The Fool Ch. 12

"Regardless, a smart man might have kept his mouth shut, given the atmosphere in here, so thanks again. If you want mentoring in my business, come whenever you want," William invited.

"Thank you," Jordan said. "For what it's worth, I cared for Grant. He was more than a friend, but I get the feeling I didn't know him very well."

"Me either," William admitted sadly and patted his shoulder before leaving the room. John Brassilano and Miles Rackham had left the room while William had been speaking. They both knew it was in their best interests to take the deal being offered.

"Mine!" Ollie chuckled. "You know I have to call Uncle Frazer first, or Dad will as soon as he finds out."

"Tell him this," Sinclair said, writing quickly on a notepad and handing the piece of paper to Oliver, who roared with laughter. "And tell him I'll call him tomorrow when the kinks are ironed out of the agreement with the Windsor's."

"You mean, getting married? I probably shouldn't tell him about that, right? Aunt Georgia might reach down the phone line and throttle me," he continued to laugh and left the room. The four senior members looked across the table at the three newbies listening to the laughter fade as Oliver walked away.

"So, who wants to go first?" Ben asked in a mild tone.

"I signed it," Joeseph said quickly. "I'm happy to be treated as a no-brain newb and soak up the power and influence enjoyed by the rest of you in the mentoring program. I'd rather not be a no-friend-Nigel, however, if these guys leave. So I'm sticking around to hear the answers to their questions and fight with them like a pesky little brother because I want them to do this newb thing with me."

"If he calls me Gerry even once I'm going to hit him," Gerard grumbled, making the group stifle a laugh. "How long's the probation period?" he asked abruptly.

"Truthfully, it's all new rules. The fact that the three of you didn't grow up with the rest of us, learning as you went about the responsibility of holding the power to influence others on a grand scale. I expect that once you start spending time with the rest of us, and start building your profiles in your chosen areas, that you will progress pretty rapidly," Sinclair mused.

"So we choose what we want to do?" Gerard asked curiously. "There isn't some greater organisation who dictates that?"

"We, in conjunction with the Windsor's, are that greater organisation. I guess they pull the strings, but you choose your speciality. I'm in transport, I can get anything and anyone from point A to point B with a fanfare or undetected," Ben said. "Planes are my passion, but within my extended family, we have a shipping line, rail interests, trucks, buses and the rest. My son is into helicopters."

"Stealth technology?" Gerard asked, his interest obvious.

"It's all part of the machine," Ben nodded. "Freddy is the tech guru, though," he acknowledged. "Search, rescue and rehabilitation," he pointed to Sinclair and Christopher. "They are the James Bonds of the brotherhood."

"He's overstating it a bit, let's put it in terms of being retrieval experts," Christopher corrected his friend. "Do you have a particular interest? We have lawyers, doctors and pharmaceuticals, historians who think they were born to be Indiana Jones, Construction, Automotive, we all have businesses. The Myngs were publishers, I believe."

"Still are," Gerard admitted. "I wouldn't mind having the power to influence news organisations, but, going by tonight's events, I imagine much of that is taken care of."

"The Windsor's did that, so there's room for another player on that field," Sinclair agreed. "It wouldn't take you long to make an impression, I expect, with our backing. You just need to learn how far your influence could go and how to use it wisely."

"Come on, Gerry, just sign it already," Joseph said in a mock whine and held up his hands. "Save your punch for Jordan, you know we're both gonna have to hit him."

"Alright," he grumbled and took up a pen, signing the contract and pushing it to toward Sinclair. Then he turned and deliberately flicked Joseph's ear, making him grimace but laugh.

"Okay, Jordan, you have the floor," Sinclair said evenly.

"Here's the difference between growing up in the bosom of these families and not," Jordan said to Joseph. "It's no secret to these men that I helped Carrie steal their family artefacts over the last decade. I aided Edith and Robyn in manipulating Carrie, and, as recently as last week, tried to blackmail her into betraying the men you both call brothers now in order to further the plot against the association. I tried to force Carrie into marriage to reap the rewards of her heritage, and because I have been in love with her since we were ten. Did I miss anything?" He asked Sinclair.

"I think that covers it," he said in a deadpan voice.

"Yet I am here and not in jail, I guess Carrie had something to do with that," he mused. "Knowing all that you know, and now that you are the undisputed leader of this association, why would you want me here?"

Sinclair turned to his friends and detailed the first night he had ever met Carrie. From the purposeful disappearance she had let him see through the hidden door, the sound on the stairs and finding her exiting the bathroom into the hallway opposite the very room the pistol was stolen from. He detailed the way the dress hugged her body so that nothing, not even the valet parking ticket, could be hidden beneath it, chuckling as he admitted his surprise when she pulled it from her hair as she left the party.

"You were all there; you all saw what I just described. Now tell me, how did Carrington get the pistol out of that mansion?" Sinclair asked the group. "There was no prior set up or anything in place before the event, by the way; it was stolen that night."

"Jordan was on the balcony?" Ben said easily. "That's what the evidence says happened."

"Jordan was at least ten kilometres away from the Rackham estate that night," Sinclair shook his head. He looked at the confused faces of his colleagues. "It took me months to work it out, so you may as well tell them, Jordan. The whole story, including why she let me see her."

"Wait, you flew a quadcopter how far?" Freddy was astounded and stopped Jordan in the telling of the story.

"I tweaked it. It's what I do, I'm a mechanical engineer," he shrugged as if it was nothing.

"He even managed to get a tracker on my car for a few days," Sinclair chuckled. "I'm hardly going to hold your taste in women against you. As for how you went about it... Carrie has encouraged me to believe you were manipulated into that by the only family either of you had left."

"Did you know about the Leather Barrow stuff? The arms, drugs or human trafficking? Take part in it in any way?" Freddy asked almost too eagerly, but not for the reasons Jordan believed he asked.

"No, I had no idea about Edith's dealings. I just assumed it was family monies that she lived off. Carrie became considerably wealthy after Robyn's death, not that I am poor, but my wealth isn't in the same league." Jordan admitted.

"So, aside of the thefts, you weren't involved in any illegal activity?" Christopher asked, to clarify his role with Edith and Grant.

"They kept me out of all that. The plan was that I would marry Carrie and use her links to the Windsor's to take control of the association with Grant's help. I believe Edith had visions of a large dynasty for the Bonnet family starting with the remnants of the last one" he explained.

"So, aside from the fact that you're in love with the woman he's about to marry, what's stopping you from signing this?" Joseph asked.

"Him," Jordan indicated Sinclair. "He doesn't trust me, and I don't blame him, but without trust, I can hardly be part of this brotherhood."

"True enough," Sinclair admitted. "I trust Carrie, however, and she trusts you, despite everything. If Freddy is prepared to take you on board as a mentor, and you want a second chance, then this is the best place for you. The rest you and I can work out as we go along."

"Sign it," Freddy encouraged, "Because you and I are going to do great things together!"

"You may as well sign, I think Carrie has a pretty dress picked out for you to play bridesmaid for her," Christopher smirked, testing Jordan's reaction.

"It's not the green one, is it?" Jordan assumed a distasteful look, making Christopher laugh loudly.

"I want you here, Jordan, if only to keep an eye on you at the moment," Sinclair pushed a pen toward him. "I have to meet with Lady Windsor, I'll see what I can find out about their publishing arm for you, Gerry," Sinclair chuckled and left the room, not having seen Jordan sign the contract, leaving it in the hands of Christopher and Freddy.

*****

Carrie giggled as the people surrounding them jeered Sinclair as he went to kiss her after the short ceremony conducted by the captain. In response to the jeers, he wrapped his arms around her and dipped her backwards, kissing her hard and deep, taking her breath away as the jeers turned to cheers.

"No reception, gentlemen," he announced as they stood facing the small gathering. "I have a wedding night to ensure my wife doesn't forget," he smirked and picked her up, carrying her from the deck to the motor launch where a member of the crew was waiting to take them ashore.

"Wait! What about my clothes?" she asked in a panic as she realised they were leaving the safety of the Windsor's and the ship immediately.

"It's our honeymoon," he grinned. "You won't be needing any clothes." He laughed then, a relaxed, full, loud laugh and embraced her. "Relax and enjoy this time alone, Carrie," he murmured. "We have a lifetime ahead of dealing with everyone else's demands, just be in the moment with me. No family pressure, no sense of duty to a greater power, just you and me and the Caribbean Sea."

In less than ten minutes the motor launch docked beside a small jetty, and she peered into the darkness trying to work out where they were.

"The caretaker has readied everything you need and retired to the other side of the island," the crewman instructed and handed over a package. "This is from Lady Windsor; she said to inform you that your ship will dock on the other side of the island in the next day or two. Instructions in case of emergencies are in the package." With that, he cast off, leaving them standing on the jetty.

"Where are we?" Carrie asked quietly into the silent darkness that now surrounded them.

"Officially off the grid," he said, and placed an arm around her waist as they walked toward the island. With each step they took, a small footlight lit up guiding their way. "This place is powered by solar panels and propane gas, but there's a backup generator if needed in the rainy season." The jetty swept out at the end into a beautifully landscaped tropical oasis that took Carrie's breath away. She'd been in a lot of beautiful places over the last year she had spent with Sinclair, but this place was a visual delight. From the tropical wooden structures to the gauzy length of cloth that acted as flimsy walls that billowed in the breeze and swung back to be unobtrusive to the view from any on the intersecting rooms.

"So, about the proposed wedding gift?" he smirked, taking hold of both her hands and playing with the wedding ring she now wore as he pulled her hands up to his mouth and ran his lips across her knuckles.

"I'm yours," she said softly. "Utterly, completely yours," she smiled as a matching smile transformed his face. "For tonight, at least, then we can reopen negotiations," her laugh turned into a squeal as he picked her up and began carrying her through the open rooms.

"I guess I'll take what I can get for now then. Come, woman, time to see what being married to me really entails," he said in a voice made deeper by desire. Carrie shivered with both anticipation and dread, unable to hide the smile of pure pleasure that spread across her face that this man, this genuinely good man, that she loved and trusted like no one else, loved her and was her husband, now and forever.