He turned back to the room, caught the attention of one of the waiting staff, and handed his empty glass to her. He smiled his thanks as she walked away, then glanced around the room. He moved his eyes slowly, taking in his surroundings, sweeping the crowd of guests at regular intervals. He stepped out into the hallway. Standing to one side to let a giggling couple run past him, he took a sip of his drink and contemplated his next move.
He thought quickly. Whatever he did here tonight, he’d have to make sure he got out with something. Once Delaney found out who was on his trail, they wouldn’t get another chance.
He had seen Delaney at the far end of the reception room, but he hadn’t yet been spotted. Glancing down the hallway, he glimpsed a staircase guarded by ostentatious ornaments, both of them in bad taste. Taking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray, he nodded to a couple who would now spend the evening wondering how they’d previously made his acquaintance, before he turned and climbed the stairs.
Pretending to admire the artwork on the walls, he glanced up towards the rooms on the next floor as he climbed – all the doors were shut. His eyes wandered across the landing then back down towards the stairs.
He frowned as a familiar figure came into view, climbing the stairs towards him. He walked over and took Sarah by the arm as she stepped onto the landing.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he snapped. ‘I thought I told you to stay with Mitch?’
Sarah shrugged off his grip. ‘He’s fine,’ she hissed. ‘I wanted to help you.’
Dan shook his head. ‘It wasn’t Mitch I was worried about,’ he said.
Sarah smirked. ‘I know. I told him to create a scene if any of the security guards looked like they were heading this way. What’s the plan?’
Dan looked down the hallway. ‘Try a door I guess.’
He put his champagne glass down on an ornate dresser to one side of the landing, and then wandered along the hallway. He kept close to the wall and tested the door handles as he went. Three of the rooms led to what appeared to be guest bedrooms, the next one a lounge area with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the airport and docks in the far distance.
Sarah tapped him on the shoulder. ‘What are you looking for?’ she whispered.
Dan glanced along the hallway, then turned to her. ‘A man like Delaney won’t keep all his secrets at the office. He must have a study or something at home. And I’ll bet it’s locked.’
Sarah nodded and gestured for him to continue, looking behind her as they carried on. They passed a large media room, the surfaces of various appliances glinting in the reflection of the light from the hallway, then stopped at the next door. Dan twisted the handle. It held fast. He turned and nodded at Sarah.
Taking a small multi-tool from his pocket, he pushed a sliver of steel into the lock and moved it from side to side. He figured it worked in the movies, so it was worth a try. He glanced up at Sarah. The dress suited her, he thought, the peach tones complementing her pale skin.
She stared intently at his hands, holding her breath as he worked the lock, then realised he was watching her. ‘What?’
Dan nodded his head towards the empty hallway. ‘Keep watch – we can’t risk anyone seeing us here.’
She nodded, turning her back to him. He risked another glance at the dress, smiling to himself as he worked.
‘Dan – there’s someone coming!’ Sarah hissed.
He looked up from the door, just as the lock clicked open. A man and woman had just left one of the rooms and were walking towards them along the hallway, talking and laughing. Sarah glanced at Dan, fear in her eyes.
He improvised.
Grabbing Sarah’s hand, he laughed and dragged her into the room after him, pulled her into an embrace and planted a lingering kiss on her lips. He looked up and winked at the couple as they passed the room, then slammed the door shut.
As the door closed behind her, Sarah pulled away from Dan, stunned. Then she slapped him across the face, hard.
‘Hey!’
‘What the hell are you doing?’ she hissed, flicking on the light switch.
Dan rubbed his cheek, blinking in the sudden light. ‘They would’ve found it suspicious, us sneaking around like that – now they won’t think twice about what they just saw,’ he said, glaring at her, then laughed, seeing the confused look on her face. ‘Don’t tell me you thought I was serious.’
Sarah stared at him. ‘S-sorry. I – no,’ she stumbled, then pushed past him into the room, trying to look busy.
Dan grinned to himself and shrugged. It was a good kiss. He looked around the room, which appeared to be Delaney’s private office.
‘Bingo,’ he murmured. ‘Right,’ he said, pulling two sets of gloves out of his pocket and handing a pair to Sarah, ‘use these. Move things carefully. Put things back where you found them,’ he added.
‘What are we looking for?’ she asked, slipping the gloves on and wandering over to a bookshelf.
Dan walked over to an ornate hardwood desk and switched on a small lamp, illuminating papers, reports, files. ‘Everything and anything. Photos, business cards, the lot. Has your phone got a camera function?’
Sarah nodded, patting her bag.
‘OK, get it out and for Christ’s sake, make sure you’ve got it switched to silent and the flash is off. We’ll just have to hope the detail shows up without it.’
Dan angled the lamp’s beam so it avoided the blinds on the windows. He sat down in the chair behind the desk. The seat swallowed his tall athletic body, creating a sudden awareness of the sheer enormity and power of Delaney.
He glanced across the room at Sarah. She turned documents over, frowning and then photographing the occasional page if it warranted further investigation. He smiled to himself. Sarah hadn’t asked him how he’d known how to break into the room, which was just as well – he wasn’t sure himself how that had happened so easily – but he was happy to take advantage of a bit of luck every now and then.
He looked back down at the desk surface, reached out and ran his fingers along the dark mahogany wood.
He pushed the chair away from the desk – three drawers were fitted on each side, with ornate metal handles protruding from the wood. He started on the left-hand side. He held the handle of the top drawer between his finger and thumb and tugged it gently. Locked. He repeated the process with the remaining two drawers and then turned to his right and began again. All were locked.
Dan slouched back in the chair, thinking hard. He glared at the desk. Then he saw something. He slid off the chair. A thick rug covered the carpet under the desk and chair to prevent it being worn through. He knelt on it and peered at the desk more closely.
Then he grinned. Poking out between the surface of the desk and the lip of the top drawer was the corner edge of a slip of paper. He raised his head above the surface of the desk and called gently.
‘Sarah?’
‘Hmmm?’
‘How long are your fingernails?’
She stopped, a document turned halfway in her hand, and glanced round to look at him. ‘What?’
‘Come and see this. I need your help.’
He ducked back behind the desk. He looked up as Sarah joined him, then pointed to the corner of the page protruding from the desk. ‘Can you get that?’
Sarah crouched down beside him. ‘I can have a go. Move over a bit.’
Dan shuffled out of the way. He watched as Sarah raised her hand and put her finger and thumb on each side of the sliver of paper. She paused. Dan held his breath.
Slowly, Sarah increased the pressure against the page and carefully began to pull it towards her. It stuck, momentarily, until Sarah moved it slowly left and right to free it. With a final tug, she pulled the document loose, sat back on her heels and then looked at Dan.
He breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Well done. Let’s have a look.’
Sarah turned the page over and showed him. It was off-white in colour with small puncture holes runnin
g along both sides. He could make out faint red lines crossing the page. He took it from Sarah and read the entries written on the page. He frowned then glanced up at the company logo and details at the top of the document. He eased himself back into the chair.
‘It’s a shipping manifest,’ he said. ‘But what the hell is he shipping?’
Sarah stood up and looked over his shoulder at the document in his hand. She reached out and pointed at it. ‘That’s where it’s going,’ she said. ‘S.I.N. – isn’t that Singapore?’
Dan nodded. ‘I reckon so – it’s what was on our luggage tags on the way out here.’ He held the page up to the light. ‘There’s a number here – looks like twelve, twelve, twenty, eleven.’
‘The date it left,’ said Sarah. ‘Whatever it was, we’ve missed it by over a month.’
Dan scratched his chin and thought hard. ‘There’s another sequence of numbers here – maybe it’s a reference number or something Mitch can track for us.’
Sarah nodded. ‘Maybe if we can…’
They both looked up at the sound of a crash and a shout from outside the door. Dan switched off the desk lamp and folded the shipping manifest. Standing, he slipped it into the pocket of his trousers and pushed Sarah round the desk.
‘Quickly,’ he whispered. ‘Put back the documents you were photographing. Grab your things – make sure you’ve got everything.’
Sarah hurried to the other side of the room and tidied the documents as best she could.
Dan grabbed her by the arm. ‘Leave it. We’re out of time.’
He walked over to the door and beckoned to Sarah. ‘Come over here. I’m going to open the door to see what’s going on. Stay close.’
Sarah nodded.
He gently squeezed her hand. ‘Do me a favour. For once, do as you’re told. Okay?’
She nodded. ‘Okay.’
He hit the light switch and the room plunged into darkness. He grabbed the door knob and twisted it slowly, then began to pull the door in towards him. He stood still and listened. He could hear Mitch at the bottom of the staircase. It sounded like an argument with one of the security guards.
Dan craned his neck around the door frame and looked down the hallway. Opening the door wider, he pulled Sarah out into the hallway with him and closed the door. It locked with a dull click. Dan and Sarah stood still, looking at each other, holding their breath.
Dan nodded, and then walked slowly along the hallway. Carefully, he edged closer to the banister at the top of the stairs and peered over. He could see the top of Mitch’s head as well as that of two of the security guards. One of the guards was remonstrating with Mitch.
‘This is a private residence sir. You can’t go upstairs. Guests are restricted to the lower level this evening.’
Mitch held up his hands. ‘I’m sorry guys. I saw one of you walking up the stairs and thought it was okay. I just wanted to take a look at Mr Delaney’s art collection. He has some fine pieces around here. He obviously knows his stuff.’
Dan watched as Mitch drew the guards’ attention away from the staircase and back out towards the reception. Dan turned and pulled Sarah towards him.
‘Listen to me. Go downstairs now, get Mitch and you go and start the car. I think we’ve been found out. If I’m not out of here in five minutes, you leave. You got that?’
Sarah grabbed hold of his arm. ‘We can’t leave you!’
Dan pulled her fingers away. ‘You can. And you will. Do it – I’ll be out as soon as I can. Now go!’
He propelled her across the hallway and down the first steps. She glanced back at him, once, then turned and hurried after Mitch.
Dan heard her improvising a minute later.
‘Darling, there you are! It’s time to go.’ There was a pause. ‘Yes, I do apologise – he can be a terrible bore after a few drinks…’
The voices faded. Dan waited until he heard the sound of the front door close over the murmur of voices from the remaining guests, then began to edge steadily down the stairs.
He almost reached the bottom tread when a security guard emerged from a catering kitchen, turned and looked straight at Dan.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded.
Dan froze. ‘Looking at art work?’ he tried.
He glanced to his left, through the reception room. The patio doors through to the terrace and deck were wide open. He glanced back at the security guard. The guard realised a fraction of a second too late what Dan was planning and made a grab for his arm.
Dan quickly took a step backwards, turned, then bolted for the terrace. He wove his way through the guests in the reception area, pushing people to one side. He could sense the security guard in pursuit.
Dan ran out onto the terrace and looked both ways. Security guards emerged from each side of the house, running along the decking towards him. He glanced behind him, just as the first security guard pushed through the crowd.
Dan turned back, and ran.
He vaulted over the ornate stone railing at the edge of the terrace and felt himself falling through thin air.
Dan tumbled into a shrubbery, and covered his face with his arms to avoid getting his eyes scratched. He rolled, breaking his fall, then grunted as he came to a stop on the edge of a gravel path. He stood up and looked back up at the terrace. He brushed himself off and grinned up at the security guard staring down at him.
He stopped smiling when he saw the guard reach down to his belt and pull out a small walkie-talkie radio.
Dan looked around, realising the guard’s call for reinforcements only left him with a few seconds before he was found. He ran along the gravel path in the direction of the driveway. As he turned a corner, he slid to a stop as another guard ambled towards him from behind a tree, his head down as he whistled gently to himself. Dan forced himself to relax and walked nonchalantly towards the guard.
‘Evening,’ he commented as he got closer.
‘Evening sir – leaving so early?’ asked the guard.
‘Ah, early morning tomorrow,’ shrugged Dan.
Suddenly the guard’s radio crackled to life. ‘Jimmy? Watch out for a bloke, about six feet four, brown hair, black suit and tie. Probably looks like he fell into a hedge. He did. Apprehend him if you see him and bring him back to the house.’
The guard looked up at Dan, stunned. Dan made the most of the split-second delay. He ducked out of reach of the security guard as he made a half-hearted grab for his jacket and then ran down the path. Vaulting over the security rope slung across the end of the path, he ran head-first down the steps of the manicured gardens. Reaching the ornamental lawns, he looked up long enough to check the car was parked on the driveway. Sure enough, it was there. Mitch had parked it right between the pillars at the entrance to the driveway so the security gate couldn’t be closed on Dan.
Glancing to his right, Dan spotted two guards energetically running down the length of the driveway between the trees, gaining on him. He ran for the car. He saw another guest’s vehicle coming round the bend from the direction of the house. He couldn’t risk slowing down, the guards were too close. He lunged forwards and as the car passed him, he slid across the bonnet of the small sedan. As it skidded to a shocked halt, the driver slammed the heel of his hand on the horn.
Dan picked himself up off the grass, stumbled to his feet and began to run across the lawn to the car. He could feel his lungs burning, his legs aching with every last stride. He slid to a halt next to the vehicle. Pulling the door open, he threw himself onto the back seat head-first and pulled the door shut behind him.
‘Go, go!’ he urged, careering backwards as the car accelerated and lurched into the narrow lane.
He pushed himself up straight and peered between the seats. ‘Slow down and turn there – let’s not draw any more attention to ourselves than we need to,’ he said, rubbing his hand over his eyes. ‘Jesus, Mitch, your driving skills haven’t changed, have they? I still feel like I’m doing the bloody Paris-Dakar whenever I’
m with you.’
‘No, you’re right,’ said Mitch drily as he peered across from the passenger seat. ‘I still leave it to others while I do the navigating.’
Dan did a double-take and looked at the driver’s seat. ‘Sarah? What the hell are you doing?’
She laughed. ‘Mitch didn’t get a chance to tell you he’s not allowed to drive any more, so it looks like you’re stuck with me.’
‘Could be worse, I suppose,’ mused Dan, then yelped as Sarah accelerated down the mountain. ‘Hey, steady!’
***
Delaney stared at the computer monitors, his eyes searching. ‘There. Stop the playback.’
The head of security obeyed.
Delaney jabbed a finger at a frozen image of Sarah. ‘Who the hell is she?’
The other man hit some buttons and the image enlarged. ‘We’ll soon find out.’
Delaney followed as he stood up and walked over to a series of desks, each with its own computer. He ignored the young security guard who was now slumped dejectedly at the row of monitors. Playing games on his mobile phone, he had missed the evening’s activities and was now regretting his earlier laziness.
Sitting down, the head of security punched a series of buttons and brought up a copy of the image on his computer screen, then ran a program.
Delaney peered at the screen as images flashed by. ‘Where did we get this from?’ he asked, indicating the program.
The head of security chuckled. ‘Best you don’t know, sir.’
Delaney nodded. He didn’t really care, as long as it worked.
‘Here we go.’
The computer program emitted a soft ping as two images appeared side-by-side – the image from Delaney’s security cameras and another, taken some years before at an outdoor media function, the woman’s hair blowing around her face as she stood laughing next to her colleagues. The head of security typed out a search string and Delaney waited while the computer hunted through its massive database. Suddenly, a text box appeared, and the security guard began to scroll through the words.
White Gold: (A Dan Taylor thriller) Page 11
