Chapter 4

I had never seen Liam and Niall in action before. They walked into the house and took over. Half an hour later we were being hustled out of the door and into Niall's Range Rover. We had been instructed to pack a bag with spare clothes and were to be taken a 'safehouse.' Niall gave his best impersonation of Michael Schumacher to shake off any tail and an hour or two later we were speeding down country lanes to the west of London. Trotsky and Magic in the back were not happy as the car made its split-arse turns through the winding roads. After a while we arrived at the house, a small picturesque cottage just outside that Berkshire village made famous for its concentration of racing stables. I should have guessed. The O'Farrells had that Irish passion for horse racing.

The place belonged to a well known Trainer and friend of the twins.

"Don't get too comfortable," said Liam. "We're only here for the night. You can bet the opposition will soon know you called us and they can make the connection to this place pretty quickly. Niall is sorting something else out."

Angela appeared to have gone into a state of shock, shaken, no doubt, by the speed of events. I just reverted to my childhood and let the twins take over - it had been like that in school - and they were the experts.

We sat around the dining room table and worried once more at the puzzle. Angela sat quietly and would only nod or reply 'yes' or 'no' when called upon to confirm some detail or other. Niall prepared some unidentifiable gloop in the microwave and we ate supper in silence. Niall produced a bottle of Bushmills and we sipped the whiskey as we carried on trying to find a solution. I was still in favour of going to the police but Niall and Liam were adamant. Until we knew just who was involved, that was not an option. It seemed clear that the mysterious plain-clothes man from Norfolk was in on the affair, unless, of course, that was just disinformation by Mickey-the-Mouth. The only thing that Angela could not, or would not, accept was that her father had stolen a large amount of money.

"It is not possible! He was a soldier not a banker. How would he gain access to foreign currency reserves?"

I had to admit it had us all perplexed. Liam and Niall agreed with Angela. As ex-soldiers, they had some feeling of solidarity with another soldier, even if he was a Colonel of Spetsnaz.

"She has a point," said Liam and Niall concurred.

"I don't see how he would have had the access or the contacts. It's been pretty hard to move money through the European Banking system since 1994. The anti Money Laundering rules are pretty tight now. You'd have to good contacts in the banking system or organised crime. It's possible, I suppose, but I think it would need a team of people, not just one rogue soldier."

When I thought about it, I had to agree. I have a number of contacts with the financial world as a result of my profession. There are plenty of scams out there but they are usually the work of organised groups. One maverick acting alone would have little chance of pulling off such a major operation. But if we discarded the foreign exchange story, what were we left with? We packed it in at around Eleven. We weren't getting anywhere and Angela was obviously drained by the sequence of events over the last week.

There were two bedrooms in the cottage. One of the twins would keep watch while the others slept. Angela looked at me and said, "I stay with you" in a low voice. No one commented so we settled down in the larger bedroom. It had two single beds and I threw my bag on the one nearest the window. Angela disappeared into the bathroom with her bag. I heard the shower running so wandered back into the lounge. A half-hearted moon, shining through the light clouds, provided the only light and Liam was sitting in an easy chair drawn up to one side of the uncurtained window, where he could see without being seen. "Niall's getting his head down," he said, without turning his head, his concentration fixed outside. "Problems?" I asked. "Nah, " he said, "precautions." I left him to it. He had the dogs for company and I was way out of my depth.

I heard the shower turn off and the bathroom door open and then close. I took a quick shower myself and headed back to the bedroom with a towel around my waist. Angela was tucked up in one bed with just her head peeking out of the covers. I turned out the light and, dropping the towel, slipped into my bed. Angela stirred slightly.

"Martin?"

"Uh huh"

"I just wanted to say I am grateful. This has been very frightening for me but with you I feel safe."

"I feel safer with the twins around."

"They are dangerous men, your friends. They remind me of the young men who used to come to see my father when I was child. They always smiled but I knew they were deadly"

"Well, Liam and Niall are my oldest friends and they are very definitely on our side. In fact, they are the only ones I know for sure that are."

"I know, but they still make me a little afraid. Or, I should say rather that it is because we need men like them that makes me afraid."

"I understand."

"Martin?"

"Yes."

"I really feel I would like to have your arms around me this night. Would you mind very much if we pushed these beds together?"

I did the honourable thing and obliged her. She snuggled up to me and laid her head on my shoulder. I found myself wishing I'd taken the time to put on a pair of shorts after my shower. She was wearing a T-shirt that had ridden up around her waist and the feel of her soft skin against my side and thigh was highly arousing. Her arm was across my chest and she clung to me like a crucifix. I knew from the first that I was attracted to her. OK, she didn't have Steph's blatant animal sexuality but I found her a lot less threatening because of it.

I lay still and tried to relax. She hugged me with an intensity that Steph never managed. After a while I felt some of the tension go out of her and her breathing became deep and regular. Unfortunately I was wide-awake, with a beautiful woman asleep on my chest and a raging erection. What was almost as bad was that my left arm was going to sleep and developing pins-and-needles. I eased my self away, trying not to wake her. She stirred briefly and rolled back towards me, flinging her arm over me and her naked thigh across mine. I could feel the tickling sensation of her pubic hair against my leg. My erection seemed to double in size. I felt ghastly, like I was the worst sort of prick imaginable. She wanted a bit of comfort and I wanted... It was hours before I finally fell asleep.

My dreams were dark and troubled and my rest was fitful. Each time I awoke, she was still there, crushing herself against me. Her warm, womanly smell seemed to fill the soft night. The last time I woke up, just before dawn, my resistance collapsed completely. Before I knew what I was doing, I buried my face in her hair and breathed the scent of her. I think I groaned aloud. She made a small sound of contentment and snuggled in closer.