"Got you at last...where've you been all day?" Annie gasped at the sound of his voice. Wasn't that just like a man? He doesn't call for DAYS and then he suddenly chooses the worst possible moment. Annie was downtown at police headquarters giving a statement.

"Just a sec, Terry..." She covered the receiver and asked the two officers if they would give her a moment alone to speak to her husband. They smiled and withdrew.

"OK. Back..."she began.

"What's up? The kids?"

"No...I'm... at the salon...just getting my nails done. Wanted a bit of privacy..."

Terry laughed softly. "Bad timing, hey? Smudged your polish?"

"Bad timing...you could say..."

"Want me to call later?"

"NO! No...please...It's so good to hear your voice. Talk to me...Tell me what you can..."

He recognized a note of tension in her voice, an edge that suggested she was emotional, close to tears. He frowned and pursed his lips in thought.

"Are you all right? You sound...upset. Don't hide things from me, Annie. I need to know. I want to know what's wrong..."

"...Nothing! I just miss you so...." he heard the sob and her struggle to compose herself, even across the thousands of miles between them. He waited a moment before answering, a sharp dart of pain creasing his brow at her unhappiness. He wanted to rip the distance between them apart and plunge through time and space to touch her and pull her against him, if only just for a little while. The sense of her nearness was overpowering; he could hear her little intakes of breath as she gulped to calm herself.

Imagination did the rest. He saw those limpid dark blue eyes brimming with unshed tears, fringed with her black lashes, that colouring that he loved so much: pale ivory against dark glossy black. He felt his hand cup the back of her head and draw her in, her luxuriant hair thick beneath his palms; he could almost smell her fragrance. Unconsciously he rocked slightly in the chair as he fantasized her presence and how he wanted to protect her again, love her, lie in her arms and know that they were all safe from the nightmares that might threaten them.

Some sense alerted him to her frailty. Something was not quite right with her and he wondered what it was. This was not just her usual fear and general anxiety; she rarely let him see that in her anyway. Annie was an experienced hand at putting on a brave face when he was away; she had had many years to learn that skill. It would take a lot for her to break down over the phone and it made him a little uneasy. Were they keeping something from him?

"I'm great. Just great," he began, easing along with anodyne conversation while listening for cues from her that she might relax enough to let slip. "Things are moving faster than we thought they might. Could be a resolution soon. But don't get too many hopes up. You know how these things can fall through or come to a halt in negotiations..." He was using K and R jargon. Annie did not know what he was doing - but she would read his subtext. All she needed to hear was that there was a chance they would be together soon. "This is a beautiful country. Great weather, great food, night life....well, you know...maybe we can take a trip here one day?"

She would pick up that she was to say little. They had holidayed in this area several times already. His inaccuracy would warn her that she must be on her guard, even on this highly secured line.

"Glad you're enjoying it." Her response was terse and he recognised she was playing the game. Good girl.

"The boss said he took you out for dinner. That was good of him. He behave himself?" Terry smiled.

He heard her voice change; there was a fond affection evident in her reply; Good onya, mate, he thought, this mind switching to Dino and how there wasn't a man in the world that he would trust as he trusted him. Especially with his wife.

"Of course he didn't. He was an absolute rat. You have no idea what we got up to behind your back..." she teased, the familiar lightness returning.

"Yeah, he told me he fucked you all night. I told him you could do with it. Just don't be laying any redheaded kids at my door, OK?"

Annie burst out laughing; had he seen her he would have also seen the tears that streamed down along with the laughter. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and took a tissue from the desk in front of her to dab at her nose. "You are so crude! I was sorely tempted, I can tell you. I have almost gnawed through the bed post..."

It was good to talk. They chatted for longer than she had intended about the children, life in general, some of her exploits in New York...By the time he hung up, she realized that the desperate fear that had gripped her since Amri had burst in and thrown her life into chaos, was retreating. She felt a glimmer of her old self beneath the pathetic wreck who almost let a man simply have her because she was too scared to defend herself, too passive to fight back. If Terry could give her some of his strength just down the end of a phone line; imagine what he did for her every day when they shared their lives? The knowledge of how hopeless she really was without him startled her. You talk of a lover being your life, the air you breathe, the blood that pounds through your body but they seem just words, love words, muttered into each other's ears in the dark of the night. But for her they were true.

"Mrs. Thorne? We need to push on with this..." the young policewoman popped her head around the door. Annie nodded and said her goodbyes. As she snapped her phone closed she smiled and wiped at the tears still trickling down her face. So Terry. For days she had been worked up about his oddly distant behaviour and the paucity of his contacts and now he simply gets on the blower and acts like he had just walked out of the room. Who had given him happy pills today, she wondered, and turned back to continue the interview with a much more renewed determination to face this with common sense and a bit of backbone.

Terry would not have hinted that he would be home soon if the chances weren't good that he wouldn't be. Things were looking up at last. The worst was over.

He closed the phone and lay back in the chair, eyes closed for a moment lost in thought. Annie sounded better tonight - but she was still cagey. He wished he could fathom whether she was angry with him or if she was protecting him from something. Maybe she'd taken a lover? He knew what she had said before he left - but it's easy to make declarations at moments like that- harder to live up to that ideal months down the line when the ache gets you.

How did he feel about that? Somehow it didn't seem real. If he didn't know, maybe it didn't matter? Existentialism, Terry. If I'm not there then it didn't happen? Bullshit. Don't you care? Of course I care. Am I tolerant enough to accept it? That another man should touch her? Hardly. But I'm a realist. Why should she be less in need of a body in the night than me? But would she, with the kids around? No, she wouldn't.  But the kids are at school all day...

 It was late but not late enough.  He should do another hour or two on a few reports before turning in. Stop turning over in his mind things he couldn't change anyway.

Reaching for the bottle of malt on the table beside him, he went to uncork it when the buzzer of his suite rang. He checked his watch and pursed his lips thoughtfully.

Setting down the bottle, he made his way to the door and looked out. Hsueh alone in an empty corridor. He breathed out slowly and opened the door, slipping on an easy smile that was only half faked.

"What brings you a-calling so late?" he grinned, leaning on the door. Hsueh beamed back already affected by his ruffled casual look: jeans unbuttoned at the top, shirt hanging open, bare feet, his hair slightly unruly.

"I was working late. I didn't want to go back to an empty apartment." She shrugged. "But if you're busy...or were about to go to bed...?"

At that he chuckled. "Then I'd say your timing is spot on! I was working in a very dilatory fashion. Come in...I'd appreciate the company." She stepped inside and realized that she had caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting her to be there this evening. His mental preparation had not readied him for her presence. Her eyes scanned the room as he walked briskly over to the open laptop and shut it down. His cell phone was on the table near a bottle of Malt whisky. He had been calling someone; she thought it had probably been his wife.

He handed her a glass of wine and she took it with a smile, setting herself down daintily on a chair facing him. Terry seemed curiously subdued, pensive, a side of him she hadn't yet encountered. "How's work?" she asked.

"Fine. Had a good day. You?"

"Not so good. Any job that has you still at the office at ten at night cannot be very good!"

He nodded, smiling. "What do you do, anyway? You never told me..."

"I work for a large conglomerate. Boon Lam Holdings."

"I know...your card...it just says Director..."

Hsueh looked at him. "I am a director but my actual role is a personal assistant to the chairman. I have to be at his beck and call. If there is a problem...I have to be there. Night or day," she shrugged. "It pays very well. Like many very wealthy men, my boss can be extremely demanding but he can also be very generous. It is too difficult to give up the inducements - but the work is very high powered and demanding. I have little time for myself. The time I take is precious..." she added with an enigmatic smile and raised her glass. He did the same.

"What's your background?" She gave him a look of surprise. "Academic...?"

"So many questions tonight?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Curious. Want to know about you."

"I am a lawyer but my first degree was Economics. I have a wide range of skills..."

"I know." Hsueh glanced at him sharply then began to laugh along with him. 

"You are teasing me!"

"Yeah..." 

Hsueh blushed. "Sometimes I am too serious. I know I am. You are good for me, Terry. You make me laugh at myself."

At that he stood up and moved behind her, resting his glass down on the table. He bent to place a kiss on her neck and slipped his arms down her body, his hands tracing a sensuous path down. "You got another lesson for me?" he whispered in her ear.

Leaning back against him, she rubbed her face against his naked chest and nuzzled at the hair. "Not quite a lesson. More an experience. I think we both need it tonight," she murmured; his response was a low sigh that purred through his body.

Hsueh excused herself, used the bathroom, slipped out of her clothes and then filled a tub of warm bubbles. Calling him in, she took the shirt from his shoulders and deftly unbuttoned his jeans; as she had suspected, he was naked beneath. She imagined he had showered earlier and just put on his denims and then thrown the shirt over to answer the door.

Stroking his impressive groin with the back of her hand, she raised her hands and dropped the towel she was wearing, leading him by the hand into the large tub. Twisting her hair into a topknot, she sat down in the cradle of his arms, her slender nakedness fitting into the space he left between his powerful thighs; he pulled her back to lie against him as he reclined against the marble sides. "This is not sexual. This is relaxation. This is cleansing. Learn to let your senses take what they need from a moment and not to hurry to fulfillment. Let us be at peace together."

He closed his eyes and savoured the sensations. Warm fragrant water, soft silky woman, the solid feel of his own flesh, the quiet of the night. He washed her with a creamy gel and she did the same for him touching each other intimately, as lovers, but with no sexual edge. It was soothing and restful; an acknowledgment that you were a part of someone else and wanted to offer yourself to their care.

They lay there in each other's arms for a long time just whispering softly, kissing lazily, the day sliding from them as it should be for men and women as night claims them and they turn away from their busy worlds and all the stress and the problems to look inwards on their souls. When the water began to cool, he raised her and she stepped out; he followed. With thick towels they dried each other off and then wrapped in bath robes, made their way to the inviting confines of his bed.

"I want to show you something," she smiled. Spreading a towel on the bed, making a nest of the pillows and beckoning him to sit at the end of the bed, Hsueh went to her attaché case and retrieved two small wooden boxes which she placed beside the towel. Letting the wrap fall, she stood naked before him and adjusted his robe so that it fell open; he was sitting with one leg bent and the other straight and resting on the floor. "I need to see you. The stimulus is important." Her open acknowledgment that she wished to enjoy his body as a visual treat for herself aroused him. He looked down and felt a thrill of his maleness, some sort of pride in this elemental fact about himself.

Meanwhile Hsueh knelt delicately on the towel and opened one of the boxes. Inside were a series of beautifully fashioned oval ornaments of various sizes set in their own nests on a bed of red silk. She withdrew one. It was like a smooth egg, made of jade, polished and perfect and of a deep emerald colour. She held it out to him and he took it, weighing it on the palm of his hand. It was cold and felt like marble in his hand. He noticed that either end, at the narrow point, there was a small hole that seemed to bore right through the central core.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A Jade egg. Do you know what it is for?" She asked. He smiled lazily.

"Yeah. It's a sex toy."

"Ahh...perhaps that is how they are marketed in the West. Originally it had a different, if connected purpose. Watch." She took a small bottle that was tucked into a corner of the box and poured oil from it onto her hands sparingly. Holding her palm out for the egg, she coated it liberally in it. The smell of the oil was strong, herbal, spicy, pungent - but not unpleasant. Just alien to his senses.

Lying back on the pile of pillows, half sitting and leaning on the head board, she parted her legs wide and lay unembarrassed before him. A passing memory of a visit to a gynaecologist with Annie long ago drifted through his mind; he guessed that she must have been pregnant with Liam, early days. There was the same clinical feel about Hsueh's behaviour. It was not erotic in itself or titillating. It was almost pragmatic. She was about to show him something and this was where it went. It was a strange, almost asexual, sensation.

Holding the egg in a practised grip, he watched her insert it at the opening of her vagina and then she relaxed back, withdrawing her hand. He saw her eyes wander down his naked torso and then the effect her arousal had. Her labial lips seemed to undulate and then he saw the egg move smoothly inside of her, disappearing bit by bit with nothing but the strong contractions of her internal muscles and her incredible control.

Finally it disappeared and she continued to lie there, clearly stimulating herself on the hidden object. "That's amazing,' he muttered. "You do that to me. How did you learn that?"

With a sensual sigh, she spoke in husky whispers, as arousing as the knowledge that she was bringing herself to orgasm as she spoke. "It is merely a matter of training. Women use the eggs internally, starting with the largest size and a period set aside every day to practice. It is like any exercise..." she paused and uttered a gasp, before shaking herself and continuing. "..Once you master the first stage you advance...smaller and smaller eggs, until your muscles are adept. You can pleasure a man, yourself and deliver a baby with ease. It is not a frivolous sex game..."

With an obvious act of self control, she slowly ejected the egg and it emerged from her. "Hold it!" she demanded. He reached over and she let it fall from her naked vagina into his palm. It was warm. Her internal temperature had heated it; that was perhaps the most erotic notion of all. The egg was sticky with oil and her own juices, a powerful sensual trigger for him as the warm object lay cradled in his palm. He closed his fingers around it and raised it to his lips, inhaling the powerful aroma and kissing it.

All the while, Hsueh was moving on. From the box she extracted two much smaller eggs; one was pale, almost white, and another was a mossy green shade. Similarly oiled, she slipped them one by one inside her, remarking: "Note the one I insert first. What colour is it?"

"Almost white...very pale." She nodded. This time she sank back and closed her eyes, deeper now into her pleasure, her breasts rising and falling with each breath, her lower torso rippling as her internal muscles contracted. She cried out as she reached her orgasm and he sat enraptured as he saw this happening before his eyes as if by magic; a beautiful naked woman simply lost in a sexual frenzy with no apparent stimulation visible to the voyeur. It aroused him; his penis was hard but he still felt detached from it all. His normal responses were atrophied in some way. It almost seemed a sacrilege to disturb her.

As her eyes flickered open, she whispered, still staring at the ceiling, blankly. "Now watch!" And before his eyes she let the eggs slide from her onto the thick white towel. What stunned him was that the first egg to emerge was the pale one followed moments later by the mossy green; somehow she had changed their position internally. The feat astonished him.

"It takes many years to achieve that. Women and men practice with these eggs all their lives for their well being and sexual health," she answered his unasked question.

"Men?" he asked. "How can a man use them?" He winced at the idea of them being used anally.

He heard her tinkling laugh. "A fine cord is passed through the egg; you noticed the holes? Then it is looped until it forms a hanging weight. Men tie them to their scrota and let them suspend, learning how to swing them, draw them up, carry heavier weights..."

"Why? What for?" he asked, amused now.

"To strengthen them. For control. To teach them how to delay orgasm. To make their erection last longer. Become harder..."

"...It works?" He asked, incredulous.

"Oh yes...it works. And has done for thousands of years. Or why would any sane men do such a thing?" She grinned, he joined her.

"Please, don't tell me I have to do that now?" he groaned.

Hsueh giggled. "No...that was not my intention. Now that you are nicely aroused..." She indicated his cock, still semi-hard and waving invitingly at her. "...I have something for you to try. Will you trust me?"

The question was a difficult one for him to answer. In one sense he had no concern that she would hurt him but he was uneasy about having his comfort zone compromised as it had been before; since that night they had experimented sexually but usually with a bit of role play or more conventional sex toys. He wasn't sure he was up for the other things that she might have in mind.

But curiosity invariably got the better of him. He didn't say anything but his face showed interest.

"Lie here!' she told him and he positioned himself where she had been sitting, shrugging off his robe to sprawl naked before her. Hsueh opened the second box and took out a small tablet. "It is Chinese medicine. Very ancient. It will relax you and slow down your responses...Open your mouth..." He did as he was told and she placed the pill beneath his tongue. "Let it dissolve slowly. Do not be concerned. It has some sensory effects. Pleasant - but you may experience some slight hallucinatory moments..."

It was too late to stop it. He had taken the pill already. "Why don't you take it?" he asked gruffly, suspicious now.

"I need to stay alert. And it is designed for men. Its powerful yang would not benefit me...it would suppress my sexual response..." her reply was honest. There seemed to be nothing but a slight loose sensation spreading though him and the heat in his groin dispersed slightly. He also noticed his erection subsiding.

"You sure this isn't too relaxed?' he observed with a rueful grin.

Hsueh nodded. "I have not finished yet. She took a vial of something from the second box and poured that onto her hands. "This will help..." She smoothed it over his scrotum and stroked along his shaft. The oil tingled and then began to heat up. He pulled away. "Do not worry...it will merely irritate slightly if you are not accustomed to it..."

"What's in it?" he grunted, unsure.

"I am not sure you would like to know the details! Lots of things- but the main ingredient is rhino horn and the glands from several species of great cat. They are very efficacious for the stimulation of blood to the penis..."

"Oh...yeah?" Terry asked. She smiled. "The sensation will ease after a few minutes and then you will feel the benefit...Look!"

He looked and she was right. His flagging erection was restoring itself with no apparent help other than the unguent. It was enough to make him sink back and relax and as he did, he realized that the uncomfortable sensation was disappearing and there was little but a sense of heat and numbness.

"I feel numb. That isn't really going to help much, surely?" he again snapped back. She grinned; he grinned back a little sheepishly.

"My, my, you are in a grouchy mood tonight! You sure do need some loving...The numbness is temporary but has its purpose. For the final part of the procedure. You have been relaxed, primed and now I need to help you slow down..." She picked up a fine needle from the case and held it up before him.

Terry backed away. "Oh...no, you are not fucking sticking that in me...!" He caught her hand. She shook him away.

"Do you trust me? I know the acupuncture points. It will not hurt! Just a slight pinprick and a spot of blood and that is all...surely you are not afraid of a little pain?"

"It isn't pain...it's just...sticking pins in my dick? How the fuck can we...This is way beyond what I'm happy with...and how will that make me perform better ...?"

She took his hands in hers. "I am going to put pressure on your prostate gland. Then I will withdraw the needle and that is it. It is a very common practice...you will enjoy the sensation..."

"Common practice? Yeah....right, not on my dick, it isn't... I don't want this, honey. It's too way out for me. I can't..."

"Do you trust me? Would I ever hurt you? Do you not know how much I love you?" He stared into her deep brown eyes, watched the earnest expression on her beautiful face. She made his head swim with the intoxicating nearness of her and the bewildering sense that he was standing on the edge of the mountain about to pitch himself into the ultimate adrenalin high. "If you don't wish for this I shall not push you, I shall never ever raise the matter again. You are the one who makes the choices for us, Terry. You and you alone..." Her voice whispered to him as his mind somersaulted with the possibility that this was something he might always regret - if he did not take that leap.

The first time he had jumped from a plane he remembered that moment when he had looked down and thought 'Mate, this is fucking crazy...' but he had done it anyway. Why? Fear...of not doing it, of not measuring up to his notion of what he was? Bravado...that someone might see his frailty? Recklessness...oh, yes, he had that in spades? Always had. The choice between the logical safe path and the wild dizzy leap into the unknown - hadn't that driven half his life choices?

Had he not been fighting to reason against the chemical inducements of a powerful hallucinogenic drug, he might have added another sentiment that time had taught him. Terry Thorne had learnt moderation through careful control of his more dangerous tendencies, aware that most of the mistakes he had made in life had arisen when he let his instinct have reign over his intellect. But tonight moderation was impossible, lessons learned were forgotten, duty and professional caution were absent - and so he could not think of any valid reason not to take that jump.

Still uneasy, but caught in her web of sexual temptation and the challenge to his courage, he nodded and lay back. Hsueh parted his legs and he felt her gently heft his balls in her left hand and then insert pressure on the gland beneath; the next thing he felt was a sharp pinprick and then...it was a slight bruised feeling but, as she has said, not particularly uncomfortable. He felt horny and hot, blood surging but without the usual driving urge to come. It felt almost like a trip but somehow radiating from his groin outwards through his nervous system and blood stream; he wondered if this is what an orgasm felt like for a woman. Hsueh pulled out the needle and moved aside her box of tricks; he watched her as she lay on top of him, dipping her head to kiss him.

"And now...slowly and intensely let us explore the sensation!" she whispered. His head was swimming as if he was high but his senses were still acute; every nerve of his body seemed to have been charged up, and was relaying its own messages to him. As they came together, naked flesh against naked flesh, he felt empowered by his masculinity and her femininity seemed to be a sensory feast. And they dined on each other, every part of their bodies, erogenous or not, somehow becoming erotic triggers to his mood. Her lips on the fleshy muscle of his calf, biting slightly against the tendon sent shivers pulsing to his already pulsing cock, her fingers kneading the swell of his buttocks as he thrust deep into her, drew his attention as much as the stimulation of her rhythmic tensing around his shaft. Sensations were vying for each other for preeminence.

He didn't know how long he lasted. Time had no meaning. As his body fragmented into component parts and specific sensations, he lost the ability to see the whole. His mind was a kaleidoscope of fractured images, her body writhing beneath him, sweat dripping from his chest to hers, as though it was a leaking faucet fascinating him for an instant, her mouth gasping as she cried out, his lips buried into a crevice of her body that for an instant he did not recognize - until he realised he was licking at her armpit. A momentary flash of an animal sniffing at its mate crossed his mind.

His hands hard on her hips as he thrust, her nails tearing at his flesh, her arms flailing against him, his body weight holding her down, grasping and struggling and tasting and dying for each other until at last in what felt like an explosion in his brain he came and .........

Hsueh eased from under his body and rolled him to the side with some effort. He was completely comatose, asleep so deeply that he was unaware of her presence, his head buried in the pillow. She covered his naked body over; after the heat they had generated together now his body temperature was falling and the air-conditioned room suddenly felt icy cold. Pulling the covers over him, she smoothed back his hair and placed a kiss on his mouth; he did not seem aware of her touch.

Lying down beside him, she curled around his body and held him, allowing herself time to come down from the powerful experience that had shook them both so much. But she was a woman and the orgasmic power she had gained made her alert while it left him incapacitated. Yin and Yang, she smiled to herself. In the end one will triumph. It is only a matter of time.

It was mid afternoon before they told her she was free to leave. An injunction had already been issued against Amri, even though his lawyers had already secured him a speedy bail. They were muttering about his injuries and a cross suit; but the police assured her that the evidence was compelling that he had been the aggressor. For the time being she was not to worry. He was not allowed within a radius of several blocks of her apartment.

They tell you not to worry. Some hopes.

"Need a ride?" As she walked out of the doors of the police station, she saw Dino leaning on the wall waiting for her.

She smiled and they strolled to his car. "I was such a flake before. I am so ashamed of how I reacted..."

He turned, looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I used to think I was brave enough...not incredibly brave - I wouldn't do things like bungee jump or sky dive, you know? But I thought I was brave enough to defend myself if I had to...but they took that away from me..."

She leaned back against the door of the car; Dino stood in front of her hands in his pockets not saying anything, just letting her talk. "I got over the sexual thing...I had Terry, you see? What better man to help me over that? I always thought that I was completely cured but it lingers in your psyche...I didn't realise that what they had taken from me was my human pride. I would do anything to save myself from being hurt again. Like a deer caught by a lion. Just play dead and hope they have their sport and let you go. How could they have done that to me, even after all this time?"

He leaned forward to embrace her as the tears ran down her face but she shied from his touch and he backed away. He was a man and her senses were still on alert. It saddened him more than he knew.

"Annie, you did the right thing. What good would fighting him have done you? You aren't strong enough. You don't have the skills. Had you made it difficult, you might not be here now. And that's the truth of it, as brutal as it is. Let it go. Come home, stay a couple of days. Until you're ready to face the place again..."

She nodded and opened the car door, getting in while he closed the door and went round to the driver's side. "What did you tell the children?" It suddenly occurred to her that they would ask questions and her face was bruised - it was impossible to hide it.

"Someone mugged you for your purse. You held on and he pulled you down, you hit your face on the sidewalk. A cop caught him. You've been at the police station helping to put the bad guy away. Nothing to worry about now. They think you're a bit of a heroine..."

She smiled. "Thank you. You think of everything."

"I do this sort of thing for a living, remember? Sometimes it comes in handy at home....By the way, I told Mel the truth. You need a girlfriend..."

"I don't want to worry her now!" Annie protested.

"She had a baby not a full frontal lobotomy, honey. You remember how you used to hate how people treated you like a half wit when you gave up work and became a housewife? Well, she feels the same. Her brains are still intact and she would kill me if I kept something like this from her. You know Mel...no one's like Mel in a crisis..." He put on her extremely upper class vowels and said "Christ, I hope you ripped out his fucking dick, Dini!"

Annie giggled; it was just what Mel would say, and exactly what she sounded like. It was good to laugh. She was glad she had steeled herself to press charges. It was time she started fighting back and taking care of herself. Terry could not always be her rock. She pushed the lingering spectre of a time when he might not be there to hide behind deep inside that cage within her where her fears were kept.

Hsueh waited until he had proved the depth of his sleep before she wriggled out of bed. Returning the boxes to her attaché case, she took out a small perspex case. Carefully removing the contents, she held up the hypodermic needle, uncapped it and checked for air bubbles, sending a little spray of the fluid into the darkness. Tearing the medicated wipe open, she carried both over to the bed. Pulling back the sheet, she took a last look at him as he lay now sprawled out on his back, oblivious to everything in his satiated and exhausted stupor. It had taken a lot to get a man like Terrence Thorne to the point when he willingly let his guard down and put himself into a position where anyone, even a woman, could take advantage of him.

She had never met anyone like him before. Most men she would have rolled over the first night. He was worthy of her skills. It was a pity that they had not met under other circumstances, but - on second thoughts- perhaps not. There was no way she would ever take the chance that a man as formidable as this could get under her radar either. She had spent her entire adult life taking her revenge on the egos of men such as Terry. It was foolish weakness for her ever to contemplate any relationship but one where she held the reins with a man of his type - or any type.

Pity. Sexually he had never been equaled. She imagined he never would be.

Her fingers traced his naked chest almost lovingly remembering, savouring, him in her arms. She caressed the deep pitted scarring on his left shoulder; he had told her it had been a gunshot wound long ago in his army past; she knew it was a lie even then, having read and memorised the dossier she had been given. Indonesia. Eight or nine years ago. So many lies - but he had never fooled her. Just as she had always known he was married with small children.

Wasn't that the point of all this?

Swabbing his arm lightly, she deftly inserted the needle, smiling with the memory of the other needle she had persuaded him to take earlier that night. He had not needed to fear; that had truly been nothing more than an acupuncture point that had certainly paid off for both of them. This, however, was something else.

He grunted slightly as she injected the powerful drug into his muscle, but did not wake. Withdrawing the needle, she breathed a sigh of relief. Dressing quickly, she cleared up and returned to her briefcase. Finally she extracted a small device from her case which she inserted into his cell phone. Punching a few buttons, the decoder found the key and unlocked the display; it took her seconds to download the address book and the memory. With a smile she tapped up the last call and saw the name. Annie. She recalled the dossier: Anna Thorne née Dwyer aged 37, British...PHD in Roman History...University of London...

Checking the SMS messages she read:

Mum got me a cell phone! My very first! Now I can send U loads of messages. Can I have my ears pierced? Zoe xxxxx 

First in swimming trials! Can I have a phone? Liamx

She was still smiling when she let herself out of the room and into the elevator.

"OH MY GOD! Look at your face? Darling, that is just awful...you should have let him have your purse! He might have had a knife!" Charis called round with a bottle of champagne (her cure for everything) and an absolutely stunning flower arrangement. Annie was more than pleased to see her; she was still finding the apartment hard to take. Dino and Mel had wanted her to stay for a couple of weeks, had even mentioned finding her another apartment - but she had resisted. No more running and hiding. Anyway, Terry would be home soon and there was no point shifting for just a couple of weeks. But the apartment still held bad memories for her and nights were even lonelier than ever.

The children had been pretty neat about her 'accident.' Zoe had been suitably concerned, but rather proud of her plucky Mum and had told everyone at school about it. That had made Annie very uncomfortable, even if she had realised that it had backed up Dino's lie. Both children had promised not to let it slip to Daddy should he call or they mail him - no one wanted to worry him when he was so far away. Her daughter had been most attentive, applying ice packs and fussing over her mother like a little nursemaid. It was Liam who had seemed more affected emotionally. He had gone very quiet for the following few days and had spent a lot of time curled up on her knee, his thumb slipping into his mouth, a telltale sign of his discomfort as noticeable as the constant playing with himself that had become so marked that she had had to gently remind him not to do it in public - whilst worrying that her comments might be damaging for him.

If he had a biological need to touch himself as a result of some latent fear about his mother, especially with his father away, was she going to make him repress his emotions too much by stopping him? It was so hard to be sure. It also made Annie realize just how much this period might have taken from him: new life, new school, the sudden loss of his father again after already almost losing him during last year's separation - and now the realization that his mother could be hurt and might not be the constant feature of his life that he had believed her to be. There were quite a lot of potential psychological minefields surrounding all this and she wondered again what long term damage might be caused by all of these factors. But what can you do? Life is life- even for your beloved children.

"Well...next time, I'll know, hey?" Annie smiled back at Charis.

"What's with the guy on the corridor?" Charis asked. She had noticed the stocky guy sprawled on a chair as she came out of the elevator; he had carried on reading a magazine giving her barely a glance as Annie had already been out there to greet her. But Charis was sharp-witted enough to see the bulge of his gun-holster. He was a guard.

"Oh...him! Something the apartment block is insisting on. There was a security breach and they want to give the appearance they're tightening up. He's harmless enough..." Annie sidestepped the real reason. She was still far from happy about it but Dino had insisted. Amri had a court injunction but he might be crazy enough to try and break it. If she wanted to return home - then she had to accept this. He was unshakeable - and Annie was actually more amenable than she had thought she might be. It did feel safer and she no longer had the desire to argue the toss about this one.

The two women chatted on about crime and cities and the usual platitudes but, as the story was not an unusual one, Charis swiftly moved on. She was staying the night at Annie's place, having finally found time on her schedule. The children settled in, eating a supper before the television and then disappearing to play in their rooms until it was bedtime. Liam wanted to sleep with the girls. Charis and Annie tried to explain why he couldn't. The girls giggled and acted all embarrassed. He got annoyed and blushed.

"Dad sleeps with you!"

"That's different and you know it is! Don't be silly."

"I sleep with Zoe in hotels!" he argued.

"She's your sister!"

"So?"

"Liam, don't be awkward. The girls don't even want you there. They want to do girly things like talk about hair and clothes and play with dolls. Do you want them to paint your toe nails?"

"That's not funny, Mum! Why am I always the odd one out? Why don't any of your friends have boys?"

"Mel and Dino have got Natty!" Zoe insisted on calling baby Nathaniel that; Dino winced every time he heard it.

"He's no use! He can't do anything but poo and cry!" Liam retorted. But finally they came to terms. Liam could play there in Zoe's room until ten and then he had to go to bed in his own room. By ten he was already half asleep anyway and it was easy to coax him out. The girls were still there chatting until almost midnight when the two mothers finally went in and settled them down.

Closing the door behind them, they laughed, shook their heads and opened another bottle of champagne; Charis was mixing Napoleons with XO cognac. They were already drunk.

"Terry will bloody kill me if he knows I'm using that stuff for cocktails. It costs fifty quid a bottle...!" she snorted, accepting another glass.

"Fuck him...!" Charis giggled.

"I intend to...until his come is pure brain matter and there is nothing left in his body to suck out..." she chortled in reply, falling back on the couch in an ungainly position and simulating sex - before collapsing in a heap. "Jesus, I am so horny..."

Charis watched her, eyes glinting. "How long is it?"

Annie totted up on her fingers. "Almost four months. We had three days together in England when we go no sleep...I couldn't walk straight for weeks...before that we were apart about two months...so you can say in six months we have had sex about...a dozen times...."

"A dozen times in three nights?" Charis screamed. "Jesus, what is he? Superman?  A dozen times?"

"Well, he was horny...and a few were just quickies when the kids were watching TV...you know... "Can you just come in here, love, I can't find the toothpaste..." Quick dash, knickers off, pants round his ankles, up against the wall tiles in the bathroom...!" Annie giggled at the memory. "We are experts at Taotso..." she said dramatically.

"Taotso? What's that? Some Oriental sex practice I don't know about?" Charis queried.

"NO! The Art of the Silent Orgasm. Most parents could give classes in it..."

Another round of hysterical laughter and a refill of drinks. "Want a ciggie?" Annie asked, reaching for her pack.

Charis said, "Wait up...do you want a ciggie?" And she delved into her purse, extracting an elegant embossed silver cigarette case from which she withdrew what was clearly a joint. "I have them specially rolled for me...only the finest...!"

"Charis! I can't smoke that with the kids here!"

"'Course you can! My God, the alcohol is worse. Come on...you can't have a fuck- so have a trip...you know it makes sense!"

Charis lit up the joint and took a deep drag, holding it in and then letting it go slowly as she dropped her head back. "Fuck me, but that is good shit!" she exclaimed and passed it across.

For a moment Annie considered refusing it but then she shrugged her reservations away. It was about time she did something assertive. If she wanted to smoke weed - then she would. Taking the cigarette, she took a draw and let it roll over. Charis was right. This was grade A shit.

"You know what I miss most?" Annie observed some time later as they lay on the large couch, Annie's head in Charis' lap.

"No what?" Charis muttered as she took another drag and idly played with Annie's long hair, twisting it around her fingers.

"I miss just lying here like this...I mean, I miss sex, of course, but...I really miss his touch. Just feeling him close. Just the two of us..."

"Yeah..." Charis sighed. "It's the closeness you crave. Another human being who cares enough to be there for you..."

"How do you manage?" Annie asked swiveling over onto her elbows and looking up at her friend. "Are you seeing anyone?"

Charis closed her eyes and smiled lazily. "Well, in a manner of speaking...if you mean men, well yes. This play I'm rehearsing? Off Broadway, pretty experimental...there is a darling young hunk called Piers....he is just too hot...he's half French, hung like a 'taureau', with ethereal good looks and absolutely no morals. Ergo - a great fuck. However, he is about as intellectually stimulating as a box of cereals. I am seeing someone else, however, someone more...interesting as a person...a meeting of minds, you know?"

"Tell me! You're dating two men? Who's the other? Out with it! Some older man with a fascinating career...? An artist? Go on, tell me...I have to live vicariously through you, remember!" Annie giggled.

Charis weighed her words carefully. "Not an older man. Not a man at all...Annie...would it shock you if I told you I have a female lover?"

Annie's eyes widened. "Whoah! Really? Shock me? No, of course not...I mean, I don't have any moral objections - why would I? I just...what's it like with a woman? You're obviously not gay...or are you bi? I get so confused these days, there are so many categories..."

She sat up cross-legged, eager for the low down. 

"I don't think I'm bi as such...I think I'm straight. But...this woman is gay. I like her, she's very attractive, not masculine - I don't go for that - why would I? If I want a butch, I'd have a guy! I've toyed with experimentation in the past, of course...done the group scene, threesomes, couple of orgies....Jesus, I grew up in this town! Something for everyone, you know? But this is the first time I've had a sustained relationship with a woman. We're not exclusive, we both see others and she knows I sleep with men. But when we meet up, maybe once a week, we talk, we kiss, we play - and we fuck. It's pretty amazing. I get a lot out of it," Charis admitted.

Annie thought about it. "I've never had sex with a woman..."

"Not even, Mel?" Charis said clearly surprised.

"Mel?" Annie screeched. "Why would you think Mel?"

"Well, you've known each other for years. Shared a flat. Shared men, perhaps?' Charis teased. Annie winced.

"She slept with Terry once..."

"Terry? Your Terry?"

Annie flinched. "Yeah...she met him first..."

"He dumped her for you?"

"No...she just fucked him...I met him later...it's a long story," Annie added.

"So you two never shared a guy...never did a foursome? Dino and Terry are pretty close friends....Find that hard to believe. Mel must have played around..."

Annie cocked her head to one side. "What makes you say that?"

"You can just tell. I don't know..."

"She never said...well, she has done group sex...she's mentioned that in the past - before Dino, of course...don't reckon he would be up for that with her..."

"..Then she must have. Those things get so you can't tell who you're touching. That's how it starts. You're with a couple of guys and girls. Everyone strips off and gets down to it. Next minute you have some guy's cock in your mouth and someone licking your pussy. Who the fuck knows if it's male or female? You roll over and find a tit in your face...so you have a nibble. Then it occurs to you that it's just the same as with a guy...apart from the dick of course....touch...sensation...arousal....changes your perception..."

"I'm not sure I could, you know, lick a woman's cunt..."

"You never tasted yourself off him?" Charis asked.

"Well...yeah, of course I have...."

"So? Imagine the knowledge a woman takes when she does that to another woman...men mostly don't get it...all they know is pull and come..."

"I always wondered...I mean notionally...what it would be like. Sort of fantasize...but, I can't see myself ever doing it! I mean....who would I ask? Excuse me...can I just lick your fanny out of curiosity....?" Annie burst out laughing at the absurdity.

"You can lick mine anytime, sweetheart..." Charis whispered softly. Annie's head shot up.

"Jesus, I was only joking...!"

"I know. But I wasn't. I don't have your inhibitions. I'm drunk, high, horny and you are a beautiful woman of whom I'm very fond. I like you a hell of a lot more than most of the men I take to my bed. I'd like to see you naked. I like to touch you and have you touch me. But if it you don't want it - that's OK. We're still friends, whatever. But I like to get intimate with my friends. It's just the way I am..."

Annie sat staring at her, completely astonished at the offer she had just received. "I....I....I...I haven't got a clue what to say!" Annie admitted.

"Why? You don't know how to let me down gently? Or you don't know how to tell me that you'd like to try?" Charis moved closer, her right hand brushing back a heavy curl from Annie's hair. Annie didn't move. Charis' hand dropped lower to rest on the swell of her friend's breast and caress it tenderly. She still didn't move, just watched her fingers as they rotated. Then Charis kissed her softly on the mouth, felt her tentative response, let her tongue play with her lips and then thrust deeper, leaning in as Annie let herself slip onto her back and fall beneath Charis' body.

They kissed for awhile until Charis felt Annie's body relax and begin to undulate with hers. Then she pulled away. "Was that so bad?" Charis muttered as she nuzzled at her ear and licked at her lobes. "God, you are so beautiful...I love feminine women..."

"You are feminine!" Annie gasped. "You are beautiful!" She was. Shortish blonde hair cut in that jagged messy style that cost a fortune, chiseled fine features that spoke of class and breeding, tall and slim with high full breasts and slender hips and legs, her skin always golden brown, the most expensive of artificial tanning methods. Everything about Charis spoke of wealth, a life of ease and radiant natural gifts. Annie had always been in awe of this kind of woman - Penny without the frost and snobbery.

Charis laughed at her compliment. "So, how was your first kiss?" She fondled  Annie's breasts, easing open the buttons of her little camisole to lay her bare; Annie was naked beneath, her small pert breasts peaked and the pale pink of her areola beginning to flush with arousal. Annie swallowed hard and caught Charis' hand, moving it to the crutch of her own jeans. "I said I dreamed of what it was like to kiss a woman there...and to be kissed there by a woman..." Their eyes met.

"I think we'd better go to your room, honey...in case one of the kids wakes up..." Charis replied taking her hand and pulling her up from the seat. Annie led her through, stopping at the door to look back at her friend. Then she smiled shyly and beckoned her in, dropping her camisole and letting slip her jeans.

He found himself staring at the ceiling and realized that he had been doing that for a very long time. It was an unremarkable ceiling, pale plaster with a bronze effect central fan designed to look like an older period style. Why was he looking at it? His thoughts were hard to gather, as if he had been deeply asleep. He had been deeply asleep. His body felt so loose with sleep that he could hardly feel it; it was heavy and sluggish.

Moments passed and he wondered where he was. It didn't seem to worry him that he didn't know. It was just an idle fancy. Who am I? My name is Terrence Thorne. Where am I? I don't know. Where am I? He moved his head to the right; it was an effort, and it took his eyes a while to focus. A hotel room. This was not home. He knew that. Where is home? I don't know - but this is not it.

He flexed his fingers and began to move his limbs - so stiff. His left arm ached and so did his balls...he was beginning to feel his body again. Realisation dawned that he was sprawled at an awkward angle over a large bed, tangled in a sheet, his head somewhere near the edge of the bed. His bladder was full but he wasn't sure if he could stand up to go and relieve it.

He lay there thinking for a further time. Memories were beginning to come back. He remembered a woman - she'd been with him...he knew her but he couldn't think of her name...Christ, I need to piss...

Rolling to his right side, he tried to drag himself up, taking three attempts before he managed to make a half sit, his arms seemingly too weak to support him. With more manoeuvering he found himself at the end of the bed, his feet on the floor and the sheet still tangled round his waist. He pulled at it until he had freed himself, the effort annoying him.

Think! What the fuck is the matter with you? Suddenly his brain started to clear sufficiently for him to try and find out what was the matter. He began to massage his arms and clench and unclench his palms until he felt the blood surging again and needles and pins indicated that feeling was returning. Reaching down he rubbed his legs and calves, lights dancing before his eyes as he bent forward. He rotated his feet and, slowly, he began to recover his body from its lethargic torpor. The heavy blankness in his mind began to lift.

It was all vivid now. Everything came flooding back in a blinding flash of clarity. With his head in his hands he let his mind do its work until he recalled everything.

Standing up gingerly, his knees shaking but holding out, he lurched forward and stumbled for the bathroom. With one hand resting on the wall before him for balance, he urinated, groaning with the relief and the aching sensation in his sac. He handled his scrotum cautiously, saw the mottled bruising, rested one hand on the marble top and looked in the mirror. His face was pale and drawn beneath his tan, his eyes bloodshot. He shook his head, opened the shower door, flipped the lever and stepped in. Hot water sprayed over him, easing the ache, clearing the fug in his brain; he reached up, turned the head to needle spray and then slammed the lever to ice cold. The shock made him shout out loud but he leaned his hands on the tiles and made himself stand there, gritting his teeth, willing it to hurt until he was shivering.

Stepping out he wrapped a towel round his waist and examined his body. It didn't take long to locate the small bruise on his bicep- hypodermic. He shuddered; he could be dead. He deserved to be. Every rule in the book. Broken. You fucking stupid prick! He shouted at his reflection. And then he choked it down. Rage. At himself. At her. Make it count. Make the anger work for you not against you. The damage is done - limit it.

Back in the room, he looked about. What had she been looking for? There was nothing here. His laptop? Impossible. She couldn't have got into his case, never mind unscrambled it. Nothing was missing. Most of the documents were downtown at the office - but very little was retained - and that in code. Information was logged sent and copies destroyed. Only the computers held the real material and they were download proof.

What else? Cell phone? Possibly. It was locked and scrambled but phones were easier to break electronically with the right equipment. But what would she find? There were just K and R contacts apart from....Christ Almighty...why? What for? If they know...why do they need information on my family? What need is there to blackmail me?

Change the thinking. Forget what I am doing here. Let's pretend I am K and R. Reasons for her to set me up? 

He ticked off possibilities on his fingers. 

Revenge...? Someone I've crossed in the past who recognised me?

Or...nothing to do with K and R...Entrapment...pure and simple. Pictures? She took pictures? Someone took pictures? Threaten to send them to my wife...fuck -that is so paranoid. Who am I? Just some guy. Not some famous person. Get real.

Some other reason that I can't fathom. 

How did I meet her? Accident. Rarely happen. Probably contrived. She could have been following me. I was being highly visible. Next meeting. Accidental - even I didn't know where I was going until we stood outside and decided that we wanted pizza...Who suggested? Anyone excused themselves? Went for a piss long enough to call her.,.?Jesus, we all did...what does that prove...? She always knows where I am...it could be... Someone on the inside....why? What would they gain? Money. Got to be money involved somewhere. It's always money.

OK. So I don't know who, what, why...but I know she set me up. Trust no one. You're on your own, mate. So, what's new?  

Dino. Warn him. 

"Hey, mate...how's it hanging?"

"Straight down. Six weeks isn't up yet..." Dino smirked into the phone. "What's up your end?"

There was a pause. "Beef up the security on Annie and the kids. I want a 24 hour bodyguard. If she complains - ignore her. I don't give a shit what she says..." Terry ignored his question and went straight in.

"She told me you said you might be home soon. That mean what I think it means?"

"Yeah...we're entering the danger zone." He did not need to clarify.

"What exactly is bothering you about Annie?" Dino asked bluntly.

Another pause. Longer this time. Terry was choosing his words carefully. 

"This Arab guy...?"

"He's Persian not Arab and it's finished. He moved out. End of story..." Dino replied.

"I still want the guard."

"Terry...you all right? Is there something I should know? I don't like being in the dark...don't shit me. If there's a real threat I need to know - don't give me the top secret crap..."

"I just told you. Twenty-four hours. Armed."

Dino cleared his throat. "That sounds pretty definitive to me..."

"So... then what more you need to know?"

"Like - who, why, where?"

"I have no idea. Just call it a hunch. Something's not right. That's all you need to know..."

"This is me, Terry..."

"I just fucking told you. You don't want the job - then fuck off and I'll get someone else...maybe Inherent Risk might like it, you think?"

"You got out the wrong side of bed this morning, pal?" Dino snapped back.

Terry's reaction surprised him. He began to laugh. "You could say..."

"...Or maybe out of the wrong bed....?"

"You think I'm gonna answer that?"

"I think you just have, man...but maybe you ought to be asking yourself that question...?"

"It's none of your fucking business, mate..."

It was Dino's turn to laugh. "...No? Tell that to your wife and kids, hey?" He slammed the phone down, tired of playing cat and mouse. But he knew two things for sure. Annie's instinct was right.

And sure as shit Terry's was too.

Terry had hardly replaced the receiver before someone leaned on the buzzer of his suite. He opened it; he recognised the style. Costello strolled in and looked him up and down. "Christ, you look like shit. You sick or something?"

Terry did not answer. "You got a reason for coming here or was it just a friendly wakeup call?"

"Wake up? It's two thirty in the afternoon, mate...you been on a bender?"

Terry shot a look at the clock by his bed. Christ. How long had he been out? "I got in late..."

"Hope she was worth it..." Costello retorted with a grin. "Anything?"

Terry shook his head. 

"Maybe you slept through? I've had a call. Fifteen minutes ago. It's on for tomorrow."

"They called you?"

"Yeah. Me." Costello's cocky smirk widened. "Don't like that, do you?"

"Play back."

Costello took out a small recorder - they all had them attached to room phones and pressed 'play'.

'Tell your boss...tomorrow at five a.m. This time you come with him. Leave your two playmates at the hotel. The same car. By the fountain. No weapons. You will be searched.'

Terry grimaced. 

Costello held out his hands. "It's ....Showtime...!"