Part 16 (1/2)

The emotions he was experiencing were unfamiliar. Over the years countless women had walked into and out of his life, but these entrances and exits had always been orchestrated by Hector himself. He had given them only a cursory thought after they had gone. Now he found himself in mortal dread. He realized how very little he knew about the real Hazel Bannock. He was fully aware that she was no ordinary woman. He knew she could be totally ruthless; if that were not the case she could never have climbed to the position of pre-eminence which she now occupied. There were multiple layers and hidden depths to her which he could still only guess at. Up to this moment he had been totally blinded to any flaws in those depths. Now he realized that he was more vulnerable than he had ever been before. He felt naked and defenceless. For the first time he was not in complete control of a relations.h.i.+p. He was hanging on the thread which Hazel Bannock held in her hand, and which she could snip as blithely as he had cut free those other women. The roles were reversed and he was not enjoying the sensation.

'So this is what it feels like to be really in love,' he thought bleakly. 'Seems to me it's a highly overrated pastime.' Hazel did not reappear to take lunch in the company canteen. Instead Hector went to Cayla's room and invited her to join him. She tried to refuse, but he insisted. 'I am not going to let you lock yourself into this ghastly little room and fret.' They shared a table with Paddy O'Quinn, Dave Imbiss and the young company doctor. The three younger men had not seen a pretty white girl for months and they competed to try and impress her.

Hector dreaded having to spend the rest of the day in his own office, waiting for a summons from Hazel, or for some other sign that she remembered his presence on this earth. He left a message with Bert Simpson's secretary to give to Hazel when she was free. He changed his boots for a lighter pair, then went out into the desert and started to run. Four and a half hours later he returned to headquarters drenched in his own sweat. He had run the equivalent of a standard marathon, but he had not succeeded in leaving his demons out there in the sands. The secretary was watching for him from the windows of her office, and she hurried to meet him as he came in the front doors.

'Mrs Bannock has been asking for you. She wishes to see you in Mr Simpson's office at your earliest convenience, please, Mr Cross.' The phraseology of the message was not rea.s.suring.

'Please tell Mrs Bannock that I will be with her at once.' Hector ran to his own suite. He stood under the cold shower for less than a minute, dried himself so quickly that the clean s.h.i.+rt he threw on had damp patches down the back. He combed his hair while it was still wet, scrubbed his teeth with extra paste on the brush. There was no time for a shave, so he set off immediately for Bert Simpson's office. He found himself hurrying and he forced himself to slow down to a more dignified pace. He knocked on the door to the office and her voice bade him enter. He drew an involuntary deeper breath as though poised to dive from the high board into cold water, and opened the door. She was alone in the room, seated behind the desk. She looked up from the sheaf of doc.u.ments she was perusing. Her gaze was even but unreadable. She stood up without a smile.

'We can't go on like this,' she said. The earth s.h.i.+fted under his feet as though in a quake. It was as bad as he had feared. He knew he was about to be dumped into the recycle bin. With a huge effort he hardened his expression.

'I understand,' he replied.

'I don't think you do,' she said firmly. 'You know that I have to take Cayla back to Houston first thing tomorrow morning. She must have professional care immediately. I have not seen you all day. That was bad enough. But now I have to leave you here. It's going to be like ripping a chunk out of my soul. We can't go on like this. I have to have you by my side, night and day, for ever.'

Hector felt joy rising up to fill the cold and empty s.p.a.ce within him. He could find no words that would not make him sound like an idiot. He held out his hands to her and she came to him. They embraced with a fervour not far short of desperation.

'Oh, Hector!' she whispered. 'How cruel of you to have left me to exist without you all these lonely years!'

'All that time I was searching for you, but you were so d.a.m.ned elusive,' Hector replied.

After a while she led him to the leather sofa under the windows. He placed his arm around her and she pressed herself against him.

'All right, now we have to be serious. We have to make plans before I am forced to leave you,' she said. 'I ought to leave right away, but I cannot deny us the joy of one more night together. Cayla and I will go early tomorrow morning. I considered asking you to come with us. But you have new arrangements to put in place here.' She broke off with a laugh. 'I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. I have a proposition for your consideration. Do you want to hear it?'

'I am hanging on your sweet lips,' he replied.

'I would very much like to buy Cross Bow Security. The price on the table is forty-five million dollars cash on signature. But that is negotiable,' she added and Hector laughed.

'Wow, you work fast. But why would you want to give me all that money?'

'I don't do paupers. I like my men to be able to afford to buy me a drink or take me out to dinner.'

He laughed again then insisted, 'You do know that Cross Bow is valued at thirty-five million. What would your shareholders say if you sh.e.l.led out ten million over the going rate?'

'Firstly, I have done the maths. Thirty-five undervalues the company. It's worth every dollar of forty-five. Secondly, Hazel Bannock and not Bannock Oil is buying Cross Bow. Have we got a deal?' She offered her hand.

'We have indeed got a deal.' He shook his head in admiration, and took her hand.

'I want to put Paddy O'Quinn in your place to take over Cross Bow. I want you to hand over to him as soon as you can do so in an orderly manner. That's why I'm forced to leave you behind for the time being.' She did not mention that she also had to make plans for his reception and welcome to their new home in Houston.

'Have you considered that this will leave me out of a job and starving to death on your miserly forty-five mill?' he asked.

'I have indeed considered that. It just so happens that there is a job going at Bannock Oil for a senior executive vice-president. You might care to consider it. The salary would be in the region of five million plus perks and bonuses per annum.'

'Would I be working close to the CEO by any chance?'

'You would be working directly under her during the day, and directly on top of her at night,' she answered with a salacious slant of those blue eyes.

'Cayla is right. You are d.a.m.ned kinky.' He laughed but suddenly looked serious. 'But I'm not qualified for the job you're offering me.'

'You're a smart boy, and you'll have me to teach you. You'll learn quickly.'

'Again I have to ask what your shareholders will think of my promotion. Won't they kick up a fuss?' he insisted.

'I can vote well over seventy per cent of the company's paid-up shares in Bannock Oil. People tend to do what I tell them without kicking up a fuss. Do you want the job?'

'I am certainly not going to be the one who kicks up a fuss. I want the job.'

'Good! That's all settled then.' She took both his hands and looked deeply into his eyes. 'G.o.d made you and me for each other.'

'Hallelujah! At last I am a believer!'

'We're leaving all the horrors behind us. Cayla is going to be fine, and you and I are going to have fun, Hector Cross.'

'We are d.a.m.n sure going to do just that, Hazel Bannock.'

The chef had arranged for dinner to be served to the two of them on the terrace looking out across the bay. The crescent moon and the stars were magnificent but Hector and Hazel barely glanced up from each other's eyes to admire them. The wine was excellent but they did no more than taste it. There was so much they had to say to each other that they left most of the delicious grilled desert quails on foie gras on their plates when they went to the bedroom long before midnight. The first time they made love with furious haste. It was wonderful but not as good as those times that followed. At last, locked in each other's embrace, they sank into a sleep so deep that the terrible piercing screams brought them back only slowly from faraway places. Hector came fully awake a few seconds before Hazel. He sprang to his feet and grabbed the Beretta pistol from the bedside table.

'It's Cayla,' he said as he cycled a live round into the breech of the pistol and started for the door into the pa.s.sage that divided the two bedrooms. Hazel followed close behind. Not wasting time turning the handle he put his shoulder to the door, ripping the lock out of the frame. He burst into Cayla's bedroom. Her anguished screams goaded him to even greater haste. With the pistol levelled and ready to engage any target, he made certain the room was clear before he switched on the ceiling light.

Cayla was curled up in the middle of the bed hugging her knees with both arms. But when she lifted her face towards him it was white as the sheets on which she lay. Her eyes were wild with terror. Her mouth was wide open. The screams that poured up from her throat were shrill like high-pressure steam escaping from a ruptured machine boiler. Hector darted to the windows and checked them swiftly to make sure that no intruder had entered that way. Then he threw open the wardrobe doors and looked under the bed. Hazel seized Cayla in her arms, trying to quieten and comfort her. But Cayla was struggling so violently that Hazel could not hold her, and she broke away. Gradually her screams became more coherent.

'No! No! Please don't let him hurt me again.' Hector dropped his pistol on the bedside table and took her by the shoulders. He shook her, and stared into her face.

'Wake up, Cayla. It's me, Heck. You are having a nightmare. Wake up!' Her eyes focused. She shuddered and her screams cut off abruptly.

'Heck! Oh, thank G.o.d. Is it really you?' Then she looked around her in terror. 'He's here. Adam is here.'

'No, Cayla. You were having a nightmare.'

'I tell you he is is here. You must believe me. He was so close I could smell his breath. It was horrible.' It took both Hazel and Hector to calm her down. Then still holding her tightly Hazel slipped under the bedcovers with her and rocked her like an infant, crooning softly to her. Standing at the foot of the bed, Hector suddenly realized that he was stark naked and he backed away towards the door. Immediately Cayla shot upright and her voice rose again hysterically. here. You must believe me. He was so close I could smell his breath. It was horrible.' It took both Hazel and Hector to calm her down. Then still holding her tightly Hazel slipped under the bedcovers with her and rocked her like an infant, crooning softly to her. Standing at the foot of the bed, Hector suddenly realized that he was stark naked and he backed away towards the door. Immediately Cayla shot upright and her voice rose again hysterically.

'You mustn't go. You are the only one who can protect us. Stay with us, Heck. He will come back if you go. Please don't leave us alone ever again.' He s.n.a.t.c.hed up the sheet that Cayla had thrown aside and draped it over his nakedness like a Roman toga. Then he sat on the end of the bed. Cayla subsided slowly and closed her eyes. As soon as he thought she was asleep again he stood up to switch off the lights. Cayla jerked into a sitting position. 'No! Don't switch them off. He will come back if you do.'

'Don't worry, sweetheart,' he rea.s.sured her. 'The lights will stay on, and I will not be going anywhere.' Both Hazel and Cayla fell asleep at last, clinging to each other with their heads on the same pillow. Hector kept vigil over them for the rest of the night. He watched their two lovely faces and listened to their mingled breathing and it gave him a sense of fulfilment such as he had never known before.

In the dawn he walked with them to where the Gulfstream stood with its engines warming and the two pilots already sitting at the controls. He went up the steps with them.

'I wish you were coming with us, Heck,' Cayla said.

'I'll follow you pretty soon.'

'How soon?' she demanded, and Hector glanced at Hazel for the answer. She was ready with the reply.

'Heck will be with us before the end of next month.'