Pirates a League of Brothers by H, J, Macey (phonics books TXT) 📖

At precisely ten am, a stretched black limousine pulled up outside the house. Peter had been looking out of the window, in anticipation of their transport arriving. He had not expected to see such a luxurious vehicle as this, and the smartly dressed uniformed female driver who stepped from it. To stand by the passenger's door, ready to open it for them.

"It's here Sera she's waiting for us," Peter said grabbing his jacket and moving quickly to the door. As Sera came from her bedroom clutching her black document case, again wearing her business suit with her hair tightly done up in a bun. Giving her that executive look of the lawyer she once was and wanted to be again if only given the chance.

The sight of the car and driver, made her wonder if her misgivings about the authenticity of the advertiser were justified. She had pictured him in a dirty old raincoat, holding it open to expose himself. This was definitely not what she had expected, as they drove smoothly to the city. The female driver suggested they help themselves, to whatever they wanted from the drinks cabinet.

The twenty-minute drive was done in silence, as Sera had held her finger up to her lips when Peter went to speak. She then shook her head and nodded towards the drive, as if to say not in front of her. So Peter never said how much he liked the car they were in, or how smoothly it was driven. He just sat looking out the window as they drove into the city.   

They pulled into the underground parking area of a tall building on Adelaide Tec. Pulling up next to the lift, where they were welcomed by a young man who was expecting them. He escorted them up to the main foyer, and to the large reception desk. Where two burly security men, that looked as if they were from the island of Samoa welcomed them.

A seated lady asked their full names and date of birth, then took their photos. A plastic identity card with their photo was printed, placed in a holder and pinned to their lapel. Then they were shown to a waiting room, where a young lady offered them drinks.

"Coffee cream no sugar miss Godard, and white tea one sugar Mr Martin?" She asked but didn’t wait for a reply, which made Sera and Peter look at each other. The young lady was soon back, with the drinks and two Danish pastries that weren’t offered or asked for. Making Sera look at Peter, again in a questioning way.

They had just finished their drinks when they were led to an interview room and asked to wait again. Shortly a woman came with two folders, two writing pad, and two envelopes. The folders were placed on the other side of the table, the two pads, and pens in front of Sera and Peter. The two envelopes were handed to Sera and Peter themselves, and the lady turned to leave.

Sera opened the envelope and found twenty-five dollars in it, then looked inquisitively at Peter. Who was also holding twenty-five dollars in his hand, and he was looking as shocked as Sera. The lady was just about to close the door when Sera stopped her by asking. "Excuses me, can you tell me how much longer before we are interviewed?" the lady smiled and stepped back into the room.

"Not long now Miss, but if you wish to leave you may leave the envelopes intact at the main desk. The pads are for you to record your meeting, and to jot down any questions you may wish to ask. Now if you will excuse me I have other things to attend to." She said smiling and waited for a second, then when neither of them said anything she left.

Again Sera looked at Peter then leaned over the desk, and thumbed open the folder flap. It exposed a photocopy of Sera's passport and beneath it one of her driving licenses. There were other sheets of paper, which they contained Sera could only guess at. The only thing she did know was this was a dossier of her, the other must be Peter's and she sat down shocked at the revelation.

The room now took on an air of foreboding to Sera, as it now looked like an interrogation room. Like the ones, you see on the TV, where police interview suspects. She looked around the room, to see if she could see any hidden cameras. Which of course there wouldn't be, would there I mean no?

Then she looked at the frosted glass upper walls, were they two-way glass. Could someone be studying them on the other side of it, her imagination was running wild now. This was not what she had expected, the shabby man in a raincoat hadn't materialised. She was going to put him in his place if he had, but now she was way out of her comfort zone.

She turned to Peter half rising from her seat, as she was about to suggest they should leave. Only the door opened and two smartly dressed lady's entered, smiling at them they went to the other side of the desk. Then held out their hands to introduce themselves to Sera and Peter.             

"Hello, I'm Tanya Regalado, head of human resources. This is my colleague, Maer Kassman sorry to keep you waiting. An earlier interview lasted longer than anticipated, so shall we get on with your's?" Tanya said opening Sera's folder and sliding the top two pages to one side, before reading from the third.

"Sera Louise Godard, twenty-five date of birth eighteenth of January nineteen thirty-eight. Place of berth St Margaret's hospital Grays in Essex, United Kingdom. Daughter of Mary and John Godard, fathers occupation car mechanic, arrived Australia fiftieth June nineteen forty-seven."

"Sera Louise Godard graduated with a law degree, from Adelaide University in nineteen fifty-nine. Transferred to the Perth office of Manard and Comings, when they took over the firm of Mitchell and sons lawyers in nineteen sixty-one!"

"That is correct, isn't it Miss Godard?" she asked a stunned Sera. Who could only nod her head and quietly answer 'yes,' and sit wondering what she had let Peter lead her into? As the lady listed a summary of her entire life, and still in a state of bewilderment. Agreed that the information was a true, and accurate account of Sera's life to now.

Then it was Peter's folder that was explored and declared he was thirty-three and noted he hadn't wandered far from his birthplace. Which was the rural town of Wagen, some seventy miles north of Perth? Peter the son of a commercial Macadamia nut grower, had two older brothers. Peter had gone to college to get a law degree, while his brothers went to learn agriculture to take on the farm.

It had only been a week since Peter had answered the advert in that magazine, and now Sera was listening to Peter's whole life story. Which she knew none of before, they even knew of Peter's grandparents, that arrived in Australia seventy-five years ago. They had come from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, off the coast of South America. They, in turn, were descendants of immigrants of Portuguese ancestry.

'Who were these people?' Sera thought as the information kept coming. She had been in courtrooms in the past, confidently putting forward the case for her client, but here now she was unsure of her surroundings. Here now in a mild state of shock, at what was being revealed about her's and Peter's past life. She felt panic because she was not in control of the situation she was in, and her mind was still in a state of flux when she realised the woman was now talking to her.

"With your past background Miss Godard, we would suggest our legal department rather than as a secretary. You have the qualifications and we have seen your security report, which would qualify you to be offered such a secure position. Of course, that would be subject to further in-depth interviews, and of further consultations, if you decide you would indeed like to join us."

"At the moment as it is almost lunchtime we could retire now and resume in one hours time. You can spend the time enjoying a meal in our restaurant entirely on us, and reflect on our meeting so far. So then we will see you in an hour's time, Miss Godard Mr Martin." Tanya Regalado said holding out her hand and indicating the door, signalling the meeting was over for now. 

As Sera and Peter exited the interview room, one of the barley Samoan security guards was waiting for them. His size draft Peter and Sera, and although he seemed friendly his size did intimidate her. As she looked up at his smiling face, he said please follow me, and lead them to the lift, and up to two floors to the restaurant and lounge area.

He then indicated they should help themselves to whatever they desired, after handing Sera and Peter a tray. He took one himself to piled exotic fruits and colourful drinks on it, before moving to an empty table. Sera followed his example but not in so much a quantity, whereas Peter went for tiger prawn starter and a crayfish main. As he was not dieting today, he followed it with a banana split dessert. 

Sera felt obliged to sit with their guide, though she would have preferred to sit alone with Peter. They could have discussed what had transpired in that interview room. It was still unsettling her to know, they knew so much about them in such a short time. In the past she had known the time and effort, it took her in preparing for a legal argument for the courts.

Sera watched their guild munch through half a Melon, two other fruits and two tall glasses of a rainbow mixture of fruit juices. Then he returned to the serving counter for more delights, giving Sera the chance she had wanted to talk to Peter.

"Peter who are these people, and how did they find out so much about us. I thought we were meeting a man about this so-called job, I didn't expect this amount of organisation. There some sort of global conglomerate wouldn't you say, what do they want with us?" The question was left hanging as their guild returned, with a large bowl of fruit and ice cream.

Peter didn't seem perturbed at all, he was wiping his mouth after finishing that tasty crayfish. When Sera finished talking, he didn't have time to answer because the Samoan had returned. So he just pulled his banana split to him and prepared to devourer it. As Sera watched him, he ate as if it was his last meal. Then he got up, to fetch another dessert of passion fruit and cream.

What struck Sera was there was no staff manning the counter, just staff clearing tables of used plates and things. With no cash tills to take money for the food, it seemed it was all free. As the food was taken from the serving counter, more was put out to replace it. Were all the people eating here members of staff, did they all work