Silent Money by G D Harper

Author:G D Harper [Harper, G D]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780993547843
Publisher: Ginger Cat Publishing
Published: 2019-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

chapter fourteen

It was Charlotte who was the beneficiary of Michael’s feelings about the punishment carried out on his orders. It continued to eat away at him. He had to find some way to reconcile himself with the horror he had unleashed.

The answer was a charitable foundation, a new, philanthropic arm to his business empire. It would aim to help disadvantaged young people in Glasgow to change their lives and get into work, education, training or volunteering, to make sure every young person had the chance to succeed. Michael told Charlotte his idea over dinner a few days later and was pleased to see how much she liked it. Then he told her the second part of the plan.

‘I’d like you to run it, Charlotte,’ he told her. ‘Once you sit your final exams. Not the operational, logistical stuff; I’m recruiting a charity professional for that. I need someone to identify the self-help programmes we can support, someone to define the goals we need to achieve. Want to try?’

She protested that she didn’t have the experience, but only half-heartedly. When she finally said yes, Michael was elated. He could prove to himself that some good could come from the evil with which he was involved, and finally start to dispel the disgust he was feeling about the life he led.

But he would only fully be free when he no longer needed the smurfs.

Michael told Ron his new plan a few days later.

‘I’ve been looking at the business since the Mickie Ferguson incident,’ he said. ‘We managed to stamp down on that problem, but there are always going to be more. There’s a strategic flaw in our business model, and that’s the fundamental unreliability of the way we put the funds through the system. The smurfs. They’re a security risk, a) because they can’t be trusted, and b) because they’re easy pickings for any gangster who wants to try his luck. The operation will always be at risk as long as we have to use them.’

‘You think? I say let Big Jockie deal with keeping them under control. There’s intimidation on the street, but all we have to do is make sure the smurfs are more scared of us than the other guy. You think too much, Michael, that’s your problem. This is a simple business. You don’t have to make it complicated.’

‘The business needs to be run more intelligently, Ron. Smurfs were great to get us started, but we’re outgrowing them. I’m going to start working with Jenkins on a new way to launder money. One that’s safer, more efficient and, in the long term, more profitable. We’re going to start buying businesses – like your taxi firm – that can handle cash without drawing attention to themselves. I want a portfolio of companies so we can move money about in large business transactions, not lots of little ones with smurfs walking around with piles of cash in their pockets. Within a year, smurfing will be a thing of the past.’

‘It

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