OOPS! I'M A SECRET AGENT (Romance) (8 page)

The flakes of snow from earlier had increased. A light layer
covered the streets. He parked at our hotel and as we walked inside I looked up
at the snow falling around us. I had the urge to take a walk in it, to breathe,
to think about what had happened. I think that’s what I needed more than
anything. Everything had happened in a whirlwind since I’d left London.

‘Are you okay?’ Montpelier’s tone contained genuine concern.

‘Sort of.’

We stopped and stood outside while the snow fluttered down.

Montpelier’s expression was intense.
‘I’m going to say something that’s just between us. If this work ever gets too
much for you, walk away, Neve, just walk away.’

I nodded, and we went into the hotel.

We went into our room together, giving the right impression
for a couple, then Montpelier went through to the adjoining room to sleep.

‘Goodnight,’ I called to him.

‘You did well this evening,’ he called back.

I snuggled into the sumptuous bed and gazed out the window
at the snow. Rupert crossed my mind. I remembered our first Christmas together.
London was snowed under. People were making snow angels in their front lawns.
For three days we lived in a winter wonderland and it was marvellous. We had
snowball fights, and ate lots of Christmas cake and mince pies and watched
television and snuggled on the sofa in front of the fire. Extraordinary
memories from ordinary times.

I pushed Rupert from my thoughts, and watched the snow turn
the dark silhouettes of the city’s tall buildings sparkling white.

Tonight would be one I’d never forget. Extraordinary
memories from extraordinary times.

I imagined what it would be like to be in a relationship and
come home after a busy day in the spying business, and my man would say, ‘What
was your day like? What did you get up to?’

And I’d say, ‘Oh nothing special. I sussed out a traitor,
danced with a spy, narrowly avoided the clutches of a really bad guy, danced
with another spy, and got a present from Santa that I haven’t even opened yet.’

Hmm? I wondered what was in the parcel. It sat on the
dresser. I climbed out of bed and unwrapped it. The light coming in through the
window lit up the room in a pale glow.

Wow. It was an electronic notepad. I loved it. How handy.
And then I remembered. What could I note down that didn’t reveal who I was and
what I did for a living? Nothing. My life was now a secret.

A knock on my door in the middle of
the night woke me up.

‘Neve, open up.’

I recognised Alexavier’s voice and hurried over to unlock
the door.

As soon as I opened it, he stepped inside and closed it shut
again quickly.

Although the bedside lamp was off, there was enough light
shining in through the window to illuminate the room.

Alexavier wore only black trousers and shoes.

‘What’s wrong?’ I said, feeling the need to whisper, and
trying not to stare at the gleaming contours of his bare chest. His hair wasn’t
as sleek as it usually was, and I got the impression he’d been sleeping and got
up, thrown on a minimum of clothes and dashed straight to my room.

‘Where is the gift you got tonight at the party?’

‘The electronic notepad? It’s over on the dresser.’

He grabbed the device and held it up to the light shining in
the window.

‘Do you want me to put the light on?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘keep the lights off and keep your voice
down.’

Adrenalin was pumping through my system. ‘What’s happened?’

‘This isn’t the gift you chose from under the tree.’

‘It is. I put it on the dinner table. It was there when I
went back. I took it with me when we left the party.’

‘No, it was changed.’

‘It looks the same. The same wrapping paper.’

‘All the gifts were wrapped in silver or gold paper. You
were duped into thinking it was the same.’

I went over and looked at the device. ‘But it looked exactly
the same. The same size and everything.’

‘It wouldn’t have been difficult to exchange the original
gift for a fake. You didn’t open the parcel, did you?’

‘Well, no, but —’

‘And you left it lying on the table while you were dancing?’

‘Yes...’ I pictured the gift on the table. ‘I’d left it to
dance with Mr Brown. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to it when we’d finished
dancing because I was wondering where Montpelier was.’

‘Then you left it again?’

‘Yes, to dance with Montpelier. I told him what I’d
overheard. I wasn’t thinking about the parcel. I thought it was part of the
party event.’

‘The original was, but someone changed it for this.’

He took a knife from his trouser pocket — a flick knife, and
prised the back of the gadget open.

‘It’s been tampered with. We’ll have a closer look at the
department’s facility but...’ He pulled a small device from under the wires.

My heart sank.

‘They know where we are. Where
you
are. It’s a
tracker device. Our location has been compromised. Get dressed quickly. We have
to leave now. I’ll alert Montpelier.’

My hands were shaking very slightly and my stomach felt as
if it was shivering from the shock awakening and the realisation that someone
had done this.

I grabbed one of my suitcases and tried to release the
catches but my hands were trembling. Alexavier saw the state I was in and came
over to me.

‘I’m sorry I’m shaking,’ I said. ‘I think I just got a bit
of a shock. I’ll be fine once I’m dressed.’

I didn’t want him to think that I was weak.

‘It’s the adrenalin. You’ll be okay. Your reaction is
normal.’

I nodded shakily.

He moved closer and I saw his sinewy torso and arms that
were whipcord strong gleam in the pale light. He was gorgeous. Maybe he was
partly responsible for my condition? Okay, so that wasn’t true, but he did look
so masculine and honed to tempting perfection.

He put his arms around me and hugged me close. I could feel
his heart beat strong and steady.

‘I won’t let anything bad happen to you,’ he whispered. He
brushed strands of my hair back from my troubled brow. ‘Trust me. Everything
will be okay.’

I savoured the hug, acknowledged and welcomed his strength,
tried to draw some of it to make myself stronger, and thanked him.

He let me go and said quietly, ‘Pack everything up. Dress
warm, for comfort and for running.’

‘Running?’ A shot of panic darted through me.

‘Just in case we have to move quicker than planned.’

I hurried to pack my bags while he alerted Montpelier.

The three of us were packed and ready to go. Alexavier
looked around the bedroom, checking everything, a final sweep before we left as
if we’d never been there.

‘Let’s go,’ said Alexavier, leading the way along the
corridor and down an emergency stair exit.

I was going to ask why we couldn’t leave by the front
reception, but I bit my lip. Did I even want to know the answer? Because we’ve
been compromised? Because we’re being hunted? Or I was being hunted? Nope, I
think that question was better left behind my buttoned lips.

‘Keep close to me and move fast. Get in the back seat of the
car without any hesitation. We’re making a quick exit,’ said Montpelier.

I felt my ankle length boots crunch through the snow as we
hurried to the car. We threw our bags in the boot and a couple in the back seat
and then I jumped in to the rear seat as I’d been told. Montpelier got in the
driver’s side. Alexavier sat in the front passenger seat.

Montpelier drove the car with great control through the snow
covered streets. The gritting lorries had been out dealing with the conditions,
and some of the main roads through the centre of the city had been cleared of snow
or it had turned to slush worn down from the traffic.

It was still snowing. I looked out the window at the
Christmas lights in the streets. It had felt like Christmas earlier but now I
felt only the cold shudder of trouble in our wake.

‘We’ve got a couple of our people going over security
footage of the party,’ Alexavier said to Montpelier. ‘We’ll soon see who is
responsible for changing the parcel.’

‘What happened to the traitor?’ I said. They hadn’t told me
his name and gave me no hint that they intended revealing any further details
about him.

Alexavier and Montpelier were silent.

‘You caught him, didn’t you?’ I said, sensing he’d given
them the slip.

‘He almost killed one of our agents, then he managed to
merge with the catering staff. By the time we realised, he was gone,’ said Montpelier. ‘But we’ll pick him up soon. We’ve already handed over the other man who
received the information to the appropriate people.’

‘So if you catch the traitor then the assignment would be
over?’ I said.

‘Yes,’ said Montpelier.

That didn’t seem too bad. One man down and the other would
be captured.

But maybe I spoke too soon.

‘We’re being followed from the hotel,’ said Montpelier.

Alexavier looked round at me. ‘Are you wearing your
seatbelt?’

‘Yes,’ I said, thinking he was checking before we set off on
a high speed chase.

‘Unclip the belt,’ said Alexavier, ‘and get ready to exit
the car when I tell you.’

I clicked the belt off.

Montpelier drove the car through the sparse traffic. At
almost 2 a.m. the streets were reasonably quiet. We pulled into a darkened
recess.

‘Grab your bag and let’s go,’ said Alexavier.

He jumped out of the passenger seat and I got out of the
back. We both slammed the doors shut and watched Montpelier drive back into the
street. Whoever was following didn’t see us leave the vehicle.

‘Will he be okay?’ I said, concerned about Montpelier.

‘The question is...will they?’ he said.

With the bolstering thought that Montpelier could take care
of the situation, Alexavier and I hurried through the snow in a different
direction.

I’d worn sensible boots, trousers, jumper and my warm black
coat. I shrugged my bag across my shoulders and kept pace with Alexavier who
was dressed in black trousers and a black winter jacket.

The air was fresh and bitterly cold, but I welcomed being
outside and feeling that we were safer on the move away from whoever had been
chasing us.

But then I felt the all too familiar sense across my back.

I didn’t need to tell Alexavier that we were being watched.
He’d grabbed my hand and increased his pace. I kept up with him, and soon we
were running along the street, darting in and out of the shadows in the snow
covered city.

‘Why can’t we go back to the department?’ I said, seeing my
breath in the cold night air.

‘Because we cannot risk compromising its location. We will
go back, but not until whoever is tailing us is gone.’

‘I know a route through the back streets near here,’ I said.
‘Though it may have changed since the last time I was there. I used to live in
the city centre and played around this area.’

‘You lead, I’ll follow.’

Again, trust had been put in me. I’d been taken at my word,
not questioned or made to feel silly or inadequate.

As we hurried towards the entrance of a darkened alleyway I
remembered what Montpelier had said to me. ‘
If this work ever gets too much
for you, walk away, Neve, just walk away.
’

Right now I had no intention of walking away from my job at
the department. Tonight I ran as fast as I could through the alleyways I hadn’t
ventured into in years.

We paused in a darkened doorway,
pressing ourselves into the shadows, listening and watching for whoever was
following us. No one was in the alleyway. We listened. Nothing.

The snow fell lightly on the ground, covering the areas
where the old cobbles merged with the modern day pavements.

Alexavier didn’t speak. Instead, he signalled to me that we
should continue through the labyrinth of back streets.