Flirting with Danger by Bev Hardy (digital e reader TXT) 📖

way of protecting yourself and you're gonna go rushin' out there oblivious. Just look how easily I overpowered you," he pointed out.

"Okay, I understand where you're coming from on this, but can you please just release me so we can talk about it rationally?" she reasoned.

He supposed that he couldn't really hold her there indefinitely. But he wasn't going to let her leave that garage until he had some idea of how he could protect her. At least she had calmed down now though. Really, he guessed that the best way to protect her was to get her on side. With this in mind, at last, he reluctantly let go of her arms.

She moved forward and turned to him, taking a few steps backwards and tying the belt of her nightgown more firmly around her middle as she did so.

"Okay," she sighed. "I need to be more careful."

"A hell of a lot more careful. These guys are animals!" he exclaimed.

She searched his face for a few moments, trying to think of a way of reassuring him. One way sprang to mind. She didn't really want to disclose that but, at this stage, she really had no choice.

"I have a firearm," she admitted.

This surprised him. "Ya do?"

"Yes. It's upstairs. So you see, I can protect myself," she replied.

This did serve as some kind of a reassurance to him, but he still wasn't entirely at ease.

"Can't ya just stay with someone for a few days?"

"Luke," she groaned. "No, I can't."

"What's wrong with stayin' with Richie," he frowned. "Thought you'd be staying with him anyway."

Great. How was she going to get out of that one? To her relief, he continued before she had to come up with an excuse.

"On second thoughts, he aint no good," he said, remembering how defenceless Richie had been when he had abducted him earlier. "Go stay with Doug if ya must. Yeah, he's the best option." Luke had the feeling that Doug was the only option. His instincts told him that if she wouldn't stay at the guest house, or allow him to stay with her, she would be safest with Doug.

"Luke, you can't just palm me off on other people like that."

"What? Doug wouldn't let ya stay?" he questioned.

She sighed, "Yes, he probably would, but I'm not going to ask him. Besides, he'd have questions I couldn't answer. He'd know there was something wrong. Look, I'll carry my firearm with me at all times, okay. You can even replace my locks with more secure ones if you like, for goodness sake, but will you please let me out of here now or we won't get your car back from Richie if I don't get to his house before he leaves." She hoped that maybe getting the car back would convince him. It didn't, but knowing that realistically, he wasn't going to completely alienate and anger her further by keeping her there, and the fact that she had a weapon was enough to make him reach into his pocket for the key. Besides, after having thought about it, he'd damn well keep surveillance on her house twenty four hours a day if he had to.

He turned to the door to unlock it and she slipped past him into the kitchen, stopping before she headed upstairs again to throw him a disapproving look. Enough was enough. She needed more help with this; after she had seen Richie, she was going to Barker.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that on me again!" she exclaimed.

Chapter 28

After a very tense and awkward time spent with Richie, when neither he nor Charlie broached the subject of anything that had happened the night before, but both were excruciatingly aware of it, Richie and Eddie finally returned to the Club in Luke's car, whilst Charlie informed them that she had some more errands to run.

She had intended to explain Luke's actions, or to apologize for them or something, but Richie hadn't seemed at all in the mood for any conversation let alone one like that, and so Charlie had left it alone, contenting herself with at least seeing that he hadn't been completely traumatized by Luke.

During the journey from Richie's house into the city, Charlie's thoughts hovered on Luke's actions that morning towards her. It wasn't long, however, before she was chastising herself for overthinking what had happened. It wasn't out of character for Luke to be concerned over her safety, or anyone else's for that matter; that was just his way. Okay, so he had overreacted more than usual, but then as he said, he'd lost Danny because of this mob and, knowing Luke, he probably felt a fair amount of guilt over that. She could well understand his panic at the thought of also losing her, particularly since he appeared to have practically led the Borelli's to her front door. But something didn't ring true about that theory: that it was the Borelli's who had been behind the break in last night. Charlie had the feeling that if this had been the case, neither Luke nor her would be alive that morning to tell the tale.

Still, she also had the sense that time was running out for them and something had to be done soon to incriminate Tony before it was too late. With this is mind, her car automatically found itself heading in the direction of MI5. Her biggest concern was how she was going to broach this with Barking and how much she was going to tell him. If she didn't play this right, not only could Barking refuse to help, but he could insist on bringing Luke in. She had concluded however, that the benefits of involving MI5 did actually outweigh the risks. Firstly, With MI5 at her disposal, she could investigate the case far more quickly and thoroughly than she could on her own. And secondly, she did believe deep down that Barking cared enough about Luke to help as much as he could if things were not to go Luke's way in the end.

Yes, all of this made perfect sense to her, so why then had she been sitting in her parked car for the past fifteen minutes, a couple of hundred metres from MI5? Was she really doing the right thing? What would happen if it all backfired? Luke had a lot to lose. She went over the conversation she would have with Barking over and over again in her head, trying to anticipate every way he might react and every question he could have for her. Finally, she was driving herself to distraction and admitted defeat, starting up her car and driving the final stretch to MI5. She would just have to dive right in and hope for the best.

Walking across the MI5 car park always gave her a certain feeling of excitement in the pit of her stomach. What would that morning bring? Would she be up to the challenge? And, in the 'Luke' days, what mischief would she have to deal with that day?

As she strolled down the corridor towards the office, she smiled at the familiar sound of Barking's voice booming out.

"What the bloody hell is going on here then? We've got a major drug ring, two murders and a kidnapping on our hands, and you lot are acting like it's feeding time at the zoo! Get some bloody work done!"

Charlie stood at the door, waiting for Barking to finish his outburst. Finally, he looked up and noticed her.

“Charlotte," he said with surprise. She rarely came into MI5 unless he called her in for a case. "I hope you're here to tell me you're coming back full time. Maybe you can get some work out of this lot!"

She smiled. "Can I have a word, Sir?" she asked.

He gave a curt nod, his eyes motioning towards his office. She followed him.

"Well, well, well, can't stay away from us after all Charlie," he said, closing the door after her.

She laughed. He moved around his desk and took a seat. She sat opposite him.

"Have you given any more thought to returning full time?" he pushed.

"Of course, but it's a big decision," she said by way of an excuse.

"Hmm, we certainly have enough work at the moment. Seems like the thugs and villains are having a field day these days," he replied wryly.

"Well, I've stumbled across my own criminals this time sir; think I've found more work for you," she answered.

He groaned. "Go on. What kind of criminals?"

"Mafia," she replied cautiously.

"Mafia?" he repeated with surprise. "Not more mobsters! We have units all over London working on Mafia cases lately. Someone's going to have to consolidate this whole mess soon." He went on in a hushed voice. "Word is, there is an international crime ring forming and every bloody aspiring gangster is coming out of the woodwork."

Charlie listened thoughtfully, taking in what Barking had said.

"Hmm, interesting. Shall we have a small whiskey, Sir?" she said, out of the blue.

Barking wasn't averse to the odd tipple now and again when the stresses of the job dictated it, but it was unlike Charlie to suggest it.

He eyed her suspiciously. "Everything alright, Charlotte?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sort of, but think you might need the drink for this one, Sir."

A frown wrinkled his brow, but he stood and opened the cupboard door which concealed his secret whiskey bottle, pouring two drinks for them, and handing her one before taking his seat again.

He took a sip of the liquid, his eyes not leaving her face as he did so. Her heart beat nervously. God, she hoped that he wasn't going to explode and take out half of MI5 with him!

"Go on then, what is it?" he urged her.

She inhaled deeply. "Thing is Sir, I had a visitor the other day… a visitor from..." Here went nothing. "… across 'The Pond'," she said, testing the water.

He stared at her for a moment, his expression blank, before his whole face abruptly changed with recognition.

"Are you suggesting that that unruly, irresponsible, trigger-happy, Yankee Doodle Dandy is back here in the UK?"

"Afraid so, Sir," she cringed.

He threw his hands up in the air. "Bloody marvellous! Come on then, what's he done now?"

"Err, he hasn't exactly done anything," she began, trying to soften the blow. "You know what he's like," she went on, wrinkling up her nose, "he just attracts trouble."

"And when you say 'trouble', I take it you mean Mafia, right?" he responded.

She nodded. "He's been investigating a New York mob for years…"

Barking groaned again, running a hand over his head.

"… and well, when things got too hot for him there, he decided to come back here. Only, he sort of… brought the Mafia with him."

"We have enough of our own Mafia here thank you Charlotte. Tell him to take them back!"

"Well, that's another thing," she went on, "Maybe they didn't just come here after Luke. I mean, maybe that wasn't the main reason. I was thinking that was odd," she admitted. "Why would the two brothers, the two bosses, come out here just for Luke? Perhaps they were here to meet with other mobsters?" she suggested.

Barking nodded, his mind seeming to wander for a moment, before he answered,

"Where's he staying?"

She was slightly thrown for a moment by his sudden change of