Free THE PRIZE by Sean O'Kane Page B

found the door to the flat partly open. Suddenly furious that anyone would invade her lover's territory and ignoring the possibility of burglars, Karen stormed in. A smartly dressed man of about her own age was bending over the table in the lounge and sorting through the mail. He straightened up as she entered and looked her calmly in the eye.
    "Who a re you?" he asked.
    "I could ask you the same!" she retorted hotly.
    He reached into the back pocket of his smartly - pressed trousers and produced an ID card which he held out for her inspection. It announced the bearer to be Brian Holden, an employee of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
    "I don't understand. What's Ayesha got to do with you?" she asked.
    "Nothing, except that we’re after her boss. She was informing us about the jobs she was doing and what she thought he was up to. I was assigned to liaise with her."
    "But she worked for my.........I mean.......you're after John!?" Karen felt her face go ashen and her legs wobble as the information sank in.
    The man came forward and helped her into a seat.
    "Maybe you'd better tell me where you fit into all this," he suggested. Karen sought for words and then burst out laughing.
    "I think you'd better fix us both a drink. I fit into this very snugly indeed, believe me!"
    Cradling a weak whisky and water she told her story and it was the man's turn to go pale.
    "Let me get this straight. You and Ayesha de la Tour were having an affair, you were both swindling Sir John - your own husband - but Ayesha hadn't got around to telling you about her involvement with us and that we were closing in on him." He paused and shook his head. "You're a nice bunch of people," he concluded.
    "Think what you like but believe me I only know the hotel business. What else he gets up to is his own business. Now, where's Ayesha?"
    The man was now sitting opposite her and looking at her speculatively. "So you're Karen Fitzgerald. There was no photo in the file and we've no reason to be on your trail. His illegal operations seem to be undertaken when he's away from home and there's no sign of you being involved."
    "So where's Ayesha?"
    "I've no idea. I was hoping you might know. You were.......close to her, after all."
    Karen shifted uncomfortably under his steady gaze. "All I know is she was flying out to the Middle East and was due back weeks ago."
    "But is that all you know?"
    "Yes! What is this, a bloody interrogation?"
    "I could make it one," the man sat forward suddenly and pinned her with his dark brown eyes. Karen shrank back, aware for the first time that she was alone with a man who looked to be physically very strong and who was in a position to make her life very uncomfortable.
    "I searched the bedroom," he said. "I did it weeks ago of course. Today was just to see if there was anything new in the post, or if I'd missed anything."
    Karen's mouth went dry and her heart pounded.
    "Would you like me to interrogate you? I bet there's more a depraved tart like you could tell me!"
    "How dare you!" Karen tried to sound firm and arrogantly furious; instead her voice came out as a pathetic warble.
    "You're very attractive, you know. And so's Ayesha of course," the man sat back and smiled a slow dangerous smile.” A man in my position could enjoy interrogating women like you."
    Karen swallowed nervously and became aware of her pulse racing. There was something devastatingly attractive about this man. It wasn't just physical, although he was good looking, it was the power he wielded. Karen had always been attracted to power, it was why she had married Sir John, but then she had found out that all he wanted was a bit of arm candy and in revenge had set out to use him for all she could get. The casual way Ayesha used her body to gain power over people had also been a powerful aphrodisiac.
    Suddenly it seemed like years ago that she had been in this very flat and had been as excited as she was now. A hot ache seemed to have settled around her