Farrell

Chapter Seven

I hadn't as yet replaced the two broken panes of glass in the kitchen window, so this was where I headed for with my torch on. I carefully checked all round the frame both inside and out before putting my hand through and opening the window to climb in. Crouched on the sill, I swept the torch around to make sure the floor was clear before lightly jumping down and kept down close to the floor. I had an idea what I was looking for and soon found it. A thin piece of wire had been taped across the bottom of the door that would have snapped at it being opened. I followed the wire along the skirting board to where it disappeared into a bottom drawer, which I then gently eased open. Inside was a nice little package that the wire went into and found that it was connected to a ten second fuse that would set the bomb off and blow the kitchen and whoever was in it into smithereens.

I carefully removed the fuse and then pulled the wire out making the whole thing safe. There must have been at least half a pound of Semtex in the package, but this had been wired to the back door. What about the front door? I could have walked in through that door and found the kitchen door wired. So if there was another bomb connected elsewhere and I snapped the wire, I would have just under ten seconds to get out, so I left the back door wide open in case.

I didn't dare touch the light switches but had to rely on the illumination of the torch to sweep ahead of me as I cautiously made my way to the front door. I found that my assumption was right, for this too had been wired in the same way with another half pound of Semtex. This I disconnected and got back into the kitchen and made another careful check around the cupboards. I couldn't bring Mary into the cottage in case there were any more planted around the place.

With the outside of my food cupboard checked, I opened it and pulled out enough food for us to eat supper and put them in my pockets. I shut the kitchen window and then went out and for the first time since I'd lived there, locked the kitchen door from the outside and put the key in a safe place.

Oh Michael,' came Mary's voice from the darkened garden, and she came rushing into the beam of my torch and flung her arms round me. You were in there so long I was getting worried.' I could taste the salt of her tears as she kissed me and this made my heart give another lurch at the thought that she really loved me and this began to make my cock rise.

Sorry about that,' I said as I held and kissed her back. But we can't stay here the night.'

`We can go back to the shop,' she said, but I had a better idea. Now who said that a man could always be led by his prick? Well this was certainly the case for I now had a really throbbing hard on inside my trousers.

`No. Come with me,' and I took her hand and led her out onto the cliffs. Here we walked hand in hand up over the hill and down to Nick's cottage. The back door was still unlocked and we went inside and I turned the light on.

`Well it's a bit dusty but it's almost the same as yours. Who's place is this?' Mary asked.

`It belongs, no, belonged to Nick. Nick Farrell, the Farrell who got killed instead of me,' I replied, emptying my pockets of the food from my cupboard onto the table.

Oh,' she said. Now tell me why we couldn't stay at your place?' I had refused to tell her as we had walked across the hill and so as I got plates out for supper, told her of the bombs.

`There might have been more than the two, so I didn't think it wise to try and find any more in the dark.'

Oh Michael,' she cried coming into my arms again, a response that I was getting to rather like for after getting my dick to shrink back to its normal state on the walk over the hill, now started to rise up again. What if they are still out there? Shouldn't we turn the light off?'

No,' I laughed. We're safe for the night. The person who planted them had a car and will be well away from here by now.'

`Michael I don't want to lose you now after only just having found you,' tears coming to her eyes as she kissed me fiercely, now rubbing the front of her body up against mine, feeling I'm sure, what was now being squashed.

I don't want to lose you Mary O'Sullivan either, but there's a chance I might die of hunger first if you don't start fixing us something to eat,' I said after her kisses, getting her arms off from round me. It will have to be beer I'm afraid. I didn't want to open my fridge for the milk so I didn't bother bringing over the coffee.'

`Beer'll do fine,' she laughed and began to sort out what I'd brought to make us a meal. While she was doing this, I phoned the office and eventually got patched through to Jackson.

`There's been another attempt,' I said without preamble, and went on to tell him what I had found.

`I'll get a bomb squad down there right away,' he said when I'd finished talking.

`No. Please don't do that yet. The place is secure for the night and besides, it'll be better for them to turn the place over in daylight. Also I'd rather it be done without fanfare as I don't want to get the village up into a state of hysteria because of my being here.' I then told him where the key to the back door was as I didn't want them breaking it down to get inside.

`Okay. I'll have them down there at first light. Just keep out of sight and I'll phone you when they've finished and give you the details. Keep your head down because whoever is behind this will try again when they learn that they have failed again.' I told him I would and finished the call and went and opened two bottles of beer for us to have with the meal that was now ready.

Michael?' Mary spoke as we held hands across the table, our beer glasses between us. Her eyes so soft and full of desire that it made me wonder if mine looked the same as I think that the same thoughts were running through her mind as were what was in mine. Are we staying here for the night?'

`If you want to darling,' I said, squeezing her hand.

`That's settled then. Take me to bed and tell me how much you love me,' a sweet smile coming to her face. But with the bed last being used by Nick and that was several weeks ago, Mary stripped it while I found his linen closet and gave her clean sheets to remake the bed for us. Then we moved towards each other and slowly began to take each other's clothes off, me marvelling at the glorious body I was revealing that was mine for the night. This was between kisses before getting into bed and making glorious love to one another.

The start was for me to move down in between her open legs and use my mouth and tongue which caused her to give out a groan and have her body give a shiver.

Together Michael,' I heard her cry out. Together. Turn round.' I stopped licking her insides and turned my body on the bed and rolled over onto my back for her to get astride of me. It was lovely to have the nipples of her breasts stroke from the chest down to rest on my stomach as I felt her hand take hold of my erection and hold it upright.

Her hot breath over the head made it twitch and she stopped this by taking it into her mouth. What a glorious feeling to have her tongue rove over the partly exposed head, pushing the foreskin down to be able to suck on the bare flesh. While doing this, her leg had gone across my body and had both down by the sides of my chest as she lowered herself down for me to stick my tongue back up inside her.

With us doing this to each other, it wasn't long before she was squirming above me and I felt her body shake and felt her orgasmic juices start to flow down into my mouth. Her mouth was then filled with my sperm as I bucked my hips up, trying to get more of myself into her in this fashion. But she held the base of my cock firm so that I wouldn't choke her.

The cool air wafted round the head of my cock when she released me from the heat of her mouth as she licked round the exposed head before giving a sigh and moved off of me. Even though my mouth was wet from her juices, she still kissed me and licked round my face where I was still wet.

We kissed, held and stroked each other till I was roused up again and this time she lay on her back for me to enter her in the usual sexual position. We both lasted much longer this time until I gave out a groan and couldn't hold myself back any longer and came inside her. It was only by moving down again using my tongue was I able to bring her to her second orgasm.

I didn't much sleep that night, not because of my love making with Mary, but because I couldn't close my mind down about the bombs in my own cottage. I was up early and leaving Mary in bed, went up the hill and lay in the still wet grass from the dew to look down at the cottage. I could see that the back door was open and knew that the squad were going over the place with a fine toothcomb. I couldn't see what vehicle they had come in but guessed it would be a rather nondescript thing that wouldn't cause any distress to the neighbours. After watching for a bit and seeing people moving about in one of the upstairs bedrooms, did I return to Nick's place to find Mary cobbling some sort of breakfast together for us. With no milk, it had to be tea au natural until we went up to the shop. She had found a shirt of Nick's that was a bit on the small side for her and I kept getting tantalising glimpses of her bare bum and muff that got me into such a state that as soon as we had eaten, we went back to bed again.

It was well past noon after a lovely morning of fucking each other that we finally got up and got dressed and I suggested that we have lunch in the pub before we got some supplies in or my cottage was declared free of any unwanted devices. Mary agreed to this and so we strolled up the lane, arm in arm and went into the pub. She insisted on popping next door to the shop first for some clean clothes and for me to order her lunch as she would not be long.

I'd only just given my order for drinks when Dave came up from the cellar, and espying me, beckoned me to the far end of the bar.

`I don't want to alarm you Mr Farrell, but there's a van down the lane and there are some men in your cottage,' he whispered conspiratorially.

`Thanks for keeping an eye out Dave, but I called them in. They are doing some work inside for me though I should have told you first so as not to cause concern but thanks all the same.'

Think nothing of it. Got to keep an eye out for my regulars. There's not many of them so I got to try and keep them, haven't I?' he laughed. I'm what you might call the neighbourhood thing.'

`Watch,' I supplied.

`That's the word. Neighbourhood watch! Can't have strangers wandering around village what with many a door unlocked eh?'

`Perfectly right,' I agreed and then ordered lunch for two. I turned when the door of the pub opened and I saw Mary silhouetted against the sun, her slim legs clearly visible through the thin muslin type frock she was wearing. The sight made me want to forget lunch and take her back to the cottage again. I did say that Mary was the first woman I had known for nearly four years and now I couldn't get enough of her.

Her smile was bright as she came in and took the proffered drink, blowing me a silent kiss that gave my heart a nice kick and had to stifle the urge to take her into my arms there and then in the pub. She went and sat down with her back to the window and I liked the way the sun made her hair shine in many different shades of brown. Dave brought out our platters of food which what is known as a ploughman's lunch. Fresh bread with hunks of cheese and pickles and it really did look good enough to eat.

After finishing each tiny morsel after our meagre breakfast, feeling very content with a full satisfied stomach and a lovely woman to look at, felt at peace in body, but not in mind. I had the premonition that the phone would soon ring and was prepared for it when it did ring. I made the excuse that the reception would be better outside and quickly went out and answered it, knowing that it would be Jackson with some news.

You did right staying out of the cottage for the night,' he said without preamble. They found another one that I think you might have missed in the dark. A pressure switch under the carpet on the upstairs landing about two foot in from the top of the stairs. The wire went along under the carpet and this one didn't have a time fuse, so you might not have spotted it in the dark. Well done Michael!'

Then another thought hit me as he said this. Was this some kind of test of my abilities? Was it really Semtex or dummy bombs set up by Jackson to see if I was still fit for the field? Maybe he took advantage of the death of Nick to set up these traps and that the gun shots at the cottage were meant to miss? Would he go to those lengths to check me out? I doubted it, but it was something else to consider and so I now had to think of what to do to counter any more tricks to either prove my worth or prevent me being killed if the threat was real.

`Well pass on my thanks to the boys and tell them that I'll stand them a good shout down at some pub when I'm back up in London. It will be all right for me to stay down here for awhile?' I asked. The answer was in the affirmative but said that I should still be on my guard while he looked into things from his end.

I went back to Mary and bought another drink for us both as I pondered as to what to do. She pre-empted me in one course of action when I sat down with our fresh drinks and told her that the cottage was now clear for us to use.

That's good, because I was thinking while you were outside leaving me here all alone, again.' She stressed the last word. I'm moving in to look after you while you look after me.'

You can't,' I blurted out. I'm still in danger!'

`Are you saying that you don't love me?' she cried, tears coming to her eyes.

Mary darling. I love you with all my heart but I don't want you to get hurt while I've still got this problem to sort out,' I told her, taking her hand and rubbing it. I can't do my job properly to protect myself let alone putting you at risk too!'

`Michael Farrell! If anything happened to you, I'd die. So I'd rather die with you than without you!' Tears were now running down her face and I was glad that there were only two other people in the bar and were too far away to hear us.

`Mary O'Sullivan. I've come to love you more than life itself and I don't want to lose you. Can't you see that I'm still in danger and I don't want to get you involved.'

`But I am involved now. I love you and if whoever is doing this succeeds, I'd rather be with you than have to bury you.' Her tears had now become sobs and then her eyes began streaming tears and it took me quite some time, moving round and sitting beside her, holding her tight and, much to my reluctance, giving in to her wishes.

When she was composed and more her normal self, we finished our drinks and went next door to the shop to see her aunt for supplies for the cottage. I let Mary choose what we needed and when all was got together, I paid the bill and we went down to the lane to my now swept clean cottage.

I found the key in the same place that I had put it and we went into the kitchen and began putting away the food. We spent a pleasant afternoon on the settee, talking in between kisses and of us having sex again, learning more about each other and then found that night had fallen. I'd rigged up a storm lantern in the kitchen and she positively glowed under its soft light as she prepared dinner for us and as I sat there to watch her, realised how lucky I was to have found such a girl down here in my own back yard as it were. I cannot remember what the meal was but it went down very well with a bottle of wine and we were soon in bed to show each other at just how much in such a short time, we had come to have this love between us.

Going into the sixty nine position first as a prelude to me turning round and entering that lovely heat of her inside body. I loved that smooth and silky feel of her vagina that my cock moved in, feeling her internal muscles flexing all along the length of my shaft. Then to have her legs grip me tight across my waist and back as she began her orgasm. Bucking me about on top, striving to stay there, not being able to push myself harder into her as she screamed and let go of her orgasm. This triggered me to send out my seed and had the fleeting hope that she was taking the pill, but it was somewhat a bit late to be thinking of that at this time. It wasn't till after we had fucked for the second time that we finally, exhausted, fell asleep in each other's arms.

It was in the early hours of the morning when I shot bolt upright in bed, cursing myself for being a fool. Whoever had planted the bombs would know that they hadn't gone off and that I was still alive and, as I was now, probably back in the cottage, a sitting target for another attack. Needless to say that I didn't sleep any more that night, but had gone downstairs and sat there till it was full daylight expecting, but thankful that no such attack came.

So for a change, I cooked breakfast and told Mary what I planned to do. She agreed, and after getting dressed, took some of our supplies and went off to the shop, only to make her way later down to Nick's cottage. While she was out, I rummaged around through my tools and other bits and pieces I had picked up over time and came up with two timing clocks. One I wired up to the kitchen and parlour light and timed it to come on when dusk fell and then go off later in the late evening. Then the other clock would kick in which was wired to the bedroom to come on as the downstairs lights went off, stay on for about twenty minutes and then switch off. This would then seem that we were inside and went up to bed at about a quarter to twelve. With this all wired up and tested, I then made my way across the hill to Nick's cottage where I planned to stay.

Chapter Eight

It was on the second night that an intruder came in. The first night had been perfect not only in not being interrupted, but that Mary and I got that much better acquainted as they say. Read that as sex, sex and more sex. Now instead of using the master bedroom, if you could call it that, his cottage being an almost replica of mine. The first bedroom at the top of the stairs was the larger and had a double bed in it. The spare, or second room, was a bit smaller and the bed wasn't as big, which was where I had placed us. In the big bedroom I had dummied up the bed so that it looked like that there were two people sleeping in there, and with the lights out, looked pretty much as I thought it would. We then slept in the other room but I made a point of having both doors kept open.

On this second night we'd gone to bed as usual and after our foreplay, made love, me coming twice and her having two orgasms before we eventually drifted off to sleep. Being a field operative and knowing that my life was being threatened, slept on a knife edge and came awake in an instant. Fully alert knowing that my brain had heard something out of the ordinary for the cottage we were sleeping in. I leaned up and put my hand over Mary's mouth to stop any sound as she came awake at my touch. Her eyes wide at the fact that I had covered her mouth with my hand.

Don't make a sound,' I whispered into her ear. Whatever you do, keep quiet. Now slowly and quietly, roll out of bed and get on the floor and stay there. No noise or sound. Do you understand?' She nodded, her eyes now wide with fright. `Good girl, and stay there till I call and say that all is clear.' I let go off her mouth and rolled over to my side of the bed and taking my gun, already cocked, from under my pillow, eased myself out of bed and onto the floor. I must say that Mary acted like a pro. I saw her move off the bed on the other side but didn't hear a sound as she disappeared from view to the floor.

Staying on the floor, I eased my way to our open door and out onto the landing. It was dark and there was only just the slight change in this darkness coming from the window of the other bedroom. I kept my breathing low and as normal as possible as I lay there on the carpet, trying to hear again whatever it was that woke me up.

It was only slight, but I heard that whisper of carpet of a foot not being raised high enough to prevent the brush of a foot across the pile. Someone was coming up the stairs but I still couldn't see anything in the darkness until they reached the open door of the other bedroom. Then I saw the dim outline of an outstretched arm that pointed inside and the sudden sound of the muted phut's of a silenced gun sending four shots into the dummied bodies in the bed there.

Two maybe three shots left in that gun was my instant thought if he had one extra up the spout as I fired off two shots. The sound so loud that it was deafening in the confined hallway as the noise rolled into one reverberating roll of thunder. There was a muted cry that told me I had hit my target that then made itself known by falling back down the stairs that led into the parlour.

Still keeping down, I made my way to the top of the stairs to see a figure lying down on the carpet almost in the middle of the room. I moved cautiously seeing that it wasn't moving and began to descend to the parlour when I saw the pale glimmer of a hand move. It was the one with a gun in it and I could see the muzzle flash but no sound as the bullet took me in the left upper arm, spinning me round to fall to my knees feeling sick at the pain.

It was a snap shot that I took and had the pleasure of hearing the zing as it hit the gun in that hand and see it fly off into the gloom of the room. There was also the cry of pain as it was wrenched from that hand as the bullet had struck. I was up and down those last few steps in a leap to land on the body lying there on the floor, breath being expelled from both our bodies as I landed, but at least I was still holding my gun.

You bastard,' I managed to get out as I hit the face with the gun butt and in doing so, knocked his head to one side and I could then saw who it was. Lewis?' I think it was the fact that he was more out of breath than I was and unable to react as quick as me.

`Why Lewis, why?' I cried as I rammed the muzzle of my gun up under his chin, still panting and trying to ignore the pain in my arm.

Because the promotions are about to be announced,' he gasped, as Jackson's about to retire.'

`So?'

`You're to get the Middle East desk. My desk! The one I've worked years for. Mine!'

Oh you bloody fool,' I hissed at him. I've just sent in my resignation to Jackson. It would have been yours without this.'

`Too bloody late now, for both of us,' he said, and I heard the loud click.

When you hear that click, you know you've only got seconds to live, for the sound of the pin being pulled letting the lever go of a grenade means its live. It takes longer to tell you in this one sentence of what went through my brain in that fraction of a second from hearing that noise. There was no point trying to find if he still held the grenade in his hand or let it loose. I wouldn't have the time to find it or get it from his hand if he still held onto it.

I smashed the gun butt into his face as I reared up from him and leapt for the settee and used it as a spring board to bounce and increase my forward momentum as I threw myself at the windows of the cottage. I tried to raise my left arm to protect my face but couldn't lift it and therefore hit the glass and woodwork with that before my shoulder did. I felt the glass cutting me as I smashed through in an shower of glass and wood splinters to land heavily and roll away from the parlour as the grenade detonated. The settee as well as Lewis took most of the blast but there was still a lot of force in the explosion. I was still rolling, naked in the garden and got hit by bricks, glass and timber as well as a cloud of dust as the room exploded in one deafening roar.

I lay choking in the billowing dust, feeling pain everywhere as my ears rang to the noise for several moments before getting up, with some difficulty to my knees. Even though I was only about ten foot away from the cottage, I couldn't see much from the dust that had yet to settle, but I could see a flicker of flame that was cutting through it. I could then just hear the screaming of Mary coming from upstairs that made me get upright and stagger back through this large hole in the parlour wall.

I was oblivious to the cuts I was getting to my bare feet as I clambered over the rubble to see that fire had taken a hold of the room and that half of the staircase that led upstairs was missing.

Mary!' I screamed out, still hearing her, to my ears, faint cries from the bedroom. Mary? Can you hear me?'

`Michael? Is that really you Michael?' I heard faintly.

Yes Mary O'Sullivan, it is,' I shouted up from what had been the bottom of the stairs. Get out of there quickly. The place is on fire!' I think Lewis must have brought a can of fuel with him to burn the place after he had killed me, for one end of the parlour was now well and truly alight. There was no sign of him, but all the walls that I could see in that firelight were covered in blood and gore. Then Mary appeared at the top of the stairs, a sheet round her as she stared wild eyed down at me.

`What happened?'

Tell you later because we've got to get you down from there fast.' I moved over to where the shattered staircase ended in a six foot drop to the littered floor of the parlour. Come down as far as you can, carefully. Then jump and I'll catch you.'

`I can't move. I'm frightened!' she cried.

For Christ's sake Mary O'Sullivan! Come down and jump or you'll burn to death!' I cried out, starting to feel the heat as the fire grew, growing at an alarming rate. I love you Mary O'Sullivan,' I screamed up at her. `I don't want to lose you like this!'

There were tears in my eyes as well as in my voice and I think it was this that made her begin to move. She stupidly held the sheet round her with one hand so only had the other to touch the wall, giving her no support whatsoever. She was only on the third step down when what was left of the staircase began to give way. In retrospect it was funny to see her release the sheet to try and find something to hold onto as I then saw her lovely naked body illuminated by the fire light come falling down at me. Her body slammed into mine as I tried to catch her, my left arm refusing to move and one handed was no good as I fell back from the force and felt my body again take more punishment to my back from rubble and splinters and my front from her weight. She cried out as I did as she felt her body being cut by the glass that was sticking out of me and driving it deeper into my flesh. It still didn't stop her from kissing me as she cried both in relief and pain before getting up and helping me rise to my feet.

As she grabbed the bed sheet, I helped her with my good arm across the debris of the parlour to the hole in the wall as the fire was now starting to be really felt on our backs. The garden was just as bad for glass, wood and bricks as we made our way out of the garden and into the field of Meadows Farm where we finally sat down away from the burning cottage. Oblivious to her own nakedness, Mary started to pull pieces of glass from my body that was being reflected from the flames that now had control of the lower half of the cottage.

Wincing as each piece was being extracted from my flesh, I could see that the neighbours on either side of Nick's place were out in their gardens and had already started to spray water from garden hoses onto the thatch of their own cottages. This was in case any of the now rising burning wisps of straw came over to their property and I think that someone by now would have called the fire services.

It was only now, sitting on the grass as I suffered the torment of Mary pulling bits of glass out of my body, did I give thought to what had happened over the last five minutes or so. Lewis, my field officer, my friend, or so I thought. Jealous because he had found out that I was going to be given a desk in the office that he had coveted for years. If only he had said something! He could have had it as I didn't want that position. I would rather have done the training side than be tied like that and not have the freedom that I had been having in the past. When Mary lifted my left arm did I come back from retrospection, crying out as she moved it to pull yet some more glass from me.

What the hell went on in there?' she was saying as I looked up into her dirt and smoke smudged face, streaked with clean paths of her tears. I was pushed out of bed onto the floor to be quiet. Then gunshots and an almighty bloody explosion. The place on fire and you covered in blood and all this glass, when's it all going to end Michael O'Farrell?'

I grinned with pleasure at that last piece she said in spite of the pain she was causing to my external body. It had provoked a bloody good feeling inside me to hear her say what she did say, causing an erection to start.

`Mary O'Sullivan! Did I hear you right? Would you mind changing your name from O'Sullivan to O'Farrell?'

`No you stupid man,' she said as she kissed me, both of us wincing as our cut lips met.

`Then I, naked Farrell out here in the grass ask you, naked Mary O'Sullivan if you would marry me, for better or worse.'

`What could be worse than this?' she said as she kissed me and said yes.

`Then make yourself decent and go and find if they're sending out an ambulance as well as that fire engine I can now hear in the distance.'

She grinned and tore a piece off the sheet to cover my middle section and the erection that she could clearly see, before wrapping what was left of this dirty and bloodied sheet about herself, covering those delectable breasts to move down to one of the other cottages to ask my question.

I watched as she went down, shrouded in that sheet and as she disappeared, watched the roof of Nick's cottage collapse and get consumed in the fire that the oncoming fire engine had no chance of saving. All it could do when it did arrive was to spray the other cottages first and then damp down the burning remains. In the dying firelight, I could see Mary, now with a coat round her, directing some men up to when I still lay and loved her in spite of the mess she looked then.

Two burly firemen carried me down to meet an arriving ambulance and helped get me inside on a stretcher as I now found it difficult to walk due to the glass still in my feet. Mary came with me to the hospital as she too needed treatment for her feet, though it was my arm that was causing me the most pain.

The bullet from Lewis's gun had chipped the bone but not broken it, but had severed a couple of muscles which were then sewn back together in their fashion on the operating table. They also removed ninety nine per cent of the glass and splinters from my body as well as seeing to Mary's feet.

They kept me in hospital for three days and I got a telegram from Jackson while in there asking me to see him immediately. I got Mary to send one back with the short words of being unable to comply due to incapacity. Lo and behold, he turned up himself the next day.

`Well you survived and sorted it all out then,' were his first words to me as I lie there on the bed.

`Thanks. I'm feeling much better now,' I replied sarcastically.

I can see that otherwise I would have asked,' answering me in the same tone. Do you mind leaving us alone for a moment?' he asked, turning to Mary.

She stays!' I said most emphatically, taking hold of her hand. You've received my letter I presume?' He nodded but looked displeased that I was keeping Mary in the room I was being held in.

`Well it's not accepted! The promotions are about to be announced and you figure in them,' he said somewhat pompously.

`Like me getting the Middle East desk,' I said sourly.

Yes,' he said somewhat surprised. How did...Lewis?'

`Yes, and as you're are retiring, I might suggest you retire Joan at the same time. It could only have been her to leak the information to Lewis if you didn't tell him first.'

`Point taken and you may be right. Well are you coming back to take it over?'

Excuse me for one minute,' I said to him. Mary? When, or rather after you get your doctorate in psychology, where had you planned to practice?'

`Well I haven't given it much thought yet but I suppose it would have to be London, why?'

So,' ignoring her question, if I could teach you Arabic?'

Hold on there a minute,' Jackson interrupted. Are you suggesting what I am thinking?' he asked.

Yes, but you won't be there because you'll have retired,' I said sweetly. You'd be getting two for the price of one. How would you like to be working under me Mary?'

`I love it when you speak dirty,' she said with a wicked grin that was directed at Jackson as well as to me.

`This is going too far,' Jackson spluttered.

`Both or neither,' I told him, and he spluttered some more but finally agreed as long as she signed the Official Secrets Act.

This was done. She signed not only that, but the register in the church that we got married in six months later. Not long after that, she came with me to a birthday party and stood in the background with the other adults as I had the children all sitting in a semi circle round me in a darkened room that was lit by one solitary candle.

It was a dark and stormy night,' I began, and it was in the thrashing down rain that I came face to face with the headless horseman.'

`Excuse me Mr Farrell, but how can you come face to face with a headless man?' came a voice out of the gloom.

`Ah, our young Miss from last year. Well it was like this...'

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