by Koko Brown
“I think you’re leaping. And I think you’ll get yourself into serious trouble if you repeat it. She’s a senior officer. A highly decorated senior officer, and if you accuse her of being involved in a murder or in your attack…you’re collecting what little of your pension you’ve earned. Do you understand me, Andrews?”
The other man nodded “I understand. But I took pictures. Of the footprint. If it was Chambers, the only thing I can think of is that she was disturbed. Maybe the cleaner knocked or something else disturbed her. She wouldn’t have left that there otherwise. Just blink if you think I’m on the right path.”
Xiu sent him a disgusted look. “No. Stop. All right?”
Andrews exhaled. “All right. I’ll let it go.”
Xiu turned on the radio to distract them both on the return to the station. He couldn’t risk anyone else being involved, or having the slightest idea of what Chambers could do to all of them.
Atarah strolled calmly into Topshop, bought a coat and a floppy felt hat in the type of hipster vibe that everyone in North London seemed to be wearing like a uniform, and had the assistant remove the tags for her. The old coat went into her five-pence bag and the hat perched on top of her head.
Leaving the store, she headed for the nearest mini-cab station, almost indistinguishable from the other women who wore a mix of similar fabrics and styles. The driver left her a good ten-minute walk from the apartment. Brisk walking saw her inside and enveloped in Lonán’s arms sooner than she anticipated.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a more desperate tone than Xiu had used. Lonán lifted the hat from her hair and examined her face for any marks.
“I’m fine. We were followed to the Cinema Bar.” She took the hat and placed it on the clothes hook at the side of the door. “I’ve given him a burner phone so at least we can communicate. I know…” She saw the look on his face and understood his worry. “But we can’t hide here forever. Saoirse needs to go to school. She needs stability and no more fear.”
“I know,” Lonán said with obvious difficulty. “I want the world for her, but I am terrified.”
Atarah wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her face in the crook of his neck, squeezing him tightly until she felt his fear disappear in the warmth of her embrace. He had every reason to be terrified. She felt that fear, too, but for that little girl, they needed to think sensibly. It meant taking Sybilla out. It was the only way they could ever find normality.
“What will you do?” Lonán asked over her head.
“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling back to look at him.
“Do you think you’ll go back to policing? Can you?”
Good question. “I have no idea, to be honest with you. I’ve been doing this so long, I’ve been playing three different people for so long I don’t know what normal is. How to be a normal everyday copper. Would I even be allowed after what I’ve done?”
“They will, when Sybilla is dragged kicking and screaming into the light.”
Atarah sighed heavily. “I don’t even know if that’s going to be possible. How can it be when she’s firmly entrenched in the station? She’s protected. What could draw her out?”
“Gael,” Lonán answered. “He’s not as invincible as she thinks he is, or anyone else. He’s the weak point in the whole structure. If you draw him out, then Sybilla will follow for certain.”
Atarah winced. “But how? I don’t have the access I did, since I stupidly confirmed that I was responsible for Nicodeme’s death.”
“There’s your in,” he replied. “He’d be desperate to impress Sybilla, now that everything seems like the unknown to them right now. Get him to meet you and you can get everything out of him. He’d drop Sybilla in it to save himself. I know they’ve been together for a hundred years, but trust me, he’s a rat. He’d jump ship if it meant saving his own skin.”
Atarah considered for a moment, until realisation finally confirmed that he was right. Gael held the key to bringing Sybilla down. His flashiness, his instantaneous glamour, that need to show off to everyone how much money he had, his glamorous wife, home…
That Atarah managed to worm her way into the inner temple of Gael proved to her that she’d done her work. She could do it again. If she bowed at the altar of Gael, he’d be suckered in, if only to prove his power equalled his wife’s.
Lonán watched her carefully, then gently pressed his fingertips to the swell above her bottom. “What are you thinking?”
“That you’ve handed me an ace in a really bad hand,” she admitted, leaning forward to kiss him on the nose. He frowned immediately, looking unimpressed that he had helped.
“I’m not convinced it will work.”
“You’re saying that now only because I’m formulating a plan,” she said with a grin, leaning forward again this time to kiss him lingeringly on the lips. “You taste nice.”
“Don’t distract me,” he warned her, red tinging his cheeks. “It’s a way in, but it doesn’t mean you should be doing anything that puts you at risk.”
She kissed him again, this time curving her tongue under his top lip so she could sink her teeth gently into his flesh. “I’ve been at risk for the last two years. What’s one more risk if it gives us all freedom?”
His lush mouth turned down at the corners. “You’re equating freedom with the type of risk that may get you killed. It’s not worth it.”
“Of course it is! Saoirse is most important here. You and Saoirse both,” she insisted, pushing her hips against his to make her point. “You’ve known me for the span of a heartbeat. I’m dispensable. Your daughter’s mental health isn’t.”
“Don’t say that,” he said, his voice hoarse. Oh, oh God, she recognised his emotion in the space of a blink. “Please, not after everything.”
“It’s not that much,” she reminded him with a weak smile. How did he care about her that much so quickly? Was it that she’d trusted him with her secrets? That she’d fallen head over heels for his daughter, who felt the same way for her? Or really, was she that good in bed? “You know I’ll do it anyway, don’t you?”
He curved his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her into a deep kiss, his stubble rubbing into her chin. Now it felt worth staying in the apartment for the rest of their days. She sucked in some much-needed oxygen, pressing a hand to his hip to give her space from the swelling in his groin that would inevitably lead her into doing more to confound her feelings for him. God, the man worked his way in like a weed.
“Hmm, where’s Saoirse?”
“She’s having a nap. We were pretending we were on a beach in the Costa del Sol. Look.” He indicated over his shoulder and she saw how the floor lamps were focused on the cushions, covered by beach towels. “After halfway through the Hunger Games, she was out like a light.”
He turned back to her and kissed her again, his hands cupping her buttocks and pressing his luscious-feeling hard-on into the apex of her thighs.
Maybe it was the adrenaline of being followed, going back to old ways of avoiding detection that caused her to drift into urgent need, but soon enough, he edged her into the main bedroom and carefully closed the door behind them. His hands tunnelled under her jumper, pulling it from her body and separating them briefly, until he caught her back against him once more.
She appreciated him so much more when he lost all of his clothing, the smattering of red hair on his toned, hard chest and the V that defined his narrow hips, those hips he put to such good use, the best use, she thought, as he turned her over onto her stomach, his hand diving between her thighs and cupping her mound. The groan that reverberated through him when he dipped his fingers inside her once, then again, the pads of his fingertips spreading and exploring her only made her wetter, throb harder against his hand in search of that release.
He latched onto her neck, biting her skin and sending an uncontrollable shudder through her. Kisses scattered over her shoulder and down her arm, while he pulled her to her knees, his torso glu
ed to her bare back. His warm breath skated over her spine and he held her in place as he lined up his sex to hers. That first touch of the blunt hardness, pressing into her, made her clap a hand over her mouth to keep quiet. He curved a hand around her jaw to kiss her, to swallow the sound, and simultaneously, he slid inside her. She pushed back against him hard, allowing him to fill her completely. She took her breath from his mouth, lifting one hand of support to grip the arm locked about her waist. He paused, letting them both find their breath from each other, only to let his arm slide down and his fingertips to brush over the swollen kiss of flesh just above where they were joined.
She pushed back against him insistently, unable to take the sensation of being stretched with no further friction. I need the friction, she thought. I need more.
She whispered “please…” against his lips and that broke his stillness. He rocked against her, allowing her to feel the tension of his thighs against hers with his movements, in a slow, steady rhythm that drove her mad. She clawed at his arm, arched her back to try to get him deeper, where she needed him to stroke her, but he remained steady, even, and agonisingly slow.
The only thing she could think to do to make him move his arse was to slap it. Resoundingly, without mercy. It felt like a hot rock beneath her palm, but it worked. Slow and steady gave way immediately to rough and uneven. He fully turned her onto her stomach and caught both hands with his own to anchor them both to the bed. The mattress squeaked unforgivingly with each punch of his hips and she shook each time he drove into her. Their combined liquids began to snake around her upper thigh.
Atarah sank her upper body to the pillows and immediately her position let him brush her front walls. Her body seized more quickly than she anticipated and she groaned into the foam pillows. He continued pounding against her bottom, harder and faster, his fingers tightening around hers only to lift the right hand combined with hers to circle over her clit.
Her pussy fluttered, then clenched around him, pulling him so deeply into her body, she felt each and every jet of hot liquid inside her.
Sticky with sweat, Lonán collapsed against her, still locked inside her. He pressed his mouth hard to her jaw and rested his head on her shoulder. The change in his breathing told her he was asleep. How could he after that? It amazed her.
After five minutes, she carefully unravelled herself from him and padded quickly to the bathroom. She always did her best thinking while on the loo, and it occurred to her that she had the perfect way to draw Gael out. Wrapping herself in a towel, she tapped out a message to the new number on Xiu’s mobile phone.
Day of doom part two, she texted. Can we talk?
It did feel somewhat sacrilegious to go from one man’s bed to be sending messages to another, but necessity drove her. She wanted both men to be safe more than anything. Shame, therefore, had to wait.
NINETEEN
Andrews refused to let him drive back to the station. He insisted they check on Shannon. “Anything could have happened to her. Especially if she knows something she shouldn’t.”
“Like you?” Xiu bit out, unable to feel anything but targeted. If Xiu hadn’t asked Shannon to check the IP addresses, she’d be okay.
Please, God, let her be okay…
“I’m not pointing fingers here, Jiang,” Andrews offered, giving him a genial pat on the knee.
“Aren’t you?”
“No, not at all. But you know the thing about the force. We can’t leave one behind.”
“That’s the army, you twit!”
“Same difference. We’re all in this together. The idea that one of us could be in danger and we do nothing to stop that isn’t right. It can’t be right.”
“I was going to check on her without you being there!” he roared at the other man.
Andrews folded his arms. “Well, it’s better that I am here, so nothing gets back to people who shall not be named that you’ve been wandering off on your own!”
Silence ruled the car while both men thought.
Andrews made a good point. If he’d returned to the station without him or just dropped him off without a by-your-leave, it would have meant questions from Chambers that he was in no position to answer. This way, they could lie together.
Shannon lived in Bromley and mid-afternoon traffic, fighting with school-run harassed-looking parents who would honk their horns at you as quick as they would cut you up and flip the middle finger in your direction.
“In front of children?” Andrews’ top lip curled with disgust at the display from yet another parent who couldn’t drive for shit.
“I don’t know this fucking area,” Xiu growled.
“You need to come off the A-road here. And then another left. No, your other left!”
Xiu screeched through a petrol station, cutting through the traffic into the main road. One more left saw them on Shannon’s street. Middle of nowhere, Xiu thought in disgust. Everything looked the same: cookie-cutter suburbia that benefitted from the gentrification of London and overpriced housing. Andrews pointed out a tiny parking space and Xiu barely fit the car inside.
“Bet that’s never been a problem for you before,” Andrews teased.
Xiu sent him a disgusted look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you should know every single woman—and a good quarter of the men at the station—thinks you’re bang-able.”
“Never use that word again,” Xiu advised, getting out of the car and waiting for Andrews to get out to lock it. He looked around the flat and saw no movement, either on the ground floor or above.
Andrews pressed the buzzer on all three flats. Xiu glared at him for such stupidity. Understandably, no answer greeted them.
“Hello?” The voice on the intercom sounded frail and weak. It made them both jump slightly.
“Hello madam, it’s the police. Can you let us in?”
“Are you allowed to do that?” the woman asked. “Be able to go in anywhere you want to?”
“Madam, it’s an emergency,” Andrews piped up. “We desperately need to see if a young woman is all right.”
“The girl who lives on the top floor? This is new, she never usually has visitors.”
Xiu wanted to bang his head against the door. “Please madam, it’s very important.”
She went quiet for so long, Xiu thought the woman had disappeared.
The door release buzzed loudly and Andrews and Xiu almost wrestled each other to get through the door. Xiu got through first and took the stairs two at a time, in gazelle-like leaps, not hitting any of the creaks. Andrews, stumbling behind him hit every single one, sounding like the Battle of Britain on each one. Xiu shushed him and they listened at the door for any indication that Shannon remained inside.
They heard what sounded like a slap and then a crash. Muffled voices drifted through the wood. Xiu didn’t hesitate. One short, sharp kick to the door burst it open. In the middle of her living room, Shannon sat tied to a broken chair, her face red and swollen. Before he could approach, Andrews tackled a man who was built like a hulking gorilla.
“Get Shannon!” Andrews yelped, as the man wrapped an arm around his neck and began to choke him.
Jesus. Xiu picked up a broken chair leg and swung it at the back of the gorilla’s head. The gorilla collapsed like a pack of cards and swooned to the floor. Xiu turned to Shannon and sat her up.
“Are you all right?”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered breathlessly. “I can’t believe that happened. He’s been here for hours!” Her eyes turned red with the strain of tears. “He wanted me to tell him what I’d deleted… We have to tell someone higher up what Chambers has done. She can’t get away with this.”
Andrews sat on the gorilla’s back, wiping his face. “She’s right.” He patted the gorilla down and extracted a pocketknife. “Hurry up and untie her.”
“Shannon, where do you have to go?” Xiu asked, cutting through her bonds. When he finished the last one, Shannon threw herself into
his arms, sobbing inconsolably.
Xiu gazed at Andrews for help, who shrugged. “At least do something useful and see what else he’s got on him.”
Andrews saluted, while Xiu turned back to Shannon. “Did he say anything?”
“He got up here because that stupid old nosey-bitch Watson let him up into my house.” She shuddered, shaking her arms and rolling her shoulders. “Sorry, my body aches. Does he have anything else on him?” she directed her question to Andrews, who took his time searching in the gorilla’s pockets.
“Seems like he’s walking with nothing. Even his phone doesn’t have anything on it. He may have memorised the number.”
“Whose number?” Xiu asked.
“Who else but Chambers?” Shannon answered, putting her hands on her lower back and arching her body until cracks sounded in the room. “What an arsehole! Why aren’t you calling the police?”
“Why else, but fear,” Andrews answered, perching himself on the gorilla’s back. “How far up does this go? Who else is she friends with? Who else knows and takes a cut of her business? It’s making enough money for her to be looking turned out every day. No one else does.”
Xiu and Shannon exchanged looks. “Of course not,” Shannon mocked. “Just call the police and I’ll stay somewhere else.”
“Stay with me,” Andrews offered, leaping to his feet and grinning at her. “I have plenty of space. I did have roommates, but they’re travelling around Australia for, like, a month, but they’ve paid up. Plus no one will think you’re with me. Automatically they’ll think you’re hiding with Xiu. Apparently, that hasn’t worked out so well…”
Xiu could have knocked him out and barely resisted the urge to do so. “Just call this in. Shannon, what are you going to tell them?”