In the bar, Dave sat with a brandy, he was mulling over the conversation, he tried to think if he had missed anything, he was sure he hadn’t. He climbed off the barstool, said goodnight to the barman and walked up the stairs to their room. Sally was sleeping, he tried to be as quiet as he could, she stirred when the bathroom light was put on, but didn’t waken. In bed, he lay on his back, his eyes were closed, but he wasn’t sleeping. Sally rolled towards him, her warm leg lay across his, her arm on his chest. Sleep came quickly, the last two days had been exhausting.
He was woken by a kiss, Sally was up and had made coffee. “How did it go? I went to sleep waiting for you.” “Very well, I, or rather we, have a new employer. I will tell you all as we are having breakfast.” “What about the surprise you promised me?” “That’s for later.” Over breakfast Sally was brought up to date with the conversation, “did she make a pass at you, I thought she wanted me out the way so the two of you could have a shag.” She was laughing as she spoke. “I’m not her type, she would have you in preference to me.” “She messed up my plans for last night, after the meal I wanted to be with you. What are we doing today?” “I think we will walk across the road and, sit in the park doing nothing until lunchtime, then perhaps you will get your surprise.” Upstairs Sally hung the ‘Do not Disturb’ notice on the outside of the door. “Time to make up for last night.” They were both undressed and in bed moments later. At 11.30 they were sitting on a bench in Green Park, the noise of the traffic could hardly be heard, Dave and Sally were people watching. Comments were being made about everyone. His phone pinged, “not on a bloody Saturday, can’t you switch it off?” “Let me answer this message, it’s to do with your surprise.” They returned to people watching. “Don’t look now, there is a funny couple walking this way from my direction, keep looking straight ahead, I will tell you when to turn.” Dave paused for a few seconds, “OK now,” Sally turned to see Olivia and Michael walking towards them. She jumped up and ran over to Olivia, they hugged like two people who hadn’t seen each other for ages. “What are you doing here, how come you are in London.” Olivia pointed to Dave, “surprise,” she now turned and hugged Dave, “I love you,” she whispered in his ear. “Thanks for coming,” Dave was now speaking to Michael, Sally had returned to Olivia, she was asking if they were staying the night and if so, where. “Were on the floor below you, Dave organised it all.” Sally wanted to know when he had done it, Michael said it had all been done yesterday afternoon and evening. “Shall we find a pub for a drink and some lunch,” It was Michael’s suggestion. They crossed back over Piccadilly and walked up a side street. They found a pub that did food, Michael insisted on paying for the drinks and the food. Sally was busy telling Olivia she had been in Downing Street yesterday and met the Prime Minister. She took out her phone to show a disbelieving Olivia a picture of her pass. “What the fuck were you doing there?” Dave looked across the table, “I can’t say, it’s secret.” Michael and Dave were at the bar ordering more drinks, “Were you there yesterday?” Dave nodded, “I’m not prying, but is any of the stuff on the front page of the papers and all over the news anything to do with you?” “I don’t know, I haven’t seen a paper or switched on the TV in our room. I’ll have to check it out later.” Olivia asked what was the plan for after lunch. “There is no plan, I only organised the accommodation, nothing else, do you want to go shopping, Michael and I might stay here for a while and then wander back to the hotel, over dinner this evening we can talk about tomorrow.” With that all agreed and lunch finished they split up. Dave and Michael sat talking, they got on well considering this was only the second time they had met. After a few drinks Michael asked if he could say something to Dave without him taking offence, he also said he understood if he didn’t want to answer.
“My father worked in Military Intelligence, he was stationed at Garats Hay, near to our house. I know the stress he was under and his frustration at not being able to discuss his work with anyone not involved. He never told my mother anything, fortunately she understood. You have Sally who I understand is working with you and you can discuss stuff with her, all I am saying is, I realise the pressures you are under and if you ever need to let off steam or want to get away from everything, you are very welcome to come round. I won’t ever ask you what you are doing.” “Thank you for that, there is pressure, that’s why I left, I was recalled as an outsider looking in, things escalated from there, I uncovered a lot of bad stuff.” “Are you now back in the army?” “No, I am working as a consultant on a freelance basis. Only called in as and when required. I was one of the best at my job when I left, I am still the best they have, brains and brawn, a winning combination. I’m sure I will take you up on your offer. Sally and I hope to have a holiday now we have some spare time.” “You make a good couple.”
The rest of the time in the pub was spent chatting about football, rugby, decent pubs to visit and the trials and tribulations at Michael’s business. Dave offered to give him a hand anytime he was short staffed, he said it would make a change from Ubering.
They wandered back to the hotel. Sally and Olivia were waiting for them, there were shopping bags everywhere. Sally jumped on Dave as soon as the room door was shut. “Thank you for my surprise, I would never have guessed.” She was now kissing him. He pulled himself away, “how much did you tell Olivia?” “Nothing.” Dave looked her straight in the face. “Just a little bit, she kept asking me.” “What did you tell her?” His voice was that low questioning tone, “I said about meeting the Prime Minister and it was all to do with sex, I didn’t say any more than that.” She was now crying, “I’ve let you down I’m so sorry.” She turned and ran into the bathroom, Dave left her for a minute before opening the door, “come out here.” She did as she was told and sat on a chair Dave pointed to. She was still sobbing, he left her there for a moment before pulling up another chair to sit directly opposite her. “Stop crying and wipe your eyes. I knew you would tell her, I could see how excited you were. I was the same after my first success. I will say nothing more about what happened, I know you won’t do it again.” He lent over and kissed her. “I’m expecting a fashion show of everything you have bought.” “you’re not going to see everything, I might have a surprise for you later.” As they were getting ready for dinner, she assured Dave that it wouldn’t happen again. “I know,” was all he replied.
They all met in the bar before dinner, Michael passed over a copy of the Daily Mail to Dave. The headline read ‘Spy Found Inside Govt. Building. There were columns about the meeting yesterday and how the Defence Secretary had flown back from his holiday to attend, there was a lot of waffle and speculation but very little in the way of hard facts. The only part of the story, which was also on pages four and five, Dave could see was true, was a statement released from a ‘government spokesman’.
‘During recent checks, a former employee in a government department was found to be in communication with an agent of a foreign country. A meeting was held this afternoon to discuss any possible security implications. There will be no further updates to this communication’. The paper was full of wild speculation and guesswork. “Where, when and who and more column inches on which country it might be. He passed the paper on to Sally when he had finished. “Who spoke to the papers?” “It’s a selective release, if they had said nothing, the papers would have made it up, the story would have run for days, this way with a release of very little information, the editors are happy.” The paper was left on the table when they went through to the restaurant, there was plenty of laughing and joking throughout the meal. It was going much better than the dinner party a couple of weeks ago. When they had finished, it was back into the bar for a last drink. There had been a discussion about where to go tomorrow, it was a choice between Covent Garden, a river cruise or a trip to the top of The Shard. It would be decided over breakfast. There was much kissing and hugging as they left the bar. In the room, Sally asked if she could put off showing him the surprise she had for him. “I need to be next to you right now.” “Come on then get into bed,” He was coming out the bathroom naked as he spoke.” Sally wasted no time, she too returned from the bathroom naked. Dave was half sitting up in bed, she climbed on top of him and lay her head against his chest. “What’s up? There’s something wrong, if it’s about speaking to Olivia, that’s forgotten.” She shook her head, he could feel tears on his chest. “Sit up, nothing is going to be sorted like this,” He pulled the corner of the duvet up to wipe away the tears, “What is it? We have just had a great evening, I hope I didn’t say anything to upset you,” She went to the bathroom and returned with a glass of water, gulping it down, she coughed. The glass was left on the bedside table, she climbed onto the bed and sat on Dave’s legs facing him. “I’ve had a fantastic time tonight, I’m with the person I love, have had dinner with my best friend and her husband, but I’m scared.” Dave went to speak but she put her hand over his mouth, “What started out as fun between us, very quickly developed into where we are now, “I lied to you months ago, the first time we slept together, if things hadn’t worked out the way they have, then my lie wouldn’t matter, but it does, it matters a Hell of a lot.” The tears had returned, she leaned over to reach the glass, Dave wondered what the lie was and when she would tell him, he thought she was struggling to find the right words. “Can you turn out the light please, I don’t want you seeing me when I tell you.” It was Dave’s turn to lean out the bed, the room was now in darkness. “I love you, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone, my feelings for you won’t change, however if you don’t want to stay with me, then I will understand, I will hate it, but understand.” Her breathing was shallow and her voice was panicky, he held her hands hoping to re-assure her. “I lied to you that first night when you asked me if I was on the pill, I said I was, I lied, I don’t need to take it, I can’t have children.” With that the crying became uncontrollable, she buried her face into Dave’s chest and cried. He put his arms round her, “Sally, I love you, this won’t change anything, sit up and let me wipe away your tears. As she moved, he shifted his position to allow them to kiss. They remained that way in a tight embrace until she had calmed down and stopped crying. “Do you want to talk about it, or shall we leave it for another day?” “No, I want to tell you everything,” Sally moved to be lying next to Dave, she pulled the duvet up to her neck. “Don’t touch me until I have finished, this is really hard for me, there will be more tears. It was when I was married, we wanted to start a family, but nothing was happening, we both had tests, I don’t have any eggs, I cannot conceive unless I use an egg from a donor, if we did that then I wouldn’t be the biological mother, the baby would have none of my traits. He blamed me, said it was all my fault, he called me some really nasty names. The marriage was all but over then, we stayed together, but we never made love again after that discovery. He no longer loved me, I still had feelings for him. When he was killed, I fell apart, my world came crashing down around me. You were the first person I let back into my bed. I saw you were a kind and caring person and I hoped if the relationship grew, I could tell you and you would understand. However, the stronger my feelings for you became, the more I worried that you would be like my husband and dump me.” He leaned over and gently kissed her on the cheek. “When I spoke to Olivia about it this afternoon, she said you would understand, she said she could see how much you loved me.” “She’s right, I do love you, your confession changes nothing, I have no strong desire to be a parent, I’m selfish, I like the way we are, we can do what we want, without having to think. Sally, I don’t know what the right words are to make you understand that my love for you is unconditional. I hadn’t had a serious relationship with anyone before you and I don’t know what else to say to make you realise I’m staying with you.” With that, he lay on his back next to Sally. She turned to face him, her leg automatically lying across his.
It was Sunday morning, Sally brought two cups of coffee to the bed, Dave sat up and saw the time. “It’s only 07.00, what are you doing up so early?” “I want to talk.” “Didn’t you do enough last night?” “I want to know if you meant what you said last night,” “every single word of it.” “I have one last question, if I asked you to marry me, what would be your answer?” “Hang on, that’s a Hell of a question for someone who has just woken up, and isn’t it me who is supposed to ask you? My answer would be, ‘yes, but’.” She hadn’t been looking at him but now turned to face him, “What do you mean by that.” “Yes, I will marry you, but now is not the right time, when I have finished the work I am doing then you can plan whatever type of wedding you like and I will be a very happy groom.” “You don’t mind about what I said last night?” “Please don’t ask me about it again. If you want to talk about it, I will listen and help in any way I can, but please don’t ask me whether I still love you because of it, I do love you, my feelings haven’t changed from how I felt this time yesterday morning. Now, if you don’t have any other questions, or anything else you can think to do for the next couple of hours, I am going to close my eyes.” She waited until he was comfortable in bed, took of her dressing gown and lay down next to him.
At breakfast it was decided that the river cruise and then a visit to Covent Garden would be enough. Just before 12.00, Dave and Sally were down sitting in reception, they had given their bags to the porter for safekeeping until they returned. When Michael and Olivia came down, he took the room cards to reception and asked for the bill. “Mr. Stretton has already settled it sir.” When all four were together, he thanked Dave for the weekend. “Thank you for making it fun, Sally and I are pleased you were able to come.
They walked through a much quieter London, the commentary on the river cruise was informative and entertaining, it had only lasted an hour, In Covent Garden, it was packed, there were buskers everywhere, some much better than others. It was only when they saw some of the stalls closing up, they realised the time, it was 17.00. Michael hailed a taxi to take them back to the hotel, with their luggage retrieved he asked if they were taking the train back to Loughborough. Dave explained that they had made a stop in Beaconsfield on the way down and their car was in the station car park. There was more hugging and kissing as they split up and left the hotel in separate taxis. Once in the car and on their way home, Dave’s thoughts turned to work, he ran through what he had to do tomorrow, Sally was dozing and missed most of the journey, it was near to 22.00 when he opened the front door and let Sally go in first. He carried the suitcases and the shopping upstairs, putting it in the bedroom Dave had first used. “Back to work for you tomorrow, will you ask for a week off and we will book a holiday, just the two of us.” “I’m looking forward to that, I will book the first available week.”
The following morning the first job was to wipe the laptops clear of all the information from the investigation. Dave knew the only way to make sure everything was fully removed was to format the hard drive several times. He judged that deleting the files would be sufficient. Next, he phoned the Brigadier, he wanted to tell him of the meeting he had with Jane Goodley on Friday night. He already knew, she had called him earlier, Dave re-assured the Brigadier that his first loyalty would always be to the MOD, “information I gain there, may be helpful.” In his emails was one from Jane Goodley, attached were forms that needed to be signed and returned, Dave signed where he had to and sent them back, he asked her to call him when she had a chance. Sally had left a shopping list on the kitchen table, he would rather do anything other than food shopping, however if he didn’t go, there would be nothing to eat. It was an hour and a half and near lunchtime before he was back. Sitting at the kitchen table eating, his phone rang. Jane Goodley was back to her brusque self, the friendliness of Friday night had gone. “Thank you for returning the paperwork, your hardware will be delivered tomorrow, please be in when it arrives.” “What are you sending me?” “A Glock 17, two boxes of shells and a computer.” “Don’t bother with the computer, it will be left in its box in the garage, I will use my own laptops.” “It’s standard issue,” “not to me, I don’t want you snooping into my investigations. I said on Friday I would report weekly, if you snoop, you may misinterpret anything you see.” She said she would cancel the computer. “What about the super user access across the government?” “I sought advice on this from the Home Secretary, you will be given access if I think it is justified, as soon as your investigation is completed, access will be removed.” Dave agreed, once he was in, he would find a way to retain access. That was it as far as work was concerned. Sally would be home soon, he had coffee ready for her when she came into the kitchen. She asked how today had gone before saying she could have the following week off, the university were flexible by a couple of days either way. “Right, laptops out tonight and we will find somewhere hot to spend a week, just the two of us.” Over dinner that evening, Dave admitted he had never been on holiday abroad, other than for ‘stag do’s’ and ‘lads weekends’,” “What, you’ve never been on holiday with a woman?” “Nope,” “bloody Hell, I’m going to enjoy this.” “I’ve got no holiday clothes either, we will need to do some shopping.” They agreed, as soon as the delivery had been made tomorrow, they would set off for the shops. He was looking forward to a break, time for him and Sally to be together, time to recharge his batteries and clear his mind, time to prepare for whatever was to come next.
© 10210ken 2024
