THE RED MIST TRILOGY: The Box Set

by R T Green

  ‘Do you feel what I feel, Madeline? Are you sharing with me?’

  And then, in a tiny fragment of time, the moment was gone. A voice next to us. Thrust cruelly back to reality, I realised Marco was standing by our side.

  ‘Are you ready for your main courses now?’ he asked, a little uncertainly.

  Chapter 9

  I savoured every mouthful of the smoked salmon tagliatelli Zana had ordered on my behalf. It was the finest meal I had ever tasted, every morsel reverberating around my senses like I was discovering food for the very first time.

  She was relaxed, the intensity of the antipasto gone. We talked about everything and anything unimportant; the bottle of Chianti had a hole in the bottom so we requested another. That seemed to suffer from the same problem, but as the evening grew late we both decided one bottle of fine wine each was plenty enough when you were planning on walking home.

  Zana ordered coffees, and then stood and held out her hand. ‘Come on, there's a nice terrace here. I could do with some air anyway.’ She let out a giggle, a sound I hadn't heard from her before.

  ‘Fresh air sounds a good idea,’ I said deliberately, allowing myself to be led through the now-empty restaurant and into a little piece of Tuscan heaven.

  We stood on a timber deck, green-painted wrought-iron tables and chairs dotted around the raised space. Above our heads a mass of vines enveloped a timber gazebo, trailing down its support posts to the ground. Low-powered imitation streetlamps gave just enough of a glow to create a seductive ambience.

  A set of steps led to a lawned area bordered by tall shrubs and trees, background lit by pools of coloured light. We were alone; most of the other diners had left a while ago.

  ‘What do you think?’ Zana smiled, took my hand.

  ‘It… it's beautiful,’ I replied, in an awestruck kind of way.

  She turned to face me, a frown creasing her forehead. ‘Why Miss deWinter, I do believe you are going soft on me!’

  I realised that was exactly what I was doing. ‘Must be the wine,’ I said quickly, attempting to defend the sudden weakness.

  ‘I see.’ She walked away, stood with her hands on the balustrade looking out across the lawn. ‘And there was me thinking it might have something to do with the company you were keeping.’ She let out another giggle. ‘Even though she did rather make a fool of herself earlier on!’

  ‘Hey.’ I followed her to the edge of the deck, stood close by her side. ‘You didn't make a fool of yourself, far from it. Although the old couple next to us didn't seem so impressed.’

  She laughed. ‘I did get a bit… full-on.’

  ‘But you taught me something tonight.’

  She turned to me, a wide smile on her face. ‘I did? What?’

  ‘You don't need me to tell you that.’

  She looked back across the lawn, and I felt her hand slide across mine on the balustrade. ‘Sharing,’ she whispered.

  I didn't answer, for a minute neither of us spoke. Then suddenly she was facing me, our bodies leaning into each other. ‘Will you share something else with me Madeline, right now?’

  Again I didn't answer. I didn't need to. Our faces were inches apart, Zana’s eyes brighter than ever, her skin seeming to glow. I felt trembling hands slip through my hair, gently caress the sides of my head. Arms I had no control over tightened around her waist, and our lips met.

  As we kissed I could feel her body relax. I pulled her closer, so close it felt we were one. Nothing existed then; just her. Our kiss seemed to last a lifetime, and then she pulled away.

  What I saw shocked me. She was breathing heavily, her mouth still open. She looked horrified, scared to death, tears falling down her cheeks. She almost shouted the words.

  ‘I'm lonely Madeline, so fucking lonely. Don't mess with me!’

  Her whole body was shaking, she seemed like a little girl lost. And in that moment I couldn't bear to see her like that. I pulled us back close, held her tight. There was no stopping them, the words just tumbled out.

  ‘I won't mess with you, Zana… and you're not alone anymore.’

  She melted into me, the smile on her lips and the relief in her eyes clear to see. I buried my face in her silky hair, all rational thought gone.

  I could have stayed there all night.

  Time, or anything else, didn't seem to matter anymore.

  I lay wide awake. Sleep wasn't an option, I didn't care. I wanted to be awake. My whole body seemed alive, my senses reeling. The bed felt so good, and the brandy I'd swigged an hour ago tasted better than ever.

  Everything was better than ever.

  I’d walked with Zana back to her apartment, our arms linked firmly the whole journey, and her head resting on my shoulder most of the time. We'd stood outside the entrance to the foyer of the apartment block, kissed again. She looked exhausted; hardly a word had passed between us since we'd left the restaurant. Somehow words weren't needed.

  I didn't ask to go up with her, it was past midnight and I knew it wasn't the right time to invade her personal space, not least because she looked almost as shaken by the events of the evening as I was.

  So I’d watched as the lift doors closed and she disappeared from sight, and then walked the short distance to my place. And lying on my back in bed again, replaying the events of the evening over and over, I began to wonder if it was all some kind of weird dream.

  The sensuality, the emotions, the intensity… they weren't mine. Stuff like that belonged to other people. My mind tried in the only way it knew to analyse the facts and work out what was happening logically. It failed dismally.

  There was no logical explanation for any of it.

  Zana had made all the running, didn’t seem to have a problem getting close to another woman. For me, that experience had never even crossed my mind.

  So why the hell did it feel perfectly natural?

  I knew I'd had the perfect opportunity to extract information from her, and knew I hadn't taken it. My mark had dropped her guard, the wine and the ambience helping do the job.

  But from the moment the antipasto arrived at the table, doing the job was the last thing on my mind.

  I caught myself smiling, tried to stop it. Daft silly grins were not something the emotion-free Madeline deWinter did. But for all the confusion spinning round my head like a particle accelerator, I knew two things for sure.

  Tonight, for the first time in my adult life, I'd truly shared something with someone.

  And I'd never be able to look at a button mushroom in quite the same way ever again.

  Chapter 10

  ‘I have to go away for a few days.’

  Zana spoke quietly, no emotion in her voice. Sitting on the next barstool slowly sipping her martini, she seemed lost in her own thoughts. She was different tonight, on another planet.

  ‘Visiting family?’

  ‘I have no family. Not anymore.’

  ‘Oh, I'm sorry.’ I put my hand over hers, she didn't respond to the touch.

  ‘It's work.’

  She was difficult, and I was struggling to break through the wall of ice she'd erected between us. After the passion of the previous night she'd stunned me yet again, but this time because the closeness we felt at Luigi's now seemed a million miles away.

  I decided to try something. Tell her the truth.

  ‘I shall miss you.’

  Her head lower slightly; nervous fingers toyed with the stem of the martini glass. When she spoke it was a whisper. ‘I'll miss you too.’

  She meant it, that much was clear enough. I reached out, turned her head gently so our eyes had to meet. ‘Is it so hard for you to admit to that, Zana?’

  She pulled away from my touch. ‘Yes. Yes it is.’

  She wasn't reachable, but I was getting to know her well enough to realise it was pointless trying. I wanted to fire off a ton of questions, but knew there would be no answers, so I asked just the one.

  ‘When do you go?’

  ‘Soon. An hour or so.�
�

  ‘Yeah, that's what you call soon.’

  ‘It was a last-minute decision.’ She was off the stool then, hitching her bag. ‘I'm sorry, I have things to pack.’

  A sudden panic welled over me. This was too soon, I wasn't ready. ‘Can… can I call you? I don't have your number.’

  ‘No you don't.’ She took a couple of steps away, allowing her fingertips to softly brush across my thigh as she moved out of reach. She glanced back, a hint of unhappiness in the look. ‘There is a lot I have to do. Talking with you will be… will be a distraction. Perhaps I will see you here on Wednesday?’

  She turned towards the door. I couldn’t let her go like that, needed to do something. She was walking away, and somehow that wasn't right.

  ‘Wait!’

  She stopped walking; I pressed a small card into her hand. ‘Bit formal I know, giving you a business card, but it has my number on it. In case you need to talk.’

  She nodded silently, slipped the card into the pocket of her red coat, and disappeared through the door. I stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds, and then found the use of my legs and followed her outside. I watched as the woman in red walked quickly away along the sidewalk. She didn't look back.

  ‘What the hell was that about?’

  I jumped as the voice at my side seemed to explode into my confused mind. Ryland Cooper looked at me with a deep frown on his brow, and then gestured questioningly to the tiny figure almost out of view.

  ‘She's going away, Coop,’ I said slowly.

  ‘What? What you sayin', deWinter? Get your brain in gear, girl!’

  ‘She’s going away for a few days; leaving in an hour.’

  ‘Fuck!’ He touched a tiny device in his ear as he spoke. ‘Where's she going?’

  ‘No idea.’

  ‘deWinter?’

  I shrugged. ‘She wasn't exactly talkative this evening.’

  The big Jamaican shook his head, answered the voice that had just spoken in his earpiece. ‘Miles - target Red Mist is on the move. Leaving the area in one hour. Get a tail team organised, now!’

  Event through my torment I couldn't stop a grin. ‘Red Mist, Coop?’

  ‘Came up with that one myself. Always wears red, nothing to get a hold on… can you think of a better tag?’

  Chapter 11

  I sat quietly in Duncan Scott's office. The chief wasn't exactly talkative either, studying something on a tablet he held close to his piggy eyes. I began to wonder if someone had tattooed 'don't talk to me' on my forehead while I wasn't looking.

  It was seven in the morning. An hour previously, the call had come to attend DIAL's HQ. I didn't mind; it had been a restless night anyway as my brain tried to make sense of Zana's emotional U-turn… and yet again failed dismally.

  I was starting to feel out of my depth. I didn't have much experience when it came to emotions.

  I looked around the stark room as we awaited the arrival of Ryland Cooper and Miles Courtney. The nervous dread was back. For sure I’d been called in for a reason, and it must be some kind of news about Zana. And it likely wasn't good news. My mind drifted back twenty years to the time I was a small girl sitting in the dentist's waiting room about to have a tooth extracted.

  This felt exactly the same.

  The sound of feet on steps. Finally. The two field agents walked into the room, Miles not exactly looking pleased with life.

  ‘Well?’ The spooky voice reverberated menacingly around the room. At least it kind of felt that way.

  Miles looked distinctly uncomfortable. ‘It's no good, chief. They lost her. Totally.’

  ‘Fools.’ The chief's eerie voice was even scarier when he growled out a word. My nervous dread boiled up into anger. ‘What the fuck, Miles… lost her?’

  ‘Don't throw a hissy-fit at me, old girl… you were the one who couldn't find out where she was going.’

  ‘Just how difficult can it be to follow a friggin' car?’

  ‘Cool it, deWinter,’ Ryland Cooper butted in. ‘Why are you so screwed up anyway? This ain't your gig; you's just here to look pretty.’

  ‘Fuck you and your petty discrimination, Coop.’

  ‘Enough!’ Duncan Scott threw the stare from hell at the three of us. We shut up. ‘As I understand it deWinter, she loaded two large suitcases onto the rear seat of her car and drove straight to the laboratories where she works. She parked in their underground car park, accessible only to employees with barrier passes. The tail couldn't follow her in; they waited a while then managed to access the car park on foot. When they located the car, the cases were gone.’

  ‘She switched vehicles,’ added Miles, a little unnecessarily.

  ‘So she knew she was being tailed.’

  ‘Maybe, but more likely she'd made the plan in case she was tailed.’

  Duncan Scott waived his tablet in the air. ‘The odd thing is the MO is different this time. According to this information from the stakeout teams, the other six were happily tucked up in bed last night. So whatever she's up to, she's doing it alone.’

  I shook my head, trying not to show the desperation trying its best to overpower me. ‘Which by now could be anywhere in the world.’

  ‘Doubt it, dear girl,’ said Miles. ‘Not with two large suitcases. They've based themselves in London for a reason; I can't imagine she's too far away.’

  Duncan Scott left his chair and walked to the glass windows, watching the technicians milling around below him as he spoke. ‘But the real issue, deWinter, is the two suitcases.’

  ‘Sorry sir?’

  ‘We are now in the extremely embarrassing situation of having a high-risk mark - Red Mist, as Coop very appropriately calls her - on the loose in London or the surrounding area, at an unknown location with two large suitcases in her possession. And I do not believe even a woman of her obvious style and taste would need so many clothes and shoes for a few nights away. So what do the suitcases contain?’

  My heart sank through the floor. The chief was right, uncomfortably so. Zana was up to something, and now I felt more helpless that I'd ever done in my life. A voice inside was screaming at me to find Zana, stop her doing whatever it was. Tell her the truth, if that's what it took.

  But I couldn't. I had no idea where she was, no means of contacting her. No way to be there for her.

  The chief however had already planned his next move. ‘Coop, Miles… we can at least take advantage of what is an unfortunate situation. Tonight I want you two in that apartment. There must be something there to give us a clue what's going on.’

  ‘No!’ I let out a slightly-too shrill cry. ‘Um… sorry sir. I want in on this, please? I do know her better than anyone else in this room.’

  Duncan Scott fixed his tiny eyes onto me, didn't speak for a full ten seconds. ‘Fair point. Coop, take deWinter with you instead, and for Christ's sake come back with something at least vaguely encouraging.’

  I breathed a sigh of relief, trying not to let the others see it. I didn't have a clue why it was so important for me to be the one breaking into Zana's apartment. But I knew that if someone had to search through her very personal things, it couldn't be a stranger. Or a man.

  It had to be me.

  Chapter 12

  ‘You ready for this, deWinter?’

  I nodded silently to Ryland Cooper, sitting beside me in the BMW fiddling with a small black box. I couldn’t say it out loud, but I wasn't sure I was ready. Somehow this just didn't feel right.

  It was two in the morning. A minute ago I’d parked the car in a corner of the brick-paved driveway outside Zana's apartment block, cursing myself angrily because the nauseous feeling that seemed to be my new best friend resurfaced yet again as soon as the building came into view.

  I tried to ignore it, looked over to see what Coop was doing.

  ‘A thing of beauty,’ he said as he lifted a small card from the box, and held it up to see it better.

  ‘It's a piece of card, Coop.’

  ‘Oh it's mor
e than that, deWinter.’ The big man carefully pulled a tiny sliver of clear film off the card, grinned to me. ‘Do you recognize it, pretty girl?’

  ‘Should I?’

  ‘It's your mark's… mark.’ The grin got wider as he carefully placed the film over the tip of his forefinger and smoothed it out. ‘One piece of Red Mist we did manage to capture.’

  The penny finally dropped. ‘Her fingerprint. How the hell did you get that?’

  ‘From her martini glass just after you left for Luigi's the other night.’

  ‘So you're devious as well as discriminatory then, Coop.’ I shook my head, then something occurred to me. ‘How the hell did you know we'd been to Luigi's?’

  ‘We know everything.’ He threw a piercing stare into my eyes. ‘You hearing me, deWinter?’

  I was hearing, only too well. And starting to realise I was being watched every bit as closely as Zana. I pulled the door handle. ‘Let's get this over with.’

  We walked across the driveway towards the main entrance doors, making no attempt to conceal ourselves. Looking furtive and lurking in the shadows was a sure way of someone calling the cops if we were spotted. Blue flashing lights all over the drive wouldn't exactly help our task.

  According to Coop, not even the metropolitan police knew DIAL existed.

  So we walked innocently to the entrance doors like any other residents, Ryland Cooper slid his finger into the shaft of the reader, and moments later we were in the foyer. ‘Stairs,’ he grunted quietly. ‘Lift is probably near silent, but just in case.’

  The top floor of the block consisted of just two apartments, each of them a penthouse. Both of us already knew which door was Zana's. Coop paused outside the door to the other apartment, listening for any sounds of life from inside. ‘All's quiet,’ he whispered.

  He pushed his forefinger into Zana's lock; the door clicked quietly and moved open an inch. We slipped inside.

  ‘Shit!’ I let out an involuntary cry as lights came on around us. Coop flashed me an angry stare. ‘Automatic background lighting, you moron,’ he hissed. ‘I'll ask you again, you a pussycat or a tiger?’