Please Do Not Ask for Mercy as a Refusal Often Offends by Paul Bassett Davies

Author:Paul Bassett Davies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eye Books
Published: 2020-04-11T10:35:25+00:00

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Even before I stepped out of the elevator I began to suspect I would need to reconsider the conclusions I’d reached on my way down.

The doors to the basement parking level slid open to reveal Allardyce standing in front of me. I’d last seen her sitting in her office less than three minutes earlier. Either she’d taken fifteen flights of stairs at superhuman speed, or there was another elevator somewhere for the exclusive use of high-level personnel.

As I stood there gawping at her the doors began to close again and she reached out a hand to stop them.

Come on, she said.

I followed her. For an awful moment I thought we were heading for the door that led down to the cells, but she veered away to a corner near the exit, where a dozen sleek official cars sat in the shadows.

She opened the back door of one of them and gestured for me to get inside. I did so, and she went around the other side and slid in beside me.

We closed our doors, which made the nice muffled thud of solid, well-made components fitting themselves together with satisfying precision.

She half-turned to me and draped an arm over the back of the seat.

I’m sorry I had to give you such a hard time, she said with a rueful little twist of her mouth and a tone of sympathy in her voice. This, apparently, was a very different Allardyce from the harsh bitch I’d met upstairs, although that didn’t make her any less dangerous. More so, if anything. I knew where I was with the bitch up in the office, but now we were just two gals in the back of a car, and all bets were off.

I shrugged. Just doing your job, I suppose.

Exactly. And believe me, I would not have sent you down to the cells earlier on if I could have avoided it. But I needed to make a point.

I got the point, thank you.

No, not to you! Hell, no. I’m talking about Glibbery. That man scrutinises my every move. If I hadn’t made a point of treating you with the severity he feels you deserve I would have been in trouble myself.

I smiled and made sympathetic noises. She slid a little closer to me and I leaned back casually, wondering if the door beside me was locked centrally.

Look, she said, I’m not asking you to like me, Curtis.

Smart woman, I thought. She knew the odds were against her there.

Liking me, she continued, doesn’t matter. What matters is what we can do for each other. I meant what I said upstairs, about you being a diligent agent. You’re one of the best. Your private life is a little spicy for my liking, but as long as it doesn’t interfere with your work I don’t care very much.

I try to be discreet, I said.

She unveiled a smile that I found deeply disturbing.

I know you do, she said, but never mind about that. I need your help, Curtis. And if you can do what I ask, your career will benefit immensely.

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