Dan excused himself from the small group at the table, pushed open the door to the sweeping balcony of the hotel’s restaurant, and rested his bottle of beer on a table overlooking the town.
Salty sea air filled his senses, and he took a deep breath, filling his lungs.
He wandered over to the edge of the hotel restaurant’s balcony and rested his forearms on the rail while he collected his thoughts.
David had already made it clear that he wouldn’t be participating in the hunt for the people who tried to organise the coup; it would be handed over to another agency that had a long reach into Eastern Europe and beyond.
Dan pulled out the photograph the Russian had handed to him and gritted his teeth. Somehow, he had to convince David to include him. He had a message to deliver.
He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the balcony door opening to see Mel walking towards him, a glass of wine in her hand, and tucked the photograph away.
She placed her wine on the table next to his beer bottle and then joined him at the rail.
‘Penny for your thoughts?’
Dan’s mouth quirked. ‘You don’t think they’re worth more than that?’
Mel smiled. ‘Not in today’s economy. The department’s watching its finances too closely.’
‘I’ll bet.’
Mel sighed. ‘Thinking about your boat?’
‘Yeah. And where I’m going to live now.’
‘You’ve still got the house outside Oxford?’
Dan nodded. ‘I just don’t know if I’m ready to go back yet, Mel. I kind of liked being on the water.’ He straightened, turned his back to the view, and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘What have you found out about the explosion? Do you know who’s responsible?’
Mel’s gaze dropped to the floor. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But David wants to talk to you about that himself.’ She raised her eyes to meet his. ‘So, please, wait to speak to him, okay?’
Dan frowned and then shrugged. ‘Okay. When?’
Mel peered over her shoulder. David and Mitch were still deep in conversation at the table, seemingly oblivious to their missing colleagues. ‘Soon.’
‘Why can’t you tell me?’
Mel smiled. ‘Because I don’t have all the facts yet – David was still checking some things out and waiting on some phone calls. I also know what your temper can be like.’
Dan conceded the point and gestured towards the table. ‘Might as well finish these while we wait.’
He pulled out a chair for Mel, waited until she was seated, then sat next to her, both of them drifting into a companionable silence as the warm night air carried the sound of cicadas from the trees below.
Dan took a swig from his beer bottle and ran his hand over the condensation-soaked label. ‘Have you spoken to Sarah?’
‘She knows you’re safe.’
‘Thank you.’
His on-again, off-again lover would probably kill him when she saw him, especially after he’d had to leave England in such a hurry and had avoided all contact with her in case he endangered her.
‘She also asked me when you might return. I told her that was up to you.’
Dan grunted, his eyes flickering to the older of the two men who sat inside. ‘I don’t want to come back, just to get arrested or face another inquiry.’ He sighed. ‘Life was so much simpler before all this.’
Mel leaned forward and rested her hand on the back of his. ‘From what I heard, you were drinking yourself into a hole.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘I think you like complicated.’
Dan raised an eyebrow and took another sip from his beer. ‘Maybe.’
She chuckled, removed her hand, and picked up her wine glass, her eyes seeking out the yacht masts that rose above the marina beyond the north of the town. ‘Whatever you say, boss.’
Dan had to smile. He’d only been working with Mel a short while before he’d left England in a hurry, but he was impressed by her intuition.
‘So, what have you been up to while I’ve been sailing around the Med?’ he asked. ‘Apart from spying on me?’
She had the decency to choke on her wine. ‘I wasn’t spying,’ she insisted. ‘I was just, you know, keeping an eye on you.’
‘Of course.’ Dan grinned. ‘So, spill it. What’s been going on?’
‘Well, we’re obviously keeping an eye on developments in Russia,’ said Mel. ‘Although this attempted coup caught us off guard.’ She shook her head. ‘We were lucky Anna and her colleague worked out what was happening so quickly.’ She put down her glass. ‘There are some who think Russia will implode over the coming years – splinter into smaller states, all of whom will probably pick a fight with each other.’
Dan grimaced. ‘That’s not good. The current leadership is difficult to deal with at the best of times, without separate factions all chasing their own agendas.’
‘Quite. And then there’s the Middle East, of course,’ said Mel. ‘And goodness knows where that’s going to lead. What with that and Asia, I think we’re going to be kept busy for a while yet.’
She broke off as the door to the balcony opened.
David appeared, closely followed by Mitch, who balanced a collection of freshly poured drinks in his hands. David waited until he’d joined Mel and Dan at the table and then locked the door, preventing anyone else from exiting the restaurant in their wake.
Dan waited until everyone had settled, then took the fresh cold bottle of beer Mitch handed to him, and eyed David.
‘So, who blew up my boat?’