Legacy. Jeff Edwards
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El Kalil. Unexplained money always worried El Kalil and unexplained money this close to El Kalil’s operational base worried him very, very much.
El Kalil’s people saw him as a freedom fighter but the Americans called him a terrorist. To El Kalil, however, it was only the opinions of his own people that mattered. He was a charismatic leader who drew in men, and the occasional woman, and turned them into dedicated fighters, totally willing to die for the greater good. He was successful because he knew what was going on around him. Ever vigilant, there was nothing too small for him to overlook.
Selected from among the young men of the refugee camp in Palestine, he trained long and hard at his profession. Organising several successful assassinations had cemented his fame and young men flocked to him, willing to carry his bombs into the heart of the enemy’s cities, detonating them with devastating effect among its citizens.
El Kalil’s suspicions of those around him had alerted him to the possibility of his cell being infiltrated, allowing him to escape moments before the Mossad attack. Forced to flee, he had entered Britain using one of his many false identities.
It took him little time to establish himself in the local community, where he now commanded a small, but effective, cell of agents. All was in place for them to start operations. El Kalil was just waiting for instructions from the old men.
Still, El Kalil was troubled by Ali Akuba’s new found wealth. The Nigerian had worked as a taxi driver for years, always the back-up driver for some other taxi owner. Never making more than enough to support his family. They were not destitute, but neither were they well-to-do.
Suddenly, the men at the mosque had congratulated Akuba on his purchase of a taxi licence and taxi. Now he worked for himself and hired others to drive for him.
No one knew where the money had come from. Akuba didn’t say. The man didn’t gamble and he had shown no sign of having any relatives or friends substantial enough to have loaned him the money, or rich enough to have left it to him in a will.
El Kalil’s cell had checked with friends in Akuba’s bank. He had not borrowed the money from any source that they could determine.
That left Akuba performing some sort of illegal activity or, as El Kalil feared, Akuba had received the money from selling information and the sort of information that would bring in sufficient money to buy a licence, would have to be important. Like the location of a terrorist cell, possibly his cell.
If Akuba was selling information, he had to be eliminated. Quickly. If, on the other hand, he were up to something illegal to earn the money, it would be good for El Kalil to know what that activity was. With such information he could blackmail Akuba into supplying much needed funds to his cell.
El Kalil decided Akuba should be put to the test.
Two young men he knew were selected. They were expendable because they had expressed a wish to join the cell, but had yet to be accepted. They knew nothing, and could reveal nothing, if arrested.
They were instructed to take a ride in Akuba’s cab. During their trip, they were told to discuss a ‘mission’ they were to take part in, giving the time and place it was supposedly due to take place.
El Kalil and his men waited out of sight, observing the ‘mission’ site. Nothing happened at the time given. Akuba had not passed the information on to the authorities.
‘It looks like our friend is doing something else to make money,’ he thought to himself.
Members of his cell followed Akuba as best they could and talked to his neighbours and friends. None of them had any idea where Akuba’s new found wealth had come from and it did not appear he was doing anything out of the ordinary.
El Kalil was frustrated. Something was happening yet Akuba continued to act with utter normality.
They would continue to keep a close watch on the man.
Chapter Eleven
Mrs Green waited until she saw Brian leave the office and drive off. With Toby and Suzie in London, she was alone in the gallery. She locked up and climbed the stairs to the office of Grant & Associates, where she asked the receptionist if she could talk to Brian’s assistant, solicitor Mark Scott.
Mark welcomed her warmly, before escorting her into his office. They had known each other since he and Ellen had helped Brian and Lana move into their house.
‘What can I do for you, Mrs Green?’ he smiled.
‘I want you to do some work for me, but it has to be very confidential. I’d prefer it if Brian didn’t find out about it.’
Mark moved in his chair as he absorbed what Mrs Green was saying.
‘I know how that sounds Mark, but it’s just that I want to keep what I’m doing secret for the moment. I want to surprise everyone later.’
Feeling better about her request, he asked: ‘What is it that you want to do?’
‘I need to conduct some confidential business and I don’t want my name to be connected with it.’
‘So you’ll need a name, but not your own.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I suggest you buy a company. There are places that create companies specifically for that purpose.’
‘Is it complicated?’
‘Lots of people do it.’
‘How soon can we start?’
‘We already have. I’ll get it all under way and when I need any papers signed I’ll bring them down to you.’
Over the next weeks, Mrs Green became the owner of a limited liability company as the one and only shareholder of the Glimgrow Corporation.
Glimgrow opened an account with the local bank and funds were transferred to the account from an overseas bank located in Jersey.
Glimgrow was then issued with a corporate credit card. The company refused the offer of a cheque account but they did accept a PIN to be able to withdraw cash from the bank’s teller machines.
With a suitable corporate structure created, Mrs Green went to work.
Using the credit card, she gave Glimgrow an address. She obtained a post office box at the central post office in London and lodged a redirection notice diverting all mail from the first post office, to a second post office box located in Walton Village. The second post office box was in Toby’s name. He just didn’t know anything about it. Everyone in the village knew Mrs Green worked for Toby so there had been no need for her to produce any identification on Toby’s behalf when she ordered the box.
Next, the company paid several months rent in advance to rent a lock-up garage in a self-storage complex in London, much to the delight of the owners of the complex.
Mrs Green then scanned the papers, seeking just the right sort of vehicle to store in the company’s new garage.
It took a week, but finally she found what she was looking for.
When she rang the car yard, however, she was disappointed to find the car had already been sold. She asked if they had something else that might fit the bill, but there was nothing in that limited field. The salesman, determined not to lose a potential client, especially one who appeared prepared to spend the sum of money involved, kept Mrs Green on the line while he made a quick internet search.
Several minutes later he had a list of similar vehicles. Reading through them, and describing them to Mrs Green, he knew he had her when she gave an involuntary gasp.
She