‘What’s wrong with you?’ Bob asked.
I plucked a twig off the tree we were walking past and swished it back and forth.
‘Nothing.’
‘You’re all twitchy.’
I swished some more.
‘It’s making me jumpy.’
Swish. Swish. Swish.
‘I don’t like it when you stop talking.’
I whacked my twig at a pole.
‘Chanel.’
I stopped my whacking and turned to face him. ‘Bob.’
‘What is it?’
I looked up at the night sky. ‘I just got a bad feeling about this one.’
‘Is it the name?’
‘Nah.’ I couldn’t see any stars. That was probably the one thing I missed about Hickory. The night sky.
‘Well, what then?’
‘I just feel it in here.’ I touched my chest.
Bob shifted from side to side. A nervous shuffle. ‘Maybe we should just be happy with two.’
I looked back up at the sky. Billy was under the same sky. He was doing what he had to, to come back to me.
‘Nah.’ I shook my head. ‘Let’s do it.’
I felt a teeny bit guilty about dragging Bob into my personal vendetta. But I consoled myself with the fact that we were just doing our job.
He held his fist out to me. ‘The ‘A’ Team,’ he said.
‘The ‘A’ Team.’ I smiled as I reached out and bumped his fist.
We both turned to look at the pub that Big Bad Ben worked out of. Its extended licence meant it was still open. It would be closing in the next ten minutes.
‘Should we go in?’
I thought about it for a moment. ‘I don’t think so.’ That nagging feeling was back in the pit of my stomach. ‘Let’s wait and see.’ Evan had given me a brief description of Big Bad Ben. I was thinking that the face tattoo was going to make him easy to pick.
I looked around for a suitable hiding place.
‘What about there?’ Bob pointed to the bank across the road. The wide archway entrance meant there would be enough room for both of us to stand in shadow.
‘Perfect.’
We moved over to the shadows provided by the bank entrance to wait.
‘Want to play Celebrity Head?’ Bob asked.
I looked over at him. ‘Do we have to stick to humans?’
‘Nah. Let’s mix it up.’
I nodded. I had the perfect celebrity in mind for Bob. ‘You start.’
‘Am I human?’ he asked.
‘No. Am I human?’
‘No. Am I male?’ Bob placed his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the wall.
‘No. Am I male?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Hmmmm.’ I was a non-human male. Who would Bob pick for me?
‘Hey,’ he looked sideways at me, ‘do you realise this is our first stake-out?’
I laughed. ‘Shame we couldn’t do it in the car. We’d be more comfortable.’
‘And we’d have drink holders.’
‘But we’d stick out like two cops in a patrol car.’ We’d left the car the next block over.
‘I still think the drink holders would be worth it,’ he said.
‘And the reclining seats.’
‘And there’d be room for donut boxes.’
‘Am I an animal?’ I asked.
‘Nope.’ Bob scratched at his head while he thought. ‘Am I an animal?’
‘Yes.’ I ran my tongue over my teeth. They felt furry. I hoped I didn’t have food stuck on them.
‘Am I a pony?’
I laughed. ‘A pony?’
‘Yeah. From My Little Pony.’
‘You’ve seen that?’
He shrugged. ‘I took my niece to see it in the holidays. So, I’m guessing that’s a no.’
‘No. Am I….’ I stopped and looked towards the pub. The first of the patrons was starting to leave.
A couple of women staggered down the stairs. One tripped on the bottom step, letting out a scream as she grabbed her friend’s arm. She regained her balance and they clung to each other while they laughed.
I hadn’t had a girls’ night out in quite a while. It made me miss Becky, my best friend from Hickory. She and Bobby were still travelling around Australia, too scared to go home and face the music from their elopement ruining Bec’s Mum’s fun.
A group of men had followed the women out. ‘You right luv?’ one of them said.
The women looked at him and burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.
The door opened again and another group of people stumbled out into the cold night. I rubbed up and down my arms with my hands. The uniform jumper wasn’t quite cutting it.
‘There.’ I nudged Bob and pointed as the door opened again.
‘I see him,’ he whispered back.
Big Bad Ben was as bad as I had feared. A giant of a man, he had muscles on muscles, his neck so wide that it appeared to join directly to his shoulders.
‘Shiiiiiit,’ Bob breathed.
The Maori tattoo Evan had told me about turned Big Bad Ben’s face into a hideous mask. He appeared to be snarling even though his mouth was closed.
‘How about we leave him for the detectives?’ I whispered.
‘I second that motion.’
Big Bad Ben paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked back up to the pub door. It opened again and I sucked in a shocked breath as Luca exited. Carlos, Stefano and Billy emerged a few moments later, a large crowd of giggling girls following them.
I pressed myself back against the wall, but Bob jerked forwards.
‘Bil…,’ he started to yell.
I pulled him backwards, slamming him against the wall as I covered his mouth with my hands. ‘Shut up,’ I hissed.
His eyes were wide points of white in the gloom, but I felt him nod against my hand.
I released him and fought down my urge to crouch in the corner with my hands over my eyes. Instead I turned to see if we were sprung.
The five men stood in a group, their voices low as they talked. I let out the breath I had been holding. It looked like we had gotten away with it.
Moving to the edge of the shadow I cocked my head to see if I could hear what they were talking about.
‘She needs to be dealt with,’ Big Bad Ben said. ‘She brought in two of my dealers tonight.’
‘She’s harmless,’ Carlos said. ‘A child playing with fire.’
‘How are we meant to move this next shipment if she keeps taking our men off the street?’
Carlos laughed again. ‘We’re talking about a flea on an elephant.’
‘They’re dubbing her Super Cop.’
‘There’s nothing super about her.’
I felt Bob pressed up against my back.
‘Oh really?’ Big Bad Ben flexed his neck to either side. ‘Cause that’s not what we heard.’
‘Oh.’ Carlos mimicked Ben’s aggressive posture, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.
‘We heard that she took down your entire security team at The Crow.’
I could see Carlos’s fist clench and unclench as he tried to stare down Big Bad Ben. He tilted his head and said, ‘She wasn’t alone.’
‘Whatever,’ Ben said. ‘The Crystal has told me to deal with her. So if you’re not going to, I will.’
‘We’ll do it,’ Billy said. ‘Leave her to us. We have a score to settle with her anyway.’ He had entered into the cross-armed, chest-puffing posture competition.
Big Bad Ben stared at him. I could see the muscles in his jaw bulging. ‘Fine.’ He nodded his head. ‘But if she doesn’t stop before the next shipment arrives….’
I shivered at his unspoken threat.
‘She will stop.’ Billy said. ‘You can count on it.’
Big Bad Ben nodded again and then turned and strode off down the road. Carlos, Luca, Stefano and Billy departed in the other direction.
Bob and I stayed where we were, both of us silent till they were out of sight.
‘What was that all about?’ Bob finally asked.
I rubbed at my arms, not sure if it were purely the cold that was making me shiver. ‘Maybe we should go somewhere else and talk.’
‘Did you really go to The Nasty Crow?’
It seemed the last of the patrons had left the pub. I peered around the corner, looking up and down the street to make sure they were really gone before I stepped out from our cover.
‘And Billy? What is Billy doing with them?’
‘Shhhhh.’ I put a hand on his arm. You never knew where there might be ears.
‘Fine,’ Bob huffed. ‘But you are going to tell me?’
I turned and looked up at him. ‘I’ll tell you some of it, if you promise not to tell anyone. No one. Not even Sasha.’ I crossed my arms. I wasn’t going to let a loose tongue get Billy killed.
He licked his lips as his eyes darted to the side. ‘So, I can never tell her?’
‘Just till this is all over, Bob.’ I stared into his eyes, trying to work out where his mind was at.
‘Okay, deal.’
I held my little finger up. ‘Pinky promise.’
‘Really? That’s, like, for six year olds.’
‘Pinky promise is the most binding of all promises.’ I shook my little finger at him.
‘Oh, fine.’ He hooked his little finger around mine. ‘I promise I will not tell a single soul until this is all over.’
‘If you break that promise,’ I said, ‘and I am alive to find out, there will be no more free donuts for you, ever.’
‘Geez, Chanel.’ He fell in next to me as I started walking up the street. ‘No need to get nasty.’
I shook my head as I laughed. Only Bob would think that cessation of free donut rations was the worst thing I could do to him.
We didn’t speak as we walked back to the car, me thinking about how yummy Billy had looked, Bob probably thinking about free donuts.
The attack came silently and swiftly. One second I was standing next to the car waiting for Bob to let me in, the next I was pressed up against it, my attacker pinning my arms to my side.
‘Stop following me,’ Billy growled in my ear.
I wriggled around till I was facing him. ‘I wasn’t following you,’ I hissed back.
‘Hey, Billy,’ Bob said.
‘Bob.’ Billy looking over my shoulder and nodded his head before turning his steely glare back to me.
The car beeped and I heard Bob’s door open.
‘So if you weren’t following me, who were you after?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Carlos?’
‘Please, no,’ I said. ‘I am assuming you have that end of the investigation in hand.’
‘This is not your investigation.’ He pushed against me.
‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ I said. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a police officer.’
‘A police officer who is going to get herself killed.’ His face softened for a second. ‘Stand down, Chanel.’
‘You need my help.’
‘Please.’
I met his gaze, torn between wanting to kiss him, and wanting to smack him. ‘I’m just doing my job.’ I forced the clipped words out between clenched teeth.
He snarled as he stepped back. ‘How am I meant to do my job when I’m worried about you the whole time?’
‘Not my problem.’ I crossed my arms. ‘I seem to be able to do mine even though I’m worried about you.’ I didn’t mention the truth. That at times I was only able to keep going, even though my insides were laced with liquid terror, because I was worried about him.
‘Christ, Chanel. Why are you being so stubborn?’ He raked at his hair with his hands.
‘Because I love you.’ The words burst out of me. ‘And I miss you. And I want you home.’ Tears threatened to follow my confession. ‘I will not stop till you are home safe. I know that you need me.’ I wiped the back of my hand across my eyes. ‘I don’t understand why you are too stubborn to see that.’
His anger had melted away during my outburst. ‘I miss you too, Baby.’ He reached out and stroked my cheek. ‘You just don’t know what you are playing with.’
‘Oh really?’ I pushed his hand away. ‘Do you know who The Crystal is? Do you know where the next shipment is coming in? Do you know how they are getting the drugs into the country? I mean this is a drug that can’t be detected.’
Shock took over his facial expression as I fired my questions at him.
‘I’m guessing that is a no,’ I said.
His mouth opened and closed a few times. ‘How do you know about any of that?’ he finally asked. ‘Did Trent…?’
‘Trent won’t tell me diddly-squat.’ I pulled open the car door. ‘I’m not as useless as you think.’ I hopped into the car.
‘I don’t think you’re useless.’ He gripped the top of the door. ‘I just don’t want to see you hurt. Or worse.’ He didn’t say the alternative but it hung in the air between us. Dead.
‘You do your job, and I’ll do mine.’ I pulled at the door. Maybe if I squished his fingers he’d be out of the game.
‘Fine.’ He snatched his hand out of the way.
‘Fine.’ I slammed the door and turned to face the front, not looking as Bob pulled away from the curb.
***
‘So,’ Bob stirred sugar into his second coffee, ‘let me get this straight. You and Nick went into The Nasty Crow and took down their entire team, just so you could talk to Billy?’
‘That stuff with his team was never our intention. It just kind of happened.’
He threw his head back and laughed. ‘You are one crazy bitch.’
‘I’m not a bitch.’ I reached out my foot and kicked him under the table.
‘Ow.’ He rubbed at his shin. ‘I meant it as a compliment.’
‘Oh.’ I picked up my coffee. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘So, what are you going to do now?’
‘Same as we have been. Keep bringing in the dealers and hope that Gloria can get something out of them.’
‘What about what Bad Ben said?’
‘Big Bad Ben?’
‘I was trying to dilute the terror his name causes.’
‘I’ve seen him. There’s no diluting the terror.’
‘But you’re doing it anyway?’
I picked at a rough nail that was driving me nuts. ‘What choice do I have? The alternatives scare me more.’
Bob had a pained look on his face as he nodded, no doubt thinking of Sasha, and what he would do to keep her safe. Or maybe he just had indigestion. He had consumed a large amount of bakery goods throughout the course of the evening.
I picked up my coffee mug and drained the last of my latte.
He looked at his watch and then did the same. ‘We should probably head back to The Station. What are we writing up about the latest incident?’
‘Nothing.’ If Trent caught wind of any of it he would probably lock me up in the cells until it was all over.
We paid for our drinks and food and then headed out to the patrol car. The intense darkness of night was fading.
I felt a momentary sadness. I knew I bitched about night shift, but there was something special about being awake just before dawn. A sacredness. When everybody else was asleep, and you had the city to yourself. There was so much potential. A day yet untouched by sorrow, or disappointment, where possibility ruled.
We managed to drag out the paperwork from our first two arrests to fill up the rest of our shift. My eyes felt like I had poured a bucket of sand in them by the time the day shift finally turned up.
I turned off my computer and stood, stretching my arms above my head as I pushed up onto my tiptoes. My ribs hurt where Long John had kicked me.
‘See you tonight, partner.’ Bob held out his fist and I bumped his knuckles.
‘Have a good one.’ I washed up my coffee mug and placed it in the top drawer of my desk before farewelling the others and heading out the front. Martine was already waiting for me.
‘That man from the train station is sitting across the road,’ she said.
‘I thought he might be.’ I walked over to the reception desk. Lucille had already replaced Lester. ‘Hey Lucy, is Gloria still here?’ I needed to tell her about Big Bad Ben.
‘Think she’s still in room two. Want me to buzz her?’
I nodded. I might not get to see her that night, and I’d feel a lot safer knowing that Bad Ben was off the streets.
I wandered back to Martine’s side to wait. She was flicking through a dog-eared Cosmo magazine.
‘I hope this is important, Probationary Constable Smith.’ Gloria looked as tired as I felt.
Martine looked up from her magazine. ‘Oh, hello again. Fancy meeting you here.’ She stood and took a step towards Gloria.
Gloria tipped her head to the side. ‘I’m sorry.’ She looked Martine up and down. ‘Do I know you?’
Martine let out a giggle and flapped her hands. ‘I’m so sorry. I think I’ve confused you with somebody else. Please ignore me.’ She sat back down and picked up her magazine.
‘I won’t be long,’ I told her.
She flapped a hand at me without looking up.
I gave Gloria a vague story about overhearing a couple of guys talking about Big Bad Ben. She seemed to buy it, hrmmming and nodding as she wrote down my description of him. ‘I’ll look into this tonight,’ she said. ‘Good work.’
Martine was exactly as I had left her, so engrossed in the magazine that she didn’t notice my approach.
I nudged her leg with my knee. ‘Let’s go.’ I needed to sleep.
‘Is she gone?’ she asked without taking her eyes off her magazine.
‘Who? Gloria?’ I looked over my shoulder. ‘Yeah, why?’
She flipped the magazine shut and tossed it onto the coffee table. ‘How embarrassing,’ she said. ‘This is exactly what Sally is talking about.’
I stared at her. It could have been my sleep deprivation, but I was pretty sure she was making no sense at all. ‘What about Sally?’
‘Oh, you know.’ She stood and followed me to the door. ‘About how I’m not believable.’
I held up a hand. ‘To start with, if I remember correctly, Sally said that I would never make a believable woman. So, I’m not sure her word is gold on this subject. And secondly, what are you talking about?’
I placed my hand on the door but didn’t open it. Today’s plan was a simple one but we needed our wits about us.
Martine looked back over her shoulder. ‘Gloria,’ she whispered. ‘Martyn met her the other day. She’s friends with Christina Wong.’
‘The Nappy Queen?’ I whispered back.
She nodded. ‘I forgot it was him she met, not me.’ She pulled a face.
‘Anybody could make a mistake like that,’ I said.
‘Sally wouldn’t.’
I resisted mentioning that Sally wouldn’t really have to worry about that because she was a woman. Instead, I said, ‘You ready?’
She pulled sunnies out of her handbag and put them on. ‘Ready as I’ll ever be. The car’s where we planned.’
I gave her a twenty second head start before I headed up the stairs. The man from the other night was leaning up against a lamp post on the other side of the street. I saw him see me, but he stayed where he was, staring at his phone.
I headed for the train station, walking briskly to stay ahead of him. I could see Martine further up the street. She stopped next to a white Honda. A Hertz sign on the driver’s side door was visible as she opened it. She hopped in and about five seconds later the car started.
I lengthened my stride. Shifting my handbag to my left arm to give my right hand unfettered movement. I didn’t deviate towards the car till the last second. Then I pulled open the passenger side door and slid in, in one smooth movement.
‘He’s dialling a number,’ Martine said as she pulled out of the parking spot. ‘Now he’s talking, most probably trying to get the number plate. Won’t do him any good.’
‘Who hired the car?’
‘A client of Martyn’s. Not that he knows it. And Martyn paid cash when he picked it up.’
I nodded. It was untraceable back to Martine. That was all I cared about.
We drove for five minutes, me watching our six till we were sure there was no tail. Then she headed back to the apartment block.
The stairs felt like climbing a mountain. I had fought, and run, and eaten too much sugar. I was wiped out.
‘Night.’ I mumbled when we got to my floor. ‘Ring you when I wake up.’
‘Sweet dreams.’
Cocoa welcomed me when I entered the apartment but Nick was not up yet. His shoes were by the front door so I knew he had come home from his date with Bianca.
I found him asleep on my bed. I stood and stared at him while I worked out if I had the energy to kick him out. I didn’t.
I flopped down on the other side and before you could say, ‘Nick snores,’ I was fast asleep.
***
Ready out the front.
I rubbed at my eyes as I read Martine’s text. I was exhausted. You’d think I would have adapted by the end of my fourth night shift but it just never seemed to get easier.
Today seemed particularly bad though. I think it was the psychological effect of knowing I was only going to get a couple of hours sleep before getting ready for Mum’s ceremony.
‘Finished.’ Bob stretched his arms above his head and turned towards me. ‘You?’
I grunted. I didn’t even feel capable of one word sentences.
‘I can’t believe we got all of them.’
I grunted again.
‘Well except,’ he lowered his voice, ‘You Know Who.’ He looked over his shoulder. Daniel was still tapping away at his computer but everyone else had gone.
It had been a busy three nights. Not that most of the list had been that difficult to bring in. The problem had been all the other petty criminals wanting me to arrest them. It seemed a selfie while being arrested by ‘Super Cop’ had become all the rage in the underground community.
As a result, Bob and I had processed more people in the last few days than we would normally in a couple of weeks. I was sick of writing reports.
‘See you in a couple of days.’ I felt Bob’s hand on my shoulder.
‘Say hi to Sasha.’
‘Will do.’ I could hear the contentment in his voice. It was nice that he had finally found somebody who appreciated him for him.
I hit ‘save’ on my last report then screwed up a paper list I had been working off and tossed it into my bin. It perched on top of the headless rose stems.
Carlos had been predictably sending roses every day, but the messages had been getting terse. No more, ‘Till we meet again.’ Now it was all, ‘Who’s been a naughty girl,’ and ‘Stop, or I’ll shoot.’
I stowed my stuff and grabbed my bag. Martine had been working late as well and I didn’t want to keep her waiting.
We were still using the hire car to shake my tail. The second night he had been parked down the road from the Station. Martine and I had exited, climbed into the car together and he had pulled out right behind us.
Then, she had driven past the station and I had jumped out, bought myself a ticket and jumped on the next train. She had picked me up again at the other end and driven me home.
The third night I had walked to the station, waited for the train, then pretended to search my bag as I was getting on. At the last second, and before my tail could react, I’d given up my search, sworn and jumped back off the train.
I sure hoped this all ended soon. Up to now we had been relying on unpredictability to lose him without making him suspicious, but I was almost out of ideas.
I heard Trent and Gloria speaking as I neared Trent’s door.
‘How is it going?’ Trent asked.
‘Not great.’ Gloria let out a big sigh. ‘The dealers just don’t know anything.’
‘Maybe we just need to find more of them.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Gloria said. ‘I think your Super Cop has just about cleaned the streets. ‘You should have seen how many dealers she brought in.’
I opened my mouth to tell them that Bob had been every bit as responsible for our success as I was, but remembered in time that I wasn’t meant to be eavesdropping.
Instead, I pretended to look into my bag so that if anybody came around the corner they would think that was why I had paused.
‘Yes, well, the stakes are high for her.’ His voice sounded distracted.
‘What do you…?’ Gloria stopped. I could just imagine the cogs in her brain clicking over. She certainly wasn’t stupid.
‘Nothing,’ Trent said. ‘The stakes are high for everybody on this one. So many deaths.’
‘I knew it.’ Her hissed statement was triumphant. ‘It’s him, isn’t it? Her American boyfriend. He’s your plant.’
‘Shut up, Gloria. No one can know. His life depends on it.’
‘Hey, calm down. I won’t tell anyone,’ she said. ‘It’s just been annoying the hell out of me. Good to have that itch scratched.’
‘Annoying you because you didn’t know, or annoying you because I wouldn’t tell you?’
He was teasing her. I couldn’t believe it. He had just outed Billy and he was teasing her about it.
Part of me, a very large, very tired part of me, wanted to barge in there and tell him exactly what I thought of that, but the smaller alert part of me maintained control and I stayed silent outside the door.
‘Look,’ Trent let out a sigh. ‘I’m actually glad you know cause I need your help.’
‘Anything, Baby.’
‘I have to go to this Award Ceremony today and I am meant to be meeting him.’ He lowered his voice forcing me closer to the slightly cracked door. It was going to look really bad if one of them opened it. ‘The next shipment arrives tomorrow and he’ll have the details of the drop today.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me this before? This is what we’ve been waiting for.’
‘The Super wanted to keep it secret till the last second.’ He let out a deep sigh. ‘Just between you and me, he suspects we have a rat amongst us.’
It took me a second to realise he wasn’t talking about the four-legged variety.
‘No.’ Gloria sounded scandalised. ‘Surely not.’
‘Money talks, Babe.’
‘But still….’ There was silence while both of them considered who could be the crooked cop. Either that or they were kissing.
‘I need a favour,’ Trent finally said.
‘Anything.’
‘I’ve been trying to contact him to move the meeting but his phone is off. I can’t risk texting him.’
‘You want me to meet him?’
Trent let out a huge sigh and I could imagine his scratching at his head like he did when he was upset. ‘I don’t see any other choice. We need to know where to send the Tactical Group.’
‘You could miss the ceremony.’
‘I can’t. I’m being promoted.’ He sounded embarrassed.
‘What? They’re making you Inspector?’
I jumped as my phone pinged to let me know a text had come in.
Still waiting.
Shit. I strode down the hall away from the door not a second too soon.
‘Chanel?’
‘Hmmmm.’ I turned towards Trent. ‘Oh, hey.’ I rubbed at my eyes and yawned.
‘Don’t forget the ceremony today.’
‘How could I forget?’ I pulled a face.
He laughed. ‘Don’t forget to wear ceremonial dress.’
‘What?’
‘They sent out an email yesterday.’
‘I haven’t had time to read my emails.’
‘Yes, I heard you’ve been busy. Good work by the way.’
‘Thanks.’
I let out a huge sigh. I had been planning on wearing civilian clothing. Now I was going to have to spend time prepping my ceremonial uniform. Time I would rather spend sleeping.
I waved and continued on to the reception area. Martine had her head back, her eyes half closed.
‘Sorry.’ I yawned again. ‘Let’s get this done so we can get some sleep.’
My tail was sitting across the road. It was a little insulting how stupid he thought I was. I mean, really.
‘No car today?’ Martine asked. ‘Oh, this will be easy.’
I scanned the parked cars up the street. I could see the shadow of a head a couple of cars back from the Hertz rental.
‘I think there’s two of them.’
Another shadow moved in the car.
‘Shit,’ I said. ‘There’s three of them.’
We walked past them and hopped into the hire car.
‘Stakes just got higher.’
‘The drop is tomorrow.’
She glanced sideways at me. ‘You sure?’
I nodded. ‘Just heard Trent tell Gloria.’
Martine indicated and pulled out. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘I don’t know.’ The original plan wasn’t going to work.
‘Think.’
‘I’m too tired.’ I pulled out my phone and called Nick.
‘Hello?’
‘Bianca?’
‘Oh, hey Chanel.’
‘Did Nick leave his phone with you?’
She let out a low, throaty laugh.
‘Forget I asked,’ I said. ‘Is he there?’
‘He’s in the shower.’
‘I need to talk to him.’
‘Hang on.’
I could hear the miscellaneous noise of her moving, then water running in the background. The water got louder and I heard Nick say, ‘You want to get in here and let me scrub your back?’
‘I’d love to,’ she purred, ‘but Chanel is on the phone.’
‘What’s she want?’
‘He wants to know what you want.’
‘Tell him we still have a tail and we’re not sure what to do.’
‘They have a tail.’
‘Still, hey?’ The water shut off. ‘Where are they now?’
‘Where are….’
I interrupted her. ‘We just went past the station. Two men in a car are right behind us.’
There was a rustle as Nick took the phone from Bianca. ‘Make and model?’
I shifted so I could see the car in the side mirror. ‘White, Ford, station wagon.’
‘Tell Martine to drive past Bianca’s. Drive slow. I need a couple of minutes to put this together.’
I hung up. ‘Nick said to drive slow and head for Bianca’s.’
‘What do we do when we get there?’
‘Keep driving.’
It wasn’t difficult to drive slowly through King’s Cross at that time of morning. Pedestrians were popping out from behind poles and parked cars and twice Martine was forced to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting one.
We anticipated a zebra crossing and stopped, waiting for a group of school girls to get to, and then across the road.
Approximately four minutes later we turned onto Bianca’s street.
‘I hope Rocket Man has something good planned,’ Martine said.
We passed Bianca’s building and I looked around trying to see him. Just when I thought we had been too fast, Nick popped up from behind a car and lobbed a couple of balloons into the air.
They landed with a splat onto the bonnet of the car behind us and milk exploded all over the windscreen.
Brakes screeched and the car came to an abrupt halt. The windscreen wipers flapped back and forth as Martine increased her speed.
I let out a whoop as we sped away from the stationary vehicle. She took the next two lefts and then a right, but there was no sign of the car.
I rang Nick and put him on speaker. ‘That was awesome.’ I laughed. ‘Where did you get water balloons at such short notice?’
‘They weren’t water balloons, Toots.’
I could hear Bianca laughing in the background.
‘Well, what were they?’ Martine asked.
‘You owe me a couple of extra-large, glow-in-the-dark, ribbed-for-her-pleasure condoms.’
‘Oh, eeeewwww.’ I hung up.
‘Extra-large?’ Martine pulled into the underground car park. ‘Do you really think?’
‘I’m trying very hard not to think,’ I said. ‘That is not something I need to know.’
***
‘Chanel.’ Nick’s elbow accompanied his words. ‘Wake up.’
‘Huh.’ I jerked my head up and stared at the stage. It felt like the ceremony had been going forever. I looked at the clock. It had been going forever.
‘You just missed Tess get her award.’
‘Really?’ Shit. What sort of daughter was I? I had slept through my mother receiving a bravery award.
‘Nah. Just kidding. She’s up next.’
I sagged back in my seat in relief. She would never forgive me if I did. I opened my eyes as wide as I could, but the stage still seemed to be getting smaller. I shifted in my seat, jerking my head. I pinched the web of tissue between my thumb and first finger.
‘What are you doing?’ Nick whispered in my ear.
‘Trying to stay awake.’
‘Do you want help with that?’
‘Please.’ I could feel myself losing the battle with my eyelids.
He lifted a foot and jammed it down on top of my shoe closest to him. I let out a muffled yelp and the people in the row in front of us turned to look.
‘Sorry,’ I whispered. ‘Just stubbed my toe.’ I waited for them to look back to the front before I hissed, ‘That hurt.’
‘Are you still falling asleep?’
‘I’m too mad to be tired.’
‘You can thank me later.’
His smug smile made me want to hit him with something, but I resisted. We were in public, and experience had taught me that he was fast. I’d probably miss and break a finger or something like that in the process.
‘Tess Milano.’
I yanked my eyes back to the stage as Mum, looking amazing in a navy-blue fitted skirt, cream blouse, and navy and cream pumps that I was betting had cost more than my month’s wage, walked towards the Super.
She stood demurely as he placed the ribbon with the heavy medallion around her neck.
‘This is the highest award for bravery that a civilian can earn,’ the Super said to the audience. He turned to Mum and shook her hand, then leaned in to kiss her cheek. ‘And you deserve every bit of it, my Dear.’
I’m sure those words were meant for her ears only, but his tie microphone broadcast it around the entire room. There was a titter of laughter and a blush broke out over my cheeks. The Super was flirting with my Mum. It was so embarrassing.
The rest of the ceremony went by in a sleepy blur. Nick nearly broke my toe waking me up to see Trent receive his promotion, but I didn’t complain. I would have been upset to miss it.
And then it was all over.
Nick and I waited for Mum and Harry outside, but Trent reached us first.
‘Congrats,’ I reached up and touched his new rank slides. The three little stars looked impressive. But then considering that my rank slides were bereft of any markings, anything looked impressive to me.
‘Thanks.’ His smile was sheepish.
‘This is my friend Nick. He was working with us on Hamilton Island.’
‘Oh, of course.’ Trent reached out and shook Nick’s hand. ‘I read the reports. I was surprised you didn’t get a bravery award as well. I had a really good laugh watching the video of you throwing those golf balls.’
‘Thanks.’ Nick laughed. ‘That was fun.’
‘It was terrifying is what it was,’ I said.
Trent’s smile froze as he looked over my shoulder. The expression on his face was such that I didn’t have to ask to know who he was looking at.
I turned as Mum and Harry exited the room. They were holding hands and Mum was smiling up at Harry as he spoke. She threw back her head and laughed, and he leaned down and kissed her on the neck.
‘Got to go,’ Trent said.
I pulled a face. ‘See you at work.’
‘Oh,’ Mum said when they reached us, ‘was that Trent? I wanted to say congratulations.’
‘Mum.’ I shook my head.
‘What?’
‘It probably wasn’t a good time for him,’ Harry said.
‘Yeah, no need to rain on his parade,’ I added.
‘Oh.’ She looked sad. ‘I guess it probably wasn’t a good idea.’
The last time Trent and Harry had been within speaking distance they had been throwing punches at each other. Probably wasn’t a good idea was a total understatement.
‘Congratulations, Tess.’ Nick gave Mum a hug. ‘Good to see you again Harry. I’ve got to get Buttercup here home to bed before she passes out.’
‘Oh, that’s right,’ Mum said, ‘you had night shift. You really shouldn’t have come, Darling.’
I thought about the many things I could say to that but decided it was all too hard. Instead, I group-hugged my parents and said, ‘I’m picking you up at ten-thirty to go to the airport, right?’
‘That’s right.’ Mum bounced up and down on her amazing shoes. ‘I can’t believe we’re going to see Liss and Thor again.’ She turned to Harry and gazed up at him.
‘Our cue to go,’ I said to Nick.
‘I think it’s sweet.’
I grabbed his hand and dragged him after me as I headed for the exit. ‘That’s because you’re all loved up,’ I said.
He grinned up at me, ‘You better believe it, Doll Face. That woman is an animal. And the positions she can get into.’
I put my first fingers into my ears. ‘Lalalalalalalalala. I’m not listening.’
‘You could probably get some tips from her.’
I turned to look at him.
‘I mean from what I heard the other night between you and Billy….’
‘Nick,’ I snapped. ‘I’m not discussing my sex life with you.’
‘Just saying. You want to keep your man coming back for more, go talk to Bi. She has this thing she does with her tongue, thought I’d died and gone to heaven.’
I reached my little car and unlocked the driver’s door. It would be so easy to leave the little man behind, but I’d never hear the end of it if I did. I sighed and reached across to flick up the lock.
‘And this movement she does with her hips. It’s like a figure of eight.’
‘Stop,’ I said.
‘So when she’s on top….’
‘Nick, please,’ I said. ‘Just stop.’
He looked over at me. ‘Sorry Toots. Thought you’d be interested. Research and all that.’
‘I’m a very visual person, and right now I have an image of you and Bianca doing the wild thing.’
‘Yeah.’ His smile said it all. ‘Me too.’