THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM was aglow with bright spotlights, the impressive building perfectly lit on a dark night.
By the time I got to the library door my name and invitation had already been checked twice.
Robin was at the entrance in a guard uniform, the security wand in his hand.
‘Excuse me, madam, if you don’t mind.’ He waved it over my black dress with a theatrical flourish. ‘Please go in.’
I took a glass of champagne from a hovering waiter and looked around the library.
Six-foot-high red scrolls with beautifully calligraphed black Chinese characters had been hung from the ceiling in each corner of the library.
I was one of the first to arrive. Frederick was already at the back of the room talking to the Foreign Secretary. He was clearly well-connected. I wondered how much was on his own merit or down to the school he’d attended and the privilege he’d been born into.
I shook it off. How was it relevant? I continued to scan the room.
For Robin’s modified security wand to read Peng’s GPS tracker card, he needed to hold it over it for five seconds. Not an easy task when he couldn’t know for sure where exactly it would be. We knew that Minister Peng never carried a handbag, meaning we had to presume it would be in one of her pockets.
There was now a steady trickle of people arriving. I recognised another cabinet minister and two opposition MPs. I spotted at least another five security staff members within the room. The suits, the stance, the not speaking just watching. They were easy to pick out.
Minister Peng walked in. She was thickset with greying hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a ready smile. She was wearing a blue trouser suit and large black pearls. Robin greeted her in Mandarin and continued to talk as he held the security wand over Peng’s right jacket pocket. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Peng laughed. Maybe Robin was funnier in Mandarin? Peng clapped hands with Robin, shaking them vigorously.
‘Bingo! We’ve got it,’ Geraint announced in our earpieces. The wand had successfully cloned the GPS tracker. Geraint was monitoring from our van outside the museum. Now we just needed to retrieve the receiver box from the Etch A Sketch hidden in the Marine Invertebrates room and we were home free.
A waiter came up to Peng with a tray of canapés and she pointed to a spring roll.
‘Are there nuts in here?’ she asked the waiter brandishing the tray. She spoke clearly with a faint accent. I remembered from her file that she’d lived in England for a year while doing a Masters degree in Buckingham.
‘There is a small amount of peanut sauce inside.’
Peng waved the tray away. ‘No thank you.’
‘G-Force, Peng could have a nut allergy.’
This could be a disaster. If the Coyote was looking for an easy way to kill her, spiking anything and everything with nuts was a simple form of attack. Policing it would be near impossible.
‘Accessing the Foreign Office records on Peng. They must have made a note of it somewhere.’ A few seconds passed and then an: ‘It’s OK. She does have what’s been classed as a mild nut allergy. It’s not deadly. Her PA and bodyguard carry EpiPens in case of an attack.’
I exhaled.
I watched as the room slowly filled up. We needed everyone present before we tried to make a grab for the Etch A Sketch receiver.
Robin crackled into my ear. ‘Two security outside library door.’
I had a simple remit. To cause a disturbance that was big enough to draw waiting security in. But not so big that it would make news or draw attention to anyone monitoring Peng.
I looked up again at the four Chinese scrolls hanging from the ceiling.
I looked across at Frederick. He was now deep in conversation with a white-haired woman who had her hands clasped round his.
‘I hate to break things up,’ I said into my earpiece. I watched as a small smile formed. ‘But you’re going to need to let go of your girlfriend and get ready. I’m moving in in three.’
*
At the back of the library was a narrow spiral staircase leading up to a small mezzanine level. The lack of alcohol and canapés on offer there meant no one had yet ventured up. I quickly ascended, glass of champagne in hand. Party guest going for an explore. At the top of the stairs I could see how each banner was held by a piece of rope in a pulley system that was fastened to each corner of the room. The banners were made of thick parchment with a wooden base. I walked up to the pulley and slipped off my right shoe. With one deft click the heel came off, exposing a thin blade.
My killer heels really were killer.
I used the blade to slice at the rope. I kept going until there were only four strands left. I estimated I had a minute before it snapped.
‘Outside the library. Waiting for your order,’ Frederick crackled in.
I quickly replaced the blade in my shoe and slipped it back on. I descended the stairs and made my way back to the centre of the library where I had a good view of the banner with the sliced rope.
The Foreign Secretary was addressing the room.
‘All of us here are very proud to be able to return this ancient scroll to China. Minister Peng, we are honoured that you will be taking it back in person.’
Minister Peng strode over to the Foreign Secretary and the two of them held the scroll together as a cacophony of flashbulbs went off.
It had to happen any second now . . . I saw the banner start to break away and shouted, ‘Look out!’
There were panicked cries as people underneath the falling banner rushed out of its way. It landed with a crash on the floor.
I heard Robin in my ear. ‘The door is clear.’ The security that had been standing guard outside the library had no doubt come charging in.
‘Go now, Frederick.’
There were two beats and then, ‘I’m in.’
I watched as security helped the museum staff pick up the banner and move it away. The museum director took to the microphone and was reassuring the crowd with, ‘I promise no other works of art will try to kill you.’ There were titters but I noticed everyone was moving more to the centre of the room just in case. The two men who had rushed in at the sound of my scream and the crash of the banner hitting the ground talked to their three colleagues. They were all scanning the room.
‘I have the control box,’ said Frederick. The small box concealed within the Etch A Sketch could be swiftly pulled out and discreetly hidden inside a pocket.
I moved towards the door. We needed to make a fast exit.
Through the earpiece I heard, ‘Sir, what are you doing in here?’
Dammit. There must have been extra security we either missed, or they’d been called in for the disturbance.
‘I was just making a phone call.’
‘You didn’t see the “no entry” sign?’
‘What? No, sorry, I didn’t. Look, I’m going, OK. Excuse me. Please move.’
‘We’re going to have to search you, sir.’
I walked quickly across the corridor and shoved open the door to the Marine Invertebrates room. It slammed hard against the wall. The three men turned to look at me.
I stared at Frederick. ‘There you are! What the hell are you playing at?
‘I . . . I . . .’
‘Finding a little place to sneak off to call her? Give me your phone right now. If I find you’ve been talking to that slag again, I swear to God I’m leaving you and taking you for everything you’ve got.’
‘Now calm down, sweetheart.’
‘Don’t you dare tell me to calm down. You give me your phone right now.’
‘Can we talk about this at home?’
‘What? I’m making a scene, am I? Embarrassing you in front of your new friends? Well, you should’ve thought about that before you started fucking around.’
‘Can you both please leave this area?’ said the taller of the two men.
I turned to him. ‘I’m leaving this area. And I’m leaving him. You hear that? I’m leaving you, you piece of shit.’ I turned and stalked out.
Frederick followed behind me. ‘Darling, please let’s talk about this.’
‘Don’t you bloody touch me.’
I sped ahead fast.
Frederick was right behind me and headed for the exit. ‘We’re exiting now. Control box is secure. Confirm no one following.’
We quickly climbed into the back of the waiting van.
Robin crackled in. ‘No tails. Security still outside the Marine Invertebrates room shaking their heads. Not a bad performance, new boy.’
‘Just keeping up with the boss.’ He smiled as he said this. We locked eyes.
Geraint leaned round. ‘I can run you both back.’
‘Thanks, G.’
I broke eye contact with Frederick. Jesus, I had to get a grip.
I brought out my phone to busy myself with writing an email update to the rest of Whistle.
No matter how much I tried to ignore it, there was an attraction between us.
Simmering.
Everything about Frederick shouted about how in control he was.
Except the way he looked at me. As if I was something to be devoured. I could read everything in that look. And he knew it. He wanted me to know it.
I see you.
I want you.
What it’d be like to have you.
This was ridiculous.
I was with Will. I was happy.
Wasn’t I?
Will thought we were in trouble.
Will was receiving middle-of-the-night text messages.
Why hadn’t I just asked him about it? Or checked his phone? Was it better to admit I didn’t trust him? Or to trust him and never know?
It had to be nothing.
He wouldn’t cheat on me.
Would he?
Will thought we were in trouble.
Will was receiving middle-of-the-night text messages.
And I was making eyes at a colleague.
Goddammit.
We were in trouble.
And Frederick?
He was just a flirtation.
A harmless, passing flirtation.
One of those reminders that were far and few between where I felt like a woman. Fanciable.
Fuckable.
Not just a mother.
It was harmless. Totally harmless.
As long as the only action that happened around him was violent.