Read Second Shot for Free Online Page A

wouldn’t let it go.
    “And what about America?”
    “You’ve got to get over it sooner or later, Charlie,” he said gently. “This should be a nice easy job. You’ve got weeks to get used to the idea. And once you get to Boston, away from Simone’s ex, it’s just a case of holding her hand while she reacquaints herself with Daddy.”
    It sounded simple enough when he put it like that. And besides, I knew all about difficult family relationships from firsthand experience.
    So why couldn’t I shake off the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach?
    “OK, Sean,” I heard myself saying. “If you want me to take this, I’ll do it.”
    He fastened his seat belt and set the car into gear before regarding me, and his face was suddenly hard again, the way it had been when he’d first shown me the knife.
    “Just remember, Charlie, today you let emotion cloud your judgment and you must not let that happen, do you understand me?” he said, so coldly it was almost impossible to imagine that he had ever softened towards me. “It will kill you if you do.”

Four
     
    I didn’t expect to hear from Simone again for a couple of weeks. Not until her tame private investigators had made more progress, at any rate. And because that meant I could put off making a decision about whether I was really ready to go back to the States or not, I put it off.
    It was something of a surprise, therefore, to get a call on my mobile just before six thirty the next morning.
    It was still dark outside and I could hear rain slatting against the outside of the window Disorientated, I rolled over in my bed and groped for the phone. By the time I’d flicked it open and recognized Sean’s number as the caller, I was fully awake.
    I hadn’t gone back with him to Harrington’s office the afternoon before. Instead, Sean had taken Simone and Ella home himself and had offered to arrange overnight cover for her. Apparently she’d dug her heels in at the idea of being surrounded by a group of strangers, insisting that Matt was unlikely to try again and she’d be in touch when she needed us.
    “Sean,” I said now by way of greeting. “What’s up?”
    He heard the wary note in my voice. He must have done. He’d been cool towards me since our altercation of the day before. For the first time in weeks pride had dictated that I go back to the room I was renting near his base of operations in King’s Langley rather than to his place. But as soon as I’d shut the door behind me and the silence had closed in, I’d regretted it. I knew I was punishing myself as much as Sean, but forgiving him too readily had seemed much worse an option.
    “I’ve just had a call from Simone,” he said. “Apparently the press have got wind of what happened yesterday and they’re camped out on her doorstep.”
    “The press?” I repeated, alarmed, my first instinct one of guilt. For a moment I had the irrational fear that somehow the run-in Sean and I had had with the security guard the day before had leaked out and made the headlines.
    “Yeah, it would seem that her ex didn’t appreciate being slung out on his ear and he must have decided to go very public about the whole thing.”
    “Oh,” I said, hit by relief and then dismay in equal parts. “Shit.”
    “Yeah, you could say that,” he said, his voice wry. “Anyway, she’s under siege and she needs some support. I told her to close all the curtains and stay inside, and offered to send a full team, but she just wants you. How soon can you be up there?” He gave me the address, a quiet suburb in northwest London. Not exactly your usual lottery winner neighborhood.
    I sat up in bed and swung my legs out from under the covers. “On the bike? About forty-five minutes,” I said, thinking of my Honda FireBlade sitting chained up in the garage below. Nothing sliced through the morning rush quite like a big-power motorcycle.
    “No, I think you should swing by the office and pick up a pool vehicle,” Sean