Page 45 of Tell No One
It was just sex. That was all. Good sex.
Delaney gathered everything together, including the two glasses of wine. He tipped them down the sink and washed up. It was habit to make everything look as if no one was there, as if no one had even recently been there. He closed the windows and doors, locked up, then took his laptop from its hiding place and went upstairs.
The shower in the main bathroom was still going. He pushed open the door just a little way and saw the shape of Tag behind the steamed-up glass. His fucking cock twitched and it made him want to hit something. Hit Tag for throwing him out of sync. Hit himself for being a dick. Delaney backed away and went into his own room. He sat on the bed, staring at nothing, waiting for the noise of the shower to stop.
Eventually it did. He heard the squeak of the shower door, then the sound of Tag towelling himself dry, followed by him brushing his teeth. He wondered if Tag would come to his room, despite what he’d told him, but he didn’t. The guest room door closed and Delaney exhaled.
It was for the best. Delaney would end up killing him, either accidentally or on purpose.
He took a shower himself, then dropped onto his bed still wet and turned on his laptop. There was no automatic connection to the house’s wi-fi. He’d use his adapter to go online, but first he wanted to read the contents of that USB. Except, there was an email from Henry waiting with information about Tag, the details of which made Delaney feel a mixture of angry and sad. But feelings had no place in this game. Time was of the essence.
There was a mixture of zip files, folders, separate docs and spreadsheets. The titles were in some sort of shorthand. He clicked on a folder labelled MMWE. One doc in there was about murder-mystery weekends at Harborne House. Another zip file had photos. But of nothing alarming. There were too many files for him to check. But he kept looking. What he was interested in was what was of value to Henry.
The names of people meant nothing to Delaney until he saw one that did, and he was shocked. Flynn Carlton was not just a member of Parliament; he was a minister in the current cabinet. And as it turned out, someone whose sexual predilections were not mainstream. It made pony play look tame. Delaney swallowed in discomfort.Shit.There were photographs that did alarm. Pictures of men doing all sorts of things or having things done to them, Flynn Carlton fisting someone, and there was no way of knowing if the guy being fisted was happy or not.
Delaney eventually found a file with his name and photos, all of which had been carefully planted online. Vadim Morozov. It looked as if his legend had been accepted. There was a photo and details on Hassan Fayad too. Oil business. Who in Saudi wasn’t in the oil business?
Eventually, Delaney shut his laptop down and put it and his phones on charge. He was too tired to keep reading.
When Delaney came awake, it was still dark. He lay still and listened, though his hand had slid to the gun under the pillow next to him. What had awakened him? Tag going to the bathroom? He caught the sound of a faint crunch, someone stepping on gravel, and instantly he was wide awake.Fuck!He slid into his trousers and shoes and moved out of the room with his gun.
He registered Tag’s door was open. Maybe it had been Tag outside, but then he heard a noise downstairs in the kitchen. The ice maker. Followed by the sound of breaking glass coming from a different direction.Shit.
Tag was desperate for something cold to drink. Even sleeping naked with no sheet, he was too hot. He’d put on last night’s T-shirt and boxers and sneaked downstairs. He took a glass from the cupboard, put it into the opening on the fridge and pressed it against the back panel. What a luxury! Blades churned, then ice clattered down.Damn that’s noisy!But too late now if it had woken Delaney. Tag half-filled the glass with ice, then pressed the button for water. He’d taken one gulp when he heard someone in the lounge. So ithadwoken Delaney. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to face him. He was still feeling hurt. Fine to be fucked but not wanted in his bed. He turned his back on him and took another swallow of water.
The blow caught him just as he turned, a strike that sent Tag reeling to the floor, the glass shattering. When he looked up, there was a gun pointed at him.
“What—” He managed no more than that before the gunman grabbed the neck of his T-shirt and tightened the material like a garotte. Tag couldn’t breathe and struggled to get free, fighting to get the man’s hand off his throat.
“Shut the fuck up,” his attacker ordered.
Tag stopped trying to pull the man’s hand away from his neck and instead brought his foot up hard between his legs. It was enough to make him let go, but not enough to disable him. Now the guy was hitting and thumping him, but Tag kept fighting until the gun was jammed into his ear. He cried out in pain and stopped moving.
“Keep still and keep your fucking mouth shut,” the man hissed.
He pulled Tag across the kitchen floor by his hair and although Tag had been trying not to make a noise, now he couldn’t help himself. But Delaney’s voice drowned out his yelp.
“Let him go.”
The gun was pushed back into Tag’s ear and Tag cried out in pain.
“Drop it or he’s dead,” the man said.
Tag gasped as a gun went off. For a moment, he thought he’d been hit, that this was the single fraction of a second he’d get before he died. But his attacker dropped to the floor next to him. There was anotherphutsound and Tag looked desperately for Delaney. He was still on his feet, his gun pointing in a different direction. When Tag looked across, he saw another man lying on the floor.
What the hell?
“I need to see if there’s just the two of them,” Delaney whispered.
Tag crawled away from the guy lying next to him who was obviously dead.Oh God.Tag was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering. He wrapped his arms around himself and touched something on his back that made him flinch. He realised a sliver of glass was embedded in his skin.
Delaney came back into the room. “All clear. Are you okay?”
“My back.”
“Your ear’s bleeding.”
Tag touched it and winced. Delaney grabbed kitchen roll, came up behind him and pulled the glass out of his back. Tag pressed his lips together to stop himself yelping. Delaney held the paper towel on his skin and put his chin on Tag’s head.
