Trapped (17 page)

Cate smiled at him reassuringly. ‘Don't worry, bro. I've managed to stay alive so far. And . . . it's kind of addictive.'

‘Right,' said Arthur glumly.

‘Remember, no telling Dad unless I don't call or text twice a day. Have you managed to find out anything more about Ramibia?'

It was Arthur's turn to look sheepish. ‘Well, actually I did
spend a bit of time poking around the Ramibian National Government system. I don't know who they got to fix their online security, but it leaks like a sieve. The password was only twenty-seven digits long. It took me all of forty minutes to crack.' He sounded disappointed.

‘Move on, Arthur,' said Cate cheerfully.

‘Yes, sorry, where was I? Well, working on the theory that most crimes are committed because of money, I went straight to accounts. I found out that in each of the separate ministries – finance, housing, transport and so on – there was a separate little account fund accessed only by the minister concerned. Actually, in most cases, they weren't so very little. The trade minister in charge of natural minerals is sitting on a slush fund in excess of thirty million dollars. Not bad for a bloke who was running a chain of fake sportswear shops just a few years ago.'

‘And . . .'Cate prompted.

‘Yeah, sorry. Well, the ministry of science and medicine is the one we're interested in. If there was something dodgy going on with animals they'd be in on it. And guess what I found?'

‘Go on,' said Cate eagerly.

Arthur was enjoying himself. ‘In the last year alone, ten separate payments had come into the minister's slush fund from a British registered charity called Survival Worldwide. Payments totalling over one and a half million euros. A quick Google job, and hey presto! Guess who is the founder, figurehead and the main benefactor of Survival Worldwide? Your boss, Nancy.'

Arthur paused, savouring the look of shock on his sister's face. ‘That's not all. Really big money came in from a bank in
Russia too. Tens of millions of euros. I can't trace the actual account, but I did manage to discover that the bank was owned by Mr Taplinski Senior. In other words, Tass's dad.'

Cate's mind was racing. ‘Let me get this straight,' she said slowly. ‘Nancy, and probably Tass, are putting large sums of money into a fund for the minister in charge of science and medicine – presumably animal medicine as well – in one of the most lawless countries in the world. That's great work, Arthur, but I haven't a clue why they are doing it.'

‘Me neither,' said Arthur cheerfully. ‘There's more. With all the other ministry accounts, the money tends to come in from whoever is paying the kickback and then goes out again to just one person, the minister. It's straight into his back pocket. But this account is different. Sure, the minister is taking a fifty per cent cut, but the rest of the money is going to another account based at the Bank of Tendo. We need to find out who holds that account.'

‘So what's the problem?' asked Cate. ‘Why can't you tell me now?'

‘It's carefully protected by several passwords and complex security systems,' said Arthur admiringly. ‘I'll keep trying.'

‘OK,' Cate said doubtfully. ‘But please be careful. Now I really need to get some kip.'

At eight o'clock sharp the next morning, Cate was standing at the bottom of the gangplank watching as a gaggle of children shepherded by a very harassed-looking taxi driver made their way towards her. The smallest child, a cherubic infant with curly hair and huge brown eyes, was being carried by the
middle-aged man and as he reached Cate he almost dropped the child into her arms.

‘
Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq
,' he rattled off. Large sweat patches were visible under his armpit. ‘All yours,
mademoiselle. Bon chance
.' And then he was gone, leaving Cate in charge.

‘Hello,' said Cate, as the five children eyed her up and down. ‘My name's Cate. I'll be looking after you for the next few days.'

The children stared back at her, silent. Then all hell let loose.

‘Cuddles needs a wee,' shouted a small boy who was carrying a rucksack and a teddy bear.

‘I feel sick,' said a blond-haired girl.

‘Where's Mum?' demanded the oldest child.

The little girl in Cate's arms began to smell rather unpleasant.

‘Let's take our shoes off and go aboard,' said Cate weakly, grabbing at another child who was skipping perilously close to the side. ‘Fancy some breakfast?'

It took Cate half an hour to restore calm. Nancy was still fast asleep and, as she hadn't left instructions to be woken up when the children arrived, no one quite had the nerve to do so. Instead, with the help of Wendy, Cate had changed her first nappy relatively successfully, Marcus had taken the boys to the loo and now all five children were sitting around the large table in the salon munching their way noisily through cereal and bacon sandwiches.

‘What about the carefully balanced diet?' Cate whispered to Marcus who screwed up his face and put his finger to his lips in reply.

Now they were quiet, Cate could take stock and try to work out who was who. The oldest child, Oak, was an Asian boy of about ten. He sat quietly but Cate caught him observing everything that was going on around him.
A sharp cookie
, she thought.

Elm, an African boy and his sister, Ash, were, Cate realised, the seven-year-old twins from the Congo. Five-year-old Willow looked Eastern European with her green eyes and round, high cheek-boned face and the toddler, Beech was, Cate knew, an orphan from Ramibia.

‘Oak,' said Cate, hesitantly. ‘Do you think your brother and sisters would like to go to the beach?'

Before he could answer, Nancy was in the salon, in full maternal mode.

‘Darlings!' she cried as the children looked up in amazement. ‘Darlings! Come to Mummy.' She crouched down and held out her arms. Elm and Ash rushed to her and were rewarded with a huge hug, a very tired Willow made it in third place and Cate carried a sleeping Beech over to her mother who stroked the child's hair.

‘Aren't you coming for a hug, Oak, babe?' Nancy said, looking relieved as Oak eventually presented the top of his head for a kiss.

Chattering away to her brood she bustled off towards the outside deck, Cate trailing behind them, still carrying Beech. She was surprised by how natural Nancy was with her children and she felt bad that she had assumed otherwise.

‘Aren't they gorgeous?' Nancy said to Cate as she cuddled Beech. ‘I sometimes forget how lucky I am.'

‘They're great,' agreed Cate. ‘I think I'm going to enjoy looking after them.'

They smiled at each other.

‘I wish Tass felt the same way,' Nancy suddenly blurted out.

‘He ignores them or shouts at them. It makes me so sad. I can't
see how we can have a future when he doesn't want to be with my kids.'

Cate was silent. She knew there was more to come.

‘It's the way he's been brought up you see. I came from a back-to-back in Catford where all us kids saw our mum and dad all the time. Sick of the sight of each other sometimes. But Tass, he grew up with nannies and saw his parents once a week if he was lucky. Our holidays in Clacton were the best part of the year in our house, apart from Christmas. Tass can't even remember one holiday with his parents. His nanny took him instead. Can you imagine?'

Cate shook her head.

‘He doesn't even have any proper brothers and sisters. They're all half-brother this, and stepsister that and they wouldn't even recognise each other if they passed in the street. Not one of his family ever came to watch him play tennis. It was always his coach or his fitness trainer or his agents, all of them paid for by Tass, of course.'

‘Is that where you met him?' Cate asked. ‘Watching tennis?'

Nancy laughed. ‘No way, babe, I hate sport. I only go to the big tournaments like Wimbledon for the publicity, and Tass never got that far.' She smiled fondly. ‘We met at a party in a castle somewhere in Italy. It was a friend of Lulu who invited us. She knows loads of people.

‘Tass was standing there surrounded by all these trashy girls and I was with Lulu and Jules and some other guys. Lulu must have seen us eyeing each other up,' cos she took the bull by the horns, went over to Tass and the next thing he and me were dancing and chatting and that was that.'

‘Love at first sight,' said Cate solemnly.

‘Yeah, that's right.' Nancy looked wistful. Then her eyes filled with tears. She spoke quietly, though the children were busy exploring the deck and paying no attention to their mother. ‘We've had such a great time but recently it's all been going wrong. He's in a bad mood all the time now. It's his old man's fault. He's ignored him for most of his life, but suddenly he's on the blower telling Tass what a failure he is, that it's time he got a decent career and showed he was his father's son.

‘I try to be supportive. I say, “Tass, tell him where to get off”, but he never does. It's not just all about the money. He still wants to please him, doesn't he? He still wants to make daddy proud.' She fell silent.

‘Parents, huh?' said Cate, trying to cheer her up. ‘I haven't spoken to my mum in weeks and I know that when she does ring up she'll want something. Usually it's to get me to ask Dad for some more money for her so she can go on another mad self-enlightenment course!'

Nancy smiled then. ‘I like you, Cate,' she said. ‘You're what my nan would call a sensible girl. I'm glad you're looking after my kids.'

‘Me too,' said Cate. She meant it.

‘And don't worry about Tass,' Nancy continued. ‘He may be a bit stressy but he's a diamond underneath.'

Cate must have looked doubtful. ‘No, Cate, he is,' Nancy insisted. ‘He's really kind to me. He might not be good with kids but he helps with my charities. Big time. He introduced me to this really clever bloke – he's like a famous professor, although I'd never heard of him, but now we're kind of working together.'

Her voice dropped to a whisper and she began to rock Beech on her lap. ‘I can't tell you what it is but me and Tass, we're working on something right now that will change the world forever.' She looked at Cate's expression and misread it for one of disbelief. ‘No really. It'll sort of save the planet. Well, some of it. Then his dad can go take a running jump.'

Cate was desperate to ask more questions, but just as she was thinking how to do it without arousing Nancy's suspicions, Beech started to whimper which quickly turned into an ear-splitting howl.

‘Well,' said Cate, reluctantly giving up on the idea, ‘the kids have been up since five so the little ones could probably do with a nap. Perhaps Oak and the twins should just chill out and watch TV for a bit.'

She took the two youngest children to their cabin, put them into their pyjamas, washed faces and hands and then tucked them up into the clean, crisp sheets. Within minutes of dimming the lights they were asleep. Oak and the twins were happily settled in front of the big TV in the larger of the guest bedrooms.

Back up on the main deck, a clatter of footsteps and loud voices heralded the arrival of Tass, Mikey and Ahmed, the former clearly in a very grumpy mood.

‘Here comes the Earth Mother,' he mocked as Nancy gave him a kiss. ‘Have you adopted another baby this morning or are we slipping?'

‘All right, Tass, darling.' Nancy was placatory. ‘They're all nice and quiet. You and I can go and have a nap as well if you like.'

‘Great idea,' said Tass, cheering up. ‘It was a late one last night. But, Nancy, no kids this evening, OK? I want you all to myself.'

Nancy hesitated, looking at Cate in a ‘What did I tell you?' kind of way.

‘Perhaps Nancy could have tea with them and then I'll take them to the beach this evening while you have dinner?' Cate offered.

‘Fab idea, Cate,' said Nancy, looking at Tass for approval.

‘Tea? Monkey's tea party more likely,' he grumbled in his strange drawl. ‘Yeah. That sounds reasonable. What about tomorrow?'

It was Cate's moment and she seized it. ‘Er, Mikey mentioned that perhaps I could take them onto
The Good Times
,' she said timidly. ‘You know, they could have a go on the powerboat, perhaps swim in the pool?'

‘Did he?' Tass turned to Cate, his face black. ‘I think he meant to say that the kids were welcome. I don't let anyone onboard my boat without full security clearance.'

‘Awww, Tass,' said Nancy plaintively. ‘Come on, that's not true. You didn't check up on me, babe.'

‘Oh yes I did,' said Tass calmly.

Nancy looked shocked but gamely carried on. ‘If you want the kids on the boat then Cate has to go with them,' she said firmly. ‘Who else will look after them? Would Ahmed change Beech's nappies? Cate's only a kid. Stop being so paranoid, darling.'

Suddenly a loud wailing came from the direction of the cabins and a small tousled figure came trailing out onto the deck.

‘Nappy poo poo,' said Beech, heading for the nearest adult who just happened to be Tass. ‘Smelly poo,' she said with satisfaction as she hugged Tass's bare knees.

He prised her off disdainfully and pushed her towards Cate. ‘No way are these kids going to be hanging around here tomorrow,' he said. ‘They can go on
The Good Times
and as far as I am concerned they can stay on
The Good Times
. But just make sure you clean up after them, OK, Cate? And leave your mobile here – I don't want you taking photos or anything.'

Cate waited for Tass and Nancy to go before picking up Beech and giving her a cuddle. She didn't even care about the dreadful smell coming from her nappy. ‘Clever girl,' she whispered quietly into her dainty little ear.