Free Knockout! A Passionate Police Romance by Emma Calin Page B

was a flaw in her nature and maybe she would have to pay for it again. She thought of holding him, the touch of his lips, his strong wide shoulders that filled her with desire and a sense of being protected. These few days now could be her entire life and there would be no regrets. She hugged the pillow and said his name over and over. Soon enough it would be another week and she would have to dig even deeper into the delicious hole that was beginning to swallow her.

Chapter 9
    The Monday morning conference came to order with Beaumont Locke performing his self important stand up and sit down ritual. A new face was at the table. Anna smiled as she recognized Deputy Assistant Commissioner Christine Jones who had overall command of the Interpol London bureau. She outranked Beaumont and both women knew each other from the streets of South London. She was in her fifties, handsome with cropped hair in a professional black pinstripe trouser suit, crisp white shirt and rugby club tie complete with red floppy hanky. She smiled at Anna with warmth that she knew was not entirely without meaning. She herself had chosen a plain deep cream suit, stockings and high heels. Her lips were deep red and her raven hair shone as it fell onto her shoulders. She had half expected to see Christine at the meeting and in view of her audacious plan had dressed to impress.
    Judy moved to Anna’s side.
    “The NCIS guy just lapped it all up and has done some research of his own. There’s money pouring on Freddie to lose.” She explained.
    “But why can’t he win - he’s the world champion after all?”
    “Because Brennan’s in his own back yard and the judges score the fight. In the States the most aggressive fighter can win even if he scores fewer points. Perhaps Freddie is in bed with these guys - but if he is why the hell is he swanning about trying to look like a loser. He needs to look like a winner but lose. The possibilities are infinite.” Said Judy with a shrug.
    “Freddie must know all this. Just why the hell is he taking this fight?” Asked Anna, mainly to herself.
    “That’s what you are going to find out honey.” Said Judy, patting her arm.
    The young detective gave a detailed briefing. It seemed bizarre to hear Freddie talked about as a suspect or at least an object of enquiry in a police case. The speaker did a brilliant job, making Freddie look like the key to the whole business and showing himself as a gifted crime analyst, enjoying his chance to shine in front of many possible patrons.
    Anna’s heart was racing, her mouth dry. She just had to stay calm to pull off this deal. The speaker brought his report to an end with the words:
    “Everything points to this forthcoming fight being manipulated by a group of New York criminals. Without inside information we cannot know if La Salle or Brennan are in on the deal, but Brennan is more or less owned by the good old traditional Mafia. As world champion he would be worth a huge amount of cash for future fights and the scrap with La Salle is worth forty million dollars in gambling alone. All the money is on Brennan to win but the odds now are just for Schmucks. All the serious bets went on at 20 to 1. Freddie is driving the odds on Brennan down... so crooks won’t be too pleased with him I suspect. A real gambler would back Freddie... but a guy out of training with a girl on each arm...well, that is a gamble.”
    “Do we know who killed the referee?”Asked Anna casually, reflecting she ought to know more about gambling.
    An FBI analyst stood to answer.
    “We can’t prove a thing but we do have information from a Jersey cab driver that a hood called Tondelli used his garage to torture him before killing him. No one outside the police knows this as far as we know.”
    Anna nodded her thanks. At least the geek was up to speed. There was a short silence, broken by Christine Jones.
    “Great - so we have a foot on the ladder. We can get the FBI on Brennan. As for La Salle, his