A Dangerous Affair Chapter 12

A Chapter by Repgreece

Stephanie acts too impulsively

Stephanie fumbled in her bag for the car keys. What the hell was wrong with her? She should have slapped him around the face, pushed him away, or told him to get his bloody hands off her, but all she’d done was just stand there, frozen to the spot. What an idiot! Okay, so before, in the store cupboard, she’d had no choice but to stand pressed against him, but this time there was no excuse… not really. And not only that, but he’d just shown her his true colours. He’d acted exactly as she’d expected him to, which is why she’d always avoided him like the plague in the first place. God, and she’d even lapped up all the attention he’d paid her that day like an impressionable school girl! She’d always cringed at the way the other women in the office had done that, but today that was her! She’d genuinely thought that they were getting along so well, that they would make a great team. She’d been an utter fool. He’d just been playing games with her. Damn it!

Tom waited for Stephanie to unlock the car door and he cursed himself for his behaviour. Just when everything was going so well and he’d felt better than he’d felt for...well for a hell of a long time, Brick had dropped that bombshell! He had to admit, he hadn’t been fair to Stephanie in the way he’d spoken to her but then, with the kind of guy he was, he’d suddenly realized that he was crazy to ever think that he’d stand a chance with someone like her. Okay, so he could try to impress her for a while, but sooner or later she’d find out about him and drop him like a lead balloon. People like her and people like him just never worked out. He felt utterly wretched as he eventually opened the car door and slipped into the passenger seat.

Stephanie fastened her seat belt, put the key in the ignition and then took her mobile phone out of her pocket. Tom watched her in silence as she made a phone call.

“Martin, it’s Stephanie. Can you do me a favour and check out an address for me in one of the files on my desk...thanks. It should be on the top somewhere. It’s the one without articles in it...yes that’s right. Look at the top sheet. What’s the address at the top of the page?” Stephanie motioned for Tom to pass her a pen and paper from out of the glove box. She jotted down the address. “Thanks Martin. Oh, and if Brick asks, Tom and I have gone to find Carlton.” She hung up. “There should be an A to Z in there too. Would you mind getting it out for me and directing?” she asked in an overly polite voice.

“I’d be delighted to help Miss White,” he mocked.

She started up the car and pulled out of the car park onto the main road.

“What are we going to do when we get there?” Tom asked suddenly. “Knock on the door and ask him for an interview, because I really don’t think he’ll go for that.”

“Look, if you don’t want to go along with this I can drop you off here. That’s fine with me,” she replied.

“Don’t be so touchy, I’d just like to know what’s going through that overly determined head of yours.”

“I say we take a look. I don’t know, maybe we can say we are interested in the campaign. We could mention one of the names of the supporters, say they sent us there. I think we know enough information now to fool him.”

“Hmm.” Tom didn’t sound too sure. “And then what?”

Stephanie turned to glare at him. He didn’t seem very enthusiastic anymore. “Then we’re involved. It will give us a chance to nose around, get information from the inside.”

“We’ll see.” Tom remained noncommittal.

About an hour later and they were lost. Stephanie pulled onto the side of the quiet country road and turned to Tom.

“Where did you put that A to Z?”

“On the back seat.” He wasn’t being very helpful.

Stephanie sighed and twisted herself in her seat to reach into the back of the car. Tom’s eyes were drawn like a magnet to the opening of her blouse. He strained to see anything more than he had earlier, from the side view he now had of her at close proximity.

“Here,” she said, throwing the map onto his lap. “Take another look. I do want to get there at some point today," she commented sarcastically.

His eyes shot to her face. He opened the book and studied the page with the corner turned down yet again for the umpteenth time that morning.

“Are we any closer to getting there yet?” Stephanie asked with impatience.

“According to this yes, but where this place is exactly beats me,” he said passing her the map. “Here, you take a look. Maybe you can figure it out.”

She rolled her eyes but looked at the map with renewed determination to find the house which had eluded them so far. Glancing outside, she then turned her attention back to the map, scrutinizing it with a frown.

“You’re right, it makes no sense,” she groaned. “You must have directed us onto completely the wrong road.”

“Look, it isn’t there. This place isn’t on the map at all!” he said with rising irritation.

Stephanie took another look at the address on the piece of paper and glanced at the map again.

“No, it should be here. I’m going to find it if it bloody well kills me!” she exclaimed, abruptly opening the car door and getting out. She walked a little further ahead and peered through the hedges that lined the road.

“What are you doing?” Tom called, leaning out of the open door to take a look.

“I’m willing to bet that it’s here. It’s been right here somewhere all along,” she said, crossing the road and scanning the fields opposite.

“Well, I don’t see any houses anywhere, do you?” he asked.

“It’s here I’m telling you. It’s just well hidden. Besides we’ve been past this place time and time again...and that map says it’s here, so it’s here!” she finished with exasperation, striding further still down the road.

“It isn’t here,” he said to himself, sitting back in his seat with his arms crossed.

After a while, she came running back to the car.

“I’ve just seen a jeep turn through a gate up there in the hedge. There must be some kind of building it was heading for, let’s take a look,” she enthused, slipping back into the driver’s seat and closing the door.

When they reached the place where she had seen the jeep, the gate had been closed and padlocked again, however the chain that was wrapped around the gatepost was loose, allowing Tom to slip it over the top of the post with a few sharp tugs. They drove up the rough dirt track, which eventually turned into a gravel path, leading through some overgrown gardens to the house that was concealed behind them.

“This is it. It has to be. It’s on your map and here it is, I found it,” she said smugly, getting out of the car and walking towards the front door.

“I found it,” he mouthed, mocking her as he followed her to the house.

Stephanie rang the doorbell and before long a tall, middle aged woman dressed in a long floral outfit opened the door. Stephanie informed her politely that they had been sent there to see Mr Carlton and to show their support for the political campaign. The woman invited them into the large, rather dark, but expensively furnished hall, and led them through to a more cheerfully decorated lounge, where she offered them a seat while she went to find the owners.

Tom turned to look at Stephanie when the woman had left. She was sitting bolt upright, gazing out of the window, her legs crossed, her hands linked on one of her knees on top of her long, straight, efficient looking skirt. She looked as if she had been brought up in a place like that; she fitted right into the image. He could imagine her nanny telling her to sit up straight and cross her legs like a lady.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” the woman apologised, re-entering the room in a rush. “And I’m even more sorry to have to tell you that Mr Carlton is not available at the moment, he is in a meeting elsewhere. But if you’d like to leave a contact number, I’ll make sure that he gets back to you.”

Stephanie opened her handbag and took out a diary. She jotted down a telephone number, ripped the page out, and rose off the sofa to hand it to the woman.

“Thank you, we’d appreciate it,” Staphanie said, following the woman back out into the hall.

“I’ll be sure to tell Mr Carlton that you called,” the woman assured them, ushering them towards the front door.

Tom turned away from the house and descended the steps, heading for Stephanie’s car. When he reached the car however and turned to talk to Stephanie, he realised that she wasn’t behind him. He just caught sight of her disappearing around the back of the house and he sped after her. What the hell did she think she was doing?

Stephanie was intrigued by what she had seen out of the lounge window. Something was going on at the rear of the gardens. Vans, cars and all number of people had moved around the back of the house and down the gravel pathway. She’d just take a quick look; after al,l she really didn’t want to leave the house that day without having achieved anything.

Once around the back of the house, Stephanie could see a white van partly concealed by some foliage, and parked at the end of the path some five hundred metres away where there seemed to be a group of people gathered. She moved cautiously forward, taking a second path, which veered from the first, and ran to, and along the hedge concealing the van. Presently, she heard the sound of tyres on gravel and turned to see another car heading for the back of the garden. Her heartbeat increased, but she kept her cool and strolled forward confidently, hoping that whoever was in the car would think that she was supposed to be there. The path on which she was walking was a fair distance from the car now, so it was possible that she wouldn’t even be noticed. Finally, she reached the hedge and stopped to peer through it. She was just trying to see into the thick foliage when to her horror the air around her seemed to explode into sudden sound. There was a movement in the hedge, and she stumbled backwards in shock, just before a series of loud shots could be heard. Realization dawned on her: she was being fired at.

Tom heard the shot and his first instinct was to duck. But when the second rally of shots occurred, his concern was more for Stephanie than himself, especially when he noticed that she had apparently frozen and was an easy target. He darted across the lawn, taking the quickest route to her, but not necessarily the safest for himself. Get down damn it! Move! His heart thundered as the shots stopped and he anticipated the next round. He reached her just as the shooting began again, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her to the ground. He held her down whilst she screamed and struggled.

“It’s me. It’s Tom. Stop struggling,” he exclaimed. Stephanie twisted her head and looked up at him. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” he urged, pulling her up off the floor and shielding her as they made a run for it along the line of the hedge. The shots continued, but Stephanie kept pace with Tom, too terrified to look up, until they reached the border of the garden at the side of the house. Tom dragged Stephanie through the thick greenery and helped her over a wooden fence, practically throwing her over it before he joined her on the other side. They stood for a few moments, battling to get enough air back into their lungs.

“Are you out of you’re mind? What the hell was that all about?” he demanded to know.

Stephanie’s mind was in turmoil. Everything had happened so fast. “There’s something going on back there,” she said defensively.

“You don’t say,” he came back sarcastically. “You’re going to explain to me exactly what you thought you were doing, and then you and I are going to have serious words. But in the meantime, we have to get away from here…and fast!”