23 - Chapter 22

**Hanna POV**

Hanna took a few minutes to think through the implications of her conversation with Tasha. She knew Tasha could not just come out and tell her the details of the operation even on an encrypted call.

That reminded her, she needed to add a sensitive compartmented information facility (SKIF) option for the new office. If conversations like this were to be had, then it would be a mandatory requirement.

Even though Tasha had not come out and said it, the tasks she had assigned and their timing told her a lot. She had gone out of Kuala Lumpur and had to take lethal action. More than likely that in some way involved this missing scion that Tasha had also asked her to investigate.

Now she was covering her tracks. That family was powerful and connected. The fact that Tasha had only asked for her phone records and tracking to be scrubbed meant that she was confident in having left no other evidence behind.

The conversation with Sunny and the deal she was trying to put together, whether successful or not, would provide a good legitimate reason for her visit to Malaysia. The only part that didn’t fit the narrative was the need for boots on the ground. The only way that would make sense was if there was still a significant and growing threat identified.

Otherwise why would Tasha not have left the country already? This was definitely a situation that would get worse before it got better.

Hanna went off to make calls and the appropriate arrangements to shield Tasha as best as she could. She decided to go a step further, and also scrub details of luggage. If, by chance, someone managed to get details of her shipping swords to Malaysia it would raise unnecessary questions. No matter what it took, she would make sure Tasha stayed safe.

**Kevin POV**

Kevin was still supporting Anita with the TA consulting accounts. It was the best way for him to keep an eye on what Tasha was up to. He had seen her jet off to Kuala Lumpur a couple of days back after checking the spend on her account.

Now her company had requested a substantial transfer to a law firm in the same city. She had sent off a large investment to UCL just the week before, and had been on a business buying spree covering a wide range of businesses.

The second made sense in a way, if you needed to build out a large company infrastructure fast, instead of hiring people one by one, you could buy a business and take on their entire team. He had even seen the bill for their welcome party that Anita had been invited to. It really galled him that she got to attend and he had to hide back at the bank.

Still that did not explain why the massive investment to the university. There was no way for him to work out which department received the funding, forget about narrowing down to a project. Now all of a sudden she was buying something in Malaysia. The initial payment was small, it could be downpayment or even a purchase of the legal firm. The only certainty was that galling woman was preparing to act in Malaysia.

He would provide all the details he had to John and hope that John could shake something loose that would allow them to at least profit off of her, if not hurt her schemes.

**John POV**

John had just ended another frustrating call with Kevin. This TA consulting situation was becoming an itch John just couldn’t scratch. All the businesses that were involved in the transactions were private companies, and were not required to file anything until the deals were already finalised. Without knowing which sectors, or even better individual companies, were the targets of acquisition, it was next to impossible to get any leverage.

John had been burning cash and cashing in favours trying to get any information about this company or its backers. It was like they didn’t exist. With private companies that could be registered anywhere, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It was frustrating, that even knowing how much money was being thrown around, he couldn’t find a way to shave any off for himself.

And now something was happening in Malaysia, but with no way to narrow down that search, where to even start looking. He would find a way to get ahead of the curve, no matter what it took, and then he would be able to use his leverage.

**Vampire Patriarch POV**

Just what had happened to his little girl? Was she even alive? Had she been kidnapped by his enemies in the Syndicate?

What had started out as a normal outing had turned into a nightmare. His little girl had gone out into the state park for a quick drink. It was such a regular occurrence and she would be met by her blood servants. There had been no reason to even think anything was wrong.

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She was meant to have returned by the late afternoon. At first they thought she had gone out with friends, but no one had seen or heard from her. Her blood servants had not been reachable either. Finally he had sent out one of the elders to track her from her feeding site.

The report he received was so confusing that he had gone out to check himself. What he found was strange. The clearing had been left uncovered, there was the sign of the bonfire with ash blowing around the clearing. There was no way to tell if the ash came from the bonfire or from bodies.

He had searched around the clearing for 100 meters in every direction, and there was no sign of anyone else. No smell of any or anything that could belong to the syndicate. He didn't believe it to be the work of the feedstock that called themselves humans. His daughter had been young for a vampire, but it would take a fully trained and outfitted military unit to take her down and leave no evidence behind. He already had his best investigators looking at everything.

No it had to be someone in the syndicate. The question was were they holding her or had they killed her and more importantly who was arrogant enough to target his family. Whatever the case, this would mean war with whoever was stupid enough to target his family. He would not rest until he had killed them all.

**Tasha POV**

Tasha had worked out a rough outline of her plan by the time she received the call from reception that her visitor had arrived. She asked them to show him to an office in the business suite and that she would be right down.

She freshened up and headed down to meet Mamat for the first time. She entered the office without knocking.

“Good afternoon, you must be Mamat.” said Tasha, holding out her hand for a handshake. “I am Tasha. Thank you for making the time on such short notice.”

Mamat stood up smiling and shook her hand. He had a firm handshake, a good start. “How can I say no to my new boss,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “I wouldn’t want to get fired on the very first day.”

“Yes, you should wait until at least the second day,” replied Tasha laughing. ”Did you finalise the paperwork with Sunny?”

“Yes,” he replied, handing her a folder. “Everything is ready to go. I believe Sunny trusted me enough to initiate the fund transfer already.”

“Well, you will be working for him,” replied Tasha, “if he didn’t trust you, we wouldn’t have added you to our team.”

She spent a few minutes reviewing the contract, and once she was happy, signed both copies. “Please send a copy to Sunny for our records and welcome to the team,” said Tasha. “Have you been briefed on what we are looking to achieve and our timelines?”

“Just that you like to move fast,” replied Mamat. “And that you are looking to invest.”

“I want to purchase one or more mining companies, ideally ones that are producing rare earth metals and have significant reserves.” replied Tasha. “Also I am looking at buying up refineries that can convert the raw ore into usable materials.”

“I am looking at private companies,” continued Tasha, “as I don’t want my plans to leak, nor do I want to wait around for regulator approvals. My understanding is that we can close deals with private companies very quickly?”

“Well, in theory yes,” replied Mamat. “However background checks and due diligence still take up time.”

“Oh don’t worry about that too much.” replied Tasha. “I have asked our head of security to make some arrangements. She should have boots on the ground in short order. Mostly ex-intelligence people with excellent connections. They should be able to complete the checks and due diligence in a day or so. Since we are paying cash, and bank with a global bank, I don’t foresee an issue from our side.”

“Sunny was not wrong.” replied Mamat, “You move fast and are dangerous to underestimate. I can’t believe you already have everything ready to move in just two days.”

Tasha let him believe the little lie, she didn't want him to know she had only just started to organise this part in the last several hours. “Yes, as to targets, I have a short list.” replied Tasha. She handed him a handwritten list of companies she was interested in.

“That’s a long list, and some big names on there too.” replied Mamat after perusing the list. “How many companies are we targeting? Also is this the limit, or are you happy to look at other companies too?”

“We are targeting all of them.” replied Tasha. “If we can get them all, even better. Just make sure we aren’t going to create legal or regulatory issues that halt the purchase.”

“Also, I am concerned about one of the companies though,” continued Tasha. “I was interested, but have just seen the news that the family has a missing daughter. Would we still be able to approach them? I am not sure of the etiquette in this situation.”

“All of them?” asked a clearly incredulous Mamat. “The total deal size would be upwards of £10Bn, maybe substantially more depending on the mining rights. Can we handle a purchase of that size?”

“That’s not an issue.” replied Tasha waving away the concern. “Can you arrange a meeting with the appropriate minister, so that we can ensure a smooth transition? Also about that particular company, I had seen good things, so I really want that company if we can get it, but I am not sure if the situation is too delicate.”

“We should be able to make the initial approach, as the family is not involved in the day to day affairs.” replied Mamat. “And yes I will arrange a meeting with the ministers of trade and mining. Since this will be a significant foreign investment, they will both want to be involved. How much publicity do we want?”

“As little as we can get away with.” replied Tasha. “And no announcements or leaks until we have signed and sealed the deals. I don’t want our deals getting hijacked by opportunists. Make it clear to both ministers, if anything leaks, even a whiff of a leak, and I will take my money and go home. I will not play their little games. I will ask the incoming team to start monitoring the ministers before you make contact to make sure. In fact I will put you in touch with Hanna, our head of security so that we can start the processes in tandem.”

“How soon do you want this done.” asked Mamat, really dreading the answer now. This woman in front of him had no fear at all.

“As fast as you can get it done,” replied Tasha. “Ideally I want to be moving on to my other projects in the next few days.”