.
"I believed so. However, what you did, which was an excellent piece of thinking, meant that my men were able to turn the tables."
"Do you know who your competitor is?"
"Indirectly. No one actually knows what he looks like. He runs Leeds, but it is all done remotely, not even his people ever see him. He could be in jail for all I know, although I doubt that, but he will be sent a message. He may want to take over Bradford, but he will meet more resistance than he will be able to deal with."
"When was he last seen? I am assuming it is a man, are there any female bosses?"
"About six or so years ago, but his organisation has grown with him at the helm but invisible. He could be anywhere."
He put his hand in his pocket and brought out a gun and put it on the table.
"Take this, carry it with you in your handbag. It is small and will save your life one day."
I knew guns, I had trained on them, and this was a SIG Sauer P365. But Ali didn't need to know that I knew about guns.
"What? A gun? I have no idea how to use a gun."
He picked the gun up. "This lever is the safety. Up means it won't fire, down means it will. Then you just point and squeeze the trigger. Keep it in your handbag."
"Aren't guns individual? If I fire it won't the police be able to track it back to this gun?"
"Every gun is honed after it is fired, that means that the rifling is new, no one can trace this gun."
"I have no idea what that means, but okay. I don't like guns."
"It will save your life."
"What happened after I left?"
"Three men came in and were about to take me away when my team appeared and instead we took them away."
"What happened to them?"
