‘Maybe one of the staff knows? Dad always tips the guy who cleans the car. Maybe he knows?’ suggested William. Charles turned and ran downstairs towards the garages.

William turned to his desk as the last transaction went through. The notice blinked on his screen and all the money was finally in play.

At that moment the idea took hold — perhaps this was the time? Perhaps this was exactly the distraction he needed to tip Cedric off to start selling? While everyone was trying to deal with the Malagasy revolution, the coin could be dumped and maybe, just maybe, William would be forgiven for not noticing and losing

$100 million in the chaos. It was risky, he had to admit, and unlikely to end well but it was better than any distraction he’d come up with so far.

The only problem was that he only had one way to contact Cedric — using his old mobile which was a ten-kilometre run away hidden in a rocky outcrop at the edge of a cliff. There was no way he could take the risk and use his other phone. Charles would be watching for anything suspicious until Edward was back home.

Charles appeared back in the office.

‘He said father was going to see someone in the government,’ panted Charles, his face even more sweaty and pale, ‘but he didn’t know who or what it was about!’

‘So, what do we do?’ asked William, trying to gauge how much time he had to set the dump in motion.

‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We wait. Dad could be fine, in a meeting or something. Or…’

‘Or what?’ interrupted William.

‘Or he is some kind of hostage. They know Dad is worth a fortune. They won’t kill him until they can get some money out of him. We wait until they or Dad contact us,’ responded Charles.

William sighed, and felt his heart start to beat heavily in his chest.

‘Just carry on as normal. I’ll make sure the security guards are on high alert. I’m going to go and sit in the control room and watch the cameras. You two just do whatever it is you do and make sure no one can get our money,’ said Charles.

William spent the rest of the afternoon making sure the coin buying continued. People were still buying as much as they could, pushing the price up. If Cedric dumped at this instant, he would already be able to make four times his original investment. It was a filthy way to conduct business, but it would cut Edward’s empire off at the knees.

Once again William felt a mixture of emotions. Here he was, trying to destroy his own father. Didn’t that make him just as terrible as his father? Especially since Edward seemed to have been kinder over the past few months.

That kindness could be linked to the money he was promising to make his father, or it could be genuine. Was William really doing the right thing by turning on his family, even though they were a bunch of crooks? They were still his family but so was Jez. She was his mother, who had been turned away by his father and forbidden to see her own children. She was a good person, he thought, before shaking his head and standing up.

The sun was starting its slow descent towards the sea. William made his way to the security control room. He knew where it was, but not what it housed. Now would be a good time to see! William pushed the door open to the underground room.

‘Charles?’ called William, above the buzzing of machines and some muffled talking that was coming from inside the room.

As William opened the door, he found himself in a long, thin room covered in screens. Three of the security guards and Charles watched over the screens. Charles was pointing at the one screen, stabbing at the screen with his big hand,

‘Here and here, we need to station someone there,’ he was saying as William walked in. Charles looked briefly at William as he came in, ‘What?’

‘Hey, um, just wanted to know if you have heard anything from Dad?’ asked William, feeling foolish as he asked about his father in front of all these people — the same people who spied on him daily.

‘Nothing!’ snapped Charles, before turning back to point at the screens, issuing orders for more security monitoring points.

William turned around to leave. As he walked out slowly, he noticed the screens that followed all of his running routes especially the screen that watched over the perimeter of the property and the mountain outcrop where he kept the phone.

William knew it was now or never and he picked up his pace, and made his way to his room. He changed into his running clothes and ran out of the door as fast as he could, his heart racing with fear.

He made it to the mountain in record time. He was breathing hard through the thick and heavy humidity, his shirt sticking to him like a second skin. When he stopped and looked across the sea, he doubled over and rested his arms on his legs so that he could catch his breath.