A Dangerous Liaison - Part Three Read online

  Chapter 9

  Petra

  Uzbeke slowed the Alfa down and pulled up next to a dirt track that led into the forest. The other two cars full of FBI agents stopped behind us.

  We’d found out who John Statton was. He’d been Alec’s commanding officer in the SAS. He’d been one of their best. He’d retired a couple of years ago and moved to a remote location in the middle of one of Italy’s national parks. Our source had told us that he’d also been a kind of mentor to Alec. So it made sense for Alec to go to him when he was in trouble. The woman in hospital was still a mystery-but that didn’t matter now she led us to Alec.

  Uzbeke checked his satnav then twisted around to face Cooper and me in the back seat.

  “Statton’s place is about five minutes’ drive north along this track.”

  “Okay,” said Cooper. “Take it slow. And park up at least 400 yards away from his location. We’ll approach the house by foot.”

  Uzbeke nodded, twisted back around and put his foot on the gas – riding the Alfa Romeo off the smooth tarmac road onto the bumpy dirt track and into the forest. The other cars followed.

  I checked my watch. It was almost 6 p.m. The sun was low on the horizon, and as we snaked deeper into the woods the shadows of the trees made it even darker.

  I peered forward over Uzbeke’s shoulder, looking for some sign of Statton’s place. I was tense. We were close now. Close to catching Alec, stopping the murders and hopefully putting some of my demons to rest. Only that little voice in my mind hadn’t gone away. If anything, as we’d gotten closer to finding Alec it had become more insistent.

  Alec is telling the truth. Alec is telling the truth.

  Over and over like some kind of crazy mantra.

  “This is it, boss,” said Uzbeke in a quiet voice. “We’re exactly half a click away from the co-ordinates of Statton’s place.”

  “Okay. We head straight for the house and surround it. But we keep our distance. Pass it on to the other teams. No one gets closer than a hundred yards – and no one makes a move until I say so.” Cooper’s voice was hard.

  “Make sure everyone understands that, Uzbeke. Anyone who fucks up or tries to be a hero will be busted.”

  ***

  We’d been crouched down in the undergrowth about a hundred yards from Statton’s place for the last twenty minutes. Cooper had allowed us to edge closer as the light failed but we’d been stuck here – waiting for God knows what – for ten minutes.

  I rested my arms on a half-rotten log lying in front of me, and blew out a breath. It steamed in the cool evening air. Damp from the ferns and rhododendron bushes seeped through my pants.

  Statton’s place was dead ahead. It was a log cabin – but the luxurious kind, on two levels with maybe six or seven rooms. An orange light glowed from one of the windows. I could just make out two figures.

  I glanced to my left. Cooper was a couple of feet away hunched down and motionless, his eyes fixed on that patch of orange light like his life depended on it. I wasn’t sure why we were waiting. Maybe he wanted to wait until Statton and Alec had gone to bed.

  I pushed a lock of hair behind my ear.

  I resented Cooper not sharing his plans, and I couldn’t stand this waiting. I knew catching Alec would save American lives. I wanted that. But I also wanted him to pay for lying to me, for making me trust him. I wanted it so badly it hurt. Suddenly I couldn’t wait anymore. And before I changed my mind I sprung up and ran towards the cabin.

  I’d gotten half a dozen steps when I heard a loud click behind me and the cabin was suddenly lit up. A second later Cooper’s voice rang out through a bullhorn demanding that Alec surrender. I sprinted as fast as I could, veering to the right side of the cabin, away from the intense light.

  I knew Cooper would send in the other agents once I’d broken cover. But that was fine by me. As long as I had time to face Alec and tell him he was finished, before they stormed in.

  Breathless I reached the cabin, surprised I couldn’t hear the other agents hot on my heels. I ducked around the side of the cabin, moving into the darkness until I found a half-open door. A small pool of light leaked out into the blackness. I slipped through the open door into a kitchen and stopped dead -holding my breath. Alec’s voice and another I guessed was Statton’s came from the other side of the house. They were raised – arguing, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  Then abruptly they stopped.

  I blew out a quiet breath, still listening for what seemed like minutes – but the cabin was silent as a grave.

  “Petra.”

  His voice sent a shiver down the back of my legs.

  “Alec,” I replied, without turning around.

  Cooper

  I had one eye on Statton and that son of a bitch Reader talking in that luxury cabin of his, and one on Petra.

  She was crouched behind a log, her gaze dead ahead. She was dressed in gray pants, a suit jacket and a blue blouse, her FBI badge hanging from her hip, her gun bulging through her jacket. Even now, with mud splattered over her pants and sweat beads on her forehead, she looked hot.

  I watched her watching Reader and felt a pang of jealousy. Petra and Reader were teenagers when the program started. They were already a couple, but something happened during the first experiment.

  Petra pushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear. It was a habit of hers. That damn blond hair was always falling down over her eyes. She must have tucked it behind her ear a thousand times a day, totally unconscious of what she was doing.

  I licked my lips.

  A psychic link. That’s what the lab boys called it. It had been a theoretical possibility that no one really took seriously. The idea that two people could be joined psychically. It sounded like science fiction.

  But the possibilities for espionage were – well, limitless. The department hadn’t been slow to take advantage of it. They planned for the two of them to work together.

  And even now after years apart the bond was there. So if I was to have any hope of breaking the link between them, I needed to show Petra evidence even she couldn’t argue with.

  I glanced over at her again. She was like a poised cat.

  Then she jumped up and sprinted toward the house.

  Part of me was disappointed. Would she have waited if she was over Reader? I wasn’t sure. She was impetuous. But she wouldn’t risk fouling up an operation like this unless she was still hooked on that bastard.

  I watched her run fast and easily like a young deer then she disappeared into the darkness. I stared at nothing for a long moment then inhaled sharply. It was time to move things along. I picked up a bullhorn I’d put on the ground next to me and spoke clearly into it.

  “Alec Reader, come out with your hands up.”

  I gave Reader a couple of minutes to come out, then got up, signaling the others to stay back, and hustled to the front of the cabin. I had to make sure any lingering doubts Petra had about that son of a bitch’s guilt were squashed. She had to believe he was a cold-blooded killer. I had to reach Statton before she did.

  As I got to the front door I heard her say, “Alec.”

  The sweat on my back went cold.

  I couldn’t let her talk to Reader. Everything I’d worked for could be ruined. I slammed into the door, putting all my body weight into the thin frame – and burst through into a dark hallway.

  I could hear Petra and Reader talking on the far side of the house.

  Shit.

  I ran through the hallway, turned a corner and ran straight into Statton. His eyes went as wide as saucers.

  “I did what you asked, you son of a bitch,” he said. “If you’ve hurt Jenna I swear I’ll kill you.”

  I shot out my hand, grabbing the old guy by the neck. He might have been SAS but he was well past his prime, and his reactions were shot.

  “You bastard...”

  I squeezed tight, watching his face turn blue.

  I didn’t have time for this. Right now P
etra and Alec were together.

  ‘‘I’m sorry, old man,’ I said. “But you’ve served your purpose.

  He slumped to the floor.

  Quickly I bent down over him and pulled out a knife from my jacket pocket, and pushed it into his chest. I pulled it out and wiped the handle and left it next to him. Then I got up and headed through the living room toward the sound of Petra and Reader’s voices.

  Petra

  I’d thought about this moment over and over since I’d found out what Alec really was. In my fantasy I’d told him how stupid he was to have messed with me. I’d been calm, unemotional. But that wasn’t how I felt now.

  I spun around then flinched. Alec stood on the other side of the kitchen. Our eyes met. I caught my breath as a wave of electricity tingled through my body from my head to my toes. It was like a switch had been pressed in my mind. Like he and I were connected at a level so deep that, no matter what my rational mind thought, or how crazy it was, I had no option but to react like this.

  A thousand images flashed through my mind. I saw myself back at my parents’ house in the 80s on that night Alec and I had first heard about the project. I heard him ring the doorbell to my mother’s house and felt the thrill of anticipation as I ran to meet him - then surrendered as he held me - and touched his lips against mine.

  I knew it wasn’t real but I didn’t care.

  “Petra? Are you okay?”

  His words broke me out of my trance and I flushed like a teenager as I realized how I’d fallen for it again.

  Cursing and blinking away the tears, I yanked my gun up and pointed it straight between his eyes.

  “You son of a bitch, Alec.”

  My hand was shaking and my eyes were so blurred I couldn’t see. But I wouldn’t let this beat me. I wiped my face and eyes with the back of my hand.

  These memories, my obsession with Alec Reader. They were all part of the same delusion caused by my need to find the man in my dream. That need had made me vulnerable to Alec. I never should have let myself believe that it was real. I never should have trusted Alec. I should have built a wall around my pain and never let it out.

  Alec held up both hands. “Please, Petra, put the gun down. I know what you think I did. But I didn’t kill that woman. I didn’t kill anyone.”

  I blew out a hard breath through my nose. His denial seemed to give me strength.

  I held the gun steadier.

  “Liar.”

  I could hear Cooper, Gabriel and Uzbeke moving around in the other room. For some reason I hadn’t called out to them yet. Maybe I wanted to savor one last moment of the fantasy. Maybe I was still afraid to let go of it.

  Alec and me stared at each other for a long moment, separated by ten feet and a thousand miles.

  “Why? I said finally. “Why did you lie to me, Alec? Why did you kill those people?”

  He put on a good show of looking hurt.

  “Petra, I didn’t kill anyone.”

  He took a couple of steps towards me.

  “Stay back, you son of a bitch,” I said, clenching the gun’s handle tight – my voice cracking. “I’ll use this if I have to.”

  He pushed his hands up higher.

  “Petra, you’ve got to believe me. I saved those people. Everything I told you is true.”

  I saw what seemed to be honesty in his eyes and felt myself respond – part of me wanted so much to believe him. But I quickly pushed the weakness away.

  Gripping the gun I said:

  “It was recorded on CCTV. I saw you stab her.”

  I was angry and impossibly sad for what we’d lost. I didn’t have the energy to hold back the tears.

  “I saw you standing over her body with the knife in your hand, you bastard.”

  It was as if I was focusing into those few words all my fury at him and at the world for playing such a cruel trick on me.

  Alec’s faced dropped. He looked away.

  I felt a rush of despair. I’d been holding onto some hope that I’d been wrong but his face told me he was guilty. I’d been a fool.

  “Get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”

  I snapped my head around at the sound of Cooper’s voice. He was standing in the hallway, his gun pointed at Alec.

  He glanced at me.

  “You can stand down now, agent.”

  “He says he’s not the killer.”

  I don’t know why I said it. I knew it was a lie. Cooper flicked a look at me.

  Then he kicked the door behind him open. On the floor of the living room behind him lay the body of a man of about sixty wearing a Led Zeppelin tee shirt. The black handle of a knife stuck out of his chest.

  My jaw dropped.

  “John Statton,” Cooper said in a flat voice. “Reader killed him. Probably wanted to make sure he didn’t talk. He didn’t even trust his closest friend.”

  Slowly I turned back to Alec. Cooper was still holding the gun on him. Alec hadn’t gotten on his knees. He was standing facing us both, his hands in the air and his face slack. He dropped his hands to his side.

  Cooper waved his gun. “Get your hands back up, you piece of shit.”

  Alec looked like he hadn’t heard him. Cooper glanced at me.

  “He’s a killer, Petra, accept it. He’s our killer.”

  He shoved one hand in his pocket and pulled out a pair of steel handcuffs.

  “If you’re not going to stand down then at least make yourself useful,” he said, throwing the cuffs to me. “Cuff him.”

  I caught the cuffs reflexively with my free hand and saw a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye. Before I knew what was happening, Alec had closed the gap between him and Cooper and knocked the gun to the floor. Alec jabbed the heel of his hand into Cooper’s Adam’s apple. Cooper’s hands went to his throat. He was turning blue. Alec slapped him hard on the back and Cooper inhaled a big whooping breath. Before Cooper could recover, Alec grabbed the cuffs from my hands, spun Cooper around to face the wall and cuffed him. Then he pushed him onto the floor.

  “Don’t make a fucking sound,” he whispered in Cooper’s ear.

  Cooper grunted but didn’t argue.

  Alec stood up and turned to me.

  “Petra, I don’t know what’s happening – but I didn’t do this.” He nodded at Statton’s body.

  I opened my mouth.

  Alec stepped forward and put his finger on my lips.

  “Don’t speak. It won’t help. I’m going to track down the real killer, Petra. I’m going to clear my name. And I’m going to find out what happened to us.”

  I tried to speak. He pushed harder on my lips.

  “I know you don’t believe me right now. You can’t. And I can’t ask you to trust me. Not now. But I will prove they’re wrong about me. Someone is playing us, Petra –and I won’t let them.”

  He took his finger away from my lips and kissed me. Then he was gone.

  End of A Dangerous Liaison Part 3 – Part 4 coming very soon!

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  About the Author

  Until recently Melanie Brooks was an emergency room doctor. She only wrote when she had a spare moment, but she’s recently taken a sabbatical from medicine to devote more of her time to writing. She likes to write contemporary erotic romance novels. Writing is her passion, and she hopes you will feel for her characters, to laugh and cry along with them, as she has done.

  Melanie draws her characters and the situations they find themselves in from her life as a doctor, but adds plenty of spice. Her books are fun and exciting, so get ready for a roller - coaster ride.

  Melanie believes that each day is a gift. She loves to write, spend time with her family and on the beach near where she lives, walking her dog. She believes each day is for living to the full.

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