by Fiona Palmer
Jaz locked the door, leant against it and then slid down to the floor. Tomorrow’s shift couldn’t come soon enough. Until then, the worry was going to eat her from the inside out.
***
Jaz walked into the pub the next day full of jitters, like it was her first day and she was about to be tested on everything. So much depended on her coming away with information, but what if Bud never came? She’d have to endure another day! Just the thought threatened to drive her insane. As she started work, she was all fingers and fumbles. A glass slipped from her hand and shattered all over the floor.
Jaz felt like that glass, so close to shattering into a heap of bits.
‘Leave it, Jeni. I’ll get this,’ said Ted who’d turned up with a dustpan and brush. ‘Go serve the thirsty lads.’ He pointed to the end of the bar.
‘Hi guys, what can I get you,’ she asked the two blokes waiting with their money in hand. She almost missed their order as more patrons walked into the bar area. Part of her was hoping it was Bud and the other hoped it was Ryan.
All night she kept praying for Ryan to walk into the pub. Please let him walk in, she begged to the universe. But he never came. Bud did though, only because Jaz texted him to make sure he was coming by, and to sweeten him up she said she’d got an early knock off if he wanted to take her for a drive.
‘Sounds great. I’ll be there in ten,’ he’d texted back.
Then Jaz had to beg Ted for an early knock off.
‘You’re just lucky it’s a Thursday and I like you,’ he said with a frown.
Jaz put her hand on his shoulder. ‘I like you too, Ted. And you know I will make up for it.’ She smiled and he shook his head.
‘More like I can’t afford to have you here breaking all my glasses,’ he said with a grin. ‘You’re a bit out of sorts today. Is everything alright?’ he added, throwing his bar towel over his shoulder.
‘Yeah, just a few family issues, nothing to worry about,’ she said with a shrug.
When Bud came in, he stayed for one beer and then she grabbed her backpack and they left for his car.
‘You just want to drive my car again, don’t you?’ he asked. ‘Tell me the truth? Is it my car you’re after?’
Jaz pushed Bud back against his car, holding him there with both her hands on his chest. ‘Bud, I don’t care what car you drive,’ she said before leaning in to kiss him. Jaz made it the best kiss she could. She closed her eyes and thought of Ryan. She’d do whatever she had to, even if it meant going all the way with Bud, or even if she had to kill the whole lot of them. Nothing was going to stand between her and her soulmate.
‘Wow,’ said Bud as Jaz stopped for air. Bud’s hands were on her waist and he seemed moulded to his car. His eyes shone in the streetlight, his smile dopey and drunk looking.
‘Shall we go for a drive?’ she asked. ‘To the beach?’
‘Sure. Hop in.’
Bud parked at Cottesloe beach, it was quite busy with people out for an evening meal or stroll. Jaz climbed into the back of his car, Bud followed suit.
‘That’s better,’ she said as she slid close to him and snuggled up against his chest.
‘I agree. This beats sitting at home listening to Stevo try and sing in the shower and Tyson entertaining his lady friend,’ said Bud.
‘Sounds as exciting as my flatmate.’ Jaz held his hand in hers. His fingers were short and stubby, his hand wide. Nothing like Ryan’s strong long fingers, so capable and tender even though they were calloused. ‘Do you find it hard working all day with them, then sharing a house as well?’ she asked, moving into phase one of her plan.
‘Yeah, on occasion. It’s not too bad. Sometimes I can go all day and not see Stevo or Tyson.’
‘And Wilkins and Reece?’ she added.
‘Thank God I don’t live with Wilkins, he gives me the shits enough at work. He stays at the staff quarters on the estate. I think because he likes the housemaids who stay there too,’ said Bud. ‘He’s all drag cars and conquests.’
‘Reece hasn’t been around much. Is he still busy with work? Seemed like you guys all got on well enough,’ said Jaz, dipping her hand between his legs. If she could keep his concentration on what she was doing and not her questions, then he might not realise what she was up to.
‘Reece, is um …’ Bud struggled to make a sentence as her hand worked its way up his thigh. ‘He’s actually not around anymore.’
‘Did he get fired?’ Jaz reached for his hand and rested it against her breast. She knew Bud would like this, he stared at them enough. ‘What did he do? Shoot someone?’ Jaz had talked with Bud before about his bodyguard job and getting to carry guns. She always carried on as if it was such an exciting job and wanting to know if he’d ever shot anything. Due to her interest Bud usually tried to talk up his line of work, either saying if Randall had shot someone or the other day when Reece had tackled a bloke to the ground who’d been about to attack Jamison. In trying to impress her he’d inadvertently given away snippets that Jaz had clung to.
‘Or did he get shot himself?’ Jaz said, stopping her hand just before it reached the zipper on his jeans.
‘No, no one got shot. But I did hear he’s in trouble with the boss. He’s done something to piss Randall off. Wilkins loves it, he has his old job back and now there is a new kid driving the car.’
Jaz didn’t like the sound of this one bit. How much more could she probe? Did Bud have any more answers? Jaz went for his zipper, Bud’s hand found its way under her shirt to her breast.
‘Oh Jeni.’ He groaned.
He glanced out the window and she could tell he like the danger of this, of being in a public place.
‘You like it dangerous, don’t you? Bet you’d like to see my gun too?’ he said with a smile.
Jaz leant over and kissed him, then whispered against his ear. ‘You know I do. Tell me more,’ she said panting a little and increasing her strokes. ‘What do they do with Reece? Does he get punished if he’s not fired? Is it like the gangster movies and he gets buried somewhere?’ she said.
‘Oh, he’d be getting punished for sure. You don’t double-cross the boss.’
Bud was wriggling in ecstasy while Jaz felt like she was working. Is this how those poor girls who were forced into prostitution felt? Jaz tried to put it to the back of her mind, as if this was another job like scrubbing the toilets or mopping floors. Every job had a shitty part.
After Bud had reached his happy end they sat in the car, watching the moon glisten across the water.
‘Well, I wasn’t expecting that to happen tonight,’ said Bud, holding her hand.
‘Surprises are good, hey?’
‘Yep. Do you want to go get something to eat? My girlfriend,’ said Bud, nudging her shoulder.
‘That sounds like a plan.’ Jaz felt sorry for him, the fact that she was stringing him along and would dump him the moment this mission was over. It was hard not to be conflicted. He wasn’t a mean person, that she’d seen yet, and had always been sweet to her.
As they got out of his car they walked towards the road where pubs and eating places were. Bud was chatting, wondering about what to eat, but Jaz’s mind was on other things. Okay, it was only on Ryan. From what Bud had said she got a good feeling that Ryan was still alive for the moment. Maybe he wasn’t in a good way but he was alive. She had to hope that maybe things weren’t clear-cut, because if Ryan had been caught red-handed he’d more than likely be killed on the spot. Guys like Jamison didn’t play games, they didn’t get to where they were by being nice. Salvatore wasn’t nice, he’d killed Ryan’s friend Chris the moment they realised he was a spy. Jaz shivered as she imagined the same happening to Ryan. God, she hoped not.
‘Jeni? Is pizza okay?’ he asked again.
‘Oh, yep, sounds great, Bud.’ Jaz mentally kicked herself. She had to pay attention, even though all she wanted to do was run and find Tilly and then demand they do something to save Ryan. She didn’t want to sit here playing nice with Bud when
Ryan could be suffering. It had already been more than five days, how much longer could he hold out? Would the agency send in a team or would they not compromise the mission? Maybe Ryan could survive the questioning and be trusted again. It all relied on unknowns. Jaz hated unknowns. She needed to know now.
She would scoff her pizza and then feign feeling sick and ask Bud to drop her back the pub, saying she’d accidentally left her keys there. She didn’t want him to know her address to the agency flat just yet. If it could be avoided, all the better. They didn’t need Bud turning up at all hours trying to see Jaz when no one actually lived there.
Until then Jaz had to sit through dinner with Bud while her body churned with thoughts of Ryan and what he could be going through. One thing was a plus, she didn’t have to feign feeling sick because right now she felt downright horrible.
Chapter 26
Jaz had her hair tied up in a bun the moment she got out of bed, just in case Tilly was watching. It had been a shit night’s sleep and she was up at six so she went into the gym and did a heap of push-ups and speedball work.
Anna and Taylor staggered in at seven after another marathon TV night of watching Black Sails, messy haired and in their crumpled pyjamas, holding cups of coffee.
‘Jaz, stop trying to kill yourself and come and get a coffee,’ said Taylor. He stood in only the black shorts he wore to bed.
Anna was right by his side, her face full of concern. ‘Was it bad?’
Jaz grabbed her towel and started to wipe the sweat from her body as she walked towards her friends. ‘It wasn’t good news, but I believe he is alive.’
‘Oh good,’ Anna said with relief. ‘Come, sit and tell us all.’
They all went back to the kitchen. Anna sat beside Jaz while Tay made her a coffee. She told them everything Bud had mentioned. ‘What I’m thinking is he’s hidden away somewhere under interrogation. I think Bud would have told me if he was dead.’ Jaz shuddered at the word. ‘At least I think he would. The gang seems tight so he’d know what happens to Ryan.’
‘So now what?’ said Taylor. ‘Wait and see?’
‘I’ll see Tilly this morning and then hope he has a plan. Then we go from there.’
Tay and Anna glanced at each other and Jaz knew what they were thinking. What if Ryan wasn’t alive? What if they couldn’t save him? What would that do to their friend? She knew they were worried for Ryan and for Jaz but she couldn’t think of how to reassure them that she’d be okay, because truthfully Jaz didn’t know if she would be okay. So she offered them something else.
‘Life can be short, you never know what’s around the corner. If I’ve learnt anything, it’s to love and to not waste time doing it. To take risks, live to the fullest and smile.’ Jaz reached out to hold her friends’ hands. ‘I love you guys. It’ll be okay.’ She hoped. She had to because it’s all she had. Hope.
***
Down at the beach Jaz let Cody go in by himself. ‘Don’t become shark bait,’ she yelled as he splashed into the cool waves. Jaz was too agitated waiting for Tilly to even contemplate surfing. Instead she sat on the sand with her board and scanned the beach.
She didn’t realise the man walking up the beach with a surfboard and boardies was Tilly until he was practically standing beside her.
‘A man of many disguises,’ she said. With his sunnies and bronzed chest he looked like he belonged amongst the sand and surf.
‘I make a living from it. Gotta be good at it.’ Tilly put his board down and sat beside her. The beach was empty and only about five surfers in the water, including Cody. ‘So. How’s our Ryan doing?’ Tilly said, as if he was asking about the weather instead of something of this magnitude.
Jaz quickly filled him in, every little detail, as she knew Tilly would want that. He might take something different from Bud’s words that she may have missed.
‘What do we do?’ she asked afterwards. Surely Tilly held all the answers.
He scratched his chin. ‘Not much we can do. We don’t know where he’s being held. No one has noticed anything from the estate or warehouse. I’m going to go straight out and watch the warehouse, that’s my first bet as it’s new and the most likely place, but they could have moved him. It’s so hard to know. We can’t go storming into every building Jamison owns. We just have to keep watching.’
‘That’s it!’ Jaz almost yelled. ‘Watch and wait? What if they are torturing him?’
‘He knows how to deal with that. He won’t give away the agency. If they are torturing him, he will die before he gives himself up. Best chance is they end up believing him and put him back on duty.’
‘Yeah, and if not they kill him. Great.’ Jaz was furious. Surely the agency could send a man in there to get him out. Then Jaz realised they didn’t really know where he was. ‘So we watch and wait.’
‘You could keep pressuring Bud, he might be the only way to find out where Ryan is being held.’
Great. ‘Is it worth trying to get to know Annaliese and see if she knows anything?’
‘You could try. But you run the risk of working both sides and having them meet. You know too many of the gang now, they could place you.’ Tilly remained calm, his voice even.
Jaz felt ready to scream and throw fistfuls of sand in frustration.
‘Ryan wouldn’t want you to endanger yourself. Let’s just take things easy, don’t rush into anything.’
Tilly shot her a look, as if Jaz was well known for this. Well, maybe she did have a little track record of jumping into the deep end.
‘I’m no good at just waiting, Tilly. This is Ryan.’ Her heart was in her mouth and she forced the well of emotion back down. She would not cry in front of Tilly.
‘I know, Jaz,’ his voice was barely a whisper. ‘We need to use our heads. No one will be sitting still twiddling their thumbs. I’m going to leave here and put a task force together to watch every building, worker, you name it. Jamison won’t be able to take a shit without one of our guys knowing about it. We’ll find out where Ryan in and then we can work out our next plan of attack.’
He was right. Even when they did find Ryan, getting him out could ruin everything. But when it came to his life, maybe blowing the mission was the right thing to do. Jaz just hoped Ryan saw it that way. Maybe they’d be able to get a signal from him, he would know if he needed extracting.
Suddenly a little thought popped into her head. And she wondered, maybe this idea would be worth trying? She didn’t tell Tilly, because this idea fell into the ‘don’t rush into anything’ category. Seriously, it probably needed a good week to think on, but Jaz didn’t have a week. She needed action now. This plan might just be crazy enough to work and she was desperate.
‘I’ll stay in touch.’ Tilly got up, unaware of Jaz’s busy mind planning its own scheme. Before he left the beach he said, ‘Tell Cody to meet me asap at our meeting place.’
Cody came back to shore, shaking water all over Jaz. ‘What’s the verdict?’
Jaz relayed the conversation and told him about meeting Tilly.
‘Well, what are we waiting here for?’
Cody didn’t bother drying himself off. They headed to his jeep and he drove Jaz back to the gym before heading off to meet with Tilly. Jaz, on the other hand, went inside and changed into baggy green cargo pants, her hi-top Converse and a loose shirt and a hat she could hide under, with her reflective aviator sunglasses.
‘Where are you going?’ asked Anna as Jaz was heading for the door.
‘I’m out for a while. Not sure how long I’ll be, but I’ll text.’ Anna frowned. ‘It’s okay, just doing some watching for Tilly,’ she lied. It was a little white lie, as she didn’t want to tell Anna the truth, not yet. If she told her what she was about to do then Anna would need to know all the stuff she’d kept to herself. Stuff that only Ryan was privy to. The only reason Anna didn’t know about it was because Jaz wasn’t sure how to tell her friends. That and the fact she’d buried it to the deepest part of her mind as she’d been tryi
ng to move on.
Until now she’d done a great job of forgetting Salvatore. But right now he could be the key.
Jaz left the gym and headed to Salvatore’s place. She sat in her Jeep parked out the side but it drove her insane waiting for something to happen, so she went to his aeroplane hangar. She knew what car he drove and was excited to see it parked by the large building. Jaz did a drive-by, and then left her car hidden in a car park up by the small airport. Walking back, she tried to figure out how this was going to work. Would his men shoot her? Would they even remember her? What would she say and do?
Before she knew it she was opening the office door. Last time she was here, Ryan was by her side. It was the day after they’d made love. That thought alone strengthened her spine, and inside to the lion’s den she went.
No one was in the office part, and she wasn’t here to snoop so no paperwork or stuff on the desks was of interest to her, so Jaz took a deep breath and walked out back. She knew the way.
‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing back here,’ yelled a man over by a workshop bench. Not far from where the black plastic had been rolled out last time.
‘I’m looking for Salvatore,’ she said. Her voice almost cracked at his name. What the hell was she about to do? Had she gone completely nuts? Maybe.
‘That doesn’t mean you can just waltz in here. There are safety protocols,’ the man told her, walking closer.
Jaz could tell by the way he walked that there was a gun tucked into his pants at his back. She didn’t bother to ask about his so-called safety protocols. ‘Is Salvatore here or not,’ she asked.
‘What’s up, Jim?’ said another guy that came from the back of the workshop behind a couple of vehicles parked inside. This guy wore jeans and his hand was tucked behind him. No doubt ready to aim his gun on Jaz if need be.
Jaz tried looking around the shed, Salvatore had to be here. His car was. Shit, what if it was just here to be serviced by his staff? ‘I’ll wait until Salvatore turns up. I have an urgent message for him.’
‘I don’t care who you are, lady.’ The man in jeans came up closer and tried to look under her hat to see what he was dealing with. He glanced at the other bloke. Jaz could see them trying to decide what to do. ‘You need to leave this area. Go make an appointment like everyone else. Salvatore is a busy man.’
