Passion Patrol Box Set 1

Combat-3-10

She looked up and smiled at him with tearful eyes.

“The dog didn’t limp,” she said.

He softened his eyes and put his arm around her.

“Baby - it’ll all be fine. Let the detectives worry about the crooks. You’re my sweet lover, that’s all I need. You will learn everything - when I write the book.”

“But why do they target you?” she persisted.

“Who says anyone is targeting me? You must know more than I do! This Scappaticci is just a business guy and he’s got in touch with mom. Perhaps he just wants me to market some trainers or perhaps he’s dreamed up some dumb gum sweet and wants me to chew it for the cameras.”

“For ten million dollars?” she fired back.

“Yeah - it is a bit cheap,” he laughed, “hey, come along to the meet and tell him we want twenty. Call your pa - I’ll take three of those boats!”

Anna could not help but smile. Whenever she began to corner him he could joke his way out. She kissed his cheek. She knew he could sense her unease and tension - although, poor guy, he thought it was entirely his fault and could not guess at the truth.

“This life - there are... there are sorrows - things we try to live through, things that are always on your mind. Trust me - just love me and trust me. You won’t get this - but your love will see me through,” he said, suddenly hugging her as if for comfort.

She knew not to push him now. This was real. She had reached that barrier inside him that sometimes hinted but melted like a wounded deer into the forest. She held him, feeling his need for her tenderness and love like never before. He was champion of the world and for the first time through their shared rhythms, she experienced his loneliness almost as if it had been her own.

“I’m gonna shower,” he announced suddenly, breaking away, not turning his face to her, “the restaurant here has a Michelin star like my place in London - I want to check the standard - and maybe the chef,” he called from the bathroom.

She sat still on the bed, reaching her hand up to her shoulder where he had laid his head. She drew her hand back to her lips and tasted the salt of a tear.

Chapter 16She dialed her father’s number on the hotel phone. She imagined the house in Sandbanks overlooking Poole harbor. The neighbors were a North London football team manager and a gray frail punk rocker from the 70s who wore a peaked hat and walked a poodle. It was a long way from her flat in Kilburn.

“Dad!”

“Anna!”

She had not thought through what to say - she could hardly tell him that in five days she had become engaged to the client.

“I’ll be at Antibes tomorrow afternoon,” she began, “we’re in Lyon - um - things changed a bit.”

“Lyon? Are you planning to show him around the Interpol headquarters?” he asked with an edge of sarcasm.

“Dad - it’s fine - I’ll explain everything - just trust me.”

“I’m worried Anna. If clients think that Leyton Marine is a police front it will really hurt us.”

She sighed. He was right. He was so right and she was selfishly using anything to get what she wanted. Except that she had lost sight of what she wanted.

“I’ll make sure it’s OK Dad - I promise - I love you.”

“I love you too Baby. I’ve got a meeting in La Rochelle. I’ll fly the chopper down after lunch.”

She rang off as Freddie walked in with just a small towel around his waist.

“Did you tell him his little angel is running off with some prize fighter?” he smiled, sitting beside her and kissing her neck. She quivered as if a jolt of electricity had shot through her.

“I’ll tell him when we’re face to face. You haven’t told your mother,” she said, trying to distract him. If her father didn’t know, then it was all still a dream and she would be able to wake up without all the consequences. Her father would tell her mother and then the hounds would come yelping out of hell to chase her down. Her beautiful princess, who had run off to live in the gutter, was now to marry a brawling gorilla!

“The Nereus is a beautiful boat,” she said as if to concentrate on business.

“Sure - at that price it’s got to be good,” he replied with a rueful grin, “I’ve got salt in my blood. When mom moved to Monterey I had a fishing boat and used to go out catching dinner and seeing all those fantastic whales and stuff.”

“Fishing? The Nereus is not a fishing boat.”

“I know - it was a thing left over from being kids - you know Ramon - the kid from the trailer park - he dreamed of having a boat- wanted to catch food for the family. We used to fish off the beach or off the pier at Santa Cruz,” he stopped and seemed to be thinking.

“Where have you gone Freddie?” she asked, tossing a pebble into his lake of contemplation. He did not respond. She knew this was not a spot to push, that just beneath the skin was a bruise. She watched him looking down like a boy who had scuffed his new shoes playing football.

She kissed his cheek and sprang up. It was time to get ready for dinner. She glanced back at him, still sitting on the bed. There was something in his soul that made him both unknowable and more loveable. He was world cruiser-weight champion- one of the toughest guys on the planet - and yet there seemed to be no trace of violence within him. Only when she pushed at his office door did she see the iron in his soul. That world of meetings with Mafia lawyers and what he had called “the project” was off limits. As a cop she knew it looked bad. Maybe for the final time she bundled up all the debris of her fears and desires and stored them out of sight. She showered, brushed her raven hair until it shone and dressed in her beaded oyster top and matching trousers. She added a little perfume, took a deep breath and thought of food.

“You’re incredibly beautiful,” he whispered as they entered the restaurant.

He looked doubly gorgeous in a beige jacket, white silk shirt and black trousers. The width of his shoulders seemed to expand each time she looked at him.

The Maitre D' only too aware of who Freddie was, showed them to a secluded table by a window overlooking the city. As they sipped aperitifs her heart began to leap and thump inside her chest so that she was breathless. Entering the restaurant was Inspecteur Raymond Du Maurier of Interpol - the very man who had sent her Freddie’s file. He spotted her immediately and excused himself from a group of Chinese men. Anna immediately realized that they were a visiting delegation of Hong Kong police officers - one of whom she had met at a conference.

“Anna!” he gushed as he approached the table at full speed.

She decided she had to go for broke...

“Ciao - Signor Pandolfi . Che grande sorpresa - come va?”

Inspecteur Du Maurier stopped with a quizzical expression on his face, searching Anna’s eyes for clues as to what was going on.

“Ah - si,” he began, mercifully picking up on her urgent signals.

“Ti prego - dire nulla,” she urged.

She could see that he was thinking. From somewhere she had recalled that Du Maurier had worked with the Italian art squads and that he spoke Italian. She was fairly sure that Freddie did not.

“Capito,” he replied - glancing at Freddie and catching on that something very unusual was unfolding. She had to be careful. Her lover had lived in California and had a good grasp of Spanish and could easily pick up on Italian. She hit him with an animated tidal wave of Italian on the subject of a fictitious motor cruiser moored at Rimini that Signor Pandolfi had purchased from Leyton Marine.

Then she introduced him to Freddie, who stood, smiling.

“Grand plaisir,” said the Inspecteur falteringly as if these were his only words of French.

The Chinese guys shuffled awkwardly as a waiter battered them in incomprehensible French. Du Maurier backed away to rescue his guests, speaking back to the waiter in Italian as they were shown to a distant table.

Freddie was delighted.

“God - you are so fantastic Anna - speaking in Italian - God I love you more and more.”

Anna sat down gratefully and tried to look urbane and cool while her heart still pounded.

“What a strange little guy,” he chuckled, “why is an Italian wandering around in France with a g**g of Chinese guys?”

“He has an auto components business with a big office here in Lyon. They supply Renault and have a lot of the parts made in China. I just know him because he bought a boat a couple of years back,” she answered casually.

Freddie nodded seriously as he accepted the tale. The breadth and depth of her dishonesty appalled her. She had become an instant fantasist. She drew the story from an Interpol case involving fake car brakes. The boat in Rimini was pure off the cuff dreamland. One day he would realize that his lover was a liar. Maybe he would never know the extent of her undercover training - she could hardly tell him now!

After dinner they took a stroll in the old town. The air was cool and slightly damp forming melancholy haloes around the dim street lamps. She snuggled into him as he swept his muscular arm around her. She felt a profound sense of safety and protection in his grip. Their love was rolling on beyond mad attraction. She knew that ahead must be a crash. He talked of his plans for sons, for the vineyard, for a restaurant in Paris. He dreamed of summer days at sea, picnics with champagne, a house in San Francisco. She listened, knowing that she would never be part of his future. It would be a case of what she could salvage from the wreck of her life that could be minutes, hours or days away.

That night, they did not make love but lay spooned like puppies in a litter. For the first time in her life she knew the profound passion of sleep within the soul of another being.

Chapter 17It was 7.30 am when she saw the face of her mobile light up. The office would only contact an undercover officer in emergency. Freddie lay sleeping. She squinted at the screen. The message was direct from Judy:

“Scappaticci and Tondelli both at hotel in Juan-Les-Pins, Beaumont going nuts and wants you pulled out. Christine Jones has overruled him and says she just wants results. We need to know what is on his phone! I’m up early because Raymond Du Maurier phoned me at home to check things out. Told me you were nearly uncovered and that photos of you with Freddie in Paris are all over the French gossip magazines. Money still pouring on Brennan. Keep safe and stay in touch.”

Anna lay back thinking. She had a job to do. They needed to show conspiracy between the players. Good or bad she loved him and would be there for him. The truth was the truth and it had to be known.

She saw his mobile on the table beside the bed. She slipped out and recovered the blank SIM card that Judy had hidden in her laptop case. She grasped his mobile and crept to the bathroom and sat on the toilet. The phone was switched on. It was a familiar model that she knew how to handle. In seconds she had the removed the battery and SIM card and punched in a default code. Ninety seconds later the contents of his phone were stored on the card. She replaced his old card and switched on. It was pin protected. She used the bidet, dried and slid back into the room as he began to stir. She tossed the phone on the floor by his bed, and then entered from his side, kissing his lips as she straddled him with her legs. Her awakened soft groove pressed invitingly on his chest. He looked up knowingly and pulled her hips forward, caressing her with his tongue.

“I think I knocked your phone on the floor,” she gasped as the first delicious tremors of pleasure began to tremble through her.