by Nell Grey
“Is Sion alright?”
Since Claire called, I’ve been worrying too. Why would someone suddenly go offline for a whole week? Even if they were mad busy, they could still send a quick text. Make a call, surely?
“He’s fine. He’s been crashing at Jase’s place in London.”
“Why’s he not phoned her?”
“Jase says he got into a fight on a night out. Got a few bruises on his face. He didn’t want Claire to know. Or to see the state of him.”
It made sense, but it wasn’t going to please Claire.
“What you smirking about?”
“Nothing. Just wouldn’t like to be in Sion’s shoes, that’s all. Claire’s pretty pissed off with him and that’s not much of an excuse not to send her a text.”
“Jase says Sion’s gonna call and see her on his way back.”
“Brave man.”
“Jase said we can stay at his place when we go see Matt.”
A nervous knot forms in my stomach.
“Cool… I can’t wait to meet Jase. Get all the dirt on you from your army days.”
“Hmm, on second thoughts, p’raps we should stay with Cal. Less you know, the better.”
◆◆◆
Hearing her ringtone, Claire rushed over to her bag stowed under the bar. She’d been waiting over a week. If it was him, she’d tell him to do one.
Her pounding heart told her she wouldn’t.
“Gotta take this, sorry.”
Kevin frowned, but she didn’t care what he thought anymore. The lunch shift was nearly over. Anyway, he was always on his phone. And no way was it always work-related, either.
She moved into the recess by the glasswasher. Her stomach was suddenly full of butterflies. And dread.
“Sion?”
It came out too enthusiastically, she reigned herself back in.
“Everything okay? Where the Hell have you been?”
“... Yeah, right.”
He’d explain it all and he wanted to meet up.
“Why should I, when you can’t even be arsed to call me?”
He wasn’t making much sense.
“Look, Sion, I’ve gotta go. I’m at work.”
He was persistent, she gave him that. He really needed to see her, he told her. It wouldn’t wait.
In the end, she relented.
“Alright, alright. I’ll see you at seven.”
She turned back towards the bar.
“Shit! You gave me a fright.”
Kevin was standing there, right in front of her. Had he been listening in?
Staring indignantly, she put her phone back into her bag.
Thank God she was off for a couple of days after this shift.
“Yer boyfriend back?”
“Sion’s not my boyfriend. But since you ask, yes he is. I’m seeing him tonight, so I’ll need my wages before I go, if that’s alright?”
“No can do, sweetheart.”
His scouse drawl irritated her even more than usual.
“You know the score. I do the wages Monday.”
“Any chance I could have it sooner, Kev? Please?”
Kevin considered it
“Alright, darlin.’ Seein’ as it’s you. Come pick it tomorrow before the lunch shift.”
“Great, see you at eleven.”
◆◆◆
Sion drove fast.
His heart raced when he thought of Claire and he couldn’t wait to see her again. But, the call he’d made to her, she’d sounded upset. Angry, because he hadn’t called. He could understand why. He’d seen all the times she’d tried to contact him and had listened to the messages she’d left.
After he’d dodged the train guards and got himself back to Wrexham, his boss at the NCA had told him in no uncertain terms to get his arse to London. They’d put a twenty-four hour detail on Jason’s flat and strict instructions for him to lie low. No contact and no calls. He’d felt bad about that, but he had spared her seeing his badly bruised face and beat-up body. She’d have freaked out.
It had been a crappy two weeks. He’d screwed up his job, his life.
But he had found Claire. In their late-night chats, he’d shared more about himself than he’d told any other woman. He hoped she’d understand when he explained it to her; face to face.
He glanced over at the small sports bag on the passenger seat beside him. It was his toolbox and his security for the next forty-eight hours. In it, he kept the essentials for his job, knives, rope, ties and a handgun.
And how would she react when he asked her to come with him? It wasn’t exactly the backpacking around the world she was planning, but it’d be a one-way ticket out of here to somewhere far away.
He still wasn’t sure what to say to her. If she knew the whole truth, what were the chances that she’d go with him?
CHAPTER 23
-----------✸----------
“Claire.”
She stepped into the street from her flat above the shop looking like she wasn’t sure what to do next.
And for the first time ever, Sion wasn’t either. Her large dark-brown eyes were stormy and proud as she approached his car, talking to him from the pavement through the driver window.
“You go quiet for a week, and then you show up wanting to see me?”
The sulky challenge was deserved. He knew how it looked.
“Like I told you, I had a spot of bother.”
“You never answered my messages.”
“I lost my phone. Got a new one, but my contacts were wiped.”
“Don’t sell me that horse shit, Sion. You could’ve got through to me, messaged me off your laptop. You work in IT for Christ’s sake!”
She had a point. She was the first person ever to blow a hole in his cover story.
“Look, I get it. You don’t wanna come travelling with me. You’ve thought it through and decided there’s no point carrying this on if I’m going off for a year. You could’ve just told me. Instead of ghosting me.”
“Ghosting you? Claire, it’s not about you going travelling. I wanna go with you too. I’ve got something I need to fly by you. Get in and let me explain properly.”
She came closer towards the window.
“Jesus, Sion! What’s happened to your face? It’s all bruised.”
“Get in. We’ll go down to the beach.”
“What? Now?… It’ll be dark soon.”
“Come on, Claire. We need to talk.”
She shook her head, but moved around the car and opened the door, warring against her better judgement. Sion quickly lifted the sports bag off the passenger seat, got out and stowed it in the boot.
She sat silently by his side all through the drive down to his favourite cove. This wasn’t quite the reunion he’d had in mind, but he took her moodiness as a good sign. The fact that she was upset meant that she must like him, at least a little.
Parking up, they walked over the dunes to a small beach, a perfectly formed crescent set in between the headlands. By now, the moon was high in the sky, and it was light enough to walk without needing a torch. The weather had been warming up a little, even though they were both wrapped up against the chill sea breeze.
Tentatively taking Claire’s hand, they walked without speaking along the shore, and she didn’t pull away. They headed across the cove over to the far side, where a pile of rocks jutted out from the sand.
There, they climbed and sat side-by-side on top of a clump of smooth black boulders.
“Claire?”
She remained fixed on the waves lapping insistently onto the shore.
“What I tell you, you gotta promise you won’t repeat it. Can I trust you?”
“‘Course you can. What is it, Sion? What’ve you been hiding from me?”
She was the only one who’d ever seen him for who he was.
Taking a deep breath, he told her everything. About the work, the contracts and his job undercover for the security services. About the Helbanianz and the Scousers.
And he explained why he’d not been able to call her.
And then he told her how he’d thought about her when he was tied up in the boot of the car, and how he’d been determined to stay alive so that he could see her again.
She sat, listening intently.
And when he was done, he waited in the quiet. The rhythm of the rolling waves, a drum-roll prelude to her response.
“How did you get into it?”
It was a valid question. Not one he’d anticipated.
“A friend of mine, from the first care home. The one I told you about. He was in the shit. He’d racked up some massive debts, got in deep with some well dodgy types. I was his only way out. They were after a specialist to do a job, and I was fresh out of the army. He asked me, explained it all and I agreed. It meant getting the heavies off my mate’s back, and he agreed to go away after, to start fresh. In Spain.”
This was the friend he’d talked to her about. The one who’d protected him from the two violent bullies who’d set on him on his first night in care. With a razor and ink, they’d performed an initiation. Tattooed his arm and beat him. His friend intervened before the next part, thank God. He'd been spared from being violated unspeakably. After that, Sion had been safe, under his new friend’s wing. And he'd owed him.
“The gang got me a contact where I could source the equipment I needed.”
“What? Like weapons?”
“Guns. Anyway, on the ferry back from Dublin, I was hauled in. Turns out, I’d been under surveillance the whole time. They’d read my army records, saw my skill set and wanted to keep me in play. So, I ended up working for the NCA deep undercover.”
“But, you’ve killed people?”
He couldn’t hide from that.
“Yes, I have.”
“Shouldn’t they have been arrested? Put on trial?”
Her voice rose.
“What about their right to defend themselves in court, Sion?”
She had a point.
“Look, everyone I’ve killed’s been a street soldier. A real villain outside of the law. Guys like Prifti, Irish even; they’re far too smart to get caught. They’re untouchable. And they hire people like me to bump each other off, settle scores in their battles between each other over turf and control. And the information I’ve passed to the NCA has saved many more lives. It’s given them the evidence they needed for arrests. I’ve helped close down whole operations, sent lots of really bad people to jail.”
“No wonder the Scousers want your ass.”
“Yeah. I screwed things up for them. Big time. Argh! The Scousers are the worst of the lot. They’re using kids as drug mules, Claire. Nine, ten years old. Across the country, kids like we were, they’re skippin’ school or out late at night on their bikes making drug deliveries, like it’s pizza. And what kills me, is that it’s only a matter of time before they’re hooked on the stuff too.”
She put her hand over his and he turned to her.
“So many young lives ruined. I hope what I’ve done has helped save a few.”
She reached up and touched his face, then examined the yellowing around his eye and the purple bloom on his cheek.
“They hurt you bad?”
“No. But they’re not the type of bruises a computer geek can explain away.”
He took her hands in his. Bending his head he gently brushed his lips over her fingers as he held them. He could hear her breathing. Did she want him too? Or was she afraid of him?
“And now what?”
“I begged two days to come up here. On Monday, I’m going into witness protection. A new identity abroad. Far away from here.”
“Does that mean no one’ll ever see you again.”
“Pretty much. Yes.”
Silence again.
“What about me?”
She was gazing up at the moon, avoiding his eyes.
“Come with me.”
Pulling her hand away from his, she shook her head.
“All the things you’ve told me…”
“Claire.”
She sniffed.
“I need to think about it. Please, Sion. Take me home.”
He pulled into the bus stop on the high street, opposite her flat.
She’d been quiet all the way back.
“I’m good from here.”
She went to undo her seat belt and he touched her hand.
“Is this goodbye?”
Pivoting, she faced him.
“Honestly? I don’t know yet.”
Her eyes met his, and behind their bright blueness, she saw his pain.
Leaning towards him, in spite of all the doubts and fears of who this man was, she couldn’t help herself. She kissed his lips.
“Am I safe with you?”
He gazed deep into her eyes.
“I’ll always protect you, Claire. I promise you that. I was stupid, I should’ve done something else with my life after the army.”
“Like, computing?”
A hint of a smile flickered across her face.
“Yeah, like computing. But it’s done now and I’m starting again. A new life in a new country. Come with me.”
She had no words for him yet, so she kissed him.
This time, her lips opened as she felt him respond to her. His hand lightly caressed her shoulder as she leaned in closer, and she felt his desire for her as they both became wrapped around each other. Whether it was a kiss full of promise and hope, or regret and sadness, Claire didn’t yet know.
She ended it, and drew herself apart, reaching for the door handle.
“I’ve gotta go.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow. Even if it’s a no, can I see you?”
She leaned back into the open passenger door.
“I’m picking up my wages tomorrow morning. Then I’m free.”
“Alright. I’ll meet you by The Cross Keys?”
“Fine. See you in the car park at eleven.”
◆◆◆
Shiny vivid-green leaves were popping out from the hawthorn hedges. The celandines and stitchwort flowers were peppering the hedgerows in waves of brilliant yellow and white. The bluebells had started peeping out. Their heads pushing up like asparagus spears, soon they’d form a bright blue carpet across the woodland behind the cottage. This was the best time of year, and it filled Sion’s heart with sadness. He’d never be here again.
Reaching the farmhouse, he checked the outbuildings. It was Sunday morning, but still, Jac was sure to be doing jobs about the place.
“Hey! Sion!”
Spotting him on the yard, Annie had come out from the house.
“Hi, Annie.”
“Long time no see. There were a couple of people wondering what happened to you
“You seen Jac?”
“He’s just got back in. Kettle’s on if you wanna brew?”
Sion hugged her as he met her by the porch.
“Shit, Sion! Your face! It’s still yellow and green. Jase told us about the bar brawl.”
Sion hastily bent down and pulled his shoes off.
“Has Claire seen the state of you?”
“Not in the daylight. It’s much better than it was. It’ll be gone in a day or two.”
He changed tack quickly.
“Looks like you’re still flat out. Your shed’s full.”
“Turning most of them out into the fields today. We’re hoping this fine weather will last. Couple more weeks’ll do us.”
“Sion!”
He surprised Jac with his strong embrace.
Jac was staring at him too, when he noticed his face. Good job they couldn’t see the rest of his body. From his ribs down, he was still a deep shade of purple. He’d been lucky, nothing was broken. The medical officer they sent to examine him, said it was a miracle he’d not cracked a rib or burst his spleen.
“Great to see you back. What does the other guy look like?”
As they drank coffee and chatted, Sion grew quieter. Their banter began to d
ry up.
“What’s up, mate?”
Annie got up to give them some space, but Sion held his hand out towards her.
“Don’t go. I need to tell you something. Both of you.”
She sat back down.
“I’m going away.”
“When?”
“Today. Right after I see Claire. I’ve got into some strife.”
Jac rubbed his face.
“What kind of trouble you in, mate? Did they arrest you for fighting?”
He regarded his friend cagily, then hung his head.
“I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say that I was stretching it a bit when I said I was in computing.”
His eyes met his best friend's.
“I was on ops, Jac.”
Jac leaned back in his chair.
“I knew it! I knew you’d never sit behind a desk all day. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t, mate. It wasn’t safe.”
“Sion!”
His friend shrugged.
“The bruises?” Annie asked quietly.
“Things went tits up on my last job. Which is why I couldn’t call Claire. We talked last night. But, the mess means I’ve got to get outta here, and I can’t come back.”
“What? Like… not ever?”
“They’re putting me in witness protection.”
“A whole new identity?”
“Yeah. And place. Far away.”
Annie looked at him in disbelief.
“What about Claire?”
“I’ve asked her to come too. She’s still thinking about it.”
Jac stared at him, his face frozen.
“So… we’ll… we’ll never see you again? Is that what you’re saying?”
Sion rose from his chair, unable to speak anymore as he faced Jac who was up on his feet too and standing by him.
Jac had been there from the start. Through it all. Thick and thin. Almost half a lifetime together.
“You’re my brother. I’ll always have your back.”
Sion nodded and placed his hands on Jac’s shoulder. They hugged each other hard.
“Get word to us, bro. Find us some app, or some code to use. When you’re safe, tell us where you are and we’ll come see you.”