Inescapable Read Free Page B

enough time for her final self-brief. She’d been through it a hundred times, and it did calm her.
    They’d agreed on terms. If they didn’t click, they could go their separate ways. No big deal. If they did hit it off, they’d already broken through the barriers and a hot, fulfilling sexual relationship awaited, at the very least. Yes, and her body clamoured at the thought of it, her anticipation rising. She adjusted her hair, flicking it back over her shoulders, and then steeled herself and knocked on the door.
    Too late to run away, you’ve done it now.
    A cold draught from the open window at the end of the corridor blew over her, wrapping itself around her ankles and making her shiver. She pulled her coat closer, and then crossed her fingers, swallowing hard. “Please let the chemistry be there,” she whispered, staring at the door. “Please let him be,” she swallowed again, “okay.”

    * * * *
     
     
    Witness Protection Officer, Seth Jones, stood up as soon as he heard the knock on the door. Instinctively, he reached inside his jacket, resting his hand over the butt of his gun.
    “Were you expecting anyone?”
    Adrian Walsh sat forward in his seat, eyes barely focused on the mid-distance. He shook his head, looking at the door to the corridor with a frown. “I don’t think so. Christ, so much has gone on these last two days.” He started pushing paperwork around on the desk.
    “I should have asked Cassandra before I told her to go, but I’m not thinking straight. Her diary is here somewhere.”
     
     
     
    18
     
     
    Seth nodded. This intrusion, whatever it was, might work to his advantage. If unexpected callers unnerved Adrian, he might agree to go into safe housing. “This is exactly why we need to take you into witness protection. Eric Carlisle is a powerful man. He could have one of his men come around here at any time.” Walsh pursed his lips, still looking at his desk as if he didn’t want to acknowledge what Seth had just said. He’d been resisting the concept of going into hiding for the past hour, and he was still far from being convinced.
    “Okay,” Walsh stated, “so Carlisle is a criminal, but I can’t believe he’d send someone after me.” He threw up his hands in a gesture somewhere between annoyance and despair.
    “I mean, how could he? He’s locked up now, isn’t he?”
    “Yes, he’s in custody, but he’ll be highly motivated by the need to stay out of prison in the long term. He has contacts who might think they can persuade you not to give your evidence in court.”
    Walsh shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t afford to go into hiding, my business, my life…”
    It was often this way with witnesses who were outsiders to the crime; those who had no idea what the people they were dealing with were actually capable of. Adrian’s evidence relied solely on paperwork; figures related to illegal overseas exports that shouldn’t have crossed his desk in the first place. Luckily for the police, they had. Carlisle had been sloppy.
    It was vital information, and Carlisle’s associates might want Adrian Walsh out of the picture altogether. That was what Seth was here to prevent. Witness protection was his trade.
    There was another knock at the door, and it was more insistent this time. Seth gestured into the adjacent office. “You go in there. Stay out of view. I’ll take care of it.” Adrian nodded vaguely and wandered into the office next door. Seth waited until he was out of sight and then headed over to the external door, hand inside his jacket. Senses honed, he opened the door.
    Whatever he’d been expecting, it wasn’t an attractive woman looking up at him expectantly. She looked soft and somehow vulnerable, and his first response was the urge to stroke her. It was the serious expression in her brown eyes. She was staring at him as if her life depended on him opening the door. Dark hair scrolled over her shoulder, and she had full lips that made him think of