Page 141 of Perfect Liar
“I’ll have you close to me every day, one way or another.”
We dropped it at that, with him getting the last word, and then we quickly fell asleep with our arms and legs and the sheets all in a tangled mess.
But it couldn’t have been more than two hours later when the restrained thunder of Will’s voice woke me.
He had moved to the sofa in the sitting area of his room and now talked to Thomas. What they said made no difference to me. I wasn’t willing to let go of the bliss we created earlier, so I lay there, faking sleep, and let them talk.
“Tell me how she did while I was gone. The truth this time,” Will said.
“I told you she was angry. And quite short tempered. Like I said, I told her you were hunting our brother’s murderer and looking for his body. I didn’t want to fight with her or upset her more by lying to her. She’s too smart for that. She settled in after a bit, but then all the hand-to-hand training rubbish started. And listen, I don’t want any part of that…she shouldn’t be doing it.”
“I’ve thought about it, and I’ll allow it but with John only. Ben will continue training them.”
Palpable silence filled the room, and then Will released a long, heavy breath.
“She suffered. Her first reaction was to hit me.”
“Seems like the two of you are good now.”
“Yeah. I appreciate you Thom and how well you protect her when I’m away.”
Thomas hesitated for a moment.
“Yeah, well, I wear the ink, same as you.”
“I didn’t want that for you, you know.”
Silence again until Will continued.
“Any leads on Jack Lewis’s location?”
“Not yet, but I’ll find that fucker. I meant to ask if we need to manage immigration. I can pull together a rootkit and access their system within a day or two.”
“No, leave the Home Office alone. Her heritage is strong enough to file for citizenship. But it doesn’t matter anyway…I’m going to marry her.”
“Not hard to figure out your plan after seeing your freshly inked arm.”
“It’s not part of a plan. I love her,” Will snapped.
I turned my face to be sure he couldn’t see me smile if he looked my way.
“Why do I feel like you’re holding something back?” Thomas asked.
Will didn’t respond audibly.
“Ah, more leverage. Why didn’t they use MI5 for the job?”
“Target was an MI5 officer. Enough said, Thomas.”
“Right. What about this evening? Any concerns? And tell me, why the fuck are we even hosting this dinner party?”
“You know Mum plans it every year to close out the Seafood and Wine Festival. I don’t want to take that away from her. We’ll use it to draw out the mole Uncle Robert mentioned. Brief the security team when you go down…everyone must be on high alert. One more thing, you need to get on with joining the firm. I need you there.”
Thomas didn’t respond out loud, so I wondered if he nodded in agreement.
“Ben said security is running seamlessly. You agree, Thom?”
“It’s quite a good team.”