by David Adkins
I handed her passport back to her. “All the more reason to stop,” I suggested.
“I am committed to the job I am now embarking on. I have a case full of papers on a hideous creature. One of our search agents has reported he has been seen in Atlantic City.”
“And you must complete the job. Are you able to tell your masters that this is your final job and that you will remain in America after the job is done?”
“They will not like it. They invested a lot in me and in my training and I have been very successful.”
“But they will accept it?” I urged.
“I suppose so,” she conceded.
“Is it another government scientist?”
“No, it is a high ranking officer who served in the SS with a list of war crimes as long as this plane. He had gone into hiding but our agents believe they might have found him.”
“The SS,” I spat out the word with disgust. “And he has managed to escape justice all this time?”
“Many have,” she replied.
“Do you intend to assassinate him?”
“My first choice is to hand him over to the American authorities if I think that is a viable option. It is not like the cases of Neuman and Dengler where they were protected by the authorities. I first have to confirm his identity though.”
“If you do not intend to kill him but simply pass him to the authorities then perhaps I could help you.”
She gave me a pensive look. “As grateful as I am for your excellent work on the last case, I don’t really want you to get involved. This man is potentially more dangerous than Neuman and Dengler. He was a high-ranking officer in the SS who escaped in the post war chaos.”
“He went to the United States?” I could hardly believe it for I thought most escapees had fled to South America.
“So it seems. Apparently he has the advantage of speaking excellent English. Our trackers believe they have found him but I will have to see how things are when I arrive in Atlantic City. If he is our man, then handing him over might not prove to be an option.”
“I could help you in this,” I persisted.
“Perhaps,” she replied.
“It is settled then. I will give you what help I can and after this SS war criminal has been dealt with, we will go to California.”
She shrugged. “We will see.” A half-smile, probably the most genuine I had seen, grew on her face. “But I must say, California with you and a less dangerous life is very appealing.”
“Then please say it is settled. After your work in Atlantic City is completed then we can go to California and live the American dream.”
The captain’s announcement to prepare for take-off crackled through the speakers. We settled in before Jenna spoke again. “Do you have an onward ticket to California?”
“No, I was going to spend a few days seeing New York before moving west. Perhaps we could see New York together?”
“And then what, Steve?” she asked.
“And then we would go to Atlantic City together.”
She hummed noncommittally. “I am not happy about you getting involved in what I must do there.”
“If you really do not want me to, I will stay away, but remember I have proved myself a very good detective. You said so yourself.”
She laughed. “Did I really?”
“So if I can help, I will. We are a partnership now, remember? Let us book ourselves into a Manhattan hotel and worry about your job when we get to Atlantic City.”
“You won’t shy away from my bed again, will you Steve?”
I laughed. “Not a chance.”
She smiled, the stared into space, thinking. “It could work. You and the promise of a new life do appeal to me. It could be difficult to make a new start though.”
“Actually…” I grinned like a fool. “I have recently come into some money that will make a nice nest egg.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You are also full of surprises.”
“And so are you.”
The plane adjusted course, and I looked out the window to see the houses below looking like a model village. I smiled and tenderly took Jenna’s hand in mine.
“You know when I arranged to meet you at Marylebone, Steve, I vaguely hoped for an outcome similar to this. Then you seemed not to consider the prospect and with my career choice I did not want to push it. When I walked away from you at Marylebone Station I thought I would never see you again. What made you change your mind and turn up on my flight?”
I thought about the question. It was difficult to pin down but there was a moment when Jenna had rescued me from the temptation of taking Cassie to California and I had realized that Cassie was a passing infatuation. “I knew how much I wanted you when I watched you walk away, Jenna.”
“What do you mean?”
“I watched you walk away and I felt so desolate. I knew that my chance of happiness was walking away from me. You were poetry in motion and all a man could ever hope for. You are an exciting woman for you are strong, independent, capable, honest, principled and most of all very, very beautiful. Where would I ever find another Jenna? When I watched you walk away I knew I loved you and I knew I had to come after you. It was at Marylebone Station when you walked away from me, Jenna.”
She smiled. “So it was when I walked away from you that you knew you could not let me go. You are a strange man Steve Coulson.” We laughed, but her tender smile belied her true feelings.
Epilogue
I opened my eyes and the light of a new day was shining through the surprisingly thin curtains into my spacious hotel bedroom. The past week with Jenna had been wonderful, full of blissful event-packed days exploring New York and nights spent getting to know each other intimately. We had delayed travelling down the coast to Atlantic City and to her new assignment but I knew that we could not delay for much longer. I rolled over on to my side and looked at her. Her breathing was slow and deep, her face relaxed and her lustrous hair the colour of a dark, starless night. The sheet hid the curves of her enticing body and I thought about rolling it back slowly and pressing kisses down her spine. I detected a slight smile cross her face as she read my thoughts. She was feigning sleep and knew I was looking at her.
Should I pretend to wake her with a soft caress or should I pull back the sheet and feast my eyes on her nakedness. Before I could decide, she was out of the bed and walking slowly over to the window, her nakedness seductively revealed for several moments before she covered it with her dressing-gown. While I looked at her, she looked out of the window at a new day dawning in New York City, the sun illuminating the iconic Manhattan skyline. She sighed, a beguiling sigh which did not distract me from my observation. It was difficult to believe this beautiful woman was a highly trained assassin.
“Steve, we need to talk.” I knew her serious tone suggested the conversation I had been dreading was about to start. We had been in America for a week and her mission had not been mentioned in that time.
“Do we have to?” I replied.
“I told you on the plane why I was coming to America and you agreed not to try and persuade me from my goal. We have dallied for a long time but we have decisions to make.”
“Perhaps, but would it not be better to just forget about the assignment?” I suggested hopefully.
“I have enjoyed the past week too much,” she sighed. “And I do not want it to end.”
“Neither do I.” I resigned myself to the inevitable. “What do you intend to do?” I inquired as I eased myself up in bed.
“Today I will make contact with my colleagues.”
“We will make contact with your colleagues,” I corrected her.
“This has now become something I must do myself.”
“We agreed on the plane that we would work together.” I reminded her. “We will meet your colleagues together.”
“I was rash in agreeing to that. You have no experience and my work is very dangerous. It is too dangerous for me to allow you to get involve
d. I cannot put the man I love in danger when he has none of the required experience.”
I smiled at her words, but I would not be put off. “This is a partnership.”
She sighed. “You do not understand, Steve. I have changed my mind. As I said before I cannot go on hunting Nazis forever.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I have a phone number. They will be wondering what has happened to me. I will inform my INH contacts that I am no longer working for them. They will not be pleased but they will have to accept it.”
I was pleasingly staggered. “You have changed your mind?”
She smirked. “It is a girl’s prerogative. I no longer wish to place my life in danger or yours. I have experienced happiness this past week and I am greedy for more.”
“Your appetite will be satisfied,” I promised her. “Does this mean that we are not going to Atlantic City but instead we are California bound?” I was beginning to feel very happy.
“Can you book two tickets to the City of Angels?”
“I can indeed,” I enthused. “You will not change your mind again will you?”
“Let the California dream begin,” she laughed and returned to bed.
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Also by David Adkins
The Eagle’s Nest and the Wolf’s Lair
Season of the Gladiatrix
The End of a Dynasty
The Forgotten Pharaoh