Crash and Burn (11 page)

Stop it, Beth.

Her hands shook as she poured the boiling water, almost spilling the hot liquid onto the countertop. So much for the promises she’d made herself during her sleep-deprived night.
Get that thought out of your mind right now,
she berated herself.
He’s made himself perfectly clear. The kiss was just a little fun. Nothing more.
She had to stop turning to mush every time she was near him.

Straightening, she picked up his cup and offered it to him. “You have it black, right?”

“Thanks.”

She carefully avoided touching his hand as she handed over his coffee, noticing that he seemed to be doing the same thing.
Good, he’s avoiding me, too. I can live with that. But only if it’s the physical contact.
She thought about the predicament they were in. There was no way he was going to shut her out of that. She wasn’t used to sitting back while someone else did the work.

“So tell me,” she asked. “Who’s this person you have to see today?”

“A friend.”

Beth rolled her eyes. He was trying to cut her out of the loop. Just like she’d thought he would. “A friend? That tells me a lot.”

“The less you know, the safer you’ll be.”

“Yeah, right! I have just as much at stake as you do. Probably more. It’s me they want, not you. So don’t think for one minute that I don’t want to be involved here. I’ve spent the last five years cleaning up my own messes and I’m not going to stop now just because Mr. Desk Job wants to cut me out of the loop.” Okay, so she was laying it on a bit thick. She wasn’t usually such a bitch, but she was still raw from last night.

He narrowed his eyes. She could almost see sparks coming out of them. He was pissed.
Well, too bad, so am I.
Get over it, bud.

“And I’ve spent the last five years making sure that people like you keep safe, so you can just stay put and let me do my job!”

What is he saying? People like me?
Beth’s mind went into overdrive. There was something he wasn’t telling her. Some reason why he wouldn’t let her in. An idea began forming in her head, but she had to think very carefully about what she said next.

“Okay, maybe I can stay here, but I can still help you. I’m pretty good with computers. You could get me into the files at your office. Maybe I could find something. And what about the files of that man who was killed? They might tell us something about who these people are.”

Daniel shook his head and smiled. “You don’t give up, do you? Okay, I’ll have a shower and we’ll discuss this. Meanwhile, how about ordering some breakfast? I know you think better on a full stomach.”

“Ouch! You really know how to make a girl feel special,” she said, as she picked up the room service menu. “Any requests?”

“No, I’ll leave that to you,” he said as he grabbed his backpack and headed for the bathroom.

* * * *

Eating breakfast gave Daniel time to calm down, considering their discussion moments before. Daniel watched Beth as she concentrated on her plate, enjoying with obvious relish the poached eggs and bacon she’d ordered for them both. He narrowed his eyes as she took a sip of her coffee before she turned toward him and smiled.
What is she up to? She couldn’t be planning on leaving the hotel, could she? She’d better not be.

“You understand why you can’t come with me, don’t you?” asked Daniel, not liking the smug expression he saw on her face.

“Yes, I know. I might be recognized,” she answered. “But how are you going to get by without being seen? This is your home town, after all.”

“It’s easier for me to blend into the background. All it takes is a baseball cap, a pair of sunglasses and a good set of eyes.”

“If you say so.”

“Beth, I’ve done this sort of thing before, and with the exception of three people, people think I’m on leave and out of town,” he said. “No one is expecting to see me, and people only take notice of what they’re expecting.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Trust me. It is,” he said.

“Well, you’d better show me how to get into the files before you go,” said Beth, wiping her mouth with her napkin as she stood.

Daniel watched her hand slide over those lips, and fought a shiver as he remembered his own mouth had touched those same lips the previous night. He turned away quickly, but not fast enough. Beth blushed as she noticed the direction his eyes had taken.

Get a hold of yourself, Daniel. Not now, stick to the business at hand
. Bracing himself, he stood and walked over to the laptop, turning it on. Beth joined him and listened as he explained how to scroll through the public service department files.

“How do I get inside Peter Wilson’s diary? I might be able to find out who he was meeting with on a regular basis up until the train crash.”

“I’ll have to go to the system manager’s file first, since his files have been retired for the duration of the investigation.” After typing in a series of numbers and letters, Daniel brought up a number of icons, clicked on one and immediately a version of Outlook filled the screen. “Hang on a sec… There you go.”

“That’s amazing. So we can add hacking to your repertoire,” she said.

Daniel grinned at her. “Just another one of my many talents.”

“You’re getting quite a collection,” said Beth. She stared at him as his mouth began to curl into a smile.
She has such expressive green eyes
. Turning away, he stood and walked over to the wardrobe. He carried one of the backpacks over to the table, then opened it to pull out a couple of pairs of sunglasses and several baseball caps. He picked one of each, zipped the bag and threw it back in the cupboard.

“Lock the door when I leave.”

“I will.” She smiled up at him as she seated herself in front of the laptop.

He gave her a penetrating glare, hoping he succeeded in letting her know he meant business. “And don’t answer the door for anyone, not even people you know, unless it’s me.”

“I won’t.”

“And don’t answer the hotel phone. If I have to contact you, I’ll call this one,” he said as he handed her a small silver mobile device. “And if you need me at all, for anything, just press one and it’ll get me.”

“Okay, I get it,” she said as she started tapping on the keyboard. “No contact with anyone except you. Now you can go. I’ll be fine.”

“All right then. I’ll bring some food back with me. I think it will be better if we limit our exposure to the hotel staff. Raid the minibar if you get hungry.”

“Don’t worry. I will,” she said. “Now go, so you can bring me lunch at a reasonable hour.”

He nodded and turned for the door. Briefly the thought crossed his mind that she was giving in too easily. He hoped not. She’d better stay put. There wasn’t time to go traipsing after her if she got into more trouble. And she had to stay safe at all costs. Maybe he should’ve handcuffed her to the bed. Grinning at the thought, he imagined her eyes flashing with passion and fire.
No way
… That would be too tempting by half. He straightened up and pulled the cap over his head to hide his slightly long brown hair.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

* * * *

After Daniel had left, Beth collected the breakfast trays and deposited them outside the door. Leaving the ‘do not disturb’ light on, she locked the door and flipped the chain into place. Time to get to work.

She knew Daniel had been suspicious of her. He’d thought she was up to something. She wasn’t, but it amused her that he thought she was.
As if.
She wasn’t that stupid. What could she do anyway? She wasn’t familiar with Canberra, and she knew no one in the city. Except…maybe she did have one contact. Her parents had had a friend who lived in Canberra, but she’d lost contact with him over the years. She hadn’t seen him since the funeral, and she’d been so numb at the time that she couldn’t even remember what they’d talked about. She remembered that he’d had a falling out with her father not long before her parents’ death, and that her father didn’t talk about him after that. Maybe he could help them. He used to work with her father in the Australian Federal Police. He might know what to do. She walked over to the desk, withdrew her address book from her purse and started flipping through the pages.

* * * *

The phone rang in an office high above the city. The silver-haired man hesitated before reaching for the cradle, his fingers tense as he raised it to his ear. He knew exactly who it was on the end of the line. He needed more time. Time he didn’t have.

“Is it done?” barked the voice at the end of the line.

“Not yet.”

An intake of breath sounded. The voice paused before continuing. “I’m getting impatient. It must be done soon.”

“I know. We’re getting closer.”

“You had better be. You know what will happen if you fail.”

The silver-haired man sucked in a breath. He knew exactly what would happen if he failed. He knew what was at stake. He had to prevent that at all costs. “I’m aware of the consequences. It will be done in time.”

“Good, see that it is.”

* * * *

Daniel crossed the road and entered the hotel through the side door. He’d had a frustrating morning and needed to get to his laptop before he could get any further information. Will hadn’t been able to add anything to what he already had. Someone knew their every move. There were no tracking devices on them. He’d checked everything they’d brought with them. And the Conference was only a few days away. They thought they had it covered. The security had been upgraded to protect the British Prime Minister.

Unless it wasn’t the Prime Minister who was the target. If not him, then who? His best bet was those files Beth was checking out. He hoped she’d been able to come up with something. If he could find the leak, he may be able to figure out what this was all about, but they’d better hurry. Time was running out.

As he’d prearranged with Beth, he rang the doorbell when he reached the suite. Nothing. The hairs on his neck pricked up and his gut clenched. A maid peeked out of the room opposite and stared suspiciously at him. Ignoring her, he switched to knocking, then pounded on the white painted wood. Still nothing. He grabbed the handle and tried it. It was locked. He slipped his key card into the slot and shoved the door open. He raced into the suite, where his eyes zeroed in on the desk. The laptop was gone. Listening for any sounds, he carefully walked to the bedroom and opened the door. The bed was neatly made with clean towels sitting on the edge. He stepped through to the bathroom and swore.

She was gone.

Chapter Seven

Beth entered the coffee shop and asked for directions to the ladies room. She smiled, thanked the waitress and ordered a cappuccino before moving past the counter out the back entrance and into the back lane.

Her heart pounded as she looked both ways. Suppressing a twinge of guilt for ordering something she’d had no intention of paying for, she adjusted the cap she wore over the long dark wig she’d pilfered from Daniel’s backpack of tricks. No way could anyone have recognized her. She’d never be caught dead in a baseball cap. Anyone who knew her would know that. But of course, whoever was trying to kill her didn’t know her as well as her friends did.

She walked up the lane, slowly at first, then gathering momentum as she neared another small lane that veered to the right. Ducking into a doorway, she peered back. She couldn’t see anyone, but she could feel someone there. Right now she was wishing she’d stayed put in the hotel. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. She was going stir crazy waiting for Daniel to come back from his meeting, so she thought a short walk wouldn’t do any harm. After downloading the files she needed when she’d logged on at the Internet café, all she’d wanted to do was sit in the park and do her research in the sunshine. She’d thought the hat and the wig disguised her pretty well. Obviously not well enough, because she’d only been sitting in the park for about fifteen minutes before she’d felt, rather than seen, someone staring at her. She’d gotten up and moved around the park among the crowd.

The feeling had followed her.

That was how she’d found herself here in this laneway. She couldn’t take any chances. Daniel wasn’t going to be happy when he found out. In fact, she imagined that he was furious right about now. Now if she could only figure out how to get herself back to the hotel, which at the moment was clearly a challenge.

A low humming sound interrupted her thoughts. Confused, she turned her head to see where the sound was coming from. It seemed to come from her bag. She patted the bag down to find the source of the buzzing.
Of course, the phone!
Beth retrieved the device Daniel had given her and braced for what was coming.

“Daniel, I can explain.”

“Where the hell are you?”

“In a doorway.”

“Doorway? Where?”

“In an alley behind a coffee shop.”

Beth moved the phone away from her ear as a few choice expletives came through the line.

She heard footsteps coming toward her. “Look, Daniel,” she whispered. “You can shout at me later, okay? I think I’m being followed. I have to go. I’ll head back to the hotel when I shake him, otherwise I’ll call you.”

She pushed the end button, threw the phone in her bag and knocked lightly on the door she stood in front of. As a short Chinese woman opened the door, Beth placed a finger to her lips and sidled past her to the front of the shop. It was an Asian grocer. Thankfully there were a number of customers bartering noisily in their own languages. Beth slipped around them quickly and out onto the street.