12 - Chapter 11

Tasha chilled out with a coffee waiting for the next thing to happen. She had been moving at such a pace for the last two days that she needed a little time to decompress.

Tasha found herself almost meditating while drinking her coffee. Before she knew it there was a knock at her door.

“Enter”, she called out. The door opened and in came Hanna. “Hey, you made it!”. Tasha jumped up to hug Hanna.

“Of course, you knew I would come when you called,” said Hanna, hugging her back. “I bought 5 people with me, they are good, but I don't think you have worked with them before. They are checking in. 2 security. 2 cyber and 1 comms.”

“Excellent, I knew I could count on you.” replied Tasha. “When Sunny is back we can get you on the books. You can handle the pay for your team. Just keep it reasonable, ok?”

“Who is Sunny? And you are giving me total sign off for my team? For real?” responded an excited Hanna.

“Of course, if I didn't trust you, you wouldn't be here,” said Tasha. “Let me take you through what's been going on. This is for your ears only, not even your team. So it all started when…”

Tasha spent an hour taking Hanna through everything from the ding waking her to the spar in the gym, she kept nothing back. If she couldn't trust Hanna, who could she trust.

“So let me get this straight, you have access to, for all practical purposes, unlimited funds.” said Hanna, “and on top of that you have received a significant physical boost, and will be able to boost yourself further. Not only that, but the quests could give you information about your family too.”

“Yeah, that's pretty much it.” replied Tasha.

“And so you are wanting to build out the ultimate intelligence agency with full vertical integration answerable only to you.” continued Hanna. Tasha nodded.

“And the only person you have confided in is me?” finished Hanna.

“That's the size of it. The rest don't see what I am trying to build. I think there is more going on that we dont know about. If this system can exist, then so can pretty much anything. We need to be ready.” said Tasha.

“You are sounding like there’s gonna be an apocalypse or something with that tone girl.” laughed Hanna.

“Ok, Ok not an apocalypse, but how many times did we want to build the best intelligence agency in the world and not have to answer to damned politicians.” said Tasha. “This is an opportunity to do exactly that. We can do what needs to be done, find and remove the bad actors and keep the dodgy politicians in check.”

“Yeah, that does sound like it would be fun whilst actually helping.” laughed Hanna, “I am in, but I want my own evil layer.”

Tasha just shook her head in exasperation of Hanna's antics. She really hadn’t changed.

Just then Sunny entered. “Hey Tasha, got a minute? I have signed contracts.”

“Sure Sunny, also meet Hanna. She is going to be our head of Security.” replied Tasha.

Sunny handed over the folder to Tasha, then shook Hanna’s hand.

Tasha looked over the contract and signed it then set about setting up the payments and sending the details to Anita for issue free processing. While Tasha did that, Sunny started a conversation with Hanna.

“So Hanna, known our boss long? And exactly what will this security role cover?” asked Sunny.

“I have known Tasha since we served together in the Hunter Troop, the first female spec ops team in the world.” replied Hanna. “So you could say that I have known her for a while. In terms of my remit, what do you think it covers? She told you what she is doing. Let’s see if you can work it out.”

Sunny thought through the expansive list of acquisitions that Tasha had planned, the benefits, the future plans. He had treated them all as separate items, but if they were part of one unit, one cohesive whole, then only one thing would make sense.

“Holy shit…are you serious.” whisper shouted Sunny. “Do you have any idea of the legal implications?”

“So there is a brain in there, nice to know.” teased Hanna, “So does that mean you are dropping out?”

“Hell no.” replied Sunny, warming up the idea. “Does that mean we are getting a hidden base like in Kingsman?”

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Tasha finished up and chided. “Kids, I am working with Kids. Yes you can have your cool hidden evil layer / base but only if you drink your milk and eat your vegetables”

“Aww, do we have too,” replied Hanna like a petulant child, then broke down in hysterics.

“So you really have no problem with what I am trying to do?” asked Tasha now seriously. “Are you fully onboard?”

“I want to be able to weigh in on decision making.” replied Sunny, “No actual evil clients. If we are doing some good, having fun and getting paid at the same time, then why not”

“Good, work with Hanna and Ingrid.” said Tasha. “I need projects that help people, but also increase our reach and intelligence gathering.”

“Ingrid is here too?” asked Hanna. “Is she on board?”

“No, she is only here to run the foundation.” replied Tasha. “We need the person facing it to be able to face scrutiny. They won't really be able to target her. We will set it up as a separate organisation with funding.”

While they were talking the others started returning. First Sally, then AJ and lastly Robert. After completing the paperwork, Tasha sent instructions to Anita for the bank transfer for each case.

In the meantime Sunny introduced everyone to Hanna. While they were all catching up, Sunny finalised Hanna’s contract and then sent his team to get ready for the party. Hanna’s salary was set to £500k.

Once all the paper work was done, it was time for the party. Everyone went off to get refreshed and ready.

*

Anita, now at the head office, was working through the request Tasha had sent. There were a lot of payments to set up. Each had to be vetted, double checked and processed. Then the fraud team had to be made aware to ensure none of the payments failed.

Anita was almost done, she called Kevin over.

“Hey Kevin, I am almost done with the payments, can you check and approve them all please.” said Anita.

“Sure, which account is this for?” asked Kevin.

“It's for TA Consulting, and I need to be done as soon as I need to leave by 5pm.” replied Kevin.

“Where are you off to, on a school night?” asked Kevin, hiding his scowl at the thought of that Tasha from TA. He still wasn't happy about how she had spoken to him and pushed for Anita to get the account by threatening him. While he wouldn't have done the work personally, and got one of his team to do the actual processing, he hated the fact it wasn't his account. Especially after hearing they were backed by a major VC fund.

“Tasha has invited me to a team event at Roka.” replied Anita, completely oblivious of Kevin's growing irritation. “She wants me to meet the team and arrange accounts and access for them asap. So it's a work thing.”

Kevin was getting more and more annoyed the more he heard. This was supposed to be his account damn it.

“Sure, why don't you leave it to me, I will finish up. You don't want to be late for your work party.” he said a little snarkily.

Anita didn't even notice the tone. “Oh, thanks Kevin.” She got ready and left to go to the party.

Kevin wandered around the office thinking, at first he wanted to mess up the transactions and blame Anita. Then he thought, if he did that and Anita confirmed it was with him to approve, he would get in trouble and might even get fired. No he couldn't take that risk, but that didn't mean he couldn't keep an eye on the account and profit if he found the right information.

Kevin made sure to complete the transactions properly, then he went for a walk. He didn't want to make this call from the office.

Wandering along the river in Canary Wharf, Kevin called his friend John on an encrypted app.

“Hey John, How are you doing? Can you talk?” said Kevin when John answered.

“Give me a minute.” replied John stepping into a private office. “What's up Kevin.”

“I might have something for you,” said Kevin. “Depending on what's in it for me.”

“You know I have always looked after you.” said John, “Give me the details and let me look into it.”

“I have a private company, TA Consulting. They were about to go under. They suddenly got £1Bn cash in their account from a VC fund.” said Kevin. “The transfer came from Myriad Dragon Enterprise, I have never heard of it before. They plan to invest a lot and fast. I am hearing figures in the 100s of billions.” Although Kevin had been told 10s of billions, he boosted the number to get John to act.

“Sounds like SPAC.” replied John sounding thoughtful.” If they are throwing about that kind of money, then they have serious backing. Are you for or against?”

“If we can get a good chunk, then against is my preference,” replied Kevin. “Otherwise do what you need to.” Kevin wanted to take down Tasha if he could, but wouldn't jeopardise his profits over it.

“Understood, let me look into it.” replied John. “Keep me looped in on any sizable transactions.”

“Just did a bunch today, looks like buying into local legal and accounting firms.” replied Kevin, “Paid over market value from first glance.”

“Details?” asked John and Kevin provided them happily.

*

Jenny rushed home to get changed and get her husband. She was actually taking a black cab. As she watched the meter go up, she was more and more astounded while thinking about the announcement in the office earlier today.

The managing partner himself had announced that everyone had to finish early. There would be a team meeting in Roka. Jenny hadn't even heard of it, so had to look it up. It was a high end sushi place priced at £150+ per head, not only that, but partners were invited. If that wasn't all, the office would pay for taxis and childcare!

In her 10 years working in law firms, she had never seen anything like that before. For the whole office they must be spending over £10k in one night. That was more than she earned after tax in six months.

Something big must be going on. Why else would they splash the cash like that? Jenny only hoped it would be a positive for her and her family.