‘It’s for your own good,’ he said. ‘I’d just fidget all night if I sat with my back to the room.’
‘I know.’ She looked up as Marco approached with the menus, deftly selected a bottle of red for them to share, and then turned her attention back to Dan once the owner was out of earshot. ‘When I couldn’t get through to you, I tried to call David or Mitch. They weren’t answering their phones or returning my calls either, so I figured the three of you were up to something.’
Dan shook his head. ‘I wasn’t with them,’ he said. He held up a warning finger to her as Marco approached with the wine and then took their orders.
As Marco moved away, heading for the kitchen, Dan turned back to Sarah.
‘Anyway, enough about me for now. What have you been up to?’
‘Busy with a new environmental group,’ she replied. ‘They’re enthusiastic but have no real sense of direction,’ she added. ‘Most of my time so far has been spent trying to get them to focus on one campaign, instead of trying to fix everything they think is wrong with the world.’
‘Is it working?’
‘Slowly.’ Sarah took a sip of wine. ‘Some of them were hard to convince, until they started to see the effects of the media campaigns we’ve been running.’
Sarah waited until their entrées had been set in front of them and then leaned forward, her elbows each side of her plate. ‘How much do you know about the oil and gas industry?’
‘A bit. Why?’
Sarah shrugged. ‘It’s a bit strange. A package arrived at my client’s office this afternoon, addressed to me.’ She paused and tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘Inside were all these documents about a shale gas exploration project up in Northumberland,’ she said. ‘It seems to be very hush-hush in case the locals get up in arms about it. The public worries about earthquakes, as well as the health risks that might be around because of the chemicals being used in the hydraulic fracking process.’
Dan paused, a mixture of prosciutto and olives on his fork. ‘But?’
‘You know I don’t usually get involved in this sort of thing these days,’ she explained. ‘But the reports are about an incident at one of the test wells.’
‘What, a leak or something?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘No.’ She lowered her voice. ‘The project manager and two engineers were shot. Dead.’
Dan frowned. ‘Details?’
’Not much.’ She took another mouthful before speaking again. ‘All it says is that three men were killed in an industrial accident. I’m presuming all the secrecy has something to do with it being a flagship project for the government – a way to show the general public that fracking is a safe exploration method. When I found out about the murders, I phoned the project head office, and they were extremely cagey. The usual excuses about helping police with their enquiries and not being able to talk to the media.’
‘Not when there’s a huge insurance claim on the horizon, I’d imagine,’ Dan said. He cleared his plate and picked up his glass of wine. ‘What else have you got?’
Sarah gestured to her bag with her fork. ‘I’ll show you the file after dinner. I wouldn’t mind your take on it. I know there’s something there; I can feel it. I just can’t see it yet.’
‘Okay.’ He watched as she finished her bruschetta, his eyes meeting hers as she scooped up the last of the tomato and basil.
‘Stop eyeing up my food. I’m not sharing.’
‘Damn. Looks good.’
She put the last of her entrée in her mouth, her eyes sparkling as she dropped her knife and fork on the plate. ‘That was good.’
‘More wine?’
‘Please.’
‘So, any suspects?’ Dan caught Marco approaching the table and held up a warning finger again. He trusted the man implicitly, but there was the issue of an active police investigation to consider, and he didn’t want to compromise Sarah’s trust in him.
When the man had moved away, Sarah played with her wine glass, spinning its base on the tablecloth.
‘From what I can gather, the police are interested in two people,’ she said. ‘The project four-wheel drive was left abandoned next to the bodies.’
‘They used a second vehicle.’
She nodded. ‘Exactly. There were another set of tyre marks, leading away from the murder scene and across to a secondary security gate half a mile away.’
‘Manned?’
‘By two men and a vehicle.’
Dan leaned back in his seat and frowned. ‘And they let them through, so they must’ve stolen another one of the project’s vehicles.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘None are recorded as missing, so...’
‘They had a vehicle that looked like it belonged to the project. Magnetic decals or something.’
‘That’s what I’m thinking.’
‘No identity records at the security gate?’
‘No. Apparently everyone has a pass card, so they don’t keep paper records.’
‘Sloppy.’
‘I know. Especially given the nature of the project.’
They fell silent while Marco returned with their main courses.
While he topped up their wine, Dan leaned across the table and stabbed one of the asparagus stalks on Sarah’s plate with his fork.
She sighed. ‘You could’ve ordered your own.’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’
Marco laughed and turned back to the kitchen, shaking his head.
‘So,’ said Dan once Marco was out of earshot, ‘who do you think sent you the file?’
‘I don’t know.’ Sarah cut enthusiastically into the food on her plate, before moving her water glass so Dan couldn’t reach across and steal any more of her dinner. ‘Maybe one of the environmental activist groups – I get approached by them every now and again.’
‘What else was in the package?’
In reply, she shook her head. ‘Wait until you see the documents I’ve brought. Then you tell me what you think.’ She leaned forward. ‘So, you’ve heard my news. What’s going on with you?’
‘Nothing at the moment. I’ve got a new boss. Met him this morning, and now I’m kicking my heels until he calls me.’
‘Isn’t that a bit strange?’
He shrugged. ‘Hard to tell. He seems friendly enough. They’ve recruited a new analyst at last.’
They both fell silent, absorbed in their thoughts and savouring the food, until Sarah broke the silence.
‘That must’ve been hard for David.’
Dan shook his head. ‘I don’t think he had a lot of choice.’ He cleared his plate and grasped his wine glass. ‘There are too many threats out there. The last thing we can afford to be is under-staffed.’
‘It must be hard to find someone with those specialist skills, though.’
Dan laughed and told her about Melissa hacking into MI5’s database.
‘Wow. She must be good.’
‘She’s a pain in the arse.’
‘And you’re not?’
Dan raised an eyebrow and then shrugged and conceded the point.
After Marco had cleared their plates and returned with their desserts, Sarah reached out and placed her fingers on the back of Dan’s hand, carefully tracing the healing scratches.
‘Where were you?’
He raised his eyes to meet her gaze. ‘Eastern Europe.’
‘Was it bad?’
A flash of memory, of the cold floor of the abandoned prison filled his mind, and he blinked, pushing it away. There would be time to deal with that side of things when he was alone. Not here. Not now.
‘Yeah, it was.’
‘What went wrong?’ she whispered.
‘Everything.’ He turned his hand and squeezed her fingers, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘Eat your dessert. Or I will.’
She acknowledged the hint and changed the subject. ‘Have you spoken to David or Mitch since you’ve been back?’
‘No-one seems to know
where they are.’
‘What do you mean? Are they on a secret mission, too?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. They must be. No-one at the office will tell me anything.’
‘That does seem strange.’
‘Yeah, well on top of me being sent in alone three months ago, and now this, I’ve got no idea what the men at the top are thinking.’
‘I’m sure they’ve got their reasons.’
‘You’d hope so.’
Sarah leaned back and leaned her spoon on the side of her plate. ‘My god, that was fabulous.’
Dan reached over and, with one swipe, stole the strawberry from her plate and put it in his mouth, feeling smug as he tried not to laugh at the expression on her face.
‘You bastard, I was saving that!’
CHAPTER 8
Now that they were truly alone, they stood awkwardly on the pavement outside the restaurant, the occasional car passing them on the street, headlights strobing the walls of the buildings next to them.
‘I’ll walk you down to the taxi rank.’
‘Wait.’ Sarah glanced down at the kit bag at Dan’s feet and then reached out and took his hand in hers. ‘Where are you staying?’
He shrugged. ‘I’ll find a motel round here. Thought I might head back to Oxfordshire tomorrow if the office doesn’t want me.’
‘Seems a bit lonely.’
‘Now I feel pathetic.’
She laughed, a husky tone that sent shivers up Dan’s spine.
She leaned closer until she could tilt her mouth near his ear. ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ she murmured.
***
Sarah moved through the apartment ahead of him, throwing her bag onto a low table as she tugged her scarf away from her shoulders.
‘You’ve decorated,’ said Dan, running his fingers along a picture frame.
‘At last,’ she said. ‘I know your lot decorated it a few years ago, but it was just too–’
‘Military?’
‘That’s the word.’ She smiled. ‘I’m sure beige works fine on the walls in the barracks, but not in my home.’
She brushed past him, and he closed his eyes and inhaled her familiar perfume and then trailed behind her along the hallway and into the kitchen.
As she reached into the cupboard for wine glasses, he ran his hand over the bottles in the rack, turning them so he could read the labels until he found the one he was hoping to find.
‘You’ve still got some of the Shiraz.’ He grabbed the corkscrew from the kitchen bench and expertly twisted it into the bottle, the cork escaping with a soft pop.
Sarah turned, two glasses in her hand.
Dan noticed as sadness washed over her face, and her bottom lip trembled.
‘I was saving it for when you got back,’ she explained and then quickly set the glasses down on the table and wiped at her eyes. ‘I didn’t want to drink it without you.’
‘Hey.’ Dan put the bottle next to the glasses and then wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her hair. ‘I’m here now.’
She sniffed and pushed her hands against his chest before raising her head. Her eyes searched his face before she spoke.
‘Was it bad?’ she whispered.
He inhaled, a short sharp intake of breath as his mind flashed back to the prison, the guards and their instruments of torture, and then blinked and nodded.
‘Yeah. It was.’ He wound his fingers into a wisp of her hair. ‘I just kept thinking of you.’
Her lips found his then, exploring, searching, and he closed his eyes as he pulled her tightly against him, his body responding quickly.
He lifted her off the floor, and her legs wrapped around his waist.
He turned for the bedroom, his mouth finding the crease at the base of her neck, and then he traced his tongue across her collarbone.
She groaned, tipping her head back, before kneading her fingers into his shoulders.
‘So much for the Shiraz,’ she murmured.
Dan chuckled. ‘It’s okay,’ he said as he lowered her onto the bed and began to unbutton her blouse. ‘It needs a while to breathe before we drink it.’
***
Dan let the curtain drop back into place at the sound of movement from the bed behind him, the sheets rustling before a sigh reached his ears.
‘Dan? What are you doing?’
He tugged the material closely together where it met in the middle of the window and turned as the bedside light flickered on.
Sarah lay propped up on her elbows, her hair tousled and a confused look across her face.
He smiled. ‘Do you know how bloody sexy you look right now?’
‘Stop changing the subject,’ she said, her tone serious despite the quirk at the corner of her mouth. She jerked her chin at the window. ‘What were you looking at?’
He moved to the bed, climbed across the sheets to her, and then sat propped against the pillows and pulled her into his arms.
‘I didn’t want to scare you,’ he said, kissing her hair. ‘But I think I’m under surveillance.’
‘David?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. Not his style.’
She sat up and frowned. ‘Then who?’
He ran a hand down her arm. ‘I don’t know.’
Her expression changed, and in a fleeting moment, Dan saw her change from the woman that was his lover to the hard-nosed journalist he so respected.
‘What’s going on, Dan? Is this something to do with why you were in prison?’
He ran a hand over his freshly cropped hair. ‘Maybe. I don’t know.’ He held up his hand to silence her. ‘It’s possible.’
Sarah glanced at her watch. ‘That’s it,’ she said and slapped her hands on the sheets. ‘It’s going to be light in an hour, and I’m too fired up to go back to sleep now.’ She leaned over and kissed him. ‘I’m going to make coffee,’ she said. ‘And then you can tell me what really happened in Eastern Europe.’
***
Dan wrapped his hands around the large steaming mug of coffee and inhaled the aroma.
‘I’d forgotten you’d made such great coffee.’
‘Very funny. I think at this time of morning you’d drink anything that had a whiff of caffeine in it.’
He smiled and blew across the surface of the hot liquid before taking a tentative sip as Sarah joined him at the kitchen table.
Beyond the blinds, dawn began its slow crawl over the eastern horizon, shafts of light beginning to spill onto the windowsill.
‘Talk to me, Dan,’ said Sarah, reaching out for his hand. ‘You know I’m a good listener.’
He exhaled, leaning back in his seat, keeping his fingers wrapped around hers. He knew she was right, and she knew more about him than most people. He also knew she didn’t need specifics, simply enough that she’d understand. He squeezed her fingers and then let go and rested his elbows on the table.
‘I knew something was wrong the moment I got there,’ he said. ‘Gut instinct, you know? Something didn’t feel right.’
‘Where were you?’ asked Sarah. ‘A big town or a village?’
‘Somewhere in between the two. A small town, if you like. Somewhere big enough that a stranger turning up wouldn’t be noticed immediately.’
‘All alone? No team?’
He shook his head. ‘It was meant to be simple.’ He ran his fingers over the raised surface of the dressings under his t-shirt before continuing. ‘All I had to do was make my way to a repair shop, pick up supplies from the owner, and then take one of his cars to the location, do the job, and head for the border.’
‘When did it go wrong?’
‘Almost immediately. When I got to the garage, the price of the parts had gone up – doubled – since I was given the intel in London. It was crazy – the guy’s business was obviously on its last legs, but there he was haggling like he had all the money and time in the world. Eventually, we came to an agreement, but then at the last minute, he switched cars on m
e.’
‘You mean you got a different vehicle to the one you’d agreed?’
‘Yeah. I was meant to get a four-door sedan – a rust-bucket – but intel told us it’d been fitted with a decent engine so I’d make it to the border without a problem. Instead, the bastard hands me the keys and points to a two-door fucking Russian thing. The car was hot, I’m sure.’
‘Stolen?’
Dan nodded. ‘Or planted there. On purpose.’
Sarah frowned but motioned for him to continue.
‘So, I checked that there was a full tank of fuel – at least he got that right, the bastard.’ Dan clenched his fist. ‘By now, it’s starting to get dark. I’m meant to be in place by, oh, twenty-two hundred and out of there thirty minutes later. I’m running late, and as soon as I get clear of the town, I put my foot to the floor.’ He caught Sarah looking at him, her eyebrow raised. ‘Hey, it’s Eastern Europe – no-one takes any notice of speed limits there. They’re more of a guideline, okay?’
‘Okay. Go on.’
‘Two miles out from the target, I pass a farm track. There’s a vehicle parked in it, lights off. As soon as I pass, I ease off the speed, just in case it’s a bored policeman, y’know? Sure enough, seconds later, there are headlights flashing in my rear view mirror and a siren going off.’
‘You pulled over?’
‘I didn’t have a lot of choice.’
‘What happened?’
‘I stopped the car, left the engine running. Wound down the window an inch and locked the doors.’ His voice shook, and he coughed to try to mask it and then caught Sarah’s worried gaze and knew he’d failed. ‘Four of them got out. Armed to the teeth. Like they were expecting me.’
‘Oh my god, Dan.’
‘I didn’t stand a chance,’ he murmured. ‘They dragged me from the vehicle and took great pleasure in kicking me about on the asphalt for a bit and then searched the vehicle.’ He raised his chin. ‘Once they searched the vehicle and found the parts, I knew I was done for.’
‘You were making an explosive device.’
He nodded and forced a smile. ‘For all the right reasons, trust me.’
Three Lives Down (A Dan Taylor thriller) Page 5
