CHAPTER VIII
Bobby Sanderson saw the seat belt light go out, unbuckled himself and rose to his feet. He walked forward and to the cockpit, the door to which was open. This was his corporate jet and his pilots were well known to him.
"Hey guys, nice job...." Bobby said in his friendly voice.
"Thank you Mr Sanderson" one of the smartly dressed men said glancing over his shoulder.
"What's our run in like today?" Bobby asked with interest. The weather, commercial traffic and flight plan requirements could all impact on the journey.
"Not bad, there are few problems today, you shouldn't need to buckle up at all and we look on track to arrive on schedule, but we'll give you a heads up if anything changes...." the co-pilot said with a cautious glance at his instruments.
"Ok, I need to do paperwork back there so I won't disturb you any further..." Bobby said giving the men up front a pat on the shoulder before drawing a curtain closed and leaving.
Further back Bobby tried to relax and begin thinking about what to do about the quagmire he had led his corporation into. Assets weren't producing, positions weren't profitable and ...gah...it was just a mess. Bobby turned on the big screen mounted to a partition wall, it's matrix layout filled with feeds from different news networks. What is happening out there, he wondered.
Reclining back he let the information flow over him, when was his gut, his luck, his sixth sense going to get into full flow again and revive his fortunes? The ticker tapes ran past his eyes, the summaries of the headlines appearing as bullet points. His mind slowly began to open up to the fog of information, his subconscious mind analysing each sound bite.
"PMI expected to be positive on durables........."
"Gold rises on interest rate outlook....."
"Employment consensus positive after seasonal considerations ...."
"Japan trade surplus expected to resume....."
"Baltic Dry Index indicates full steam ahead!"
The financial news continued to flow in and Bobby could feel something, something big, but, it would be crazy, wouldn't it ? There seemed to him like there was a chain of events aligning before his eyes, he couldn't say what but....
Bobby called up his electronic calendar and flicked through it, what is coming?
The Bank of Japan trade report and an interest rate meeting, China GDP stats to be released, ECB unemployment report, the UK BoE interest rate meeting, the FED and an epic treasury bill auction. In between that were a myriad of stats to be released and ....
Bobby's mind went into overload as his senses began to join up links between one thing and the other.
"Jeez..." he exclaimed quietly. If that was right and he bet the farm, well, he'd have many new farms to his name.....except.
Kim, my sister.
All those poor women she had apparently killed, kidnapped, tortured with tattoo needles or piercings and then.....oh what horrible ends.
Ever since her arrest he had failed to make opportunities work. His gut would say 'yes' and he would come so close and then, failure or at best stalemate. It seemed that while he was making a killing financially his sister had literally been making a killing. With Kimberly inside at least it had all stopped.
It had ALL stopped.
Bobby paused.
Was that it? Did her infliction of suffering on others bring him luck? That would be....nonsense....wouldn't it?
How had it all started he wondered, thinking back to the beginning, back to their childhood. Then he remembered his encounter with the old console system which was now in his trophy cabinet. They never figured out how the rogue extra cartridge came to be but the rights holder to the game honoured the prize, even though the game had been discontinued years prior.
Then Bobby remembered, the dolls house, it's resident twisted and buckled, accompanied by his sisters almost demonic laughter. She had used some old solvent from the shed like it was washing liquid, so she said, and had begun to dissolve her toys 'by accident'. After that day, toy dolls weren't safe...then as she aged her victims grew more and more...real.
Bobby realised that his luck had run out....if she really was the source of his good fortune then...it HAD to end. All those innocents killed....he couldn't bear to think about others suffering so he could make money. He would have to find his own way without her.
"UK - North Sea .....enhanced oil recovery trial success......." read a headline.
"Well, at least one of my projects is ok....." Bobby mused.