The celebration at Robert Leighton’s home marked the successful end to a most unusual mission for Max Fortune and Carla Day. It also celebrated Robert’s promotion.
Sam had asked Max and Carla to track down a blackmailer and destroy any evidence which compromised his brother Robert, a senior administrator in MI5.
Robert knew Sam could get things done and it would remain totally secret. Even after using the resources of MI5, Robert could discover nothing about his brother’s activities and still had no idea of the power at Sam’s command.
Their just-completed mission had been to trace (and if necessary, eliminate) a blackmailer who had recorded a private conversation between Robert and a woman from Homeland Security, in a prestigious London hotel. Although such unofficial meetings are common, making this recording public would have killed their careers.
What made this mission unusual? That it was of no benefit to The Organization.
The Organization’s business model worked by linking people, finance, inventions and businesses to one another and making money from it in the form of fees, shares or commissions. With their international business connections, they had key people working for them in all strategic posts. These key persons always presented themselves as shareholders or sent innocuous invoices for “services rendered”, never anything significant or revealing, so all investigation to uncover them remained futile.
Max and Carla were not private detectives or spies; they were trained and employed, with others, as trouble shooters and undercover key operators for The Organization. Although nearing fifty, Max’s physique was that of a very fit man around thirty five. He was ruggedly handsome, of average build and nearly six feet tall. Carla was a lithe and very athletic twenty eight year old petite blond, just over five feet three inches tall. They were the perfect team, Max had a creative and ingenious way of getting out of trouble, preferring brain to brawn. Danger scared him, but it never diminished his resolve, it just made him careful. Carla used all gods’ gifts, shamelessly. To her, they were her tools and she knew how to use them to get what she wanted. They also loved each other deeply, a mixture of mutual admiration, adoration, trust and passion. Individually they were brilliant, combined they were formidable. The definition of “Counterpoint”.
In another recent typical mission, Max and Carla were chosen to investigate a carved stone that was exposed during deep excavations for building foundations in Egypt. When they found that it was part of a tunnel leading to a tomb, their mission suddenly changed. Now they were instructed to empty the tomb and conceal it totally, keeping its discovery secret from the Egyptian authorities, who would otherwise stop the building work and thus cost The Organization countless millions to reposition the building.
In addition, jars found in the tomb contained substances with valuable medicinal properties. These would be exploited by The Organization through specially set-up pharmaceutical companies. The medicines based on these substances, marketed at a future date, would yield phenomenal windfall profits.
During their mission to protect Robert, Max and Carla discovered the blackmailer had also recorded the activities of other high profile people who had been developing a terrorist plot to murder thousands at the London Olympics.
Even though the recordings were passed on to MI5, they were dismissed as a smear campaign against the highly-placed persons involved. The intelligence was not credible, so MI5 did nothing. It then fell to Max, Carla and Robert to extract confessions from the conspirators and leave them tied up so that arrests could be made by MI5. Robert was projected as the person who uncovered the plot and whose investigative efforts led to the arrests of the leaders and terrorist cells; his promotion in MI5 naturally followed.
Meanwhile, the security forces were hell-bent on finding Max and Carla, who had broken all rules to achieve their ends. MI5 were also upset because Max, Carla and the terrorists slipped through their cordon during a shoot-out in London.
At the celebration, Carla gave Robert Leighton the DVD containing the incriminating evidence against him. She watched as he snapped the disc into fragments and threw them disdainfully into a waste bin.
“You do realize, Robert, that had it not been for your indiscretion, the terrorist plot to murder thousands of innocent souls would never have been discovered. I like to see the positive outcome.”
“You are right, of course. It is a wonderful feeling to be free of this threat to my freedom and way of life. Thank you, Carla and please thank Max for me.” She drifted away and circulated with the guests.
Neither Carla nor Max actually liked Robert; he was diametrically opposite to his brother. They saw the charming and charismatic Robert for what he was deep down: selfish, cold and ruthless, perhaps ideal qualities for senior MI5 staff.
It was, however, part of the plan that Max and Carla would be the fall guys. Robert had to remain unimpeachable and to be credited with the success of the foiled plot. Plenty of false leads were left to confuse the security forces. Sooner or later they would give up the chase, but in the meantime, Max and Carla were hiding in plain sight as guests at this party. The house was packed with guests, many curious about this striking couple. Robert anticipated his friends’ probing and had already created suitable cover stories.
After getting Sam’s call about their next mission, Max informed Carla, and they planned to leave. Hand in hand, Max and Carla came out. Their taxi was arriving just as they reached the gate-.