Enforcer

by Black, Selena

  "So, you let him take a small piece of the action here in return for what he can offer you elsewhere?"

  "There's only one way to find out if that kind of tradeoff is possible and it's not by taking him out," Eddie said and smiled. "From what I remember, you have the brains to deal with competitors in a way that will help me find out what they can offer. I'm sure you can make him understand that this is something he would be wise to listen to and accept."

  "And if I can't?"

  "Then I'd suggest you use your powers of persuasion to make him realize he doesn't have a lot of choice in the matter," Eddie answered. "If he wants to set up business here, it will be done through me and in return, he'll provide details of his contacts and suppliers."

  "You're putting a lot of faith in me that I'll be able to get this information out of him and an agreement to your demands."

  "You have plenty of incentive to make this work."

  Matt knew what the comment meant and wanted to tell Eddie to stick it where the sun don't shine. The threat against Brigitte was made without even mentioning her name, but everyone around the desk understood it. He wanted to get up and walk away, but was stuck where he was. The only thing he could do for the moment was go through with the orders he was being given.

  "Where do I find him?" he asked.

  "We've had word of him approaching a few of our clients," Lincoln said. "Apart from that, he's kept a low profile and managed to keep himself out of sight. Unfortunately for him, his girlfriend wasn't so careful and we managed to track him down through her."

  He reached to a piece of paper in front of him and slid it across the desk. Matt picked it up to see the name and address written on it, but he didn't recognize the location.

  "Do you know it?" Eddie asked.

  "No," Matt replied. "But I'm sure I can find it."

  "Just make sure this prick understands that it's a one-time offer I'm giving him," Eddie went on. He deals with me and on my terms."

  "And if he doesn't accept?"

  "Then we're back to your first comment about what we should do with him," Eddie said.

  "I'm not killing anyone," Matt let out. "I never did before and I'm not starting now."

  The flash of anger showed on Eddie's face for a brief instant, but his voice remained relatively calm when he spoke.

  "You give him the offer and do whatever you have to do to make him accept it. If the guy turns out to be an arrogant, stubborn bastard..., well, we'll decide what to do with him, if and when that comes to pass."

  Matt knew how his former boss operated. There would only be one outcome if Brett Collins refused the offer then continued on the path he'd started and it didn't bode well for him.

  "It will take me a few days to get this done," he said.

  "Let Lincoln know when you're going to make a move," Eddie replied.

  He reached out to pick up the bottle of bourbon and filled the three glasses sitting on the desk while the two men opposite swapped phone numbers.

  "Here's to a profitable working relationship," he said when he picked up his glass and held it out.

  The other two followed suit before they downed the alcohol. Matt hoped that the mention of a working relationship referred to the one that Brett Collins and Eddie Millar might forge. The doubt at the back of his mind was more than a niggle though. He suspected that he wasn't just being set up with one job and that more would come his way. It wasn't something he wanted, but how to get out of it was a question he couldn't answer.

  "Is there anything else I need to know?" he asked.

  Eddie looked towards Lincoln, but the enforcer shook his head to show that he couldn't think of anything.

  "I guess not," Eddie said and the joviality returned to his voice.

  Matt didn't like it any more now than he did when he first arrived. He got to his feet and turned to walk away from the desk. It was only when the door of the office was wide open that he heard a final comment.

  "Remember what we know," Lincoln said.

  Matt knew it was another threat against Brigitte, but said nothing in return and closed the door when he left the room.

  "Do you think he'll play ball?" Lincoln asked his boss.

  "He doesn't have a lot of choice in the matter, does he?" Eddie replied. "He knows better than to fuck me about and we made it clear what the consequences would be if he doesn't go through with things. We might not have said it in so many words, but you could see on his face that he understood we were talking about the girl."

  "Do you want to continue keeping an eye on him?"

  "That won't be necessary now," Eddie went on and shook his head. "You heard what he said. He doesn't know this Brett Collins any more than we do. It's hardly likely that he's going to risk his own life and someone else's for an outsider that means absolutely nothing to him."

  "How long do we give him?"

  "Wait a couple of days for him to get in touch," Eddie replied. "If he doesn't, you make the call to find out what's happening and move things along. I want to get things settled one way or the other."

  "What about the girl?" Lincoln went on.

  "Maybe you should pay her a visit on the night Matt does the job," Eddie said. "There's no harm in having some leverage to get things done right. You can call to let him know and give him an extra incentive to make sure this Brett Collins does what we want."

  "That sounds like a good idea," Lincoln said and a smile broke out on his face. "It will be interesting to see the kind of girl Matt Harris goes for."

  Chapter 13

  Brigitte couldn't shake off the feeling that something wasn't quite right when she pulled the phone away from ear.

  The brief chat with Matt when he returned her calls was over before it really got started and it certainly wasn't the heart-to-heart her friend suggested during lunch earlier that day. It was as far from that as she could imagine. His manner seemed distracted and preoccupied, with his only real comment being to ask if she was OK. When she told him she was fine, it appeared that he wanted the conversation over and he quickly got to saying he would see her soon and then hung up.

  Brigitte stared down at her feet and shook her head. It certainly wasn't the conversation she intended to have. She was about to throw her phone down on the bed, but changed her mind and brought up Sarah's number on the screen.

  "How did it go?" her friend asked straight away.

  "It didn't," Brigitte replied. "I've spent most of the evening trying to get in touch with Matt. When he finally returned my calls, the conversation was over before it began and he seemed in a hurry to get off the line. What do you make of that?"

  "Maybe he was busy," Sarah suggested. "Did he say he wanted to see you again?"

  "Well..., yes, but it's whether he actually means it or not," Brigitte went on. "Maybe you were right."

  "About what?"

  "About him sweet talking me to get in my pants," Brigitte answered.

  "Your version of the events was he didn't have to do much of that," Sarah said and laughed.

  "This isn't funny," Brigitte complained.

  "I know, I know," Sarah said. "I was just trying to lighten your mood. Like I said, maybe you caught him when he was busy and he didn't have a chance to talk. At least he called back and said he wanted to see you again. That's something. In my experience, if a guy isn't interested, he wouldn't even do that. Calling him would get you nowhere."

  "Yeah, I guess," Brigitte conceded. "So, what should I do now?"

  "You don't have to do anything," Sarah replied. "You're in a unique position, where you're guaranteed to see this guy again and he'll come to you."

  "That's work."

  "So what," Sarah said and laughed. "It still gets you together with him."

  "In the presence of others," Brigitte went on. "And others that would be extremely unhappy if they knew what I was getting myself involved in."

  "You never know," Sarah said. "You might be able to get him one-on-one for a quick chat."

  Bri
gitte remembered the first occasion Matt visited the government building. She'd been on her own with him for a while before Mr. Brody turned up, but the chances of her boss's car breaking down for it to happen again seemed unlikely.

  "I doubt it," she said.

  "Don't be so defeatist," Sarah encouraged. "It might happen."

  "Yeah, OK," Brigitte went on then changed the subject to move it on from her problems. "Anyway, how's your love life doing these days?"

  "Well, seeing as you ask," Sarah said.

  Brigitte lay down and put her head on a pillow to listen to the recent exploits of her friend. It got her laughing as she urged Sarah on to telling more, but the phone conversation came to an end when the stories ran out. She got up to go downstairs and get herself a drink of water. The half empty bottle of wine caught her eye when she opened the fridge and she decided some alcohol was a better idea.

  Her mind returned to the situation with Matt when she was sitting in the lounge and she wondered if it wouldn't be such a bad thing if he really wasn't that interested in her. Maybe things ending before they got out of hand would be for the best, although the idea of that depressed her. She wanted to blot out the thoughts and ended up doing so by drinking the rest of the wine in the bottle. It got her merry, without really being too drunk and made it easy for her to get to sleep when she went up to her bed.

  She threw herself into work the following day and ended up staying late at the office. It helped to keep her occupied and also ensured that she didn't have to spend too much time in an empty house. Her father called later in the evening when she was sitting at home.

  "So, how's the golf over there?" she asked after they'd exchanged pleasantries about their working days.

  "The facilities attached to the hotel I'm staying in are fantastic," he enthused. "There's a nine hole course that's allowed me to get in some practice on a few nights and I played the eighteen hole course at the weekend."

  "It sounds like you're having fun and you want to stay," she teased him.

  "I might," he replied. "My intention was to come home after my business was concluded on Friday, but I was thinking about staying the weekend. One of the potential clients I met is a golfing fanatic, so I thought it might be worth inviting him here on Saturday or Sunday for a round or two of golf and a meal. It might grease the wheels to him putting some work my way."

  "You're becoming a slick operator, mister," Brigitte said.

  "I did tell you that a lot of business was conducted on the golf course," he replied and laughed. "I'll give you a call later in the week to let you know what I'm doing."

  "OK, I'll talk to you then," Brigitte replied to bring the chat to an end.

  She decided to go to bed not long after, but there was no getting any sleep that night. The following morning would bring her together with Matt again when he arrived for one of his scheduled counselor sessions.

  "That's if he turns up," she muttered as thoughts of him ran through her head.

  After the events of Tuesday night, she wasn't sure what the meeting would hold. The chances were that it would come and go, without them really getting a chance to speak. That made her restless and she tossed and turned as she tried to get some sleep. She didn't have much success, but got up the following morning at the same time as usual.

  When she arrived to an empty office, it lifted her hopes that Mr. Brody might be late. It was unusual for her to be there first when she arrived at her normal starting time, but her optimism was dashed when he walked through the door ten minutes later.

  "Couldn't you get out of bed this morning?" she teased him gently and smiled.

  "Bad stomach," he replied. "I think something I ate last night didn't agree with me."

  "That's not so good," Brigitte sympathized.

  "I'll survive," he said and laughed. "But don't be surprised if I go running from the room without warning."

  It was the last of the conversation, as he sat down at his desk and started to work. Brigitte did the same, but she was all too aware of the minutes ticking past towards nine thirty. When the phone rang on Mr. Brody's desk, she knew it was likely to be the arrival of Matt and looked towards her boss when he returned the handset to the cradle.

  "Time to get going and see how one of our clients is getting on," Mr. Brody said.

  She nodded her head and gathered what she needed from her desk before getting to her feet. Mr. Brody led the way out of the room and they made their way along to the reception area. Matt stood when they arrived and the sight of his smile made her pulse race. She wondered if he was experiencing the same thing, but knew that there was no way they could reveal their feelings for each other in the presence of her boss.

  Mr. Brody continued to lead the way as they made their way down to the small conference room and sat down. Seeing Matt in the flesh was bringing her memories of their lovemaking and she was sure a red blush was blossoming on her cheeks. It was impossible to control, so she dropped her gaze to the files in front of her on the table and pretended to read something. Her boss got the discussions underway and she joined in as she usually did when they met program participants to try and keep things as ordinary as possible. On this occasion, the discussions lasted no more than thirty five minutes.

  "Well, you seem to have things ticking along smoothly," Mr. Brody said as he looked at the man opposite.

  "I hope so," Matt replied. "The vehicle maintenance course is going well and hopefully that will lead on to me actually finding some honest work."

  "Good," Mr. Brody went on. "That's really the key to moving on. If you can find a job that keeps your interest and pays a decent wage, it makes it all the easier to stay away from the life you led before."

  "I'll be giving it a good try," Matt said.

  His voice sounded slightly off to Brigitte, but it didn't seem to be something her boss picked up on. She guessed why when Mr. Brody abruptly got to his feet and grabbed his belongings.

  "I'll let Brigitte see you out this morning," he said and started walking to the door right away.

  She and Matt were still sitting at the desk and watched as the older man left. It seemed that fate was dealing a hand to let them be alone and suddenly, it was only the two of them in the room.

  "Was it something I said," Matt commented.

  "He said he wasn't feeling that well this morning when he arrived at work," Brigitte replied. "Something he ate gave him a bad stomach."

  "That's not so good for him," Matt said and got to his feet. "But lucky for me."

  Brigitte was quick to stand up and found herself backing away from the table as Matt came around it.

  "We need to talk," she told him.

  "After," he replied.

  "After what?" Brigitte said, but knew what he was talking about.

  Her pulse was hammering when she got to a wall of the room and it prevented her going any further. Matt was quick to move up to her and the kiss that landed on her lips was almost fierce. Her adrenaline kicked in to surge through her veins and it was as much about the risk they were taking as it was the thrill of the demanding kiss. She pressed her hands against his chest, but he wouldn't budge and she felt his body press on hers. It was making her melt under the heat of the arousal.

  "Stop," she said in a breathless voice when she twisted her head to the side to end the kiss.

  "Don't want to," Matt said.

  "Is it only sex you want from me?" she asked him.

  "No," he replied as he nuzzled his lips against her neck. "I want all of you."

  Brigitte grabbed a handful of hair to pull his head away from her.

  "Don't lie to me."

  "I'm not lying," he responded. "I can't stop thinking about you..., about our weekend together."

  He tried to kiss her again, but she turned her face away to stop it.

  "This is madness," she let out. "Mr. Brody could return and where would that leave us. I would lose my job and you'd be kicked off the program. Is it worth it?"

  "Yes," Matt rep
lied instantly, but relented and backed away.

  Brigitte smoothed her clothes down with trembling hands and moved away from the wall.

  "Do you want to be with me?" Matt asked.

  "Yes..., no..., I don't know," Brigitte let out in quick succession and lifted a hand to brush fingers through her hair. "I wanted to talk to you on Tuesday, but you didn't seem..." She couldn't bring herself to say interested. "You seemed in a hurry and distracted."