Honeytrap: Part 1 Read Free

be following her for weeks, months without finding anything out. That’s if there is anything to find. He reckons she’s an opportunist – you know, the type that can’t resist temptation when it comes her way. The couple live in Sussex, but she’s coming to London for a get-together with some friends. They’re meeting at the Lumière and that’s where she’ll be staying tonight.’
    ‘So why isn’t he coming with her?’
    ‘Because it’s girls only. Or at least that’s what she claims. You’ll need to be there by about eight o’clock.’
    Harry flipped open the file and looked at the photograph. ‘I’ve not agreed to it yet.’ He gazed down at the picture of the woman he was supposed to try and tempt. She was an attractive dark-eyed brunette who looked a good deal younger than her years. ‘I mean, what the hell do I say to her?’
    Mac took a slurp of his coffee, smacked his lips and put the mug back on the desk. ‘Whatever crap you usually come out with. Come on, Harry, it’s not that hard. Just chat her up, give her your usual lines and take it from there.’ He paused and added slyly, ‘Unless you don’t think you’re up to it.’
    ‘Mac!’ Lorna said, throwing him a warning glance. She turned back to Harry. ‘You’ll be fine, love, honestly you will. The machine will record the conversation so just keep things light and chatty. Don’t come on too strong. Let her do the running if she’s interested.’
    ‘And if she isn’t?’
    Mac barked out a laugh. ‘Well, if you go in with that attitude, you won’t get far.’
    ‘You’ll need a back story,’ Lorna continued, ignoring Mac. ‘A name, a job, what you’re doing at the hotel. It’s all in the file so make sure you read it and memorise it before you leave. And don’t go into too much detail about anything. The simpler the better, right?’
    Harry looked down at the photo again. ‘If he doesn’t think he can trust her, why does he bother? They’d be better off apart.’
    ‘It’s not always that easy,’ Lorna said. ‘You know it isn’t.’
    Harry closed the file and stood up. ‘You two owe me big time for this.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Lorna said. ‘You’re a lifesaver.’
    Harry walked out of the office, slapping the file against his thigh. Already he was regretting that he’d given in. Still, it wasn’t as if he had anything better to do; there were men in prison who had more active social lives than he had. A night out at a fancy hotel, all expenses paid, with carte blanche to try and seduce an attractive female: what could possibly go wrong?

3
    By seven o’clock Harry was showered and shaved and dressed in a smart grey Armani suit. He gazed in the mirror as he did up his tie, repeating the details that Lorna had provided him with. ‘Richard Hall, financier, forty-four years old.’ He didn’t need to remember a birthday – it was better to use his own. ‘Richard Hall, Richard Hall. Down from Manchester for a few days for meetings with clients. Staying at the hotel. Going home tomorrow.’ As far as back stories went, it was hardly riveting, but preferable to having to make up something on the spot.
    Harry examined his reflection, trying to see himself as a stranger might – that stranger being a woman who may or may not be in the mood for a brief liaison. His face was angular, a little gaunt, with sharp cheekbones and an aquiline nose. His blue eyes, possibly his best feature, held an edge of wariness and he blinked twice trying to clear the expression. Open, friendly and available was the look he was going for.
    ‘Sexy and seductive,’ he murmured. ‘Charming, intelligent, perceptive.’
    For Harry, it wasn’t so much what was on view that bothered him than what wasn’t. Underneath the stylish suit, his six-foot-two body still bore the scars from the explosion that had ended his police career. Sometimes he woke suddenly in the night, jerked into consciousness by a ringing in his ears. He flexed his right leg,