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CHAPTER EIGHT

Saturday morning

"...ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred," Danny counted as he finished his push-ups.

He got up and threw himself onto a couch behind him, gasping, trying to catch his breath. He sat on the couch until his breathing was normal again and then took a quick cold shower. Afterwards, he put on one of his best suits and ate some cereal with milk for breakfast.

It was a few minutes before nine o'clock when he took his phone out and called his associates.

"Antonio. Are you guys coming?"

"Yes boss. We are almost there."

"Okay."

Danny ended the call.

At exactly, nine o'clock they arrived.

"Come in guys. You're right on time," Danny said as he escorted them inside his apartment.

"We learnt from the best, boss," Antonio said.

Danny laughed.

"I see. That's good."

They proceeded to sit around his dining table. Once all five of them were seated, Danny began explaining the job to them.

"I'm sure you all know why we are here today. We must provide security for a party my friend is hosting today. It's high-end stuff so you know we'll get paid well. We just need to make sure that the place is secure and that nothing bad happens while we are there. The party begins at around noon and ends at around sunset. Guests will probably start arriving at around eleven, so we should get there before ten-thirty. Are there any questions?"

"Just one, boss," Ricardo said.

"Exactly what level of security are we talking here?"

"As I said, my client and his guests are high-ranking, high net-worth individuals, and so the security can only be the best. We are talking maximum security here guys. You get it?"

"Yes boss," they all said, nodding.

"It is ten minutes past nine right now, so I'm giving you guys not more than an hour to get ready and acquire the necessary tools. Meet me back here at ten past ten and we'll go to the party together. It's less than twenty minutes away by road so we'll make it there before ten-thirty."

"Okay boss," Antonio said.

The four men left the apartment. They drove to Antonio's house.

When they arrived there, they entered his house and went down into his basement where he stored the tools they used for their jobs. Antonio opened a big case and started handing out guns to the others.

"There you go Ricardo," he said, handing him an automatic pistol.

"Joe, Rick. These are yours; and I'll take this one," he added as he handed Joe and Rick an assault riffle each and took a sniper rifle for himself.

After handing out weapons, Antonio took out two large boxes containing the disassembled parts of a walk-through metal detector and other devices like binoculars and motion sensor systems.

"Okay, I think that's all we'll need for today," he said.

"We'll need vests, Antonio," Rick suggested.

"Oh yes. I forgot about them, thanks."

He took out bulletproof vests from a box and handed them out, taking one for himself and one extra for Danny.

"That should be enough now. Let's load the stuff in the truck and get going."

They put their bulletproof vests on, took their firearms and carried the two boxes to the truck, and then drove back to Danny's apartment.

"You're back already. I like your new-found efficiency."

A few cars passed by as Danny spoke with the four, who had just arrived, outside of his apartment.

"It is fifteen minutes before ten now so you are about twenty five minutes early. That's good. Let me just grab my car keys so we can go."

Danny went inside his apartment for a few seconds before showing up outside again with his car keys in hand. He locked his apartment's door and went inside his car, which he had parked beside the road.

The two cars went out of the street where Danny's apartment was and made their way onto the freeway. Jake's holiday home was located only just out of town and was quite near the city. It took them a little more than twenty minutes to arrive at the house's gate.

The gate was closed and two guards were standing in front of it. They walked to Danny's car and stood beside it. Danny brought his window down.

"Identification please," one of the guards said to Danny.

Danny took out his business card and showed it to the guard.

"Danny Rogers, at your service."

The guard examined the card and when he recognized Danny as being the person his boss had told him to let in, he quickly gave him back his card and walked back to the gate.

The guard then ordered the gate to be opened and Danny and his partners drove in. They drove up a long and curvy driveway, leading to the house's entrance. They parked their cars in the parking area, a few feet away from the house.

"Wow. Nice place the guy has got here, isn't it?" Ricardo said.

They parked their car.

"Yeah. It's quite elegant," Antonio said, switching off the car.

"I bet the money is going to be better than we expected," Joe said.

"Of course it will," Rick said.

"Yes, but this also means that we have to be extra careful. This guy probably has more enemies than friends, if you know what I mean," Antonio added.

"Yes, you're right Antonio. Let's keep level heads guys," Ricardo said.

All five of them got out of their cars and walked toward the house's main entrance, with Danny leading the way. Jake had already been informed of their arrival and was waiting for them by the entrance, with two guards beside him.

As they approached Jake, he smiled at them, and they smiled back.

"Jake Waters. Looks better than before, every time I see him."

Danny shook hands with Jake.

"Danny Rogers. Always with the compliments. You look great yourself; as fit as ever," Jake replied.

"These are my associates, Antonio, Ricardo, Joe and Rick," Danny said, as each of them took turns to shake Jake's hand.

"This is Mr. Jake Waters. He owns this place and he is the one who hired us," he said gesturing at Jake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," they all said.

"Now that the introductions are done, you guys can start setting up the system, while Mr. Waters and I discuss a few things," Danny said to the four.

"Yes, the guests will start coming in about an hour, so it's best you start now," Jake added.

"Rico here will show you around and will see to any special requests you might have," he mentioned, gesturing at one of the guards standing beside him.

"Yes sir," the guard said.

"Now, if you'll excuse us."

Jake went into the house with Danny. They walked through the lounge, and headed towards Jake's private office. They went past maids who were doing their work; some cleaning and some re-arranging furniture.

Danny noticed that all of them were Latino women, with most being unmistakably voluptuous. He passed on his observation to Jake, who just smiled and said, "Only the best for me, man. I'm not a married man, remember? And you are still unmarried too, I presume."

"Yeah. I don't see the need to be."

Danny laughed.

"It's good to see you still have taste."

As they walked, Danny imagined Jake interviewing the maids before hiring them, and the criteria he would have used in his selection, and it brought a grin to his face.

They entered the office and Jake closed the door. He offered Danny a seat on one of the couches in the room. Danny sat down, let out a sigh, and then took a big breath.

"Not one thing changed in this office since the last time I was here, besides the new computer," he said as he looked around the room.

"I like order and familiarity. It makes it easy for me to see when something has been tempered with, you know," Jake said, as he walked to his mini-bar.

"Anything to drink?" he asked.

"Whiskey, on the rocks," Danny answered.

Jake took a full bottle of whiskey, an ice container and two glasses, and then placed them on a small table in front of Danny. He sat down on the other couch, which was placed opposite the one Danny sat on.

"We might need more than one glass each for what I'm going to tell you," he said while he put ice in the two glasses and poured the whiskey.

"I had a feeling you would say that. Anyway, tell me what you want done. Give me all the details, A to Z like a pangram."

Jake smiled, swigged his whiskey and then cleared his throat. Danny just took a sip of his whiskey and looked at Jake.

"I need you to convey messages to someone and monitor their progress on certain tasks," he started.

Danny sipped his whiskey again and nodded his head.

Jake continued, "I have a mission I want to accomplish, but it involves the use of a rather weak, but smart man. This man has to do certain things at certain times and places without fail, according to what I have planned."

He paused, took a sip of whiskey and then added, "Of course, we will need to get rid of him afterwards."

Danny intently looked at Jake as he explained, giving nods of the head where he deemed appropriate, with his glass of whiskey in hand, occasionally sipping it.

Jake picked up a flat file from the top of a small table adjacent to the couch he sat on. He handed it to Danny and took a mouthful of whiskey in a gulp, this time emptying the glass. Danny opened the file and, as he studied it, Jake refilled his own glass and proceeded to explain further.

"Rupert Blake, software programmer, now Head of Internal Security at Leadsway," Jake said.

Danny took a mouthful of whiskey and left the glass half-empty. He observed the first page of the file and saw a picture of Rupert and his personal details; a brief description of his history; and details of his current occupation, criminal record and residence.

"Oh, it's him," he said and hawed before continuing.

"I see, Jake."

Danny flipped to the next page in the file and saw a picture of Rupert's wife and daughter, and their details.

"He's married and has one daughter," Jake said.

Danny nodded and turned to the next page and saw pictures of all three and codenames assigned to them. Rupert's codename was Fox, his wife's was Hen and his daughter's was Butterfly.

"These codenames are fairly easy to remember. I must commend you on your selection," Danny said lightheartedly and smiled.

Jake chuckled and said, "Well, I did put some thought into this plan."

He then cleared his throat and added, "Once you are done studying that file, throw it in the fireplace there, and make sure it is completely destroyed. I can't afford to have any loose ends."

Danny nodded and continued studying the file while Jake drank his whiskey slowly as if caught up in deep thought. There was silence in the room for about a minute, before Jake broke it.

"There is one more thing, though."

"Yeah?"

"I have sent a smartphone to your residence via my men and it should be in your mailbox by sunset. On that smartphone there is a special software codenamed LINK. It is equipped with the latest encryption technology proprietary to Secusol. It is, simply put, the only software that the smartphone is capable of running because I had my people modify it to suit this purpose. So, to avoid traced calls, you are to make all calls to the subjects or to me with LINK's built-in calling system."

He paused, sipped his whiskey and then continued, "I repeat, the device is configured to use LINK to do everything and no other software can run on it. Sound recording, calendar, Internet browsing and emails are all done using it and I, of course, will be able to see everything you do with LINK. Your username to login is DANNYLINK, one word and all capital letters; and your password is today's date, in the format year-month-day. Login will only be possible between nine and eleven tonight, after which the device will lock down and be rendered useless, if you have not logged in yet. You can only do three failed attempts to login, after which the device will lock down. I will provide you with further details of your job through LINK. Do you have any questions?"

"No. You've made yourself crystal clear, Jake. I must say this is a well-thought-out plan and I'll probably enjoy this job."

Danny then emptied his glass with one gulp.

"Oh, I know you will enjoy it."

Danny quickly browsed the file again, flipping the pages and memorizing important details. He then stood up, walked to the fireplace, and threw the file into the fire. He watched the flames engulf the file and burn it to ashes.

He then walked back to the couch, sat down and poured himself another glass of whiskey. He sipped it and lifted his head to face Jake and their eyes met.

Just as Danny was about to speak, Jake beat him to it and answered his question before he asked.

"First installment is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, cash. You'll get the location of the pickup via LINK. Call it a deposit or handsel if you wish. The next payments will be made on a task by task basis, paid out upon the successful completion of the task. The amounts will vary with the complexity of the tasks, all of which you'll be notified of via LINK."

"That's what I like about you. You're always on point, never beating around the bush. Anyway—" he said and paused, "I think this is a good deal. This aside though, what about—"

"Fifteen thousand dollars cash, at the end of the party. That will be around eight o'clock."

"Okay. That's alright with me. Three thousand dollars apiece will surely satisfy my guys," Danny said.

"Good then. If you don't have any more questions, let's end this meeting and welcome the guests to the party," Jake said.

"No more questions from me, let's go."

They both finished their drinks, and left the office.