A Devil Is Waiting - Jack Higgins [42]
“All right, so I didn’t.”
“And we both know why. While you were making sure Sara was okay, they were able to leg it. She is all right, isn’t she?”
“So you care, do you?”
“Of course I do.”
“I’ll tell her that. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
“She’s not still there, is she?”
“She felt like having a hot bath after what happened. I’ll be taking her home shortly.” Roper burst into laughter, and Holley said, “What’s so funny?”
“You are, Daniel, I’ll see you at noon tomorrow. Say good night to Sara for me.”
A moment later, she walked in wearing a terry-cloth robe. “The bath was lovely.”
Holley said, “You’re not dressed. Don’t you want to go home?”
“On a night like this? It’s pouring out there and I’d be alone. Sadie’s gone to Manchester to see her niece, who’s just had a baby girl, and she’ll be staying for a few days. I thought you wouldn’t mind me sleeping over in the second bedroom, the smaller one you never told me about. I see the maid has only turned down the covers on yours. I’d better go and sort the other one out.”
Suddenly, she looked very tired indeed, the stress finally catching up with her, and although she would never admit it to him, her leg was really hurting.
“Just take the master bedroom,” Holley told her. “I’ll be fine.”
“Thanks, Daniel, I believe I will. I’ve got such a headache. You wouldn’t have something for that, would you?”
“As it happens, I do. I’ll get it for you.” He went to his study, got two pills from his field service kit, went into the bedroom with a glass of water, and found her already under the covers, her head raised on a pillow.
“These act incredibly quickly, and they’ll help you sleep.”
She got them down and put the glass on a side table. “Sometimes I hate men, Daniel. What absolute bastards those guys were. A woman on her own on a dark street, and a cripple into the bargain. That just about sums them up.”
He sat beside her on the bed and held her hand. “With a pistol in her hand and ready to use it. That creep doesn’t realize he’s lucky to be alive.”
She managed a smile and touched his face. “Poor Daniel. I’m a problem for you, aren’t I?”
“A nice problem. Just go to sleep.”
She closed her eyes, and he sat there until her hand slipped away. Only then did he quietly leave the room.
They arrived at Holland Park in good time for the noon meeting, to find that it had been canceled. They found only Roper and Dillon enjoying a cup of tea together in the computer room.
“What’s going on?” Holley asked.
“Ferguson and Miller have been called for a Cabinet Office discussion about Ali Selim.”
“Is there anything to suggest he’s left the country?” Dillon asked.
“No, but I’d say it’s a strong possibility,” Roper told him. “Think of the times you’ve been involved with beating the air traffic control system, dropping in and out again from some decaying airfield deep in the countryside.”
“True enough,” Dillon said. “He could be over the English Channel in a small plane inside two hours, and once in France, transfer to a jet, and the world’s his oyster.”
“There was a chance that the President’s Secret Service people would persuade him to cancel and carry straight on to Paris, though that would have left the Prime Minister with egg on his face.”
“But he’s still coming?” Sara asked.
“Insisted on it, but the Prime Minister is as incandescent on the whole matter as Ferguson is with you two,” Roper carried on.
“You told him about last night?” Holley said.
“Come off it, Daniel,” Dillon put in. “Club rules, old son. Even if the threat is only a possibility, it’s the kind of thing that touches us all. An attempted mugging is one thing, assault as a result of being targeted is something else again. Roper’s right—you should have squeezed the truth out of one of them.”
“Just shut up, the both of you.” Sara was angry. “It wasn’t Daniel’s fault. So those two guys were pretty foul, but I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I was being childish and stupid. The truth is this is a whole different world I’ve been plunged into.”
Dillon put an arm about her shoulders.