Murder on the High Seas - The Devereaux CaseFiles Book 3

Chapter 9

Amilo wasn't having the best time undercover. He envied Fred for his cushy office job, attending meetings, hanging round the water cooler with gorgeous women and having a secretary to do his errands for him. And what did he get? He got a stuffy old uniform and had to stand on his feet all day long. He couldn't have been a security guard at the front reception desk. No, that would have meant giving him a seat and letting him get off his feet for a while. Instead he got to stand for four hours, have a forty five minute lunch break and then get back on his feet for another five hours. It was hardly a walk in the park and he was getting bored with it after only a week. His feet were killing him, his back ached and he went home to the apartments, to Jade, in a foul mood. He could have thought of better weeks. But every time he complained to Raidon, asking for a place at the reception desk or anywhere he could take a rest, he got told the same thing over and over again.

"We need you in the background Amilo, this job is very important. You do this for me and from now on you can pick your own positions in your job." He explained, practically patronizing him since he knew fine well that unless he was in charge, he would have to do whatever he was told to do. He might get someone to listen to his complaints better but that was about all he would get. He was just going to have to work his way up the ladder and make sure that one day soon, he was the man in charge.

The only problem was that Amilo knew he didn't fit in as well as the other crew members did. He was a big tough, well built guy who looked as if he was a bouncer in a nightclub. Nobody thought that in his case, appearances were most definitely deceiving. He was smart, so he didn't speak great English to begin with but ever since he had met Raidon, they had been working on that. Jade had even put him through one of those college courses for foreign students to learn English and he had passed recently. He was flexible and he knew that he could be better utilized than putting him in every job as the muscle. He spoke three languages now, his mother tongue, English and French, not to mention that he looked damned good in a business suit.

But he was never going to get his break if he didn't prove to them just how valuable he could be. He had worked his butt off all week without seeing any sign of the inside trader or his partner, who could have been anyone from another financial guru, one of the cleaning or security staff or even a relative who popped in now and then. So when it came time for his usual Monday afternoon report to Raidon, he decided to put his best foot forward and see what he said.

"So...how's it going? Is there any clue as to who the inside trader could be?" Raidon asked as he leant across his desk, waiting to hear if they had managed to get any information yet. His reports from Fred were leaving him with no information and no clue as to who they were looking for. It was a big deal. Murray's boss Albert had called him himself to tell him of the job, asking him to handle it discretely and quickly because someone was milking millions from insider trading and they were doing it with the help of some sort of criminal genius. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew Rudy had been dealt with, he would have been his first suspect. But he didn't even have a suspect and it was irritating him.

"Not yet. But I was thinking that this evening, when it's quiet, I could take a look inside some of the offices. I'm a dab hand with the computer you know." Amilo explained much to Raidon's disapproval. He was sure that in some way he was computer literate and maybe even as good with them as Gideon used to be, but he had numerous reasons not to put him in that position. He didn't like that he had to keep reminding him of that. He couldn't just trust that he was capable of things without proof.

"I'm sorry Amilo but I can't do that. If you get caught," He began, unable to finish his sentence because Amilo jumped in and interrupted him.

"I'm not a child. I can handle myself. If I get into trouble then you can trust me to get back out of it again." He sighed, feeling as if he was arguing with a parent to trust him to go out and be safe and not get into trouble. He didn't appreciate being called 'valuable' without being shown proof of just what he was valuable for. He wasn't a chunk of muscle to do the dirty work and Raidon had better learn that quickly before he defected.