The Quick Brown Fox Read online

  ‘How about that coffee,’ she reminded him. ‘Two sugars for me.’ As he turned, she took hold of his arm. He spun around in surprise to stare at her. ‘Would you let me sketch you when your bandages are removed?’ she asked him.

  ‘Of course,’ he replied easily. I’d love you to do that Then I could stare at the picture of my face and forget entirely what I used to look like. What do you want in return?’

  ‘Let’s put that on hold for the moment,’ she told him. ‘Leave it with me, I’ll think of something.’ She replaced the sketchpad back into the drawer and stared at him through the eyes of the mask. He may have been ignorant of her thoughts but she knew exactly what she had in mind.

  Chapter Fifteen

  David Coleman was not only a weak and stupid person but he was also a fool. He had made a promise to Jake to contact all the people to whom he had sold options and to advise them that the operation had ended and should be swiftly wound up. However he reneged on his promise and simply spent his time reading books on literature and antiques much to the despair of his father. Within a short while the pyramid of option began to grow by geometric proportions as greed was fuelled by investors who hoped to gain an imminent fortune from the process if it tested positive and very soon an enormous number of people were drawn into the scheme. Not surprisingly, as its popularity grew, the operation shortly came to the notice of the police who suspected that a scam was taking place and they were forced to investigate the matter. Right from the start, they tried to make headway as the complaints from people who could not afford to invest began to multiply but the pyramid was so deep by that time it would take months of interrogation and a great deal of research to get to the bottom of it. The problem was that there were so many layers of the pyramid, by the gross number of people who had taken options, and so few of them willing to co-operate, denying that they were involved, that their progress of the police was seriously hampered. The telephone at Roy Coleman’s house was continually engaged as potential investors, or those requiring more information, kept ringing to ask questions about the progress of the testing which upset the senior man who found that the calls from strangers to his son was beginning to interfere with his business as customers were unable to get through to enquire about purchasing motor vehicles Eventually, the man lost his cool feeling that he could tolerate the situation no more.

  ‘This has got to stop!’ he remonstrated angrily one day. ‘I can’t use the telephone because you’re on it all the time and it’s affecting my business. Things have got to change!’

  ‘It’s not my fault,’ bleated his son weakly. ‘People keep phoning me to ask questions. ‘I can’t stop them.’

  ‘You promised that man who came to the house that you’d stop all this nonsense. You said you’d tell them that the process had failed and that everyone should return the money they paid.’

  ‘That’s easy to say but harder to do,’ returned the younger man.

  ‘Then why did you tell him you’d do it?’ challenged his father irately.

  ‘Well I had to say something, didn’t I?’ came the careless response. ‘Once the pyramid started it was practically impossible to stop it, especially with a project of such potential. We’re probably talking about a thousand people in the scheme by now. It’s far too late to stop it! Anyhow, there’s nothing I can do about it.’

  ‘But you can!’ spat his father angrily. ‘My word is my bond in my business. Yours is seemingly worthless. You owe it to everyone to carry out your promise. If you did, that would be the end of it.’

  ‘I don’t think so, father. There would be a mass of people demanding their money back which will not be returned for obvious reasons. It would cause chaos.’

  ‘It’ll be like that in the end whatever you do or don’t do.’

  ‘Except that if time is allowed to pass, people will be dissuaded to take action. They’ll feed the loss into their minds in due course and simply put it down to experience. I’m not going to ruffle feathers now.’

  ‘This is a fine kettle of fish!’ muttered his father. ‘Surely you’re not just going to sit there doing nothing!’

  ‘What do you expect me to do? I’ve already outlined the situation. There’s nothing I can do’;

  ‘Don’t you have any remorse for the investors who paid their money to become involve?’

  ‘You ask the most ridiculous questions, father. How should I know what the investors feel?’ Remorse is often the end product of greed. They wanted to buy in to the scheme. Let them stew in their own juice. They were the ones who got involved by their own volition.’

  ‘That’s not the answer I wanted to hear. We’ve always been a decent honest family and I’ve a good reputation to maintain.’

  ‘What I do doesn’t affect you, does it?’’ rattled young Coleman beginning to lose his temper. ‘Your business is in selling motors!’

  ‘I don’t want to hear it!’ snapped his father brutally. ‘Clear up this mess and do it fast. Otherwise you can clear out and live somewhere else.’

  His son glared at him sullenly for a few moments and then shrugged his shoulders aimlessly. It was not in his nature to become involved in confrontation nor did he feel capable of organising a retraction of something of such magnitude as the pyramid scheme. He knew full well that if he told his friends that the process had failed at this stage they would consider tearing him apart.

  ‘I’m going to give you one week to sort it out,’ advanced his father adamantly. ‘If you don’t, then you’re gone from here!’

  ‘Okay, okay, leave it with me,’ returned his son casually, picking up a book and pretending to read it, although his temper was running at a very high level.

  His father shook his head slowly and left the room with a sad expression on his face. When his son was born, he was a very proud man with high hopes for him and he was delighted when his son made it to university to continue his studies. However, as time passed by, it turned out that the boy was lazy, a liar and a fool, becoming a great disappointment to the older man. It was now quite clear to him that his son was out of control and there seemed to be no means by which he could be directed on to the right path in life. There were two options the older man needed to consider neither of which he truly desired. The first was to throw the young man out of his house. It would teach him a lesson and act as though releasing a tame animal out into the wild where he would have to fend for himself. If he did that it still wouldn’t redeem the actions started by the boy in relation to the pyramid option scheme. He knew from experience that people who had been cheated out of their savings would not simply sit back and let the matter rest. They would become very angry and some of them would hunt for revenge. In effect, he might be saving his son by throwing him out but that wouldn’t resolve the situation. The second consideration was more savage in its concept. He picked up Jake’s business card allowing a number of thoughts to pass through his mind. Perhaps teaching his son a lesson would be the ideal prospect. A good talking to by a menacing stranger, or even something more dramatic, might cause the young man to refocus his thoughts and do the right thing. He pondered on the problem very deeply and, after a short while, he picked up the telephone and dialled the number printed on the card.

  ‘Jake!’ he uttered into the receiver. ‘I don’t know whether you can help me with a problem.’ He paused for a moment to gain his breath. ‘It’s my son. He seems to have gone off the rails. He made a promise to you with regard to the people he got involved in the heating process but he’s done nothing about it. I’m very concerned for his safety. Do you think you can do something about it?’

  There was a pause at the other end of the line before the ex-convict replied. ‘What would you like me to do?’ came the reply.

  ‘I don’t know... perhaps you can talk him around.’

  ‘Talk is cheap, Mr. Coleman. It may need something much more serious’


  ‘I don’t want to see him hurt. Just something to make him realise what he’s doing wrong.’

  ‘I’ll be with you tomorrow,’ said Jake smartly. ‘I’ll sort him out. Leave it with me.’

  Coleman’s father replaced the receiver into its cradle with a worried expression on his face. He was very uncertain as to whether he had done the right thing? The truth was that he was between a rock and a hard place and Jake was the only person he could turn to for help. He had been most reluctant to make the call but he considered that he had no choice. However he knew that he couldn’t let the situation continue until it exploded in his son’s face. From that moment on, he barred his son from using the telephone and he hired a temporary secretary from a local employment agency to answer all the calls on his behalf. Consequently, the situation was only partially contained although it really required much more positive action.

  Jake arrived on the following day accompanied as usual by his henchman. Roy Coleman met them in the driveway almost wringing his hands in anguish.

  ‘Thank you for coming,’ he greeted anxiously. ‘I don’t know what to do anymore. The telephone rings non-stop with people wanting to invest in the scheme or asking for information regarding the testing of the process. David won’t do a damn thing about it. He’s reneged on his promise to you and that’s what really worries me’

  ‘He gave me his promise that he would inform everyone involved that the process had failed and that it was the end of his role in the matter,’ stated the ex-convict with the edge of anger in his voice. ‘I don’t like people to let me down.’

  ‘I know,’ uttered Coleman senior. ‘Words come easy to him. Actions seem to take a lot longer.’

  ‘I’ll sort him out,’ declared Jake firmly. ‘Lead me to him.’

  Coleman took the two men into the house and when they entered the lounge David Coleman looked up from the book that he was reading to face them.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded in a firm tone although it was less than convincing.

  ‘You made me a promise!’ stated Jake far more firmly. ‘Why didn’t you carry it out as I asked?’

  ‘It’s not that easy,’ came the bland reply. ‘Not that easy at all. You don’t understand.’

  ‘I understand all right. You’re too damned lazy to do anything about it’’

  ‘There’s nothing I can do. It’s a mission impossible.’

  ‘Nothing’s impossible!’ snapped Jake irately. ‘You have a duty to tell everyone you contacted that the heating process failed.’

  ‘You don’t know that’s true,’ countered young Coleman sharply.

  ‘It’s true as far as you’re concerned... believe me. What are the names of your contacts?’

  ‘I can’t tell you that.’

  ‘Why not? What’s stopping you?’

  ‘They were my friends at university. If I gave you their names, my reputation would be severely affected. How could I face them in the future?’

  ‘Are you serious?’ exclaimed Jake with astonishment. ‘You may have no future if you let this go on, Don’t you realise you’re risking everything to save your reputation with your friends. Wake up to reality, man!’

  ‘Risking everything!’ Young Coleman climbed on his high horse in anger. ‘What are you talking about? Why don’t you look at the facts? No one’s got hurt financially. They only took out options at a very low cost. I don’t know what all the fuss is about!’

  ‘You stupid fool!’ shouted the ex-convict framing up to him. ‘Do you think the world revolves around you and your plans? There are people much higher up the scale who could well lose a lot of money because of your interference in the scheme. They’ll not take kindly to it, I assure you. They’ll want their pound of flesh if you continue with this charade.’

  ‘He’s right,’ intervened his father point-blank. ‘There are some people in this world with their own agenda and they don’t want people like you stepping on their toes. They could get real nasty.’

  ‘Sticks and stone may break my bones but names will never hurt me!’ retorted young Coleman naively, refusing to listen to reason.

  His father turned to Jake shrugging his shoulders tiredly. ‘You see what I mean. He’s out of control. I can’t do anything with him.’

  ‘I’m going to give you one last chance,’ stated Jake extremely firmly, pulling the book from young Coleman’s hand and throwing it across the room in anger. ‘Get the phone and ring all your contacts now!’

  The young man stared at him woodenly and obstinately, his body language indicating that he had no intention of obeying the order. ‘I don’t think so!’ he muttered curtly. ‘Now give me back my book!’

  ‘I warn you,’ continued Jake sharply. ‘I’m giving you one more chance to do what I ask. If you refuse, I’m afraid I’ll have to get nasty and you won’t want me to do that.’

  ‘Take it easy with him,’ pleased his father with an element of concern in his voice.

  ‘There’s none so deaf as those who won’t hear,’ responded the ex-convict. ‘Your son seems to be living on cloud nine and I’m going to bring him down. He’s got to do what I tell him or else.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ asked the Roy Coleman with even more concern.

  ‘Look!’ went on Jake. ‘This could be cleared up in a matter of ten minutes. If that happened, we’d be out of here in no time and you could continue your lives as normal. If not, we’ll have to take further action to make sure of closure.’

  ‘You can do what you like!’ cut in David Coleman quickly. ‘No one’s going to tell me what I should or should not do!’

  Roy Coleman threw his hands in the air in anguish. ‘Please son!’ he begged. ‘Do what they ask!’

  ‘If I did that, my colleagues would never speak to me again,’ came the response in denial.

  ‘These men may well do you harm,’ expressed his father hoping to change his son’s mind. ‘You don’t seem to understand what’s at stake here.’

  ‘Read my lips!’ he returned rudely. ‘They can do what they like!’

  Leave it to us,’ stated Jake flatly to the boy’s father, tired of the negative attitude of the young man. ‘We’ll take care of him.’

  ‘Don’t hurt him... please!’ begged the senior man. The situation had moved far beyond his control and he now regretted having contacted Jake to sort out the problem with his son.

  Jake nodded to his henchman who lifted up the young man bodily and carried him from the house like a rag doll, placing him into the rear seat of the car. Jake climbed into the driving seat while the henchman joined David Coleman in the rear. Without delay, the vehicle was driven some distance away into the open countryside stopping on a lonely road. Jake turned awkwardly to face the young man with a serious expression on his face.

  ‘Okay,’ he began. ‘Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty! It’s plain and simple. Will you do what I ask?’

  Coleman inhaled deeply before replying ‘You have no right to abduct me!’

  ‘You’re not being abducted. We just want a quiet chat away from your father. Will you contact the people involved in your scheme and tell them that the heating process has failed?’

  ‘I will not ruin my reputation for you or for anyone else,’ shouted the young man loudly, his voice echoing in the confines of the vehicle.

  The ex-convict nodded to the henchman who took hold of the index finger of Coleman’s right hand. The young man struggled to free himself but to no avail.

  ‘I hope you realise this is an assault in law and I could litigate against you on those grounds.’

  ‘I’ll ask you one more time,’ said Jake tiredly. ‘Will you do as I ask?’

  ‘No I will not and any threat against me... ’He screamed loudly as the henchman bent back his finger sharply. There was a crunching sound as it snapped .
‘You swines!’ he shouted in great pain. ‘I’ll have you for this!’

  ‘Let me say you’ve got another nine chances... only because you’ve got nine more fingers,’ related Jake flatly. ‘And don’t think I’m kidding. One thing’s for certain... you’re going to be in a lot of pain if you don’t comply with my wishes.’

  ‘You don’t need to get physical about this. I mean you’re not involved in the heating process personally, so why should you worry?’

  ‘You’re right. It has nothing to do with me but I work for someone else who has an interest and his word is law. So what’s it going to be? I’m not going to argue with you. I’ll give you one more chance. Will you do what I ask?’’

  The henchman took hold of another finger on the right hand of the young man firmly ready to repeat the process .

  ‘What are you going to do if I don’t? Are you really going to break all my fingers?’

  ‘Yes... if I have to,’ came the bland reply. ‘And after that we’ll blind you. You wouldn’t be able to read any more books then. How do you feel about that?’

  ‘You won’t get away with it!’

  ‘What are you going to do... sue us? I don’t think so. You see, we could prove that we were on a job in France today. Out of the country. Whatever happened to you couldn’t have been committed by us because we weren’t here.’

  There was a long pause as Coleman allowed the thoughts to career through his head. ‘You wouldn’t really blind me, would you?’ he asked tentatively, almost holding his breath for the answer but the ex-convict failed to reply. It was only then that he realised the two men would not stop punishing him if he continued to refuse to their command.

  ‘Okay,’ he agreed extremely reluctantly in fear of further physical damage, ‘I’ll do it.’ He pulled back his hand from the grip of the henchman nursed his finger carefully and wincing with the pain.

  ‘And there’s another thing you need to know You’re not doing yourself any favours by treating your father like dirt. He loves you and he takes good care of you. I bet he doesn’t ask for anything in return. It’s not my business, but I’d be much more pleasant and helpful to him if I were you.’