Private Princess

Chapter 13

Cook brought their rented Range Rover to a stop. Ahead of them, the red brake lights of Lewis’s car were bright as she stopped at a gate and spoke to a pair of men who stood guard beside it.

After a moment of conversation, Lewis stepped from her car and walked over to Morgan’s window. She was followed by one of the men, who held a dog by a leash.

“Step out, please,” Lewis instructed. “He’s going to search you both, and the car.”

The Private agents complied, both watching with respect as the search was carried out with expert skill.

“Go ahead,” the man told them, and the pair climbed back into the vehicle. They set off again, following Lewis along a winding drive that was only one car-width wide.

“Wouldn’t want to run into a car coming the other way,” Cook noted. It was an attempt at small talk to break a long silence. The atmosphere in the car had been tense, but that had less to do with sexual chemistry than with the attempt on Jack Morgan’s life. As they had driven from Brecon, Morgan’s mind had been churning over why someone would be willing to kill to prevent Sophie Edwards from being found. Knowing as little as he did, he could form no solid motives, only wide-ranging theories, and such a lack of concrete intelligence had pushed him into a simmering silence.

“I doubt they get many visitors here,” he made himself say, not wanting Cook to feel isolated after such an evening.

“Here” was the royal residence of Llwynywermod. Morgan had been expecting a castle when Lewis had told him of their destination, but what he found instead was a rectangular barn and farmhouse conversion painted white, its profile low against the dark shape of brooding hillsides that surrounded it.

The place was barely lit, the hour now late, but Morgan had no doubt that thermal imaging cameras would be filming their arrival with the clarity of daylight — Lewis had assured him that security at the residence was high tech, and lethal. Morgan saw no reason not to believe her, but he was not about to trust her — Lewis’s choice of sidearm and timing had raised the hairs on the back of his neck, and Jack Morgan was still alive today because he had learned to heed those instincts. For her part, Lewis seemed equally as cautious as Morgan.

“You go where I say, when I say,” Lewis told the pair as they exited the Range Rover. “Your rooms have bathrooms, and I’ve had some snacks and drinks put in there, so there’s no reason for you to go wandering. If you try it, the security detail will shove a taser up your arse. We’ve got a competition going to see who can zap the most dickheads in a year, so don’t tempt us.”

Morgan said nothing, but he caught Cook giving the slightest roll of her eyes at Lewis’s bluster.

“Right. Time to turn in,” Lewis told them. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

“We?” Morgan asked.

“Yes. We.”

Private’s investigation team had grown by one.