Sins of the Father (11 page)

Paul blinked the memory
away as he looked in the mirror to refocus himself. The disguise
was his best yet. He wasn’t a fan of facial hair, but occasionally
it was necessary for the disguise. Today he was Norwegian. His
favourite part of playing someone else was the selection of glasses
he chose to fit each character. He never went anywhere without
them. The horn-rimed example he’d donned that morning were
perfect.

“
It’s time to
meet Mr. Baker,” he said aloud, his thick accent filling the car.
It would take an expert to distinguish the voice from his own, and
he did not intend to be recorded.

Mr Baker was a foul
little man - as greedy as he was dishonest.

The next part of his plan
was going to cost him dearly, but there would be no moral
consideration – Mr Baker had no soul. He chose his players
well.

He was still smiling
about that as he pulled away from the curb and drove to his
appointment.

Chapter
8

Alicia flopped into a
nameless chair, too tired to move any further. She was finished for
the day. Their turnaround was twelve hours – a generous amount of
time considering they were behind schedule. Her eyelids fluttered
shut, just for a moment. She could sleep anywhere. If she didn’t
move she would be sleeping on a deserted set.

Her end of day meeting
with Stuart had taken so long everyone had left for the night –
almost everyone.

Brad was there, in the
shadows. He was back to the silent protector routine, blending into
the background – part of the scenery. It might have worked if she
wasn’t so acutely aware of his movements. The only time her eyes
didn’t seek him out was when the cameras were rolling, and even
then the awareness didn’t disappear.

She opened one eye to
find him, amused that he was hovering close by. “Come and take a
load off. Relax a little.” She smiled when he walked forward. “I
know, I know. You’re already relaxed.”

He sat, purely because it
felt better than towering over her. They were on the edge of a back
lot – it could have been Paris.

“
It’s
amazing, isn’t it?”

Brad turned to look at
her. She had her eyes closed again. “If you sit there any longer
you’ll fall asleep out here.”

“
Very
possibly.”

It was several minutes
before she spoke again. He began to think she was asleep. But then
she surprised him – she had a habit of it.

“
When I was a
girl I visited many places inside my head.”

The way she was
stretching her body as she spoke robbed him of speech – he couldn’t
take his eyes off her.

Finally, she sat up
straight and opened her eyes. “I could be anyone I wanted, go
anywhere my heart desired. It didn’t matter that I’d never seen the
places I longed to visit, I had my imagination.”

Brad didn’t know how to
respond. She had a faraway look in her eyes.

“
When my
father first brought me to a set it felt as though all my dreams
had come true. I wandered the lots, taking everything in, as greedy
for this world as any child would be if they’d stumbled into a
sweet shop.”

“
I bet he
couldn’t keep you away after that.”

Alicia laughed because it
was true. “You’d win that bet. But Gray didn’t mind. He enjoyed it.
So much in fact that he bought me the trailer I never leave home
without.”

“
Ah, so
that’s the reason for the trailer.”

“
It’s
indulgent of me, I know. But in a strange way I get to bring him
with me, make him part of the process.”

“
I don’t
think it’s indulgent at all.”

“
Oh, I don’t
know. But it’s easy to get lost in my own world when I’m here.” She
looked out at the scene in front of them. “I mean, look at it. Do
you feel the magic? I could be anyone. A struggling designer, an
artist, a student – you name it.”

Brad raised his eyebrows,
trying to picture her as any of those things. “And would a
struggling designer need protection?”

She rolled her eyes. “Use
your imagination. Why do you have to be a bodyguard, why not a
photographer, a famous artist, renowned for capturing things of
beauty?”

Brad turned in his seat.
He made a camera shape with his left hand, moving the imaginary
piece of equipment to get a better angle of her face before
snapping off the shot.

The gesture caught her
off guard. She could feel colour rising in her cheeks. “You’re in
Paris. Don’t waste your pictures on me.”

“
Why didn’t
you tell me Jack’s your brother?” The question came out of the
blue. It surprised them both.

Alicia felt a number of
things in quick succession, but settled on amusement. “I didn’t
like your accusation.” She studied him for a moment. “To be honest,
I assumed you knew.”

“
It’s not in
the file.”

“
Ah...that
was probably Sarah. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Abe doesn’t
know.”

Brad doubted that very
much, but he didn’t say so. “Why the secrecy?”

“
It’s
surprising how quickly information leaks to the press. She’s just
careful about who she shares things with.” She could see he wasn’t
satisfied with the explanation. “I know people think they have a
right to know everything about us because of the job we do. We put
ourselves in the spotlight so why should we have a private life,
right?”

“
I think
that’s a generalisation. It also sounds deceptively
rehearsed.”

She smiled in genuine
pleasure and his heart rate shot through the roof. He didn’t care
what the reasons were as long as she continued to smile at
him.

“
You’re
right, of course. The reason I agreed to keep our relationship a
secret, for now, is because of past experiences.”

“
Such
as?”

Alicia’s eyebrow shot up,
he wasn’t going to let her off the hook. “You go from distant to
intimate without breaking a sweat. It’s hard to keep
up.”

“
I’m merely
asking questions that are relevant to my role in protecting you.
Any missing information can put your life in danger if I can’t
calculate the risk.”

“
Okay, I’m
not about to forget you have a job to do. It’s like I said, I
presumed you knew. Sarah’s protective streak knows no bounds. I’m
sure there are things she keeps from me too.”

Brad almost winced at
that. He’d meant to discuss Helen and their connection, but he
hadn’t found the right moment. He had unwittingly stumbled into it.
“There is something I’ve been meaning to…”

“
I’m sorry.
When I realised you didn’t know I should have told you.”

“
It’s not
about that.”

She continued as though
he’d never spoken. “I’d do anything for him. I don’t entirely agree
with the decision to hide our relationship, but I understand why he
wants to.”

Tell
her
. “I’m sure you have your
reasons. I shouldn’t have pushed for an answer. You’re right, I was
over-stepping.”

“
There you go
again.” She sighed, a weary sound that pulled at his heart. He
needed to put some distance between them so he could get back on an
even footing.

Alicia had other ideas.
“When I first started out, people presumed, and still do, that I
owe my success to Gray. In a way I do, but not because he pulled
any strings. It’s because I wanted to be like him. I wanted to make
him proud.”

“
Alicia…”

“
Gray was my
father in every way that counts. It still hurts that the press
cheapened our relationship. They didn’t understand his reasons for
taking me in, any more than they understood my reasons for
accepting the life he gave me.”

“
I’m sorry,”
Brad said, fighting the uncontrollable urge to touch her. She
looked so lost when she spoke of her past that his heart ached.
“That I misunderstood your loyalties to Jack.”

“
You aren’t
the first. In truth it’s time we came clean.”

He tried as gently as he
could to lead her down the right path. “Perhaps the fact that
you’re related has something to do with why you’re being
targeted.”

“
How is that
possible? We’ve been apart most of our lives.”

“
There’s the
obvious connection.”

He saw something flicker
across her face when she realised what he meant. “If you’re talking
about my mother…”

“
Damn it.”
He’d been so close.

Alicia looked at him in
confusion.

“
Hey, guys,”
Tim called out, clearing things up for her. “A few of us are going
for a drink. Do you want to join us?”

“
That sounds
great. I could use a little fun.” She looked at Brad. “Is that
okay?”

“
Of course,
just give me one minute.” He was on his feet again and back to
business. It took only a moment to update the two CPO’s on patrol.
He was already working out the logistics in his head.

The bar was on the far
side of zone six. He could picture the security detail clearly –
they had it covered.

He turned back towards
Alicia just as a member of the crew was swerving into view on a
buggy; his four passengers hanging on for dear life. Bringing up
the rear were two others; one holding his backup for the
evening.

“
Hop in,
Timmy,” the driver of the second buggy shouted. He slowed but
didn’t stop completely.

Alicia had to stop
herself from patting Brad’s arm in sympathy as she tried to keep
her laughter at bay. The look of horror that crossed his face was
priceless.

“
It’s a nice
night for a walk,” he muttered, angling his head.

“
It’s bigger
than it looks.”

He caught the suppressed
giggle and couldn’t resist a responding grin. At least the buggy
had come to a stop.

Tim hopped on and glanced
back at them. “Climb aboard. Next stop oblivion.”

Brad shrugged and
squeezed his large frame into the seat next to him.

“
You can cut
that out,” he said when Alicia joined them.

She let the laugh out in
a rush of pent up sound. “Sorry, it’s not that big after
all!”

Tim tried to keep out of
it but the scowl on Brad’s face set him off too.

Watching the muscles work
across his back sobered her pretty quickly. He was holding himself
half out of the cab, so the tension in his body emphasised every
angle. She wanted to run a hand over those hard contours, so she
bit her lip instead. She seemed to do a lot of that.

“
The
torture’s over now, man,” Tim said as they drew up outside the
bar.

Brad was out of the buggy
before it stopped. He resisted the urge to stretch out the kinks
and instead sent a signal to the others that they were going
in.

He stayed close to
Alicia, his eyes scanning the crowd as they entered. She made her
way over to the bar when she spotted her friends.

“
I didn’t
think we’d see you tonight.” Carl stepped forward to give her a
brief hug.

“
Are you
kidding? This is the first chance I’ve had to relax in days.” She
gave Jennifer a wink. “It’s worth missing a little beauty
sleep.”

Jennifer grinned back.
“Who needs sleep when we have makeup artists?”

Brad was doing his best
to remain invisible but he knew it couldn’t last.

“
Speaking of which, you’re causing quite a stir on
Twitter
,” Carl said, turning to him.

“
I’m sure it
will play itself out eventually.” He worked up a smile. For some
reason the guy irritated him.

“
From what
people are saying it’s a good thing. I don’t think I’d make a move
on her knowing you were close by.”

“
You’ve made
plenty of moves on me – they just didn’t work!”

“
Ba-dum-ch.”
Carl blew on imaginary drumsticks and mimed putting them back in
his pocket. “So…are you having a drink or what?” he waved his own
glass in the air as though she needed a visual prompt.

Alicia looked doubtfully
down the bar. “I don’t think...” She glanced back to find him at
the other side with a glass in his hand. “You’ve done that
before.”

“
He’s just
showing off,” Jennifer said, placing her own empty in front of him
with a cheeky wink.

Alicia shrugged. “What
the hell. I’ll have a glass of dry white.” She chuckled when she
noticed the barman looming.

Brad took a step closer
because he didn’t like surprises. He had to swallow his own
amusement when the barman gave Carl a prompt with his foot, hard
enough to have him jumping back over the bar. The guy didn’t even
break his stride, with a friendly grin he gave Carl a tray with
their drinks on and walked back to his other customers.

“
That’s
happened three times since we got here,” Jennifer
confided.