STRIP POKER, PLAN B & FAST FOOD

Tuesday 17th January 2023 - Episode 48 in the Lymp Duhdashian series

MI6’s new recruit was keeping close to Frank throughout the first few days at the World Economic Forum’s conference centre in Davos. He was doing very well and Frank was impressed so far. During one of the many speeches they took a rare opportunity to grab a beer and bathroom break. Frank noticed that the recruit removed his security lanyard and left it on the side of the sink while he washed his hands and face. Frank swiftly slipped it into his pocket and left the room.

The recruit was flustered when he caught up with Frank. “I think someone has stolen my security badge!” he stated and Frank tutted. “That is going to be a problem!” he said soberly, “Wait for me in the bar. I will cancel that one and try to get you a replacement.” and he smartly strode towards the main reception desk where he loitered until the recruit had entered the bar. Frank changed direction and headed out of the building, through the crowds of protesters and across the plaza to the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel. He found the elevator and went up to Olympia’s Queen suite 7.

Khan and Olympia were playing cards on the floor, listening to some very odd transcendental music and were only partly dressed. Frank was a little taken aback. “Strip Poker?” he asked, absolutely aghast. “What are you? Seven?” and Khan quipped, “Nah man, at least eight!”

Frank dangled the security lanyard into Khan’s face. “You will need this tomorrow!” and he grabbed a beer from the fridge. “Have you rehearsed your speech, Lymp?” and Khan laughed. “She’s done it at least a dozen times. It is 13 minutes long and she keeps tweaking it. If I hear it again, I will not be held responsible for the demise of Ms Duhdashian on grounds of insanity!”

Olympia grinned and kicked him which began a tussle that had Frank rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “Have you heard from Dave and Pru?” he asked and Olympia extricated herself from a wrestling hold just enough to answer, “Yep! They are all set, in Saint Malo. Ready and waiting, Sir! How is Dim holding up in London?” Frank relayed that Diamond was very lonely and bored stiff. “She says it has stopped raining finally.” He looked at his watch, downed his beer and headed for the door. “Must dash, catchya later!” and he was gone, leaving Olympia and Khan to continue with their game of strip poker.

—0—

Dimitri Olenski was furious. His porn premiere had flopped on Saturday night and the reviews he was reading in the press today were absolutely brutal. To add further to his angst, he had received a message from his superiors in Moscow. They threatened to cancel his contract and reduce his pension. They would send another agent to deal with the Duhdashian sisters if he did not produce results before the end of the week.

His Plan B was risky, but it was all he could think about as he twiddled with the house keys he had removed from Mrs Duhdashian’s handbag after he had murdered her. He planned to enter the Kensington town house via the front door, in broad daylight, and hold Diamond hostage until Olympia arranged for the Duhdashian stock market portfolio to be transferred to a Russian agent, posing as a Chinese broker, in Beijing. In this way the stolen wealth of the motherland would be returned at last and his final commitment to his country would be achieved.

Dimitri had staked out the Kensington house throughout Sunday and Monday but he had seen no visitors. He had observed Diamond opening and closing the lounge curtains but there had been no lights on in other parts of the 6-storey house. Diamond was home alone, he was sure of it.

At midday he added his firearm to his otherwise normal business attire. He drove to Kensington and parked a discreet distance away, grumbling about the extortionate parking fees demanded by the parking meters on London streets. He approached the house overlooking Kensington Park and he turned the key in the lock quietly.

Once inside, he was struck by the absolute silence. He disabled the alarm system using the code which Mrs Duhdashian had engraved discreetly on a silver disc attached to her keys. He waited listening. The house was like a mausoleum. The lounge door was open and he stepped near enough to view the room. There was no sign of Diamond. He withdrew his weapon from its holster and went down to the kitchen in the basement. Everywhere looked recently cleaned and very tidy. He descended the stairs to the underground car park and was surprised to find it deserted.

Dimitri Olenski presumed that Diamond had gone out on an errand, so he went up to the other floors of the house checking everywhere. The whole house was perfectly tidy, nothing was out of place. It looked like a show house. Less cautious now, Dimitri returned to the lounge to wait.

—0—

Diamond was enjoying the drive to Portsmouth. The weather had finally broken and it was sunny. She selected a old favourite album and sang every song with gusto.

She was interrupted by a call from the Estate Agent and she stopped into a service station to return the call. The news was excellent. He would be showing the first potential purchaser around the Kensington townhouse the following day and simply wanted to know if that would be convenient. “Great!” chirped Diamond happily, “You have the keys and alarm code, don’t you? I am not going to be there, so you have permission to show clients around at your leisure! Let me know how it goes, of course!” and she discontinued the call grinning like a Cheshire cat. She had worked so hard to clean the whole house since Frank had left for Davos. She had even broken a couple of nails…..

The overnight car ferry from Portsmouth to Saint Malo did not depart until 8.15pm so she had plenty of time to sneakily enjoy a Kentucky Fried Chicken meal at the service station. Something she would never confess to anyone was her secret penchant for an occasional fast food indulgence. Diamond tucked in, satisfied that Olympia’s Plan was unfolding exactly as they had intended. She wanted to call Frank but observed the radio silence rule he had insisted would be necessary. She would have to wait until Thursday morning at the very earliest.

‘All this espionage is so exciting’ she thought as she smiled broadly at everyone around her. ‘I must stop doing that. People will think I am crazy!’