Special Relationship (31 page)

Nick looked at him blankly but his body shuddered with the phrase 'get rid' and the idea that he should never see her again.

"Katherine?"

"Well, if you don't mind if I speak bluntly. Her motives are
obviously one or the other, the same motives that make people all over the world get up in the morning – money or sex." She looked at him accusingly.

How about love? Nick thought.

He was then about to declare "it's not money", something he was sure about, but that would leave sex and saying so would have been a bit awkward in Katherine's presence. The tangled webs, he thought.

"OK, we'll leave the contract as under review for security reasons. And,
err, I'll think about things..."

"You might not have too long to think. Have you thought about what the Press might make of the story, Nick
Hensen bodyguard attacking a private investigator in a toilet at The Savoy?" Katherine asked. "'Obscenely rich Banker has man bashed in posh hotel' might have our investors wondering."

"Well I'm sure you will let me know if the papers come calling."

"And what should I do if she comes calling?" Katherine asked as she was leaving the office.

"Tell her I'm not here."

On Kerry's suggestion, that she arrange a meeting and discuss what circumstances caused her to take the actions she did, she looked at her phone with a finger poised to press his number.

"If he doesn't speak to me he'll still know that I called," she said.

"So What? You did something pretty foolish, Alex, but no person in their right mind wouldn't be able to understand why you took those actions...when you tell everything."

"I don't want to tell anyone else. It was hard enough telling you."

"It's time, babe, don't you see? It really is time.”

"I think I can hide my number," Alex said, looking at her phone settings.

"Don't be silly, you deceived him yesterday. Today, just be you.

“Without telling others they won't see you are the wonderful person you are. Fuck it, I'm welling up myself now," she said, wiping her eye.

She pressed the button, her nerves jumping frantically around her body. She hadn't got to the sixth ring tone when the display showed a 'call ended' notice.

She showed it to Kerry. "To be expected," she said. "Come on let's take some time out, a walk and a stiff drink."

Londoners in the lunch hour were rushing to the cafés, restaurants and pubs as the two of them strolled round the east end. "None of them has got a care in the world, have they?" Alex remarked.

"Of course they have, Alex. Some of them will have sick parents, others will be having affairs and wondering what to do, and others will be worried about their work. And, I can understand why you think there might be safety in numbers but this is about you and we are going to sort it.

"The Pride?" she suggested.

They walked into the Pride Of Spitalfields, a small, quaint pub with rich blue canopies above the windows. It was busier than Alex would have preferred.

"A bottle of Pinot, two glasses," Kerry asked a flirty Australian barman who took the money from her with his eyes transfixed on her friend. Thanks for the ego boost, Kerry thought.

As they sat on the last-remaining table in the pub, Kerry had an idea. She had thought of it earlier but was worried there might be a flaw. Now she was convinced there wasn't.

"Alex, I think what you do is to send him a carefully-worded text. Explain enough, but not too much, as obviously it can't all be explained in a text, but there is no reason any sensible person wouldn't afterwards take an hour out to hear what you had to say. If he doesn't reply then he's probably not the man you thought he was, and as for the contract...well, we'll find other companies."

"You don't think he would have called the police, do you? He might have thought I'm in some gang that was about to kidnap him."

"Oh God, don't even go there. I think it's very unlikely, and if they do get involved...well, obviously you really will have to tell the full story and you won't be short of evidence.

"What we'll do after this is go back to yours and write the text..." Then, thinking again, she added: "...or do you want to do it yourself?"

"Yeah I'll do it
Kels. I'd appreciate your help but, like you say, I need to be myself now."

"Cheer up, girl. It's all going to be fine, and, you know, if he is the man you hope for, it'll probably make you stronger in the long run. What is it, from adversity comes strength?"

"Yep and what doesn't kill you..."

"Makes you stronger," said Kerry, finishing off the quote.

"Nietzsche," said Alex.

"Is that German for 'no', smart arse?"

Alex smiled and they clinked their glasses.

Nick
called in one of the IT guys. He didn't want to speak or have any communication with Alex until he had time to think, so he asked him to set his phone to block her number from voice calls and text messages.

Back a
t her flat in the afternoon, Alex put her phone on speaker and called Adrian. Kerry listened in. She was, after all, a part-owner of the company and deserved to be fully informed of the damage caused by her actions.

"Hi Ade, it's me. Have you heard anything from
Hensen?”

"No, not a thing, and I've given up trying to connect to their computers. They have blocked us."

Alex looked at Kerry who told Adrian there had been a misunderstanding and that they would have everything sorted "if not tomorrow, then the day after."

"OK, guys, not really my department, but if you want me to do any overtime...I mean extra hours for free...then just ask."

"Thanks Ade," they said in unison.

“OK, leave it with me, I'll compose the text and send it later,” Alex said to Kerry after Adrian had hung up. “You go home now, honey, and, re
ally, I appreciate everything.”

“You showed me your appreciation already,” Kerry said, pointing to her pearls.

In the evening she started work on the text to Nick.

“I'm so sorry,” she started. But then pressed the back button on her phone, thinking that beginning with an apology showed signs of both weakness and guilt.

“Nick, what I did was wrong...” No, doesn't work either, makes me look like a person who does bad things.

She'd ate a microwave meal and drunk half a bottle of wine before she came up with what she thought was a non-committal, offer-to-meet reply. “Nick, please, I just have to meet you and explain, and I think - or at least I hope - you will be able to understand.”

She then sat looking at her phone waiting for his reply, but before she went to bed several hours later there was none.

The hours became days with no communication from the man she thought she might love, and then she decided more drastic action was needed and she told Kerry.

“Alex, please remember what happened the last time you took 'drastic action'.”

“I know but this time it'll be different,” she replied, before explaining her plan. She'd searched 'Nick
Hensen' in the Google news section and found out that he was making a speech at the British Bankers' Association the following week, and that she would go there and just ask him for the chance to explain everything.

“You'll have to try to talk to him outside,” Kerry said.

“Yeah, I will.”

The days dragged and the computers that the company had bought for Adrian to deliver the
Hensen contract were depressingly quiet.

“We are going to have to work on getting some new clients,” Kerry told her. Alex knew she was right but had little energy for work and spent her days browsing the internet while scared she might find
him on one of the gossip pages.

Finally the day arrived for his speech and Alex didn't go to the office, choosing to spend the day preparing for what might be her one and only chance to rescue a relationship that had promised so much. At the very least she could say how sorry she was, and leave him in no doubt that there was never any intention to damage him, emotionally or financially.

She called the Bankers' Association to find out what time his speech was scheduled and decided to get there fully an hour before it was due. She dressed conservatively and, using London's first skyscraper, Tower 42 to guide her, walked to Old Broad Street. Going by foot allowed her the time to think even further what she was going to say.

The street, despite its name, was no Paris boulevard and typical of one in that part of the city, narrow enough to cross in a few steps
. That, she realised, gave her few places not to be noticed. Staff at a sandwich bar opposite the building, which would have provided a suitable haven, were pulling down the window shutters. She worried that in such a small street he would see her before she saw him.

For a time, she thought about forgetting her plan and just going back to her flat. There wasn't even a bus stop to wait at where she could pretend to be just another commuter anxious to get home. She walked up and down the street, from the Bank Of England at one end to the banks, sandwich bars and chemists at the other, all the time keeping an eye out for a silver Mercedes.

He might not even be in that car tonight, she thought, and called Kerry.

“This is ridiculous, I feel like I'm spying on him again – and this time it's me doing it in person.”

Kerry tried to reassure her. “I think it's a fair idea but if you see him just say one thing – you'd like to meet him just to talk and then he can make his mind up about you and the contract, not that that matters.

“I love you and call me if anything goes wrong. Luke is on standby to look after Ollie.”

“Love you too,” said Alex, hanging up.

Well, at least th
is will be good for my fitness, she thought as she turned round to walk the length of the street for what must have been the twentieth time. As she again passed the building which Nick was due to attend she glanced nervously at the entrance to see if he might be there, but there was no sign of him or the car in which he was usually driven.

She looked at her watch. He must be in there now,
she thought, but left it until gone eight, the time his speech was due, before she went into the Babble City for a coffee. The bar depressed her as much as the 60's-built office buildings outside. But it gave her thinking time to consider how long his speech might last.

She gave it thirty minutes before walking back down the street and her heart jumped as she spotted the Mercedes outside the building on the opposite side of the street. As she got closer, she recognised Christos sitting in the driver's seat, checking his phone. She immediately looked towards the buildings on her side so that he wouldn't recognise her and held the stance until she was safely past the car.

When she was far enough down the street, she turned round. She was far enough away so that Christos wouldn't recognise her even if he looked his rear-view mirror but hopefully close enough that she could approach and say a few words before Nick got into the car – even if she had to shout them.

She
leant against the wall of an office building and waited. About twenty minutes passed and there was no sign of any activity farther up the street. I can't do this, she thought, but to persuade herself not to give up, she took the chance of walking closer.

That is when he appeared in the company of two women, one of whom was Katherine, and a tall strong-looking man who stood beside him, l
ooking up and down the street. Fight or flee. She considered both before rushing across the road towards them, dodging a black cab, breathing fast and trying to compose herself as best she could.

“Nick, please, I just want to talk,” she called as she got within ten yards of the group. But she'd barely finished the sentence when the tall man jumped in between her and Nick
Hensen, and, with arms held out towards her, shouted “Get away!” Nick looked at her briefly before getting into the car.

“OK...OK...I'm going...I'm going...I just wanted to talk.”

Jamie called Christos. “Wait in Cheapside. I'll be behind you.”

Nick heard the call on the hands-free phone. “Was that Alex as you came out?” Christos asked.

“Yeah, it was, CG, but she might not be what she seems, which is why Jamie got involved.”

“You're crazy. Alex is a lovely woman,“ the driver replied
firmly.

Nick reflected on his words. And as they were arriving in Cheapside he told Christos to take him home, and to call Jamie and tell him everything's fine. Christos smiled to himself, while Jamie did his best to persuade him that their boss's safety came first. “Boss wants to go home,” Christos said.

Alex was not prepared for the thunderstorm and was reluctant to answer the phone as it rang, just when she was outside her door and searching for the keys to her flat. But she took refuge under the canopy and looked at the flashing screen. It was Nick.

“Hi,” she answered nervously.