22 - Chapter 21

Tasha almost fell asleep during her massage, only coming back to full consciousness when she was asked to reposition by her masseuse. She felt a lot more relaxed and returned to her room.

She spent a few minutes looking at the latest news on the hunt for the missing vampire, but gleaned nothing new. She did notice that details of her location and activities were not being shared strongly hinting that those around her were aware of her proclivities. Tasha had still not decided if she should return to London, or stay in Kuala Lumpur. She decided to sleep on it.

Tasha slept in and woke up in the early afternoon. She decided to get in a leisurely swim before going for lunch. She spent an hour lazing in the pool. As it was the middle of the day, the pool was relatively busy, so she kept her swimming speed down to levels that would not raise suspicion.

After the swim she spent a little time in the sauna. After a quick shower she choose the hotel restaurant for her midday repast. As she enjoyed her meal, Tasha reviewed her open quests.

Open Quests: 4

Quest A1: Self sufficient (Chain Quest)

Purchase land to create your own self sufficient town

Reward: Quest Points

Status: In Progress

Quest B1: Make your second significant investment (Chain Quest)

Make your second significant investment

Reward: Quest Points, more items in shop

Status: In Progress

Quest C1: reach for the sky (Chain Quest)

Finalise designs for the satellite monitoring station and break ground in the location picked for quest A1

Reward: Quest points, technical knowledge

Status: In Progress

Quest D1: Avenge your family (Chain Quest)

Investigate the activities of the syndicate and find out which branches were operating in the city when your family’s accident occurred. Now that you know the supernatural world exists, find and cultivate resources in this shadowy world. Remember greed transcends species.

Reward: Quest Points, Knowledge of your family’s fate

Status: In Progress

All four quests offered her a path forward, but it seemed that she had picked all the low hanging fruit. The rest of the quests would require her to properly plan. They would also require her to put her nascent organisation on a firmer footing.

In an effort to complete the first quest that had led her here, she had rushed around buying organisations to create the start of a global organisation. However it was just a start, you couldn't just throw people together and expect an organisation to just come together. Then there were the quests, each required a lot of organisation effort to push to the next step.

She would need to think about where she wanted to invest next. She also needed to minimise her risk profile. If anyone had reason to trace her financial transactions, it could put her in the cross hairs of the family who had lost their little vampire. She thought through her options for hiding her real reason for being in malaysia.

Then it hit her, she would need access to raw materials amongst other resources if she was to fulfil her aims of launching a global satellite network. To that end she started to research large privately owned mining consortiums. She needed a company that had access to rare earth metals. That would justify her visit to Malaysia, especially if she purchased a significant portion of the company.

She would also need a local law firm to facilitate the transaction. She checked the time, it was early morning back in London, she would need to wait a few hours before getting Sunny working on it.

She went back to her room and spent the time researching local companies she could target. She wanted both a mining conglomerate that had rights to rare earth metals, and a refiner that could process the raw materials. She also looked up details of the ministry responsible for mining operations in Malaysia. Having high level local contacts would help her hide the nature of her visits.

Once it was a reasonable hour in London, she called Sunny, waking him up.

“Hello, do you have any idea what time it is?” he asked groggily after answering her phone. “What do you need?”

“I need a high profile lawyer in Kuala Lumpur,” replied Tasha, getting to the point. “I want to buy some mining and refining companies here. Also if they have access to the appropriate high level ministry contacts, even better. We can sell it to the ministry as working to bring in foreign investment.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You just thought of this now?” replied Sunny, “If you would have given me a heads up, then we could have been working on it for the last few days.”

“You will get used to how we do things,” replied Tasha, “You will learn to be proactive, in future, if i am travelling to a country and we don't have local representation, then start looking at where we can expand. Now do you have any local contacts?”

“As it happens, I do.” replied Sunny now fully awake. “I went to university with a Malaysian, he returned back to KL to practice there. If I remember correctly, he has his own law firm. Let me call him and get him to come and meet you.”

“I am happy to meet him, but he will be reporting in to you.” replied Tasha. “You will need to take over responsibility for all our legal teams globally. Speak to James and plan your direct team size accordingly. In fact either look at buying in one or more larger law firms that operate globally, or start to build out a team of talented individuals. We need global coverage, starting with the major nations, with a focus on the far east.”

Sunny sighed, he knew, from the speed at which his own firm had been acquired, that Tasha liked to move fast. He understood that she had ambitions to grow the businesses into a global leader, but even he was surprised by the speed at which she was making changes. “Let me get your meeting set up, and I will look at the wider remit later today.” with that he hung up.

Sunny looked up the details of his friend Mamat Raja. He came from a mixed family heritage. His family had been Malaysians for generations, but there was definitely some Indian heritage mixed in. They didn't use the traditional naming structures that were most common in using patronyms but used a more western style of name and surname.

“Hey Mamat, long time no speak.” said Sunny once Mamat answered his phone. “How are things? How is the family?”

“Sunny, it has been a long time.” replied Mamat, “Insallah, the family are doing well. How are things with you and yours?”

“Things are going well.” replied Sunny. “We just became under the umbrella of a much larger organisation, and I have taken over as head of legal for the group.”

“I was wondering why you were calling me,” chuckled Mamat, “It must be an ungodly hour in London.”

“Yes, it is unbearably early,” agreed Sunny. “But when your boss wakes you up with an urgent request, then there really is not much in the way of choice.”

“No I suppose there wouldn’t be.” mused Mamat. “So what do you need, and I am assuming this is urgent?”

“My boss likes to move fast once she has an idea,” replied Sunny. “So the things she wants done become urgent by default. Before we get into the details of my request. You have your own firm right? And also have excellent political contacts in the region?”

“Working for a woman,” replied Mamat “How is that going for you? And yes I am running my own firm, and yes I still have access to my own contacts as well as my family’s contacts.”

“She is more driven than anyone I have met before.” replied Sunny. “Don’t underestimate her when you meet her, just because she is a woman. She was actually in the special forces and served in combat operations. She is tougher than most men.”

“Really, you are serious?” replied Mamat, “I didn’t realise that any countries actually allowed women to be part of the special forces?”

“There are very few, and only Norway allows women to partake in full combat operations.” replied Sunny. “Anyway, the reason I asked is because of the way we work. She will want to buy into your firm for at least a 50% stake. Is that something you would be interested in?”

“It will depend, I will have to meet her.” replied Mamat. “What is her objective here in Malaysia?”

“I am not privy to all her plans.” replied Sunny. “I know she wants local representation globally as she has the ambition to create a global spanning organisation. Right now she wants to buy a couple of mining companies and refining operations.”

“Those are not small purchases,” mused Mamat, “Are you sure she can raise the capital? I wouldn't want to spend my political capital to push for a deal and then have to fall through due to funding concerns.”

“There won’t be any need to raise funding.” replied Sunny. “She is a cash buyer, not even board approvals are required..”

Mamat was astounded to hear that. Mining companies and the associated rights sold for hundreds of millions, if not billions. To be able to buy cash, and not even need sign offs, she must have some powerful VC backing.

“I can understand why she wants to have controlling ownership in the companies working for her” replied Mamat, “You were not wrong about her ambitions at aleast.”

“She is currently staying at the Mandarin Oriental and is waiting for you.” replied Sunny. “If we can get an initial agreement in place, then you can take it with you for her to sign.”

They spent some time going over the terms of the purchase and how they would manage the company becoming a foreign owned entity. It didn’t take long for them to agree to a way forward and Sunny went off to modify a standard contract to reflect their agreement.

While Mamat and Sunny were agreeing terms, Tasha was speaking to Hanna.

“We need boots on the ground here, and with local knowledge,” said Tasha, “Who can we get that we can trust? We need to expand operations and vet our purchases as well as progress on our original mandate.”

“There are a few groups we have worked with in the past that have operations in the south pacific.” replied Hanna after a moment of thought. “Do you want a focus on Malaysia, or a wider remit?”

“We can start with Malaysia,” replied Tasha. “But, as we planned, we need global coverage sooner rather than later. Things are progressing much faster than we anticipated, we will need to match pace to keep up. Send me a report on what we have uncovered so far. Also get cyber to scrub me.”

“How deep?” asked Hanna.

“KL is fine, everything else.” replied Tasha. “I have to go, Sunny is calling me. Confirm when it's done.”

She disconnected and took Sunny’s call.

“Hey, we have agreed terms. Mamat Raja, our latest addition to the team will be joining you shortly.” said Sunny without preamble. “He will bring the contract for your signature. The deal is in the same range as the others. It’s a little expensive for Malaysia, but his political connections are worth it.”

“Great job Sunny.” replied Tasha. “I will leave you to go back to bed.” she continued teasingly.

Tasha spent the time waiting for Mamat reviewing her game plan for the acquisitions, as well as what else she could achieve hidden under that intent.