I was sitting in Georges office he was on the telephone but soon finished the call, and walked over to the drinks cabinet, "Malt?" He asked.
"Do I need one?"
"I think we do," He filled two tumblers generously, "Here`s to a great job and your future success." We drank to that George emptied his glass in one gulp, "Another?"
"Not for me thanks," He promptly refilled his glass I sensed something was troubling him
"Daniel I have a problem a very delicate matter actually," He continued, "I am a successful business man, multi millionaire, as you know I have a fantastic house and a beautiful wife, everything a man could ask for you may say," I sensed a but coming. "But I suspect my wife is having an affair." He blurted out as if embarrassed to reveal his suspicions to me.
"Really?" I was genuinely surprised.
He went on, "It doesn't bother me, her fucking another man," I raised my eyebrows in surprise at this statement, "Apart from when it`s with my biggest rival in business."
"Oh I see."
"Yes and I need it sorting out."
"What do you mean?"
"In a nutshell I need grounds to divorce my wife where she cannot take me to the cleaners," Seemed reasonable, "With at least half of my fortune she could team up with her lover and finish me completely, do I make sense?"
"Perfectly."
"Good, good."
"So where do I come into this equation? Oh you want me to.......?"
"No Daniel I don't want you to fuck my wife," He smiled knowingly, " Although I can guarantee you would most definitely enjoy the experience." I nodded agreement "I want to hurt both parties, not kill them you understand, just humiliation, perhaps scare the wits out of them." He went on, "And somehow I need cast iron grounds for divorce," He looked apprehensive, " I know you made a few, shall we say, err contacts downtown from before I met you," He looked optimistic, "It must be totally discreet and of course have no possible hint of my involvement, no comebacks whatsoever."
I looked long and hard at George Rogers for a minute or so, mulling over what he had just asked me to do before I replied, "George you have been good to me and as I said yesterday a true friend." George interrupted me.
"I expect this request will involve money exchanging hands," He stood and walked to the painting on the wall behind it was a safe he opened it and handed me an envelope full of cash, a considerable sum various denomination of used notes, "Untraceable, half now, the balance upon completion."
"Okay, okay give me a few days and I`ll see if I can help, do you want me to run things past you before hand?"
"No I`ll trust your judgement, just let me know any dates and times involved and I will arrange to be out of town with a cast iron alibi" He refilled our glasses, "Now to a more pleasant business your final payment for the landscaping," He handed me a second envelope, "There`s a little bonus on top of the balance, thanks again."
The second envelope joined the first in my pocket I cannot deny it felt good. Later in my apartment I counted the money, the funds for the new so called business was a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The money for my construction works slightly more, in this envelope was also a note it read,
`I have also given you a five percent stake in my company a yearly dividend of about 100K`
I sat on my bed considering this I was completely stunned but also very grateful. The note went on,
`However to take advantage of this offer you must be successful in sorting out my marital problem. A fine incentive if ever there was one.
It took me three days to confirm Hannah Rogers was indeed meeting with George`s business rival, non other than Mark Woodley. I had followed her just after lunchtime to a small hotel where she went straight up to a room, Mark Woodley arrived shortly afterwards and joined her. A couple of hours later Hannah drove away in her new Mercedes Convertible. A few minutes later Woodley emerged, I followed his SUV to his offices, and later to his very plush home and the beautiful Jennifer Woodley. I sat in my car considering things for a while. Why on Gods earth would you cheat on such a beautiful woman as his wife? For the life of me I couldn't come up with an answer.
I travelled into LA to meet a black American everyone called Duke. I had met Duke a couple of years ago and he was fascinated by my English accent, we got on pretty well. Duke was a huge man 6`7" well over 200 lbs without an inch of fat. He looked after himself well, he had a group of guys who worked for him, I never did get to the bottom of what he actually did. I had my suspicions but nothing concrete. I knew he had connections in the Porn industry and there were always beautiful girls hanging around. I explained I needed to sort a problem and with a snap of his fingers we were alone. I told him of the situation regarding George without mentioning any names. "Won`t come cheap my English friend," He said in his deep voice.