‘Very…urrrr…impressive.’ The taller one slammed her locker shut and edged towards the door. Her short, fat friend followed.
I grabbed my bag out of the locker and yanked out my phone. ‘Come on,’ I murmured as I rang Billy. ‘Pick up.’ My other hand searched the bottom of the bag till it found the hardness of my gun.
‘Hey Toots.’
‘Nick,’ I said. ‘Where’s Billy.’
‘Taking a shot.’
‘Get him.’
‘Don’t want to disturb him in his back swing.’
‘He’s here,’ I hissed.
‘She’s got a beard? Well, yeah Princess. I hate to break it to you, but Martine’s a dude.’
The change room door squeaked and started to open. It stopped and then a woman said, ‘I’m sorry Sir, but no men are allowed back here.’
‘I am looking for my wife. Short woman. Black hair.’
The Russian accent was unmistakeable.
Eeeeeeekkk. I grabbed the revolver out of my bag and darted to the other side of the room to squat beside the lockers.
‘Chanel? Chanel? Are you there?’
‘Shhhhhhhh,’ I whispered.
The door started to push the rest of the way open and I flattened myself against the wall, holding my breath to stop the little whimpers gathering in my throat from escaping. A few seconds later I heard the door shut again and the woman said, ‘There’s nobody in there, Sir. Perhaps you would like to follow me back to Reception and see if she is waiting there for you.’
‘Chanel?’ This time is was Billy’s voice.
‘He’s here,’ I whispered.
‘Nice shot, show off.’ He let out a laugh. ‘Who’s there?’
I resisted my urge to scream, instead using sarcasm to unleash my frustration. ‘Donald Duck.’ I mean seriously, who did he think it would be?’
‘Boris?’
Oh, so now he gets it. ‘Yes, Boris.’
‘Where are you?’
‘In the change room.’
‘Jesus, Chanel. What did I say? Safety in numbers.’
‘I had to get my gun.’
‘Get back to the others. Now,’ he barked into the phone.
Still grasping my Glock, I slipped my hand inside my handbag and raced back the way I had come, sliding into the massage room about ten seconds later. Everything was as I had left it. Women covered in vegetable matter having their feet massaged.
I smiled at my lady, placed my bag under the bed within reach and slid back onto the bed, but it was hard to relax when my heart was racing. I was scared for Billy. What if he found Boris and came off second best?
The next twenty minutes felt like hours and as soon as the massage had finished I leapt off the bed and raced back out to the reception area.
Nick was sitting on one of the lounges; his little legs swinging back and forth as he spun his cap on one finger.
‘What’s in your hair?’ He stopped spinning the cap and stared at my head.
‘Cucumber.’ At least that’s what I was guessing it was. ‘Where’s Billy?’
‘Out the front.’
‘Any sign of Boris?’
He jumped off the couch and snapped the hat onto his head. ‘Zilch. You might want to get dressed so we can blow this joint.’
I sighed and went back to the change rooms, hating the feeling of uselessness. Everybody else was almost dressed, so I threw my clothes on and shook the cucumber out of my hair.
‘Well,’ Mum said, ‘that was lovely. Where are we going for lunch?’
I darted back out before I heard Tara’s answer and found Billy slumped against the buggy.
He stood upright as he saw me exit the Spa. His cargo shorts and t-shirt showed off his buff body and I found myself trying to spot where he had hidden his weapon. ‘You’re sure it was him?’
‘Absolutely. I saw him and then I heard him.’ Must be down the back of his shorts.
He shook his head.
‘This is good,’ I said. ‘Isn’t it? Now we can get back-up.’
‘We need proof.’
‘But I saw him.’
‘We need proof we can show the Bureau.’ He ran his hands through his hair.
‘You mean a photo.’ My heart sank. How were we going to get a photo of him? I shook my head. ‘I failed.’
‘No.’ He pushed away from the buggy and touched my arm. ‘At least now we know we’re right.’
I liked the sound of the word we far too much.
The other carts trundled up the road towards the Spa. Salindra sat in the front of the one that was driven by Matt. ‘Did you tell them?’
‘Didn’t want to worry them.’ Any more than they already were, was the unspoken part of that sentence.
‘Just ‘cause you didn’t finish, doesn’t mean I didn’t beat you,’ Matt yelled out.
Nick came out of the Spa and walked towards me. I could see the others exiting behind him.
‘How’d you go?’ I asked him.
‘Nah.’ He scuffed the tip of one foot along the ground. ‘Turns out they didn’t have any clubs short enough for me.’
Well, just rip my heart out and jump up-and-down on it.
‘Golf sucks anyway,’ I said. ‘You want the front?’
He flashed me a smile and jumped in.
‘Matt,’ Billy said, ‘you got room for me?’
‘What’s up? You didn’t get enough of me this morning?’
Billy smiled and climbed into the back of the cart. Salindra climbed out of the front to make room for Tara and said, ‘I might have a look around.’
‘Well.’ I climbed into the front of our buggy. ‘Looks like I’m driving.’
‘Can we swing by the waterfront on the way to lunch,’ Tara said. ‘Chanel’s shoes are still at the shop and she needs to wear them in.’
‘Alistair, Ricardo,’ Matt called out to the other carts, ‘we’ll meet you down at the restaurant.’
‘Mind if I get a lift,’ Mum climbed into the back beside Martine.
‘Want me to drop you back at your apartment?’
‘No. Harry’s going to meet us out.’
I started up the buggy and pulled out behind Matt, pressing my foot flat to the floor.
‘I feel the need,’ Nick said, ‘the need for speed. Come on Princess, whip this bad boy.’ He started to thump his hand on the dash as Matt, Tara and Billy pulled away from us.
‘I’m giving her all she’s got Captain,’ he said in a Scottish accent.
The other buggy widened the distance.
‘All she’s got isn’t good enough! What else ya got?’ Nick slammed his hand onto the dash and changed back to his Scottish voice. ‘If we eject the core and detonate, the blast could be enough to propel us forwards. I cannae promise anything though!’
‘Do you have any idea what they are talking about?’ Mum said.
‘I think it’s Star Trek,’ I said.
‘Could be Star Wars,’ Martine said.
‘Star Wars?’ Nick flipped around so he was facing them. ‘Wash your mouth out Big Bird.’
‘I’m still not talking to you,’ Martine informed him.
‘Why? What’d I ever do to…Oh yeah, right.’ He sniggered and flipped around in his seat. ‘So worth it.’
We started to cruise down the hill to the waterfront and saw the other buggy stop beside a small park. I pulled our cart into the first parking spot.
‘Think you could get any further away Toots?’ Nick clambered out of the front.
I rolled my eyes and said, ‘Oh come on. It’s only, what, twenty metres.’
‘Yes, but to his little legs that’s like a kilometre,’ Martine said.
He glared at her for a second, said, ‘I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,’ and then he trotted off on his little legs trying to catch up with Billy.
‘Hero worship,’ Mum said.
I nodded my head. If I could develop a case of hero worship where Billy was involved I didn’t see why Nick couldn’t.
We all trundled into the shoe shop and a saleswoman looked up from where she was positioning shoes on a display. ‘Tara.’ Her face broke into a large smile.
‘Hey Lucy,’ Tara said. ‘Have you got those other bridesmaid’s shoes?’
‘Got them right out the back.’ Lucy disappeared through a door and returned a few moments later with a box.
Tara gestured towards me and Lucy handed me the box. I lifted the lid and looked in. A pair of azure high heels lay nestled in the paper. I lifted one out and held it up.
‘These are high.’ I kicked off a thong and slipped my foot into it.
Tara pulled a face. ‘That’s what I get for letting Elaine choose the shoes. If it was up to me we’d all be wearing flats.’
‘It’s quiet down here today,’ Mum said to Lucy. We hadn’t seen anybody else between our buggy and the shop.
‘A cruise boat is pulling in at the wharf. Everybody has gone down to look at that.’
I stood onto the shoe and rose into the air. ‘Ha,’ I said. ‘Today three inches taller, tomorrow World domination.’ I slipped the other shoe on as well.
‘Do you have a pair of those in size…,’ Martine paused for a second, ‘Nicky what size shoe do you take?’
I chuckled and kicked them back off. They fit perfectly.
‘You need to wear them in,’ Tara said.
I sighed and climbed back into them. Don’t get me wrong, they were just the sort of shoe I loved to wear, but they were going to make driving the buggy difficult.
We left the shop and headed back to the golf carts.
‘Did somebody buy an alarm clock?’ Martine said, looking into the back of ours.
Billy and I tottered – well I did the tottering, Billy was all masculine striding – to the buggy. A box sat on the back seats. It had red numbers similar to a bedside table clock, except as we watched, the numbers started to count down.
‘Run,’ Billy shouted. He grabbed my hand and started to pull me across the grass away from the buggy. I saw Martine grab Nick’s hand, pulling him along behind her like a kite. Tara and Matt outdistanced us all, Mum was right behind them. I did the best I could in those damned high-heels but Billy and I were at the back of the pack. I struggled to stay upright as his hand turned my steps into leaps.
I’m pretty sure we were all counting down in our heads. Well, I know I was.
Five…
We were still close enough that the blast would take us out for sure.
Four…
Things weren’t looking good for us.
Three…
Perhaps we would survive the wounds.
Two…
This was going to hurt.
One…
‘Down.’ Billy flung me onto the ground in front of him and dived on top of me.
Blast off.
The boom of the cart exploding, rocked through the ground. The tremor ran through my body in a wave of energy. Metal shrieked and tore and then rained down, peppering the ground around us. And the whole time, Billy’s body pressed me down, shielding me from the shrapnel.
It only took a few seconds, but it was the longest few seconds of my life.
‘Billy,’ I said, ‘are you okay?’ I wiggled around so I could look up at him.
Pain masked his face.
‘You’re hurt. Oh no, you’re hurt.’
‘Just a few scratches. Are you okay?’ He rested his body weight onto his elbow and lifted his free hand to my face.
‘You shielded me.’ God, he was so close. So close to me. I could feel his skin rubbing up against mine, and the weight of his body still pressed me down.
He broke his gaze away from mine and looked up at the others. They had all made it a lot further away from the buggy than we did. ‘You guys okay?’ he called out.
Golf balls and pieces of plastic and metal littered the ground around where Billy and I lay. A small spray had made it out past the others but we had borne the brunt of it. Well, Billy had.
‘We’re good,’ Matt said. He lay in a similar position to Billy, shielding Tara from the blast. As I watched, he bent his head to kiss her.
Mum sat up and brushed the grass off her skirt. ‘That totally ruined all the good that massage did.’ She looked over at Martine and let out a laugh.
‘Where’s Nick?’ I said. The little guy was nowhere to be seen.
‘I’m under here.’ His muffled voice came from beneath Martine.
She pushed up onto her hands and knees and he rolled out from under her. I started to laugh and then I couldn’t stop.
It was ridiculous. Somebody had just tried to kill us and I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face. One-by-one the others joined in, the relief of still being alive overriding our fear.
Billy rolled off me, wincing as his back hit the ground. That sobered me up.
‘You’re hurt.’ I kneeled beside him and pulled him into a sitting position so I could exam his back.
His shirt was torn in several places, and trails of blood leaked through the material. That wasn’t the bad part though. A piece of metal protruded from his left shoulder blade.
‘Matt,’ I yelled. Panic surged over me. Please don’t let him die. Oh please don’t let it be bad.
Matt staggered to his feet and trotted back to where we sat. He took one look at Billy and said, ‘It’s just a flesh wound.’
Billy let out a snigger. ‘Tis just a scratch.’
Matt grasped the material of the shirt and tore it away from the shrapnel. The piece of metal, about an inch in width, stuck out like a knife blade.
‘It’s not near any major vessel,’ Matt said. ‘We should be able to handle this ourselves.’
‘Back at the apartments.’
Matt nodded and, holding onto Billy’s right arm, helped pull him to his feet.
I turned back towards the buggies and stopped. Where our buggy had been, only the remains of an engine sat. The rest of the buggy was gone, blown into a million tiny fragments. We had been lucky.
A handful of people had appeared in the shop doorways, heads swivelling as they assessed the level of danger.
The lady from the shoe shop trotted towards us. ‘I’ve called the police,’ she said. ‘Are you all okay?’
‘Nothing a Nurofen and a couple of Band Aids won’t fix,’ Matt said.
She looked at the cart and shook her head. ‘What happened?’
‘Damned cart caught on fire.’ Billy let out a laugh. ‘Then exploded.’
‘You were all lucky.’
‘Better go to our place,’ Billy said. ‘Less eyes,’ he murmured.
Matt nodded and said, ‘Actually Lucy would you mind sending them up to the Ocean View Apartments?’
‘Number Four,’ Billy said.
Lucy nodded her head and we all walked towards one remaining buggy. It could fit four, five at a pinch, and there were seven of us.
‘Martine and I will wait for Harry.’ Mum pulled her phone out of her bag. ‘Shall we go to the apartment or the restaurant?’
‘Go to the restaurant,’ Billy said. ‘Tell them we won’t be long.’
Mum nodded and Tara, Matt, Billy, Nick and I crowded onto the buggy. The thing had more get-up-and-go with five of us than our poor deceased one had had with two.
‘That’s more like it.’ Nick nodded his head in satisfaction as we roared up the hill.
‘You’re bleeding,’ Tara said.
‘I am?’ I looked down at my leg. A streak of blood ran down my left ankle and onto the shoe. ‘Oh no.’ I wrenched the shoe off and rubbed at the material. The blood came off on my fingers. ‘Phew.’ I looked at Tara and smiled. ‘Thought I’d ruined it.’
She shook her head and reached down to run her finger over my leg. ‘Just a scratch.’
‘Just a flesh wound,’ Matt and Billy said at the same time.
‘Have you got any idea what they are talking about?’ I asked Tara.
‘Monty Python, Black Knight,’ Nick said. ‘It�
�s a classic.’
‘Monty Python,’ Billy said. ‘Something for every occasion.’
Matt nodded his head. ‘And I think this morning’s was, Run away, run away.’
The two of them burst out laughing and didn’t stop till we got to the apartment.
***
‘This is going to hurt.’ Matt stood behind Billy, one hand poised over the piece of metal.
‘No shit Sherlock.’ Billy shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, ‘Just do it.’
Nick shook his head and said, ‘Niké.’
‘Huh?’ I looked from Billy’s face to Nick’s.
‘He was quoting the Niké ad.’
‘I think he was just telling him to get on with it.’
Nick shook his head, a sympathetic expression on his face. ‘It’s a competition, Toots.’
I looked back at Billy just as Matt wrenched the piece of metal out of his back. His eyes squeezed shut and a low growl came out of his throat. Matt took a wad of gauze from Tara and pressed it to the wound.
Billy let out a hiss at the pressure. ‘Does it need stitches?’
‘Let me stop the bleeding first and I’ll have a look.’
A couple of minutes later Matt pulled the gauze away and stared at the wound. Gathering my courage in both hands I moved around and peered at Billy’s back.
A slow trickle of blood still dribbled out of the cut. Matt pushed on one side of it, opening the wound so he could gauge its depth. At least that’s what I assumed he was doing.
‘It’s not that deep. Should be able to glue it and strap it,’ Matt said. ‘Got any superglue?’
Billy nodded his head and Tara started rummaging through the first-aid kit Billy had brought out of his bedroom. ‘Here.’ She pulled out a little bottle.
‘Great. Can you get me the Betadine. I’ll swab it first.’
‘Seriously? I said. ‘Super glue?’
‘Been used as a wound dressing since the Vietnam War,’ Billy said.
‘Better than stitches.’ Matt placed some Betadine on Billy’s back and wiped it over the wound with a new piece of gauze. ‘Less chance of infection.’ He turned to look at Tara. ‘You want to put it on or hold the wound?’
‘I’ll put it on. Billy, lean over.’
Billy leant forwards and Matt pushed gauze onto his back again. After another minute Matt removed the gauze and pulled the wound together. Tara squirted the glue over it, making sure it covered the healthy skin all the way around. Matt waited for another minute and then slowly removed his hands. The cut remained closed.
Two Weddings and a Fugitive (The Chanel Series Book 4) Page 9