Road Kill

together. As we moved into the main cabin I got that same watched feeling down my spine and paused, scanning the crowd again.

“What is it?” Sean asked.

“I just can’t help getting the feeling somebody’s keeping an eye on us,” I muttered. “It’s probably just me being paranoid.”

“I don’t think so,” Sean said. “You go ahead. I think I’ll do a quick recce.”

When Jamie and I walked back into First Class, the others turned and looked at us.

“Can’t leave him alone, eh, Charlie?” William said. “We saw you out there.”

“Who’s the guy?” Daz asked quietly. He’d gone very still, the way some people do when they’re very angry. He was staring intently at me.

“That’s Sean,” I said carefully. “I work for him. I didn’t know he was coming and I didn’t invite him.” But I’m bloody glad he’s here.

“You work for him?” Tess said with scorn in her voice. “Looking at the two of you I bet I can guess what form the interview took.”

“I bet you can’t,” I bit back.

I still had the two spent 9mm rounds I’d put myself in the path of to save Sean’s life. Two slightly flattened copper mushrooms. I had them with me now, in fact. They were in the top pocket of my leather jacket like some kind of good luck charm, but I wasn’t about to show them to her.

“What’s he riding?” Daz wanted to know.

“A mate’s lent him a Blackie,” I said.

William raised his eyebrows. “I say, steady on old girl,” he drawled, exaggerating his educated accent. “Don’t want to offend the coloured chappies, what?”

“OK – it’s a Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird,” I said and he grinned at me.

“Well, the bike should be quick enough, but what about the rider?” Daz said.

“Hang on a minute. That’s not the point,” Paxo snapped. “The rest of us had to earn our place on this trip.” He let his gaze skate over Tess with hardly a flicker. “We can’t just let someone muscle in on—”

“But that is just the point,” Daz cut in. “He looks like muscle and maybe we could do with some of that, hmm? It doesn’t mean he has to be part of anything, does it?”

“Part of what?” I said.

I almost think they’d forgotten I was there. They fell into silence that went on long enough that I was just about to growl in frustration when Jamie piped up.

“You said Sean was your boss,” he said suddenly, as though he’d only just caught up with that part of the conversation. “Does that mean he’s in close protection, too?”

I nodded, glancing round at the others, but only Tess looked surprised at this bit of news. He’d obviously told the rest of them something of the conversation we’d had outside the hospital, when I’d first broken the news to Jamie that Clare wanted me to bodyguard him. Daz’s face took on a shrewd air of calculation.

“There you go,” he said, as if that settled things. “Like I said – this boy could be useful.”

Any further discussion on the subject was cut short by the arrival of Sean himself. He picked up on the atmosphere as soon as he came into the room but didn’t comment on it. On the surface he seemed friendly and relaxed. I was probably the only one who spotted the tell-tale minute shift in stance, the slight narrowing of those coal-black eyes. And then only because I was expecting to see the almost negligible controlled reaction.

Daz sat back in his chair and studied Sean as he approached, head on one side. “So you’re Sean Meyer,” he said, his voice rippling with undercurrents. “We’ve been hearing a lot about you.”

“Really?” Sean said easily. “Well, same applies.”

Daz looked momentarily discomfited, then he smiled slightly. “I understand you’re in the same line of work as Charlie here.”

“That’s right.”

“So, you’ve been to Ireland before? Only, I expect we could do with someone who knows his way around, so to speak.”

Jamie, silent until this point, started to protest, as well he might. Daz’s words were an insult to his own local knowledge – if you took them purely at face value. But Daz had been talking between the lines and he silenced Jamie with a single barbed glance.

“I’ve spent a little time over the other side of the water, yes,” Sean said then, softly. “I reckon I know my way around fairly well.”

Daz nodded, as if that was the answer he’d been expecting, more or less.

“OK,” he said, giving Sean a sudden dazzling smile. “You’re in.”

Paxo made a sound of disgust at this apparent capitulation, which was echoed by Jamie. William just sat, his broad face impassive, as though he had no opinion on the subject one way or another.

“You can’t do that, Daz,” Tess said, sounding furious. “You can’t just—”

“I think you’ll find I can do anything I like,” Daz said. “Everybody needs everybody else, here.”

Tess gave a noisy sigh, shot to her feet and stormed out. Her flouncy exit was somewhat spoiled by a sudden lurch from the ship, which gave her a drunken stagger halfway to the door.