The Hornbeam Tree (26 page)

By the time he knocked she’d already drunk a full glass of champagne – to calm her nerves and give herself the courage to go through with the way she’d planned to greet him.

‘Is it you?’ she called softly.

‘I hope you’re not expecting anyone else,’ he responded dryly.

With her heart pounding she pulled open the door and felt an intense flare of heat between her legs as his initial surprise was quickly darkened by lust.

‘Come in,’ she said, almost politely. ‘Would you like some champagne?’ and not waiting for an answer she went to fetch the two glasses she’d already filled, leaving him to close the door.

She smiled as she held out his drink, as though playing the hostess at a cocktail party full of people. His eyes remained fixed on hers as he came towards her, then holding the glass aside, he pushed his fingers roughly between her legs and his tongue deep into her mouth. She moaned and gasped as the sensations shot through her, then almost staggered against him as he pulled abruptly away.

Sucking in her lips, she continued to gaze into his eyes as they touched glasses. They sipped the champagne, then taking his hand she led him to the bed.

As he sat down she took his drink and set it on the nightstand with her own.

He was entranced by her nudity, and inflamed by her intention as she dropped to her knees in front of him, causing an enormous surge of desire to course through him. Carefully she unzipped his jeans to release his achingly hard erection. She held it, and regarded it, seeming fascinated by its size and potential for pleasure, then her eyes came up to his, blue and utterly brazen, as she began stroking him with her tongue, making him smooth and moist before finally drawing him deeply into her mouth. Groaning, he slid his hands into her hair and let his head fall back as she tightened her grip around him and reached under his shirt to rake her nails over his chest. The intensity was building too quickly, so raising her up he kissed her fully on the mouth until the immediate threat of release subsided.

She placed his hands on her breasts, clearly as aroused as he was, and let her head fall over his as he stooped to suck her nipples into his mouth. Then lying back on the bed he took her with him, making it easy for her to come astride him. He slipped into her slowly, filling her and filling her as she sank right down on to him, raised her hips, then sank down again. He gazed up into her face, his eyes clouded with lust, his hands smoothing up and down her inner thighs, until finally he touched her where she longed to be touched.

She gasped, arched her back and began riding him faster.

‘Yes,’ he murmured. ‘That’s it. Oh Christ, Laurie …’

His fingers were relentless and ruthless, forcing her on, taking her beyond pleasure into pain and into new realms of pleasure. His hips pumped to meet hers, her breasts yearned for his mouth and hands. She cupped them herself, pulling and twisting the nipples and becoming more aroused than ever as he urged her to keep going.

‘I’m there,’ he suddenly gasped. ‘Jesus Christ, I’m there,’ and as the first rush exploded into her, she felt the searing power of her own orgasm starting to break.

‘Hold me,’ he growled, ‘just hold me.’

She wrapped herself around him, pressing her face to his neck as wave after wave convulsed her. He held her tight, feeling every contraction as it gripped him, while his own climax threw its might into the very depths of her.

It was a long time later, as they lay in each other’s arms, breathing less rapidly, but still coated in sweat, that he smoothed back her hair and looked into her eyes.

She smiled. ‘You’re not even undressed yet,’ she teased.

‘Maybe because a certain beautiful woman didn’t give me the chance,’ he responded with irony. ‘But it’s a situation soon remedied.’

She watched him remove his clothes, then slipped back into his arms as he lay down with her again, loving the feel of him against her, and the way he kissed and held her close. She listened to
the
beat of his heart, and rhythm of his breath, and tried not to think of anything beyond this moment. He was here, they’d made love again and for now that was all she wanted.

Chapter Eleven

‘ELLIOT. TOM CHAMBERS.’

Elliot came immediately awake and turned on the light. Four fifty-five. ‘Tom. Where are you?’ he said into the phone.

‘About to board a plane for Manila. I’ll call you again from there, but I want you to know how much I appreciate what you’re doing. I’ll pay the money back in the next couple of days.’

‘No rush,’ Elliot assured him. ‘So what’s it all about?’

‘You’ve got a handle on the P2OG?’

‘An elite and highly covert task force to stimulate terrorist attacks,’ Elliot responded. ‘Does it exist?’

‘Almost certainly, but we need to find proof. The documents Josh Shine gave me don’t make the link, but there’s no doubting what they are. A planned terror attack on Britain.’

Elliot was so taken aback it took a moment for him to respond. ‘Do you want to run that by me again?’ he said.

‘You heard me correct,’ Tom told him, ‘but I
think
it’s just been made to look that way, probably for the jihad guys, to get them to buy into it. My hunch is, it goes a lot deeper, and has an end game that’s a whole lot more serious.’

‘Can you fax me copies of what you have?’ Elliot asked.

‘Right now it’s in a mailbox Farukh keeps in Manila where we sent everything for safekeeping. Once I have it, we should meet. It’ll probably be safer that way.’

‘Of course. Do you want me to come out there?’

‘No. I’ve got myself an Italian passport, so I can come to Europe. Farukh’s staying in Pakistan, but he’s not optimistic about turning up much that’s reliable, because the kind of people we need to talk to are going to say anything to damage the Americans. Now tell me, have your background checks led you to the Project for America in the Twenty-first Century?’

‘The 21 Project. Absolutely,’ Elliot confirmed. ‘Once I knew P2 was a neo-con invention, it was where I started.’

There was irony in Tom’s tone as he said, ‘So there you have it. Everything you need to know about US plans for world dominance. Interesting reading, huh? But I’m told the version that’s online was revised in 2002. Apparently certain names and various sections of the text have changed since the original was issued back in ’97, so we need to find out what and who, by getting hold of copies of both.’

‘How’s this relating to what you have?’ Elliot asked.

‘I’m guessing the original contains information
that
will help to prove P2’s existence. So far I haven’t been able to locate the ’97 version anywhere online, which is definitely ominous.’

‘We’ll keep on it. Max should be able to turn up something through his contacts in Washington. He’s running into a brick wall over Joshua Shine, by the way, but he got wind yesterday of some recently formed committee that’s supposed to be investigating a specific leak. No details yet, but the coincidence is intriguing.’

‘I’ll say,’ Tom commented. Then, ‘Listen, my plane’s going to take off any minute, so just tell me, how’s Michelle? Any more visits from the Feds?’

‘No, but she’s found an interesting web site that could give us several leads. She’ll be relieved I’ve heard from you.’

‘Tell her I’m fine, and I’ll call when I can. How about Katie?’

‘She seems OK. Challenging times with Molly, I hear. Do you have a number we can reach you on now?’

After giving it to him, Tom said, ‘I’ve got to run. I’ll be in touch when I get to Manila and we’ll set up a place to meet.’

After ringing off Elliot went straight through to the bathroom and turned on the shower. There was no point trying to get back to sleep now, the call had brought him wide awake, and left him with a lot to think about. He’d ring Max as soon as he’d put on some coffee, then he’d send emails to his research team instructing them to start tracking down the original version of the 21 Project as soon as they got to the office.

With all that done, he found Laurie’s car keys in
their
usual place, picked up her laptop and a holdall he’d packed for her, and after locking the front door, he took the lift down to the underground parking.

It was only a little after six a.m., so as he drove out of the building and across Tower Bridge the build-up of morning traffic was hardly under way. It took no more than forty minutes to drive through London, where the M4 was much slower due to an accident. However, he calculated he should still make it to Wiltshire by eight, which was too early to give Michelle Tom’s news in person, but hopefully just about right to surprise Laurie with breakfast in bed and personal delivery of her computer.

Laurie was gazing wantonly into Nick’s eyes and making him laugh as they waited for their breakfast to arrive. They were alone in the lounge, so felt free to murmur lovers’ intimacies, and even kiss, as the memory of last night stole erotically between them, and the promise of the next hour added its own tantalizing frissons to the quietly mounting desire.

‘So tell me why you didn’t call yesterday,’ she said in mock reproach, while entwining her fingers in his.

His eyes were resting on hers, showing the depth of his feelings and the pleasure her touch was giving him. ‘The truth? I was afraid you might be having second thoughts,’ he responded.

She was surprised, then sceptical. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she challenged, biting gently into his fingers.

‘And I got caught up,’ he confessed. ‘But this is
pretty
powerful for me, and I wasn’t sure it was the same for you.’

As though nothing existed beyond them, she leaned forward to put her lips against his. ‘Well it is,’ she whispered, and kissed him deeply.

When finally she drew back to look at him a light of humour came into his eyes. ‘I think you only want me for my body,’ he teased.

‘Absolutely,’ she murmured, and circled his lips with her tongue. ‘Don’t you want me for mine?’

‘Let’s put it this way,’ he responded, ‘whenever I look at you I want to put my mouth on yours and my hands all over you.’

This time the desire cut through her so sharply that she might have abandoned breakfast had the waiter not arrived at that moment to set down his tray.

Trying not to laugh, Nick sat back to make room for the dishes, and watched as each one was laid out on the pristine white tablecloth. ‘So what’s on your agenda today?’ he asked, as much for the waiter’s benefit as his own.

‘More talks with Katie and Michelle,’ she answered, her cheeks still flushed as she shook out her napkin. ‘What about you?’

He thanked the waiter, and lifted the cafetière to pour. ‘I think I’ll go back to GCHQ, give it one more shot,’ he told her. ‘There’s someone I’d really like to talk to there, but he’s playing extremely hard to get.’ He buttered a triangle of toast and offered it for her to eat.

She bit into it, meeting his eyes, and loving the mild charge she felt at being fed from his fingers. ‘What’s it about?’ she asked.

‘He heads a team that apparently knows a lot about how certain elections are being rigged in the States.’

‘You mean, they’re a part of it?’ she asked in surprise.

‘Not necessarily, but they could be assessing it.’

‘To implement here?’

‘Or not, if they conclude it won’t work here.’

After making certain no-one was around he slipped a hand inside her shirt and gently massaged her breasts.

Loving the feel of it, so doing nothing to stop it, she said, ‘But even if you do get to speak to this person, he’s surely not going to admit to any plans for electoral subversion.’

‘Of course not,’ he said, removing his hand, ‘but I happen to know he’s spent a lot of time at CIA HQ these past two years, and was regularly wined and dined by people in some very high places, so I’m interested to hear his explanation of why he was there.’

‘And your theory would be?’

After eating the toast she was offering, he said, ‘I’m not sure yet, but there’s a presidential election coming up, and our own a few months after, so it could be worth looking into.’

‘Yes, it could,’ she responded, and would have said more, had his hand not disappeared under the table at that moment.

‘I want you very badly right now,’ he told her gruffly.

‘The feeling’s mutual,’ she murmured, parting her thighs to allow his hand to move higher.

He touched his mouth to hers. ‘I think I should tell you exactly what’s in my mind,’ he whispered.

Loving the idea of verbal foreplay, she gazed into his eyes, and said, ‘Yes, I think you should.’

As he spoke she watched his mouth and felt herself melting in the heat of his words, for it was easy to imagine him doing everything he was describing. In the end she put her lips against his and with her eyes fluttering closed pushed her tongue into his mouth.

To her astonishment he pulled sharply away and rose to his feet.

‘Elliot,’ he said hoarsely.

She spun round in horror, so shocked that she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was a nightmare. It couldn’t be true. Elliot was standing at the door, watching her. She started to get up, but found she couldn’t. How long had he been there, how much had he seen, though the very fact she and Nick were together was enough. She started to shake, and found herself almost unable to breathe.

‘I was on my way to see Michelle, so I brought the things you asked for,’ he told her, coming to put her laptop and holdall on the floor next to the table.

‘I thought you were going to send them,’ she said, absurdly, as though it had somehow given her licence to be here like this.

‘It would seem I probably should have.’

She could see his pain in the paleness of his face, hear it in his voice and even feel it in his heart. How could she be doing this to him? Why had she even considered it, when he was the only man in the world she’d ever really wanted or loved?

To Nick he said, ‘I left a message on your
machine
, about an hour ago. I’d appreciate it if you could give me a call when you can.’

Laurie stared at him, dumbfounded.

‘Of course,’ Nick responded.