Read State Of Emergency: (Tom Buckingham Thriller 3) for Free Online Page B

followed her in. She should have alerted him that Rolt had left the hotel last night. ‘You’re trying to avoid me.’
    She sighed and shook her head. She looked knackered. ‘I’m so sorry.’
    ‘Sorry’s not good enough.’
    MI5 had put her into Rolt’s office several months before Tom, and it was she who’d been instrumental in his recruitment. Things had worked well and they’d watched each other’s backs. But when Rolt’s election campaign had got going, and he had insisted on having her almost constantly at his side, her dedication and stamina were tested to the limit. Woolf, their Security Service handler, was delighted, but the strain of being constantly on duty was clearly taking its toll on her. She was worn out and there were now tiny lines around her eyes.
    But Tom was in no mood for dishing out sympathy. He shut the door abruptly behind him. ‘So what the fuck happened?’
    She came up to him and put out a hand as if to place it on his chest. He folded his arms, forcing her to retract it. He had last seen them together at the celebration party at around two a.m., after Rolt had delivered a perfunctory thanks to his election team. ‘He whisked me away before I had a chance to warn you. I’m so sorry.’
    ‘For all I knew he was in that hotel room – and possibly you .’
    She looked sheepish, the implication hanging in the air. She reached out to him as a drowning woman might to a rock. ‘Please, Tom. It’s got really difficult these last few days. He’s hardly left me alone for a second.’
    For all these months Tom had been the only one she could let down her guard with. They had made a good team and had thought they had every corner of Rolt’s life covered. It had brought them closer but he knew better than to get involved with someone on the job. Not only had she been disappointed, it had left her all the more vulnerable to Rolt’s persistent attentions.
    ‘A text would have done the job.’
    Her shoulders sagged and she looked as if she was about to crumple, as if all her training had deserted her. Of course she should have told him that Rolt had left, but maybe she genuinely hadn’t had a chance. And she couldn’t have known that two other people would take the opportunity to use his room.
    ‘Come on, Tom, you know what it’s like. A moment’s suspicion on his part could put my cover in jeopardy. I have to minimize that risk.’
    Something about this didn’t convince him. He had warned Woolf but kept the pressure on her to shadow Rolt’s every move. Woolf wanted to know about everyone Rolt spoke to and, during the election campaign, the names of everyone of significance beating a path to his door, and his celebrity status had mushroomed. As Rolt’s role in the election had become decisive a steady stream of influentials had sought him out, either to be seen and photographed with him or privately to express support. She could barely keep up. And when Rolt started showing her even more attention, Woolf was thrilled: it proved how well her cover was working, and he urged her not to hold back. The implications were not pleasant, for either Phoebe or Tom.
    ‘Rolt was adamant he didn’t want anyone to see us leave. He was in a really weird, jumpy mood. How could I possibly have known some lunatic was going to break in and—’ She pushed a tear away with an index finger, then let her hands fall to her sides. ‘Okay. So I lost my phone.’
    Woolf had issued them with encrypted phones. Losing one got you a big black mark. If she really had run out of reserves, it was time to throw her a lifeline. There was nothing to be gained from giving her a hard time. He took the hand she had let fall. She trembled, almost flinched.
    ‘Probably it would still have played out the way it did. Either way, Randall would have to be dealt with.’
    She looked so relieved it was almost pathetic. Some of the light came back into her eyes. ‘So what did Rolt say?’
    ‘About