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Bogey smirked, seeing that she was at least half joking. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ He shook his head and did another of his little huff-laughs. ‘You sure are surprising,’ he said, and lifted the beer to his lips.

Concentrate, Mak. Stop trying to impress this guy and just do your job.

Mak leaned one elbow on the bar and worked on her drink, watching the room for anyone who resembled Amy Camilleri’s picture. There were a disproportionate number of blondes, as one might expect, but still no sign of anyone with Amy’s face. Mak noticed, to her surprise, that a number of the male customers were actually on their own, or in sedate groupings of two or three. It wasn’t the screaming buck’s night crowd she’d expected to see.

She also observed with interest the various interactions: lots of looking but no touching, unless it was the girls touching the men. Some ladies working the floor actually leaned against customers as they chatted, seemingly relaxed in their underclothes despite the layers of suits or jeans the men wore. And she noticed that there were a lot of surveillance cameras but, apart from the guard at the front door, Mak had not yet spotted any of the stereotypical frowning no-neck
bouncers. They would be there somewhere, she was sure, but they were subtle. Security was probably briefed to keep a low profile so the customers could relax.

Check out their faces…

On one of the nearby stages a Latina with huge hoop earrings, a neon-yellow string bikini and clear platform stilettos wiggled and tapped her brown buttocks to the delight of a growing audience. The men seemed mesmerised but helpless, like diabetics in a candy store. They could look but not touch, and there was not much room for conversation with all that staring, so for the most part they just sat and stared mutely. A slim Japanese girl in a schoolgirl uniform shared the other half of the same stage, not working with the Latina dancer, but keeping her back to her and trying to win her own fans. She wore a white tie top and a micro-mini version of the tartan schoolgirl skirt, her white socks pulled up to her knees. An older man leaned forwards, staring at her with his mouth slack. When she kneeled down in front of him and caressed her small breasts through her top, he took a folded bill and slid it into a garter on her thigh.

The goal was cash, and it was every woman for herself.

‘Is there anything you want me to do?’ Bogey asked after they had sat quietly for a while.

‘Nothing for the moment,’ Mak responded. ‘I just need to check things out for a bit. Is there
anyone you want to look at?’ She gestured to the girls performing.

‘This kind of place isn’t my thing,’ he said dismissively. ‘I’m just happy wherever you need me to be.’

‘It’s nice of you to help out like this,’ she said, trying to figure out just exactly why he was being so generous with his time, particularly if he had a work project to start on first thing in the morning. ‘I know you have to work early.’

Bogey gave her a slow smile. ‘Don’t say it like I’m a saint or anything. Accompanying someone like you to a place full of naked women is no chore for any man, and don’t let them tell you otherwise. I’m not complaining.’

Someone like me?

‘About what you said before,’ Bogey went on. ‘I know you don’t need a babysitter. That’s not why I wanted to stay. I can tell that you can take care of yourself.’

She waited for him to finish.

‘I just didn’t feel good about leaving you here on your own. It’s not a great part of town to be alone in at night.’

‘It’s all right, I think it’s a nice gesture,’ Mak assured him. ‘I didn’t take it the wrong way.’ With a different guy, with a different attitude, though, she might have. ‘If I wanted you to leave me alone, I’d have just told you.’

‘I believe you would too. Now, if you need me out of your hair so you can work, that’s no
problem. But I’d really rather not leave you on your own here. I can wait outside until you’re done.’

Mak laughed. ‘It’s too late now, mister. You
can’t
leave. You’re part of my cover. We are a couple who have come to Thunderball to spice up our sex life with a little titillating entertainment. If you leave me now it will look too obvious.’ She cast her eye towards some of the nearby male patrons. ‘And I think someone here might take too much notice.’

He nodded, signalling that he understood.

‘I’m glad you’re here,’ she told him. ‘This is fun. Cheers,’ she said, and clinked his bottle with her glass.

‘Cheers.’

‘Now check out some babes, will you? Otherwise people will wonder why we’re here.’ Mak swivelled her chair around and watched a group of patrons in chairs circling a platform where a girl was perched in her underwear. ‘Check her out, for instance,’ Mak said. ‘She’s on a train to Boresville.’

A ring of beer-swilling men watched a stunning blonde in black briefs, bra top and classic stripper heels as she lay on her back on a small, circular stage and swirled her legs around occasionally, plainly bored. Her mouth was stuck in an unattractive line, the look in her eyes distant; she was clearly imagining some place she would rather be. She wasn’t even trying to appear
as though she was into it. Mak caught her yawning and looking at her watch.

Who could find that sexy?

‘Did you see that? She’s just waiting for her shift to end, poor girl. That can’t be good for business,’ Mak said.

‘It’s not,’ Bogey said. ‘Look…’ A handful of men wandered away from the platform, leaving the seats around her empty. Bogey finished his beer. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said. ‘Do you know which way the men’s would be?’

‘I saw a sign to the left at the top of the staircase,’ Mak told him. She noticed pretty much everything when she was working.

She concentrated on the room again, and her eyes were drawn to the bored blonde once more as she swivelled her legs, circling her ankles in one direction and then the other. Zoned out and distant, she was nothing more than a sensual automaton, unaware or indifferent to the fact that her audience had moved on. She looked every bit as pretty as a lot of the models Mak had worked with, and Mak could not help but wonder why a girl with that face was on a stripper’s podium instead of a catwalk somewhere. Did it pay that much better? She sure didn’t seem to be there because she loved dancing.

Bogey had been gone for perhaps sixty seconds before Makedde felt a hand on her shoulder.

Oh no.

‘The job is complete.’

Luther Hand sat in the safety of his vehicle, blocks away from the crowded Surry Hills house and dismembered bodies of Mr and Mrs Tan. The first hit had gone smoothly, despite him needing to make a decision about the women trapped in that room.

‘How many?’ the man with the American accent asked.

‘Two. Man and wife,’ Luther informed his contact.

There was a pause. ‘Fine,’ The American replied.

There would be no specifics discussed over the phone.

‘And the other?’

Warwick O’Connor.

‘Tomorrow. There was his wife,’ Luther explained.

‘Okay. Take care of that tomorrow as you wish. Your contact will visit you at the hotel on Monday with information about your next
assignment. Unless there are any changes before then, you will not hear from me. Tomorrow, leave me a message to let me know it is done.’

‘Okay.’

Luther hung up the phone.

Sleep.

He drove off, not towards the city but to the airport, to spend the night in the hotel he had chosen there. The Formule 1 hotel was an inexpensive automated accommodation with no check-in staff. It only required a credit card, of which Luther had many in a number of identities. He would return to his room at the Inter-Continental Hotel on Monday to get the information for his next assignment, but until then he would not be found there.

While his client believed he was relaxing in the five-star Inter-Continental, Luther would be sleeping in the closet of the airport hotel, the bed plumped up with sofa cushions.

It was one of many precautions Mr Hand had learned to take.

‘Hey, pretty lady, can I buy you a dance?’

Makedde Vanderwall turned around to find a man in his mid-forties grinning moronically at her, puffed up to the human equivalent of a proud peacock. He was holding a glass of beer in one hand and her shoulder in the other. A trio of his less tipsy friends looked on from a metre further down the bar, watching him make his big move.

‘No, thank you,’ Mak replied, forcibly removing his hand and turning away on her barstool to further make her point. She put her purse on Bogey’s seat so no one would take the spot while he was gone.

Did he say ‘can I
buy you
a dance?’ or ‘can I
buy
a dance?’

Now Mak wasn’t sure which question he had asked. A flash of uncharacteristic self-consciousness caused her to do a rocket-fast self-appraisal: boots, black pants, suit jacket, cleavage carefully covered up. No, there was no mistaking her for one of the ladies working here. It was just
the influence of the boys’ club atmosphere that had made her question herself. He had been out of line.

Mak stayed sitting with her back to the Peacock Man, putting the minor disturbance literally behind her.

The hand was back.

‘Come on, whoever you want. My shout.’

Regrettably Peacock Man was speaking loudly enough that a couple of dancers, eager for the cash, had begun hovering around him at the bar, smiling seductively and touching his shoulder with an intimacy usually reserved for lovers. One was a naturally voluptuous blonde with milky skin wearing white lace lingerie and long fake pearls, hair flowing to her waist. She didn’t look anything like Amy’s photo, sadly. The other dancer was a slightly more demure and slim-line brunette in a tiny black lycra minidress, and diamanté earrings, bracelet and heels. She had the petite build of a ballerina. The blonde was the bold one of the two, and she leaned on the peacock’s shoulder, intentionally brushing one large breast against him. She whispered something into his ear.

Oh, come on. Don’t encourage him.

His mates remained uninvolved, except to eye off the two girls and raise a glass to their seemingly clever-as-a-fox mate.

‘Anyone you want,’ he repeated and gestured to the blonde and the brunette, much as someone
might offer dark chocolate or light. Before Mak could contain the situation, a third dancer had joined them. She was a hard dark brunette in a plunging red one-piece satin teddy, and by the look in her eye Mak thought she might have been working there a long time. She stood over the petite girl with her hands on her carved hips and her impressive chest pushed out, pouting. She was as tall as Mak, and she looked as tough as a Texas warden.

‘Which one do you want?’ the man persisted, now grinning his moronic smile while presenting all three with a sweep of his hand, like a game-show model presents a row of dishwashers.

Short brunette fast rinse, blonde full wash or long, hard spin cycle? What’s your preference?

Mak had to say something. ‘They are all stunning women, but honestly, no thanks. If I want a dance from one of these beautiful ladies, I will ask for one myself. I have my own money.’

At her comment, the hard one shifted her focus to Mak, perhaps hoping to appeal to her as one tall woman to another.

‘Oh,’ the Peacock Man huffed loudly, evidently taking Mak’s comment as some sort of assault on his manliness—worst of all here, in this club, one of the last bastions of male freedom. In retaliation for this perceived assault, he dragged some crinkled fifties out of his wallet and waved them around proudly, much to Mak’s embarrassment.

Fuck. So much for blending in and observing.

It wasn’t long before the flash of cash attracted more girls. Two more arrived to see what was going on. Now there were five scantily clad women pouting and preening around him. This guy was a bloody genius.

‘I have money too,’ he boasted. A couple of the girls giggled like seasoned actors, pretending he was the clever Casanova of their dreams. He leaned in towards Mak with ill-advised confidence. She could smell the booze on his breath. ‘Babe, it would be a crime not to see you naked.’

Oh, that’s it. Fuck you.

Mak pictured the sharp heel of her boot digging into the top of his foot so hard that he crumpled and let out a yelp. But putting a hole in the man’s foot was not going to help her get what she needed. She was there for a reason, after all, and it wasn’t to meet guys like him.

Makedde pulled him close and whispered in his ear, ‘No, it would be a crime if I took my glass and smashed your face with it. Back off.’

‘Huh?’ he blurted, pulling back like he was burned.

Mak smiled sweetly at the man, who now looked completely confused, still holding his money and staring. She ignored him and tried a new tactic, turning to the girl in the black dress and sparkly jewellery. ‘Oh, hi. You know my friend Amy, don’t you? You’re…um…Brit…’

‘Charlotte,’ the girl told her, looking a little confused herself.

‘Oh
Charlotte
, that’s right. How are you? Hey, is Amy working tonight?’ Mak pretended to look around for a moment, as if searching for the familiar sight of her good friend Amy.

There was a flicker of recognition in the brunette’s face. ‘Um, yeah, Amy?’ she said awkwardly.

But the Texas warden piped up straightaway, cutting the girl off. ‘Does an Amy work here, hon? I’m not so sure.’

‘Yes, she does,’ Mak said with certainty. ‘I’m
sure
you know Amy.’

‘I haven’t seen you in here before.’ She looked Mak up and down with new suspicion.

‘Oh, she works here,’ Mak retorted, standing her ground. ‘Amy Camilleri. Very pretty. Light blonde hair, about this long?’ She showed the length with her hand.

‘I can’t recall an
Amy
…’ the tall woman went on, lying so obviously that Mak doubted she was even trying to conceal it. She was being evasive about Amy, but why? Would she rather use the stage name—was that it? ‘Do you girls know her?’ the Texas warden asked, looking around at the others. But she didn’t give them an opportunity to answer, and by the looks of things they weren’t going to try to, either. ‘Nah…an Amy doesn’t come to mind right now.’

‘Right now’. Hmmm.
What was going on? A sense of competition? Sisterly protection? A reaction to some kind of threat?

Through all this, the overzealous patron still held his money up, watching the two towering women with a look of tipsy puzzlement as the strange conversation unfolded. He just couldn’t keep up. Mak resisted the urge to close his gaping mouth with one hand. His mates were huddled around their end of the bar, watching with a mix of apprehension and amusement.

‘Hi.’

Mak turned.

Bogey was back. He moved quietly to Mak’s side and leaned against the bar. She was sure he would be a little surprised to find her surrounded by five dancers and a frustrated-looking man holding a wad of cash, after leaving her by herself only a few minutes earlier. But he didn’t interfere.

‘Hi. How are you tonight?’ the milky blonde asked Bogey, moving to his side. ‘Are you having a good time?’ She was very curvy and very attractive. Her white lingerie was just see-through enough to make out the shape and the colour of her pink nipples, which Mak jealously witnessed her rub against Bogey’s chest in one subtle, rehearsed movement. Mak imagined that most guys would find such a play irresistibly arousing. What would Bogey do? Flirt back?

She watched for his response with more interest than she wished.

‘I’m good, thank you,’ he replied, and sat down with his back to both the girl and the growing
crowd. He was smooth—Mak had to give him that.

‘Would you and your boyfriend like a dance?’ the blonde asked Mak. She gestured to Bogey.

My boyfriend.

‘Maybe later,’ Mak said. The comment gave her an idea. ‘It’s a shame you girls don’t remember Amy. I’d love to say hi to her.’

The girls nodded quietly—and guiltily, Mak thought—but the hard woman in red narrowed her eyes at the repeated mention of Amy. She was hostile about something.

Once the girls realised that their chances of being picked for a lap dance were slim, they dispersed like leaves in the wind. All except for the bold blonde, who turned to the cashed-up Peacock Man and dragged him off in the direction of his friends, all of whom appeared to be very happy for her company. She was onto a winner with that group, Mak figured. Now that the milky blonde was distracting him, that jerk would finally leave Mak alone. It was win–win.

Mak turned away from the group and ordered herself another drink.

‘Everything okay?’ Bogey asked quietly.

‘Yup,’ she said, a little embarrassed. She didn’t want to admit that his presence was a saving grace for her in the club. But she really didn’t have to say it: it was obvious. He’d only stepped away for five minutes and there had already been a bizarre exchange with one of the patrons.

On TV screens above the bar, the club rotated a series of promotions and photographs of different dancers pictured in soft focus: bending over the bar in stilettos and G-string; lying on a fur rug by a roaring fire; cinched in by a leather corset in a stark studio. Mak watched the screens scroll from one shot to the next as she waited for her drink.

A sexy photograph of the demure dancer appeared on the many screens positioned around the club. Pictured in reclining pose, leaning on one arm and wearing only a pair of brief briefs, the black-and-white shot looked like an imitation of a Calvin Klein ad. The title underneath said:

CHARLOTTE

PRIVATE DANCES START AT
$20

Hello, Charlotte.

Charlotte had seemed a little shy, but in her very few words Mak had registered that she knew something about Amy Camilleri. Mak looked around for where the ballerina-bodied girl had gone and it didn’t take long to find her. Charlotte had made her way to one of the small stages, where she was in the middle of performing for a small audience. There were still a few free chairs circling her podium.

The instant Mak’s drink arrived, she grabbed it. She put a twenty on the bar and stood up.

‘Come on. Let’s go see our girl Charlotte,’ Mak said, and dragged her punk Elvis man into the crowd.

They weaved through the spectators and took a seat at the small stage, where six different men already sat around Charlotte’s table, watching her every move in a state of mute lust. A couple of them broke their mesmerised gaze to look Mak over as she joined them.

If everyone was so cagey about Amy for some reason—especially with that taskmaster of a dancer standing over them—then perhaps the best way to get someone talking would be to get them alone to a place where no one could overhear them.

There’s only one spot in a place like this to get one of the girls alone.

Mak and Bogey made themselves comfortable for a couple of minutes, watching Charlotte’s routine, then Mak reached over and placed a hand on Bogey’s knee. He flinched noticeably.

‘Hey, sweetie,’ she said, a little louder than she needed to, and taking a leaf out of Loulou’s vernacular. ‘You like her too, don’t you?’ Mak gestured towards Charlotte as she wriggled and teasingly pulled down the straps of her dress in a slow, seductive dance. Charlotte’s rejoinder to their conversation was made only with flirtatious looks and inviting body language. She communicated skilfully in that way with each member of her audience, making occasional eye contact.

‘Do you think we should have a private dance?’ Mak asked Bogey in a stage whisper, and nodded for him to say yes.

His eyes nearly fell out of his head at Mak’s suggestion. ‘Um, okay,’ he said. Bogey had been nothing but cool all evening, but now, even in the low light, Mak thought she could detect a slight blush on his cheeks. A lap dance was probably taking the evening much further than he had expected it to go.

Charlotte had overheard their exchange, as Mak had hoped, and she responded by playing up to Mak’s desires, getting on her knees right in front of her and slowly pulling her dress down over her torso, revealing small, well-formed breasts constrained only by a black satin bra. Mak wasn’t sure where to look at first; the attention was confronting. She chose to run her eyes up and down the woman’s body, mimicking what she had seen the male patrons do. Charlotte danced for her, her body at times only centimetres from Mak’s face. She made burning eye contact with Mak before tilting her head back in silent, erotic pleasure, rubbing her hands over herself.

Mak shifted in her chair and swallowed. Was it getting warm in the place, or was it just her?

‘We both think you’re beautiful. Can we have a private dance?’ Makedde managed to ask the tiny dancer, careful to use the terminology from the club’s screens. Mak pressed a fifty into the woman’s garter while Charlotte kneeled on the stage and arched her back.

Charlotte locked eyes with one of the girls off stage, who quickly took her place. In the wink of
an eye she had pulled her black lycra dress up again and had nimbly taken the bills in the garter on her thigh and wrapped them into a tight bundle, storing them in a doubled-over garter on her wrist. Mak had never realised garters were so handy.

The men seated around the platform seemed not to care or barely notice the change of guard. They stared mutely at the next girl, their eyes brimming with the same sexual desire.

‘Come with me,’ Charlotte said in a low whisper, like she was sharing a secret.

Mak nodded, and turned to Bogey. ‘Come on, baby…’

Mak wanted to laugh, calling Bogey ‘Baby’. It was funny. The whole situation seemed funny to her, even if it was about to get a whole lot more intimate than it surely should have been. She’d only just met him and he was about to share her first lap dance experience with her. But screw it—if he hadn’t wanted to wait for her so badly, he wouldn’t be in there.

This was the price he’d pay—or the reward he’d get—for being a nice guy.

I think I’m about to see a whole lot more of Charlotte than I’d bargained for…

Without another word the exotic dancer led Makedde Vanderwall with one cool, soft-skinned hand towards the ‘private’ rooms of the Thunderball Club. These rooms were simply areas sectioned off with opaque glass that offered
something only partially resembling privacy. Mak allowed herself to be led, ignoring the outright stares of several men in the club, who turned away from their scantily clad drinking companions and gyrating podium dancers to watch the tall blonde patron being led away for a lap dance.