Dark Clouds

Read Dark Clouds for Free Online

Book: Read Dark Clouds for Free Online
Authors: Phil Rowan
ciao … but I give you this.’ She’s writing her phone number on a piece of red tissue paper from a table decoration. I’m feeling good again, and when she passes me the tissue paper, her fingers brush fleetingly against the back of my hand.
    *  *  *  *  *
    I want to go on talking and dancing with her, but my phone’s ringing and as I answer it, she blows me a kiss and leaves.
    ‘Rudi?’ a familiar voice asks.
    ‘Sulima ... you got my message?’
    ‘Yes – I’ll meet you at the airport. We’re so glad you’re coming ... and you must stay with us.’
    Is this woman’s brother funding an al-Qaeda cell with nuclear intentions? It’s difficult to believe, and I’m having to clench my free hand as we do a couple of pleasantries.
    ‘So we’ll see you tomorrow,’ she says finally with warm enthusiasm like I’m an old friend, which of course I am.
    *  *  *  *  *
    ‘Ingrid is lovely,’ Fiona Adler confides when I join her. ‘But she’s totally committed to her art, Rudi, and there are lots of other fabulous girls here this evening.’ She’s pointing over towards a cool and confident looking young woman who’s talking with Daisy’s TV producer husband, Bill. ‘That’s Carol,’ Fiona confides. ‘She’s quite exceptional, and definitely a rising star in TV fashion. The thing is though, she’s had a difficult period emotionally in recent months, so I’d ask you to be considerate … as I’m sure you always are.’
    ‘But – ’
    ‘Never mind the reticence; you are required to be bold. Delicate flowers yearn for a firm hand, and this girl needs her confidence boosting,’ Fiona insists. She’s on a mission. But then she stops and swears with subdued frustration.
    ‘What’s wrong?’ I ask when Daisy’s husband moves on and the slim, focused Carol is quickly taken over by an oily looking guy. He’s drawing her in and seems to be holding her interest. I’m intrigued by the greasy but practised leer in his eyes and what I’m sure are his depraved and evil intentions.
    ‘It’s that shit Bellingham from The News ,’ Fiona fumes. ‘He’s about to make a move. Still – never mind … I’ll introduce you to Camilla if I can find her. She’s in publishing publicity, and I have to say Rudi, she’s rather forward. So you’ll need to assert yourself from the start and keep a firm grip on the reins … ah, there she is!’
     

Chapter 4
     
    Camilla Quince had a rude sense of humour, long legs and other engaging attractions. She took several lines of cocaine at Daisy’s party and then suggested that we go to a cool place in the West End. It was a challenge, but it was too much too soon, so I slipped away, and dreamt that night of Valkyries coming down on chariots from the frozen North. They were a wild tribe, but there was a princess called Ingrid. She had silky blonde hair, a deft touch with her wand and a tantalising influence with the warriors.
    There was then a nightmare with Mike, now Mohammed, Sharif shaking my hand while someone he financed placed a suitcase with Plutonium and a detonator on a subway train in a Western city. In the morning, however, the sun is shining and I’m blinking when a plainclothes cop drives into the square and calls my mobile.
    On the way out to the airport, we chat about the English weather, civil war in the Labour Party and how Islamic activists are forming terror cliques in Her Majesty’s prisons. It’s all stuff of the moment and it passes the time. It also means I don’t have to think too much about what I’m meant to be doing in Geneva. Not for long though, because the driver makes a call on his radio as we get into the tunnel at Heathrow. Carla Hirsch answers straight away, and she’s waiting when we pull up outside the terminal entrance.
    ‘We need to talk,’ she says, taking my arm and guiding me through the building. She’s definitely in control and my calves are tingling just trying to keep up with her.
    She’s still wearing designer

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