Buying Thyme (23 page)

It takes me
over an hour and four train
changes later, but I finally make it to Sydney Airport. I throw the glasses in the bin as I make my way out to the entrance. When I get to the top of the escalator, I see a well-built man in a black t-shirt and dark jeans, standing by the entrance gates. He’s staring straight at me. Holy shit! I’ve seen guys like him at Tench’s mansion. They’ve found me. I got so close! I can’t give up now. I turn and make a run for it back down to the train platform.

“Hey you! Stop!” The man starts running after me.
 

There’s nowhere to go. I don’t know where to go. The
next train is six minutes away. There’s another well-built guy at the other end of the platform, “Grab her quick.” I hear the man behind me call out. 

The other guy turns around and heads towards me.
 The heels I’m wearing are the worst to run in! There’s another set of stairs in the middle of the platform so I head straight for them and take two stairs at a time towards the top. My skirt splits under the pressure of my strides. I kick off my shoes and pick up my pace. My heart is in my throat and everything around me feels muffled all of a sudden. As I get to the last step at the top, yet another man in a dark blue t-shirt and shorts, steps onto the stairs. I’m trapped. There’s nowhere else to run to. My eyes feel like they are going to burst under the pressure of my beating heart.

CHAPTER 23

“Stop.
Please. You’re Simon’s sister right?
We’re here to help. Simon sent us.” The man at the top of the stairs calls out. 

I stop and look up at him. I look back down the stairs and the other two men are running up the stairs with their hands out towards me. Do I believe them?

“Simo said you would run. Trust me we’re here to help get you out of here.” The first guy in the black t-shirt talks.

“Why should I believe you?” I frantically look at the top and bottom of the stairs as the men get closer and closer.
 

They could be with Tench.
My heart is pounding in my ears.

“We’re from Simo’s old battalion. He said you called him and needed help. He wants us to take you to his house up in Byron. There are some of the other boys back at your place in Paddington getting your cat as we speak. How would we know this if we didn’t know your brother? You look exactly like him too
… just a better looking version.” The guy at the bottom of the stairs laughs. 

Everything he said is true. I’m exhausted. I drop my head and burst into tears again. I hold onto the wall and slide down it towards the ground.

“Hey… Hey… Everything’s going to be all right now. We’ll get you up to Simo okay?” I feel strong hands grip around the top of my arms. 

I look up and see the kind face of the man in the black t-shirt,

“My name is Ryan Green-Jones… but everyone calls me Two Dads.” He says with a big beaming smile.

“I’ve heard of you.” I nod, laughing deliriously between sobs.

The four big
burly men usher me to yet another big black four-wheel drive that’s waiting to take me away somewhere. I keep wavering between laughing and crying with everything that I’ve just been through playing over in my mind. I slide into the back seat of the SUV and two of the guys sit either side of me. Normally I would feel like some prisoner, but right now I feel nothing but protected amongst these men. The enormity of what I have just been through becomes more apparent as we drive north of the city. I picture Michael Stevenson’s lifeless body. I start to shake uncontrollably. The trauma of it all sets in and I’m no longer wavering but trembling with fear. I can’t shake it. His dead body. The blood. Tench with a gun. It’s all playing over and over. The big guy on my left looks down and wraps his giant arm around me. It feels secure and I cry harder than I ever have before. My life is so fucked up. How am I ever going to rebuild and start again after this?

“Hey. It’s
alright. You’re gonna be ok now.” The big guy’s soft voice is a stark contrast to his immense size.

I sob at his words. Am I? Am I going to be ok now? How did I get myself into this mess? I search for any justification for getting into prostitution in the first place. I should’ve walked away from it when I had the chance. I want to find who I was before I turned into a whore. The money I’ve earned over time will never pay for the damage I’ve caused myself. I miss who I was and hate what I’ve become. I’m damaged goods. My eyes become heavy as the rampant thoughts endlessly flood my head. I notice we’re out of the city. Only eight hours until we’re at Simon’s house. Under the comfort of a stranger’s arm, I slowly drift into a deep sleep.

I wake
suddenly
when I feel the car has stopped. I look around me and see that I’m alone.

“Hey sis. You’re here with me now. Come here. Let’s get you inside.” Simon is staring at me from the open passenger door.

His voice is exactly what I want to hear. I can’t believe I’ve slept that entire time without stirring. All four guys are waiting beside the car and all smile sympathetically at me. What must they be thinking? I still feel tired and tell Simon as much as I get out of the car. I feel like I could sleep for another year at this rate. Maybe that’s what I need to do. Sleep for a year and when I wake up it will all be over. I look into my brother’s eyes as he walks me up the dirt driveway towards his house. I see myself in his face. His amber eyes are just like mine, as is his thin top lip and dark hair. I’ve gotten myself so wrapped up in this lifestyle of prostitution that I’ve have forgotten who I was before. I’ve been playing someone else for so long now. Seeing Simon reminds me of the girl I used to be.

“Rest up and then I want you to tell me everything okay. I need to know everything so that I can help you.” Simon’s three-minute age difference seems more like years as he speaks.

How did he grow up so much? I smile at him.

“You’re just like dad you know?” I smirk.

I make my way to a spare bedroom upstairs and once again fall asleep, below me the comforting sound of Simon and his mate’s happy voices echoing their friendly banter.

The sunshine feels
glorious on my skin as I lay
baking on the beach.
I’ve just finished reading
Great Expectations
for the hundredth time. I never tire of reading it. I don’t think I ever will. I pick up the newspaper next to me, something I avoid reading most days. I hate reading about Tench. The amount of badness that guy is capable of is beyond anything I could ever have uncovered. I was naïve to think I was ever going to stop him. He clearly gets away with murder. The past few months at my brother’s house in Byron Bay have been the perfect escape. A chance to start again. I don’t think I will ever return to the city. There is too much evil waiting for me back there. I have my new life here now. News of my sudden absence out of Tench’s life is yesterday’s news finally. There’s nothing much interesting in today’s paper either. Thank goodness. I roll my newly acquired blonde locks up into my baseball cap and pull it down over my eyes and lay my head back down on my towel again. I take in a deep breath and inhale the beautiful ocean breeze.

“Hello Miranda.”
 

I get a knot in my stomach. I haven’t been called that name for months. I recognise that voice. I lay motionless for a moment as my mind searches to place that voice. I glance upwards and tilt my cap backwards to peak out slightly.

“Tom!” 

My heart skips a beat and my ears begin to burn with a prickling heat.
 Tom smiles his dazzling smile. Am I dreaming? I sit up and look out to the ocean then I look back up at the handsome man standing next to me. Yep he’s definitely there.

“What are you doing here? How did you? What…” Words fail to find their way to my mouth.
 

Tom sits on the sand next to me with his arms resting on his bent knees.

“Your brother Simon called me.” He stares out at the waves rolling against the shoreline.

“Pardon?”
 

What the hell is he talking about? How did Simon know to get in touch with him? Why did he call him? I only mentioned Tom to Simon a couple of times. I never meant for him to call him. Simon!

“Your brother and I were in the battalion together. We served on two different tours of duty. Iraq and Afghanistan…” Tom still doesn’t look at me. 

What is he talking about? Why would someone like Tom ever work in the army?

“After Afghanistan, I left the battalion. Just like Simon did. Except I started working for a Government Agency…”

I look at Tom. I’m confused, “What are you saying Tom? I don’t understand?”

“I know this is hard for you to hear. I work for an Agency called OCT-U. Have you heard of that before?”

I rewind back over past conversations. I have heard that somewhere before. Where have I heard that before? “Yes I have heard of that…” I frown, “At Joe Tench’s.”
 

I find it hard to breathe all of a sudden. I haven’t felt anxious like this for a while. I stare at Tom with eyes like saucers. My mind is racing back to when I heard Tench and Toni talking about ‘the OCT-U dogs’. I had no idea what it meant at the time. Tom nods slowly.

“I work for the ‘Organised Crime Taskforce Unit’. We have been monitoring Joe Tench for quite some time now. Years in fact… then you came along…”

No. Tom no. What are you saying? Tears begin to well and roll down my face.

“I was placed as an operative to carry out field intelligence on Joe Tench… through you.”

“But your Tom Smythe? Heir to the National Iron Ore mining company?” Tom slowly shakes his head as I whisper the words, tears now streaming down my face.
 

I can’t take any more of this. I get up and grab my towel and book. The newspaper pages fly away in the wind. I quickly grab the pages roughly and just scrunch them all together. I don’t care what else he has to say. I have been completely deceived. I can’t face Tom… or whoever the fuck he is. And my brother! Did he know all about this too?

“Miranda wait.” He calls out and my blood boils. 

I stop and turn to him,
 

“Don’t you dare call me that! Leave me alone Tom… or whatever your fucking name is! I don’t know why you’ve come here? You should’ve just left me alone… blissfully unaware of the evil that you are! To
think… Ha… And no one was supposed to find me here! So does my brother know everything too? Is he in on this? Is there no end to the deceit in my life?” I scream the last words. 

I can’t think. My tears flow and I want to drop to my knees. This can’t be happening to me. I thought Tom was special. I felt sorry for him about his wife… his wife!

“Did your wife die Tom? Were you ever married? Tell me! Tell me! What else did you lie about to get what you wanted from me? Is that why you wouldn’t fuck me Tom? Is it? Or was it because you were just
working
the whole time? Or is it because I was a whore and that’s beneath you?” I sob and turn to run up the beach towards my brother’s house. Tom grabs my arm before I can run anywhere.

“My name is Nick. Nick Davis. I have never been married… and I never saw you as a whore…” His eyes are full of sorrow.
 

Every moment we spent together plays over in my mind as I try and piece it all together... It was all a lie!

“Your brother knew nothing. I never knew Simon was even
your
brother. Although I should’ve… you look just like him. He knew I worked for OCT-U and called
me
when he was worried about what you had gotten yourself into in Sydney. We have been looking for you but you just fell off the face of the earth. You have over a million dollars sitting in your bank account that hasn’t been touched for months. We know what Tench did. We know what you saw. I was beginning to think Tench might have got you as well. Then Simon called me. It was a total coincidence. And I have to say… I am so happy to see you.” 

He is holding me by the top of the arms. I look up at Nick’s beautiful blue eyes. I remember those eyes. He’s still him.

“Why did you come here Nick? Why are you telling me all of this?” I say softer.

“We need your help. You’re the only one who can get close to Tench.”

“But if you know what he did, then why don’t you just go after him? You have enough on him to put him in prison surely?” 

Why do they need me? Why me?

“Tench is orchestrating something far worse than murder. The Commander of OCT-U has requested that you come and work for us. You are good! If you can just disappear like you have… Trust me. You are perfect for the role. We will train you up… I have been assigned as your mentor. Didn’t you tell me that you want to find out what happened to your friend Sally?” I shoot up a look at Nick.

“Sally?” I whisper, “Do you know what happened to Sally?”

“I can tell you everything. But you need to come back to Sydney with me straight away.” 

My mind flashes with moments of my life from the last year like a slide show. Can I do this? Can I go back to Sydney? Can I go back to Tench?

“Won’t Tench murder me too?” I search for something more in Nick’s familiar eyes. 

He smiles and shakes his head.

“No. He is lost without you. I don’t think you understand the effect you have on him… the effect you have on most men.” Nick runs his hand through his hair. 

That familiar nervous habit he does causes the old feelings I had for him to spike, and I smile.

“Do you really think I can do this?” I feel myself trusting what he says. 

Nick stares down at me and takes my cap off.

“Blonde?” He smirks. 

He leans in and slides his hand around to the back of my neck and pulls me to him. He kisses me deeply. I haven’t been kissed for such a long time.
 

Again, my breath is taken away from me. I can’t help but think how Tom’s…
Nick’s
lips are as soft as I always imagined them to be. They’re as soft as pillows. His tongue touches mine with soft passionate strokes. I feel like my feet have been taken away on a cloud. I inhale as much of Nick’s skin as I can. He smells like I remember him. I missed him. He pulls back and plants one more kiss on my lips as he rubs my cheek with his thumb. As we pull out of the kiss, I see Nick’s eyes slowly open and he smiles at me.