LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02

Book 2: At the end of the first book, Robert was departing from the Athens airport. He is flying from Greece to Taiwan, with a number of stops on the way. The idea is that they want to have shorter distances for teleporting. The girls are sharing his journey from his mind and are seeing the areas Robert identifies as being suitable for them to jump to.

701

“Why? Are you immigration or police?”

He greeted a policeman who had almost deferentially greeted him from the other side of the passage, about twenty metres away, so I did not believe him when he laughed and told me, “No.” He must have sensed me, for he added, “Shall we say I am a man of some influence? Now, please follow me, I would prefer to restrict the number of eyes who see me with you.”

To test him, I dryly stated, “I’m not interested in smuggling anything for you.”

He smiled. “From such a young age you have learnt that attack is the best form of camouflage - to misquote a favourite saying…it is not I who intends smuggling anything, I do believe you are the smuggler, a most extraordinary one. Come I have the ideal spot for you.”

My heart raced, but I was not allowed the opportunity to challenge him, for he turned his back to me and walked off. Puzzlement, anxiety, plus I could sense that Cherine was emoting a vague feeling of ‘almost’ knowing him, compelled me to follow.

He pointed at a shop, close to the end of the passage. “The owner has erected a partition for displaying his wares and the police either have not realised he has created a blind spot behind it, or else they do not care.”

He walked past the partition and I saw he was right. I also saw a door. He discretely pointed a finger, “It is his excuse for placing the partition, as it would not look good to have a service entrance as part of his display. The door only leads to a couple of stores for cleaning materials, so I suggest you avoid the early morning and late afternoon hours when the cleaners use it.” He opened the door. “As you see, it is not locked.” He led me in and opened the last door down a short passage. “This store room is not used, it should be safe for you.”

“Who are you and why are you doing this?”

“The time will come when you will realise who I am. I prefer to wait for that time, for you to find me…just don’t take too long, for as you see, I am getting on in years.” He looked directly into my eyes. “I will be waiting, for your coming will be very important for me. I see from your hand luggage that you come from Athens. If I sense death is close, may I contact you - perhaps through your office?”

702

“What is the purpose? Why are you being so mysterious about who you are and what you want from me?”

“It would be a disservice to you and of no benefit to me, should I speak out of turn. You must first realise you know me and then you will recognise the need to speak to me - and understand why you are needed.”

I pulled out a mini pad and wrote my phone number. “It would be better that you call me directly. My name is…”

“Shh, there is no need to speak it. Enjoy your trip.” He quickly turned and walked away, the slip of paper already in his pocket. I sensed Cherine agreed with me when I decided to do as asked, so I let him leave. The feeling that both Cherine and I have, that we should know who he is, kept me busy for many hours as I tried to force my subconscious to identify him for me.

At Singapore I got a taxi at the airport and told the driver that I only have a short time before leaving. I asked if he knew of a secluded spot where I could be alone to meditate for a while. He must have been convinced I wanted to take drugs for he spent a large part of the trip telling me how severe the penalties are if I do.

At Bangkok the driver told me I would have to spend a number of hours driving out of the city as there are no secluded spaces close by. I got him to drop me off and looked for myself. I found a derelict Christian church which had a very old cemetery behind it. That would have to do I decided - though I had a chuckle when I imagined the reaction of anyone seeing us appear in the cemetery.

Hong Kong was easier. We went up into the mountain, beyond the racecourse. At a small tea-room and pub I asked if it is possible to take a walk into the forest that is directly behind it. I found an area that looked promising. The taxi driver had demanded his fare, even though he was to take me back to the airport. When he saw me walk off into the woods, I was told, he drove off. If not for a rather drunken but very nice old English gentleman, I would have missed my flight. I had to call for my protector though so as to ensure I got there safely. I repaid his kindness by sobering him up so that he would get home unharmed. He was overjoyed, this meant he could go to his next favourite haunt for a few stiff drinks with the money I had given him for petrol.

At last I arrived in Taiwan. What I really wanted was a small hotel out of the centre of town, but I decided we might be less remarked upon if we stay in the centre of Taipei, in one of those horrid huge hotels the American tourists and businessmen favour. When I asked for a suite and explained I would have a number of ladies joining me, I was suddenly treated like royalty. They obviously came to their own conclusions and think highly of a man who knows how to enjoy his life and has the money to do so. I have no argument with that way of thinking - I just wish I could afford it (lol).

The management sent me fruit with a bottle of champagne and asked for my suitcase of clothes to freshen up for me - a very good idea, I wonder why more hotels don’t do it. I finally had to ask not to be disturbed as I’d had a long trip and needed to sleep before the ladies arrive. That they understood, and after a sizeable tip, I was left alone.

I really was tired, but knew the girls were anxious to join me. One thing had pleased me more than anyone can imagine. All the way and even here in Taiwan, I had not lost my link to Cherine (that had been my fear) and we were all still able to mindspeak, though they were rather reticent, muting me from their conversations. I sat down, promising myself I would jump in a short while. My eyes closed and I slept. When I awoke it was dark.

I stood up, ashamed of myself and needing a quick visit to the bathroom before jumping. I heard and sensed I was not alone and the lights went on. They had all arrived on their own! They gave me the fright of my life.

Once we settled down they all tried to tell me at the same time of what they had done. As I left Dubai, they arrived, having seen it through my eyes - though they kept away from the man I’d met, just in case he recognises Cherine. The same for all the next stops. Though they sometimes had a long wait and spent their time sight-seeing. I got angry, since girls alone in many of those areas were not safe. They laughed and showed me the shapes they took on. God, but they looked like a really rough and tough bunch of Greek men. I wondered where they had seen them.

At least I could get a good nights sleep. In any case, that was what I claimed I hoped for.

703

Cherine told me, “That man who helped you at Dubai, I also feel I should know him! Robert, I think it is important we work out who he is.”

“He seems to be confident we will work it out.” I shrugged and smiled. “I’ve given him our phone number, just in case we take too long.”

They told me about Jonathan and Percy. They said the father was very quiet when they picked up Maria-Elena, but that Percy, as a Greek woman does, was emotional, kissed them all and could not stop talking. She told them to give me a kiss, which they all wanted to do. My healer must have been quite disgusted with me by the early morning hours.

Of course none of them had carried anything with them, not even a toothbrush, so I had to go out the next morning with Dommi and buy clothes and toiletries for all of them. As there are boutiques and a pharmacy in the hotel it was not too big a problem, just damn expensive. I had to buy two sets of clothing for each girl, for them as adults and as children. Since that meant they needed at least four sets of each for each of them, I made some shopkeepers very happy. At least they delivered to the room.

The word spread very fast and I found myself being accosted by a number of professional girls, even when with my own girls. Of course not one of my loves could even pretend to be jealous, so they had to find other reasons for making me pay.

I wanted to take the girls out to see the sights, for them to enjoy themselves before beginning on our fruitless quest, as I knew they would be feeling too deflated afterwards to enjoy themselves. I was convinced the girl/baby we are to search for only exists in the imaginary world of Meli and wanted them to at least have seen and felt they were in a different country and culture. The girls were not interested, giving me amazed looks at my obtuseness as they declared they wanted to start the search immediately. The question now was, how?

Though we debated it a while, we found no solution, for as I told the girls, I did not like the idea of hiring a detective. Finally in desperation I did what they do in novels and the movies. I asked the concierge, who seemed to be a fairly nice young man.

“We are looking for someone. We do not know their name or where they live - whether it is here or in some tiny village. For all I know they could be living out on some farm. What we do know is this. The man is an American, the woman is Chinese, very young. She is either pregnant or has recently had the baby. We do not think they have left Taiwan yet. I am offering a reward of five thousand dollars to whoever helps us find them. Can you help?’

He told me his name is Wing. He asked a number of questions till he got it through his thick skull that we truly knew nothing more. He was deflated for a short few seconds until he recalled the reward.

“The money you offer? It U.S dollars?” Upon confirmation he put on a show of sadness. “Everything so expensive now. To ask some kind person to give so much time to find this people you wish to find, they will be so disappointed to hear you offer so little.”

I thought I had been generous, but I saw he was right, if I was to treat this as a genuine search - at least for the sake of my loves. “We would not want to disappoint such a kind soul. Wing, they find the persons we want, not just some American Chinese couple with a baby, it must be the one we want, they get ten thousand. If they cannot find them but I see they did spend a lot of time on this, I will pay two thousand.”

The blighter got me up to five thousand and twenty if successful. The twenty I was not worried about, as I knew it would not be earned. The five I thought was steep, but it was also cheap since it made my loves so happy.

Now my girls were more than happy to spend time seeing the sites. It is most unfortunate that we did not quite see eye to eye on what that meant. To them it meant seeing the shops. It also meant that if I let them have their way I would have to charter a plane and be declared insolvent. Somehow I managed to get them to water down their ambitions to save me so much money by buying everything that was such a bargain. Not that they ever asked; they just looked at what they wanted with such longing, mentioning how much cheaper it is and what I would save

While here, I decided to take care of another problem that was urgent. Okay, a normal businessman would have contacted a good attorney or firm of accountants, but I am not a businessman, I prefer dealing with someone I like and have a good feeling about. As Wing had some cousins and uncles running around for him, he was still available to help me with this problem of mine. I explained I want a private medical facility to undertake a private contract. I gave some details.

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