Job Hunt (41 page)

“Yes?”

The voice in her ear was calm, soft and female. Lisa breathed a sigh of relief and let her shoulders sag. Here was genuine power, someone who stood for the same things she held dear, who ignored political shenanigans and got things done instead.

“He’s after Jack,” she said quietly, the apology in her tone almost too faint to hear.

“As you expected,” Alexandra Marston replied. “Everybody knows he’s gunning for the top job, but he’s far too obvious to make a good leader. His scheming won’t come to anything.”

“I do hope you’re right. And there’s something else. He was late for our meeting. The club’s steward knows me since we’ve met there before, so he was happy for me to wait in the lobby. The man he was meeting….” Lisa trailed off, unable to explain her misgivings, glad that Alexandra had enough patience to wait until she’d organized her thoughts. “At first, I thought he was meeting with your boss. But it definitely wasn’t Julian, even though you might have thought so from a distance.”

“Was it Donovan Nancarrow? Looks like Julian, but has a burn scar beside his left eye?”

“Yes, I saw the scar. Are they twins?”

“No. Really just cousins. Any idea what was under discussion?”

“No. But they were cozy together. Two-handed shakes cozy. And he said that Donovan could rely on him.”

“That doesn’t sound encouraging. Did you get the idea that Donovan was negotiating payback?”

“More like something up front. Why?”

“Because the man is becoming a nuisance. He wants to take Nancarrow Mining from Julian. He’s wanted that for years and never succeeded, but he never stops trying.”

“And you let him?”

“So far, he’s always been clumsy enough to trip himself,” Alex admitted softly. “I’ve kept a watching brief, but most of the time Julian had a good enough grip on the situation. Maybe now, with Jack’s help, we could settle the mess once and for all. Jack’s damned good at digging up reasons.”

“He is. But what if they were discussing protection for Donovan? Wouldn’t Jack get into trouble digging?”

“We won’t let that happen. We’ll have Jack’s back all the way. Don’t worry.”

The call disconnected. Lisa’s tiny sigh of relief turned into a well of anxiety a moment later. She didn’t want to see Jack Horwood used by factions of power-hungry politicians and civil servants. The man didn’t deserve that. But Jack’s past and his skills made him a valuable commodity. And Lisa feared that in trying to protect him from evil, she’d just sold him into hell.

A
BOUT
THE
A
UTHOR

J
ACKIE
K
ESWICK
was born behind the Iron Curtain with itchy feet, a bent for rocks, and a recurrent dream of stepping off a bus in the middle of nowhere to go home. She’s worked in a hospital and as the only girl with fifty-two men on an oil rig, spent a winter in Moscow and a summer in Iceland, and finally settled in the country of her dreams with her dream team: a husband, a cat, a tandem, a hammer, and a laptop.

When she’s not working or writing, she… doesn’t exercise. Instead, she cooks and researches English history and traditional English recipes. She has a thing for green eyes, suede, and cyclists’tight butts, and is a great believer in making up soundtracks for anything and everything, including her characters and the cat. And she still hasn’t found the place where the bus stops.

For questions and comments, not restricted to green eyes, bus stops, or recipes for traditional English food, you can find Jackie Keswick in all the usual places:

Website: http://www.jackiekeswick.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackieKeswick

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackieKeswick