by Sofia Grey
Sylvie was incredible.
She yelled for Alex to get something to tie up Jason’s hands, and then shouted upstairs to Lara. Two more people had come into the house, and he recognized them both. The tall skinny man and the angelic blonde from Jordan’s TM-Tech group. Alex had seen them at the hospital.
With the psycho subdued, his terror now was of a stray flame. Both he and Sylvie were doused in petrol.
“Stand back,” he yelled to the new people. “Don’t light any matches. We’re covered in petrol.”
The guy spoke first. “What the fuck happened?” He darted towards Sylvie. “Let me help.”
She grinned. “I’ve got him. Sounds like Lara and Nick are upstairs. Will you help them?”
As Alex watched in something approaching exasperation, Sylvie extracted her bloody knife from inside her boot and calmly passed it to the guy. “Lara says they’re tied up. You might need this.”
Focus, Alex.
Sylvie needed to tie up Jason. Alex dropped the gun by the front door and hurriedly looked for something, but Sylvie screamed his name. He tore back to the bottom of the stairs.
****
The gun lay on the floor, near Adele’s feet. It called to her. Yelled.
Pick me up, it shouted. Put this bastard away.
She knew how to use it. She’d been a member of a shooting range with a long-ago boyfriend in Houston. She knew how swiftly she could make Jason regret ever setting eyes on her.
This was her chance to finish this ugly chapter of her life.
Adele stepped forwards and picked up the weapon. It was older than the pistols she’d fired at the range, and heavier too. That didn’t matter. It would do the same job.
A curious sense of power rampaged through her system. For a second, she was invincible.
She held the grip in two hands, one supporting the other. Nice and steady. Finger on the trigger.
Jason lay a few feet away. She couldn’t miss him from here. One shot, that’s all she needed. One bullet right between the eyes and he’d never hurt anyone, ever again.
****
The blonde had picked up the gun. With a blank expression, she walked towards the psycho and pointed it up to his face.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Jason snarled at her.
“After what you did to me, you have no idea what I’m capable of.” Her voice was low, and she was focused entirely on him.
Alex met Sylvie’s gaze. One spark, and he feared they could both go up in flames.
Chapter Thirty-Four
All Adele saw was Jason and his sneering face. She stepped closer, the gun steady in her hands.
The moment he realised he was fucked was almost comical. Fear flickered in his eyes and Adele wanted to laugh.
“Not so brave now, Jase?”
When the bearded guy stepped forwards and put his hand on her arm, it made her jump. She’d ignored him up to now.
“Please don’t,” the man said. “It won’t help.”
“How would you know?” She didn’t take her gaze off Jason.
The guy stood his ground. “If you miss, you shoot my wife, and I won’t let you do that.”
****
Sylvie’s arms ached from the strain of holding on to Jason, and now she had the blonde pointing his gun at them both. She gazed helplessly at Alex, as he tried to stop the woman.
The woman’s arms quivered, and her finger trembled on the trigger. If Sylvie lunged forwards to stop her, Jason would get free again.
From the top of the stairs, there was another voice. “Adele, sweetheart, put the gun down.” It was Karl. He held Sylvie’s knife in one hand and a bunch of cable ties in the other. He helped Sylvie fasten Jason’s wrists together, then his ankles. Jason was going nowhere.
With Jason restrained, Karl moved slowly down the stairs to Adele, talking in a low soothing voice. She was still pointing the damned gun at Jason. Alex moved steadily towards Sylvie at the same time.
Karl reached Adele, and Alex stood on her other side, ready to move when needed.
Karl held out his hand, and asked for the gun.
Sylvie’s mouth was dry with fear. If the gun was fired, one single spark and the whole house might go up. Alex was soaked in fuel. He wouldn’t stand a chance.
Sirens wailed outside. Blue lights flashed and swirled through the glass panels in the front door. Still, Adele held the gun.
There was an unspoken message between Alex and Karl. Alex motioned one, two, three on his fingers, as if he were counting in a song. They grabbed Adele at the same time, Karl forcing the weapon from her hand while Alex pulled her arm down.
Sylvie closed her eyes in relief. Please let it be over now.
A heartbeat later, Adele was wrapped up in Karl’s arms, and Alex nudged the gun to a safe distance with his toe.
It was over. Thank God.
Sylvie scrambled to her feet and shoved at Jason, rolling him down the remaining stairs. He landed in a crumpled heap at Alex’s feet, cursing fit to burst.
Karl let go of Adele and returned Sylvie’s knife. “That was amazing,” he said, awe in his voice. “You were amazing.”
“Thank you.” She shoved the knife back into her boot, and then looked to see what Alex was doing. Someone needed to let the emergency services in.
Before anyone could stop her, Adele lunged forwards and kicked Jason in the face. Hard. Sylvie stared, speechless. There was a crunching sound, a spurt of bright red blood, and he gave a burbling, howling noise of pain.
“How does it feel, Jason?” Adele yelled. “To be helpless, with someone hurting you?” She kicked him again.
Jason grunted and passed out.
“Bastard,” Adele screamed. “I want you to feel this.”
****
As far as Alex was concerned, they were still in immediate danger from the petrol. Judging by the way the house was littered with paper, the psycho meant to torch the house with Lara and Nick inside. They stood at the top of the stairs, and Lara hid her face against Nick.
The world had turned blue with the flashing lights. A police megaphone crackled, and then announced their presence. “Drop your weapons and come out with your hands raised.”
Karl hurried to unbolt and open the front door while he shouted to the police about the fire risk
The world went mad. Armed police swarmed through the door and dragged Jason away. The fire brigade laid down a sea of foam across the soaked floors, drenching Alex and Sylvie in the process.
Nick clattered down the stairs to them. “You’re covered in petrol,” he said in disbelief. “Upstairs, both of you. Get into the shower. I’ll explain to the police.” He led them to the bathroom and started the shower, then pulled out towels for them. “Dump your clothes in the bath. I’ll find something dry for you to wear.”
Sylvie’s teeth were chattering. Delayed shock? Alex stripped her, and bundled her under the cascading water.
“You too,” she said.
He followed, and they stood clinging to each other under the hot water. It took a long time before she stopped trembling. Or maybe that was him. It was a nightmare to get clean. It took an entire bottle of shower gel before the stink was gone from their hair.
Alex gave her a lingering kiss. “You were awesome. I might have to hire you as a bodyguard.”
Her eyes danced. “Do you realise what happened? I broke the prediction. We averted the fire before it happened. We changed what might have been.”
Alex shuddered. The idea of being on fire was terrifying on an entirely new level. He never wanted to repeat the experience.
There was a knock at the bathroom door. It was Lara. “I hate to hurry you, but the police are keen to speak to you. I’ve got clean clothes for you to borrow.” She opened the door a little way and slipped a bundle inside.
“Thanks, Lara. We’ll be five minutes.” Sylvie called back, before resuming the job of towel-drying her long hair. “Their house is a mess,” she said. “Should we take them back to Jorda
n’s tonight?”
“Shit. We need to tell Jordan we’re okay. He’ll be out of his mind.”
Their phones were inside their wet clothes, in a soggy bundle. Sylvie extracted her knife and cleaned it, before tucking it into her borrowed sock.
Alex sighed. “Okay, this turned out useful today. But I really don’t like you carrying it.”
She nodded. “I’ll put it into storage when we get home, okay? Now let’s find a working phone and call Jordan, then give our statements.”
****
Adele watched the police as they dragged Jason away. She had the satisfaction of knowing she’d smashed his face with her shoe and wrecked his good looks. That single moment of knowing she held his life or death in her hands was bizarre. She didn’t feel empowered or strong, just petrified. And after they gave their stories to the police and were allowed to leave, she stood on Nick’s doorstep for a long moment, wondering what happened next.
Karl had no doubts. He steered her into the car and took her back to his house.
It was only later that she realised the big guy and the dark-haired girl were AJ and Sizzle again. And she almost shot Sizzle. It made her want to throw up.
Adele snuggled on Karl’s sofa, his arms around her, and her face pressed into his chest.
“You should take the job in Houston,” he said.
She froze. Was this his way of breaking up with her? “But... what if I stayed?”
“You said you were falling in love with me. Did you mean it?”
“Yes. Every word.” She pushed against his chest, to sit up. She had to see his face.
His eyes were warm, his expression serious. “I love you, Adele. I want to make this work between us, and that’s why you need to return to Houston.”
Her thoughts dissolved. “You love me?”
He huffed a laugh. “I’m crazy about you. Can’t you tell?”
She wanted to kiss him, but they hadn’t finished yet. “So how can it work if you’re in London and I’m in Texas?”
“I’ll ask for a transfer. I don’t want you to resent me if you turn down a promotion to stay here.”
“What about your house?”
He cupped her face with both hands, brushing his thumbs over her cheekbones. God, she loved when he did that. “One step at a time,” he said.
Their lips met, but Adele hesitated. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
“What?”
She smiled. “Come back home with me for Christmas. I want to introduce my lovely new boyfriend to my family.”
“Sounds like a plan. Can I kiss you now?”
****
Jordan hugged Kate as they sat on the sofa. Everyone was okay. Farnley was safely in custody, while Alex, Sylvie, Nick, and Lara were all on their way back here. Aiden was on his way too, for a debriefing. Just like at Rhosneigr, Jordan’s London home seemed to act as the centre of the universe for everyone to congregate in. Kate set about making up a spare bed and sorting out food. Jordan took more Nurofen and waited for the others to arrive.
The group talked through the night’s events. Aiden told them that Jason was carrying a fake passport and a plane ticket to Spain. He was planning to head away for a new life, once his fun with them was complete. The police also thought Jason was responsible for feeding malicious stories about TM-Tech to the press.
Was this drama finally over?
Jordan had only been asleep a couple of hours when he heard a bumping noise and a low howl of pain. He leapt out of bed, and Kate sat up beside him.
Alex beat him to the kitchen, where Sylvie was slumped on the floor, muttering.
Alex scooped her up in his arms. “She’s sleepwalking,” he said. He looked pale in the dim lighting.
Jordan’s heart raced from the shock. Nick and Lara came up behind him, to investigate.
“Does she do this often?” Jordan asked.
“Only when she’s very stressed. I’m sorry, folks. Wait here a moment.” He carried her back to the bedroom and reappeared a few minutes later.
Kate was already boiling the kettle and making cups of tea as they gathered around the table.
Alex sat down and rubbed his hands across his face. He looked upset. “She has a pattern to her nightmares. She’ll sleepwalk, then a little later she has a nightmare and she may wake up screaming. It freaked me out when she first did it.”
Kate gave him a hug. “Why does it happen? What’s the trigger?”
“I’m not sure. I hope it’s the delayed shock from today.” He looked around the table. “Listen, guys, please don’t tell her about the sleepwalking. She’ll remember the nightmare, but it will terrify her if she knows about this as well.”
As they finished tea, Sylvie cried out from the bedroom, and Alex went back to soothe her. When she drifted out with him, tears were drying on her face. She looked surprised to see them all up. Kate offered her some tea, but she declined.
Alex sat, and Sylvie cuddled on his lap and buried her face in his neck, while he stroked her hair. “It was the fire again. I keep dreaming of the fire and Rico yelling to me. Why do I still dream it, Alex? We stopped it from happening,” she said.
He spoke softly and calmly. “It’s a nightmare, Syl; that’s all. We stopped the fire today, but the thought scared you, and that’s why you dreamed about it. Nothing more.”
He refused to think what else it could mean.
****
Lara was exhausted on Wednesday morning. Jordan suggested she and Nick take the rest of the week off work, while they sorted out their house. They needed professional cleaners for the carpets and had to replace the mattress, since Jason fired his gun into it.
She couldn’t thank Sylvie enough. It was Sylvie who disabled Jason before he could burn the house down, with her and Nick inside.
She also needed to talk to Nick about Adele. They called a truce last night, but in terms of elephants in the room, this was a particularly large one waiting for attention.
Jordan came to sit with her and Nick at the kitchen table. “How soon is Tess coming back, to run the Programme Office?” he asked with a smile.
“The week after next.” Lara felt a wave of disappointment. She enjoyed the challenge of managing the team, and once Tess was back, Lara would revert to her previous role of Senior Planner.
“I have a proposal for you to consider,” said Jordan. “You don’t need to let me know right away.”
His voice was serious, and she met his gaze with a flicker of alarm. What now?
“I was very impressed with the work you put in to uncover the fraud, and I know you did equally good work on the audit team last year,” he said.
Lara nodded and waited.
“I’m concerned there are too many loopholes in the current processes. I’m recommending to Thaddeus that we install a permanent internal audit team in the London office.” Jordan smiled. “What do you think about that?”
“That would be a great idea. There are so many gaps, mainly because of the disruption with the bombing, then the temporary offices and the move back. All kinds of security processes need to be tightened.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Jordan paused a moment. “How would you feel about a secondment, to get it established?”
“Me? I’d love to. Really?”
He nodded, his eyes twinkling.
Disappointment knocked. “I don’t know if Nick mentioned it, but—well—I’m pregnant. I’ll be going on maternity leave in the middle of next year. Are you looking for someone longer term?”
“He did tell me, and I’d like to add my congratulations. That’s why I suggested a secondment. Six months should be ample time to get a team in place before you have to leave. Then, when you’re ready to come back, it can be to run the team. That’s assuming you decide to come back.” Jordan stood and brushed away some toast crumbs. “Anyway...” He was brisk now. “Let me know next week?”
She stood and grinned, holding out her hand to shake his. “I don’t need to
think about it. Thank you, Jordan. I’d love to do it.”
He nodded. “I’ll get started on the paperwork. Good luck with the clean-up, I’ll see you both on Monday.”
Lara glanced at Nick, who sipped his coffee at the table.
He gazed at her with an expression of such pride, her heart turned over. “Well done.” His voice was soft and tender. “There’s nobody better for the job. I’m very proud of you.”
Her head spun with excitement. A promotion. A team of her own. The chance to start it all from scratch. What a fantastic opportunity. She looked around, but nobody else was there. She moved to stand beside Nick and reached for his hands. His hair was sticking up, wild and uncombed, and his smile was warm but nervous.
“Nick, babe, I need to know where I stand. Where we are.”
She saw the sadness in his eyes. “I made a mistake, Lara.” He hesitated, and then kissed her fingers. “I’ve been a complete dick. I’ve fucked up our marriage and hurt you. Is there any way you’ll let me come back to you? Anything I can do or promise, to let you know how sorry I am for everything?”
Lara took a deep breath. “It will take me a long time to trust you again, Nick. I might be paranoid about where you go and who you see. I’ll nag you and bitch at you. I’ll keep you on a very tight leash. Can you live with that?”
He stared up at her, hope in his eyes, but she hadn’t finished. “I want you to support me having our baby. Even if you’re not happy about it, I want you to be happy for me. This is our child. Our future family. If you stay, you’re in this for the long haul. I won’t let you bail out a few months down the line if you change your mind. And”—she paused for breath—“I know she’s your friend, but I want you to only see Adele when you absolutely have to, at work. No more coffees. No more squash with her.”
He smiled, and it was a beautiful sight. “If I say yes to everything?”
“If you say yes, we can go pick up your things. I guess they’re still in the car?”
She was amused at his fleeting look of horror when he realised his most personal possessions had spent the night in a car, on the car park of the local shopping mall. He squeezed her fingers and stood, to take her in his arms.
