As his searching eyes bored into hers, she felt she should know something. ‘Erm… well, the subject raises a lot of moral questions.’
‘Yes.’ Mike jabbed a finger towards her. ‘Spot on. Genetic engineering is a very touchy subject within the scientific community. Very few labs are given licences to carry out gene experiments, and they all have to document their studies very carefully and publish the results in the medical journals.’ He sat down in his high-backed leather chair and clasped his hands on the desk. He had an expression Anna recognised: bright-eyed, intense, edgy. ‘So why doesn’t the MS Institute of Research publish any of its findings?’
Anna sat forward in her seat, electrified by the tension in Mike’s voice. ‘Because it’s doing something it shouldn’t.’
Mike began to shuffle papers, looking for something. ‘Maybe the Institute hasn’t got a licence, in which case Galloway’s breaking the law. If so, that’s one hell of a risk to take. What is it that makes that risk worthwhile? It’s always the same thing, Anna.’
‘Money,’ she butted in.
Mike smiled, obviously pleased that Anna was on the ball. ‘Money,’ he agreed. ‘But is it money from a drugs company? Or a foreign government — a fascist dictatorship perhaps?’ Mike’s voice grew raspy as he jumped to dramatic, newsworthy conclusions. He found the piece of paper he had been searching for. He narrowed his eyes, squinting in the darkness as he stared at it. ‘Just what is that creep Galloway up to, that has to be kept so secret? Chemical weapons? Experiments on animals?’ He lowered his voice. ‘Experiments on humans?’ He passed Anna the newspaper cutting. ‘I want you to go, Anna. I want you to play along with Galloway’s games. I want you to get into that Institute, and to stay there until you find out what’s going on. This could be the biggest story Undercover’s ever done.’
Anna’s fingers trembled slightly as she read the cutting out loud. ‘“Eighteen to thirty? No direction in life? Nowhere left to go? Then come to the MS Institute’s open day. We will show you a new way of life, where your work is rewarded and your mind is opened to new possibilities.”’ She looked up at Mike. ‘This open day — it’s tomorrow.’
Mike nodded. ‘It seems these recruitment drives are always held at odd times of the year, on days when most of us have better things to do. Jane said that the others who turned up the day she did were all the same: drifters, travellers, hippies, people running away from something. Holding interviews on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is obviously a ploy by Galloway. He wants to attract people with no family lives, no ties. Why, Anna?’
She turned down the corners of her mouth and shook her head. She didn’t have a clue why but, the more Mike told her, the more desperate she was to find out.
‘The Institute’s somewhere in the Lake District. If you want this job, Anna, we’ll have to leave soon. But I want you to think about it very carefully.’
There wasn’t much to think about. Anna was hooked. ‘But why me?’ she asked. ‘Shouldn’t someone with more experience do this? Kevin, perhaps, or… or Julie?’
Mike shook his head. ‘They’re experienced, but there’s always a faint chance they’ll be recognised from being on telly. I want you to do this, Anna, and not just because you won’t be recognised. I think you’re the best man for the job. You’re thorough, hard-working, and you can look after yourself. You’re also the best-looking woman on the production team. I mean… I don’t mean that to sound sexist, but Galloway obviously likes his staff to be attractive, for whatever reason. He won’t be able to resist you.’ Mike’s eyes drifted down Anna’s body. ‘Especially if you wear that dress.’
‘I’ll wear whatever you think is right.’ Anna basked in his longing. Her pussy twitched, partly with the warmth of his gaze, partly with anticipation for her first job as a reporter. ‘Thanks, Mike, for giving me a chance.’
‘You deserve it,’ Mike said nodding. ‘You’re one hell of a researcher. Don’t thank me yet, though. Neither of us can be sure of what you’re getting into. I’ll be honest, you could be in danger.’
‘I can look after myself.’
‘I know you can.’ Mike smiled fondly at her. ‘You remind me of me.’ He picked up a file and handed it to Anna. ‘All the information you need is in here. I’ll drive, so you can read it on the way. I’ve given you a new identity, which you’ll have to know inside out and back to front by the time we get to the Institute. There’s a letter in there from an imaginary fiancé, breaking up with you. He’s one of the reasons you’re seeking a new life at the Institute. You’ll have the letter in your bag, just in case they do some snooping around of their own.’
Mike had thought of everything. That was his job. ‘You have been busy.’ She looked up at him. ‘What would you have done if I’d said no?’
‘I knew you wouldn’t.’ Mike leant back in his seat and watched Anna for a moment, as if weighing her up. ‘But there’s one thing I don’t know about you, Anna. How far will you go?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ll only have one chance to get into the Institute tomorrow. If Galloway fancies you, and I think we can safely assume that he will, then you’re likely to get to the interview stage. But what then, Anna? What if you find him repulsive when he starts asking you personal questions? What if you freeze when he asks you to touch yourself?’
Anna smiled to herself, thinking of how she had manipulated poor Rob, and the lover before him, and the one before him. Anna enjoyed being single and being in control. She was as capable of playing games as any man. ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to get into that Institute, Mike. Men like Galloway don’t frighten me. He may think he’s testing me, but I’ll be the one in control.’
‘So you won’t mind flirting with him?’
‘Flirting is something I’m very good at,’ she said.
‘Show me.’
Anna raised one eyebrow. ‘Sorry?’
‘Show me. I want to be sure of this, Anna, and I want you to realise what you’ll have to go through, tomorrow. I’ll be Galloway. Show me how you’ll flirt with him.’
Anna slowly nodded. ‘OK.’
As Mike talked, pretending to be Galloway and telling Anna about the Institute and its work, a tingle ran up the back of Anna’s spine and down her bare arms, making the hairs stand up. Her excitement was like flaky pastry, layer after layer of sweet pleasure. There was Mike’s deep, gravelly voice. There was the thought of meeting Galloway tomorrow, knowing she had to impress him and knowing she would have the upper hand. There would be the tense, thrilling buzz of infiltrating the Institute and betraying its secrets. And tonight there was Mike, wanting her, using this role-play as an excuse to come on to her. Well, she would show him. He wanted flirting; that’s what he would get.
She leant forward. Resting her elbows on the desk, and her chin on her laced fingers, she gazed into Mike’s eyes. Unblinking, she looked from one eye to the other, then slowly she moved her gaze on to his mouth. As she watched his lips moving, her own lips parted slightly. When Mike’s voice faltered, just for a second, she noticed and looked up. Smiling slightly and innocently, she blinked.
Mike continued talking. Anna dropped one hand on to the desk and, with the other, began a journey over her neck which was designed to distract Mike’s attention. Slowly, absent-mindedly, as if totally caught up in what he was saying, her fingertips trailed around the back of her head. She played with her hair for a moment, curling a lock around one finger. Then her touch moved back across her throat and down to her shoulder. As if she was aching there, Anna spread her hand over the lower slope of her neck and gently squeezed. As she did so, the delicate strap of her dress slid from her shoulder. Keeping her eyes fixed on Mike’s, Anna left the strap dangling provocatively and sat back in her chair.
‘So,’ Mike said, shifting in his seat and quite obviously enjoying this game as much as Anna was, ‘that’s all I can tell you about the Institute. I would like to offer you a place here, Anna, but I need to be sure you’re the righ
t candidate for the position. May I ask you some personal questions?’
Anna crossed her legs high up. Her short dress rode up her thighs. She folded her arms in her lap, surreptitiously pulling her skirt upward by another all-important couple of inches. Without a downward glance, Anna knew that the top of her stocking was now clearly visible. ‘Fire away,’ she answered breathily.
‘How…’ Mike salvaged his attention from her thigh and retrieved his line of thought. ‘How many lovers have you had, Anna?’
She raised her chin, meeting his challenging stare. ‘Not enough.’
‘What is your favourite sexual position?’
‘I’ll show you,’ she said, slowly standing up. Her heart pounded noisily as she took a step towards Mike’s desk.
Holding his eyes with hers, she gradually leant forward and placed her hands next to his elbows. Her back was straight, parallel to the desk, her legs apart and her sex throbbing. At that moment, she forgot about everything else and wanted one thing only: Mike’s body behind hers, his hands grabbing her waist, his cock sliding into her wet pussy.
Mike couldn’t stop himself. His mouth gaped and his grateful eyes fell down the front of Anna’s dress. Anna knew exactly what he could see; it was what she had seen when she had bent to the mirror to put her lipstick on, earlier that evening. It was what Rob had seen as she had knelt over him, cuffing him to her bed — her breasts, full, pale and perfect, dangling seductively, her dark nipples wide and pouting.
‘Jesus,’ Mike murmured.
Anna raised the three-inch heels of her strappy black shoes another inch from the floor. Pushing her torso further forward, she brought her face a breath away from Mike’s. He hesitated for a second, looking up at her, blinking uncertainly. Then he kissed her, his tongue urgently forcing its way inside her mouth, his lips crushed to hers. His hand slipped beneath her dress and cradled one pert breast, while his other buried itself in her hair. Softly moulding his fingers to her wonderful shape, Mike groaned quietly with pleasure. ‘Jesus, Anna,’ he whispered, when their faces parted for air. ‘I want you so much. I’ve always wanted you. But we work together…’
His voice had doubts, but his body had none. He stood and moved around the desk. With two strides he was behind Anna, his hands on her waist. ‘We shouldn’t,’ he grumbled, ruffling up her dress to expose her naked behind. ‘We can’t, it’s hopeless, we’ve got to work together, oh Jesus,’ he gasped. ‘You’ve got no knickers on.’
Anna languidly arched her lower back. She felt her pussy lips parting. Mike’s hands were on her arse, and she almost cried with longing as they slowly moved downward. With his palms on her cheeks, he delicately opened her sex with his thumbs. ‘We shouldn’t,’ he sighed. ‘I swore I’d never sleep with anyone I worked with… It’s bound to cause problems…’
Anna straightened up, pushing his hands away. ‘Let’s not do it, then.’ She turned to face Mike. ‘If it’s going to cause problems, we should just forget it.’ Inside, she was burning, but outside she was as cool as ever. Her expression was blank, giving away nothing.
Mike’s expression gave away everything. He couldn’t forget it, no matter how unwise it was for him to sleep with a colleague. He gave up the half-hearted battle and kissed Anna’s long neck, smothering her skin with his lips. He grabbed her breasts, squeezing them together beneath the soft satin of her dress. Leaning his pelvis into hers, he pressed his erection against her hip.
Anna slipped her hands between their urgent bodies and fumbled with his flies. Sliding a hand into his boxer shorts, she curled her fingers around his long, thick penis and brought it out of the dark warmth. Pulling away from Mike, she hitched herself up on to the edge of the desk.
Anna watched as Mike’s head bowed. There was silence apart from his heavy, rapid breathing, and Anna savoured the stillness. She loved that moment: the final, heart-stopping instant of anticipation, the point of no return, the slow-motion, tension-saturated second before the searing pleasure. With tremulous fingers, Mike pushed her dress up over her thighs, then over her hips. His palms slid downward again on to her legs, and then gently pushed them apart. Looking down, his eyes feasted on the dark triangle of hair pointing the way to his pleasure. His hands moved around behind Anna. Holding her buttocks, he eased her closer to his rearing cock.
Then they were together, the sharp edge of the desk biting into Anna’s flesh while his penis thrust deep inside her. Mike fucked her with long, deliberate strokes, his head bowed in worship of her sex and his hot fingers grasping her tightly. Anna grasped him too, wrapping her calves around his legs. But it was no use; he was pulling at her, urging her sex further on to his prick, and any minute now she would fall off the table. So she lay back, pressing her torso on to the cold wood and lifting her legs. She rested her ankles on Mike’s shoulders, digging in with her heels as her feet pointed with pleasure. As he thrust, Mike turned his face to kiss and bite Anna’s calf. He held on with one hand while the other stroked up and down her stockinged thigh. Anna saw him, lost with rapture inside her silken pussy, and she lost herself. She pushed the low neckline of her dress down over her breasts. Exposing the swollen white mounds, she pinched her engorged nipples until the pain shuddered down into her belly and mingled with the champagne swilling around in there. Keeping one nipple trapped between her fingers, she reached down with her other hand. Her clitoris was throbbing with desperation, and a few seconds of pinching and rolling in time with Mike’s last, grunting thrusts was all it took. As they came in close succession, shuddering and groaning loudly, the sound of their climax was accompanied by delighted whooping, clapping and cheering outside in the streets.
Anna began to laugh. Not only had she managed to see the New Year in as planned, but the whole of London was applauding.
It wasn’t until they were in the car, on their way up North, that Anna remembered Rob. ‘Oh shit,’ she whispered, fumbling in her bag for her mobile. After ten rings, Suzy answered breathlessly.
‘Suzy? Having fun?’
‘Anna! Where are you?’
‘I’m on the M6.’
‘Anna, are you all right? What’s going on? No one knew where you’d gone.’
‘I’m fine. I’m working on a story.’ She paused, telling Suzy in the short silence what she would have liked to tell her in words, had she been alone. ‘I’m with Mike.’
‘With Mike. Oh, I see,’ Suzy said, in a suggestive tone of voice. ‘Thought you’d make a start on your New Year’s resolutions, did you? Tell me, which one are you working on? The putting in extra hours bit, or the having fun?’
‘Both. Listen, I’m on my way to check out a story. I can’t tell you anything else, but I wanted to let you know I won’t be coming home tonight.’
‘OK, sweetie. I’ll see you when I see you. Take care.’
‘Do me a favour, Suzy.’
‘Sure.’
‘Go into my bedroom, and… er…’ She glanced at Mike. ‘Look after Rob for me.’
It was Suzy’s turn to pause tellingly.
‘Suzy?’
She giggled. ‘Don’t worry about Rob. He’s in safe hands.’
Chapter Two
They arrived at the motel at five in the morning.
Exhausted, Anna stumbled into bed and slept. A minute later, or so it seemed, Mike woke her up. He was still sitting in the chair, still fully dressed.
‘Don’t you ever sleep?’ Anna muttered, holding her pounding head as she sat up.
Mike’s eyes flickered as the sheet fell from Anna’s breasts. ‘I couldn’t risk not waking up in time. It was better to stay up.’
Anna shook her head in disbelief. Easing her heavy limbs out of bed, she walked across the room to the bathroom, passing Mike on the way.
‘I need a shower,’ she moaned. In the mirror, Mike appeared behind her, looking more sexily rumpled than ever. ‘Do you want to join me?’ she mumbled hopefully.
He shook his head. ‘Well… of course I do,’ he said regretfully, his dark eyes
taking in her nakedness. ‘But we haven’t much time. I want to test you on your new identity. We can’t afford any mistakes, Anna.’ He turned away from her. Resting his forehead against the tiles, he let out a long sigh. ‘Christ, I’m nervous about this.’
Anna turned on the shower and stepped in. ‘Nervous?’ she shouted above the spray. ‘What about?’
Mike watched through the glass as she soaped her breasts. ‘I’m having second thoughts about sending you off into this alone. If anything happens to you…’
‘Nothing’s going to happen,’ Anna said cheerfully. She was sure of that. No matter how mesmerising Dr Galloway was, Anna would handle him.
Half an hour later, Anna set off alone for the Institute. Mike’s old VW Golf had been cleared of anything relating to him. The debris left in there now was purely anonymous: sweet papers, newspapers and crumpled tissues. Anna’s bag had been emptied of credit cards, driving licence and anything else with her name on, and her head had been filled with her new identity. Anna Johnson was twenty-seven, like Anna. But unlike Anna she had no family, no job, no life to speak of.
Following Mike’s directions, Anna exited the quiet motorway. After twenty minutes on an empty dual carriageway she was almost lulled back to sleep and nearly missed her next turning. Spotting the sign just in time, she took a left on to a smaller road. This one wound dramatically upward, taking Anna further into the Lake District’s snow-topped hills. She hadn’t been to the Lakes for a couple of years, when one boyfriend had insisted she accompany him on an outdoor-pursuits holiday. Anna hadn’t been keen — as far as she was concerned, there was only one outdoor pursuit worth pursuing — but she had fallen in love with the splendour of the area. Now, in winter, the countryside looked very different. The lushness had turned stark, the greens and blues darkened to browns and greys. The views were even more stunning than she remembered.
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