DANGEROUS AFFAIRS- Where Angels Fear (The precarious beginning)

Stephanie took a deep breath, opened the office door and entered. She strolled across the room with as much casual grace as she could manage, considering that inside she was a mass of tension. Turning her head slightly, she scanned the room to see who had arrived that morning; or if she was honest with herself, she really wanted to see if Tom was there yet. Before she spotted Tom however, she was disturbed to see that one after another of the male journalists seemed to be looking up at her and following her progress across the room with a strange fascination. What on earth was going on?

She reached the sanctuary of her desk and slid into her chair, picking up the day’s newspaper, which had been placed in front of her, and holding it up as if she was studying its contents. Okay, why was everybody staring and grinning at her? If that arrogant bastard had told everyone in the office what had happened that night she took the pill, she’d skin him alive! She lowered the newspaper a little and peered over the top of it. Immediately she had eye contact with Barker, one of her colleagues, and he smiled and winked at her. That was it! Tom was dead meat!

She flug the newspaper onto her desk, sprung out of her chair and headed for the far end of the room, where Tom’s desk was situated. As she rounded the corner, he looked up at her with a smile. He had his feet on the desk and was sitting eating a bowl of cereal.

“Hi gorgeous. What’s up?”

She placed her hand over his legs and onto the desk, leaning over him with her other hand on her hip. “What the bloody hell have you said to them?”

Her body language spoke of only angry frustration, but at those close quarters, Tom was suddenly incapable of coherent thought. He almost dropped the spoon he was holding. His eyes were in direct line of her tight fitting white blouse, and with her hand placed on her hip, the material was stretched across her chest. He could see the outline of her bra, almost imagine what was underneath it as his eyes strained to see further into the material. His gaze travelled up her body to her face, and he gave her a guilty smile. Well, she could take that as one of his weak moments.

“Said to who?” He looked bewildered.

“You know who. Everybody! What have you said to them?” She leant even closer to him and his eyes widened. “You’re going to tell me every single thing you said. In detail!”

If there was anything sexier than Stephanie sat so close to him, it was Stephanie when she was angry. He wasn’t keeping up. He hadn’t a clue what she was talking about, so his eyes focused on that incredibly tempting pair of glossy pink lips instead. She was pulling him closer to her like a magnet. He was mesmerized. He didn’t even realise that he was slowly moving towards her until she growled with anger and abruptly sprung back, standing up and glowering down at him.

She put her hands on her hips. “Tom Phillips, if you don’t tell me this minute what you’ve said to them, you’re going to be in more trouble than you could imagine!”

God he hoped so! He sat back in his chair and assessed her with a lazy smile as he continued to eat his cereal.

“Calm down tiger. What am I supposed to have said, and to whom?”

“Don’t play the innocent with me,” she pointed a finger at him. “What have you said to everyone back there about the other night?”

He huffed. “I think you must be going through one of your paranoid moments Steph.”

“Oh no I’m not. There’s something going on and you’re going to tell me what you’ve said.”

“Look, help me out here a bit. What do you think I’ve said?” He casually spooned another helping of cereal into his mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully as he watched her. She faltered. She dreaded to think what he’d said, and she really didn’t relish the thought of verbalising it. He watched her struggle.

“That I took that pill for a start,” she eventually came out with.

“I never said a word about that. I wouldn’t do that to you…or anyone else in here,” he replied adamantly. She believed him. But what else had he said then?

“You said ‘for a start’,” he pointed out.

“What?”

“You said that you thought I’d told them about the pill ‘for a start.’ So what else do you imagine that I’ve told them?”

“Forget it,” she shrugged, turning abruptly to walk away. She felt uncomfortable continuing with that conversation.

“No hold on,” he said, catching hold of her arm before she left and pulling her towards an empty seat by his desk. She slowly and reluctantly sat down. “If we’re going to be working together this needs to be cleared up.”

She sighed. “I just thought that you might have said,” she shrugged. “That you might have intimated…something.”

“Something?” he pushed.

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, I thought that you might have intimated that something happened between us.”

He grinned. He looked pleased, smug. But about what exactly she didn’t know.

“Well, I never told them that something had happened between us.”

“So who did you tell then?” she frowned.

“Nobody,” he smiled.

She groaned. “This is a ridiculous conversation. Nothing happened between us anyway!”

“Ah now I wouldn’t say that nothing happened between us,” he grinned. He was playing with words, toying with her. It was working.

She shifted awkwardly in her seat. “What is supposed to have happened between us then?”

“Yes, I can imagine that you probably don’t remember that part of the evening. But it’s okay Steph, I stopped you before you went too far. Well…” he grinned, “…it was a bit of a struggle, but I stopped you in the end.” He winked at her and watched as the colour drained from her face. She stood up suddenly and he laughed, pulling her back into the seat.

“I was joking Steph, nothing happened at all. Even on drugs, you’re the essence of virtue.”

“You’re downright evil, you know Tom. Like the very devil himself.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Yep,” he looked proud of the fact. “So, how come you got your knickers in a twist about me blabbing to all the people in the office then?”

“There’s something going on. All the guys were staring at me when I walked in.”

He threw his head back and howled with laughter. “My dear Stephanie, there’s nothing going on at all. They do that every morning!”

“What? Why?” she frowned.

He chuckled. “You can’t be that naive surely.” She failed to reply. “Well, to sum up, I’d say, from my perspective at least…” a smile played around his mouth as he uttered those words, “… that they were mentally undressing you as you walked through the door.”

Her eyes widened in shock, and to her utter mortification, she felt a blush wash over her face. He put down his bowl, sat back in his chair and folded his arms to contemplate her with amusement.

“Well, well, well, that’s something I haven’t seen before. The confident Miss White blushes,” he laughed.

“Oh shut up!” She stood up again and crossed her arms defensively. “When you’ve quite finished your silly games, would you mind joining me in Brick’s office? Because we need to persuade him to let us research our new story."

"New story?"

She smiled. She had the upper hand. "Yes, after studying the paperwork I found in Carlton's office, I made a rather interesting discovery. It turns out that Hugh Carlton, Henry's father, is even shadier than his son. I can feel a new story in the pipelines."

Tom looked impressed. "Well, sit back down me lady, and do tell me more," he replied in an overstated upper class accent.

Brick was a tall, slightly overweight, man in his fifties, with short wiry brown hair and a fiery temperament when pushed. His eyes slowly rose from his paperwork when Stephanie and Tom walked into his office together, and he watched them suspiciously.

“Sir, may we have a word with you?” Stephanie asked.

Brick said nothing but gestured for them to both take a seat opposite him.

Once seated, Stephanie continued. “Sir, it concerns the Carlton story. Tom and I have come across some information which changes things slightly, and we’d like a little more time to follow up on our findings before I write the article on Henry.”

“May I be so bold as to ask what these findings are?” Brick asked with some sarcasm.

Stephanie was being purposely vague. She had the feeling that if she gave away too many details about the way they had found that paper in the old theatre then Brick would start asking some awkward questions. She was hoping to avoid that.

“Well, it would seem that the man we will get the best story out of is not Henry Carlton after all, it is his father, Hugh Carlton. He is involved in some quite nefarious stuff and he has political connections too,” she informed him.

“And Henry?”

“We were right, he is dealing drugs but that’s all.”

Brick raised an eye brow.

“All?” he said incredulously.

Stephanie began to tense. “No, I didn’t mean to trivialise the fact, but it’s his father who will give us the big story.”

Tom watched the interaction between Stephanie and Brick thoughtfully.

“What actual evidence do you have that this Hugh Carlton is above the law?” he put to her.

“His son is a drug dealer!” she said, as if she couldn’t believe that he’d asked the question.

“Okay, so write your story about him if you have nothing to suggest that the father is worse.” In truth, Brick suspected that there was a bigger story in all of this, but he was testing Stephanie to see if she was determined enough to warrant the extra time he’d have to allow them to continue with this work.

“But sir...” she began.

Tom jumped in then. “Boss, do you want the big story or a second rate story about a sleazy drugs dealer?” he said. Brick turned his attention to Tom and contemplated him for a moment. “I’m keen to work on this with Stephanie boss, and we will get our story,” Tom said adamantly.

“Why are you two working on this together now? You’ve never worked on anything together before.” Brick knew what Tom was like. Although he was a top rate journalist, he was also incorrigible when it came to women, and Brick couldn’t help but think that Tom had ulterior motives in pushing for this work with Stephanie.

Stephanie’s eyes darted to Tom nervously. What the on earth could either of them say? That he had offered to watch out for her after she’d got spaced out on Carlton’s pill!

Tom was struggling to come up with an answer. What the hell could he say? That he’d been infatuated with Stephanie for months, and that he was desperate to spend as much time with her as he could! Tom chose to focus on the one thing that Brick was always insistent on.

“Let’s face it boss, Steph can’t work on this alone when guys like these are involved. She needs me there for safety.”

That didn’t really answer Brick’s question, but Tom had brought up a good point. What’s more, he was the best person to help out in such circumstances. One thing Brick was certain of, Tom would look after Stephanie.

“All right, I’ll give you the time to work on thi,s but I want to know how things are progressing. I want details at every stage, and if you don’t come up with anything significant soon, then we drop this. Understand?”

Stephanie and Tom couldn’t hide the fact that they were thrilled with his decision.

“No problem boss. We’ll get to it now,” Tom said, jumping out of his chair and heading for the door, closely followed by Stephanie.

Once out of the office, Stephanie leant back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. “That wasn’t very pleasant.”

“Nah, but Brick just likes to keep us on our toes. Bet he’s just a soft touch underneath,” Tom grinned. Stephanie wasn’t convinced.

“Well, I suggest that we start by researching the political party Hugh Carlton is involved in, now that we know what it is,” Stephanie said.

“We do?”

“Yes, it was on that paper I found,” she informed him.

“I think I’d like to take a closer look at that paper of yours. It may shed some more light on the matter,” Tom said, moving in the direction of his desk.

“Be my guest,” Stephanie said, instinctively heading for her desk, which was in completely the opposite direction.

Both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they realised that they were moving away from each other. They turned on their heels and stared at each other for a few seconds.

“The paper is in my desk,” Stephanie said, indicating the direction of her desk with a thumb gesture over her shoulder.

“Bring it over to me then,” Tom said, glancing across the office.

Stephanie fiddled with her earlobe. “Err... wouldn’t it be easier if you just followed me to my desk?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Tom answered bluntly.

Stephanie sighed. “Look, we can’t work together if our desks are at opposite ends of the office, so why don’t you work from mine?”

“You work from mine,” he countered.

She growled with frustration. “Mine’s better,” she said quickly.

He crossed his arms and stood there stubbornly with his legs astride. “I think you’ll find that you’re wrong there.”

She ran an exasperated hand through her shoulder length blonde hair. “What are we going to do?”

“Hmmm.” Tom over exaggerated considering the question. “I know,” he grinned, “we’ll take the best desk there is.”

“Mine?” she said hopefully.

“Nah, Brick’s.”

She burst out laughing. “Do you want to survive to see this story in print?”

He chuckled and watched the transformation of her face when she smiled. “You should do that a lot more often Stephie.”

She wasn’t following. “What?”

“Smile. You could light up the room with it.”

She felt a sudden strange sensation in her stomach. Where did that come from?

“You know what would make me smile?” She paused. “If you worked with me at my desk.” She wondered if that would make a difference.

“Hmm,” he scratched his head, contemplating her statement. “All right then. We work at your desk.”

A stunning smile lit up her face.

They spent the majority of that afternoon searching through the newspapers, noting down details about the spate of crimes that had been affecting the city recently, and also researching the political party that Hugh Carlton had been funding. Their faces were alight with animation every time they found a new article which provided them with more information and allowed them to see a pattern emerging. Tom would read out excerpts form the odd ridiculous story he found, making Stephanie laugh when he pondered who had written them, and how Brick would have responded had the articles been attributed to their newspaper. On several occasions, Stephanie felt Tom’s hand on her waist or back as they moved around her desk, reaching for the newspapers and files. She wasn’t stupid, she knew what he was doing, and if he pushed his luck, she’d have strong words with him, but for now, she’d let it go. She hated to admit it but she found that he was an extremely engaging person to work with, and it seemed quite flattering having the attention of a man like that. She’d have to be careful though. She didn’t want to get too used to it.

“Here,” he said, passing her yet another article, “You’re going to love this one.”

She looked up at him and smiled, taking the newspaper off him. He winked at her and she laughed. She’d been laughing and smiling all afternoon, as had he.

****************

Stephanie was sitting with her head slightly lowered, an amused smile on her face. Her eyes were flitting sideways at Tom who had his mouth by her ear, whispering an amusing story to her about Brick. Her face had a flushed look about it, her eyes flashing to Tom, and away again when their gazes collided.

She was so funny. She wouldn’t look at him for more than two seconds. Never mind, it gave him the opportunity to appreciate the soft blush that was creeping across her cheek, her long eyelashes that fluttered with the nervous movements of her eyes, and the way that her hair was tucked behind her ear. He’d developed quite an attachment to her ear. It was sweet, and he had the insane urge to kiss it, or take her earlobe in his mouth, graze it with his teeth, move his lips lower to her neck and…

“Phillips!” Brick’s sudden harsh voice cut into Tom’s daydream and ruined the moment when Stephanie sprung guiltily away from him. Damn!

“Boss?” He looked back towards Brick’s office, and Brick himself, who was standing at the door.

“A word in my office, now,” came Brick’s abrupt reply.

Stephanie turned in surprise at the tone of Brick’s voice. What had Tom done wrong? Tom threw Brick a questioning look, and Brick nodded his head. Tom’s eyes widened, and his smile slipped very rapidly from his face. Stephanie observed the silent interaction between the two men with bewilderment. What the hell was going on? Tom moved suddenly and disappeared into Brick’s office, closing the door behind him.

Stephanie sat for a while staring into space, her mind distracted. Then with a sharp shake of her head, she turned her attention back to her work.

It was some time before Tom remerged from Brick’s office, at which point Stephanie had had enough of research for one day. She was impatient to get to work on finding Hugh Carlton. She felt a growing annoyance for allowing herself to become distracted from her work and irrationally, the fact that Tom and Brick were having some mysterious conversation in there that she didn’t know anything about, had irritated her.

Tom sat back at her desk and picked up a newspaper. He stared at the front page with a scowl on his face. She could feel the tension in him, even from the other side of the desk.

“What’s wrong?” she asked casually, “Brick giving you a hard time?”

He threw the paper down on the desk. “I’m getting some fresh air.” With that he got up and was gone in seconds.

Wait just a minute; what was that all about? They had a job to do, and now he’d just disappeared without so much as an explanation. She wasn’t standing for that!

Stephanie found Tom leaning against a brick wall in the car park. She was surprised to see that he was smoking a cigarette.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” she said, eyeing the cigarette in his hand.

He shrugged but didn’t reply.

“Are you going to tell me what went on in there with Brick or not?” His attitude was really starting to get on her nerves.

“Not,” he said simply, turning his head away and taking another drag of the cigarette.

“Well, at least have the decency to tell me if it concerns me. Is it anything to do with this story…or us?”

She thought that perhaps Brick had disapproved of the way they worked together. Or more precisely, that he’d seen them…God, she didn’t like to admit to the word…flirting.

Tom looked at her blankly for a moment. “No, don’t worry we weren’t talking about you.”

She bristled at his cutting reply. “I meant,” she emphasised the words angrily, “that I was concerned Brick was having second thoughts about this story!”

“Well don’t worry your pretty little head about it, your precious story is safe,” he came back.

She stared at him speechlessly. He was bloody Jeckle and Hide!

“What the bloody hell is wrong with you, you arrogant bastard!” she shouted. He actually looked a little taken aback then as her words echoed out across the car park. Perhaps she’d been a bit harsh.

“Calm down sweetheart, what’s eating you?” He made her feel as though she’d completely over reacted.

“Wouldn’t it be more relevant for me to ask you that question?”

He rolled his eyes and glanced away again.

“Is this what it’s going to be like? One minute you’re so wonderful to work with, and I really…” She took in a deep breath as she felt her emotions threaten to overwhelm her. She couldn’t finish that sentence. He stared at her intensly with an expression she couldn't read.. “And then this. You know today I thought…I was beginning to think…oh damn it! I’m going after Carlton. You can go to hell!” she finished angrily, storming across the car park. He threw his cigarette away and went after her.

“I’m coming with you!” he shouted from behind.

“No you’re not! I can’t work with you anymore Tom!” she shouted back over her shoulder.

“Well you’re going to have to. It’s not safe for you to go after Carlton on your own!”

“I’m not bloody well working with you!” she repeated, approaching her car.

“Yes you bloody well are!” he growled, running to catch her before she got into her car and left without him. He reached her quickly and moved in front of her, blocking her access to the car.

“Listen. You’re not putting yourself in danger just because of this,” he said firmly. She moved to walk around him but he blocked her way again.

“I’m going! Get out of my way!” she ordered.

“Listen to me Stephanie,” he repeated, trying to sound reasonable and fighting his frustration with her.

“This conversation is finished. As are any future conversations between us!” she said with finality, nudging him aside and striding up to her car. Her action suddenly incensed him and he turned, catching both of her arms in a fierce grip, swinging her around to face him and trapping her against the closed car door.

“You’re going to listen to me damn it!”

She glared at him with fury in her eyes and they both stood there for a while panting for breath. Their eyes bore into each other’s, transmitting an intense energy from one to the other. In that moment suddenly both of them had lost track of what they were arguing about. Then their breathing gradually slowed and the atmosphere abruptly changed. His eyes involuntary moved to her lips and she opened them slightly as a look of shock briefly crossed her face. He could feel her legs and torso pressed tightly against his, he was acutely aware of it. He anticipated her moving away but she simply stood there staring at him. He couldn’t move his eyes away from her, in fact he couldn’t move away from her at all. It was if they were frozen in time only frozen wasn’t a good way to describe it. Heat was building between them, growing steadily in its intensity. He could feel her body now moulded against his submissively and this sent a wave of excitement through him. Was she feeling it too? Dare he? No, it was the wrong situation. Then why wasn't she saying something? Oh God, the heat was getting unbearable. He had to move or do something.

Stephanie fought to find something to say, but her thoughts had become somehow clouded. The silence stretched on, and she could feel a rising panic in herself. If she didn’t move soon, she was going to do something stupid, but she seemed to have lost any control over her legs…her legs that were entangled with Tom’s.

The sudden sound of a car horn beeping startled them both and he finally released her arms, taking a step backwards and looking at her awkwardly.

“Sorry, err…let’s just get in the car and go, or Brick will stop the story altogether.”

She nodded, and busied herself with finding her keys in her bag, allowing her time to regain her composure.

What the hell was wrong with her? She should have slapped him around the face, pushed him away, or told him to get his bloody hands off her, and all she’d done was just stand there frozen to the spot. What an idiot! Okay, so before in the store cupboard she’d had no choice but to stand pressed against him, but this time there was no excuse, not really. And not only that, but he’d just shown her his true colours. He’d acted exactly as she’d expected him to, which is why she’d always avoided him like the plague in the first place. God, and she’d even lapped up all the attention he’d paid her that day like an impressionable school girl! She’d always cringed at the way the other women in the office had done that, but today, that was her! She’d genuinely thought that they were getting along so well, that they would make a great team. She’d been an utter fool. He’d just been playing games with her. Damn it!

Tom waited for Stephanie to unlock the car door and he cursed himself for his behaviour. Just when everything was going so well, and he’d felt better than he’d felt for...well for a hell of a long time, Brick had dropped that bombshell! He had to admit, he hadn’t been fair to Stephanie in the way he’d spoken to her, but then, with the kind of guy he wa,s he’d suddenly realized that he was crazy to ever think that he’d stand a chance with someone like her. Okay, so he could try to impress her for a while, but sooner or later she’d find out about him and drop him like a lead balloon. People like her and people like him just never worked out. He felt utterly wretched as he eventually opened the car door and slipped into the passenger seat.

Stephanie fastened her seat belt, put the key in the ignition and then took her mobile phone out of her pocket. Tom watched her in silence as she made a phone call.

“Martin, it’s Stephanie. Can you do me a favour and check out an address for me in one of the files on my desk...thanks. It should be on the top somewhere. It’s the one without articles in it...yes that’s right. Look at the top sheet. What’s the address at the top of the page?” Stephanie motioned for Tom to pass her a pen and paper from out of the glove box. She jotted down the address. “Thanks Martin. Oh and if Brick asks, Tom and I have gone to find Carlton.” She hung up. “There should be an A to Z in there too. Would you mind getting it out for me and directing?” she asked in an overly polite voice.

“I’d be delighted to help Miss White,” he mocked.

She started up the car and pulled out of the car park onto the main road.

“What are we going to do when we get there?” Tom asked suddenly. “Knock on the door and ask him for an interview because I really don’t think he’ll go for that.”

“Look, if you don’t want to go along with this I can drop you off here. That’s fine with me,” she replied.

“Don’t be so touchy, I’d just like to know what’s going through that overly determined head of yours.”

“I say we take a look. I don’t know, maybe we can say we are interested in the campaign. We could mention one of the names of the supporters, say they sent us there. I think we know enough information now to fool him.”

“Hmm.” Tom didn’t sound too sure. “And then what?”

Stephanie turned to glare at him. He didn’t seem very enthusiastic anymore. “Then we’re involved. It will give us a chance to nose around, get information from the inside.”

“We’ll see.” Tom remained noncommittal.

About an hour later and they were lost. Stephanie pulled onto the side of the quiet country road and turned to Tom.

“Where did you put that A to Z?”

“On the back seat.” He wasn’t being very helpful.

Stephanie sighed and twisted herself in her seat to reach into the back of the car. Tom’s eyes were drawn like a magnet to the opening of her blouse. He strained to see anything more than he had earlier from the side view he now had of her at close proximity.

“Here,” she said, throwing the map onto his lap. “Take another look. I do want to get there at some point today."

His eyes shot to her face. He opened the book and studied the page with the corner turned down yet again for the umpteenth time that morning.

“Are we any closer to getting there yet?” Stephanie asked with impatience.

“According to this yes, but where this place is exactly beats me,” he said passing her the map. “Here, you take a look. Maybe you can figure it out.”

She rolled her eyes but looked at the map with renewed determination to find the house which had eluded them so far. Glancing outside she turned her attention back to the map, scrutinizing it with a frown.

“You’re right, it makes no sense,” she groaned. “You must have directed us onto completely the wrong road.”

“Look, it isn’t there. This place isn’t on the map at all!” he said with rising irritation.

Stephanie took another look at the address on the piece of paper and glanced at the map again.

“No, it should be here. I’m going to find it if it bloody well kills me!” she exclaimed abruptly opening the car door and getting out. She walked a little further ahead and peered through the hedges that lined the road.

“What are you doing?” Tom called, leaning out of the open door to take a look.

“I’m willing to bet that it’s here. It’s been right here somewhere all along,” she said, crossing the road and scanning the fields opposite.

“Well I don’t see any houses anywhere, do you?” he asked.

“It’s here I’m telling you. It’s just well hidden. Besides we’ve been past this place time and time again...and that map says it’s here, so it’s here!” she finished with exasperation, striding further still down the road.

“It isn’t here,” he said to himself, sitting back in his seat with his arms crossed.

After a while she came running back to the car.

“I’ve just seen a jeep turn through a gate up there in the hedge. There must be some kind of building it was heading for, let’s take a look,” she enthused, slipping back into the driver’s seat and closing the door.

When they reached the place where she had seen the jeep, the gate had been closed and padlocked again however the chain that was wrapped around the gatepost was loose, allowing Tom to slip it over the top of the post with a few sharp tugs. They drove up the rough dirt track which eventually turned into a gravel path leading through some overgrown gardens to the house that was concealed behind them.

“This is it. It has to be. It’s on your map and here it is, I found it,” she said smugly, getting out of the car and walking towards the front door.

“I found it,” he mouthed, mocking her as he followed her to the house.

Stephanie rang the doorbell and before long a tall, middle aged woman dressed in a long floral outfit opened the door. Stephanie informed her politely that they had been sent there to see Mr Carlton and to show their support for the political campaign. The woman invited them into the large, rather dark but expensively furnished hall, and led them through to a more cheerfully decorated lounge where she offered them a seat while she went to find the owners.

Tom turned to look at Stephanie when the woman had left. She was sitting bolt upright gazing out of the window, her legs crossed, her hands linked on one of her knees on top of her long, straight efficient looking skirt. She looked as if she had been brought up in a place like that; she fitted right into the image. He could imagine her nanny telling her to sit up straight and cross her legs like a lady.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” the woman apologised, re-entering the room in a rush. “And I’m even more sorry to have to tell you that Mr Carlton is not available at the moment, he is in a meeting elsewhere. But if you’d like to leave a contact number, I’ll make sure that he gets back to you.” Stephanie opened her handbag and took out a diary. She jotted down a telephone number, ripped the page out and rose off the sofa to hand it to the woman.

“Thank you, we’d appreciate it,” she said, following the woman back out into the hall.

“I’ll be sure to tell Mr Carlton that you called,” the woman assured them, ushering them towards the front door.

Tom turned away from the house and descended the steps, heading for Stephanie’s car. When he reached the car however and turned to talk to Stephanie, he realised that she wasn’t behind him. He just caught sight of her disappearing around the back of the house and he sped after her. What the hell did she think she was doing?

Stephanie was intrigued by what she had seen out of the lounge window. Something was going on at the rear of the gardens. Vans, cars and all number of people had moved around the back of the house and down the gravel pathway. She’d just take a quick look; after all, she really didn’t want to leave the house that day without having achieved anything.

Once around the back of the house, Stephanie could see a white van partly concealed by some foliage and parked at the end of the path some five hundres metres away, where there seemed to be a group of people gathered. She moved cautiously forward, taking a second path, which veered from the first, and ran to, and along, the hedge concealing the van. Presently, she heard the sound of tyres on gravel and turned to see another car heading for the back of the garden. Her heartbeat increased, but she kept her cool and strolled forward confidently, hoping that whoever was in the car would think that she was supposed to be there. The path on which she was walking was a fair distance from the car now, so it was possible that she wouldn’t even be noticed.

Finally she reached the hedge and stopped to peer through it. She was just trying to see into the thick foliage, when to her horror, the air around her seemed to explode into sudden sound. There was a movement in the hedge and she stumbled backwards in shock just before a series of loud shots could be heard, at which point she realised that she was being fired at.

Tom heard the shot and his first instinct was to duck. But when the second rally of shots occurred, his concern was more for Stephanie than himself, especially when he noticed that she had apparently frozen and was an easy target. He darted across the lawn, taking the quickest route to her, but not necessarily the safest for himself. Get down damn it! Move! His heart thundered as the shots stopped and he anticipated the second round. He reached her just as the shooting began again, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her to the ground. He held her down whilst she screamed and struggled.

“It’s me. It’s Tom. Stop struggling,” he exclaimed. Stephanie twisted her head and looked up at him. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” he urged, pulling her up off the floor and shielding her as they made a run for it along the line of the hedge.

The shots continued but Stephanie kept pace with Tom, too terrified to look up, until they reached the border of the garden at the side of the house. Tom dragged Stephanie through the thick greenery and helped her over a wooden fence, practically throwing her over it before he joined her on the other side. They stood for a few moments, battling to get enough air back into their lungs.

“Are you out of you’re mind? What the hell was that all about?” he demanded to know.

Stephanie’s mind was in turmoil. Everything had happened so fast. “There’s something going on back there,” she said defensively.

“You don’t say,” he came back sarcastically. “You’re going to explain to me exactly what you thought you were doing, and then you and I are going to have serious words, but in the meantime, we have to get away from here…and fast!”