AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug, knowing full well that I’m being as annoying as hell and hating myself for it. “I don’t know how else to play it.”
“You could go rogue,” she says. “I’ll keep Henderson distracted by snogging him and you sneak out the back door.”
I smile, feeling pure relief that she’s relaxed enough to joke.
“Alistair knows where I live. He knows where I work.”
“Where’s the fucking witness protection program when you need it?” She seems to be thawing, and I grab at it. I need my best friend on my side, and I don’t want Henderson reporting our emotional meeting to Alistair.
“I could get a whole new face,” I say, hoping to win her over further with the dark humor we share. “I know a guy. Then I’ll chop off my hair, wear sunglasses and a baseball cap, and emigrate to a third-world country.”
“Why stop at your face?” she asks, and we both laugh.
When we leave and give each other the biggest of hugs, the dread continues to gnaw at my stomach, and I have the feeling it’s never going to go away.
Chapter 31
Trapped
In the Jaguar on the way home, my phone vibrates. It’s Alistair.
ALISTAIR RAVENSCROFT
We need to talk.
My stomach clenches in fear. He knows about Becks and the cardigan-clad journalist.
Fuck.
Panic leaves me light-headed.
Yes, sir.
Not at the hotel.
What’s going on?
He takes a while to respond. It feels like a ticking time bomb. Eventually, his message comes through.
I’m hoping you can tell me.
Oh, no. Here comes the panic. Here comes all the emotion Becks was desperate to see in me at the café. I want to text her, but I’m worried that Alistair has bugged my phone. Suddenly I’m aware of all the ways I have been trapped.
Henderson, Macavoy, new phone with tracking software.
Becks’s fear is contagious. It claws at me.
No, I tell myself. No. Stop acting paranoid. Becks might have some second- or third-hand intel that we don’t even know is good. But she doesn’t know Alistair.
“Ma’am,” says Henderson, startling me.
“What?”
“Are you … all right?”
“Yes,” I lie. “Why?”
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
