Siege

Fifteen

HE WASN’T GOING to come.

In her hotel room, Cat was about to light another cigarette and break the cardinal rule they’d set of never calling Michael on his mobile when there was a loud knock on the door.

She put down her glass of Evian and bounded over to open it.

It was Michael, his presence immediately filling the doorway. He was a big man with big, rugged features who’d worked hard to keep himself in shape, and even though he was in his early fifties, he wore the years easily.

He grinned and produced a bunch of flowers from behind his back, handing them to her.

‘Darling, you shouldn’t have done.’ Smiling, she stepped aside to let him inside, taking in the scent of his Dior aftershave and a tang of single malt on his breath. ‘But I’m glad you did.’

Michael took her in his arms and kissed her. ‘I need you, Cat,’ he whispered. ‘God, I need you so, so badly.’

‘You’ve got me,’ she whispered back, feeling his hardness against her. ‘And we’ve got all night.’

She twisted round and threw the flowers on the bed, and a second later they were kissing again. Outside, she could hear the blare of police sirens coming past the window.

They walked crab-like together towards the bed, his hand running up her leg to the stocking top, his breathing getting faster now as he became more and more aroused.

She felt his phone vibrate in his trouser pocket. He ignored it. So did she.

By the time it had stopped vibrating they were standing against the bottom of the bed, and his fingers were stroking the bare flesh of her inner thigh. Instinctively she opened her legs a little, and he gave a pleasing grunt of pleasure.

Almost immediately, his phone started up again.

‘Damn,’ he cursed, removing his hand from the folds of her dress. ‘I’d better see what they want.’ He gave Cat an apologetic look and turned away, putting the phone to his ear. ‘What is it?’ he demanded brusquely.

As he listened to what was being said, his shoulders slumped visibly.

Cat stepped away and reached under the pillow on her side of the bed as outside more sirens shrieked past.

‘All right,’ said Michael at last, ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ He ended the call and turned round with a frustrated sigh, his eyes dark with disappointment. ‘I’m truly sorry about this, Cat, but there’s been some kind of terrorist incident—’

‘I know,’ answered Cat, her voice perfectly calm as she brought the gun round from behind her back and pointed it right between his eyes.