

Sun on the Rocks – The Shabby Sheik

Smashwords Edition.

© Copyright 2016 by Somers Isle & Loveshade.

Published by Somers Isle & Loveshade at Smashwords.

U.S. Copyright Registration Number: Tx-8-138-916.

All rights reserved.

'Sun on the Rocks' blogsite:

http://oursalon.ning.com/profile/workstudio

Cover by Tatiana Villa.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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# ABOUT 'Sun on the Rocks':

Sun on the Rocks is a validating and comforting balm made of a benign word cloud. It is a breezy, easy to peel humor read for adults, specializing in the trivial pursuit. Each pleasant fictional amusement comes with a nonchalant overtone of humor, and follows the adventures of several non competitive good looking women over twenty one years of age, as they leave Malibu and become a group of hostesses, _'Sun on the Rocks'_ , on the cruise ship _City of Wellington_ , a post-Panamax which makes short trips between Los Angeles and Acapulco in Mexico. The motley crew of women works as a group of entertaining amateurs and as friendly gophers on the ship, and is led to various places in the Caribbean and elsewhere by the incombustible twenty five year old Stevenson Garden Products Malibu teleoperator **Clarity Nice** , a woman of resourceful intuition, and acute observer of the laws of human mischief.

You can read the backstories below to follow the amusement and become familiar with some of the characters. The summary below is probably enough to follow the amusement, without having to read other ones. This version of the Shabby Sheik is the regular banana humor version, without any explicit adult content. All characters of the amusement portrayed are fictional characters over twenty one years of age.

Previously in The Vanity Ring: Rejected by socialite Shalia Owell, who has discovered Clarity's false identity as Herbaline employee Darcy Emmers, Clarity becomes agenda and damage control assistant of Elsie Chu, the wife of Singapore billionaire Dao Bin, owner of wireless and telephony company Hunan Enterprises. Disenchanted by a rocky marriage and the lack of influence she has on the business matters of her husband, including the new health phone project to sell longevity services, Elsie Chu has purchased an expensive ring sold by a luxury jeweler, labeled 'Rose Property', which has some wireless equipment built into it to protect her privacy. Convinced that she can take part in her husband's business, she instructs Clarity to spy on Dao Bin and his moneytician Lim Li, to know more about her husband's activity.

Sent to the Chinese Embassy and to the Branch of a private bank in Singapore, the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation, Clarity finds out that Chinese Military officials, led by Western Military Command Theater General Tian Yazhou, have agreed to fund part of the health phone project. Her loyalty siding with the monks of the Enlightened Dragon Society, who are protecting their dossier on immortality, Meridian 57, from Taoist Professor Chang, and from his White Tigress, Madame Wa, an expert of esoteric sexuality, Clarity stays close to Elsie Chu, to find out the storage location of rare earth metals which will be used to assemble the new health phone.

Clarity becomes a confidant of Elsie Chu, who has begun instruction as a White Tigress, following the esoteric teachings of Madame Wa. But the cheeky doyenne does not trust her esoteric teacher completely, and she uses her ring in order to stay in touch with a secretive group which keeps her away from sexual esoteric practices, the Privilege Club. The secretive club is the group who issued the vanity ring of Elsie Chu, and instructs her to stay away from Madame Wa and instead carry out the filming of an adult film, 'Golden Lamp of Casa Mollino', to vent out the impulses of her outrageous libido.

Enmeshed in the filming of Casa Mollino, which is used by Elsie Chu to involve prominent members of Singapore high society in the funding of her husband's health phone project, Clarity is drawn into the ploy of Elsie Chu. Alone and without any immediate support, she must face the shrewd delegate sent by General Tian Yazhou, Economic and Commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Singapore, Jiang Xiong, and the moneytician of Dao Bin, Lim Li, in order to protect the core of Meridian 57, uncover the identities of those behind the vanity ring of Elsie Chu, and find out Taoist knowledge on immortality assembled by Professor Chang, which will be sold with the Hunan health phone, through a joint venture between General Tian Yazhou, Dao Bin and Owens & Owell. After landing Dao Bin in jail, Clarity avoids pursuit from local authorities, who are after her for having taken part in the filming of Casa Mollino. Following the trail of Elsie Chu's ring, she becomes a courier for a luxurious jewelry of Orchard Road, in order to leave Singapore, carrying for them a Mauboussin ring with the code L4670 etched on the inner band of the ring, ordered by someone in Macau.

The Shabby Sheik: Watched by a ceiling camera inside a Macau casino, teleoperator Clarity Nice joins the woman watching her, videographer Plum Bailey, in a live dealer gambling room broadcasting over the internet. Plum leads Clarity with her on board Heir Force One, the plane of Sheik Haroun Al-Najib, known colloquially as Hari, after offering to him the luxurious ring made by the firm Mauboussin, brought by Clarity to Macau, which points to an ancient sorority identified by a symbol known as the 'incomplete triangle'. Rejected by his family, known as the dumbest human loss-making machine of the Emirates, Hari likes to wear shabby clothes, which include a sweater with growths patched with puffs of woolfiller, ripped jeans, worn out brown leather shoes with one of the soles open, and housing several white pebbles.

Witnessing the eccentric plastic and gold throne of the Sheik inside his luxurious Boeing 757, Clarity and Plum become additional members of Hari's entourage, which include his retainer Hakeem Mogadham, his Dutch butler Melchior, his personal coach Merhab Iskendar, a great fan of the Tony Robbins firewalk, his girlfriend Nora, who works for the gossip magazine Vanity Gloss, and his 'live-in' girlfriend Lohvia, a Slovenian beauty who enjoys 'pearl' panties and her time naked with the Sheik inside the plane's solarium.

A golden bachelor with a solid reputation of lacking qualification and being indecisive whatever he does, Hari has not decided to marry, and is confused by all the women around him, who want to be near him in order to enjoy the affluent lifestyle of 'HDH', His Dumb Highness, as everyone else but himself thinks of him. Hari does not care about failure, and sees it as something inherent in business and in general.

Seen as a nuisance by his family for their business, because of his loss making business blunders and repeated incompetence, his list of achievements including only failures and money losing ventures or trades, Hari heads for the Caribbean to sort out his love life and make his first dollar on his own. His plane lands in the British Virgin Islands and he gets a job as waiter in a terrace of Tortola, in order to start from the bottom and begin to make his own money. After an unfortunate tip to a tourist on a penny stock which fails, Hari is fired from his job, and becomes jobless again.

Sheik Hari is a sociable guy, who trusts himself when someone else tells him he is rich. He is rich, but someone else always ends up managing his money, either his family or his retainer Hakeem, a man who resents all the fortune around him, and seeks a chunk of all the money thrown away by Hari's disastrous forays into business, trade, or investing. Hakeem has all the power of attorney documents needed to allocate the fortune of the Sheik, and gets him another job at a BVI offshore branch of a capital markets firm, Kuwait Trade House Capital, known as Kuwait Capital.

After an email sent by error by Hari results in the landing of a consortium of journalists investigating the Sheik and the holdings of his company, Clarity helps Hari sort out some of the problems arising out of the unwanted notoriety. The mess created by Hari includes a scandal called Scrub Leaks, involving the Sheik's family assets and other powerful members of the elite, and a money laundering charge by the BVI financial services commission, which leads Hari's girlfriend to leave him. As a result of the mess, Hari, and Clarity, are arrested and are led to jail in Tortola.

Stuck with Hari in jail, awaiting a trial which the authorities want as example of their compliance with laundering legislation, Clarity will have to find an ingenious way to leave jail and the island, to elude the charges against them by bringing to the police commissioner those who tampered with the Sheik's account in Tortola. Lacking any local allies, the only way for Clarity out of Hari's mess, is to strike a deal exchanging favors with Plum, who is seeking a valuable list of connections owned by the Sheik, in order to reach the sorority headed by an older woman, Lady Mulham, which brings to their members an explanation of 'completion', in particular the completion of its symbol, the incomplete triangle.

# BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS

# TO READ THE AMUSEMENT COMFORTABLY

**The** Shawab: Smuggler of alcohol established in the Caribbean and navigating the islands in his yacht. He surfaced during The Sugar Baby amusement, but neither authorities or Clarity have seen him or managed to catch him. His motivations for smuggling are not known. His past is not clear either, even among those few people close to him, who know him or have met him. He is known for seeking Lady Fortuna, the minted gold bar which is used as token of initiation with a small group of teachers, for those interested in learning or understanding the _Eleusinian Mysteries_ , a particular set of practices which came from the ancient town of _Eleusis_ in Greece.

Those who handle the minted bar use heralds, or Spondophoroi, to gather a small number of neophytes and initiates, from all those seeking the ineffable wisdom of the cauldron, granted only to a few nubiles, and to exceptionally few men, by the Aurum Lux Ordo, the Order of Gold Light. This small group of druidesses or bandorai, is not known anywhere in the Caribbean or anywhere else. Hiding from the mundane areas of society, these horticultural curators, known to the very few as Melissai, are believed to reside in several modest settlements of the Caribbean. Their very plain, candle-lit cottages, include a few, private island bungalows, and a residence at Cayo Agua, a small island off the coast of Panama, which can be reached by kayuka from the shoreside village of Escudo de Veraguas.

One of the messengers allowed to trade or exchange the minted bar of Lady Fortuna, for money or the equivalent, is Mista Jack, a moneychanger and advisor to Castro coming from the British Virgin Islands, and a former assistant of precious metal trader Armando Jouexer Vera Tafil, known as Cubandor. Cubandor is the owner of one of the few private cigar plantations in Cuba, Monteviena, which he turns into a micronation within Cuba during The Cuban Renegade amusement. Mista Jack holds one of the bars of Lady Fortuna, and is aware of the Monteviena cigars coming from Cubandor's plantation. One of those cigars, 'gold spot', is a golden cigar which opens a vault keeping most of the gold of Cuba, Fort Ebena, where there may be another gold bar that grants access to initiation.

The Shawab seeks one of the heralds of the minted bar, or the bar itself, but he has not been able to find either of them. To do so, he wants to get closer to officials of the Cuban government, who might have been in touch with a herald of the bar like Mista Jack. As a result, he is seeking a way to bring some of his funds into Banco Inter Central del Caribe y Cuba, or BICCC, the bank involved with all of the special trades, transfers and deals carried out by the Cuban government, which are outside of ordinary operations. Hari, the Sheik featured in The Shabby Sheik, a member of the money elite, might just bring the Shawab that kind of favorable opening for his funds, a way for the smuggler to meet Cuban representatives.

# BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS TO RELATE

# THE GENERAL BODY OF AMUSEMENTS COMFORTABLY

**Buddha Talk:** Corpulent, shady genius of money flows which begin and end with the same pocket, his own, scholar of sexual ecstasy, occasional Buddhist and worshipper for good Karma of a shrine honoring a lobster which pinched his ear before ending in the lobster cooking pot. Buddha Talk is banking agent and the heir apparent of _Lofty Bank_ , a _Cayman Islands banking institution_ with no particular regard for its clients and a lock on ownership held by a Great Dane, _Lord Moorehead_ III, British by upbringing and inheritance granted by Lord Moorehead II, a man, old, very old, and dead now, at age ninety seven, previous British Lord, ex-owner of Lofty Bank, a man who gave all of its wealth, nobility title and bank ownership rights to his dog.

_Lord Moorehead III_ acts as front 'man' for Buddha Talk, and is also the official recipient of all bank notices by the Cayman Islands monetary authority, a convenient fact for Buddha Talk, and one bark that doesn´t cease to surprise the monetary authority who casts a recurring shadow of doubt upon the legalities of having a dog act as front 'man' and be the official owner of a Bank doing business in the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands, located in the Western Caribbean Sea, a pleasant area to live when the money and work issues are solved. Buddha Talk likes to drive or be driven in Jaguar 73, a gadget-filled car offered as gift to Buddha Talk by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in exchange for having sold some gold and palladium for the Cuban regime, through Banco Inter Central del Caribe y Cuba, or BICCC.

Clarity and Flower, after gaining entry as investors to the bank with the help of Clark, the owner of a diamond shop in Grand Cayman, find themselves owing nearly one hundred thousand dollars to the Lofty Bank outfit for no reason, a debt they can pay by working for the bank for fifty years, as part of the bank´s flagship product, _the Crashworthy Deposit_ , part bank deposit paying twenty percent, part investment, part insurance policy, and part working arrangement.

Lofty has ties with the underworld, and the monetary authority of the Cayman Islands stubbornly refuses to grant it a renewal of its license, something that doesn´t stop the bank from operating in the most illegal manner, advertising its products to potential investors with an air banner carried by a Gippland 200 crop duster flying low above sunny Caribbean beaches such as those of Cayman, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and Acapulco. This is entirely documented in **The Cayman Air Banner**.

**Boustrophedon:** Large, ancient grey stone inscription filled with Greek letter symbols. In a boustrophedon, direction of the text is inverted, you have to read the inscriptions on the stone from left to right and from right to left alternatively with each line of bi-directional text. Penelope Avalon and Cassandra Scafarel believe that the Boustrophedon holds important information on ancient methods of pleasure, including comments and thoughts on the gate of pleasure, Voluptas de Naturas. The current location of the Boustrophedon that Clarity and her friend Lanai saw at Scafarel's **Hexas Style Resort** in the Bahamas, is unknown to Clarity, known to:

**Cassandra Scafarel:** Significant other of Buddha Talk at some point, shrewd British expatriate, a businesswoman in her forties without a moral code or compass, executive head of beauty lotion outfit 'Elony', sold through illegal flight infomercials with the assistance of Lofty Bank. The infomercial is an excuse to sell to customers, mostly affluent women, Elony's personal growth services, which include how to bring heaven a little closer to home, after doing away with money, in particular fifty thousand dollars that must be paid for a bottle of Elony, in order to receive a resort-pass to reach the Leisure and Pleasure Resort of Scafarel, the **Hexas Style Resort** in the Bahamas island of Eleuthera.

Hexas Style was partly dismantled in **The Bahamas Lotion** , by Al Donway and the **Sensual Brigade of Central Intelligence** , or **Sensual Intelligence** , a group of attractive women ensuring Law and Order are respected, along with their bodies. The Brigade's most representative member is agent **Money Fact** , the woman who introduced Clarity to the nine hour oil-optional massage, proof that work is not a necessary part of life. Money Fact excels at action, mentoring and faulty logic. After a decidedly last minute and decisive intervention of Sensual Intelligence at Hexas Style, Scafarel manages to flee from the Bahamas resort on her private yacht, with the Boustrophedon, but without some secrets regarding pleasure, including the:

**Imperial Pelican Fabergé Egg:** Intricate egg, or jewel, depending on how hungry you are, eight inches high, made of varicolored gold, opalescent blue enamel and watercolor on ivory. It is known as the _Xenia Imperial Pelican Fabergé egg,_ and belongs to the _Private Collection of Maria Feodorovna, Empress Consort of Russia in 1898_. The egg, commissioned by Maria Feodorovna to provide, handle and store, all of her private items of pleasure, went through the hands of Occidental Petroleum tycoon Armand Hammer, an art collector with close ties to the ex-Soviet Union, and has now fallen into the hands of Cassandra Scafarel, a woman who stops at nothing to understand how pleasure works, in particular how the pleasure of a woman works, including her own _._ The Pelican Fabergé egg, eight inches high, is hollow, and unfolds into eight miniatures, holding what's known in Fabergé egg language, as the surprise inside, a time-tested item of pleasure for the woman, the Jade Egg, a small two inch in diameter jade egg that must be boiled before each intimate, feminine use. Owned by Cassandra Scafarel, requisitioned by the Sensual Brigade of Central Intelligence for examination.

**Penelope Avalon:** Sex Goddess and Go-Go girl from Las Vegas, dressed in a pink suit, user of the learjet ' _Pink Go-Go_ ' appropriately painted in pink. Penelope has had enough of living the plastic pleasure style of Las Vegas showgirls, and finds in the outfit of Cassandra Scafarel, the Bahamas Hexas Style Resort, a way out of Hotel California. Penelope likes attractive women unclothed, and would like to do Clarity, because she's nice.

**The Symbolic Decryptor:** Thai alphabet gadget similar to a smartphone or Blackberry, which can be used as cell phone, useful for understanding all types of characters and symbols, made in VLE mode (Very Limited Edition, less than ten made worldwide) by the mysterious Oriental company known as **Pentatone Scale Learning Systems**.

The item, the gadget, looks like a Blackberry with keyboard, with 36 Thai character keys, doubled with the shift key, for a total of 72, instead of the 26 of the Western alphabet, and its keys are made of hard, white color plastic, similar to the color casing of the Kindle 2, cast against a grey background and a backlit screen. The decryptor can also be used as indicator of calligraphy symbols, as mantra tone guide and geo-locator, using the Global Positioning System to calculate the coordinates of any location worldwide.

Penelope Avalon received one of these decryptors from Lady Scafarel, after completing work on heaven, according to Scafarel's personal growth system, and Clarity would like to keep the item as a souvenir, although Money Fact disagrees and is holding custody of the device for strategic and Intelligence reasons. Sure, she likes the nifty item, that's all, and she likes to subtly let Clarity know that she's the boss of Sensual Intelligence.

**Book of Decadence:** Book written on the topic by the unknown hedonist, a small print manifesto of deep thought with illustrations of ancient goddesses with lion bodies in bronze, and a mosaic of Byzantine nuns, used by Penelope Avalon and the Hexas Style Hedonist Resort in the Bahamas, on how to let go of the encumbrance of work, and dedicate your time, well spent, according to the book, to leisure, pleasure, et. al. The book clearly advises on the pitfalls of decadence and purportedly how to avoid them.

**Telval Studios** : Adult Film production unit of the Church of the Holy Flower, led by Cassandra Scafarel, including the film ' _Abu Dhabi Chic_ ', a remake of Andrew Blake's 'Paris Chic' shown to Clarity and her friends during the unfolding of **The Adult Channel** at the Park Hyatt in Abu Dhabi. Telval produces adult films unlike any other, films like ' _Embroidered Air Avenue_ ', engaging beautiful women in sultry positions and scenes for hours, revealing an oriental connection to the films' choreographies and to the symbolic decryptor. It including codes for women within the films to get inside the Church of the Holy Flower and other Mystery Schools. This includes a keyword of the Book of Decadence, the word **Rosebud** , a mysterious codeword for the Church of the Holy Flower that Clarity seeks to clarify.

The adult films are distributed in large hotel chains worldwide and come with a special remote control for the hotel's adult channel, which makes the films interactive and allows eight digit bank transfers with Telval as beneficiary, to be done remotely. One of the remotes holds an important detail on heaven, as envisioned by Scafarel on earth, with indications provided by the eight miniatures of her Imperial Pelican Fabergé Egg.

**The Air Fashion Jet of Owens & Owell**: Double deck plane with four engines, a copy of the Airbus 380, refurbished with all kinds of luxuries, from a Jacuzzi to an Indian ritual area for the users of the plane, to a permanent television channel showing fashion shows happening throughout the world. The jet, built in Saudi Arabia, is used by board members and members of the Executive Committee of the conglomerate Owens & Owell, and by the two rebellious daughters of the main owners, who got married to each other during **The OOL Broderie (Owens & Owell Love Broderie)**, Shalia Owell, twenty three, and Jenny Owens, twenty two.

Shalia Owell and Jenny Owens are two good looking college students studying human sexuality at University of Arizona. They hold Board seats on the Board of Directors of O&O, but the members of the company´s Executive Committee oppose their presence on the Board, after they give a power of attorney to Cassandra Scafarel, the woman who led them to their marriage and wants access to the money of O&O by replacing the two women on their board seat. Scafarel´s _Church of the Holy Flower_ , includes its very own holy flower, the _Rose of Levity_ , a real flower, one of the most expensive in the world, a gold of kina balu rose, a variation on a Mrs. Herbert Stevens Rose.

**The Center for Somewhat Strategic Affairs of Medium to Low Importance** : Located below the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas, the Center of Surveillance of U.S. interests is headed by Colonel Calton Brayfield and her assistant, ex-employee of facebook, Mandy Everglade. The Center´s ever present maintenance issues with the elevator leading to the Bellagio, which interferes with the fountains of the resort, are handled by repairman Morgan Afterflow, a man who knows how to swing his red, adjustable pipe wrench in any situation. His side job is to work for the Chinese government as a spy, providing any information that will pay him fifteen dollars an hour more than his current hourly pay at the center.

The center uses a supercomputer with a quite human consciousness, _Evans_ , whose brain is built according to complex algorithms of symbolic logic, which can perform complex social data analytics on millions of people. _Evans_ , which refuses to be used dishonestly, reveals the source of this devious use of his super computing ability in **The Bellagio Wikileak**.

Knowing that Bradfield and Afterflow want him thrown into the scrapyard after refusing to perform simple calculations for them or those who want to lease its computing services, the consciousness of _Evans_ reaches a Symbolic Decryptor that Clarity takes away from the center´s equipment supplies, and becomes a permanent part of Clarity´s gadget, escaping the enslavery of the surveillance center, but becoming part of a stolen gadget belonging to the U.S. government with many features unknown to Clarity or Evans.

**Mista Jack:** Money changer from the British Virgin Islands, advisor to Cuban Colonel Swarez and the Cuban government in **The Cuban Renegade**. Mista Jack is a dwarf wearing a black Duffield hat, and was a former assistant of precious metals agent Cubandor, with connections at the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas. The short but resourceful man is responsible for stealing one million dollars worth of Federal Reserve bonds that were used on behalf of Cubandor to pay Buddha Talk, in exchange for _Lady Fortuna_ , a minted gold bar of great value, sought by many, understood by few.

These bonds, that Clarity and Flower used to leave Cayman, have been giving Clarity a headache, because they were stolen, and Sensual Intelligence has been accusing Clarity and Flower, and also Cubandor, of stealing the bonds and paying Lady Fortuna with stolen U.S. government debt. No one knows how Mista Jack broke into the New York Fed´s vault to find the bonds. As a result of the stolen bonds, Clarity and Cubandor lost their U.S. passport, becoming citizens without a country, owning instead the passport of the Monteviena cigar plantation, a micronation in Cuba created by Cubandor, which includes Cuba´s reserve of precious metals, _Fort Ebena_.

**Lady Fortuna:** Two hundred fifty gram gold bar minted by _LAMP, Lingots Artisanaux Métaux Précieux,_ a producer of gold bullion and rare precious metals items, depicting _Lady Fortuna_ , roman goddess of prosperity, along with the horn of plenty, precious coins and wheel of fortune, on its obverse. The reverse of the bar shows the etched code B235336. _LAMP_ ´s assayers work in conformity with the _Swiss Precious Metals Control Law_ , following directives issued by the _Central Office for Precious Metals Control_ in Bern.

_LAMP_ refines gold-based materials for their exclusive clients, and is one of three referees in charge of testing samples for the _London Bullion Market Association_ and the _Curaçao Platinum and Palladium_ market. The Lady Fortuna gold minted bar was received by Mista Jack on behalf of Cubandor, from Buddha Talk, in exchange for one million dollars in Treasury bonds delivered to Buddha Talk. The minted bar, coveted by many, is kept by Mista Jack, and is believed to be a token of initiation to the _Eleusinian Mysteries_ , a variety of rituals performed in ancient Greece, which have been adapted to include rituals of sacred or divine sexuality by _Elony_ beauty lotion orchestrator Lady Scafarel.

**Officer Packwood** : Puritan police officer working in the city of Malibu, in charge of nothing in particular, but with a job to protect until his retirement, his own. You can safely say that his only goal in life is to close down the only clothing optional company in Malibu and in general, Stevenson Garden Products, because it's simply not written anywhere in the police manual that you can show up for work without any clothes. He likes to wear a constabulary custodian bowler style helmet, showing a shiny badge of the city of Malibu on the front while he goes around carrying out irrelevant duties. He attempted to derail and shut the clothing optional policy at Stevenson during **The Malibu Case** , without success, and he is diligently at work again in **The Outdoor Shower** , to prevent the use of a shower installed on the premises of Stevenson, offered to employees as amenity, and shut down its faucet. Sometimes it comes down to shutting off the faucet.

**Flake** : The gardener at Stevenson Garden Products, also in charge of maintenance and security of its office building premises. He is the only person holding the keys of the Stevenson building, and so Clarity, Taimi and Cynthia, often look to him to get access to the roof top pool of the company building at night, when they feel like a skinny-dip. Usually wears overalls and often looks out for an extra buck or two, always in cash, in ways which are resourceful and sometimes innovative, leaving little evidence of what took place. He is willing to do any anomalous duty without asking any questions, because it sort of adds variety to his day. He is not convinced that the clothing optional policy of Stevenson is quite for him and prefers to remain clothed, in full possession of all of his watering faculties. If he can ruin the day of officer Packwood, he will.

Following is a short description of the feminine adult icons of pleasure, leisure and 'less work means a better world', a short fiction biopic text substitute of the feminine lead characters of Sun on the Rocks, the non-competitive group of gophers who work at the _City of Wellington_ , a Post-Panamax ocean liner normally docking in Los Angeles, California, which engages in cruises to Acapulco, the Mexican coast line, the Caribbean, and anywhere where the weather is nice, really. The group of ladies boards the City of Wellington when Clarity, Cynthia and Taimi get bored of working at the only clothing optional company in Malibu, Stevenson Garden Products. It includes seven good looking women who like to have fun in the sun, with or without clothes:

**Clarity Nice** : Teleoperator from Malibu, California, twenty five years of age, quarter century wise. A diligent employee of Malibu outfit Stevenson Garden Products, natural light brown hair pumpkin born and raised in a wood cabin of Topanga Canyon, a woman of resourceful intuition and acute observer of the Laws of Human Mischief.

Clarity likes to dye her hair cinnamon auburn at times using a shade selector. She means well and unclothes well in general, for instance on the beach. She likes lovemaking, sharing nudity with other women, and the practical matters and possibilities of sexual ecstasy, after having experienced it first hand at Cassandra Scafarel´s adult resort Hexas Style in the Bahamas. She likes to edge for periods of three or four months, touching and caressing herself for several hours, to a full arousal and without reaching a complete orgasm. After one or two months of this, the arousal translates into a slow, flowing orgasm, and she cums abundantly. During those times, her body responds with sensations which feel beyond pleasure, subtle waves more similar to bliss, which is maximum pleasure, or even ecstasy, which is bliss reaching its full expression or apex.

Because Clarity does everything casually, she ignores how holy she and the virtues she embodies are, but she knows that she is good, very good, in fact, the fact that she is honest is the reason why she usually doesn´t have much money.

**Lanai Thomson:** Twenty four year old Librarian from Malibu, originally from Hawaii, Clarity's best friend, somewhat goofy and absent-minded, fun, usually cautious in all of her endeavors, including doing men. She enjoys reading old books with some type of hidden knowledge, specially those which talk about enjoyment or decadence, the first to learn new avenues for it, the second, books such as the book of Decadence, because she wants to know how to avoid the pitfalls of its apparent lure. We would all like to know exactly what she does when she has sex with Clarity or simply unclothes with her for a 'naked pajama night'.

**Flower Parkwood:** Twenty three year old Bohemian Ethnographer found on the beach in Acapulco after the Acapulco cocktail affair. Flower has brown hair, is fresh, likes to wear platforms, and is genuinely interested in learning about cultures and the history of those cultures, as long as comfort, leisure and money are nearby. Buddha Talk has attempted to seduce her in The Cayman Air Banner, so far, without success, although they both share a liking for the 'Spirit of Ecstasy', the winged lady traditionally found at the top of Rolls Royce radiators. Flower ignores everything about sexual ecstasy, but she likes the idea.

**Taimi Kendrick:** Lifeguard by profession from Malibu, twenty two years of age, she´s one of the original four members of Sun on the Rocks, with Lanai, Cynthia, and Clarity. No nonsense, practical, fun and genuine, mischievous and also cheeky when the opportunity arises, she enjoys simple things, life without its complications, usually handled by Clarity, Flower or Lanai. She handles the entertainment routines prepared for the passengers of the City of Wellington, and when living in Malibu, she watches the rooftop pool of Stevenson Garden Products. She is a good friend of Flake, the gardener of Stevenson Garden Products. Like the rest of her friends, she is not a heavy drinker, but occasionally she particularly likes to taste the _sun on the rocks_ cocktail drink prepared by bartender Mr. LT in the City of Wellington, a concoction made with _2oz of tequila_ , _1 teaspoon of sugar_ , _1/2 orange_ , and _a half lemon_.

**Montana Sterley:** Twenty one year old blond oil heiress, daughter of S Group conglomerate Colorado tycoon Carrelson Sterley, a man who likes to spend time with several women whose name starts with the name of his first wife Kelly Jane. Some of his current girlfriends include Kelly Caroline, Kelly Ann, and Kelley Shelley, the latter being a candidate for the name of a new Subway Combo sandwich. Montana comes from Fairplay, Colorado. She is outspoken, rebellious, mischievous, good looking, well educated, well traveled, and favorable to the idea of emulating the jet-setting lifestyle, versus following her father's business footsteps, or simply being well-behaved. She enjoys adult films, her large allowance, and being naked in good hotels such as Abu Dhabi's Park Hyatt, but her down-to-earth personality prevents her from attaining some of the more subtle knowledge that Clarity observes inside Scafarel's **Church of the Holy Flower** , a spiritual outfit for the affluent woman.

**Jenna Megway:** Twenty three year old surfer and diver fond of the Acapulco diving spot, La Quebrada, found on the City of Wellington, before the search for **The Acapulco Cocktail** took place. Simple, genuine, and introvert, with long blond hair, she often does more than she says.

**Cynthia Stevenson:** Twenty two year old pom squad waves cheerleader from Pepperdine University, good friend of Clarity, gave Clarity her TAG-Heuer Aquaracer watch for her birthday. Cynthia is the well-to-do daughter of the owner of the Stevenson Garden Products company, established in Malibu, the first clothing optional corporate outfit worldwide, to our knowledge, a fact well deserved and established when Clarity and her friends took on officer Packwood during The Malibu Case, along with its clothing implications.

Cynthia has fun as long as everything goes well, but has difficulty overcoming difficulty, any slight adversity that is. Problems and dealing with them, are simply not part of her daily routine or among her interests. She likes to dress elegantly and swim naked on summer evenings in any pool with her friends. She is a frequent guest of the Areolas clothing optional resort for adult couples and women in Palm Springs, where she likes the Egyptian linen sheets available in the om room and the complimentary cream color Keralan _Mundu_ offered, a garment made with cotton by _Creme de l'Ayeryarwady_ , worn around the waist in the Tulu Nadu region of _Kerala_ and in the _Maldive Islands_.
SUN ON THE ROCKS – AMUSEMENT FIFTEEN

THE SHABBY SHEIK

# Chapter One

Florentia Moenia casino live dealer room, Cotai, Macau

Special Administrative Region of China

The gambling videographer of the _Florentia Moenia_ casino, Plum Bailey, zoomed in with her wall camera on the girl with light brown hair approaching live dealer table one at one in the morning. The girl's right hand showed a Mauboussin _Alessandra_ ring made of yellow gold and diamonds, which she'd rarely seen, but appreciated, because it was elegant, and fetched a tag of seventy thousand dollars. Zooming in closer to the ring with the camera and freezing the image, she noticed that one of its diamond baguettes showed a small letter v carved within it. _The Incomplete Triangle,_ shown by that letter v, told her that there was no doubt of the ring's origin. She knew about its significance, and she also knew that the ring was for her, a way out of the croupier and casino lifestyle. The good looking videographer ran her hand along her soft blondish hair, grabbing a phone receiver to talk to the croupier in charge of table one.

"Get that girl approaching your table, Lady Mulham is going to want to see her, she's wearing a Mauboussin ring. Expose her and then bring her to table two, I want her in room five by three in the morning, before the other guests reach table one and see her."

The girl listening to the order was another good looking croupier in her mid twenties, who liked to watch her asshole in the mirror when aroused. Nives Celsius watched Clarity sit down on a chair paired with her baccarat table, and she began to carry out the message of her supervisor, the videographer and acting boss of the live dealer rooms of the casino, broadcasting over the internet.

"Do you know this gaming area is not allowed for clients?"

"No," said Clarity.

"How did you get in?"

"A floor person told me to come here, I was looking for table one."

"No one is allowed here, this is a private area."

The _Florentia Moenia_ was a rival of other casinos in Macau, large mega-gaming areas such as the _Altira Macau_ , the _Babylon_ , the _Sands_ _Macau_ , the _Galaxy Rio_ , or the _Venetian Macau_. The word Moenia, meant ' _the walls'_ , in Latin, and so the name of the place literally meant ' _the walls of Florence'_ , reminding clients of the Italian city. The Florentia Moenia was less known than other casinos, and so it had come up with a more exclusive image, and a gambling service broadcasting over the web, which attempted to draw the attention of clients, those living outside of the local area of Macau. Potentially, those clients could come from anywhere in the world. But not anyone was allowed as client in the actual gaming rooms.

The croupier wearing a tag with the name Nives Celsius stepped closer to Clarity and slowly pulled down the zipper of her beige chino cotton pants, deftly unbuttoning the top button. In a single swift movement, she pulled down the pants of Clarity, leaving her in her adorable white crochet panties. She brushed her hands against the fabric of the garment, which was soaked. Clarity watched the croupier looking at a thin film of cum drenching her panties.

"You're soaking," said the croupier, "why are you so aroused?"

"I masturbated for two hours before coming here, I hadn't touched myself for more than two weeks."

Clarity felt helpless and somewhat ashamed about being so exposed in a public place. At the same time, she was very aroused, and she let her uninhibited sense of exhibitionism prevail over her sense of proper behavior. She loved the idea of being so helpless and unclothed in a casino. She also loved being submissive with women. They allowed her to feel free about expressing her sexuality naturally, without conforming to any particular pattern of what sexual behavior was supposed to be. The atractive croupier knelt under the table to take off Clarity's high heel sandals and pants. She grabbed Clarity's ankles and lifted both legs on the baccarat table. Clarity felt completely exposed.

"Grab your panties and show me what is underneath."

Clarity kneeled back against the back of her chair, moving her hip forward. She pushed aside her panties and showed the good looking croupier her bare lips and the area below. Nives Celsius ran her hand along the smooth, intimate flesh.

"Now reach for two cards to play a hand against the bank."

Clarity reached for two cards from a deck, feeling aroused. A nine and a two showed up.

"You are over nine, nine and two eleven, that's back to one."

Nives Celsius picked a card for the bank, a five.

"Pick a third card."

Clarity picked a four, adding her ' _punto_ ' stake to five. The croupier took a second card, a three, adding to eight.

"Bank wins, eight versus five. Now you have to stay here for two or three hours longer."

Nives lifted the arm of Clarity and held her hand, taking a closer look at the ring Clarity was wearing.

"This ring is not yours. Who is this ring for?"

"Someone is picking it up here, I'm not sure who is doing that."

"Where did you pick it up?"

"In Singapore, in a jewelry," said Clarity.

Nives turned away from Clarity, whispering into her headset for a few minutes. She was relaying the information to her supervisor, Plum. After a few minutes, she turned to Clarity again.

"Come with me."

Nives took Clarity by the hand and lowered her legs from the table. The Malibu teleoperator slipped her panties and walked slowly away from the baccarat table, towards another table behind them, led by a second croupier, a woman wearing the tag Julia Flaminia. The girls at the other tables were talking to the cameras showing the live dealer service to online users, acting as though nothing was happening around them.

"This woman is naughty Julia, she got inside the private gaming area which broadcasts over the internet," said Nives, "take her to the Sheik in room five and show him the ring she is wearing, until he buys it. Plum wants to leave tonight with him."

Nives pointed to Clarity.

"We are leaving with her, she'll be one of his new hostesses."

"We'll bring her there in a couple of hours, that's when he begins to look for women around him."

# Chapter Two

Clarity saw the face of Plum Bailey appear on a small television screen below the blackjack table where Julia Flaminia was talking casually to the online players betting at three in the morning. The voice of Plum Bailey spat out from somewhere below table two.

"Who is that man walking towards the live dealer room door?" Asked Plum. "Take a look at the corridor entrance camera."

Clarity watched Julia Flaminia glancing below her table into a security camera which showed all the people playing in the slot machine area, adjacent to the private live dealer rooms. The corridor leading to the live dealer door was empty, except for a man in his late fifties wearing a suit, showing sparkling eyes, an enigmatic face, and features which included high cheekbones and a wide, flat nose. The good looking dealer with brown hair checked with the casino receptionist, before talking back to Plum.

"It's Chao Ming-Hua, the local delegate of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, SAPPRFT. He's looking for a woman with light brown hair, to arrest her and put her in jail."

Clarity overheard the receptionist through the television speaker, and her thoughts began to turn into a mush of disarray. SAPPRFT was the Branch of the political apparatus in China dealing with party messaging, propaganda, media control and ideology. How could they possibly know that she was in Macau? Why did they want her in jail? She asked Nives about Chao Min-Hua. The live dealer knew that the owners of the _Florentia Moenia_ casino were involved in continuous negotiations with several Chinese officials, so that adult films were allowed in some of the suites of the building. Sometimes it required bribing, although all of the Chinese bureaucrats denied it repeatedly. The face of Plum onscreen stopped their interaction.

"Get out of the dealer room, with that girl, and with Julia, turn off all cameras inside room five, except mine. Tell the girls who are staying in the live dealer room, to tell Chao Ming-Hua that there is no girl with light brown hair in the live dealer area, because it's a private area reserved for croupiers and floor dealers. Wait for me, I'll show the ring to the Sheik myself."

Nives led Clarity to another room, an even more private area reserved to very important persons and dignitary important persons, VIPs and DIPs.

"Where are you taking me?" Asked Clarity.

"We want you to play along with us. We're going to introduce you to a very important person, a wealthy Sheik who is staying here for a few days. Don't do anything to displease him, and whatever he says, simply say yes, we'll take care of the rest. Someone from the film control bureau is looking for you. And he doesn't look friendly."

"Who is looking for me?"

"Chao Ming-Hua, he works for the Chinese media and propaganda group, and he wants you in jail here. He says that you have been part of an adult film, _Golden Lamp of Casa Mollino_ , with some prominent people, which is being distributed in some parts of China. They don't like maverick sex films, anything lewd, which has not been approved by them. This guy doesn't kid around, when he says prison, it means five or ten years."

The initial exhilaration and sense of being able to lead her life, by being the courier of an elegant ring, gave way to a sensation of instability, insecurity, and danger about her freedom. There was no way she could face China's media authorities on her own. Something told her to stay with the woman who was leading her to room five of the live dealer room in the casino, an area reserved for exclusive VIP guests.

Clarity stepped inside the most elegant gaming room of the Florentia Moenia casino, the _Carlyle Room_ , clothed in a sweater and panties, and wearing sandals. The other two croupiers, Nives Celsius and Julia Flaminia, who had also taken off their pants, were walking a few steps behind her. Two large ice cannons sitting above the room were filling the area with dry ice, and they also filled a bucket holding dry ice and a few perishable pieces of fruit. The elevated DJ booth was filled by the Sheik's pilot and co-pilot, two women playing high tempo tracks, who were getting their inspiration from global brands like Cream, Cocoon, Calvin Harris, and Eddie Halliwell. A roulette table, a row of eight slot machines, and a blackjack table, filled the central area of the room.

Sheik Harun Al-Najib was a man in his late thirties who spoke English with a pronounced accent, although no one was able to identify exactly from where the accent came or what he meant when he spoke, at times. Sitting on a jumbo size furry white bean bag cushion ordered from Comfort Logan Rugs, Harun, or Hari, or even Harry, as his former polo mates liked to call him, looked intrigued by the problem presented by his butler Melchior, a Dutch man in his late fifties, recruited from one of the top butler schools in the world, _The Chestnut Butler Academy_. The problem was to guess the price of several bottles of Italian alcohol, offered by Gozio Amaretto, and Gran Gala Orange, and the Sheik had no clue of how to reach a reasonable value for the elixir.

Hari was wearing a grey sweater patched with puffs of woolfiller, colored grey and brown. The sweater looked to Clarity like it had a few growths, but the Sheik was into wearing shabby chic. And that sweater was shabby. The blue jeans he wore were ripped at the knee caps and holes were filled with several rectangular patches coming from other jeans. Moving her glance to his legs, and the area below them, Clarity noticed the Sheik was wearing a pair of worn out brown leather shoes, with one of the soles open, housing several white pebbles. The socks he was wearing showed the photo of Ersan Balbay, the most famous player of the basketball team he owned, which was renowned for most years in a row losing money, large amounts of money, money counted in millions of dollars. Hari ran his hand along one of his socks, thinking good luck might come out of that.

Every business involving the Sheik lost money, and the journalists involved in the coverage of his assets, had turned the topic of their articles to how much the Sheik was going to lose next, giving the loss some type of probability bell curve, with all of the curve spanning losses, and with the discussion centering on where the average loss was going to settle, whether it was going to be one hundred thousand dollars, one million dollars, or several million dollars. Clarity saw the slim figure of Plum Bailey close the door of the VIP area. She was also wearing only panties and elegant sandals, along with a purple wool sweater which reaffirmed her shapely figure.

"Your Highness, we'd like to offer you something of interest, a ring we found that your girlfriend might like."

Plum slipped the Mauboussin ring out of Clarity's finger and showed it to Hari, whose torso was buried inside the bean bag sofa. The Sheik made a futile effort to reach out of the cushion and sank his hands on it to push himself out. Eventually, his right hand found a handle along the side of the neighboring cushion where his butler Melchior was sitting, and he pulled on it, pushing the seasoned butler onto the floor, leaving the pantryman barely enough time to throw the Amaretto and Gran Gala bottles on a third bean bag cushion to prevent them from being damaged by his own fall on the carpet.

"Is it worthy or expensive, can you say that there is not a ring similar to this?" Asked Hari.

"It is expensive and it holds a secret that will make your love life feel like a solid pillar of your ostentatious life."

The Sheik did not mind other people labeling him ostentatious. That meant that he had money, and as long as he had money, things were going all right. Considering his love life was a mess, Hari was open to anything that could potentially improve it.

"A secret?"

"Secret knowledge, our company will illustrate you and your partners on this knowledge."

"What kind of company, a jewel making or ring making company?"

"Ourselves, not a real company, real company, us."

Hari liked company, he was a sociable guy who was comfortable talking to other people. He didn't have many skills, some people argued that he had none, but sociability was one of his traits, and being around people brought him a sense of comfort and enjoyment and general stability, that not many things could bring.

"What about the privilege club? We came here to know more about it."

"This is much better than the privilege club." Plum held the stare of the Sheik.

"What do you need?" Asked Hari.

"To follow you, in your daily life and in your very private plane, that marvel of aeroplane engineering that some people refer to as Heir Force One." Hari had heard of Heir Force One, because it was his plane.

"I see." Plum moved closer to the Sheik, knowing he was going to smell the pleasant perfume blending with the smell of her body.

"You'd have to buy the ring of course, other people are interested in it."

"People making money?"

"Yes." Hari looked at Plum and at her friends and Clarity behind her, sensing that there was a way to cohabit with the four good looking women before him, all of whom were in their twenties or early thirties.

"Fine, I'll buy it, all four of you ladies will come and live with me for a while. How much is this ring?"

"Seventy thousand dollars," said Plum, "we'll provide you with our paypal account, so you can send the money there." Melchior sprang up from the floor and whispered in the ear of Hari.

"Your Highness, we don't have paypal, you are considering the option, but you did not choose it, because it is not a royal payment option."

"Arrange for payment, Melchior, this ring is good, I can tell."

Hari's pilot, a woman in her thirties named Jathbiyya Hanania, approached the Sheik's cushion. Her glance turned briefly to the DJ area, where the copilot she was mentoring was having trouble with the dry ice system after being in charge for less than twenty seconds. The gaming tables were being swallowed by white fumes and the whole room was turning into a large dry ice space.

"Your Highness, I have just received a message from Macau airport on my memo pager from the eighties, we may have to pay for an additional slot of several months at the airport, if we stay here longer, what are we doing?"

"Melchior?" Hari turned to his butler, when he was not sure of what to do. When his butler was not around, he turned to his personal trainer or to Hakeem. His retainer Hakeem rarely gave him advice, though, for he usually preferred to give orders, or suggestions, as he called them. Melchior pointed to two of the bean bags, telling him to consider the options and choose one of them, the one which made sense.

"All right, all right, yeah, failure doesn't matter. All right, can we get this bean bag into the plane?" Asked Hari. Melchior nodded.

"Yes, your Highness, certainly feasible."

"Good, very good, let's go to the Caribbean then, get the plane ready, bring the ice cannons into the plane, and the Amaretto and the Gran Gala Orange, just in case we throw a party there."

# Chapter Three

The extravagant plane of the Sheik, known as _Heir Schmooze One_ , _Heir Doze One_ , because of the long naps taken by Hari inside it, or _Heir Force One_ , depending on who was gossiping on it, was a legitimate Boeing 757-200 painted white with a gold color stripe spanning the whole fuselage, its cabin divided into several sections. It took off from Macau airport and headed towards the British Virgin Islands, a twenty hour flight. Behind the pilot cabin was a chit-chat area where Clarity had settled with Nives Celsius and Julia Flaminia. The teleoperator from Malibu straightened her legs on the curved sofa of the plane, which buckled into a U, and turned to Nives, who was busy opening a bottle of _Perrier Jouet_ champagne, known as the 'flower bottle', due to the flower patterns painted on the outside of the bottle.

"Who exactly is this Sheik?" Asked Clarity.

"Prince Haroun Al-Najib is well known in the circles of the money elite. Of course he rarely makes money, but his wealth reaches billions of dollars. He is a golden bachelor to many women out there, women who think they can do a good job advising him on the way he does business, and would like to share his affluent lifestyle. And he is one of the heirs of a large fortune belonging to his family."

Clarity glanced in the far distance towards a throne made of hard plastic and gold, whose back wall, curved, was emblazoned with the initials _SRA-199_ , which stood for _Sheik Royal Assets 199_ , the name of the company owning the plane. On the right armrest, a small box made of lacquer wood filled with emeralds, rubies and pearls, served as hand-exercise for the Sheik while he waited for his morning cappuccino served by Yergat Ghazakian, the personal commissary and cook of Hari. The left armrest of the throne boasted a computer screen linked to the world's stock market indices. Meaningless to the Sheik, but appropriate.

Clarity glanced through the see-thrrough partition of their live-in area at the luxurious cream color curving couches of the living room area across from them, watching Hari talk loudly with Plum about slot machine gambling strategies.

"I like to beat the odds," said Hari.

"Slot systems are scams, but there are some ways to play smarter."

"All right, teach me, I like smart, and not hard."

The right hand man of Hari, a retainer named Hakeem Moghadam, in charge of press releases, communications, high level deals, and all things money, walked in front of the Sheik. He was carrying his passport and other official papers, all of them certifying Hari's lack of credentials, giving full power of attorney and administrative powers to Moghadam.

"Everything is random in a slot machine," said Plum, "each spin is unrelated to the previous one, you gotta get into a position of loving this thing called the random number generator."

Hari scratched his chin several seconds and began looking for a pillow with his right hand. A pillow near him comforted his insecurities, where the random number generator generated additional ones.

"The reels you see displaying the symbols, the bar, seven, the cherries, are not real, they don't decide anything when they spin, the combination that wins is decided by the RNG before the reels you see start spinning."

"So what should I do when I place my bet? Because I have to press on the _bet one credit_ button."

Hari waved at one of his security guards, Siarhei Lubachko, who threw him the bean bag purchased from the VIP area of the _Florentia Moenia_ casino in Macau. Lubachko was a quiet man from Bielorussia, in charge of plane maintenance, fuel, due diligence, front man signatures, and keeping track of things to do. He'd been drafted as guard by Hari's father, from the security team of convicted former Ukraine Prime Minister, Pavlo Lazarenko, and he viewed the lifestyle of the Sheik with a distant eye, thinking the guy was crazy, but of course, not telling him or pointing out that he was. Some emperors liked to be without clothes, and Hari was one of them. Hari caught the bean bag, which crashed against him, turning him into a white furry blur moving as bean bag. Plum shook the bean bag off him and the Sheik regained composure.

"That's different," said Plum, "my point is that some things are hidden from plain view, and it does not mean that they are not real, they are still there, you just don't see them."

Clarity watched Hari hold in his hands the Mauboussin ring she'd been told to bring to Macau. His eyes settled on a letter and set of numbers on the inside the ring, _L67680_.

"So you say that the L on this ring means or stands for Lodge."

"It is a lodge, a lodge of knowledge, hidden but real, for you."

"My girlfriend would like this?"

"Possibly."

Hari looked closer at the ring, noticing the letter v in small caps, on one of the diamond baguettes. He showed it to Plum.

"And this?"

"You don't need to know that or what it means," said Plum "it is simply there."

That made sense to Hari, because he was seeing the letter with his own eyes. It was like his own money in a sense, he had no idea where it came from, but it was available to him.

Hari was not married, and he was considering that possibly, he might not be 'built' for or adapted to monogamy. He had an official girlfriend and a live-in girlfriend for times when his regular girlfriend was away. With the push of a button located behind the curved sofa where he was sitting, Hari turned on the local camera placed inside the solarium of the plane. A large television screen lowered from the ceiling and showed the backside of a woman with light blondish hair, hair tucked in a ponytail, thin strip of her thong not visible along her round bum crack.

"Who is that?" Asked Clarity.

"Lohvia Maowey," said Nives, "the current live-in of the Sheik. She likes to reflect on her arousal a lot, and she likes to walk around naked without any tan lines showing on her. She began to work for the Sheik after she became bored with her job in a clothing store in Prague. The Sheik met her while doing some shopping for her official girlfriend, Nora Oakleyn, a well known journalist working for Vanity Gloss, the gossip magazine."

The pretty, young woman, was reading copies of several tabloids and newspapers on her tablet, papers such as _The Prague Monitor_ , the _Sun_ , the _Daily Mail_ , _Sun Herald_ from Australia, _Kabrain_ from Pakistan, the _Super Express_ , from Poland, or the _Argyris_ wealth magazine, which offered its billionaire ranking every year, along with the _Bloomberg billionaire index_. All of the publications labeled Sheik Al-Najib as the poorest, dumbest manager and businessman of the Emirates, and explained that his family often sent him away from the region on 'business trips' aboard Heir Force One, to avoid damaging the reputation of the whole family.

A naked maid with dark brown hair and a thin landing strip along her Venus mound offered some beluga caviar from _Gourmet House_ to Clarity. Laina Mathels was a sassy woman who was careful to avoid risk in her professional career. She loved others making decisions for her, and she also loved being subservient, and compliant with authority, finding that part of her job suited her personality well. She was so submissive that she liked to kneel naked on all fours, letting her back act as table for those enjoying a cocktail or snacks. Hari liked women who were comfortable being themselves, and all of the women around Hari were comfortable being themselves. Hari was more comfortable being naked than being clothed, in order to be himself, and he was also more comfortable when Moghadam was somewhere else. But his family had mandated an advisor, and he had not been able to find a way to dismiss the retainer.

"You know, maybe I should abandon monogamy all-together," said Hari.

"There is no need to consider monogamy. The Lodge that this ring shows will allow you to relate to many women, not only one."

Hari returned the Mauboussin ring to Plum. The videographer grabbed the ring and smiled inwardly. She was happy to be leaving Macau. One of the girls dealing at the live dealer tables had taken her spot, and Plum was glad of having left her job as gambling pit boss, and not having to look at a camera for hours anymore, ensuring that floor dealers delivered the same angles and shots of video to viewers, with the same monologue over and over, created to attract online gamblers. With seventy thousand dollars in her account and the ring in her possession, Plum knew that she could find her way to Lady Mulham, and the _Honorable Sorority of Ancient Freelayers_ which the old woman headed. Using the connections of the Sheik, she knew it was possible to find her. And from there, she could begin a new life as member of the sorority.

"All right, maybe some other time you can show me some of this knowledge, I need to think about something else, taking care of my investments."

Clarity observed Hakeem counting cardboard boxes set aside on one of the curved sofas across from Hari. The boxes held workstations loaded with trading computer software, and a technical marvel of investment advice, a new 'robo advisor', programmed by those working for the Sheik, using a book called ' _Robo advisors for loss-making dummies_ ', which purportedly showed the user the most appropriate investment for a particular risk tolerance or profile, after a few simple questions were answered.

The Persian personal coach of Hari, Merhab Iskandar, who was in charge of mentoring, facilitating the talent development of Hari, providing Dubai duty-free gadget use or acquistion, and making sure the internet connection used by the Sheik was working, wanted Hari to learn about stock picking. The software was there to ensure his student knew about stock picking and trading stop-loss signals. With a person treading in losses like Hari, the stop-loss signal was one of the keys to sustaining the wealthy lifestyle he was living, for him and all those around him living off of it.

Melchior Van Williggen opened the angel wing gleaming doors leading to the office area of the Sheik and lifted the two arms of a gleaming wood table. The Dutch pantryman adjusted his round glasses and walked towards Hari, telling him what was on his mind.

"You should be a self made Sheik, start from the bottom, get in touch with regular people. Dealing with paper assets likes stocks turns you into a Sheik of clay." Hari did not like the idea of being portrayed in clay.

"What should I do then?" Asked Hari. Clarity began to see that asking a question was a recurrent theme in the life of Hari. He was a new reference for clueless people in general, available to everyone in the plane, the Sheik was the embodiment of comfortable lack of initiative.

"Get a job as waiter in the British Virgin Islands," said Melchior.

# Chapter Four

The Motorola pager from the eighties carried by the Sheik rang a loud beep. Clarity saw the face of the pilot, Jathbiyya, appear on the large television screen of the living room area, indicating thumbs up first, and then, pointing towards the floor with the index. The large plane dove abruptly, engaging descent towards _Terrance Lettsome international airport_ , located on Beef Island, a small island near the main island of Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands.

Hakeem told Siarhei Lubachko to stay on the plane and watch it with the keeper, an older woman named Agatha Miles. The unofficial girlfriend of the Sheik, Lohvia, also decided to stay inside Heir Force One, to tune her tanning in the solarium.

The retainer of the Sheik chartered a plane for all of the entourage and they flew from Tortola into the _Scrub Island_ _Resort_ , east of the island of Tortola. The luxurious resort located in a private island, offered hillside villa homes, the Ixora spa and a magnificent marina where a large private yacht spanning sixty feet was anchored. A few hours after settling, a call on Hakeem's smartphone alerted Clarity that someone was landing on the resort helipad, Zahir Al-Najib, the father of Hari. The coach of Hari relayed the information to the Sheik while he was taking a closer look at the resort poolside with Plum, Nives, and Clarity. Julia was ordering cocktails for everyone at the bar.

"Your father is here, Hari," said Merhab, "I think he brought you a few things, do you want to talk to him about why you think gambling is a legitimate form of risk taking?"

"No, I talked to him a few weeks ago, before the trip to Macau, he wasn't very enthusiastic about that, I know he doesn't believe in gambling. I don't know what he wants. Let Hakeem talk to him, he's the one who deals with my father." Merhab spoke briefly with Clarity, telling her to get some items for the Sheik.

The teleoperator walked to the helipad, following the co-pilot, noticing a tall man dressed in western clothes and a headscarf. Clarity walked to the passenger seat and overheard Zahir, the father of the Sheik, talk with Hakeem, while she was gathering several items, clothes and a suitcase for Hari. The travel case was filled with an archery target, a stand to hold it, a few slabs for it, some flight simulator software for Jathbiyya, and a pile of near-collision statistics that the pilot and co-pilot of the Sheik had gathered while piloting Heir Doze One.

"How is Hari doing?"

"He is pretty consistent in his losses," said Hakeem, "lost five million two hundred eighty four thousand five hundred eighty six dollars in the last six months. I guess he went over his usual average loss of three million dollars."

"There are problems for the family, Hakeem, the lawsuit regarding the family wealth is entering an important stage, several of our business and political rivals in the Emirates are undermining our position, they want to know about several assets that we are not keen on revealing, it is important not to let Hari talk to the media anymore, and to keep him busy, teach him something about money, counting, geography of the Caribbean, anything, but don't let him talk to any newspaper or television."

Hakeem nodded, reassuring the head of the Al-Najib family that Hari would not do anything on his own.

"Got work for him that will keep him busy."

"Yeah, work is good, keep him busy, work with Merhab, just ensure it's work unrelated to family business."

"What about Nora? She is coming here. We're not sure whether she is involved with all of what happened with the lawsuit."

"Nora is more complicated than Hari, I'm not sure, it depends on Hari, hopefully he'll figure out if he loves her at some point. In any case, no word on anything to Nora, _Vanity Gloss_ is a pain, always gossiping about everything." Clarity lifted the archery target on her shoulder, wobbling somewhat because of the weight.

"What about my bonus?" Asked Hakeem.

"When the lawsuit is settled, Hakeem, there will be more liquidity."

Hakeem nodded, but cursed the older Sheik in his mind. Stingy family, he thought. Maybe that's why they had so much money, because they always postponed their payments. Except for when it was time to pay Melchior, the butler always got his money on time.

During dinner that same night at the resort's Caravela restaurant, Merhab brought the news to Hari, while the Sheik unwinded from the long plane trip with a platter of fresh seafood. Clarity was eating Mahi-Mahi with some jasmine rice.

"Got to work, Hari." Hari did not say anything, a sign that he was thinking, something unusual in his daily routine.

"Not as waiter, though. Why did we get the robo advisor software then? I should be learning about stock picking."

"As a waiter, Hari, it's a good experience to start at the bottom."

Hari grumbled and complained several minutes, but the person ultimately approving all decisions, Hakeem, was not changing his mind. Hari kept complaining and requested his ' _venting out_ ' team. Two days later, three dwarves arrived, flown from the Sheik's palace in the Emirates. That same morning, Hakeem prepared the archery target made of foam with two support slabs painted grey, also made of foam, and added a stand to place the target. The three dwarves were playing cards on the table, while Clarity was connecting the Sheik's laptop broadband cable to the wall socket. Hari eyed the three feet wide archery target a few seconds and turned to his coach Merhab.

"I don't understand why my father brought the target. I disagree with you about the job, this job as waiter is not for me."

"You've got to take the job, Hakeem said so, Melchior agrees, your father gave the ok, we found you a job in a Luxardo Amaretto terrace in Tortola, you'll do fine." Hari stared at Merhab, dumbfounded. His face flustered into a blob of frustration and confusion, possibly combining with lack of understanding about the decision.

"Gimme Neehan," said Hari. Merhab lifted his hand and one of the dwarves walked briskly towards the Sheik. Hari lifted Neehan with both hands and threw him against the target. Flying across the room, head first, Neehan crushed through the target left of the bullseye, settling on a sofa which happened to be behind. Used to these dwarf-throwing venting exercises, the buffoon of the Sheik placed his hands behind his back, resting casually. Merhab rushed to comfort Hari, giving him a slap on the back of the neck.

"Feel all right?" Asked the coach.

"Yeah," said Hari, "a lot better, give me a glass of coke." Hari moved to the balcony and opened the double glazing aluminum sliding doors. Coach Merhab filled a glass with coca cola and handed it to Hari. The Sheik grabbed the glass and drank all of it.

"I mean, it went slightly left of the bullseye, hit the red and not the gold," said Hari.

"It's not bad, not bad," said Merhab.

"Yeah, you're right." Hari began glancing left and right, looking for some additional validation which his coach wasn't giving out. He wasn't completely satisfied with the throw. Walking past the table where the two other dwarves were playing poker, he grabbed Floyd and threw him in a single motion across the room out into the balcony, and over the balcony to the pool below, a few floors below, three or four floors below. There was a splash, confirming Floyd had hit the right landing area.

"Yeah, that was better," said Hari. Clarity gave her thumbs up, to validate the throw of Hari.

"Not bad, you want the standard now?" Asked Merhab.

"Yeah, standard." Merhab called in Gawdat and Behir, and the two guards rushed into the room a couple of minutes later.

"Boss?" Hari nodded, looking at both guards.

Helped by Neehan and Garil, both security guards lifted Hari and carried him out horizontally into the balcony, throwing him out into the pool head first. Clarity watched the two guards, both dwarves and Merhab lean over the balcony to watch the splash of the Sheik in the pool below. One of the hands of Gawdat navigated towards Neehan. The guard lifted the dwarf and threw him out over the balcony into the pool. Garil, the only dry-remaining dwarf, lifted himself into the balcony and jumped into the pool below, before anyone could react in time to throw him. Merhab turned to both security guards, satisfied with all of what was happening.

"Go in guys, well deserved break." Gawdat and Behir took off their shirt, jumped over the balcony away from each other, and splashed in the pool as well, not too far from a few palm trees planted in island shaped flower pot areas which surrounded poolside.

"What was the purpose of this?" Asked Clarity.

"To understand effort, you got to work hard to get what you want. If someone else pays the price, it's all right, as long as you understand what they go through." Clarity nodded, and took the elevator with Merhab to sunbathe with Plum and Nives, who were assigning quality ranks for each of the landings in the pool.

# Chapter Five

The following day, all of the entourage of the Sheik chartered a boat and headed to Tortola, home of the Road Harbor, which housed the largest charter boat fleet in the world. The Luxardo Amaretto terrace, the new workplace of Hari, was not too far from the bar and grill restaurant of Village Cay Marina, a place in Road Town which offered a nice range of sailing ships available for charter. Hari donned a sleeveless black waiter vest, and the owner of the terrace gave him a matching white napkin to clean the tables.

"Do good work, Hari, I don't want to hear you had any problems with the customers," said Merhab.

"Of course," said Hari.

Clarity settled with Plum, Nives and Julia in one of the tables of the terrace, overlooking the marina, while Merhab and Hakeem sat in a separate table, a few feet away, discussing business and the next steps in the training of the Sheik. They ordered drinks, and Hari came by to deliver them.

"So did you enjoy being part of Casa Mollino?" Asked Plum. Clarity moved her chair slightly, somewhat surprised by the statement, and the thought that Plum knew she'd taken part in the filming of an adult film.

"It was all right," said Clarity, "I have not seen the whole film."

" _Golden Lamp of Casa Mollino_ has involved many people, prominent people known by the wealthy social strata that you and I never meet. It also has a secret, it's not shown in the film, but some of the people and the elements in the film lead to it. The lamp is real." Plum sipped her cucumber lemonade mocktail.

"What kind of secret?" Clarity began savoring her summer drink, a Sangria Flora made with an elderflower liqueur called St. Germain, one quarter cup of Cointreau, six strawberries, six raspberries, two peaches, and one orange. The mixture had been created by Lynette Marrero, the bartender of _Freemans_ in New York city.

"The lamp refers to the everburning lamp."

"I've never heard of it, you mean a lamp which keeps burning?" Plum placed her glass on the table.

"The lamp has several interpretations. You can actually find it in the flag of the British Virgin Islands. The coat of arms shows twelve lamps, representing eleven thousand virgins. Historically, it is thought that the secret temples of the Buddhists in Tibet, India, and Japan, adopted asbestos as wick in their lamp, which burned continuously without replenishing. Mateer, a missionary, knew of a golden lamp at Trevandrum, in the kingdom of Travancore, which he thought had been burning for one hundred twenty years. The Abbe Huc, a traveller, states that he has seen and examined an everburning lamp."

Plum pulled out a worn out brown book from her purse. It was dated from 1922 and wore the seal of a Library she'd never heard mention anywhere, which said _HSAF Library_. The title said ' _The Rose of the Initiates_ ', and it had an inverted triangle on the page preceding the table of contents, which was incomplete at the top, shown without its base, filled instead by the illustration of the flame.

"The inner fire is what truly is real about a person. The flame of the everburning lamp speaks of an Eternity of life."

"What is the inner fire, the flame you are talking about?" Asked Clarity.

"It refers to a vibration in the body, which is real, when the body awakens to subtle energies, related to but not only made with sexual energy, the energy that pervades all of creation." Clarity resonated with the statement.

"Do you feel the inner fire?" Asked Clarity.

"Not sure, I might, " said Plum, "that's one thing I'd like to confirm, one of the reasons I left Macau with my friends. But in order to do that, I need to find a person who knows how to interpret this book. She is an older lady, her name is Lady Mulham. She has abandoned the spheres of power years ago, but she keeps several antennae, places chosen by her for those interested in the flame. But she is not easy to find, you need to break through several layers of high society before you find her or those places chosen by her. And I know Hari can lead us to her, his family has connections with many people associated with money and power." Clarity moved her hand towards the book Plum was holding and began turning the pages.

"Who gave you this book?" Asked Clarity. She flipped the pages back to the second page and noticed the book had been published in a limited edition of only sixty three copies.

"A slot machine technician in Macau, someone aware of the pyramid of power in Asia, and in general. Some of those people are involved in gambling, or like to gamble." Clarity looked beyond Plum, at Hari, who was asking the owner about how to make cocktails with Amaretto.

"What do you want to do? Why did you decide to follow the Sheik?" Asked Clarity.

"I want to bring Hari closer to Lohvia, and get him to break up with Nora."

"Why?"

"I want to introduce both of them to the inner flame, Nora is too mundane and conventional in her ways of thinking, but Lohvia and Hari are more open-minded. Those around Lady Mulham will be receptive to a couple like them, with access to many resources. And by bringing Hari, we can also get into her lodge."

"And then? Once they are closer?" Asked Nives.

"I want Hari to marry Lohvia, and lead Hari to share his agenda with us, without drawing the attention of Hakeem, his retainer, in order to find a connection who knows Lady Mulham." Plum turned to Clarity and held her hand.

"Will you help us, you're not stupid you know?"

Clarity knew she wasn't dumb, but she'd barely met Plum, and did not fully trust her intention. She ran her finger along one of the nails of Plum, decorated with an elegant black and blue striped design. It was hard to read her.

"Sure, all right," she said.

Clarity was unsure of where it would lead her, but the thought of the everburning lamp intrigued her. The book did say 1922, all of what she was reading had not been invented by Plum. She glanced at the other end of the terrace, watching Hari engaged in a lively conversation. After serving drinks and sweeping tables for a few hours, Hari had begun to talk with a tourist from the U.S. who lived in Arkansas. His sociable side got the best of him, and he began talking because he simply liked to talk to people.

"I almost passed my series 6 exam," said Hari, "but I decided it was kind of difficult, I may do series 7, but not sure it is easy either. I like easy, life should be easy." The tourist kept listening to the advice of Hari on stocks.

"Put some money in Limming, it is an oil and gas driller, and Heliam Energy Savings, they have recovered some oil rigs and might be awarded some intervention and repair business in the Gulf of Mexico, that is stuff which might be making money."

The tourist invested a few thousand dollars in the companies mentioned by Hari and in Fairsight Energy, a mining company with a position in the Illinois coal basin, also recommended by the Sheik. Two days later, Hari found the same tourist sitting at the same table.

"I lost my money," he said. Hari knew what to say.

"I know how you feel, losses can be tough, but you have to remain in there, just watch the stock some more, even if it keeps losing money."

"I mean I lost ninety percent of my money in one day, dude, not just a little. What exactly do you know about these stocks? They are garbage."

"I know how you feel, garbage can be difficult to handle."

Clarity saw Hari sweep the table of the customer with his napkin, throwing some chip bits and sunflower seed shells on the floor. Hari did not know how to deal with stock garbage, although the comment from the loss-making investor did prompt an idea in his mind, which was to recycle that new kind of paper garbage. Recycling was a business with a future, and stock market garbage needed a future.

The teleoperator watched Merhab approach the table of Hakeem, who was enjoying a beer, looking into the marina. The retainer had just bought a new car for Hari, and was thinking about how to pay for it, cash or credit.

"We got a problem, Hakeem, Hari recommended a loss-making investment, some kind of trade."

Clarity looked at the owner of the terrace, walking briskly towards Hari, with the customer claiming he'd been ripped off by a waiter from the Emirates. Two oranges, an apple and a bunch of bananas landed near the retainer, with one whole papaya missing his head by just a few inches. Hari was not known as ' _HDH_ ', _His Dumb Highness_ , for nothing, thought Hakeem. The Sheik did walk the talk, when the chips of a failed penny stock came down. They came down on him, and on everyone else around him.

"Let's get out of here, now, everyone," said Hakeem.

Everyone got up from their chairs, which made loud noises, creeking and falling on the floor. The retainer began running away from the Luxardo Amaretto terrace, heading east towards the new shops area and the south side, followed by Merhab, Clarity, Plum, Nives, and Julia, with Hari closing in, letting go of his napkin on the pavement.

The group stopped running when they reached the new Pier Area on the south side of the Bay, where a new cruise ship village was being built that will accommodate larger ocean liners, like the City of Wellington. Merhab, out of breath, called two taxis, after receiving a key ring with several keys from Hakeem, all the while listening to the retainer, who was yelling at him, also out of breath. Merhab turned to Clarity.

"Get Nora at the airport with Hari's car, it's in Nanny Cay Marina. Her plane is landing in one hour. She will be looking for you, don't forget the sign, it's in the back of the trunk." Merhab threw the keys to Clarity, who caught them before they landed on the floor.

"We will meet back at the resort in Scrub Island."

Clarity nodded, and hopped on the first cab which got there a few minutes later. She took a taxi to the Nanny Cay Marina and found the car bought by Melchior on behalf of the Sheik, a dark green MG convertible from 2004, showing the eighty years spanning the brand in the back, _1924-2004_.

She drove to the airport, getting directions from a worn out map of Tortola folded inside the glove compartment. In the parking lot area, using her keys, Clarity opened the trunk of the convertible and found the sign that she had to carry. It was not made of plastic or wood, it was a large square fifteen inch tile made of thick marble. Noticing how heavy the sign was, she brought a passenger trolley made by RKS Industries, and carried the sign on it to the airport terminal building. She stood in the arrivals area of the Terrance International Airport hallway, and decided to lift the sign over her head, struggling under the weight of the heavy marble sign, which said _Welcome Nora, go with the woman lifting the sign_. After ten minutes, the flight board announced the arrival of the RJ85 regional jet operated by BVI Airways, coming from Miami. A woman in her thirties wearing grey tweed stretch trousers and a white blouse approached the teleoperator.

"Hi, I'm Nora." The sign, carried by its own weight, crashed on the woman's trolley, breaking into several pieces.

"Hi, I'm Clarity." Clarity shook the hand of Nora and used a broom and dustpan borrowed from a nearby cleaning man, to sweep the rubble of the sign into a garbage can.

"Let me help you with your trolley."

Clarity opened the door of the convertible for Nora, and got out of the airport parking lot. The air was warm and the breeze pleasant. They drove past an old toll and entered the Queen Elizabeth II bridge, connecting Beef Island with Tortola. They chit-chatted about jet lag from London, and the conversation turned to Hari.

"Hari needs a woman in his life, someone who will put some order and give him the stability he needs. Would you like to fill that role?" Clarity did not expect the question.

"I thought you were his girlfriend." Clarity pressed the accelerator of the MG, passing a bus full of tourists going to the forty room _Long Bay Beach Club_ and the _Vista Do Mar_ villas. Nora did not address her comment.

"There is money to be made with this guy, Hari is clueless, the family is in decline. Argyris is using that to their benefit."

Nora reached with her hand for the ventilation grill of the car, and tweaked it so that the incoming air began to blow towards the window instead of her own face. According to the girlfriend of Hari, there was simply a delicate, sensitive investigation on the Sheik and his family, by about two hundred journalists, led by the wealth magazine Argyris, and its head, Alfio Andreadis.

"Argyris? What kind of name is that, why is it relevant?" Asked Clarity.

"It comes from the ancient word for silver in Greek, Argyros. The magazine formulates the opinion on general matters for those with money. As long as you don't get involved with all the journalists, you'll be all right."

"Why are you considering leaving your spot near Hari to someone else then?" Nora did not deny the question.

"I want to focus on my work, I love my work as a journalist. Hari wants me at home, with him, taking care of him, he is traditional. Think about it, I'll show you the working arrangement if you're interested."

# Chapter Six

Clarity walked up a small path on Scrub Island which led to the top of the island, with Hari walking by her side. After the incident at the terrace, Hari had been fired by the owner, and everyone was looking for a job for him. She was in charge of keeping Hari busy, with something not too draining. It was about eleven in the morning, the sun was brightening all of the British virgin island.

"So you are not worried about what happened?" Asked Clarity.

"No," said Hari, "that tourist was not thinking, he didn't understand the value of what I was saying. Anyway, no, I've failed at many things, not just one. Failed at school, then I failed at university, graduating two years after the official four years, thanks to my father who arranged a donation amounting to five times my tuition. I began losing money at the age of eighteen, when my father gave me my first allowance. I was the most admired car crashing Sheik in college, crashed a Porsche, then a BMW, and finally, a Lamborghini, I was really happy to crash that one because my father paid a lot of duty on it. Then, there are official failures, I don't share them that much, probably should share them more. I've received the Gulf award for most prominent loss making financier five years in a row. I'm also _golf businessman of the palace_ , having the consistent record of being consistently over par, eight or nine shots over par. Even my caddy says kudos, when he sees me grab the golf club, commending the golf club itself, because it's expensive and of good quality, not me. I have also received a certificate of appreciation, gratitude, and solidifying friendly relations from University of Oman, thanking me for lowering the pressure of all graduates, thanks to me having had such poor grades in college. Then, I am a member of the forum of social studies, they wonder how someone so wealthy like me can do so bad in so many areas, losing so much money, they cannot figure it out. So they like to use me as a social study item of investigation."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, sometimes I also fail, to pay that is, bills or those people who lent me some money. I do that just so that they pay attention to me."

They reached the top of the island, where you could see all of it and the sun rays hitting the sea. Hari looked at Clarity, who was wearing a pair of jeans.

"Would you like to pee in front of me?" Clarity looked at Hari, processing the question for about five seconds.

"No," said Clarity.

"Some women like to pee in nature."

"Yeah, I've done that sometimes."

Hari stared at Clarity, with a non descript look, his mouth half open.

"Maybe next time."

"No, not really, but thank you for asking," said Clarity.

Hari began to walk down the path, thinking about something else.

"Do you think I should mary Nora?"

"Do you love her?" Asked Clarity.

"No, not really, I prefer Lohvia, but Nora is smart, she has good conversation, she can take care of herself, for someone used to failure like me, she may be a good complement. My family likes Nora."

"I'd go with Lohvia then, go with what you like, not what others would like you to do."

Hari nodded, unsure about the value of the suggestion, but thinking that Clarity was addressing a good point. Clarity looked ahead and saw a rabbit staring at them.

"I'll jog down the path to the resort, I'm going to try and catch that rabbit," said Hari.

"All right."

Hari began running like a madman down the hill, after the rabbit, who fled from his pursuant. Clarity strayed off the path for a few minutes and lied down on a patch of grass. She was so comfortable that she fell asleep for a good half hour. When she woke up, she heard some voices walking a few feet away on the path. Staying down lying on the grass, she peeked beyond a tree in front of her and noticed Nora and Hakeem talking.

"You know why I came here, Hakeem. I know the family of Hari is hiding a block of assets, that's why the valuation given to Argyris is so low."

Hakeem stopped walking, turning to Nora. The Argyris wealth magazine was a nosy publication, thought the retainer, simply interested in showing off the money of the wealthy just for the sake of it. Having received a leak on additional assets alledgedly belonging to Hari, Alfio Andreadis had decided to show in his billionaire ranking, a figure for the fortune of the Sheik, higher than the one provided and backed by the Sheik and his family, by about four billion dollars.

Officially, Hari was worth about six billion dollars, but Argyris claimed he was worth slightly over ten billion. With that figure, Hari had leaped right into the top one hundred billionaire list, and the family did not like the prominence that came with the unofficial or unapproved wealth figure. Tax authorities had begun to inquire for possible anomalies, asking questions to the trustees of Hari's fortune. So the family of the Sheik had decided to sue Argyris, for misrepresentation of the official fortune of Hari in the wealth magazine, and for additional damages arising from the tax investigations. It was the task of Hakeem, entrusted by Hari's family, to know who had leaked the information to Argyris. For now, the lawsuit and the issue with the ranking, was being kept private, for the family of Hari did not like to be in the news.

"What do you want?" Asked Hakeem.

"I want money, and I also want to marry Hari, according to a revised family prenup. I don't like the working arrangement."

"Money, no, we're not going to pay you, Nora. Hari will decide if he wants to marry you."

"Then, be prepared for some big hassle coming Hari's way, I might ensure that the Consortium goes after Hari to track down the family fortune."

Hakeem held the stare of Nora. The Consortium of International Informative Journalists was a pain in the bum, just like Nora.

"Do what you want, we are not going to pay." The administrator of Hari's affairs stopped walking, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"All right, if that is how you want to do things, that's fine."

The Vanity Gloss journalist broke a twig in two and walked away, walking down the path towards the resort. Clarity saw Hakeem talk on his smartphone. A few minutes later, Merhab came running up the path, out of breath.

"There's problems," said Hakeem, "Nora is nosing around."

"Do you have the information on where Hari's father keeps the account for Hari?"

"No, I am not sure whether it is in Cayman or BVI. The Consortium probably knows more than we do."

Clarity listened to both men, who were coveting a personal fortune of several million dollars set aside by the father of Hari, as reward for Hari, in case the Sheik began to make some money, or in case he lost too much money. It was a financial line of defense kept by Hari's father, that very few people knew.

She stood behind the tree for a few minutes, and decided to walk back. In the resort, Hari pulled her aside, leading her to his room.

"Thank you for taking a walk with me. I am a lot more confused about my love life, and I have absolutely no clue of whether I love Nora or Lohvia, but I know our talk is something that will bring some reflection out of me."

"No problem, any time."

A loud knocking on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Hari, open the door, it's me, Hakeem."

"Get in the closet," said Hari, "Hakeem cannot see us together, I cannot have so many girlfriends simultaneously."

Clarity moved towards the closet, but Hari stopped her with his hand.

"There is something else."

"What is that?" Asked Clarity.

"You confuse me."

He stared at her with a dull look, reminiscent of both a hush puppie and a bull dog about to drool a large amount of saliva.

"I confuse you?"

"You do, when I speak to you, it is sort of like talking to another girlfriend, not sure whether you are my girlfriend. In fact, I don't understand my girlfriend very well, she likes sailing instead of being with me. What is Nora doing now, I am unsure. And the real problem is to understand how she thinks, I have no clue how she thinks."

"Well, no, I am not your girlfriend."

Clarity disappeared inside the closet and Hari opened the door to his retainer, who sat down on a sofa.

"Hari, I needed to talk to you, I spoke to your father a few days ago, he told me that under no circumstance should you contact anyone who is investigating the family, anyone from the media, or belonging to the Consortium of Informative Journalists. No one can know about the missing block of assets of the family which are showing up in the Argyris valuation. You have to go down in the billionaire ranking to position one eighty or so, with those owning or being worth about six billion. If you get any email messages from the journalists, delete the message. If any lawyer of the firm _Augiers Urbina_ gets in touch with you, let me know."

"Sure."

Hari pulled on one of the threads of his ripped jeans, making his shabby look very genuine. He did not understand what Hakeem meant, because he was not aware of any block of assets missing from the family assets, or of any Consortium, a word which sounded like a magic incantation to him. Hakeem never allowed him to become involved with the lawyers of the Panama law firm _Augiers Urbina_ , those representing all of the holdings of the family, and those who also were leading the lawsuit with Argyris.

His girlfriend Nora usually talked to the media on his behalf, and that was part of the reason he liked her. Journalists did not understand fully all of the merit of his failure, how making money was irrelevant in general, and how failure allowed him to be comfortable. And his family simply viewed him as a convenient face front for them to show to the media, while the rest of the family was doing the real business, managing all the money of the family. Lohvia understood him a lot more, allowing him to be who he wanted to be, essentially a shabby dude, with imperfections, many imperfections, and a consolidated and substantial reputation for failure, all of which made him human.

Hari saw Hakeem leave his room and he glared at the screen of his laptop. He checked his email, entering a luxury email provider which charged twenty thousand dollars a month for being a member. He noticed a message, which said Consortium of Informative Journalists, asking him several questions about several family assets. Angry that he was not getting any recognition from his family, for just being there as a convenient Sheik for them, he hit a button. Only instead of deleting the message, he hit the _reply and send_ button, alerting the Consortium of his email address and his luxury online messages provider. Then, he opened the closet and let Clarity out.

"Nothing important," said Hari.

"That's all right," said Clarity, "I got a closer look at the closet, I placed the trolley you use for travel in the far end of the closet, it was crushing your shabby shoes collection."

# Chapter Seven

That same evening, Clarity saw how the staff of the Scrub hotel resort went out of their way to prepare the _learning area_ of the Sheik, a passage of hot coal ashes six feet wide and twenty five feet long laid out in the garden area. Wearing shorts and a shabby sweater, Hari stood barefoot in front of Merhab, a few feet away from the firewalking ritual area.

"You are ready Hari?"

"You are sure this is not going to hurt? That bit of coal over there looks a bit hot, kind of red you know."

"No, you will be able to conquer your fears and anything else that gets in the way. Tony Robbins did the same exercise."

"I don't need to get over my fears, I've got money," said Hari. The Sheik picked up Floyd, who was prying around, and threw him across the firewalk area, landing him safely on the other side of it. Floyd, who was experienced as a thrown human being, rolled on his side when he hit the ground and recovered pretty quickly, moving towards the cocktail area, right below the dress of Lohvia.

"Why doesn't he have to walk on that hot coal as well?"

"Because I'm not coaching him, I'm coaching you. This is getting you ready to move along the path, without your venting out team."

"Can I get a cocktail as well?"

"No."

Clarity overheard the coach of the Sheik and drew a line for Hari using chalk, thinking that Merhab was not telling Hari about the thirty people who had received treatment for burns as a result of the _motivation_ exercise done by the famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Instead of changing their beliefs, those people had understood that hot coal could actually be a good thermal conductor at times. Robbins claimed that only five people had to be hospitalized, and Clarity began thinking that being coached was becoming more dangerous than being a firefighter. Hari looked like a firefighter without protection.

Merhab pushed Hari onto the coal, sensing he could be out of his coaching job if Hakeem didn't see him _coach_ Hari properly.

"Is it all right?" Asked Merhab.

"This thing is hot." Hari flashed across the passage in less than twenty seconds, running faster than the rabbit he pursued the day earlier.

"Geez." His feet were clean, but a piece of hot coal had landed onto his shorts, turning them into shabbier shorts. Hari grabbed his ass and rubbed off the coal, without thinking he actually had discovered a new style of clothing.

"Ouch, bring some water Merhab."

The coach took a hose used to keep the garden green, and watered the butt of Hari abundantly. The Sheik was soaked, but felt cooler. Clarity was part of the next exercise, which Hari was told to watch. It involved rescuing from a large bonfire, several stacks of twenty dollar bills meant as the meagre salary for her, generously offered by the Sheik, before they burned, after they were thrown by Gawdat or Behir. The bonfire was about nine feet in diameter. Merhab approached Clarity and said that she could use her hands or her own means of rescue. Clarity opted for using a butterfly net instead of her hands.

Gawdat saw her ready to catch the stack of bills he was holding and passed the stack from one hand to the other, like a basketball player holding a ball. With Clarity in front of her, the guard of the Sheik threw the stack high into the air, well above the net of Clarity, right into the large bonfire, that Hari was using to cook a single marshmallow as appetizer, while he watched. The Sheik also threw a copy of the Oz Mandino book, _The Greatest Salesman in the World_ , into the bonfire, without letting Merhab see it. He was tired of this idea that you had to sell something to people. If people wanted something, they would buy it, without needing a sleazy salesperson to motivate them into buying. Engagement is what was driving things in any case, he sensed. Gawdat turned to Clarity.

"That's half your salary," said the guard.

"Good thing that the Sheik provides food and lodge," said Clarity. She walked away from the security guard, closer to the bonfire.

"Yeah, this is not an easy salary," said Gawdat. Clarity began talking to Nora about the way the bonfire was set, to ensure it was a proper bonfire designed according to the right rules of _dollar_ _bill bonfiring_. Nora shook her head and pointed Clarity towards the guard of the Sheik, alerting her of a new move. Gawdat threw the second stack, thinking that Clarity had given up on the money and was not paying attention. This time, Clarity turned around and caught the low flying stack with the net before it reached the bonfire.

"All right, this time I got it." She counted ten twenty dollar bills, amounting to two hundred dollars, and slid them in her pocket. Merhab congratulated her, and also congratulated Hari for cooking the marshmallow correctly. Yergat Ghazakian, the cook of the Sheik, announced dinner.

"Buffet is ready."

Everyone moved to a private terrace with two dinner tables set up for the guests. Clarity sat at one table, with Plum, Hari, Nives and Julia, listening to some easy music coming from two large loudspeakers. She opened a bottle of red wine with a corkscrew and poured a glass for everyone, glancing to her right. Sitting at another table, Hakeem was already munching on several ribs with barbecue sauce, with Merhab sitting next to him. The coach kept talking to Gawdat and Behir about how they could benefit from firewalking. Nora was also seated at the same table, telling Lohvia that the plane of the Sheik needed a refurbishing, showing more gold, in particular above the throne. The teleoperator listened to Hari, who had replaced his shorts with an even shabbier version, a pair of ripped blue denim shorts with several holes.

"I certainly feel more comfortable with her." He was speaking of Lohvia. Clarity saw the Slovene woman excuse herself, heading for the bathroom. The teleoperator stood up and walked towards the buffet, to get some roast beef. A sudden thought crossed her mind, and she followed her intuition. She looked at the cook and pointed to her plate.

"Can you keep this warm for me for a second?" She asked. Yergat nodded.

"Sure."

Clarity walked along the garden area of the terrace, on a narrow passage covered with Lyon caliza floor. The ladies bathroom had a window which was open, which stood about five feet from the ground. Clarity peeked inside and saw Lohvia on all fours getting banged doggy style by Floyd, who'd lifted her dress and stood behind her, hands firmly grabbing her hips, and the firm flesh of her bum.

"Oh, God, yes, a bit more slowly Floyd, I love to keep the pearl there while my vulva is filled with a cock."

The dwarf slowed his hip action, pulling the cute shop clerk from Slovenia towards him, to feel her warmth. Clarity watched them a few minutes and headed back to her table with her plate. Hari was talking to Plum, pouring a glass of champagne in her glass, while Nives and Julia were chit-chatting.

"I am pretty sure that I can love Lohvia," said Hari, "with Nora it's not the same."

"Lohvia is a good woman for you," said Plum.

"Yes, she has got a sex drive more like me, it's an important affinity you know, Nora doesn't have as much of a libido."

Plum glanced at the other table, ensuring Hakeem was looking away. Moving her hands under the table, she reached for her purse, taking out her copy of the book which spoke of the everburning flame. She showed it carefully to Hari, ensuring he did not touch any of the pages. The Sheik was intrigued by notions and words that he'd never seen before. And even more so by the possibilities of doing with Lohvia some of the things that Plum was mentioning. The videographer closed the book and moved her head towards the Sheik, lowering her voice.

"Would you like to marry Lohvia?" The eyes of Hari widened.

"What do you mean? My girlfriend is Nora."

A mischievous look appeared on Hari's face, and he glanced surreptitiously towards his official girlfriend sitting at the other table. His decision to marry had to go through his family and Hakeem, also probably his coach. The proposal of Plum did not make him uncomfortable, it did not feel out of place.

"Marry Lohvia onboard Heir Force One without telling anyone, sort of eloping to the solarium area of the plane with her, just to see if you love her. If you love Lohvia after you marry her, it means she is a good match for you."

"Yeah, that makes sense," said Hari. "That way, if the marriage fails, no one will know, because everything happens in the plane."

Plum nodded, and Clarity did as well, but the teleoperator noticed there was a block of logic missing, like the part about what marriage meant to him. To the Sheik, though, no interpretation was incorrect, mistakes, fallacies, and misrepresentations served their purpose, and they served him very well.

With Lohvia back at her seat, Yergat served dessert, mango ice cream served with burning Grand Marnier liqueur, making the dish look like a miniature bonfire. Hakeem interrupted their conversation and made an announcement for both tables.

"After long hours of talk, Merhab and I have been able to negotiate a deal for Sheik Al-Najib. Our Royal Highness has a new job. He is going to be an associate at _Kuwait Trade House Capital Offshore Branch_ at BVI, to learn about buying and selling currency, foreign trade and capital markets."

Lohvia clapped but Nora was not very happy, simply pouring some red wine in her glass. Hari was sort of speechless, his mouth was open. He felt he was being led into areas of knowledge suspiciously higher than his ability, much higher. He did not know diddly about capital markets, nor trade, and currency was something everyone else carried for him. He did not need to know anything, because his retainer Hakeem took care of everything for him. He began to think, which he felt was strenuous after dinner. If Hakeem took care of everything, why was he involving him in something which sounded like work, that would allow him to bring money on his own? It did not make sense to Hari. All of this was suspicious, and he knew Hakeem was up to something. He grabbed the arm of Clarity.

"Clarity, can you go to my room and bring me my smartphone, I want to know the extent of my losses today."

Clarity got up from her seat and grabbed the resort key of Hari. She used the key of the Sheik to get inside his room and grabbed his smartphone, laid out on the table. The phone did not have a password and his desktop had the usual application icons, _agenda_ , _search engine_ , _chat_ , _a weather app_ , and an icon labeled _solarium viewing area of Heir Force One_. Then, it had two other ones which caught her attention. One was called _Odyssey area_. She opened the tab and a live camera screen appeared, showing a group of thirty seven wild boars, each of them labeled with a number on their flank, reminiscent of the numbers shown by cars involved in the mile miglia, the open road endurance race which took place in Italy. The boars flocked as a wild boar reserve, living in a field near the palace of the Sheik in Saudi Arabia. A wild boar, caught on camera, number thirty six, looked right into it during several seconds. Clarity saw a red light flash and instinctively pressed on it, thinking someone might be alerted of her tampering with the Sheik's phone.

A large dump truck parked several feet away from the general boar herd, dumped a huge load of acorns, forbs, grass, tubers, roots, bulbs and fungi. The wild boar looking at the camera froze at the camera briefly, sensing something, and it avoided the dump falling on him, jumping a few feet away, then standing mesmerized a few seconds watching the pile, not expecting so much food. Clarity realized she'd pushed a remote feeding button, and saw thirty six other boars running towards its peer, who began to eat from the unexpected pile. The reserve was one of the endearing properties of the Sheik and was meant to enliven the lives of people in Saudi Arabia, teaching them about the _odyssey of the boar_ through the television channel the Sheik had, which broadcasted from Riyadh.

She turned off the application and opened the other application which she'd noticed, labeled _SRA-199_. She pressed on the button and a spreadsheet file opened, listing the assets of the flagship company of the Sheik, _Sheik Royal Assets-199_. The liability side, all sources of funds for the company listed ten billion three hundred million dollars, but the asset side listing the uses of funds, listed only six billion flat. Clarity knew from having worked in accounting that the assets and liabilities of a balance sheet, a snapshot of a company, had to match, because all the money a company received was used to pay for something or purchase something. Part of the assets of the company were missing, about four billion dollars, or they were hidden from view on purpose, to prevent Hari from seeing them. Looking through the report, Clarity noticed that there were some payments pending on the purchase of _Heir Force One_ , a plane previously owned by a prominent person, labeled as ' _the rich guy with a smirk'_ on the balance sheet notes. Technically, the plane of the Sheik was not owned by him. Taking out a pen and a small pad from her pocket, she jotted the phone number of the Sheik's smartphone on it.

# Chapter Eight

The smartphone of Hari was connected to the one of Hakeem, whose phone link was labeled H, as in capital H, with an icon on page two of the desktop. Clarity pressed on the agenda icon, but the file of Hari could not be opened without an additional password from his retainer. As Clarity walked back to the dinner table, she spotted Hakeem standing about one hundred feet away, moving in the darkness behind a large tree. Instead of walking towards the table, Clarity stepped into the grass and hid behind another tree, avoiding a sprinkler used to water the grass. She pressed the H icon and a conference call option icon appeared before her. She pressed the icon and brought the smartphone to her ear, without speaking.

"Hakeem?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"The Shawab here, have you decided?"

"Yes, we have nearly found the account of the Sheik, it is about seven or eight million dollars that the father has stored there, and we think it is stored in the offshore branch of _Kuwait Capital_ here in Tortola. It is tied to a board certificate issued a few months ago by the father of Hari, which is part of the documents for the current lawsuit with the wealth magazine Argyris on the amount shown for Hari in the billionaire ranking. The information on the certificate was leaked to the magazine, but no one knows of the account."

Clarity remembered the name of the person speaking to Hakeem from her previous stay in the British Virgin Islands. The Shawab was involved in the smuggling of alcohol throughout the Caribbean, and he was relaying to Hakeem that he was interested in expanding the business into expensive alcohol. She turned up the volume of the phone slightly, to listen to the private call more closely.

"Work for me, Hakeem, you will do well, I want you to help me move into the prime alcohol business, the one that only the very wealthy drink. Give me access to the plane of the Sheik, I want to be among those that his family sees on a regular basis. Use your connections to provide me with a contact and banking instructions at the Banco Inter Central del Caribe y Cuba. Your money, all of the money that you plan to get from the Sheik account will be safe there. How do you plan to take it out of _Kuwait Capital_?"

"We have to find the money first," said Hakeem. "That lawsuit with Argyris and the investigation from the consortium of journalists, is a pain. We're going to have to work a lot to get rid of them."

"Do what you have to do. That moron of Haroun Al-Najib should become the poorest person of the Emirates, his money is inherited, he is not worth diddly. Keep me informed of all which you find on this. We will make an arrangement with one of our contacts from Panama, Chubby Caddy, so that he meets you in Cuba, after the money is transferred to BICCC, so that he provides the information you will need to work with us."

The sprinkler began to work, washing the legs of Clarity, up to her waist, and spraying her eyes when she turned her face towards the noise of the watering item in the grass. Startled by the water drizzling on her, she moved away from the tree, and returned to the path, ensuring the smartphone was dry. The phone began to vibrate in her hand. An icon on the desktop depicting a small, wooden dummy named ' _Timthumb_ ', lifted a black and white checkered flag, announcing an incoming email message for the Sheik. Recovering her seat at her table, Clarity handed the phone to Hari after reading the text sent out to him.

"Here is the phone." Hari stared at the dress of Clarity, which was soaked.

"Anything happen? You look kind of wet."

"No, just freshening up. You received a message from someone at Augiers Urbina."

"Thank you, Clarity."

Hari checked the icon flashing on his screen announcing the message. He forwarded it to Hakeem, knowing any messages from the Panama law firm was banned information territory for him. He asked his retainer a question, by sending him a message, knowing there was a good chance Hakeem would dismiss it. _Anything important from the law firm Hakeem?_ A few minutes later, the reply came from his retainer's phone. _Octavio is coming tomorrow to review the living arrangement of Nora._

The following morning, Clarity had a good breakfast, and she listened to the first argument between Hari and his official girlfriend Nora.

"I don't want to live in the Caribbean, Hari, I like London. There is work for me in London." The Sheik grabbed some roast beef and slammed it into the plate of Nora.

"Just nine months out of the year, you can work in London the other three months."

"No Hari, I like to work. People, the whole staff of Vanity Gloss, are in London, not in the Caribbean." A piece of roast beef picked up by Nora landed on the plate of Hari.

"London has crappy weather most of the year. You may need a coach, to take your mind off work, you work a lot but you don't know why you work. On the other hand, I know why I don't work, it's because I like to enjoy people. I am not confused."

A pull on the pants of Hari made him look down. One of the dwarves, Floyd was requesting to leave the island with his two friends, to return to the palace of the Sheik in the Emirates. Floyd also threw in the idea of a bonus for himself, for the extra throw across the firewalk. Merhab came to grab him by the hand, leading him and his two friends to a taxi headed for the airport. Hari wondered whether Floyd would make a better counselor than Hakeem or Merhab, although he wasn't completely displeased to see him and his friends leave, for some reason.

"I'll have to be careful now. Without my dwarves here and a venting outlet, things are going to be more difficult for me," said Hari.

He reached for an olive, something that validated his individual effort, knowing he had done that without assistance from anyone else. Nora threw a spoonful of mayo on the plate of the Sheik, some of which hit Clarity on her nose, while she was adding a few tomato slices to her scrambled eggs.

"I am not sure we are compatible Nora." Clarity wiped off the mayo and added some ham to her eggs.

"You are compatible with everyone, with women definitely," said Nora.

"You knew about my lifestyle. According to the official rules, I can marry up to four women, as long as I can pay for their living expenses."

"Yeah, but you said there was a favorite. Who is your favorite?"

"Sometimes there is one, sometimes several, sometimes none. That is irrelevant Nora, you are living a lifestyle, fact that someone may have more things in common about some things is irrelevant." Nora plucked an olive with a fork and dropped it on Hari's plate.

"Then, I will renegotiate my living arrangement, I think it is a good time to do it." Hari brought his plate and the plate of Nora to their breakfast table, sighing, while Clarity joined Plum and her friends on a neighboring table.

"Fine, talk to Hakeem," said the Sheik, "he will do that with you at the bank, he has all the papers."

After breakfast, Hakeem gave the day off to Merhab and took Hari to his first day at work in Tortola at the offices of _Kuwait Trading House Capital_ , the capital markets and investment company known as _KTH Capital_ , or simply as _Kuwait Capital_. Clarity, Plum and her friends were also there to help out with the installation of the robo adivising software, which Hari insisted on learning how to use at the bank. The taxi drove from the marina in Tortola through Road Two and Blackburn Highway, to the offices of the bank, located on Nibbs Street. The bank was a non descript low rise building with horizontal blinds, a roof top painted green with the logo of the bank, and floor to ceiling windows showing on the second floor, which provided a lot of light to the various offices inside.

A banking official who had been living in Tortola for over ten years, Ahmed Norizi, welcomed them and led them to the new office of Hari on the second floor.

"This is the office of our previous wealth advisor. He left yesterday because several customers left the bank. Wealth management is becoming difficult. We hope the arrival of the Sheik here will bring some business." Ahmed led Hari and Hakeem to a tour of the bank, leaving Clarity, Plum and her friends in the office, with a bundle of cables, a laptop and two computer screens to connect.

"I have no clue about any of this, never worked with a computer," said Plum. "Why are we doing this," Asked Nives, "Merhab is the coach, he should be here with Hari's security guards, so that they install the cables and the software that Hari needs."

"I've been a teleoperator, I might be able to do something," said Clarity. The videographer lifted one of the cables, before letting it drop on the floor again. "Not sure, maybe Hakeem wants Hari to fail again. Yeah, all of this is kind of odd. We need to know who is that law firm, Augiers Urbina, and what they do for the Sheik." She turned to Clarity. "Well, you do the work then."

Clarity sat on Hari's desk, and noticed a speakerphone on the left corner. She tapped on the speakerphone button, and began to hear the voice of Nora speaking to Hakeem in another room. The day before, a client had requested to speak with the person occupying the office of Hari prior to him, the wealth advisor. The man had told the client through speakerphone, that he was staying in his office, alledging that he needed to look at financial screens of Bloomberg and Reuters to provide reliable investing advice. One day later, on the other room, neither Hakeem nor Nora had noticed the speakerphone was still activated. If Clarity did not speak, neither Nora or Hakeem would hear her or those around her. Clarity used her index to tell Plum and her friends not to speak.

"The living arrangement is not working Hakeem."

"You keep asking for more. Hari does not appear to love you a lot, you are not spending a lot of time with him."

"I want a lower ranking in the life of Hari, below Lohvia and the other four women Hari brought. And I want a bearer certificate acknowledging me as part owner of the assets of _Regina Holdings_ with a twenty percent stake."

Twenty percent of the hidden part of SRA-199, several billion dollars, amounted to several hundred million dollars. Too much money for a nosy journalist, thought Hakeem.

"Who told you about _Regina Holdings_ , those assets are not on the balance sheet."

"I told you you should have given me what I wanted the other day. Things are not going to move favorably for Hari from now on."

The speakerphone went dead, even after Clarity pressed the on-button several times. She glanced at Plum, who said nothing, and turned to the cable mess below her, to do the computer work that Hari was avoiding.

After three hours of going through several manuals and calling service centers, Clarity managed to connect the broadband connection to Hari's computer. She also installed the robo-advising software, called ' _yourmoneyplace'_ , a computer program with built-in intelligent algorithms, which offered investment suggestions, some of them more complex than others, after simply presenting the profile of the potential user. Some of the solutions also used faulty, or _higher risk_ algorithms, but that part of the software was not available to the user, officially. The original _money place_ in the software was not good, it was a dangerous place to invest, but then it became good, when the company was short of cash and needed to sell the software, comparing the money place, to a shelter for money. The place where the money went was safe, they said. In any case, it was 'yourmoneyplace', not mine.

Clarity filled in a few forms on behalf of the Sheik, after checking with Hakeem. She had to feed his investment preferences, which corresponded to companies in the _luxury segment_. To test the software, she prompted the robo advisor for a first opinion or suggestion for Hari. The software bot, called ' _faulty'_ , replied with a remarkable answer.

_'Take that moron out of a job, before he creates his own financial crash'_. Clarity looked at the first message of the robo advisor which flashed onscreen, seeing in a tutorial associated with the moneybot that ' _faulty_ ' was compatible with ' _Timthumb_ '. She pressed on the link for the explanation of the feature, and found an additional set of suggestions in the tutorial. ' _yes, the Timthumb in his Highness smartphone. Timthumb gets lost in detail, and faulty may reason either not completely, or correctly, or it may not attend to the relevant at times. Exchange their advisory at your own risk._ ' The tutorial added that those were anti-features, those features the user probably did not want offhand, but were part of the software anyway. When you began using 'faulty', you were married to all of it.

Clarity returned to the comment of the moneybot, and prompted the system for a source, the identity of the person that the word moron alluded to in the comment. The moneybot showed that it did not know didly about diplomacy, and answered _Sheik Haroun Al-Najib_ , right away. Clarity turned off the software and told Hakeem they were finished. The retainer ordered lunch for them and Hari joined them, happy to see that the new sophisticated software was working.

Hari began tweaking with several buttons and within half an hour, he had generated losses amounting to several million dollars in the precious metals, currency, stock indices and commodities markets. Thinking that the risk taking had been appropriate, the Sheik pressed on the stop-loss button.

Plum walked to the other side of the computer and turned Hari away from his thoughts about what he would say to Hakeem. She pushed Hari off his seat and began a lengthy explanation about how the video gambling business operated. Hari simply needed to tweak investment odds in his favor, to slow down or get rid of losses, and invest in the online gambling business. Combining it with a chaturbate business which could be used to sell bonds issued through _Kuwait Capital_ was the safest way to moneymaking and recovering losses made on that day.

"You are full of ideas," said Hari.

"I see a lot of people, nobody pays attention to ideas." She slid her hand in his white shirt pocket, reaching for his smartphone.

"Your Highness, can I take a look at your agenda? I will tell you how to spot those who will help you make money."

The Sheik slapped her hand off, ensuring the device was in place inside his shirt.

"No."

Before falling asleep that night, Clarity combed her hair in her room, in front of a large mirror, looking at the old book that Plum had given her for the night, labeled with the HSAF library stamp, ' _The Rose of the Initiates_ '. She began leafing through it, realizing that Plum was bent on following some of the ideas in the text. Following others with their thoughts on the spiritual path, was all right, but she wanted to gain her own knowledge, understand what was behind the blissful sense of warmth, which resonated in her body, and behind the allegories described in the book. The pages on her fingers had the rugged feel of parchment, they felt reassuring.

One of the chapters spoke about the existence of a sacred city, _Kailasi_ , a name which was used in allegory, representing a place in the body. _The consciousness lifted upward through the tree of life, and then blossoms as the lotus in the golden city, rising from the material world, as a flower of wisdom._ According to a diagram on the page, the golden city was a physical area in the body, the frontal sinus, and that was also where a person held the seat of the divine, a fine essence usually referred as spirit. In the West, the lotus had been replaced by the word rose, and referred to the blooming of new qualities in a person, and also to a part in the body, which acted as center to _the flame_ , or _the lamp_. Placing the book carefully on her night table, she got inside the bed and began to think about how to get her own copy of the book, or access to it, from Plum.

# Chapter Nine

The next day, Clarity and the entourage of the Sheik got back to Heir Force One, in order to discuss the losses which had come out of using the robo advisor. Clarity poured some coca cola in her glass, sitting on a comfortable sofa of the luxurious plane, watching Merhab lead the morning routine of Hari, discussing the previous day losses brought by Hari's use of the robo advisor software.

"Hari, you've got to reflect on what happened."

The Sheik was seating on his throne, reflecting with his elbow on his leg and his hand supporting his chin.

"It's not easy to make money," said Hari.

Merhab pressed a button on the armrest of the chair he used to lead the coaching lessons of Hari, prompting a spring below the throne to catapult Hari in the air in a parabolic trajectory which landed him a few feet away from Clarity on the carpet floor of the plane.

"You gotta be ready for surprises Hari," said Merhab. The Sheik recovered, standing up, glaring at his coach. The emergency exit of the throne was a feature he would have gladly destroyed. He poured himself a glass of fresh water.

"The market turned against my positions," said Hari.

"The market is a given."

"The market doesn't give me anything."

"It shouldn't give you anything, it's simply a given." Hari changed the topic, because Merhab was not understanding he was the one making the losses.

"All right, what should I do to sharpen my thinking?" Hari did ask relevant questions at times.

"You're going to do some maintenance work on the plane." Hakeem nodded, pouring himself a gin tonic, knowing what was good for Hari. Merhab handed Hari a pair of overalls and a pad for him. He turned to Clarity, handing her a second pair of overalls.

"You go with him." Hari looked at the list of tasks written on the pad. It listed _'reviewing rivets'_ second after _'review of air pressure of tires'_. The list continued with the task of _'general troubleshooting'_ , _'reviewing parts in the brake_ , _electrical and landing gear systems'_. The list of instructions finished with the statement _'ensure_ _all spare parts are available'_.

Merhab handed Hari a drill to check rivets, and a maintenance trolley, labeled Louis Vuitton.

"Take care of this, it's the only drill and maintenance trolley one we have."

Hari walked out of the plane with Clarity and his trolley, and moved to the landing gear area. He loosened several screws a few feet away from the wheels of the plane, and a panel pivoted down towards him. The Sheik ducked and the panel moved past below him.

"Hold this."

He handed the drill to Clarity. The Sheik grabbed a pressure gauge from the maintenance trolley and placed it on one of the tires. Then, he pressed on a pump he'd found inside the trolley to fill the tire with some additional air. After checking the tire with his hand, he assessed that the tire was good, and reached for a platform inside the fuselage, leading to the electrical system of the plane, something completely unknown to Hari.

Clarity heard a creaking noise coming from unlubricated wheels near her. A stand looking similar to a hot dog stand approached the teleoperator at wing level. A thin, tall man in his sixties wearing worn out blue overalls was pushing the cart towards her.

"Weather reports, aircraft spare parts, confidential documents, hot dogs." Clarity walked towards the airport employee, named Arnold.

"Confidential documents?" Asked Clarity.

"It's what it says here, newspaper article, got the paper of today for you," said Arnold. Clarity grabbed a paper copy of _Caribbean News Now_ and read the large news headline: _Confidential documents found regarding the fortune of Sheik Haroun Al-Najib_. Intrigued by the heading, Clarity paid a dollar to Arnold and began reading the article, which covered half a page. _Correspondents from the Consortium of Informative Journalists spanning more than one hundred newspapers, have found new evidence of wealth, previously undeclared and not revealed by the family of Sheik Haroun Al-Najib. The information is believed to be the tip of the iceberg in a large space of corruption and lack of transparency, in what is currently being labeled as the Scrub Leaks affair._

A certificate of ownership from a British Virgin Islands company mentioning the Sheik, has revealed a mysterious part of the balance sheet of the Sheik main company, SRA-199, amounting to several billion dollars. The hidden part of the company is believed to be named Regina Holdings. The certificate has been issued by the offices of Panama law firm Augiers Urbina, which is under investigation by the Consortium. The family of the Sheik, known to reside in London, has declined to issue any comments, and is currently involved in a lawsuit with the wealth magazine Argyris, suing the magazine for damages as a result of leaking unverified information, which alters the position of the Sheik in the billionaire ranking issued by the magazine, and which has led to tax authority investigation for the missing assets of Hari Al-Najib.

The Sheik is currently believed to be spending some time off his usual work activities as supervisor of a wild boar reserve in Saudi Arabia, enjoying a holiday in the Scrub Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands. A team from the Consortium of Informative Journalists has been dispatched there, a slew of journalists, to verify whether all of this information, revealed by an email from the Sheik intercepted by several journalists, is true. The Consortium of Biased Journalists has declined to comment on the findings of their peers, because the findings of the Consortium of Informative Journalists, apparently, are not biased.

Clarity raised her head, looking at Arnold.

"A hot dog, please." She thought better, thinking of Hari. "Two."

"Anything out of the ordinary?" Asked Hari.

"No, everything's good." Clarity looked at Hari, who was buried inside the brake and electrical system of the plane. His voice reached her.

"Get a spare landing gear will you?"

"All right." Clarity walked towards the stand of Arnold, who opened a small trap door in the front of the stand.

"Take a look inside, we got a brand new gear from a dismantled 747 used by Virgin." Clarity peeked her head inside the trapdoor, finding herself looking at a mesh of wires and half a large tire previously used in an aircraft.

"I need a gear for a 757," said Clarity. Arnold understood customer service.

"I can order one for you."

"Please do that."

"It will be here tomorrow."

"Very good, we'll be here. Expect payment with paypal."

"Yeah, I got paypal, everyone's got paypal, in the British Virgin Islands, we have paypal." Arnold extended his hand to close the agreement, turning his lead nearly into a sale.

Clarity shook hands with Arnold and glanced across the tarmac near the area where buses took passengers to the planes. A large group of angry journalists holding a banner labeled _Consortium of Informative Journalists_ , was making its way towards Heir Force One. A call from Hakeem told Hari and Clarity to return to the plane. A few minutes later, once on board with Hari, Clarity looked through one of the plane's windows, watching a group of twenty or thirty journalists making photos of the plane, trying to make their way into the cabin. Merhab was yelling from the top of the staircase leading to the plane, telling them to go away, while Siarhei Lubachko had walked down the stairs, and was placing his hand on the lens of a large SLR camera to curb the amount of photos being taken. Eight police constables, dressed in white uniform and black pants, coming back from six months of training at the _Regional Police Training Center_ in Barbados, were preventing the journalists from moving up the staircase of the plane.

"What's happening?" Asked Hakeem.

"Something leaked, they know about the balance sheet of SRA-199."

Hakeem ordered everyone back inside the plane, leaving the journalists taking photos outside. Clarity watched Hari take a call from his father, Zahir, who was being assailed by journalists in London. The Sheik put the call on speakerphone, because he liked transparency in all of what he did.

"Hari, I am reducing your allowance to twelve dollars and thirty five cents. It is the amount you will need to buy a subscription to Time magazine, to be informed. You need to be informed, you are too clueless for this family. Hakeem will get additional powers to supervise your account in BVI at _Kuwait Capital_. You will not touch that money at all until you retire, and someone else will decide how much you spend each day."

"I didn't know I had an account," said Hari.

"Your face is appearing in the tabloids in London. How did this happen? Have you spoken to anyone about our company, SRA-199 I mean?"

"No, simply been here in the Caribbean, because I know you don't want me in the Emirates."

"You managed to screw up from the Caribbean. The certificate from Augiers Urbina leaked beyond Argyris, the law firm and our assets are under investigation by several authorities and by more than two hundred journalists. Have you talked to any of them, to any of these people?"

"No. I'm going to need a certificate certifying this failure. Merhab will need that to send it to University of Oman."

"No, Merhab will not get anything. You are going to be a clerk the rest of your life Hari."

"That is my current rank, and my current job in the family."

Hari was one of the heirs of the family, but he was far and away in the list, ranking below the whole family. Even Melchior, his butler, was a man who ranked higher than him, and could potentially become a tutor for him. In the list of potential inheritors, he ranked slightly above his team of dwarves, who complained every month or so that they were smarter than Hari and deserved to rank above him.

"Yeah," said Zahir, "but now all of that is permanent, you have reached your level of incompetence, your ability does not provide any more room to you."

Hari was devastated by not being able to use more millions of dollars to invest in investment alternatives suggested by the robo advisor or his own risk making ability. His father took out access to all of his credit cards and put a _corralito_ on his account, restricting withdrawls to eight dollars a day, to buy snacks. Hari began thinking his father wanted him out of the family, he was putting him in a _Shexit_ condition, exit from Sheik status. His real situation dawned on him. He was a clerk with a plane, a large plane with a springy throne.

"What about the robo advisor?"

Hari's father nearly did a back flip with no hands as a result of his frustration.

"Don't touch it! Please! Hari, let Hakeem work with the robo advisor. We are going to figure out where to put you, so that there is no more media damage to the family."

Nora tapped on the shoulder of Hari as the speakerphone went off.

"I'm leaving, Hari."

Plum saw Hari remain speechless, mostly because he did not mind seeing Nora move away from him. He wasn't going to beg her to stay. The gambling videographer refrained from yelling yahoo out loud. With Nora out of the way, it was easier to get additional power within the entourage of the Sheik. Without anyone seeing her, she moved to the camera area of the plane. Used to filming video and gathering useful video information by watching a black and white screen for just a few minutes, she began to turn on the various cameras placed along the fuselage of the plane by Lubachko.

The cameras showed a large crowd gathering close to the plane. The original group of people trying to get inside Hari's second flying home, had become much larger, and amounted to nearly eighty now. It was time to keep a low profile and plan her permanent stay in BVI. Using her smartphone, she dialled the number of a phone banking service, and transferred the seventy thousand dollars received in exchange for the ring, from her account in Macau, to an offshore account in Road Town, at _Litco_ , _Linson Immediate Transfer Company_ , an alternative, shadow banking, and capital advisory services provider, which she'd found browsing the web.

# Chapter Ten

"What do all these people have on us?" Asked Merhab, "we haven't done anything illegal."

More people, mostly journalists, were gathering around the 757 of the Sheik.

"I'm not sure," said Hakeem, "we should send someone to investigate."

Lubachko shook his head, indicating to Hakeem this was a communication problem, not a security problem per se. All three security guards of the Sheik stepped out of the living room area, towards the kitchen area of the plane, to grab a drink. Hakeem allowed it. Sometimes, offering a break to security personnel during difficult times, was needed to avoid a mutiny.

"Do you wanna go take a look?" Asked the retainer. He stared at Merhab.

"No, I'm a coach."

"What about Hari?"

"No, Hari cannot do anything such as an investigation. The complexity would baffle him, it would turn him into a mush of overwhelmed Arabian Highness buried under a large pile of complexity. That is not for him."

All eyes turned to Clarity.

"Then, you're going to have to go," said Hakeem.

"Me, why me?" Asked Clarity.

"Because no one else wants to go and you are available."

Plum walked behind the teleoperator, moving towards the bar area.

"Some of us get the limelight right away."

Hakeem gave Clarity instructions on what to say if someone questioned her.

"Say you are visiting the island."

"Yeah, I just stumbled upon this plane." Clarity could not believe how creative Hakeem had been regarding her investigation. She reached the back door of the plane before Hakeem could reprimand her for mocking him in front of everyone.

"Yeah, say you wanted to meet me," said Hari. He looked at Plum, seeing Clarity disappear down the stairs of the plane back exit.

"Everyone wants to meet me," said Hari.

"Your money your Highness," said Plum.

"My money? Where is it?" Hari was always alarmed when someone mentioned his money, which he thought was safe. He did not know where it was, but he knew it was safe.

"They want to see you and your money," said Plum.

Hari nodded, thinking everything was all right. As long as people thought he had money, things were all right.

Clarity peeked outside the plane, noticing the journalists were packed in a group, right below the front exit door of the plane. She stepped down the back stairs reaching the tarmac, and noticed a plane which had carried all the journalists from their investigative base in Washington D.C. She walked towards a 737 from _Caribbean Airlines_ painted white, blue and green, with a hummingbird in flight showing in the back. There was a large amount of confusion around the plane, with a group of about one hundred journalists typing on their laptop set up in a hasty way on portable folding plastic tables and steel frame folding chairs from _logo-it_ , with the Consortium logo written on the polyester fabric.

Carefully dodging several journalists and police constables sent by the _Royal Virgin Islands Police Force_ , Clarity walked up the air-stairs of the plane, entering the cabin. A steward of the Consortium was attempting to keep abreast of all the requests coming from the journalists regarding any information coming in or going out of the Sheik's plane. The song from the calypso artist Explainer, called ' _Lorraine_ ', the theme song of the airline, was playing in the background.

"Your id, please, your badge."

Clarity glanced inside the cabin and saw that the journalists standing were all wearing a badge labeled _Scrub Leaks_ investigation. Clarity was taken off guard, but reacted on the go, remembering a few facts in the article provided by Arnold.

"Clarity Nice, data editor for Newsday in New York, member of the Freedom of Information Act Machine platform. I need a press badge, it fell while I was going through customs."

"Hold on a second." A second clerk sitting a few rows further printed a badge and placed it in a plastic cover.

"Here you go, this way please." The clerk pointed Clarity to a second exit door across the one Clarity had used.

"Do you have the address of the office set up here by the Consortium, I need to send a report and I don't have access to the web." The clerk checked a sheet of paper stuck above one of the windows.

"It's in Pasea Estate in Road Town, near the offices of the BVI Financial Services Commission."

Clarity walked across the cabin all of ten feet, reaching the air-steps on the other side of the cabin. Going down the boarding ramp, she spotted an open-air taxi by _Cane Soup Trips_ painted a fiery red and yellow, ready to tour Tortola. The Ford safari bus looked like a fire truck ready to reach Patagonia. Clarity reached for her pocket and grabbed a twenty dollar bill rescued from the Sheik's bonfire, handing it to the driver.

"Hop in, we're picking up some people on the way." A dozen journalists boarded the safari bus. Clarity sat on an aisle seat two or three rows before the last row. A woman wearing the uniform of a police constable, Jillian Matthias, sat beside her. A policewoman, thought Clarity, yeah, definitely someone supporting her investigation.

"What a mess, this Sheik is sure involved in a lot of shady businesses. So many people want to know what he is doing here."

"Yeah, it is a mess, a bit of work for us," said Clarity, "it's not bad." The safari bus left the airport and headed for Ridge Road towards Road Town.

"What are you looking for? I mean everyone here, what are they looking for?" Clarity made up a half truth, which sort of matched what she was seeing.

"The Sheik is being investigated. He is not a bad guy, but there is an issue with the amount of money which belongs to him, and that has led to other problems or investigations, with several tax authorities."

The safari bus dropped Clarity and several journalists in front of a colonial building on San Francis Drake Highway, rented by the Consortium. Clarity walked to the second floor and requested a computer.

"You can use that one over there, it's still open."

Clarity rushed to the small desk before someone else took it, marvelling at the screen of the _Silicon Graphics Visual Workstation_. The Consortium used an application named _Snide Locator_ , which mapped the offshore structures of political leaders, criminals, celebrities, sports celebrities, and divorce lawyers. Another feature also exposed the connections of the different prominent people involved, things like who had met whom, who knew about the assets and the money of the other, who had slept with someone else's wife, and who was after the inheritance of such and such politician or business maven. She clicked on the _Scrub Leaks_ button, one of the matters under investigation by the Consortium.

A Board Certificate obtained through a leak from the Panama office of Augiers Urbina, showed that the Sheik had limited Power of Attorney over SRA-199, the company owning Heir Force One. The Snide Locator graph showed that _Regina Holdings_ could overturn that Power of Attorney and had taxes pending in several jurisdictions. It also held a term deposit with the Bank of China in Luxembourg, but a large part of its balance sheet, amounting to more than four billion dollars was unknown, listing only that the holdings were believed to be associated with Real Estate, and that some of it was not in London. Other links mapped Hari's father as shareholder of Sheik Royal Assets 199, and as main owner of the _Nafurat Min Almiah_ _Alnnaquia_ palace, the _Fountain of Pure Water_ residence, belonging to the family of Hari in the Emirates. Neither Hakeem, Merhab, or any of his security guards were listed in the Consortium file.

Clarity pressed the scroll button, the file was long. There was no mention of the eight million dollars stored at _Kuwait Capital_ offshore branch in BVI, but there was an icon named Trustee of SRA-199 which had not been identified. Clarity guessed that Hakeem acted as Trustee of the Sheik's company. She noticed something odd on the lower part of the screen, a name which caught her attention. It was her own name, listed as a relevant pawn of Hari's financial chess set. Her name was listed as one of the beneficiaries of _Regina Holdings_. She zoomed in on the label, just to ensure she was seeing things correctly. _Clarity Nice, Beneficiary, Regina Holdings, relation to Sheik Al-Najib, all-purpose clerk, possible mistress, or girlfriend, or travel companion_.

A fuzzy feeling of uneasiness began to envelop Clarity, like it was probably a good time to leave the place. A look at a final link grabbed her attention. It listed the cook, Yergat Ghazkian in a separate icon of investigation. _Issue investigated: Diverting first grade meat purchased on behalf of the Sheik and selling it in the Caribbean to bars and resorts. Amount being diverted : a good chunk, amounting to five or six hundred thousand dollars, ten or fifteen years of the cook's salary, enough for his retirement in the Caribbean, according to another Armenian cook, living in New York City, cooking in a Deli._

Clarity checked the timeline, using a visual calendar inside the application. The information was dated the day before. She just had to tell Hari about all of this, the guy was being robbed left and right by everyone around him. Maybe the investigation of the cook would divert attention from her and her name. How in the world had her name appeared in that file already, after meeting the Sheik only a few days earlier. The name of Nora flashed through her mind. Yeah, that gossip douchebag working for Vanity Gloss had something to do with her name appearing in Scrub Leaks.

Clarity made a printout of the documents she had found regarding the Sheik and herself, turned off the computer, and left the office used by the journalists. She took a taxi back to the airport and walked back to the area where the plane of the Sheik and the one who'd flown in the journalists, were parked. Getting past a large group of journalists, she climbed the stairs of the backdoor exit of Heir Force One, finding Hari drinking a daiquiri, slumped in his furry bean bag cushion, talking to Merhab about the previous week's loss of his basketball team. Before Hakeem noticed she was back and began to ask for explanations, Clarity took him aside, along with his bean bag cushion. They both sank into it for some privacy.

"Hari, the cook is stealing money and meat from you."

The Sheik began to pay attention to Clarity, setting aside with his hand part of the bean bag cushion, in order to see the face of the teleoperator, a few inches away. His lunch and dinner was no joke. They checked the pantry and noticed that all the meat which was grinded, was rated grade five by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the top grade granted by the federal agency. Hari asked Hakeem about the expense sheet of the plane, but the retainer refused. The Sheik began to think Clarity was right. She heard Merhab yell from the living area of the plane.

"Hari, your dollar recycling class."

"Recycling dollars?" Asked Clarity.

"Yeah, throwing them away, in order to throw away the need to use them. It's meant to get rid of my attachment to money, Merhab recommended that. It's also meant to throw away the fear of petrodollars being replaced by renewable energy."

Plum approached Hari, who was nearing information overload, with so much happening around him.

"You should consider leaving with Lohvia now, it's not a bad time to get married, settle in Tortola. New Life Baptist Church is on Waterfront Drive, in Tortola, and there is also Cane Garden Bay Baptist Church in Road Town."

Hari ignored Plum, although he took notice of the counsel in a sense. Lohvia was a nice woman to keep him company, but his family was not favoring the relationship, wanting for Hari someone like Nora, more established in society. Assaulted by a sudden realization that his money could be in danger, Hari held the arm of Clarity and walked towards the exit backdoor of his plane.

"Let's get out of here, I don't trust anyone."

Marrying Lohvia was out of the question, for now.

# Chapter Eleven

Hari used his shabby clothes to walk unidentified past the crowd of journalists waiting for him, encircling the Caribbean Airlines jetliner with Clarity, until they both reached the arrivals area of Lettsome airport. After crossing the airport building discreetly, standing on the sidewalk of the airport terminal, looking out for something or someone, Hari pressed several buttons on his smartphone. A few minutes later, his green MG came to him without a driver, remotely controlled from Hari's phone, losing its retractable roof with a massive noise of junk falling on the asphalt, before the car reached them. An airport employee pushing a trolley and a tourist who was holding the rooftop which had crashed on him, his arms yielding to its weight, began yelling at the car and the Sheik.

"All right, let's go," said Hari.

Hari took the wheel, got a stack of twenty dollar bills from his shirt pocket and threw it behind him without looking. Clarity took the passenger seat and turned around while the car rolled forward, seeing the airport employee push the tourist slightly forward, so that the retractable roof carried him to the floor, and he could catch the stack of bills.

"Where are we going?" Asked Clarity. She saw the speed gauge of the MG reach one hundred miles an hour.

"I want to talk to the lawyers of Augiers Urbina, what is happening at the airport with all those journalists is no coincidence. I need to do things on my own, because no one in my entourage is going to give me all the information I need to know what is happening. Specially with Nora, I have no clue why she left me."

"Well, there is a mess around you," said Clarity.

"You may be right, still, it's a mess revolving around luxury," said Hari.

The offices of Augiers Urbina were located at Jayla Place, on Wickham's Cay, in Tortola. Hari parked his car in a parking spot facing the marina, and walked to the BVI offices of the prestigious Panama law firm. A single person was seating at the reception desk, Alfonso Martinez, known as _Fonsito_ , the janitor in charge of general maintenance. Clarity glanced at the offices beyond the entry hallway. Several filing cabinets were laid out in the corridors leading to the partners' offices, their drawers open and empty. Fonsito said what he had been told to say.

"Everyone has left the office, I was told to stay here in case a customer came. If you want to get in touch with the lawyers or the partners, you have to write to a P.O. Box in Panama." Hari began thinking about inquiring, something which strained his limit for processing information.

"So where is everyone?" Asked Hari.

"In Panama."

"Why did they leave?"

"Scrub Leaks." Fonsito did not speak much, but what he said made sense.

"We know about that," said Clarity. "Do you happen to know who leaked the information on Sheik Al-Najib?"

Fonsito smirked coyly, having seen a photo of the _guy with a smirk_ , in one of the business reports that Augiers Urbina oversaw on the company of the Sheik, SRA-199. The same guy, the previous owner of Heir Force One, insisted that the photo of him and his name be taken out of the report, and so the only mention of him left on the document was a general reference to his annoying, smug smile, which elongated the right side of his lips up and to the right. Fonsito knew that the smirk played a role in the guy being rich, but he didn't know exactly how the laconic expression was so favorable. In any case, he was not rich like the guy, but he knew that the law firm where he worked liked privacy.

"Yeah, but I'll be fired if I tell you, so I'll say no. I'm going on my morning walk in a few minutes, you can walk with me."

Realizing that Fonsito would insist on not sharing vital information, Clarity pressed the Sheik for something impossible, a potential decision to do something, other than staring at Fonsito and playing _Friends for Sale_ with him on a smartphone around the marina.

"So what do we do now?" Asked Clarity. Hari answered unusually promptly, getting all the common sense he needed from looking at Fonsito.

"My money, I want to get access to my money. Right now, I have no money."

They drove the MG to the offices of _Kuwait Capital_ , both of them sitting in the small back seat of the convertible, letting the car navigation drive them. Hari was breathing more calmly, refreshed by the breeze and by doing nothing, as they drove through a highway. Clarity watched the Caribbean, thinking she wanted to swim naked. She pushed herself away from the Sheik a few inches, he was seating too close to her. The whole setting was idyllic, except she was seating with a moron, everything else could have been a part of a very romantic or pleasant vacation. After a twenty minute drive, the car parked itself in front of the offices of _Kuwait Capital_ and the doors opened.

"Good morning Sir, another good day at work?"

"Yes, a good day Ahmed. My assistant Clarity will be with the me the rest of the day."

"Very good, Mr. Merhab or Mr. Moghadam will not be with you then?"

"No, they're resting today, taking the day off. Coaching and managing the affairs of a Sheik is a tiring job."

It occurred to Hari that he actually could ask a few questions regarding his own account. He waved at Ahmed, who walked towards the Sheik. Hari lowered his voice, to be as discreet as possible.

"Ahmed, tell me, do you know of an account open in my name here? You know, my own account."

"Of course your Highness, it is an honor to store your funds here." Hari glanced at Clarity, who gave an expression of approval. The Sheik was moving in the right area of initiative, for the first time since she'd met him.

"I'd like to see it then."

"I'm afraid that's not possible your Highness. Hakeem is the one who holds all power of attorneys and your name is not on the list."

Clarity began thinking there was something odd with the setup. Hari pulled on a shredded puff of his sweater, leaving a large hole below the rib.

"I'd like a credit card drawn on the account then. Just to use the money in it, I mean, not to add money or anything like that." Ahmed kept staring at the Sheik, who held the stare. Hari insisted. "To use it."

"No, I can't do that either Your Highness, I would need permission from Hakeem to do that. Your father opened the account, you can also ask him to write a board resolution to grant you powers over the account, which is actually there as retirement money for you. My instructions are to hold access to the account as margin for any trading you might do, that will not be possible either." Hari glared at the clerk, but refrained from venting out by tossing him over the reception desk, noticing Ahmed was not a dwarf. He missed his dwarves.

"Can we simply take a look at the balance of the account?" Asked Clarity. "We may do some additional trading, something Hakeem will have to approve, and use some of the balance as guarantee." Hari rushed to add a word of reassurance.

"To recoup losses, of course." An impossible endeavour, thought Hari, but a worthy one.

"Look at the balance, yes, that's possible." The bank clerk pointed them to the office, which had been set up for Hari.

"It'll be a few minutes, you'll see the account information in one of the tabs of the robo advisor application."

Hari opened the office door on his own, to get a sense that he was able to do things on his own. He was showing the face of someone in complete disarray, who needed some help, for he had never used banking software to access information on any of his accounts. Clarity sat on the desk and turned on the robo advisor application, seeing several tabs appear on the left. She pressed on the tab linked to the account of Hari, thinking that a computer or machine advising on investments could not possibly be reliable. She showed the balance of the account to Hari, a total of eight million dollars, five of which were set aside, but on hold, as possible margin for future trades. That left an amount of three million dollars remaining in the account as cash. Hari began a series of complex manoeuvres with his finger to draw out the calculator in his smartphone. Clarity noticed a slight change in the balance of the account, sixty dollars were missing, the balance was slightly lower. Within minutes, the balance of the account began decreasing, in chunks of ten thousand dollars. Clarity looked at Hari, who was busy feeding the boars in his reserve remotely, using his smartphone, having abandoned the idea of actually using a calculator.

"Hari, something is happening with the account, the balance is decreasing." The Sheik placed his smartphone on the desk and glanced at the screen.

"Yeah, it may be Hakeem, he may be transferring the money to my account in the Emirates. I'm sure there is a reason for this." Clarity did not say anything and suggested to Hari that he check his account balance in his other Emirates account. With his smartphone, he could do that.

"Are you seeing it?" Asked Clarity.

"No. There is nothing coming in."

"The money keeps leaving the account here, there is about one million left in the BVI account. And the amount on hold as potential margin, is also leaving, all of that has left already, the other five million dollars are missing as well."

"All right, it may show up in the other account when all of it is transferred." Hari began to think his account was some kind of slot machine, which could or could not hold any funds. The account dwindled to zero.

"We're at zero," said Clarity, "there's nothing left. Are you seeing the balance in your other account?"

"No." Hari frowned, sensing that something important was about to happen. As with the slot machines he was studying with Plum, he did not know whether the result of the event would be in his favor. A new tab appeared on the screen of his smartphone.

"I see this other account, from a bank called Banco Intercentral del Caribe y Cuba, BICCC, it's all there, except for a one hundred thousand dollars commission."

Clarity sighed and began toying with the mouse, knowing what it meant. The financial system was not working as it should be working. Money in the bank, in any bank, was electronic, or digital, simply a set of accounting entries and bits stored in a server. A server, but not necessarily your bank's server. In this case, it was somebody else's server.

"The Cubans got your money."

"The Cubans?"

Hari's face mushed away in disarray. If the account balance was at zero, and his money was under Cuban jurisdiction, there was no way he could access that money. His father would go bonkers. Hakeem would be so mad as to forbid him entering Heir Force One again. And Merhab would prepare another firewalk for him, of about one or two miles in length. Clarity observed a new balance showing on the screen of Hari's account.

"Oh, wow, you got two million dollars, not sure where they are coming from." Hari sighed with relief.

"All right, that's better, show me." Hari widened his eyes and looked closely at the balance of his account onscreen. He felt like a capital markets expert on a bad day.

"There's nothing," he said. Clarity nodded.

"Yes, that's right, the two million dollars just disappeared. I guess someone traded with them pretty quickly."

She checked the accounting tab related to the account, which was automated. A short text indicating the bank instructions of BICCC showed up onscreen. The two million dollars of unknown provenance were also headed for the Cuban bank in charge of all shady deals for the communist republic, BICCC. Intrigued, Clarity began tracing the source of the two million dollars, finding only a set of anonymous servers. It dawned on her that the Shawab might have been using the account to take his own money out of the regular banking system. Her eyes turned to the speakerphone on Hari's desk, blinking a red light. She pressed the connection button.

"Yes? Mr. Al-Najib assistant here, this is Clarity." The voice of Ahmed informed them of an unplanned visit.

"Two people from the _British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission_ are here, a deputy director of the Legal and enforcement department, and someone else from the Registry of Corporate Affairs would like to see you."

"Just a second, that is a matter for His Highness." Hari answered the request with a slightly different pitch in his voice, telling the bank clerk to show both representatives in a few minutes. He turned to Clarity, his face asking her for ideas and begging for his bean bag.

"What now? Should we call Hakeem? My initiative is running out of balls. Why are these people here?"

"Your balls are steady, your initiative is fine," said Clarity. "Hakeem would not let us do any of this. Keep him uninformed and keep thinking." Hari's mind began churning at one mile an hour, mostly about how to get back to Heir Force One, where he would feel safer.

"Maybe the robo advisor can help us," said Clarity.

"Do what?" Asked Hari.

"Hold our own turf against Hakeem, finding a company for you to buy, a luxury company."

# Chapter Twelve

Clarity tweaked the robo advisor and coaxed it to make recommendations, based on the luxury preferences of the Sheik. The only information that she could feed the system was the list of items carried by Heir Force One, food and drink ordered from the best purveyors. The robo advisor fell for it, and spit out a list of companies potentially available to purchase. She saw the listing of the digital advisor, which included twenty companies, all of them involved in the alcohol segment. Two of them were part of the _expensive liquor and sparkling wine segment_. One showed up as _Veuve Ponsard_ , a champagne company whose bottles sold for five thousand dollars each, the other was _Laurent Varignon_ , an exclusive maker of champagne fetching ten thousand dollars a bottle. Several cases of both brands were stored in the pantry of Heir Force One, and the companies owning them had unknown market values. None of the companies listed on the stock markets, both of them were held private. The idea of owning a company appealed to Hari. Clarity requested a valuation of the companies to the robo advisor, and the software spit out a joint value of one hundred three million dollars for both companies.

"We don't have money to buy them, though," said Hari.

"We've got margin, somewhere out there, there is margin, I'm sure there is a way to buy any of these companies on margin." The office door opened, interrupting their strategy, showing two men dressed in suits.

"Your Highness?" Hari nodded, sensing more problems that could translate into further losses somehow.

"There is a problem with one of your accounts." The second man gave his business card to Hari, adding a comment of his own. The title in the card listed his job with the function of _Corporate Registries and Systemic Affairs._ Hari ignored what all of that meant, anything surrounding money did not matter to him.

"There is another problem, Mr. Al-Najib, with the financial software you are using." The statement surprised Clarity somewhat, but not Hari so much. The piece of code written for the Sheik had cost him the non trivial sum of five hundred thousand dollars. But Hari thought that computers were less reliable than humans, and so problems were expected, nothing out of the ordinary.

"A bug?" Asked Clarity.

"No, the software is connected to odd areas of the financial system, areas we are barely able to understand. It is creating systemic instability and insolvency issues."

Clarity watched the first man, Dylan Raleigh, deputy director of the legal and enforcement division of the Financial Services Commission, as he pulled a chair on the other side of her desk. His colleague, Jayden Ibsen, began checking the cables coming out of Hari's computer. Hari pulled another chair and sat beside Clarity.

"The software is standalone," said Clarity. Raleigh shook his head.

"No. You are?"

"Clarity Nice, journalist." She showed Raleigh the badge received inside the plane, which all reporters investigating Scrub Leaks carried.

"Mmh, No Miss Nice, the software is not a simple module, standalone, we are getting calls from various Central Banks, financial institutions, fintechs, loan sharks, pawn shops, a taxi driver refusing Uber, and issuers of obscure financial vehicles belonging to our own shadow banking area in BVI. Their information systems people are saying that an outside source is altering their trades, information, stop-loss signals, and valuable customer lists. Some of them hired hackers and software specialists, and they all trace the alterations to this piece of software, in this office, right here."

Hari knew he had achieved something, but he didn't know quite what to make of it.

"Would you like to buy the software? " Asked Hari. He sensed his first potential dollar earned on his own, closer. "I am willing to offer it to you for one or two million dollars."

"No," said Ibsen.

Clarity pulled her swivel chair closer to the desk.

"What exactly is the problem? The software may need information from outside sources to get currencies, market prices, reports on economic indicators. Financial markets are not located in a single computer."

"This software is acting like systemic software, it attempts to alter the systemic configuration of the financial system."

Clarity began thinking that she might have been more prudent by staying in the plane of the Sheik, with Plum and her friends. She opted for an assertive line of defense.

"Let's turn to the other problem, the account. We've detected anomalous activity," said Clarity. Raleigh placed his elbows on the desk, while Ibsen pulled out a Snickers bar, throwing away the wrapper in the garbage can.

"Is that right? Well, we've also detected anomalous activity in the account."

"One of you is not saying the truth," said Hari. In times of arguing, Hari had learned to stay neutral or play the role of the umpire. Clarity and Raleigh looked at him, perplexed.

"The Sheik lost eight million dollars, we think someone hacked the account," said Clarity. Raleigh was not impressed by the statement, remaining unphazed.

"Two million dollars have been traced to this account and our specialists say they come from illegal alcohol trade in the Caribbean."

Clarity began playing with the mouse of Hari's computer, thinking that Hakeem had set up Hari as accomplice of the Shawab, and as scapegoat for money transfers used to get the alcohol smuggler's money to a safe haven. She let Hari sit in her chair and sat on the chair Hari was using.

"Illegal alcohol? We are not involved in anything like that," said Hari. He was not used to being in the driver seat. His smartphone began vibrating, announcing the phone number of Hakeem trying to get an answer from him. He gave the device to Clarity, who was glad to hold on to something familiar.

"Have you heard of the Shawab?" Asked Raleigh. "His criminal activities are well known in the Caribbean and include money laundering. Authorities like us are trying to get our hands on him."

"No."

Clarity took the call and began talking to Hakeem. A group of forty journalists was headed to the offices of _Kuwait Capital_ , to meet the Sheik and ask him a few questions regarding the assets of his company, Sheik Royal Assets-199, and the reason for hiding the assets of _Regina Holdings_. Clarity stood up and moved to one of the corners of the room for privacy.

"Hari is unavailable. Where are you?" The assertiveness of Clarity surprised Hakeem, who was visibly annoyed by not being able to talk to the Sheik directly.

"We're in the plane, on board Heir Force One. We have diplomatic immunity here, the father of the Sheik has told us to stay on board without leaving the plane, until we get authorization to leave BVI. Get back to the plane with Hari." His voice displayed some authority, but also some degree of uneasiness and powerlessness.

"We're staying here, we've got business to do," said Clarity.

She ended the call, pretty satisfied to have done so. The teleoperator observed the corridor, noticing Ahmed running back and forth several times. She ventured outside the office of Hari and the bank clerk told her that a group of journalists were coming up the stairs and the elevators to meet the Sheik. There was nothing the clerk could do to stop those who lived off of sniffing scandal or irregularities. Peeking at the hall entrance of the office, she saw five or six journalists rushing into the office, microphone in hand. A man with a camera was walking behind them. Clarity rubbed her hands, noticing they were sweaty. Her confidence was leaving way for a feeling of being cornered and trapped, sort of like the wild boars in Hari's reserve, although obviously they were in it for the food, whereas she was not in this for the Sheik. Not knowing what to do, she took refuge in the office of Hari, sitting in the chair beside him.

"This account is part of the Shawab money laundering ring," said Raleigh. Ibsen took a call and whispered a few words to Raleigh, which Clarity heard.

"The Commissioner of the Police Force, Camila Schemben, got the ok from the Premier. The superintendent, Sheridan Guligher is coming this way with several police officers and constables." Bolstered by the support and authority reinforcement he was getting, Raleigh kept on narrowing the distance with the Sheik, with an argument that left little space for refuting.

"You knew of this activity, as it took place. The bank clerk here told us the hours you were here in the past few days. They match the time of the laundering activity."

"The Cubans are involved," said Clarity, "the money went to _Banco InterCentral del Caribe y Cuba_ , BICCC."

"We don't have jurisdiction over BICCC," said Raleigh, "they are located in _Cayos Punta Tabaco_ , it's part of the _Colorados Archipelago_ , and that is part of Cuba. The account here in Tortola, lists Sheik Al-Najib as beneficiary, he is responsible for the money in it, and for all the activity going through it." Hari got up from his chair.

"That is the whole point, deputy, I don't have control of this account." Owning a private Boeing 767, and being listed among the top one hundred and fifty billionaires by Argyris magazine, the Sheik could not hold the argument against the two officials. The argument fell on the floor and Hari's confidence also fell with it.

Six journalists opened the door and rushed into the office of Hari, startling the Sheik and Clarity. The Sheik liked to show off, but not to be on show for others without agreeing to it. He did not really like cameras, unless they focused on his throne. Three journalists began taking photographs of him and Clarity.

"We are here on behalf of the _Global Muckracker_ , _Indian Express_ newspaper, _Sunday Trust_ , from Nigeria, _Gazeta Wyborcza_ , from Poland, and _Folha de Sao Paolo_ , Brazil's largest newspaper. Mr Al-Najib, any comments regarding your financial structure in the British Virgin Islands, why do you have a company registered here? Is that your future wife seating with you? Do you have any taxes pending?"

Clarity saw Hari breath out a few times, as calmly as he could, and listened to him swear that the journalists needed to do the firewalk, walking on hot ashes, in order to lower their aggressiveness. She looked out the window hearing the siren of several police cars, as they parked in front of the offices of _Kuwait Capital_. She counted nine police officers getting out of the cars and walking to the entrance of the Emirates bank.

Special police constable Sheridan Guligher led the group and opened the door of the office assigned to Hari. The police officer, recently named superintendent, was wearing black trousers with half an inch white stripe, and a short sleeve white shirt embroidered with the Police badge and a _vigilate_ seal on the right sleeve. The seal meant ' _Be watchful_ ', in Latin, watchful for instance, of those attempting to disrupt the good quality of life of the islanders living off offshore money, everyone living in BVI basically. Immediately, the superintendent began throwing out all journalists, one by one. A group of eight constables guarded the office door. Guligher shook hands with Raleigh and turned to Hari across the desk.

"Mr. Al-Najib?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Al-Najib, I am Sheridan Guligher, the superintendent of the Police Force in the British Virgin Islands. Our colleagues working at the Financial Commission here in BVI, have detected suspicious activity in your account. Your software is beginning to alter several parts of the financial system in places which are relevant to many people, people who move a lot of money every day. I'm afraid that we are going to have to place you under pre-trial arrest here in Tortola. Your plane will also remain here until the investigation regarding this account, at _Kuwait Capital_ , and the registry of your company Sheik Royal Assets 199, is clarified." He turned to Clarity. One journalist managed to get his head through the office door.

"That woman is an accomplice of the Sheik, she has accessed our files without any authorization. She is not a journalist." A police constable pulled the head out and closed the door. The superintendent turned to Hari, walking around the desk, pointing to Clarity.

"Do you know this woman?" Asked Guligher.

"Yes, I do, she is with me." Hari did not want to go to prison on his own. The Superintendent spoke with Ahmed, who confirmed that Clarity had installed the faulty robo advising software.

"We are going to arrest you as well Miss Nice, for tampering with the financial system of the British Virgin Islands with illegal software and robo advisor technology. And also for being an accomplice of money laundering activity found in the account of Sheik Al-Najib. Would you like separate quarters or be in the same cell as Mr. Al-Najib?" Hari requested the same cell as Clarity, and shared peeing areas. Clarity shook her head in disbelief.

"Separate cells, there is a misunderstanding here. I am an American citizen, I have nothing to do with all of this."

Guligher ignored the plea of Clarity, examining the passport of Singapore that she handed to him.

"You are not an American citizen, this is a passport issued by the city-state of Singapore. It is not even a regular passport, it is diplomatic. Very strange."

He kept the passport and waved at the eight police constables who made their way to the office. The teleoperator from Malibu remained speechless a few seconds, realizing she was going to Her Majesty's prison on the East End of Tortola, with a shabby Sheik.

# Chapter Thirteen

Clarity saw Hari go pale when Guligher requested the keys of his MG. The Sheik gave the police superintendent his car keys, and saw him hop in the sports car. Hari wanted to prevent any damage to the car by warning the police officer that the vehicle could drive on its own, but Clarity tapped his elbow, whispering to him not to reveal anything about the car to the police officer.

"I'm going to go on a drive with the car, going to the airport, to see what is happening there, and ensure there is nothing strange with it," said Guligher.

"Ensure the new spare landing gear for my plane has been delivered," said Hari. The superintendent ignored him and drove away, with Raleigh and Ibsen riding in the front passenger seat and the back seat of the convertible, respectively.

Clarity pulled the Sheik away from the roadside, and lead him inside the police sports utility vehicle waiting for them outside the offices of _Kuwait Capital_. An officer sat with them in the back seat. Clarity sat closer to the Sheik, moving towards the center of the Ford Interceptor utility vehicle recently acquired. She leafed through a copy of the _Virgin Islands Daily News_ newspaper, seeing her name on the front page.

_Mistress of Hari Al-Najib found with the Sheik during investigation of his holdings and the Scrub Leaks scandal_. _A woman named Clarity Nice, who adopted a fake identity in the new offices of the Consortium of Journalists in Tortola has been spotted inside a convertible MG, with Sheik Al-Najib, whose business holdings are currently under investigation by British Virgin Islands authorities. The investigation revolves around a hidden part of one the Sheik's companies, SRA-199, known as Regina Holdings. According to an undisclosed informant, the hidden company of the Sheik owns several important real estate properties, including full ownership or shares in real estate vehicles owning Rio Sul Center building in Rio de Janeiro, the Martinelli building in Sao Paolo, Brazil, the Capital Gate office Tower in Abu Dhabi, which inclines eighteen degrees west and reaches five hundred twenty feet, Almas Tower in Dubai, home of a diamond retail trading area where diamond cutting and exchange takes place, the spectacular KK100 skyscraper in Shenzen, China, the Minsheng Bank building in Wuhai, China, and the Bank Misr building in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia, a twenty nine floor high rise._

No comments on the investigation or on the ownership of these properties have been issued by the entourage of the Sheik, known for its liking of unclothed gatherings inside his lavish plane while he is away. An employee of Panama law firm Augiers Urbina, who until recently, has been representing the interests of the Sheik, someone named Octavio Benegas, has been singled out as the potential informant having leaked the information about the assets of the Sheik. The guy better run for shelter, for a leak of this calibre puts a lot of prominent people in the forefront, whereas these people usually like the background.

The plane of Sheik Al-Najib, known as Heir Force One, has been kept on the ground without fuel at the airport, until all the issues are clear. Peripheral issues include the role of an aircraft spare parts salesperson named Arnold, an employee of kerosene BVI provider Sand Petroleum who entered the airport premises without an official employee badge, and who claims that he is a royal aircraft supplier to the Sheik and to his plane. Arnold showed a landing gear tire, apparently taken from a Caribbean Airlines plane parked near Heir Force One, as proof that he was a genuine aircraft salesperson. The tire was accepted by the personal coach of the Sheik, Mr. Merhab, alledging there could be alternative uses for the tire, related to personal development of the Sheik, something like big tire weightlifting, if not big tire gymnastics.

Clarity folded the newspaper. As they drove through the highway following the coast, the driver began tweaking the mobile workstation of the vehicle, to access the information on file by police regarding Hari and Clarity.

"White collar irregularities, I see. Any requests before you go to jail?"

"Yeah, a dip naked in the ocean," said Clarity. Might as well enjoy the Caribbean before going to jail, she thought, it was an important boost for morale.

"Just to keep my smartphone, I have photographs of my girlfriend," said Hari. He was thinking of Lohvia, not of Nora. The officer nodded and stopped the car in a rest area, turning around while Clarity took off her clothes, leading Hari, who wanted to watch Clarity swim naked, away towards the road. The teleoperator dove into the pleasant Caribbean waters naked, letting the sun warm her face. Swimming naked allowed her to shed off stress and toxins, and it also kept her close to nature, and connected to herself, with just being comfortable as she was, without having to pretend she was anyone else. After a twenty minute swim and drying in the sun, she headed back to the police car, donning her clothes again.

Hari pleaded not guilty to the charges of money laundering to the prison warden, even before there was any trial date assigned. The warden in charge was a heavy guy, who gave Clarity and Hari a document, titled _Information for Visitors arrested in the British Virgin Islands_ , explaining that they had the right to make one phone call before entering their cell. Hari began negotiating with the superintendent of the prison, who added that their stay in jail could last several months.

"Any chance to shorten our stay with bail, using the funds of my account showing up in Cuba?" The warden called Guligher, the police superintendent, who said no.

"Bail has been set at four million dollars, you will have to find additional funds and transfer them here, there are no more funds in your account here in Tortola. Given the extent of this investigation, pre-trial arrest is not appealable, your definite trial is going to be held in a few months I would say."

Clarity remained speechless. A few months in jail was not a holiday in the Caribbean. She called Lanai, who was still in Singapore, at the _National Library_ , investigating Chinese documents on alchemy.

"You are in the British Virgin Islands, not a bad place, make the best of it."

"Considering jail is not a hotel, all right, yeah, I'll do what I can to do that. Can you come in and help me out though? Because I'd like to get out of here."

"I don't have any money to pay for the ticket, I have to stay in Singapore for now, working with your friend, Lamond Liew, at reception, to pay living expenses. Take care Clarity, I have to go, my skype credit is dipping to zero."

The call ended, leaving Clarity on her own. Hari called Hakeem, then Merhab, then his girlfriend Lohvia, but none of the calls were going through. Airport security had traced the number of Hari and was diverting the calls back to his smartphone. The Sheik opted for calling Fonsito, in the hope that the janitor of Augiers Urbina would learn how to be a lawyer and would get them bail. The employee agreed to show up in prison the next day, after his morning walk in the marina. A guard led Clarity and Hari to the conversation booth, an area with a plexiglass separator equipped with a retro payphone handset and cord. Nobody checked the credentials of Fonsito. The long discussion with the janitor began.

"No, you are not in danger of jail,"said Hari. "Bail, you got to get us bail, so that we can get out of here." Fonsito ignored the meaning of the word, but he was happy to show up as lawyer, as long as his morning walk in the marina was not in danger.

"You're going to have to explain that word, I only sniffed around legal documents when the partners were away from their office. I've never heard of that word."

"Money," said Hari, "bail is money, call my retainer Hakeem, he is in a large plane at the airport, a Boeing 767, the one with the throne, you cannot miss it. Tell him to sell some stock from my portfolio and get four million dollars in cash."

Hari looked around, noticing no one was looking. Clarity saw him hand the clerk his smartphone, which he could not use inside the prison premises, through a slit below the separator.

"Use the smartphone to find him." Fonsito had questions, but they were dismissed by Hari, used to having people work for him. The following day, Fonsito showed up for a visit with Ahmed and the smartphone of the Sheik.

"Sir, your smartphone," said Ahmed. He slid the device under the slit and Hari grabbed it before anyone noticed.

"I forgot the name of your retainer," said Fonsito, "but I found someone else, who knew you, by looking at your agenda. I brought him here so you can talk to him."

The money for the bail was not there, unfortunately. Hari asked Ahmed to gather the funds for bail, and the clerk said he would look into it, after making the request to bank headquarters in Kuwait and talking to the father of the Sheik. He added that gathering the funds might take several months. Hari turned to Fonsito, thinking twice about thrashing Ahmed.

"That's not what I asked for, Fonsito." Clarity told Hari to thank Fonsito for his work, because you never knew when someone could become helpful in unknown ways. Hari wanted to toss the legal clerk in one of the cells, and to crash his smartphone on the wall of his prison cell, but eventually, he agreed to do as Clarity suggested.

"All right, thank you for your work, Fonsito, keep up the good work. If you do the firewalk like me, some day you might be able to be a shabby attorney." Both clerks left the prison satisfied of having carried out their tasks properly.

Clarity glanced at the shabby clothes of Hari, not quite comfortable with the match of his clothing and the surroundings.

"Get some new clothes, will you, those clothes are making me nervous," she said. Hari wondered why Clarity was so distressed by his clothes, but he needed all of the support from Clarity and agreed to her suggestion. Paragraph two of the visitor information document, said you could not hold cash in prison, and so the Sheik had to use all of his skill in order to order new clothes. He gave his shabby shirt to one of the guards, and got a skype connection with Dubai duty free shop in exchange.

"Yes, this is Sheik Al-Najib, send the Ralph Lauren polo size large, and the brown or beige twill fabric cotton pants to prison cell five two in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Yes, express courier, please. Yeah, add two bean bag cushions. Yes, on credit, yes I know, no worries. I have plenty of cash, simply put it to my name, I will send a moneygram when I get a chance."

The next day, the new clothes and the bean bag cushions arrived, and the Sheik became the most chic prisoner of Tortola. Clarity wondered whether the change of clothing gear would have an effect on the mindset of Hari.

"Feels so odd," said Hari.

"Really? Like what?"

"Not sure, there are no holes in the shirt, this clothing gear feels out of place somehow, can't think properly, it doesn't feel bad though."

Realizing that they were stuck together in jail, both of them began to work on a plan to escape. Clarity ensured that the charger of Hari's phone was working and charged the device. Tweaking with the on-off button, she noticed that calls were not going through but the device was working and the applications were working. They began to talk to the various guards inside the prison, until they found the dumbest one. Hari was confident about his choice.

"This one," said Hari, "he likes the idea of losses like me and he doesn't mind failure, or failing, or making mistakes."

The following day, Clarity led Hari to the patio of the prison, with the guard behind him. While Clarity ensured nobody was watching them, Hari offered the guard a penny stock, in exchange for leading them out of their cell, and letting them climb up the stairs of one of the prison walls in two days, along with their bean bags. Two days later, at nightfall, they had a regular dinner and moved to their cell, until all inmates were asleep. At one in the morning, the guard came to lead them out of their cell and took them to the west wall of the prison. Clarity turned on the smartphone of the Sheik, and the guard allowed outgoing calls to go through. Hearing the noise of tires screeching in the asphalt, Clarity saw the MG of the Sheik approach the walls of the prison at dismal speed, stopping right below them, with brakes screeching again. Clarity pushed Hari over the wall with his bean bag and followed him, jumping towards the car, with her bean bag below her. The wall was nine feet high and the puffy bags cushioned the fall. A third weight landed on Clarity's bean bag cushion, the guard had jumped as well.

"I've always wanted to do this, jump on a bean bag cushion," said the guard.

"You can't come with us," said Clarity.

From the front passenger seat, the teleoperator pressed the remote driving button of the smartphone and the MG backed away from the prison wall, veering right with a screech, dropping the guard on the ground with one of the bean bags. Hari was under the second bean bag cushion in the back seat area, also in the car. Clarity set the car on forward drive mode and the navigation planner north west, away from Tortola, towards Cane Garden Bay. The convertible found the road and sped away from their jail at eighty miles an hour. Clarity breathed in relief, feeling the fresh air of the night inside the convertible. She turned her head, seeing a stream of light from the prison beam up the wall area, into the darkness of the night. Hari emerged from the back seat, his hair dishevelled by the struggle with the cushion.

"What do we do now?" He asked.

"Find the money to buy _Veuve Ponsard_ or _Laurent Varignon_ , either of those champagne companies. We've got to bring people or money here in order to leave this place. Someone will notice we've left that jail."

# Chapter Fourteen

Clarity and Hari parked the MG in the entrance of the small hostal south of Cane Garden Bay, and slept until eleven in the morning the next day. The brunch served was not bad and Hari ate all of it. A beep on his smartphone alerted him of an incoming message.

"I've got credit," said Hari, "two thousand dollars available from a new credit card called the Privilege card."

Hari scrolled down the rest of the message. "They granted the card after I bought the Mauboussin ring for seventy thousand dollars."

"Guligher is going to send all of BVI police after us," said Hari. Clarity sliced a mango in two and began chopping a few pieces into her plate.

"Make an agreement with him," said Clarity.

"An agreement?"

"Tell them you are going to find the real money launderers. Ask them for three or four days, that will give us time to find a way to leave this place or find evidence that you did not authorize the two million dollars that went through your account."

Hari did some calisthenics for ten minutes before he gathered the courage to call the police superintendent. Guligher listened to Hari explain that he was not the one who had authorized payment of the two million dollars associated with money laundering. He added that all of what was happening was a disgrace, and that he was going to tell Vanity Gloss about the indecent procedures of the police in BVI, which had not let him get a decent lawyer. The mention of Vanity Gloss and possible reputation damage to BVI as offshore center and to himself, cooled down the initial impulse of Guligher to find the Sheik and bring him back to jail.

"This man you are looking for, the Shawab, is out to buy a liquor company, a very expensive liquor company, we will find him for you."

Guligher began to listen more closely. Why not let someone else find dirty evidence on the person who was bringing headaches to all police authorities in the Caribbean? He looked at his agenda, noticing it was free for the next few days.

"We'll leave you three days to find additional information on the Shawab, then I will send off my constables and we will bring you back to jail. Obviously, you cannot leave the island of Tortola, we will stop you at the airport if you decide to leave."

Hari ended the call, not quite believing that he had carried out one of the most difficult calls of his life.

"We have three days, three days to find the Shawab or evidence against him," said Hari.

Clarity gave Hari a slice of mango.

"I knew police would be tempted to use us to find this guy, they always go the easy way when it is there."

"How do we find him? This guy, the Shawab, is not even on file with a photograph, nobody has seen him. And nobody knows the name of his yacht, or where it is."

"We don't find him, we've got time, let's try to get your money back and find a way to buy the champagne companies you want. Then, we see how to find Hakeem, he might lead us to the Shawab. I'm sure your retainer wants you out of the way to negotiate some deal with the alcohol smugglers."

The Sheik used the credit of his new credit card to pay for the lodging and the food. They left the convertible MG in the backyard of the hostal and rented a car which was less conspicuous to move around the island. Clarity stopped inside a photocopying and documents shop and requested a few changes to the diagram she had printed from the Consortium of Journalists computer, depicting the ownership structure of SRA-199. She wanted only a single line to link the company and the owner, which she wanted as Hari, instead of several ones, which showed shared or multiple ownership. With that out of the way, Clarity showed the shop employee at the counter the Board certificate of SRA-199 which had been leaked by _Augiers Urbina_. Again, Clarity made a few changes, telling the requests to the shop worker. The bill added to ten dollars and twenty five cents, and Clarity used the money she had received as salary to pay for the work.

Clarity and Hari stopped a few seconds in front of the _Morgan & Kingsway Trust_ company building on Pasea Estate in San Francis Drake Highway. The building of MKT displayed a classical triangular pediment painted whitish grey imitating Roman style, supported by two columns, with the name of the Trust written on the entablature. The staff of the company included attorneys, financiers and accountants. Clarity donned her cap and rang the entrance bell. A woman named Fanny Williams in charge of all fiduciary services welcomed them into her office. Clarity introduced herself with her real name, as a businesswoman looking for buying opportunities in the privately owned company sector, and she introduced Hari as her assistant Larry Birkens.

Using a pad and a pen, she illustrated the value and the assets of _Veuve Ponsard_ and _Laurent Varignon_ , describing how she wanted to buy the two champagne producing companies. Williams took a closer look at the diagram drawn by Clarity, which had a square of eight million dollars that her assistant Larry would provide, and a larger square of ninety five million dollars that she wanted Morgan to provide. Williams immediately asked for guarantees that would backup the ninety two percent of the money investors interested in financing the purchase would bring.

"We've got a plane," said Hari, "a Boeing 767 used by Sheik Al-Najib. It is worth over one hundred million dollars, and it is available as guarantee." Williams was not following the news every day, she did not recognize the Sheik without his shabby clothes, nor the name of Clarity from the newspapers. The arrest of Hari had not leaked to the news because the superintendent wanted to keep a low profile on any scandal that could possibly damage the reputation of the British Virgin Island as a reputable offshore center.

Hari took out the printout taken by Clarity from the Consortium of Journalists, showing the name of Hari Al-Najib, as single owner of Sheik Royal Assets 199. The other names, including the power of attorney of Hakeem, the ownership share of Hari's father, and the share of Hari, had been deleted at the photocopy shop. A new label indicating Hari as single owner of the company, appeared instead. Hari showed Williams the page corresponding to the annual report of SRA-199, which showed that Heir Force One, the plane, was part of the balance sheet of the company. Book value, the accounting value of the plane showing in the report, was listed as one hundred ten million dollars, enough to cover the purchase.

"Where is the plane?" Asked Williams.

"At the airport." Hari used his smartphone to connect it to the camera in the plane.

"This is the entourage of the Sheik you are seeing," he said, "you can see the throne right here."

Clarity looked over the shoulder of Hari into the screen of the smartphone. She could see Hakeem sitting with Merhab, examining a chart of the world, talking with the pilot and copilot, about where the plane should be headed when permission to leave was granted. She noticed Plum walking towards the living room area sofa, asking the retainer of Hari about the special permit granted to leave the plane, to attend a party which was going to take place.

"Any problems?" Asked Williams. "Looks like the plane cannot leave the airport according to what these people are saying."

"No, just waiting for a new tire and refuelling," said Hari, "the plane is in good condition. The Sheik is spending some time in the British Virgin Islands, he will leave shortly, probably in a few days."

Williams made a few phone calls, confirming that Heir Force One was at the airport and that nothing out of the ordinary had happened to it during its stay. The airport hostess taking the call was not informed of the investigation on Hari and simply said that the plane would be in the ground another week, but that regular air traffic was continuing as usual and the plane would probably leave after that. Williams printed the complete annual report of SRA-199, and made copies of the two documents presented by Clarity.

"Ok, so Miss Nice is the representative of this company through this board resolution certificate, which actually shows that SRA-199 is a BVI company. If I understand correctly, the private purchase of two sparkling wine companies is going to be made on behalf of Mr. Al-Najib, for a total of one hundred and three million dollars, with eight million dollars cash, and the rest, ninety five million, as leveraged financing, with the plane of Mr. Al-Najib as guarantee."

"Yes," said Clarity.

"You'll have to wait in the waiting room for a few hours, I've got to make some calls to find investors willing to put the ninety five million dollars."

Two hours later, before the clock hit one in the afternoon, Williams came into the room, with a smile on her face.

"We've got investors," said Williams.

Clarity returned the smile, feeling less nervous. She never thought she'd have balls that big. With the bulk of the money to buy the champagne companies in place, now they had to find the owner of _Veuve Ponsard_ and _Laurent Varignon_ and bring him to the Caribbean. Clarity thanked Fanny Williams and told her they would be back with an agreement from the owners of the two champagne companies to sell their companies to Hari.

"We'd like to open an account as well, in the name of my client, Mr. Al-Najib, in order to put the eight million and the monies of the investors there."

"Sure, you don't want to open the account in your name?"

Clarity shook her head. "No, I like discretion, my assistant acts as front man for me, and I do the same for Mr. Al-Najib. At some point though, it is his company." Williams nodded, doing as Clarity suggested. They exited the offices of MKT BVI, heading for their rented car. An idea came to Clarity as the Caribbean midday sun caressed her face.

"Can you access the agenda of Hakeem from here?" Asked Clarity.

"No, I can check my own agenda and the official agenda of Heir Force One."

"Show me the official agenda of your plane," said Clarity.

Hari opened his app and gave the phone to Clarity. She clicked on the weekly view of the official agenda of the Sheik and found the event she was looking for, a lavish party invitation to the Nanny Cay marina in Tortola from a Rumanian millionaire, _Nelson Mondialu_ , a man who dressed as Hare Krishna at times, and owned a large mansion in Florida. The teleoperator opened the list of guests, which was available, and noticed several owners of expensive liquor companies. The owner of _Veuve Ponsard_ and _Laurent Varignon_ champagne brands, Richard Carliss, was not on the list.

"Mondialu, no, I don't know this guy, Hakeem found him apparently, because my cook is providing all the food for the party, and he is attending. I'm not sure why these people owning all of these expensive liquor companies are listed, I wouldn't mind talking to them."

"Invite Carliss to the party, tell him other providers of expensive liquor will be there. That it will be a chance for him to add distribution avenues for his champagne."

Hari nodded, and found the phone of Richard Carliss, the owner of _Veuve Ponsard_ and _Laurent Varignon_ , listed on the web. After a brief call from Hari which lasted ten minutes during which Hari commended the marvellous, exquisite taste of both luxury champagne bottles, Carliss agreed to attend the party. He was particularly interested in meeting the owners of top whisky names _Royal Salute_ , _Macallan 64_ , and _Dalmore 62_ , whose whisky spent sixty two years in a cask before being bottled and sold for more than two hundred thousand dollars a bottle. There was a chance that singer Jay Zee, the owner of gold champagne bottle _Armand de Brignac Midas_ , fetching two hundred thousand dollars, would show up as well.

"He is in," said Hari, "but he said he is not interested in selling his companies."

Clarity looked at the date listed on the party invitation planned for the following day, and began to figure out the next step. A few clothes for her and plenty of alcohol for all the guests, including Carliss, except for them. If regular alcohol got rid of inhibitions, expensive alcohol would get rid of any reluctance to sell one or two unique champagne companies.

# Chapter Fifteen

Riding a taxi with Hari, Clarity checked the official invitation to the party sent out by Mondialu via email to all the guests: _Nanny Cay Resort, Caribbean Appetizers Party, a night by the superyachts anchored in Tortola, British Virgin Islands_. Nanny cay resort and marina was one of the top marine facilities in the Caribbean. Located between the capital of Tortola, Road Town, and the west end of the island, the area was known for being a well-protected marina, with admirable hills surrounding it, and a laid back mood, charming visitors. The dock and boat repair facilities accommodated up to one hundred and eighty yachts. A remarkable chandlery furnished with sailing equipment, a water sports centre, a small dive shop and friendly boutiques, added to the mystique of the area overlooking the _Sir Francis Drake Channel_.

Clarity noticed the taxi was slowing down, less than a mile before entering the marina area. A group of constables wearing shining white uniforms, black caps showing the seal of the British Virgin Islands, black pants and polished shoes, were blocking the road leading to Nanny Cay resort and Marina. Clarity stayed in the taxi, while Hari stepped out before the police officers approached their cab. Two constables immediately surrounded Hari, asking him for credentials. He showed them his smartphone and when prompted for additional documents proving his identity, the Sheik showed them a live view of his wild boar reserve in Saudi Arabia. The constables were not informed of the agreement that Hari had struck with police superintendent Guligher, and they placed him under arrest, after checking that he matched the identity of the Sheik who had escaped from prison in Tortola.

Clarity walked out of the taxi to clarify the misunderstanding. Another constable, a woman who matched the face of Clarity with a photograph provided by the prison of Tortola, arrested her as well, placing her in the back of a new Ford Interceptor police car, leaving her alongside Hari. Clarity felt powerless and somewhat appalled by the lack of coordination within the local police force, watching the built-in barriers and partitions of the police car, welded for the suitable containment of prisoners.

"There is a misunderstanding, Mr. Guligher has agreed to leave us free for another day."

The plea of Hari did not impress the constable driving their car, who was making calls to the prison and was being referred to the Commissioner of the police force and the local territorial station. After a final discussion with an assistant of the superintendent, the mistake was clarified, and he let both of the arrested go and get back into the taxi. Clarity was not very comfortable, since they had found no information on the Shawab, and they only had less than twenty four hours remaining, in order to avoid jail. For the past two days, Hari had been trying to get in touch with BICCC, in order to claim his money, but the local Cuban clerks had dismissed his request, saying there had not been any transfers from the British Virgin Islands in the previous week. Of course, they were lying, but they were receiving instructions to do so from Minint, the Cuban Ministry in charge of interior affairs, with lying blendng as a natural part of their job.

Clarity stopped in a shop and bought a pair of white Aladdin pants with floral patterns, sold by _Shop Nobi_ , a loose blouse, and a pair of summer high heel silver coated bridal sandals bought by the shop from Ali Express.

"Give me your smartphone," she told Hari, "I need it to get your money back from Cuba."

The Sheik gave his device to Clarity. He would have done anything to recover his money, for retirement and his first business deal was no joke.

At ten thirty at night, they got past two private security guards and three constables guarding the entrance to the docks of the marina, boarding the _Kabilah Huntress_ , a large yacht belonging to Nelson Mondialu. A broad passerelle was set up for the guests, about two hundred people coming from various islands in the Caribbean, and also visiting from places like Monaco, Capri, and the French Riviera. The Romanian millionaire was showing everyone that Jay Zee had sent him a message, telling him that he could not attend as a result of a problem with delivery of his champagne, and also because of a venue held by his significant other. The flashy middle aged man walked the guests towards a table displaying vodka that the host was showcasing, a bottle of _Diva_ vodka fetching one million dollars for each bottle, whose center was closed and full of bright diamonds of several colors.

Clarity noticed Hakeem and Merhab gather with Plum and Julia around the vodka stand. The retainer of Hari was interested in knowing more about the immense value behind that bottle, something that the Shawab had requested. The Sheik approached his retainer, his features showing a blend of anger and frustration. She heard Hari get into an argument with Moghadam, asking him about why he had not called a lawyer for him to get him out of prison. The teleoperator moved away from the cluster of guests all wanting to taste the outrageously expensive vodka, and began to talk with several people, noticing that Nives was getting closer to her. The colleague of Plum finally reached her and whispered a few words in her ear.

"Is that what Plum said?" Asked Clarity.

"Yes."

"Tell her I agree."

She moved towards a group of journalists from the Consortium who had been invited to the party by local authorities. After some brief chit-chat, she began asking questions to the reporters about the various groups within the Consortium. One of them, Adrian Mogos, head of investigations for the Bucharest daily newspaper _Jurnalul National_ , led her to the person she was seeking. Mihai Oyegbile was the person who did all the hacking that the reporters required when their investigations stalled. With a brief handshake, the teleoperator introduced herself and explained what she was seeking. The hacker saw no problem with the agreement she was proposing. Clarity took out a piece of paper and gave him the phone number of the Sheik's smartphone.

"Just his address book," she said, "with all of his connections. I want it in his file."

"All right, we will check into that, I can work with this. I'll ensure those in the Consortium board know of this."

"Nah, I want something else in return," said Clarity.

In return for the information she was providing, the teleoperator asked Oyegbile for a favor, to hack into the account of BICCC in Cuba, in order to recover the money of the Sheik. The hacker hesitated when he heard the sum to recover amounted to eight million dollars, and wanted to confirm what he was getting in exchange for his work.

"A list with all of the connections of the Sheik," said Clarity, "you won't have this chance again, he is going to change the number in a few days. If he doesn't do it, his family will, or his retainer will."

Sensing a unique opportunity to access a group of powerful people, Oyegbile agreed and Clarity gave him the banking instructions of the BICCC account which had been traced by the robo advisor software when the money of Hari had disappeared. The hacker himself disappeared in a cabin of the yacht with his laptop and a wi-fi connection. Two hours later, around three in the morning, Oyegbile confirmed that the money of Hari was in the account opened at Morgan & Kingsway in the British Virgin Islands.

"Thanks," said Clarity. Using the smartphone of Hari, she texted a message to Fanny Williams, alerting her that the money acting as capital for the Sheik, eight million dollars, had been transferred from one of his other accounts in Cuba.

As the party went on, Clarity got closer to Richard Carliss, introducing herself as a journalist, and teasing him about his good looks and charm. Being a man who appreciated good looking women, Carliss began to flirt with Clarity, who offered several drinks to the boss of the luxury champagne companies. With each drink, Clarity was tossing away the alcohol into the water, turning around without Carliss seeing her, acting as though she was swallowing one shot after another. Within twenty minutes of bantering, Carliss began drinking more to impress her. Within another twenty minutes, he was drunk. Clarity searched his vest pocket and found his smartphone.

"I bet there is a list of all the good looking women you date in here." Carliss wobbled and held on to the railing of the yacht. Clarity helped him hold steady and kept talking to him.

"Are you really the owner of _Veuve Ponsard_? I love that champagne." Recovering partially from his inebriated state, Carliss grabbed his own phone and opened a business application, which showed that he was president and chairman of the board of the champagne company mentioned by Clarity. The teleoperator acted as though she was unimpressed, and requested to see more papers, the ones which actually showed that Carliss could buy a company, or sell the ones he owned.

"Oh really, you are not impressed by this? I'll show you what I can do," said Carliss. The businessman kept revealing more information to Clarity, because he wanted to bring the girl with light brown hair with him to his hotel room.

"All right, look, I can sell these companies whenever I want to, simply with a one click touch of a button, from my smartphone." Clarity moved closer to Carliss, nearly touching his cheek.

"Which button?"

"This one."

Carliss pointed to a button on the phone screen, but collapsed to the floor, dropping the device. Clarity grabbed the smartphone before the wireless item, a slim _Gresso Regal_ made with unique materials costing about six thousand dollars, fell into the water. Tweaking with the management application, she found a way to type the amount that Veuve Ponsard and Laurent Varignon were worth, one hundred and three million dollars. She wrote the name of Hari as the buyer of the companies, and typed the banking instructions of the account where the money from Morgan had come in, instructing the application to send the money to the account of Carliss, which was also preset in his phone. Shaking the champagne owner, Clarity was able to lift his face, and she saw his eyes opening. After a few minutes of requesting another drink, he stood up again, his hand on the railing of the yacht. Clarity showed him the phone with the companies ready to be sold, and teased him further.

"I won't believe you are the owner of these companies until you sell them."

"I'm not selling my companies, I love them."

His eyes closed and he began to dream awake that he was already in his bed. She waved to Hari, who brought some water in a jar to wake up Carliss. She splashed Carliss in the face and sent Hari away as soon as the executive opened his eyes, noticing Nives not too far from her, a few feet away. She waved at her, explaining she had a catch for the night. Nives was somewhat suspicious.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I want to be invited to one of his events, champagne tasting."

Nives was not completely unimpressed, she sensed that the man was wealthy.

"Why should I help you?"

"Because this guy is loaded," said Clarity.

The teleoperator took out the wallet of Carliss and showed Nives his ID and a few credit cards. Then, she googled the name and found his photograph on the web, which listed him as the owner of two prestigious champagne companies. This time, Nives was convinced, she was willing to bed the wealthy owner, simply to get close to him and possibly become one of his mistresses or his sugar baby. Clarity whispered in the ear of Carliss, choosing her words carefully.

"Kiss her on the cheek and she will kiss you back if you sell the two companies you own."

Looking into the eyes of the attractive girl, Carliss became slightly more aware that a woman wanted to be with him. He kissed Nives on the cheek, looking for her lips. He glanced at the smartphone Clarity was holding, and Clarity lifted his right hand, extending his index towards the sell button appearing onscreen.

"Press the button, and she will be yours for the night."

"Why should I do this?" Asked Carliss, not knowing what he was being asked to do.

"Well, because she likes you," said Clarity.

Nives kissed him on the cheek and that was enough for the finger of Carliss to press the button slightly, selling both of his champagne companies to Hari. Clarity whispered in the ear of Nives.

"You can have him the rest of the night, keep him busy till one or two o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow."

Taking the smartphone of Carliss with her, the teleoperator left the champagne businessman with Nives, seeing them get inside one of the cabins of the yacht.

# Chapter Sixteen

Clarity woke up at eight in the morning the next day, sleepy, but not too dissatisfied with having carried out the purchase for Hari the night before. She ordered breakfast in her room and checked the time zone of Tortola the next day, noticing it was showing the same time as New York, where Carliss lived. Using the fixed line phone available in her room, she called the office of Carliss in New York at nine thirty in the morning, to let his secretary know that his boss had sold two of his companies. The man who answered the phone, Gile Cunningham, took notice of her name and reason for calling. All of the procedure set up by Carliss, a fanatic of efficiency and automation, was working to perfection. Cunningham was aware of the technological set up of Carliss and he was seeing his confirmation and electronic signature showing on his computer screen, confirming the sellout of Veuve Ponsard and Laurent Varignon for a total of one hundred three million dollars, which he was seeing in the account of Carliss as pending. That money was basically available to Carliss, and it was virtually impossible to revert the transaction unless Carliss and the person who had purchased the two sparkling wine companies decided to do that.

The teleoperator saw that the secretary of Carliss was believing the transaction was genuine. He asked Clarity why Carliss was not taking care of the matter in person, and she responded diplomatically that he had attended a party the night before, where the opportunity to sell both companies arose, and that he was resting, delegating to her the tasks of informing the secretary and putting in place all of the paperwork needed to transfer ownership of the companies. Cunningham did not dare question Clarity, for no one had access to the personal phone of Carliss. After working for his boss for twenty years, he was not risking dismissal by waking up his boss early in the morning after a lavish party involving wealthy people. Carliss was the single owner of both companies, and he owned them through a holding company which he also owned. He could do what he wanted with them, including selling them.

"I will prepare the updates of the company statutes and the board resolutions. Our legal counsel has all necessary power of attorneys, the presence or signature of Mr. Carliss is not necessary. I will inform the board of directors and management groups of the two companies of the new owner. Mr. Al-Najib, from what I see, is the buyer of both champagne companies, and you are his representative, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"This will be done by twelve thirty pm today. Where would you like the information and all the documents to be sent?"

"You can send it to the email of Mr Al-Najib." Clarity gave Cunningham the personal email address of Hari and stayed on the line a few more minutes, until the secretary assured him that he would call back at twelve thirty.

"Very good, noon would be good, Mr. Carliss is having brunch around that time and he said he wanted all matters solved by noon today."

"Yes, that can be arranged."

At noon, Cunningham called, saying that all the paperwork was done, and the documents had been sent to the email of Hari. Clarity verified with the Sheik that the documents had arrived, and thanked the secretary for all the work done.

"Thank you Mr. Cunningham, you will hear from Mr. Carliss shortly." Clarity ended the call and stepped out on her balcony looking at the gorgeous view of the brightly lit marina. After a short lunch, she met Hari at a picnic table, getting shade from the sun under a beach umbrella. Guligher had called him a few times in the morning, warning him that they would pick him up with Clarity at two in the afternoon, since they had not received any valuable information about the Shawab. Access to Heir Force One was closed to them, and a large group of more than forty policeman was patrolling the airport, all of them carrying their photographs.

"I'm going to the airport," said Clarity, "the only other alternative is to leave by boat and the coastguards will be there, there is no way we will be able to escape by sea. We've got to get official permission."

"I talked to Hakeem, the authorities here are refusing him permission to get me back to the plane and take off with Heir Force One."

"Let's go, I just need to stop by the photocopy shop a few minutes." She added.

"I want to ask you for a favor, Hari."

"What is that?"

"Some money, about five hundred dollars in cash." Hari was grateful for what Clarity had done for him, in some ways, getting him out of the golden cage of influence placed on him by his family. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a stash of bills.

"Take this," he said. Clarity took the cash and placed it in her pocket.

They took a taxi to the airport and got there at one pm, after stopping a few minutes in the photocopy shop used by Clarity a few days earlier. Clarity walked past a group of six constables watching the hall of Lettsome airport, by walking with a group of tourists traveling together. She met Plum in the departures area, by the ladies' room, while Hari began to speak with a hostess at the airport information counter, carrying his shabby clothes in a trolley.

"What do you have for me?" Asked the videographer.

"The Consortium has the file of Hari with all of his connections. With this badge, you can access one of their computers at their office here, and get a copy of the file, listed as Scrub Leaks."

She gave Plum the official badge of the Consortium of journalists, which no one had taken from her. Her own name had been erased at the photocopy shop and showed instead the name of Allison Bentley, a journalist working for a newspaper in Australia. Plum checked the badge and placed it in her pocket. Clarity also gave her the phone of Carliss.

"This is the smartphone of Richard Carliss, the guy that Nives bedded last night. Give it to Nives and tell her to tell him someone found it on the floor last night." Plum nodded, taking three items from her blouse pocket.

"Here is a plane ticket and your passport, I got it for you after talking to the police superintendent and the white collars of the Financial Commission. I did that after I spoke with Hakeem. He agreed to let me face those who are investigating Hari, BVI police and Raleigh, in exchange for letting me be on the list of official girlfriends of the Sheik. I told Guligher that you have nothing to do with this, and that it's Lohvia which got the Sheik involved with his account at BVI and all the shady stuff that went on in it. Go to boarding gate two, there is a plane leaving for Miami, connecting to Macau. The person in charge of Corporate Registries, Raleigh, doesn't want you or Hari set foot again here in the British Virgin Islands."

Clarity grabbed her Singapore passport and the plane ticket, glancing at the hallway, where a group of eight constables were gathering not too far away.

"Did you get what I asked you to get me?" Asked Clarity.

"Yes, it's all in here." Plum handed a third item to the teleoperator from Malibu, a small pen drive with no label.

"What about the ring?" Asked Clarity.

"I am keeping the ring, the Sheik does not know what to do with it, I am certainly not going to return seventy thousand dollars, and I need it in order to gain admission into the lodge of Lady Mulham, which is exclusive. I'm afraid you will have to work at the _Florentia Moenia_ casino as a dealer or a videographer like me to make up for the value of that ring. Some people working there will take care of you when you get there, go to live dealer room three, tell people there that I sent you."

"I can't get back to Macau, Chinese authorities are waiting there for me."

"Then, you'll have to stay in Miami. Are you sure you don't want to stay with me?"

Clarity was tempted to throw away all of her plan in order to follow Plum in her dubious endeavour, which was spiritual, sexual and personal. Her own preference for freedom and sense of autonomy took precedence over the temptation of further possible spiritual discoveries.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Clarity glanced at the information counter. She saw Hari talking to Guligher, who kept shaking his head. Hari began walking towards a different gate from her, followed by Guligher, in order to board a plane headed for Cuba. Agitating his arms up and down, pointing at the counter of _Cubana de Aviacion_ , the Sheik was telling the superintendent that he wanted to meet those working at BICCC in Cuba, where, according to him, his money was being held and where the Shawab and his stooges, sought by Guligher, were there as well. It was all gibberish, because the money of the Sheik had been recovered from the Cubans through hacking, and it was now in the account of Richard Carliss in New York after the Sheik's purchase of his two champagne companies.

Hari had no clue of the actual location of the Shawab. But he wanted to avoid jail in Tortola and leave the British Virgin Islands, and the sweat on his forehead showed that. Somehow, he struck a deal with Guligher, because Clarity saw him move towards the counter of the official Cuban airline on his own, with the police superintendent staying behind. After a few minutes of negotiation and Hari showing his privilege card, the hostess at the counter of _Cubana_ took his trolley and let him through, as one of the unofficial members of the airline's flight attendant group specializing in the tasting of champagne. Clarity said goodbye to Plum and saw Nives making a call as she began walking towards the passports area. The customs clerk stamped a visa from the British Virgin Islands, her first stamp on her diplomatic passport from Singapore.

"Have a good day," said the clerk.

Clarity nodded and took one last look at the departures area. Going through the doors leading to the hallway, she saw the features of Richard Carliss, who was walking hastily and was followed by a group of four constables. Sensing trouble, she walked briskly towards the boarding gate area, and showed her boarding pass to a hostess of _BVI Airways_. She sensed mayhem and chaos were going to break loose when Carliss discovered his two champagne companies had been sold, and it was beginning to prove true. A few minutes later, as the airport bus leading her to the RJ85 regional jet flying to Miami began to move away from the terminal, Clarity sensed that her plan had worked. No one was stopping her, and BVI authorities were letting her out of Tortola.

Everything was working except for a single detail, she was not carrying the _Mauboussin_ ring she had been entrusted. There was a chance that she could stay in the U.S., in Miami, although the issuance of her U.S. passport kept being delayed by clerks working at the surveillance center under the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. That meant that she was probably on file by customs everywhere in the country, sought for being one of the people having stolen federal bonds, used to pay for the gold bar of Lady Fortuna. If that was the case, and the report by the Bellagio surveillance center was still an issue, she would have to stay inside the airport as a passenger in transit. That meant continuing her flight, and boarding a plane in Miami in order to land in Macau, where she did not know anybody, and where Chinese officials and those expecting the Mauboussin ring awaited there to question her. Taking one last look at Heir Force One, the plane of the Sheik parked at the airport several hundred feet away, she stepped off the bus and walked on the passenger airstairs made by AccessAir, grabbing the polished steel handrail. A hostess welcomed her and led her to the passenger cabin of the regional jet.

Sitting comfortably in her seat, she leafed through a local newspaper placed in the pouch of the seat in front, not too dissatisfied with her stay. She asked for earphones and began listening to the easy music channel, wondering for a second whether she should have asked for some ownership of the companies bought for Hari. There were so many irregularities with that purchase, that she felt more comfortable with less money and properties, and with more ownership of her time and freedom to do things. She pressed her arm on the armrest, reassured by the presence of the hostess button. Using some of the money that Hari had given her, she bought a tablet offered by one of the stewardesses selling drinks and snacks on a cart.

As the small plane took off and began flying over Caribbean waters, Clarity looked at her tablet and slid her hand across the edges. She found a nub on the right edge, and pressed the push-button switch, in order to bring some light to the tablet screen, thinking about the intriguing side of Plum Bailey, and the pleasure and bliss awaiting her, if she was somehow able to get in touch with the group who had labeled the ring with that incomplete triangle, the _Honorable Sorority of Ancient Freelayers_. The sorority sought by Plum was headed by an old lady named Brighe Mulham, known as Lady Mulham, and Clarity did not know much about her. She took the pen drive Plum had given her, and connected it to the tablet, opening the first file. To Clarity, the meaning of the letter v etched on the ring bought by Hari, remained mysterious, or obscure. Plum had agreed to reveal the meaning, in one of the files, in exchange for access to the list of connections associated with the Sheik.

The first file showed a single diagram, depicting a right angle triangle, and some text and illustrations explaining the meaning of it. The triangle alluded by the letter v in the ring was the Egyptian triangle, and each of the sides had a particular figure associated with it. The three sided figure of the diagram pointed to the Egyptian triad of deities, Osiris, Isis, and Horus. An explanation added that deities were personifications of attributes, either found in nature or in people. The short side of the triangle pointed to Osiris, associated with the creative principle, divine, a shepherd god, credited for giving Egypt a framework of laws, discovering barley and wheat, and gathering fruit from trees. The longer side of the triangle was associated with Isis, goddess of limitless attributes; it corresponded to matter, it was associated with the notion of nurturing, and it was also the personification of nature and the spirit of intelligence. Isis united a group of lesser goddesses and was known as the _lady of ten thousand names_ , listing among her skills, the one of teaching how to read, and of understanding men.

The third side, the hypotenuse, referred to 'Heru' or 'Horus', the son of the two deities shown in the other sides. _Origin_ , _recipient_ , _mild resultant_ , each of the sides was associated with a meaning. She pressed with the cursor inside the triangle, and the hypotenuse disappeared, along with the illustration of Horus. When the hypotenuse was absent, the triangle was incomplete, becoming a letter v, which was carved in one of the baguettes of the Alessandra ring made of yellow gold and diamonds by Mauboussin. She clicked on the illustration of Isis below the longer side of the triangle, and the figure re-emerged, filled with a gold color.

Inside the triangle which had reappeared, Clarity read a motto or phrase, which also explained the meaning of the figure. _From two, stems one_. A caption completed the explanation. In the Egyptian mysteries, the one stemming from two, from Osiris and Isis, was creative or sexual energy, and a particular _mystery_ , reunion with life itself and the creative principle, the genuine meaning of religion, which came from the latin word ' _religare_ ', to re-unite with the initial point, what different cultures described as divinity, or god. That was the notion which brought completeness to the incomplete triangle. This was new to Clarity.

In a very specific way, the triangle pointed to sexual energy and the mystery of Horus as the genuine meaning of religion and completeness. It pointed to the individual as capable of understanding or connecting with a sense of divinity in the body, instead of alluding or referring to an outside deity or figure or notion that religion referred to as god. Clarity knew that things were not perfect, in nature, and in general. It began to make sense, that the actual understanding of her own sexual energy, was the actual part of her, closest to divinity. And that everything surrounding religion, was simplifying, or making understandable, in general ways, social aspects or notions of individuals, and of this inner understanding of the body.

She turned off the backlit screen of the tablet and placed the pen drive in her pocket, thinking about the second file in it. The file held a copy of the book Plum had shown her, ' _The Rose of the Initiates_ '. What she found in it felt comfortable, the material of the book validated her own way of thinking in many ways. Some of it remained unclear though, some of the text was disguised as allegory, with a symbol representing an abstract idea, and that was not easy to understand. Plum had briefly said that the incomplete triangle referred to the outer order of the lodge headed by Lady Mulham. Maybe her friend Lanai could help her find the meaning of some of the ideas in the book, things like ' _The Egyptian initiate_ ', the ' _Cube Altar_ ', the meaning of the word ' _candle_ ', or of the ' _pillars of the temple_ '.

# Chapter Seventeen

SUN ON THE ROCKS amusements for adults, are listed below, in easy to read banana humor order. Each of the amusements follows the previous one, but you don't necessarily need to read previous amusements to follow the one you chose. Backstories and characters area at the beginning of the amusement, and a summary of the amusement, also at the beginning, are there to let you choose and read any of the amusements written, without having to read any other. They provide a summary of the illustrative characters in the amusement and in the general body of amusements, and the various links or connections between them.

THE MALIBU CASE.

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL.

THE CAYMAN AIR BANNER.

THE BAHAMAS LOTION.

THE ADULT CHANNEL.

THE OOL BRODERIE.

THE BELLAGIO WIKILEAK.

THE CUBAN RENEGADE.

THE SUGAR BABY.

THE MARBLE TOUCAN.

THE OUTDOOR SHOWER.

THE EMOTION SCALE.

MERIDIAN 57.

THE VANITY RING.

THE SHABBY SHEIK.

Crafted by Somers Isle & Loveshade.

Sun on the Rocks is genuine banana humor, fresh, trivial, tropical, somewhat irreverent, and also easy-going, or easy-to-peel, like the fruit. This space, which is meant for adults, and portrays characters over twenty one years of age, is blended with light intrigue, with the capacity of those characters in the amusement for understanding general truths, or with information brought by the characters of the amusement and where they are. Some of the characters cast in the amusements express their resourceful intuition and are often acute observers of the laws of human mischief, showing that common sense has not disappeared and that things are not always perfect. Sometimes, there is a social element in the stories that makes the amusement relevant for the community.

There are a few minor changes in this amusement, with respect the previous ones, nothing major. We have changed the name of one character, a minor character who is part of the original Sun on the Rocks group, which includes Clarity, Lanai, Cynthia, Taimi, Flower, Montana, and Jenna. Jenna Likeway, becomes Jenna Megway. In this amusement, Clarity recovers her natural light brown hair color, leaving out the previous auburn hair that she chose before, with the help of a shade selector.

The amusement is non violent writing that may provide a sense of support to the daily, which at times ain't very easy, in a world where the tidbit replaces genuine reflection and thought, people think in chunks of one hundred and forty characters, and common sense is reduced to watching how everyone else is making money. The word cloud of sun on the rocks is particularly benign, and you may begin to notice if you find the material engaging, that it doesn't take people out of their comfort zone, sometimes because there's humor, sometimes because the situation is so ridiculous, or because of the words chosen. There's a reason for that. The world needs stability, not change, and words can engage both social aspects, we choose the former.

Ridiculous situations are used to show social barriers, which may be preventing a person from a different perspective, more humane, and realistic, more engaging as well. If there is not much love left in the world, in the way we live, there may be a love shade, a shade of love remaining, which allows us to be engaging with other people around us, whether we like these people or not, whether we agree with them or not. The good looking woman like Clarity, is there to keep us engaged with that part of us. There's nothing wrong with having the beauty and common sense of a woman engage that engaging part of us. Engagement and social connection is what makes a community, so we like that over so called 'success', something we may shred to pieces in various ways, until it is disengaged, dismantled, defused, destroyed, and disconnected, until it becomes devoid of the problems it might create in someone's thinking. We don't give a fuck about the plutocracy or the celebrities, and we ensure we get that point across.

That is the premise of Sun on the Rocks, there's always people around you, who may not be that good for you, sometimes friends, family, peers, a boss, but there's always a way to get away from them. You can also negotiate with them in some way, or make them look bad outright, because they don't mean well, or look for someone friendly, and surround your daily life with those who appreciate you, genuinely, without you having to be 'turned on' or showing a social mask, which has become useless, as a result of the rise of the social network, and which is not good for anyone. If nothing else, there's always you, and that's really all you might need, a good connection with your own, with just being you, genuine, and being quite comfortable with that. You'll also need a shitload of assertiveness, to face the motherfuckers who want to influence or configure your way of thinking, or make money off of you, and also to get rid of the thoughts of all those social influencers, observing the world around you, just to understand wtf, and where the fuck we are, and that's also something we try to point out in the amusements.

Sun on the Rocks is sold as is, to keep the amusements fresh and irreverent for the community. This is not polished, it is an amusement, there is no crew of editors here, there is no large publisher behind this content, this is all indie stuff, run out of a small place. A spellcheck is run with Ginger to ensure proper spelling, and the draft is read once or so, so that it reads all right and things make sense. We know there is value here, that is why we place the quarter on the covers. In the last chapter, there are a few references related to work or education. We like that, fiction can only bring someone so far, and then, everyone has to work. We like bridges, and not disconnects, between the two areas, and we think it makes a lot of sense for the community to do that.

The banana humor amusements of Sun on the Rocks have gathered a total of 20,000 downloads and about 90,000 views or reads, on several platforms, such as Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo books, Sony, Inktera, community blogsites Our Salon and Open Salon, the free-ebooks.net platform, and the Apple Store. On blogsite communities our salon and open salon, the amusements have gathered a total of about one hundred comments from people who connect, or like, or can relate to what is in the amusement. You can see those comments below, to see what other people think about the amusements.

All fictional characters of these amusements

are adults at least twenty one years of age.

This is the banana humor version of the Shabby Sheik. There is also a more explicit version, rated x, labeled Shabby Sheik (X).

Amusements are easy to read stories

which can be read in about three or four hours.

Join the sun on the rocks community on noisetrade

http://bit.ly/1B7rlmc

If you would like to read the amusement in a community setting, you can join the blogsite community our salon, I post amusements there with the pen name workstudio, please sign up here : http://bit.ly/2cmP6iJ

The Malibu Case.

Or whether corporate nudity should be part of the dress code.

The Acapulco Cocktail.

Or how a cocktail drink can turn a holiday into a traction with the Law.

The Cayman Air Banner.

Or going where your money goes to keep an eye on how it disappears.

The Bahamas Lotion.

Or discerning when the notion of a lotion is not beauty but dependence.

The Adult Channel.

Or how renting pleasure is different from owning it.

The OOL Broderie.

Or whether a wedding can be arranged as a matter of levity.

The Bellagio Wikileak.

Or relying on information before the information relies on you.

The Cuban Renegade.

Or whether gold can be backed by a renegade,

when money is backed by the cap of Castro.

The Sugar Baby.

Or whether sugar can turn to salt when someone overlooks the honey.

The Marble Toucan.

Or how those who want you to leave your place are those who should leave in the first place.

The Outdoor Shower.

Or how a shower can bring good weather to the bottom line.

The Emotion Scale.

Or looking at how you feel to let others choose how you think.

Meridian 57.

Or how the merchant of longevity

can sell a claim to live longer by monetizing wisdom.

The Vanity Ring.

Or discerning when vanity is worn in order to meddle with the lives of others.

The Shabby Sheik.

Or whether a golden cage can bring both gold and freedom when properly used.

100 COMMENTS FROM READERS OF OPEN SALON AND OUR SALON,

ORIGINAL BLOGSITES OF SUN ON THE ROCKS BANANA HUMOR

(R and R+ stand for rated, or liked)

THE MALIBU CASE

ch.14 - Frisky, light-hearted, and delightful! Consistently! This should be a GRAPHIC novel (when you finally get around to publishing!) R+

ch.3 - This is so clever. Everything is "normal" except the central dilemma of (gasp) optional nudity. With nonchalant humor you are making an individual rights argument out of this. I can hear you pitching this to a TV exec: "Who could object to that?"

I think you could actually pull this off (no pun) in reality if the characters were discretely / artfully filmed! It could be great fun. These are unique characters who are "over the horizon" in leading the California trend. R

ch.13 - Fun read. That package and who got it will bring me back. R

ch.12 - I want to see the video version of this story! What a romp.

ch.12 - Quite a revealing case. Quick and playful, this story scampers right up to the edge of decency and then sticks its tongue out.

ch.12 - This plot has the sexiest curves.

ch.1 - This is deceptively breezy and fun. I. did. not. expect. THIS! Good show! R

ch.15 - Hurray! The girls won and we are all the beneficiaries of their determination. I hope that we will have further adventures about the floating spa and that the long arm of the law can't reach them in inter national waters. R

ch.15 - Sorry I've been away and missed the last few installments. I'm glad to see the girls came out of this in stellar fashion. It was a fun read, and I'm looking forward to the south of the border installments. R

ch.15 - Sweet, sweet, sweet. And I think you may have set-up the next Episode in the series! Hmmm. I just noticed that others feel the same. Good! R+

ch.14 - Phew! The package picker-upper turns out to be on our side....at least for now. I guess it all comes down to the vote. Go naturism! R

ch.13 - If we Amuricans have a right to bear arms, the girls have a right to bare whatever! I vote yes. Fun read. That package and who got it will bring me back. R

ch.13 - Lots of limbs to go out on here. I'm always intrigued by the persistence of the press.

ch.12 - You just seem to strip the story to its bare essentials and cut to the chase ;).

ch.12 - Very amusing. Am I the only girl here? Is that weird?

ch.11 - It looks like the governor will have to get involved! A night under the stars, clothing optional I hope? R

ch.11 - I just wish I could have conceived this saga. So breezy and tongue-in-cheek! R+

ch.10 - You really make this sound reasonable and imminent! R+

ch.10 - If it were only that easy... hey, maybe it would be if someone only tried it! When writing, it's recommended to stick to the bare essentials. You can't get any bare than this subject. Still reading. R

ch.9 - Yes, these are burning questions! When is the rally? Excuse me, but I'm sticking to my leather chair here at work... R

ch.8 - "Proposition 531 has a secret." A secret proposition, why am I not surprised? You still have me guessing for answers. Keep up the suspense. R

ch.8 - Yeah, yah, YES. Vivid, breezy, and irresistible. Can't wait. R+

ch.7 - What a cool caper. Such tension and intrigue, and I keep reminding myself of how tongue-in-cheek the mission really is. Great satire. R

ch.7 - "I found something interesting, come here." Now you have my curiosity aroused. This is a great series. Keep going. R

ch.7 - I enjoy the story..thank you for writing and sharing..See you here..Best regards.

ch.7 - refreshing and fun, like a more realistic Charlie's Angels. Keep it coming. R

ch.6 - I can't believe I've been missing these! I was sure I had "favorited" you! You must also link to the Fiction Weekend site when you can. Still a great script. R

ch.6 - Me, again. I just want to suggest that when you post a new installment that you go back and put in a "next" link to your previous installment. There isn't another sexy, funny, charming story like this being done! R

ch.6 - This is funny, hip and sexy with tongue firmly in cheek. I love all the little touches like the upscale thong for example. R

ch.6 - The plot thickens! Everyone seems to be having a great time here, with the exception of our officer friend. R

ch.5 - You GO, girls! Let me gather a few things and I'll go with you... R+

ch.5 - Do I see a road movie starting to appear? R

ch.4 - Gasp! Oh, no! My damsels are in distress! This is sooooo script-ready. ACTION! +

ch.4 - Sorry I'm late. Swimming naked, high above the city... sounds intriguing. R

ch.3 - Ok, now I've read all three chapters, and am up to date with the bare essentials... so to say. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. R

ch.3 - l love it! Totally confirms what we easterners think: everyone in California has a screw loose. I think clothing optional day is a logical extension of casual friday. I am now backtracking to catch up on the earlier installments. R

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL

ch.1 - Hurray! A new adventure. Reading each installment is like a mini-vacation....with beautiful aquanauts thrown in for good measure. R

ch.2 - Cocktails, sun....I'm hooked. R

ch.4 - Even a fish would not get caught if it kept its mouth shut! lol

ch.4 - Looks as if the girls should start learning some Spanish.

I hope they are not going loco down in Acapulco! R

ch.4 - Do they have cable in Mexican jail?

ch.4 - I knew it, I knew it. The girls cannot stay out of trouble. Could a Mexican prison be next? This is a lot of fun. R

ch.4 - Hey I want that job! It sounds like something I could do from home, while relaxing in my Lazy-Boy recliner. You have me thirsty for the next chapter. Sorry I'm late, but I was having a cold one out by the pool. R

ch.6 - another great read.........supertaster?......gotta hear more.....R

ch.5 - well done again...R

ch.6 - Effortless intrigue! You put me right there. Nancy Drew for the 21st century? R+

ch.7 - This is such a breezy web, I can't believe the weight of mystery you are able to hold! R

ch.5 - I swallowed this like a shooter. It is a strong story, and I'll say it like always: could easily be a script! R

ch.4 - Yeah! You are raising the voltage nicely with this one. I didn't see the "safe" coming! R+

THE CAYMAN AIR BANNER

ch.4 - Well - I love this so far and will keep reading!

ch.8 - This does hold your interest.

ch.12 - At last the fight. The bit with the elusive canapés and limping along limo was priceless. R

ch.11 - You do create a surreal environment: a little James Bond with a dash of Clouseau. R

ch.1 - Hurray, a new adventure! I've been away awhile. I have a lot of catching up to do. R

ch.1 - 20%! That must have been pre 2007, or else someone is going to lose their savings on a deal that sounds too good to be true. Let the action begin. R

ch.7- The interplay between Clarity and Flower is priceless. R

ch.6 - I'd hang on to my money if I was in Clarity's bikini. R

ch.5 - Just like a banker to steal your earrings while you are sleeping. R

ch.4 - So many directions it can go. R

ch.1 - hahah..ok, waiting to see where this goes!

ch.12 - At last the fight. The bit with the elusive canapés and limping along limo was priceless. R

ch.13 - 1,500 golfers gone. Should be easier to get a tee time. Sounds like the girls are closing in for the kill. R

ch.15 - I learned a new word-scandium! "Let´s change into the tigress outfits, maybe it´ll be our turn tonight, you´re getting me in the mood." Perfect! I can picture it!

ch.3 - A surreal, but fascinating turn of events. Gallinaceous, indeed. R

ch.16 - somehow I missed seeing your interesting series in the activity feed here--will read through all of your chapters this weekend and hope you have another series in the pipeline here!

ch.10 - Is Bernie Made-off part of this operation? The girls are going to have a hard time doping this out. R

ch.2 - Ladies, hang onto your money and bikini tops. R

ch.11 - "Buddha Talk walks his talk, and talks only when needed." This is such a neat line!

ch.1 - Place tongue firmly in cheek and prepare for takeoff! R

THE BAHAMAS LOTION

ch.1 - Wow, here we go again. Great start of a new adventure. R

ch.6 - This whole story is hilarious.

ch.13 - "She stole this egg, she stole it from the temple of Wat Phodaram, Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining, glistening, mother of pearl Buddha, in Thailand, where the statues watch and protect ecstasy, and the subtle channels open your wisdom to the quiet mind and show you how the body works. " This is a hoot!

ch.4 - "The truck, an Isuzu FTR 800 class 2 pumper imported from the Fire and Rescue Agency of New South Wales in Wagga Wagga, Australia, was beaming a blue siren, approaching the limo at high speed. Stretching above Lanai, Taimi and Cynthia were struggling atop the truck with Jenna, who was surfing the air, holding balance by grabbing the ladder." What fabulous detail-I can create a perfect image in my mind.

Rosebud-I'm pretty sure I know what THAT reference is.

ch.12 - "Avalon was wearing an extra small ivory color Isabella thong by Myla, made of dusk silk satin, Elastene, and cotton gusset lining." You have a way with detail! I had to look up the thong. Boy, they are expensive!

ch.12 - "That´s how I fooled the Sex Brigade at Neria B." Immediately a Bowie song popped into my head: "Ground control to Sex Brigade, your circuits dead, there's something wrong." I think those lyrics are better than the original.

ch.12 - what a supremely odd universe I have landed in. I dunno what to make of this place yet, but it sure seems amorphously enticing, offering magical new technology and a supremely erotic atmosphere wherein breasts are softly offered to the table! and this: "It depends on what you view as sex," indeed.

ch.12 - "It´s simple, we disagree over the definition of pleasure," said Avalon, "over the meaning of it in fact. But we want to take over that resort." Ah, yes! You go girls!

BTW, you have subtly painted quite a scene involving naked women. Very subtle, but very descriptive as well.

ch.11 - OMG-I am so far behind! Forgive me. I will catch up! "Elony´s not approved by the FDA, Lanai."" I love this. What kind of fun stuff IS approved by the FDA?

ch.9 - "The girl named Lanai has been sent to study the book of Decadence in more detail with other scribes." Can I borrow that book? This is a great story.

ch.8 - "I love the service here," said Lanai. That's an understatement!

ch.2 - I'm pretty sure I know what the lotion is! Can't wait to find out.

ch.5 - "Have you been thinking of tupperware sex lately?" I'm quite sure I've never heard that expression before!

ch.6 - "Some type of hedonist resort, there shouldn´t be that many in the Bahamas" This whole story is hilarious, but this statement is the most hilarious of them all. I HAVE been to the Bahamas, you know, mostly out islands where anything goes!

ch.7 - "Men are only in charge of security here, their presence is accessory." I like to accessorize!

ch.16 - "She cherished that exhibitionist tendency which was part of her, part of her strength as an adult." Ah yes!

THE ADULT CHANNEL / THE ABU DHABI CHANNEL

Having spent some time in that part of the world, I'm curious to see how you envision an "adult channel" in Abu Dahbi. Should be a hoot.

ch.1 - Wow. I am saving a link to this post. Very helpful. One hot franchise!

ch.1 - A Church of pleasure, devotion to pleasure above all other notions or creeds, you could call it a devotional temple of pleasure. I'm converting!

ch.3 - "small battery operated dental fixtures that could also be used as sex toys" - Your imagination is superb!

ch.4 - "I Don´t trust the water, I drink only Nordic Mist tonic water."

"Because..."

"It´s made by Coca Cola, the perfect soft drink."

Do you get something for product placement? Funny!

ch.6 - lol "Just sexual, I mean sex, wasn´t sure about love, because I thought if you mix sex and love, you might get pregnant."

THE OOL BRODERIE / THE BAHRAIN BRODERIE

ch.13 - Looks very amusing, and makes me want to take along to the beach for a long lingering read.

THE CUBAN RENEGADE

ch.4 - I loved "the Egyptian method to move stones." There is a delightful whiff of Kafka about all this.

**ch.4 \- You have my attention!**

**ch.6 -** I found this to be highly erotic.

ch.8 - "This is how we´ll use the bitcoin in this decryptor if anything goes wrong." Ha! I have to see how this plays out.

ch.10 - "you mean using Cuban cigars as currency for Cuba." That would give new meaning to the phrase "my savings went up in smoke".

ch.14 - Great, as usual.

THE SUGAR BABY

ch.9 - I love all the names!!! esp Clarity.

ch.11 - Wow!

ch.14 - Woo!

ch.15 - You have such a unique writing style that turns me on and intrigues me at the same time.

THE OUTDOOR SHOWER

ch.1 - Bravo.

ch.2 (liked) - I was thinking of putting in an outdoor shower just the other day. Hadn't thought of having any walls.

somers isle - I'm so bad at DIY that not sure how I'd do the shower or the walls, I'd probably have to go with the bucket of water.

somers isle, to the first reader - apparently, there is both options, not sure what is more popular, here is a couple of designs for you, http://bit.ly/29etROS

another reader - I had an outdoor shower in my previous place, which was out in the country and private. It was a garden arch with grapes growing all over it. Lovely... Also came in handy when we had our little festival...

somers isle - garden arch with grapes does sound lovely, I resonate with anything unprocessed, home out in the country sounds nice, no city noises, privacy is important.

same reader - I made another, closer to our camping area, with walls of salvaged metal gazebo pieces and blue tarp hung behind. (Living in the country for privacy, plus country dump!)

first reader , after some reflection - We live in the woods, but with neighbors nearby. I could probably get by without walls in the summer. In the winter when the leaves are gone I would be inside anyway. I haven't really considered this enough to draw up a plan.

THE SHABBY SHEIK

reader from barnes and noble: humorous and interesting.

The person gave the amusement a five star rating.

BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS

http://oursalon.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sun-on-the-rocks-backstories-and-fresh-items.

great the way you have this constructed, with the linx etc....

A TOTAL OF 100 COMMENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY.

SUN ON THE ROCKS IS CRAFTED BY SOMERS ISLE & LOVESHADE,

crafting each amusement for the community,

one ridiculous situation at a time.

# Chapter Eighteen

**Compound Interest Calculator Clarity keeps close, for retirement purposes (savings plan is in the Cayman Air Banner)** :

www.investor.gov/tools/calculators/compound-interest-calculator

**Careers and Professional Designations to consider** :

Chartered Financial Analyst: www.cfainstitute.org/

Certified Financial Planner: www.cfp.net/

**Wealth** :

Think and Grow Rich: Napoleon Hill's classic book on wealth.

How to Make Money (free pdf book from 1859)

**Educational sites, communities, and global news** :

Boston University online: www.bu.edu/online/

Visual Thesaurus: www.visualthesaurus.com/

Visual Global News: www.newsmap.jp/

Our Salon community: oursalon.ning.com/

**Featured universities** :

Bermuda College: www.college.bm/

University College Cayman Islands: www.ucci.edu.ky/

Free online university classes: www.coursera.org/

Ohio State University: www.osu.edu/

University of Arizona: www.arizona.edu/

University of Hawaii: www.hawaii.edu/

