Man of Mystery: A BBW Romantic Suspense (2 page)

“Give me a moment.”

I turn to find the stranger looking at a phone-type device, just fatter, like a handheld satnav thing for hikers. My ex had something similar he took on hikes.

“Four. Terminal 4.”

“Great.” I put my foot down as I join the A30, all the while keeping an eye on my speed which is close to touching fifty miles an hour. “How much time do we have?”

“Not much. Do your best,” he says, while giving me a quick pat on the shoulder. I don’t know whether it’s the adrenaline coursing through my body or the fact that actually he’s pretty hot for a crazy person, but his touch has an instant effect on me. I must be losing my mind to let this guy affect me at all.

“Fine. But if I get a ticket, I’m telling them you drove. I’ve got two speeding tickets in the last year already, and the insurance company will have me over a barrel if I get more,” I ramble, my voice trembling slightly.

He lets out a chuckle and pats my shoulder again. “Deal. Now go.”

He was right, once I put my mind to it, our progress towards Heathrow has greatly improved. I know the way like the back of my hand, even if I still compulsively slow down at the speed camera leading up to the Terminal 4 ramp. I’m in this now, whether I want to be or not, but still I’m not willing to blatantly speed through a speed trap.

“We’ll reach it soon, then what? Do I park up or what?”

I check my mirror, seeing that he’s sitting upright now, staring out the rear window.

“Actually, let me out just there.” He points at the mini roundabout ahead of us. “The cargo is headed for flight SV118 departing for Riyadh at eighteen-fifty. I’m going to try and intercept it. Pull over.”

I slam on the brakes and turn to face him properly. His face is tense yet determined, as he gazes ahead through the metal fence surrounding the cargo area ahead of us.

“What’s your name?” he asks, leaning forward and making eye contact again.

“Tess…” I mumble, severely distracted by the green depths in front of me again. Shit, why do I have a knack for attracting crazies? He’s handsome, though, the strong jawline, dark brown hair, and symmetrical features are practically perfect. He could be a model or an actor. Could all this just be an act?

“Tess. I know I’m asking a lot of you, but your country needs you.” He pauses, his eyes lingering on my lips for a moment. “We can’t let the plane leave. Give me your phone.”

I hand it to him without protest. How is it that his eyes can hypnotize me like this? Shit, I must be desperate to be so easily distracted by a handsome guy in a suit. Once all this is over, I’m going to get Maggie to set me up with someone. She’s been offering for weeks.

The stranger types a number into my phone and hits ‘dial’, then gives it back to me.

“I need you to go into the terminal and keep an eye on the departures board. If I’m successful, it will show up as delayed. If not, then you’ll see its status change to ‘boarding’ at around eighteen-twenty. If that’s the case, I need you to call in a bomb threat to shut down the terminal. Do you understand?” He reaches out for my cheek, caressing it with the back of his finger and causing even more upheaval inside my stomach. This has got to be a dream, even if it feels totally real.

I nod, though. If the plane boards, I call the airport with a bomb threat. Sounds easy.

“Wait, why don’t you just report a bomb threat anyway? Why go through all this nonsense?” I ask.

He smiles briefly, pulling his hand back. “If I go in by myself, I may be able to detain some of the people involved. They may have intel. If I call it in now, and the airport gets shut down, they’ll run, and we may never know who was behind it.”

That makes sense, I guess.

I nod. “Fine. I’ll go in.”

“I’ll be in touch if it went well.”

“And if not?” I ask.

“Chances are, then I’ll be dead.”

He pushes his gun back into a holster on his calf, then opens the door and jumps out of the car, runs towards the fence and swiftly climbs over the top of it as if it’s nothing. He must really keep fit to be able to do that. I wouldn’t even make it halfway up, I’m sure.

I have to force myself to stop looking at him sprinting over the concrete beyond the fence, towards the hangars in the distance, and re-join the road. Following the instructions to the terminal parking, I leave my car in the first space I can find.

Once inside, I’m overwhelmed by the amount of people, shops, bright lights, boards. The earlier events in my car seem weirder and more unlikely than ever. After taking a moment to find my bearings, I make my way towards the first departures board I can find. It’s only seventeen-twenty, plenty of time for him—whatever his name is—to stop the flight, right?

I was quick to agree to call in about a bomb when he pressed me in the car, but now that I’m on my own again, I’m not so sure. If I use my phone, they’ll trace it and know it was me; perhaps I should use a pay phone. But then I’m sure they’d have me on security cameras, so if I don’t want to get in trouble afterward, I’ll need a disguise.

I’m still undecided regarding what to do when my phone buzzes once. A message. Just as I’m about to open it, I see a familiar figure near the terminal entrance. The guy from the bus stop.

Damn, the stranger was right. All the buses stopping at the spot where this guy waited are going toward the city, not the airport, yet here he is. He
was
after us. Luckily the bad guy hasn’t spotted me yet, so I casually slip away behind a pillar and quickly check the message.

Maggie:
Alec cancelled on me, he’s got the flu. Still want to meet up
?

I let out a sigh of relief. I don’t know what I was expecting this message to be. A quick peek around the pillar reveals the bad guy has started wandering off towards the security check. It should be safe to respond:

Later. Stuck in traffic
.

Moments later, it buzzes again; that’ll be Maggie acknowledging my delay. I don’t bother checking it; instead, I look for a seat in one of the coffee shops overlooking yet another departures board. From here, I’ll be able to keep an eye on things without standing out. I order a latte and grab a newspaper from the stand in the corner. After settling down with everything, I feel like I’m on a proper stakeout. As if I’m looking out for bad guys rather than just a stupid board with flight information.

Minute after minute passes, and nothing on the board changes. It’s too early. My latte is nearly finished, and I’ve pretended to read the same paper twice already. At this rate, my efforts to blend in are going to make me look more suspicious.

Then, off towards the far side of the terminal hall, I see yet another familiar face entering through the large glass sliding doors. Alec. Although I’ve never met the guy, I’m certain it’s him. Maggie had shown me a few pictures last time we met.

That’s weird. He cancelled on their date, and now he’s here hours before his shift? Seeing as I’ve got nothing but time right now, and sitting here is just going to look weird, I decide to follow Alec. He won’t recognize me, so it should be quite safe. I owe it to Maggie to figure out why he would lie to her.

After folding up the newspaper, I grab my handbag and wander off somewhat aimlessly, though roughly in Alec’s direction. What do people do here when they have to wait? The bright lights of some high end luggage shop catch my eye, so that’s where I go to pretend to look at their display, though actually I’m observing Alec’s reflection in the shop window.

He’s checking his phone and looking around the terminal as though he’s looking for someone. Then he walks off towards the check-in desks. I follow, taking care to leave sufficient space and other travelers between us to avoid suspicion.

Just when I feel I’m tailing him like a pro, Alec opens a door labelled ‘No Entry for Unauthorized Persons,’ and I’ve lost him.
Shit
. If I follow, I’ll definitely get caught. And what am I doing anyway? Spying on Maggie’s not-quite-boyfriend because he blew off their date saying he was sick? How lame.

I turn to head back to the coffee shop. If I order another coffee and perhaps a chocolate chip muffin, that’ll buy me some time to babysit the departures board. I might even buy a magazine from WH Smith next door, so I don’t get totally bored.

Just as I start walking, I see the same door open again from the corner of my eye. Alec is back out and heading straight for the row of check-in desks nearest to us with his staff ID bouncing furiously off his chest with every brisk step he takes. Weird. Maggie told me he works with her in security…

I turn again and pause, while pretending to check the time on my watch. In my peripheral vision, I can make out Alec heading directly to the Business Class desk. He talks to the girl currently manning the computer, shows her his ID and gestures for a bit until she gets up, clearly distraught, freeing up her seat for him.

As the girl rushes back towards the staff area Alec had just come from, he settles in and calls up the next two persons waiting in the queue ahead of him. As much as I am fond of Maggie, I’m not going to spy on this guy working his shift for her.

The moment I turn back towards the coffee shop, I see a familiar face about thirty feet away; the scary guy from the bus stop heading right towards me. Damn, he sees me! My throat tightens as I try to think of what to do. If I run, that would be weird, plus he would most definitely catch me. But what is he going to do in a public place with so many witnesses? Surely he can’t do anything, can he?

And what have I done? Nothing. I don’t even know anything.

I do my best to try and ignore him and rush straight towards a cluster of uniformed Border Force guys. Surely they’ll act if this guy tries anything stupid?

I’m about ten feet from them when the guy catches up and grabs my arm so hard it hurts.

“A moment, if you don’t mind, Miss?” The man flashes a quick smile at me, but his eyes don’t seem friendly at all as he towers over me.

I look down at his other hand to find some kind of official-looking ID in his hand with a big dark blue Metropolitan Police logo across the top. Who is this guy? I glance up at the officers ahead of me, but they’re not even looking in my direction.

“Detective Clyde, Met Police Counter Terrorism Command.”

His words make me pause to read his credentials again. I suppose it could be real; he’s even got a metal badge-type thing attached to the other side of the leather ID card holder.

“Miss, you were seen earlier this evening with a person of interest in one of our investigations. It is of the utmost urgency that you tell me everything you know about this man.” Detective Clyde takes his phone out of his pocket and shows me a several grainy pictures of the mysterious stranger in the suit as he’s running along a busy road, across a fence next to some railway lines and finally, getting into the back of my car. They even have pictures of me behind the wheel. Damn! What have I got myself embroiled in?

“I… Well, I don’t know the man. Clearly, he just jumped into my car and made me drive him here. A person of interest in what exactly?”

“That’s confidential.”

“Ah.” I stare down at my shoes, feeling rather stupid indeed.

“So you hadn’t met him until today?”

I slowly shake my head and look up at Detective Clyde’s stern face again. Maybe I watch too much TV, but he doesn’t look quite official enough to be a detective. The other guy, though…

“What do you want to know?” I ask, blinking at him innocently—I hope.

“Where is he?”

“He told me he needed to stop some flight. Dangerous cargo or something.”

Detective Clyde lets out a frustrated chuckle. “What if I told you
he
is the one with the dangerous cargo? It is imperative that we stop him before he gets airborne.”

I shrug and shuffle from one foot to the other. Although the ID and the badge thing look real enough, there’s something about this guy that rubs me the wrong way. From the crew cut blond hair to the scar on his left eyebrow, right down to the commando boots and cargo trousers, he doesn’t look like much of a policeman. Then again, what do I know? If he was wearing a uniform, I may not have questioned his identity at all.

“Well, if you know he’s here, and you know he’s trying to escape on some flight, why don’t you just shut down the airport for a while as you catch him? Wouldn’t that solve it?” I think out loud. The stranger’s words about catching those responsible for intel still ring in my ear, but I’m curious what this guy will say.

“It’s not so simple, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of people.” He gestures around us at the crowded terminal. “We would prefer to resolve this matter more quietly if possible.”

“That makes sense,” I mumble.

“Now, if you don’t mind coming with me,” Detective Clyde says, while placing his hand firmly on my shoulder.

I shake it off instinctively. His touch feels inexplicably wrong. Then again, he did just bruise my arm trying to catch me, so it’s no surprise I’m not up for more physical contact right now.

“Actually, I do mind. I don’t know the guy, I don’t know anything except what I’ve already told you, and I’d really like to get home. I have plans. A date.”