A Very Corporate Affair book 3 (The Corporate series) (2 page)

"Not really. Just be aware that the other directors will begin jostling for position, should the worst happen."

"Do any of the other directors have direct links to the KGB?" I fixed Ranenkiov with a hard stare. He shifted in his seat slightly.

"I do, my brother in law works for them. To my knowledge, nobody else has a direct link, but saying that, corruption is common in Russia, and there's a lot at stake here."

"Am I the only one who actually wants him back alive and in one piece?" My mind was reeling from the realisation that there was nobody around me that I could truly trust. "What all of you seem to be unaware of, is that there is a plan in place in the event of Ivan's death. He dies, most of you lose your jobs. It's in everyone's interests that he comes back."
Yeah, tell that to the other backstabbers.

Ranenkiov's eyes narrowed. "Have you seen the plans?"

"My boss drew them up for him. As you know, Ivan is the ultimate control freak, and that will extend after his death. The other directors should be careful what they wish for."

"You have my full support," he reassured me, "it would be a good idea for me to speak to the others, more privately, and remind them that Ivan would have made provision for this scenario. It would be far easier all round if we all worked together for the good of the company." He stood to leave. "Call on me anytime, I'll assist in whichever way I can. I'll also contact my brother in law, and see if there's any new information."

I thanked him, and reminded him to call me day or night as soon as he knew anything. I surreptitiously switched off the voice recording on my phone. As soon as I was alone, I switched Ivan's computer on. I scrolled through his emails, and saw the point the day before when he had stopped opening them. I clicked through, using google translate to switch them from Russian to English. I forwarded a few that contained reports through to my work email, and, satisfied that there was nothing of major importance to deal with, I closed down the email screen.

I clicked through the hard drive, finding mainly contracts and company reports. I sent some to my email to read through that evening, and changed the computer password before closing it down.

Ivan's secretary came in to introduce herself. She was a rather plain, dumpy woman in her late thirties called Galina. She seemed pleasant enough, although rather suspicious of me sitting in Ivan's office. I had seen her rather briefly before, so at least she knew I wasn't an imposter. She was genuinely upset at the news that Ivan had been kidnapped, and I noted, was the first member of his staff to express a modicum of emotion at the news. She went off to make a coffee, and my phone rang. It was Darius.

"Hi Elle, I just spoke to the Russian foreign secretary, and the negotiator they have in place. I have some news."

"Go on," I replied, thinking he sounded quite upbeat.

"Well, Ivan has British citizenship from when he claimed asylum here, so the Russian authorities are prepared to treat this differently from a domestic incident."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they will allow us to conduct a covert operation on their soil. Plus, here's the biggie, they'll even give us every assistance, provided we keep quiet about it, and assist them with their PR. they don't want to be seen to be allowing us in, if you see what I mean."

"Of course. I understand they don't want everyone of note suddenly kidnapped, and it would be embarrassing to have to admit that the British had to come and sort it out."

"The SAS have just set off for the Ural area. We have a decent idea of where the group are being held. They will do a recce, and hopefully get them out quickly, with no loss of life."

"Do we have a timeframe?" I fervently hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

"They want to do this quickly. Most kidnap negotiations are long and drawn out, so they won't be expecting anything yet. Russian forces tend to be clumsy and noisy, so sneaky arsed SAS men should be in and out before they even know what's happened."

"How risky is this?" I needed to know.

"There's always some risk Elle, but he's surrounded by his own guards. They are paid to take a bullet for him." He paused, "This is a major coup, being allowed to conduct a military operation on Russian soil. Our men are the best in the world at this type of thing. That's all the reassurance I can give you at the moment. Keep your phone with you at all times, and I'll call you the moment I know anything."

"Darius, thank you. It must have taken some doing to persuade the Kremlin to allow this."

"My pleasure. Listen, I have another call coming, so speak later." He cut the call. I sat back and thought about the conversation. I hadn't considered finding Darius and Oscar shagging to be a stroke of luck in my life before. Now it felt like enormous good fortune.

Galina returned with a cup of coffee, before asking if I required her for anything else that evening. I shook my head, and watched her leave. I was about to take a welcome sip of coffee, when the horrible, paranoid, thought struck me that I may well be a target now, and the only thing standing in the way of the other directors and ownership of Retinski, was me. I put down the cup, and made a mental note not to eat or drink anything there.

I headed down to my own office. Lewis was surprised to see me, but was busy with a client. I said hi to Laura, and sat down to deal with my emails. We had Steve Robbins' float on Wednesday, and he would be arriving at our offices at eleven to watch proceedings. I noticed that Matt had been assigned to sit with him, but I thought I would have to do my best to at least put in an appearance to reassure Steve that I hadn't forgotten him. Laura came in with an extremely welcome cup of tea. I swigged it gratefully. It was the first time I'd relaxed since ten that morning.

"How was the funeral?" She asked softly.

"Surreal, horrible. This has got to be the worst day of my life."

"Have you been to Retinski head office yet? Lewis told me that you are acting MD till Ivan's released."

"Yes, and I wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms. It felt like I was the only one who wanted Ivan back safe and well. They were too busy planning how to fill their boots. The only civilised one was Ranenkiov." Laura looked sympathetic.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"I may need to ask you to fetch me a Starbucks on Monday. I'm terrified to drink anything there, in case it's made with a polonium tea bag. I'm also going to need a Russian translator, one who's signed an NDA. I can't use google translate for legal documents, it's not accurate enough."

"That bad? Oh Jesus Elle, aren't you worried about what you've got yourself into?"

"Yeah, I am a bit. I'm sure it will all be over soon enough."
Bloody hope so.

"I hope so for your sake. You really didn't deserve all this today. Well, if you need anything brought up on Monday, just call. I'll sort a translator first thing Monday morning."

I thanked Laura, and she gathered up her handbag and some shopping, and headed home. I glanced at the clock. It was nearly eight. The deli would be shut, and I was starving. I grabbed my handbag, and headed down in the lift. Roger was waiting outside for me. "Good evening Elle. Are you going home?"

"Please." I slid into the car gratefully.

"Jo suggested I take you to Sussex. It's more secure, and it'll stop the girls getting lonely."

I thought about it. I had a load of work to do, reading up on the companies. A fridge full of food, ready and waiting, sounded like heaven. "Are the security teams still guarding it?"

"Oh yes. It's 24/7 there, whether Ivan's present or not. It's the one place I can guarantee you'll be fine. I can arrange security at your flat if you want to stay in London though," he added hastily.

"Let me get my laptop, and we'll go to Sussex." We took just five minutes to get to my flat. I quickly grabbed my laptop, phone charger, and my book, and locked up. Within fifteen minutes I was back in the car, and heading South. On the way, I text Oscar to let him know where I was going, and sank into the seat. I was totally numb, both with shock, and anxiety at the tasks that lay ahead.

Oscar called to say he was on his way down too, and would come round the next day. I scrolled through the emails on my phone, reading one from Marakov to tell me the bank account had been set up, and the money transferred in. I hoped we wouldn't need to use it, but if a delaying tactic was needed, at least it was in place. 

The girls greeted me enthusiastically when I arrived, dancing around my feet, looking for fuss. I petted them, before heading into the kitchen to find Jo. She looked shell-shocked, and had clearly been crying. She pushed a glass of wine towards me, and a plate of steaming chicken casserole.

While I was eating, she described the events of that morning, and the night before, when it had become apparent that the plane hadn't taken off. I found out that Nico was Ivan's head of security, and in his absence, Roger was in charge. "Have you heard anymore news?" She asked.

"Yes, at this stage it's confidential, but I'm hopeful. I just want him back in one piece Jo. His staff were bastards to me at headquarters today, and I feel out of my depth, and, and, " a sob broke free, and the dam burst. All the emotions of the day poured out in an unrelenting flow of tears. Jo handed me a square of kitchen roll, and I blew my nose. I had known I'd be fighting to keep everything safe for his return, what I hadn't considered was how bereft and scared I'd be for Ivan himself. I missed him.

"Those men should be ashamed of themselves, they should have been helping you, not behaving like the callous, greedy buggers that they are. Ivan will be appalled at them."

We were interrupted by my phone ringing again. I walked out onto the terrace to answer it."Hi Darius, what's the news?"

"He's been located. Now, the terrorists are getting edgy with the negotiator over the money. Is there any in place yet? We need a distraction to keep them talking for another few hours."

"Yep, money's in place. Let me open my laptop and give you the account number." I went back into the kitchen, opened my laptop, and scrolled through to find the email Marakov had sent. I reeled off the account details to Darius.

"Perfect, this should make them relax somewhat. Bit of luck they'll all be toasting their success with vodka. I'll call as soon as there's news."

"Ok, thanks." I cut the call, and turned to Jo, "he's been located."

"Let’s hope they can get him out in one piece," she replied.

Jo went home at around half ten, and I promised to let her know the moment there was any news. I put my phone on loud, and got into bed to begin reading the reports from the other directors. The two spaniels joined me, squashing their little bodies tightly up against mine, in a sort of doggy group hug.

I was too wired to sleep, so sat up till three in the morning, reading through the myriad complexities of Retinski. Eventually, my brain switched itself off, and I fell into a fitful doze.

I was woken early by my phone ringing. My brain immediately springing into action. "Morning Elle, just thought I'd let you know that a rescue operation is underway. I'll call you again the moment I have concrete news."

"Thanks Darius. Have you been up all night?"

"Caught a few hours on the couch in my office. This cooperation between our security services is a huge deal, so it's important that everyone gets it right.

"I bet. I'll speak to you soon I hope." We said our goodbyes, and he cut the call. I glanced at the bedside clock, it was half five. The two spaniels woke and stretched, before snuggling back to sleep. I had no chance of dozing off again, so got up and went down to the kitchen to make a coffee. I plugged my phone in to charge, and sat at the island with my laptop open, to carry on with the reports, although it was looking increasingly hopeful that I wouldn't need to understand the minutiae of the company quite so quickly.
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
My mother's words popped into my head.

Time seemed to pass interminably slowly that morning, as often happens when waiting for news. I was too jumpy to concentrate on the profit and loss reports that I was trying to read, so gave up, and clicked through all the news websites instead, just in case anything was being reported. Even the Reuters news agency had nothing new to say on the matter.

I made another coffee and some toast, which I just picked at. The knot in my stomach had grown to epic proportions, twisting my insides into a painful lump of anxiety. The longer this went on, the more fearful I became, sure that something had gone wrong.

Jo arrived at nine, announcing that she had come to keep me company, and that she couldn't just sit at home watching the news.

"The rescue attempt is underway, I'm waiting for news." I said. "It started at half five this morning, so I'd expected to hear something by now." I didn't want to actually voice my concern that something had gone wrong, but inside, I was certain that it had. It should have all been over hours ago. Jo's eyes filled with tears, as the implication of what I'd just told her sank in. We both jumped when my phone began to ring. I ran outside to answer it.

"Hi Darius. What's the news?"

"He's out. They all are. Five terrorists dead. Sorry it took so long, but they didn't go in straightaway, as there were operational issues. He's aboard his jet heading to Moscow to refuel, so don't expect him to call you."

"Oh thank god he's safe. As long as I know he's ok, I can wait."

"Good, now the story is that Ivan's guards overpowered the terrorists and escaped. It must never come out how this really happened. You understand that?"

"Of course, my lips are sealed."

"Well, I know you're good at keeping secrets.....Ivan is being briefed on board the plane. Apparently he's in good health, and will give a brief press conference in Moscow while he waits for refuelling, so keep the news on, and you might see him for yourself."

"Will do, and Darius, thank you, and never, ever worry about my ability to keep a secret."

"Glad to help, enjoy your weekend."