“Does Madam wish to order?”
McCall had finished eating all of the bread sticks while she waited.
“Actually I am waiting for someone,” she told him. Her smile was filled with hope that her date would actually arrive, and that she would not leave the place on her own. The waiter smiled sympathetically. As he headed back to the bar she checked out his tight behind and thought bad thoughts. One way or another, she was planning to leave with someone.
A bit later McCall looked at the half-empty bottle and sighed. She could not believe that she had been stood up. She had stopped looking at her watch around ten minutes before, so as not to look desperate. As she picked up the glass to down the rest of its contents she heard a deep gravelly voice, and she looked up, hoping that this guy was worth the wait.
Her eyes took in his broad shoulders and the five-hundred-dollar suit. He was tall, at least six foot four, and he was healthily tanned, with a square jaw and dashing good looks. His shoulder-length hair was a mousy colour with a left side parting. She gazed into his dark-brown eyes and just melted.
“I am David,” the man said. “David Haynes. And I sure hope that you are Samantha or this is going to be really embarrassing!”
Sam stood up and shook his large masculine hand.
“I’m so sorry I am late. We had an emergency and Tina never gave me your number.”
McCall just giggled like a schoolgirl with a crush on a boy, and filled his glass to disguise that fact that the bottle was already half empty. They talked for what seemed like hours. She learnt that he was a doctor at County Hospital in the ER department, and that he did volunteer work with the services overseas.
She felt guilty about the immediacy of their mutual attraction, but then her previous boyfriend, the enigmatic detective John Steel, had never really showed any interest. For whatever reason, it seemed that guy had so many issues a shrink would not know where to start.
The meal had been a success and the air was tingling with emotion as they looked into each other’s eyes, and to them, it seemed as if no one else was in the room.
“Shall we go?” he asked, standing up and moving behind to assist with her chair. As Sam stood up she felt him behind her as he offered her coat. Edging forwards he slipped the coat onto her shoulders; now she could smell him, an intense mix of aftershave, deodorant and male pheromones almost brought her to her knees. God, he smells so good, she thought.
The night air was warm and the sky was clear. A billion stars shone brightly, and here and there a shooting star sped past leaving just a sliver of a tail. They walked through the quiet streets with nothing but the sounds of the city to keep them company, not really paying attention to where they were heading. Their conversation was filled with laughter and good humour, as though they had known one another forever: she had felt the spark between them and she hoped that he felt it as well.
McCall stopped outside a building, realising that it was her own apartment block, still not knowing how they had gotten there after walking for what seemed a pleasantly long time, and they walked up the steps to her building’s front entrance. Then came the awkward moment, the intense moment when neither wants to make the first move in case it’s the wrong one.
“Well, I guess this is me.” McCall laughed as she said the words, all the time picturing him tearing her clothes off.
“Right. It’s a nice place.” His reply was small talk to try and figure out what to do, his arms moving indecisively back and forth.
“Would you like to come up for a coffee or something?”
He backed off slightly with a shocked look on his face.
“Look, I had a really great time and everything but I think we are moving a little fast, don’t you?” he muttered awkwardly. “After all, we have only just met.”
McCall tried to disguise her look of disappointment.
“David, if I had wanted sex, then I would have said how about we get together tonight. I wouldn’t have invited you for coffee.” She tried to sound insulted but she was more angry that he had just burst their bubble.
He smiled in confusion and blushed a nice shade of red. She slapped him on the arm and opened the wood and glass door.
When they were inside her apartment, he walked round checking out the many photographs on the walls and the box shelving next to the large window. Sam was busy in the kitchen preparing the coffee machine and placing a couple of cups on the counter.
“Cool place you’ve got here,” he shouted over the sound of the machine as it began its loud metallic howl.
McCall’s head appeared round the doorframe. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“Cool place you’ve got here,” he repeated. She just smiled at him and beckoned him to take a seat on the couch.
Moments later McCall brought in a small tray with the two cups of coffee, with it a small jug of milk and a small porcelain bowl full of sugar, saying, “I didn’t know how you took it so I brought everything.”
He took the tray from her as she sat down. She thanked him and smiled awkwardly, trying to conceal the fact that she had brought him up here not for coffee but to have a mad night of passion. They sat next to one another on the couch, leaving a comfortable space between them. Sam leant forwards to finish making his drink.
“So how do you like it?” She suddenly corrected herself, giggling. “Your coffee, I mean.” Sam turned towards him and her smile turned into an expression of lustful hunger as their eyes met.
“Damn it, I want you.” His words were as if a weight had been lifted from her soul.
“Well, thank God for that!”
McCall flung herself towards him and they kissed hurriedly. She pushed him down flat on the couch and slipped her black dress off over her head. David smiled with satisfaction as he looked McCall’s tight body, her ample breasts supported by the sexy black-lace bra.
She leant down and they kissed again but this time she was playful and teased his lips with her tongue while her fingers unbuttoned his shirt slowly. She moved down his chest, kissing the bare muscular flesh as she went. David’s eyes half closed as he ran his fingers through her hair.
When her attention was drawn to his belt she stood up with a grin, like that of the Cheshire cat all over her face as she made her way to the bedroom. Tonight would be a night to remember she decided, of that she would make damned sure.
David sat up, mesmerized by her sexy athletic movements: the way she skipped along purposefully. Her only remaining clothes were her stockings and a tiny black thong. McCall reached the bedroom door and stopped halfway in, just so that her back and her sexy tight rear were in view. She looked back at him with bedroom eyes and purred, “So, are you coming in here or would you rather have coffee?” With that she disappeared into the room.
David scrambled off the couch, tripping as he went, attempting to take off his trousers on the move.
On entering her dimly-lit bedroom he found her lying on the bed with her head resting on her angled arm. He stood there for a moment, drinking in her hourglass form. As he moved onto the bed they embraced in a passionate tumble, their breathing heavy in the heat of the moment. She threw him onto his back and started to kiss her way down his body, her tongue following the contours of his muscles. He gasped as she bit gently into his erect nipples and flicked them with her tongue.
She moved down slowly, and then reaching his shorts removed them, dragging them inch by inch, while still kissing his flesh as she went.
“Well, there’s no need to ask how you like this,” she said with a pleasurable grin. As she climbed up his body like a stalking cat, McCall straddled him and felt his hot throbbing pleasure.
Their bodies became sweaty with passion and entwined in their mutual heat, as they grew closer to the inevitable climax. In the end they both cried out together, holding each other close until collapsing onto the messed up sheets of her bed. McCall just lay on her back and looked up at the ceiling, which at first seemed to be spinning. She was panting as if she had just
run a marathon, and beads of fresh sweat cascaded down her naked body.
McCall had no idea where her display of wantonness had come from but she did know that she felt good, more alive than she’d felt for days. She had no idea if this was the start of a proper relationship, but whatever was to happen later would happen later. For now she was content to have just enjoyed some great sex and for now, that was more than enough.
NINE
The Neptune cut through the water, calm and steady. The massive ship’s deck lights could be seen for miles across the great ocean’s expanse as this floating city cast a glow on to the horizon.
John Steel sat with the other guests, listening to one of the captain’s tales of when he was a merchant shipman travelling off the coast of Africa, and how pirates had boarded looking for goods. Steel had to admit that his tales were gripping but somehow doubted their veracity. But then what did it matter? He was a good host and entertainer.
Tia May looked up as she saw a grim-faced man in a white officer’s uniform head directly to the captain’s chair. Steel also looked up as the man crouched down with his back to the guests to whisper something to the captain. As the officer spoke the other man shot bolt upright and went pale, looking horrified and concerned.
Captain Long stood up and wiped his dry lips with the napkin saying,
“I am sorry, ladies and gentlemen, something has come up that requires my attention. If you would excuse me, there is no need for alarm, it’s just a routine thing.”
Steel saw through his charade: it was obvious he was lying, but what was he lying about? He waited until Long was a fair distance away before he stood up and made some excuse about needing the restroom.
The investigator knew that he had to move quickly and without being seen, two skills he had mastered over the years. He followed the officers from deck to deck, but he noticed that neither of them spoke during the fast walk to the elevators. As the two men reached the glass lifts, Steel stopped at the corner, concealing himself behind a large potted mini palm, and he was close enough to see they had pressed the button for Deck Four. He thought for a moment and realised that they were going for the engine room.
Down in the crew’s area the maze of white walls surrounded sleeping quarters, crew restaurants, and storage areas for heavy cargo, as well as food supplies. At the end the engine room, Steel could hear the pounding heartbeat of the engine room, driving this massive ‘city’ through the watery depths.
Using the corners to hide behind, Steel saw the men enter the engine room, and as the heavy iron door opened the noise became deafening. The noise drowned out his footsteps as he ran forwards into a small storage room that was full of mops and other cleaning utensils. He knew he had no chance of hearing a conversation through the heavy door, but since the engine room would be too noisy for conversation, all their talking would be outside.
Moments later the door swung open to reveal four men carrying what appeared to be a tarpaulin with something heavy within it. Soon afterwards Captain Long and two other officers came out, all covering their mouths as if trying desperately not to be sick.
“Make sure that the body goes to cold storage,” Long told his men. “The coroner can take a look when we get to the next port.” The men nodded and shuffled off.
“What the hell happened, Jarvis?” yelled the captain as an engineer slammed the compartment door shut and engaged the holding bolt.
The tall well-built man in his mid-thirties shook his head. “Don’t really know, sir, one of the men found him whilst doing a routine inspection. The lad had somehow fallen from the top area whilst carrying some cabling. Looks like it must have got snagged around his neck, and as he fell he was hung.”
The captain shook his head in disbelief at the tragedy. “Such a waste of a young life. Funny, I only saw him this morning when he had brought me.....” He stopped suddenly, realising he was thinking aloud.
“He brought you what, sir?” the other man prompted.
Captain Long raised his hand awkwardly.
“It was nothing. Now we say nothing to the passengers, okay? God knows the press would have a field day with this, agreed?”
The other men nodded.
As the men left to return to their duties Steel came from the darkened room. He had heard everything. Checking that the way was clear, he headed for cold storage; he had to see the body of the unfortunate crewman.
A cloud of cold mist filled the preparation room as the men opened the large steel door of the cooler. Grasping the latch handle, one of them pulled at the freezer door, and there was a sucking noise as the rubber seals released the vacuum and the door swung open.
“Jeez,” exclaimed one of the engineers who had opened the door. He felt the cold bite at his skin, making him back away with his arm raised to shield his face. Inside the freezer large halves of pork and beef swung freely as the men edged past, carrying their dead shipmate.
“I tell you one thing, Joe, I am never eating meat on this tub again.”
The small stocky engineer held the feet end of the tarp with a tall thin engineer at the other end. As they backed in they found a suitable space in the corner, away from prying eyes, and from the meat. As the four men placed their colleague onto the cold floor, they removed their caps and left.
“Right, you lot, come on, we still have work to do,” one of them commented. The last man closed the door to the large walk-in freezer and replaced his cap.
Slowly the door to the food preparation room opened and Steel walked in. He had managed to procure a chef’s white coat and hat. He knew he had no chance of knocking out the surveillance cameras without suspicion, so disguise was the next best option. Casually he entered the freezer and made his way to the back, reasoning that the men wouldn’t want their colleague anywhere near the meat so the back seemed the most suitable place to look.
John Steel easily found the remains of Walter, a sickening stare still twisting his dead features. Steel opened up the rest of the tarp to check the body, starting at the neck. Sure enough, the deep marks in its flesh suggested that he must have been left hanging for some time. Or was he dragged down by a great weight? he wondered. Moving down the body, John checked his pockets and uniform. Disappointed to have found nothing he began to re-wrap poor Walter’s body, and that’s when he saw them: six parallel marks like small burns on his left arm. Steel stopped and looked closer: the marks were in pairs around two centimetres apart, but each pair held no pattern, and were placed randomly.
A taser, he thought. He had seen such marks before but never so many in one spot. It was if the boy had been tortured. Steel completed re-wrapping the body and left. Things were starting to get interesting. Now he knew that this was the right ship, but he had a bad feeling. What trouble was about to start?
Tia May had waited for what seemed ages at the dining table. She found it curious that no one paid any attention to the fact that neither the Captain nor Mr. Black had returned. Tia stood up and said her goodnights, and everyone smiled and returned the false pleasantries. She was glad to be away from the table—their self-satisfied talk had made her feel ill.
As she made her way to her room she could not help but feel she was being watched. At first she thought it was the eye-catching dress she was wearing, but the watching faces of the men didn’t seem to be appreciative. Quickly she used the key card on the room door and a red LED flashed; she tried it a second time; again the red LED flashed. Tia looked down the long corridor to see a large man standing with his arms crossed, waiting. She tried the card again, and once more the red LED flashed at her.
“Come on, you stupid thing! Open!”
Tia looked round to see the man was approaching her. Tia took out the card and wiped it on her dress, then slowly pushed it into the slot. The ensuing green light and click brought a smile to her face. She looked round to see that the man had vanished. Tia shook the incident off, thinking that being pursued was all in her imagination.
On entering her room she stopp
ed. It was dark. Why the hell was it dark? The last sliver of light faded as the door shut behind her. She turned to run, but someone grabbed her and threw her to the ground. Tia landed on something soft, which she could only imagine to be the bed. A cool breeze tickled her face and she knew whoever was in her room had come through the balcony window.
“Who do you work for?” growled a voice. It was a man’s voice, deep and rough, probably coarsened from too many cigars and whiskies. His accent was Scottish. Tia struggled, hoping to punch or kick her attacker, then she felt something long and cold on her skin. It was a blade: long, thick and sharp.
“Now if you don’t settle down I am going to have to make this slow and bloody,” he said.
She froze.
He repeated the question after slapping her across the face hard.
“I work for the New York Gallery!” She spat blood with every word.
“Don’t lie to me, woman! Who do you work for and want are you looking for?”
Tia began to speak but felt her legs being parted and she felt something pushing between them. She cringed at the thought of this monster being anywhere near her. She felt his whisky-sodden breath on her face as he came closer.
“I will only ask you one more time and then if I don’t get my answer I will ride you like the lying whore that you are.”
Then she felt his fat wet tongue lick the side of her face. She wanted to scream but she knew it would be no good. Tia knew that it didn’t matter what answer she gave, he was still going to do what he had set out to do anyway. She opened her mouth to scream only to have a cloth shoved into it.
“Now, now, sweetie, let’s not spoil the fun.”
Tia was terrified and also puzzled. How the hell could he see what he was doing?
A tear rolled down her face as she felt him undoing his belt.
“I am going to enjoy this.” His voice growled with pleasure and anticipation of what he was going to do. Tia held her breath and waited for the inevitable.
Then she heard a loud voice calling out, “The thing about night-vision goggles is they react really badly to light, for instance—”
Operation:UNITY (John Steel series Book 2) Page 9
