by Dawn Tamayo
“So, we know that Omar Mustafa is planning to bring in his biggest shipment yet across from Morrocco, and that this man Marcus Martinez is trafficking it through Spain. But we don’t know who this third man is; our informant only knows that he is British but we don’t have a name or a location for him. This is where our contact from the Serious Organised Crime Unit comes in.” Romero wondered why Captain Manesco was speaking in English, then it became clear as the man sitting quietly at the side of the room finally spoke up.
“Good afternoon Gentlemen.” He said as he removed his suit jacket and put it on the back of his chair loosening his tie. “My name is Detective Spencer. Thank you for meeting me here this afternoon.” He watched to check that he had the three men’s full attention before he continued. “As Captain Manesco has explained we know that these two men have been operating this drug smuggling business for a while, and so far they have managed to evade capture. We now know that this third man is involved, we believe he is taking some of the drugs through into the United Kingdom, and that is why I am here, to see that he is stopped. If we combine our efforts and resources we will be able to seize the drugs and capture the traffickers.”
“One question.” Romero interrupted. “Why are we sitting her hearing all this. None of us work for the Anti-Drug and Organised Crime Unit.”
Detective Spencer paused from what he was about to say and answered Romero’s question. “We have a strong suspicion that these men have informants in the police stations all along the Costa Del Sol, right from Malaga to Gibralta. We believe this is why they have managed to avoid capture so far, because each of our raids have turned up nothing or have been exposed. Therefore we need police officers from outside the area who are experience at working on the Spanish coast for this operation.”
“That is why you are here Romero.” The Captain spoke directly to Romero. “You have experience in my unit, you know how this all works and what to do. We have brought Carlos and Miguel in because your Captain said you would work well together, and nobody down there knows your faces so you shouldn’t be recognised. Other than that, this is on a need-to-know-basis and all your colleagues will be thinking you are all on annual leave whilst this operation is taking place. No one, including family and friends, are to be contacted during this time. You are to inform your families that you are away on a training exercise and nothing more.”
The three officers looked at each other and nodded. Normally Romero wouldn’t be interested in getting involved with such a dangerous operation again, he’d had enough of that, but right now he wanted to get his teeth into something to take his mind of Helen and this seemed as good as any.
Detective Spencer continued, “You will be backed up by Captain Manesco’s ADOCU and some of my officers from the Serious Organised Crime Unit.” He paused and looked directly at Romero, “Romero you will have a partner from ADOCU assigned to you. Carlos & Miguel you two are to partner each other. The main surveillance will be down to the four of you, and either I, or Captain Manesco, will be in the surveillance van or nearby at all times with access to back-up and any other resources we need.”
The men nodded in agreement and started to discuss previously known drug trafficking routes, to form a strategy plan. Romero could tell from the briefing and his prior knowledge of how ADOCU operated that this was not going to be a quick assignment. He was in this for the long haul and it could take anything from a week or two to a few months if things didn’t go smoothly.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Romero stood looking at the front door to Helen’s apartment. He knew he shouldn’t be there, she hadn’t invited him and he had no right to be there, but he couldn’t be down on the Costa Del Sol and not stop by to see that she was alright. Not since his hotel was only a fifteen minutes drive away from Estepona. He knocked hard on the door and waited for a while, but there was no answer. He knocked again and tapped his foot while he waited to no avail. Romero walked away from the door and back down the hallway to the caretaker’s apartment. Knocking on the door he waited impatiently for the old man to open up.
“Buenas Señor. ¿Dónde está la mujer que vive aquí?”
He listened as the old man told him that he had no idea where Helen would be, she had only dropped by the apartment a few times over the last few weeks but never stayed. Other than that, he believed she was living up at her fiancé’s house.
The news hit Romero hard – he knew he shouldn’t have been surprised, Helen and Oliver were engaged so why wouldn’t she be living back at his house? But he had assumed that Helen would be returning to her apartment when he brought her back to Estepona. It seemed not - obviously she didn’t want to be parted from her fiancé now they had been reunited. He thanked the old man, giving him a generous tip for the information, and walked away.
Romero walked back to his car, deep in thought. He wondered if Helen’s memory had come back or if she had fallen in love with her fiancé all over again. He sniffed with distaste, but considered there must be something about the man, because after doing a bit of research he found it was common knowledge that women were queuing up around the block to date him. However, it was also common knowledge that Oliver Chapman was firmly off the market. He had assumed that Oliver’s popularity with the women was just because he was incredibly rich, but maybe there was more to the man. He knew Helen wasn’t the kind of woman who would jump into bed with just anyone, no matter how rich they were! Well, not the Helen he knew. He looked at his watch, he had an hour before he would be meeting his new partner, so he headed off to the marina for a cold refreshing drink.
Romero laughed to himself at the cost of the extortionate prices just for an orange juice at the marina front bar - he couldn’t believe that people actually paid that price for a drink instead of refusing and going elsewhere. But then again, where there was a market there would always be people ready to take advantage and put their prices up, and he grunted to himself knowing that was exactly what they were doing here. He wished he could show them his Police ID and get his usual discount given to police officers in Spain, but he couldn’t, not here. That was the whole purpose of him being in plain clothes, he would need to blend in as a tourist and no one could know he was with the police.
Romero looked out across the marina as a familiar figure caught his attention, standing out from the crowd around her. She was standing within a group of journalists, their tape recorders and notebooks in hand. A gentle breeze swept Helen’s voice towards him and he could hear her tell the journalists to go onboard and look around the small boat, and she would be back in a few minutes to answer any questions. He noticed she didn’t walk onto the boat herself and stayed well back from the water’s edge. Romero instinctively stood up and left his seat, heading off in Helen’s direction, but after a few steps he stopped. He wasn’t sure if he should continue - what good would it do him? But just the mere sight of her had already set his heart pounding fast. He knew he would be in serious trouble if his Captain found out, he wasn’t supposed to know anyone around here and he shouldn’t let Helen see him, but he had been driven half-crazy by the need to know how she was, and now he could get his answer. Helen certainly looked alright from where he was standing, he thought she looked more than alright – her golden hair was blowing in the gentle afternoon breeze as she stood there dressed in a smart little grey suit-dress, and she took his breath away. Romero watched as she opened up her phone to make a call, wandering down the marina getting closer.
Helen was pleased with herself. The journalist from the motorboat and yachting magazines seemed to like Oliver’s newest additions to his fleet – thirty foot and forty foot Cabin Cruisers, much smaller and more economical boats which would appeal to the middle classes, and their holiday-hire packages were priced within their price range. No longer would it just be the extortionately wealthy who could hire a boat and sail around the beautiful islands and coastline now. She admired Oliver’s business acumen, and was pleased he didn’t just want to hire out his boats to the ri
ch and famous, and was opening up the market to anyone who could afford a smaller boat, a Cabin Cruiser, and still wanted some of the luxury and comforts that the rich and famous would enjoy. Of course it hadn’t been all Oliver’s idea - Helen had suggested the smaller boats to him, and showed him her projected rental revenue versus expenditure figures, and he was sold on it. He had immediately bought two thirty-foot, and one forty-foot Cabin Cruisers and put Helen to work on the sales and advertising of them. She was pleased to have something to get her teeth into, something to keep her mind occupied. But it was more tiring than she had thought trying to keep a smile on her face and keeping up the sales pitch - she decided sales just wasn’t her thing now. Helen ushered the journalists onto the thirty-foot show Cabin Cruiser so they could look around at their leisure as she walked away to make a phone call checking that the restaurant was ready with the champagne and canopies for when they would be moving on for their Q&A in a few minutes. Helen looked up as she heard her name called, stopping her in her tracks. She thought she must have been imagining it because it surely couldn’t be! But then she heard her name called again, this time much closer, and she desperately looked around for its owner. She found Romero just as he walked up in front of her and she broke into a huge smile. Before Helen knew what she was doing, she’d cut off the person on the other end of the phone, and threw her arms around Romero, laughing at the sheer joy at seeing his handsome face right in front of her.
Romero had hoped that Helen would be pleased to see him, but never in his wildest dreams did he think she would actually jump into his arms! He gladly wrapped his arms around her warm body and drank in the sweet scent of her perfume and hair.
She laughed happily as she pulled back and looked at him. “Romero! What a fabulous surprise. What are you doing here?” She said almost not believing her eyes. He looked just as gorgeous as she remembered him to be each night in her dreams. His hair was just as dark brown and his eyes were still as shiny as ever. Helen had almost forgotten how good it felt to be held tightly in his arms. Almost, but not completely, and it felt so good!
“I was just passing through, I have a few days off and I was doing some sightseeing nearby. I thought I would stop at your apartment to see how you are doing, but you weren’t home. I should have guessed you would be working.” He said nodding towards the Marina.
“Oh yes, my apartment.” She said quietly looking down. She knew Romero well enough to know that if he had been to her apartment then he would have found out one way or another that she wasn’t actually living there. “I’m staying up at Oliver’s house at the moment.” She felt uncomfortable saying it, she knew she shouldn’t, but she did.
“And how is that going?” Romero asked, cursing himself for asking the questions he didn’t want to hear the answer to if it was what he thought it would be.
Helen looked at him and didn’t want to lie, but she knew she couldn’t tell him the truth, and right now wasn’t the time or place to be discuss how she was feeling.
“Oliver is a good man. He loves me and he is taking good care of me.” She answered instead.
Romero looked at her hands resting on his forearms and saw the enormous yellow diamond ring on her finger.
“Wow, he certainly is.” He said, then regretted it the moment the words left his mouth.
Helen saw Romero look at her expensive engagement ring and pulled away from him hurt. “That’s not fair! You know the price of a piece of jewellery isn’t important to me, and nor is a wardrobe full of expensive clothes either, before you say about that too. How insulting! I thought you knew me better than that!”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” He was ashamed of himself for stooping so low, it wasn’t her fault that every pore of his body was consumed with jealousy because he had fallen in love with his forbidden fruit. “So what about your memory? I take it that it’s all come back now. Why haven’t you updated the police report with what happened to you the night I found you?” He had been checking in with the police station and there had been no further information added to Helen’s file other than her return to Oliver Chapman.
“I can only remember a few things. It’s coming back slowly, very slowly. Like I can vaguely remember some people now, and one or two things that I liked, but I still can’t remember much else, and that night is a complete and utter blank.” Helen kept her hands to her sides – the yearning to feel the touch of Romero’s skin was too much to bear, knowing she couldn’t run her hands along it and touch it properly, the way she wanted to feel it beneath her fingertips. “The only thing I can remember from that night is waking up and seeing you.” She couldn’t believe how much she longed to reach out to him. It was as if the world around them, the noise of the marina and everything else, had just slipped away and it was only her and Romero that existed. “I am still the same girl that you knew Romero. I am getting my memory back but I don’t think I will ever go back to being who I was before, not totally.”
Romero couldn’t move, he was locked looking into Helen’s deep blue eyes. He knew it was a mistake to come over and speak to her, and he had been right. As much as he had tried to pretend to himself that he just wanted to make sure someone he had rescued was still alright, he knew it had been more than that, so much more. Romero had needed to see Helen to know where her life was going, and now he had his answer.
They both jumped as Helen’s mobile phone rang. She looked down at it and saw Oliver’s name. Romero looked at his watch quickly realising he had been there longer than he had intended, and if he didn’t make a move very soon he would be late to meet his new partner.
Helen let the phone ring as she looked at it, and then back to Romero.
He could see she was about to say something, and he didn’t think he could stand to hear an apology coming from her lips, especially not when it would have another man’s name in the same sentence. Out the corner of his eye Romero saw the journalists coming out of the boat, he quickly leaned forward and kissed Helen gently on the cheek. “You look very busy. I will leave you to it. Take care Helen.” He said and quickly walked away back along the marina, and disappeared down a side street.
Helen watched as Romero walked away, she could still feel the tingle of his kiss on her cheek and her heart felt like it was falling to the floor. She wished the phone would stop ringing. She wished it hadn’t rung in the first place. But then again she wasn’t sure what she would have done at that moment had they not been interrupted. Helen heard the ring of the phone again and answered it as she saw the journalists heading in her direction. She pulled herself together and tried to push Romero to the back of her mind because she had work to do now.
That night Helen couldn’t keep the memory of her encounter with Romero from consuming her thoughts. She had tried to focus on the lovely dinner that she and Oliver shared at a restaurant on the sea front, but her mind kept straying back to the marina and Romero. She had silently tried to talk some sense into herself the whole ride home from the restaurant. The moment she had seen Romero she had wanted to kiss him, run her hands through his hair and touch him all over him, dragging him somewhere secluded to feel him consumer her. She looked at Oliver and wished she could feel the same way about him when she looked at him, but no matter how hard she tried she could only see a nice handsome man, but she couldn’t imagine making mad passionate love to him, and had no desire to even try. She was grateful that Oliver had been patient and hadn’t pushed her to make love to him yet, but she was sure his patience would wear out soon. Helen had been back with Oliver for a few weeks now and she had assumed the spark of passion would somehow awaken in her during this time, but it hadn’t. She couldn’t understand it - after all she must have been in love with him at one time, and no doubt felt those feelings of raw passion for him then? And she knew she certainly wasn’t emotionally and passionately dead inside considering the incredible feeling of desire she felt for Romero, and she had only known him for a couple of days when the sparks became undeniably electrifying.
Helen tried not to think about that. It wasn’t fair to compare Oliver to Romero. Romero had just been a flash in the pan, and Oliver, well, she had promised to spend the rest of her life with him. She knew her feelings should have been the other way round – she should have been longing for Oliver’s touch, not Romero’s, but they weren’t and she couldn’t make it something that it was not. Even so, Helen comforted herself with the probability that all great marriages were based on a solid ground of friendship and love, not on amazing wild passion which would probably fade over time. At least she knew that Oliver loved her, and she hoped they would become good friends again in time, and then maybe she would grow to love him!
Helen nodded to herself. Yes, she would just need more time and not expect too much, not everyone had lightning strikes and bolts of passion flying through their relationship. She laughed to herself realising how spoilt and silly she was being. She was with one of the most eligible bachelors on the Spanish coast - she had everything she could possibly want and more, and he obviously loved her and treated her well, yet she still wasn’t satisfied. “Spoilt!” Helen muttered quietly, annoyed with herself.
Helen’s phone rang interrupting the silence in the room except for the television playing quietly in the background. She put her magazine down and smiled as she read the message from Cathy:
“Hey chic. How are you doing? Long time no see. All good here. Love Cathy.”
She thought for a moment and then looked up at Oliver who was busy reading his newspaper. “Oliver, I want to go to Benidorm to visit my friend. You don’t mind if I go do you? I’ll only be gone a couple of days.”