Chapter eleven

Daniela

“Katie, what the hell?” Daniela said, grabbing Katie by the elbow and pulling her to one side.

“What have I done now?” Katie asked.

“This was meant to be a double date, meaning that there should only be four of us. If I had known that the whole British Army was going to turn up I wouldn’t have bothered coming!”

“Of course you would have!” Katie said. “The prospect of you with a large group of muscle clad men who fight people for a living? You’d be first in line.”

Daniela opened her mouth to argue this but came up empty. Why was she complaining about this? Then she remembered.

“What’s the deal with you not letting me have Nathan to myself for more than five minutes?”

Katie seemed to distract herself by picking invisible lint off her sleeve. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Katie, for the past half an hour you have stuck your chair right in between me and Nathan! Any time either of us tries to talk to the other, you start up a loud conversation with someone on the other side of the table so that we couldn’t possibly hear each other.”

“Well, excuse me for wanting to include you in the life and soul of the party.” Katie said. “I just figured that as you were one of the only people at the table who didn’t know anyone else that you might appreciate a little guidance in who to talk to.”

“I’ve found someone I want to talk to! The unbelievably sexy rich man that you set me up with in the first place.”

Katie snorted. “He’s not that sexy.”

“What’s going on?” Daniela asked. “Do you like him or something? Is that why you’re now trying to put me off him?”

Katie let out a loud short laugh. “Trust me, I do not find that man attractive one little bit. Any way, I have Dave.”

“Okay, so leave us both alone!” Daniela said. “You may not find him attractive but I do. For some weird reason he’s single and I would like to make sure that he doesn’t stay that way!”

“Daniela, just be careful yeah?” Katie said. “I’ve since found out that he’s a bit of a player.”

“I thought you said that he was the settling down type?”

“Did I say that?” Katie said. “Wow, that does sound like something I would say to get you here.”

“Well, is he a player or not?”

Katie sighed. “I guess he’s not.”

Daniela gave Katie a sceptical look. “You’re acting really weird today.”

“Let’s just say, I’m having a really bad day.”

In that moment, Katie looked unguarded, tired and flustered. Daniela hadn’t noticed this in her friend until now.

“Kate, are you okay?”

Katie gave Daniela her biggest smile. “Me? I’m just fine and dandy. Nothing that a few more drinks won’t fix.”

“Yeah, we need to get some stronger stuff though because I’m not feeling the effects of the drink at all. I’m guessing we should just order whatever Adam Gammon and that other girl are drinking.”

“I’m on it.” Katie said and disappeared to the bar.

Daniela sat back down at the table. Dave was lost in a conversation with the newer guy who had turned up. She spent a moment trying to remember his name. Connor. That was it, and his girlfriend was Christiana. He was throwing her looks every five seconds. Daniela had noticed that he had the back of his neck bandaged up, but as no one else seemed to comment on this, she assumed it must have been something that had happened a while ago. He was a soldier after all, it’s probably part of the job. Unless you have me. She thought and smiled to herself. Her mind went temporarily back to her research but she stopped herself almost immediately. No. You’re having a day off Daniela.

Daniela scanned the room for signs of Nathan but couldn’t see him. She contemplated sitting there until he came back but then decided that that would give off the wrong impression, like she has nothing better to do than wait around for when he’s ready. She went to grab her phone and check her messages when she remembered that she had given her phone to the overly perky woman who had greeted her at the entrance. Suddenly her hands felt heavy and awkward, she had nothing to do. She took another scan of the table and decided that she would hijack one of the conversations. A loud raucous laugh came from Adam and Christiana’s side and she figured this would be the best place for losing herself in a conversation, besides, it was Adam Gammon! She hadn’t really registered the fact that one of the highest paying actors in the entire world was sitting just five feet away from her.

She grabbed her bag and shimmied down three chairs until she was in the empty seat next to Adam. She was contemplating how to enter herself into the conversation when Christiana saved her the effort.

“Hey look Adam!” She said, “It’s Nathan’s date.”

Adam turned to face Daniela and threw his arm around her shoulder. “Daniela!” He said, pulling her into a hug. “It is Daniela, right?”

Daniela smiled her confirmation as she nestled into Adam Gammon’s shoulder for a moment, taking a mental image that she never thought she would. Why the hell didn’t she have her phone?

“So, Daniela,” Christiana said in an over the top stage whisper and leaning in for effect. “What’s the deal between you and Nathan?”

“I don’t know, it’s the first time I’ve met him and I haven’t really had a chance to speak to him.” Daniela turned to Adam. “You’re friends with him, what’s he like?”

“I couldn’t possibly comment on the life of Nathan. It is an enigma. A complete mystery to me.”

“Okay, I seriously need to have some of what you are drinking.” Daniela said.

“Go ahead!” Christiana said, moving the jug towards her. “It is like swallowing a drop of heaven and then bathing in beautiful things for a really long time. My friend Jason makes them. He’s gay.”

Daniela laughed and poured herself a glass. “Okay. Cheers!”

Adam picked up his pint, followed by Christiana and they clinked them together. Just as Daniela was about to take a sip, a hand came from behind and grabbed the drink from her grasp.

“I have been dying for this for ages, thanks.” Daniela turned to see Nathan down the whole drink and then let out a large cough. “Wow, that stuff is ridiculous. Christiana, didn’t Connor say you smacked your head?"

“Right on the noggin.” Christiana said, knocking the back of her head with her knuckles and then wincing from the pain.

“Um, excuse you.” Daniela said. “That was my drink you just drank.”

“It’s okay babes,” Katie said, walking over with a tray of drinks. “I’ve got you some more.”

“Connor, you might want to come and control your woman.” Nathan said.

“Adam Gammon, would you tell your friend that I am completely in control.” Christiana said and got up with a flourish to make her point. However, the momentum of getting up got away from her and she fell backwards, grabbing hold of the back of the chair on her way down.

“Ow.” She said, squinting up at everyone else and holding her head. “That wasn’t meant to happen.”

Connor was by her side within a second and checking her eyes. “Can you see me?”

“Relax, I’m fine. I just got up funny, that’s all.”

Connor helped her up and suddenly there was a barman by her side.

“Jason!” Christiana called out. “Everyone, this is Jason and he makes the best cocktails ever!”

“Hi everyone, I was wondering if you might like to follow me to a more private area of the bar.”

“Are we being chucked out?” Daniela asked.

Jason looked at her for a moment before speaking, a flash of emotion went past his eyes. However, the moment Daniela thought she saw it, it was gone.

“Of course not Ms Davids.” Jason said. “We just want you to be able to enjoy your day to the maximum, this should be more accommodating in a more private room. Then you can be as entertaining as you wish.”

Entertaining, Daniela thought, good choice of words, he probably meant to say ‘annoying as hell.’ No one else in their party seemed to mind being escorted elsewhere however, and they were all already on the move. Nathan placed his arm on the small of Daniela’s back and she turned to see him smiling down at her, her coat over his arm.

“Shall we?” He said.

She smiled up at him, momentarily struck by his looks once more. She fell into step next to him and let him guide her across the room in the direction the rest of the people were going. Just as they all entered a side room, Nathan pulled at Daniela’s hand and drew her to one side.

“No matter what happens next, I just wanted to say, I think you are really hot and I have really enjoyed meeting you.” Nathan said. He leant in and kissed her chastely on the lips.

Daniela stood there stunned, all witty come backs and flirtatious charm gone. Nathan grinned back at her and, with his hand still around waist, guided her into the room.

Chapter ten

Connor

“I’m pulling rank Connor, this conversation is finished.”

Connor glared at his sister as she stared coolly back. Eventually she raised her walkie talkie to her mouth to speak to the woman on the other end. She put on her cheesiest and most fake smile.

“My apologies for ruining the decorum of your little establishment, I had business to attend to with her date. He will be with her momentarily.”

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“No Connor, I’m doing exactly as I have been told, which is something you should be doing right now.” Kelly’s voice had taken on the quiet icy tone that she often used to signal that she was done talking. “Go and meet Christiana, make her feel at home and for crying out loud, do it with some professionalism.”

Connor wanted to say that he trained to be a soldier, not an actor. He wanted to say that he could hardly do his job when he didn’t know what it was that he was facing. He wanted to tell his sister to take a running jump off a high cliff. But he knew it would do no good. Instead, he clenched his jaw, balled his fists and mustered out the two words he hated saying to his sister.

“Yes ma’am.”

Kelly nodded and walked off.

Connor took a few minutes. He closed his eyes and went to his happy place. Last night came to mind. He focused on the memory of him and Christie for a little while and then let out a deep breath, pushing down all other emotions and fanning the only one that mattered at the moment, keeping her safe. Once he had his goal firm in his mind, he opened his eyes once more and walked out of the room to the stupidly overpriced hideout that they were all in at the moment and searched for Christie.

He found her pretty quickly. She was at the bar, pouring a pitcher of drink into her glass and swigging down most of the contents the moment she had. Ah, he thought, should probably have not left her near alcohol after what she saw.

He took another moment to ensure that his emotions were in check and then made his way over to her.

“I leave you alone for ten minutes…” he said as he reached her.

“It wasn’t ten minutes, it was more like half an hour.”

“The doc said that you shouldn’t really be drinking.”

“Oh relax Mr Twitchy, it’s a watered down cocktail.” Christie said. “It’s barely drinking at all.”

Connor rolled his eyes at her logic and made a mental note to keep an eye on her for the rest of the day. He helped her off her stool.

“Where are we going now?” She asked.

“Duncan and Katie are just over there, didn’t you see them?”

Christie looked over to where he was pointing and shrugged. “Guess not.”

“Come on, let’s go say hi.”

They were about halfway over to the table, Christie holding firmly onto her pitcher and glass and Connor holding firmly onto Christie, when Kate spotted them and her eyes opened wide in surprise. Within a moment, she was out of her chair and running over to them.

“Guys!” She said, grabbing them both into a hug and not noticing the winces both of them gave from contact to their burns. “I was beginning to wonder where you got to!”

She hugged them again and added in a low whisper. “Duncan’s called Nathan, he’s rich and on a date with the small woman next to him, please play along, I’ll explain later.”

Before either could respond, she had turned and was pulling them the rest of the way to the table. “Look who I found!”

Dave got up to give them both a hug. Now that they were both ready for this, Connor and Christie both maneuvered themselves so as to avoid too much pain (and spillage on Christie’s part).

“Guys, so great you could make it,” Dave said. “Have you met Nathan?”

“Hey,” Duncan gave a small wave from where he was sitting, leaning incredibly close to the small mixed race girl smiling nervously next to him.

“You know, I don’t know if we have.” Christie answered. “But you know who he looks like Connor?”

“Who’s that?” Connor said, smiling at the direction Christie was now taking him.

“That mate of yours,” she said, clicking her fingers in the air. “You know, that one that loves himself, what was his name again?”

“I’m not too sure which mate you’re talking about.”

“You know.” She said. “The really pompous one that thinks he’s God’s gift to women. The one that was always trying to get in my pants… the one that really wasn’t as great as he seemed to think he was. Oh what was his name?”

“Oooh, you mean Duncan!” Connor said.

“Duncan! That’s it.” Christie said, slamming her hand against her head. “Man, he was a tool.” She turned to Duncan, “No offence! Not to say that you are of course, you just remind me a bit of him, you know in the general face area.”

Duncan threw Christie a small smile. “None taken.”

Someone next to him let out a loud laugh and smacked his hand against the table. “Now that, is funny.”

“Oh.my.living.days.” Christie’s whole tone had changed. Connor turned to see what she was commenting on and saw Adam Gammon, the famous movie star sitting next to Duncan.

Christie slammed both her pitcher and glass on the table and turned to Connor. “It’s Adam Gammon, It’s Adam Gammon!”

“I can see that.” Connor said, now beginning to wonder just how watered down those cocktails actually were.

She turned back to the movie star. “I am the biggest fan, you are amazing. I actually love you.”

Connor laughed, “Well, three years of monogamy and attention won’t get her to say it, but star in a few movies?”

Christie waved him off, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m a bad girlfriend.”

Connor felt his stomach twist. “What did you just say?”

Christie stopped for a moment and turned to him, “What?”

“Repeat what you just said.”

Christie’s eyes widened as she realised the words that had come out of her mouth. No sooner had they widened, they softened again and a small sly smile played on her lips.

“If I say it again, will you let me flirt with the movie star?”

Connor beamed down at her with one of his first genuine smiles since he had left her this morning. All previous stresses had momentarily gone, he had waited a long time for this.

“I think I just might.”

Christie’s small smile got bigger until it matched his and she gently wrapped her sore arms around his waist.

“Connor Mayhew,” she said, “the man who has just saved my life. I am a bad girlfriend.”

Connor’s insides exploded. He gently took her face in both his hands and drew her lips to his.

“Christiana Edwards,” he said. “Yes you are.”

His lips met hers and he felt her melt into him as he opened his mouth, brushing his tongue slowly against her own. They both drew back and beamed at each other once more.

“Can I go and flirt with Adam Gammon now?”

“Yes you may.”

Chapter nine

Jason

The day had continued with no massive incidents. There were a few rowdy tables but they were soon escorted politely to a side room, leaving the main hall in a peaceful state. Jason glanced around the room and couldn’t help but notice that not only did the place seem completely empty of any mass panic but, in actual fact, everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives. Everyone except one. A woman was sitting at the main bar staring at her glass of wine, a serious look on her face. She seemed flat compared to everyone else. Her drink had been sitting in front of her for the past ten minutes but she had made no effort to drink it. She just stared at it, unmoving and altogether unimpressed by her spectacular surroundings. She intrigued Jason. Deep down, he knew it was because her outside mood matched his own inner one but he told himself that the reason he went to talk to her was because it was his job to ensure that everyone in this room at least looked like they were having a good time. He looked around at his staff to ensure that they were all busy. When he was satisfied, he made his way over to her, picking up the empty wine glasses next to her full one and beginning to tidy them away.

“The wine is the good stuff I assure you.” Jason offered as a start in conversation.

The woman looked up, momentarily startled by his interruption into her reverie. She had red hair, the kind of colour that could only be found in a bottle, and large saucer shaped eyes. She reminded him of someone straight out of an anime cartoon. She blinked at him and Jason could actually see her brain working through the comment he had given her. Either she was incredibly slow or he had interrupted an extremely deep thought process. He decided to help her out a little.

“Your glass? We only sell premium glasses here. So you’re fine to drink it.”

The penny dropped and the woman gave Jason a small smile.

“Oh,” she said. “Thanks. Sorry. I was miles away.”

“You okay?” He asked.

She gave a shrug. “Just trying to work out whether it would be a good idea to drink the wine at all. Not too sure if I even should.”

Warning bells rang in Jason’s head. Which group did she fall under?

“Have you got your entrance card?” He asked.

The woman looked at him for a moment, clearly not getting what he was talking about. Once more, he saw the penny drop in her expression.

“Oh, you mean that little card with the barcode on it?” She said, picking up her bag. “Yeah, I’ve got it somewhere.”
She rifled through her plain canvas bag and pulled out the small plastic card. Jason took it and ran it through the scanner. Her name came up on the computer; ‘Christiana Edwards: Practice Innovation Nurse for Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, Forensics department. Category C.’ Next to the title was her picture, the same face but with a lot more life behind the eyes. She was good to go.

“Maybe it’s not so much whether you should be drinking alcohol but the type of alcohol you’re drinking.” Jason said.

“I thought you said this was the premium stuff.”

“It is, for as premium as a good Chardonnay goes. However, maybe you would like something a little different?”

Christiana looked at him curiously, “What did you have in mind?”

Jason threw her his cheekiest wink, one he had experted from countless conversations like this down the line of his career. It had the right effect, a flash of intrigue shot through her eyes and he knew he had started to gain her attention. He grabbed a concoction of different bottles and started to line them up on his work station.

“It’s a little something I’ve had up my sleeve for a while.” He explained.

“Should I be worried?”

“You should be impressed.”

She gave her first genuine smile at that and Jason could see that he had her attention. Whatever had been on her mind had been temporarily put on hold. He decided to capitalise on this while he had the chance.

“I’m Jason by the way.”

He held out his hand to her and she shook it. “Christiana.” She said.

“Sounds exotic.” Jason commented.

Christiana laughed. “I think that’s what my parents were going for, their names are John and Jane.”

“Wow.”

A flash of her previous expression shot over Christiana’s face at the mention of her parents and she broke eye contact, sending her gaze straight to her lap. Bring her back. He thought.

“My partner always said that when we had kids he wanted to give them a Chinese name like Ying Wi or something just to confuse people who met them and could see that they clearly weren’t Chinese.”

“Your partner sounds like fun.” Christiana said with a small grin, bringing her gaze back to him. “And a little bit cruel.”

Jason laughed. “He is both of them, definitely. But in a good way.” Change the subject, he thought, unless you want to wear an expression exactly like hers.

Jason decided to concentrate on adding the final flourishes to his cocktail, throwing the mixer and bottles around his person in a way that always got a smile and a clap from his viewers, Christiana included. He opened his shaker and poured the creamy peach concoction into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

“Et Voila.” He said as he added the strawberry.

Christiana looked at the drink, clearly impressed but still a little hesitant.

“Trust me.” Jason said. “You’ll love it.”

“If you say so,” she said, lifting the glass to him. “Cheers.”

She took a sip and he watched her expression change. Her eyes widened and she swallowed the mixture.

“Oh my days!” She let out. “It feels like my throat just had an orgasm.”

He laughed and she took another sip.

“This is amazing Jason. Seriously, you have a talent.”

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks.”

Christiana took another sip which turned into a couple of gulps. She slammed her empty glass down on the bar and looked Jason straight in the eye.

“If I don’t get another one of these, I think I might die.”

“A little melodramatic, but I’ll oblige.” Jason smiled, deciding that he liked Christiana straight away.

By the time he had made her the second drink she was eyeing him suspiciously.

“What’s that look for?” He asked.

“What time did you get in for work this morning?” She asked.

“7am, why?”

Christiana’s face fell. “There are people that want to drink at 7am?!”

Jason laughed. “I’m sure there are but that’s not why I’m in. These bottles don’t stack themselves you know.”

“Oh.” She said, turning her attention to her drink. “Can I ask you a question?” She asked eventually.

“Sure.” He said.

“Did you... did you notice anything weird about your journey to work this morning?”
Alarm bells sounded in Jason’s ears as he struggled to remember the standard answer for these types of questions.

“Nothing much.” He said. “Why do you ask?”

Christiana played with the strawberry on her glass and stroked her arms, flinching slightly as she did. Jason noticed it then, and the moment he did, he wondered how he had gone the entire conversation without doing so. Christiana’s arms were red raw. Small white blisters had formed over the top. They looked incredibly painful. He opened his mouth to comment on them but was interrupted by her answer to his first question.

“Something just felt odd to me on my way in, that’s all. I know I shouldn’t worry or anything but... never mind.” She smiled sadly and met his eyes once more. “I’m just being silly, that’s all.”

Suddenly Jason didn’t want to lie to this woman. He just wanted to grab her by the shoulders and ask her what she knew. She was quite clearly in the ‘clueless column’ but she had witnessed something, something bad that had obviously scared her and Jason longed to connect with her on it.

“Christiana,” He started.

“Jason!” A sing song voice sounded from behind him. It was Michelle. “How are things going here?”

Jason turned to smile at his new manager. “Can’t complain, just getting to know this lovely lady. Christiana, meet my manager Michelle.”

“Christiana, ah of course.” Michelle beamed, taking Christiana’s hand. “You’re Kelly and Connor’s friend.” Michelle accented the word friend as if to add some extra connotation to it. She kept a polite smile on her face but the genuine expression had faded from her eyes. Jason saw it and from the look on Christiana’s face, so had she.

Michelle let go of Christiana’s hand and pulled out a small state of the art walkie talkie. “Kelly, my love. There’s a guest of yours drinking alone without a friend to talk to. Surely that’s not good hospitality.”

There was silence on the other line. Jason sneaked a look at Christiana to see her looking a little shocked.

“There really is no need-“ She started.
Michelle waved her off. “Nonsense.” She said. “This will only take a minute.”

“I have a table over there, it’s just..."

“Not to worry!” Michelle insisted, her fake smile plastered all over her face and her tone dropping to such a level that Jason knew something was up.

“Kelly, are you reading me, my sweet?” She spoke into the walkie talkie again.
There was another small silence until Kelly’s voice came over the system. “I’m a little busy at the moment Michelle.”

“I appreciate that darling, but there appears to be a friend of yours sitting alone at the bar, drinking. I hardly feel that this would mean she is having an overly Utopian afternoon.”

Another silence. When Kelly came back on the system, her tone seemed to match Michelle’s exactly in what, Jason was sure, was an attempt to mock her.

“My apologies for ruining the decorum of your little establishment, I had business to attend to with her date. He will be with her momentarily.”

If Michelle had picked up on the mocking, she didn’t show it. “Marvellous,” she said. “I will let her know.”

Michelle turned to Christiana. “Wonderful news. Your boyfriend will be out shortly. Hopefully you will be able to have a much nicer time. Perhaps you might want to join your friends over there?” Michelle gestured towards Adam Gammon’s table but Christiana didn’t even look. Instead she planted a fake smile of her own on her face, one that her ‘friend’ Kelly over the walkie talkie was no doubt wearing herself.

“Well I do apologise for ruining any decorum you may be creating. My date had asked me to wait here whilst he discussed some urgent business with his boss, but I will be most glad to oblige in making your day absolutely wonderful.”

Michelle smiled even bigger, if that was possible. “Lovely. I look forward to seeing you enjoy yourself.”

With that, she turned on her heel and sauntered off. Jason watched her leave, unsure as to what to make of what he had just seen. He turned back to Christiana who was downing the last of her second drink. As she slammed the glass back on the table she grabbed Jason’s arm.

“Jason, your boss is a bitch and I would like a pitcher of this to go.”

Chapter eight

Christiana

It felt like Christiana was surrounded in a thick fog. She wanted to get through it, she could see a light but she couldn’t quite work out how to reach it. Connor was there. She could hear his voice somewhere in the distance. She focussed on it, trying to form his noise into words.

“She wouldn’t leave the room, you know what she’s like!”

There was another voice, softer, female. She couldn’t make out what she was saying. Soon Connor was talking again. He sounded close.

“I got her out as soon as I could Kelly, she’s here isn’t she?”

“Barely.”

Kelly’s voice was the female voice.

“Don’t, I didn’t know she was going to be right behind the door.”

“She’s fine. Just a bump, she should come around shortly.”

This voice was a new voice. A man. She didn’t recognise it.

“What about her arms?” Connor’s voice again.

“Not too much to worry about. Nothing a bit of Aloe Vera won’t clear up. It’s more you that I’m worried about.”

“I’m fine.”

“Connor, Gary's right, just let him have a look at-“

“Can we please just focus on the unconscious one please?” Connor’s voice sounded stern, he was worried.

“I will have you know that I am a pretty competent doctor, I can, in fact, treat both of you.” The man’s voice again.

“I’m not moving until she wakes up.”

“Fine, then sit still.”

There was a grunt from Connor and some rustling. Then silence. No words. No sounds. Wait, except one. A ticking. Was it a clock? Christiana concentrated on the steady ticking and used it to pull her further out of the fog. She became aware of a weight on her hand. Someone was holding it. It was warm and inviting. She focused on the hand instead and willed her hand to move in it. It worked.

“Christie?” Connor’s voice again. Christiana smiled. “Christie, can you hear me?”

Christiana opened her mouth to answer and was suddenly struck by a sharp pain in the back of her head.

“Ow.” She said and instinctively reached her free hand to touch the tender spot.

She opened her eyes to a white room. It was blurry. Bright lights were all around her. She tried to pull the room into focus but she couldn’t quite do it. She felt so groggy.

“Christie? Careful. Try not to move.” The voice was the other male. “How do you feel?”

“I hit my head.” She answered. “Connor landed on me.”

Kelly let out a small snort of laughter. Christiana shut her eyes, squeezing them tight, and opened them again. The room started to come into focus.

“I think you’ll find it was your fault.” Connor said. His voice lighter and displaying a hint of amusement. Christiana turned to see him sitting at the side of the bed. “I mean, seriously, who stands behind a door that quite clearly swings backwards?”

Christiana managed a sneer and attempted to sit up.

“Woah, careful now.” It was the other voice, had Kelly called him Gary? She turned to see a man in his mid thirties holding out his hands to steady her. “You’re going to feel a little woozy for a bit.”

He helped Christiana up into a sitting position and got her to focus on him. Shining a light in her eyes and getting her to follow his finger.

“She’s good.” He said finally. “Like I said.” He turned back to Connor who was still staring at Christiana and eyeing her suspiciously.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Get a grip Connor, she was out for 10 minutes. It was hardly a life and death situation.” Kelly said.

That was when it hit her. Why was Kelly here? And where was she? Wasn’t this meant to be a restaurant? She looked around the room. White walls, sterilised equipment, bays of beds on either side of her, all empty. Had she been taken to the hospital?

“Where am I?” She asked.

“Think of it as a clinic,” The other man said. “I’m Dr Markham. You can go ahead and call me Gary though.”

Suddenly another wave of memories came flooding in, exploding trees, screaming people. She turned to Connor.

“What happened out there? All that fire?” Her arms started to sting and she remembered the burning sun. “That heat outside?”

Connor and Kelly shot each other a look before Connor looked back at Christiana.

“Christie, if I tell you something now, you have to promise me that you will not freak out.”

“What’s going on?”

“You also have to promise us that you won’t say a word to anyone else about it for now.” Kelly said.

“Guys, you’re freaking me out.”

“Just promise us.” Kelly said.

“Fine, I promise.” Christiana said.

“There’s been a terrorist attack.” Kelly said. “It was located at Stratford. You were brought here for your protection. You’re safe for as long as you are in this building.”

“A terrorist attack? I don’t understand.”

“We’ve been bombed Christie.” Connor said.

Christiana’s brain went into overdrive, bombed? How?

“What about everyone else at work? Are they okay?”

“They’re fine,” Kelly said. “We brought you here because there was a threat at more than one location and me being me wanted to make sure that you were safe. Luckily though, it would appear that all locations were neutralised... apart from Stratford.

“The damage is serious but located to only one place.” She continued. “As such, we have been put on lock down until the situation has been brought under control.”

“Wait, what?” Christiana said. “I’m confused, where are we?”

“Kelly asked me to bring you here.” Connor said. “To keep you safe. We’re in the same building that you entered, you know, shortly before you banged your head.”

“Think of it as a glorified bunker with extra perks.” Kelly added.

“Are there others here?” Christiana asked.

“We managed to save a large population of the area, yes.” Kelly answered. “But here’s the thing; none of them know what is going on. It was felt that, with the threat being as serious as it was, it was best not to tell the people in the building why they are here. It keeps the place safe from mass hysteria breaking out.”

Christiana closed her eyes and tried to focus on letting the information sift through her brain. Her head hurt a lot, this seemed to only make it worse.

“I know it’s a lot to take in and it may be a lot to ask,” Kelly continued, “but we need you to promise that you keep this information to yourself Christiana. It’s really important that we keep this haven as safe as possible for as long as we can.”

Christiana didn’t say anything, she didn’t move. Keeping her eyes closed, she sifted through the images of what had happened outside through her head. Something didn’t add up but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Christie?” Connor said. “Are you okay?”

“It didn’t feel like we were being bombed.” Christiana said eventually, as she located the exact thing that irked her. “It felt... different. Like it was something else.”

“You never really know what a bombing is going to feel like until you go through it.” Kelly said.

Christiana turned to Connor who looked uncomfortable.

“Is that what it was like for you?” She asked. “You know, the first time you were attacked?”

“Sure,” Connor said, although he seemed to avoid Christiana’s gaze. “I mean it wasn’t exactly the same, but then each experience is different.”

Christiana looked down at her arms, red and slightly blistered. “What about these?” She asked.

“You must have both got too close to an explosion.” Kelly offered.

“No, it wasn’t that.” Christiana said. “Was it Connor? It felt like... like it was the sun.”

Kelly let out a laugh, although it seemed a little forced. “The sun? Are you telling me you guys were late because you were sunbathing?”

“We were out in it for no more than a couple of minutes.” Connor answered, clearly irritated.

“It was really hot Kelly, this wasn’t from an explosion. This was from...”

“So you believe that you were burnt from the sun overheating rather than the possibility that one of the burning balls of fire all around you?”

Christiana thought about it, it did seem ridiculous. Was she really thinking that?

“Look, you’ve experienced a traumatic event and you’ve hit your head pretty hard. Chances are you’ve just got things a little muddled, that’s all.” Kelly said.

“Is that what you think?” Christiana directed her question to Connor.

Connor sighed and looked her in the eye. “It makes sense.”

Christiana wanted to say more but she was clearly not going to get anywhere with this conversation. She had to consider that she was just confused. Kelly was right, it had been a pretty traumatic event.

“You know what I think?” Gary offered into the quiet. “I think you need to take this girl out and get her socialising. There’s not much else that we can do from in here apart from wait this out. At least the worst is over now. The emergency services will deal with the rest out there and we’ll be out before we know it.”

“Socialising?” Christiana asked.

“I’m afraid you’ve missed the grand entrance to this place due to you being unconscious and everything, but there is a lot better places here than this plain room.” Gary said. He took Christiana’s hand softly and smiled at her with kind eyes. “You’ve had a close call, you really don’t need to be worrying about it, otherwise you will drive yourself crazy. Let Connor take you for the meal you had planned and see if you can’t change the day around and make it a little better, huh?”

“What about everyone outside?”

“The damage really was mainly down to property Christiana, we got the majority of the population to safety.” Kelly said.

“There seemed a lot of people out there.”

“Christie.” Connor said. “Gary's right. Take it from a guy who knows, you need to just forget about what happened for now. Trust that we have it under control and try and take your mind off the whole thing.”

Christiana sighed. Connor seemed more confident and seemed to instil a bit more confidence in her. “Okay.” She said.

“Just one little injection for you both and then you can go off on your way.”

“Injection?” Christiana asked.

“Tetanus.” Gary explained. “For the bumps and scrapes.”

Gary gave them both the injection, finished off dressing the burns on the back of Connor’s neck and sent them on their way.

“I’d suggest that you steer clear of drinking alcohol for the next 48 hours though.” Gary said, as Connor led her out the white room. “Probably not the best idea after a head injury.”

Chapter seven

Jason

“It’s Michael isn’t it?” Jason asked, as he pulled one of his members of staff to one side. 

The guy was a skinny man, no older than his mid-twenties. He was carrying a tray of drinks over to Adam Gammon’s table. 

“Yes sir.” He said. 

“Whose drinks are they?” Jason asked. 

“They’re the ones ordered for Mr Gammon’s table sir.” Michael answered. 

Jason examined the tray, a glass of wine, three pints of bitter and one of his trademark cocktails. He took a smell of the cocktail and shook his head the moment he smelt the alcohol. 

“This is wrong,” Jason said, taking the tray from Michael. “Any drinks to be made for that table need to be made by me. That was made quite clear.”

“I’m sorry sir, it’s just that you seemed quite busy so I thought-“

“Don’t think,” Jason interrupted. “No matter how busy I may look, that table is my priority and I will always make sure that I make the drinks for them.”

“Okay sir,” Michael stuttered out his response. “I will make sure that I will come to you from now on.”

“Good.” Jason said and took the tray back to the bar. 

“Surely you don’t have to pour some more sir,” Michael asked as he followed Jason back to the bar. “I haven’t got the order wrong, I can show you the tab if you like.”

Jason threw Michael an icy glare. He opened his mouth to retort but then thought better of it. The poor guy didn’t know why these people were there, how was he to know the special requirements that table needed? 

“This is not a bad reflection on you Michael, but the clientele at that table are very important to this establishment and they have asked that all drinks be made by the head barman. We do not want to upset them, I assure you.”

Michael nodded and waited patiently for the new drinks to be made. 

“These will take me a moment to prepare, there’s a table over there that needs to be cleared, please see to that in the meantime.”

Michael threw Jason a look that suggested he had something to say about this but kept his mouth shut and stalked off. No doubt to complain about the new boss to his colleagues. Jason sighed, envious of the ignorance his staff held. It would only last for so long until he would have to start in on the lies that he had been instructed to carry out once the noises and the gossip began. The more his mind worked over this, the more he found his hands begin to shake. He put down the bottles of drink that he held and took a deep breath. Relax Jason, He thought, You’re doing this for Mark, think of Mark.

With that thought re-imbedded in his mind, he found his strength and picked up his bottles of drink once more, finishing off the order, ensuring that all drinks were now non-alcoholic with the exception of Adam’s. His mind fell back the speech Michelle had given him a few hours prior. 

“There are three groups of people who will be coming into this building today.” Michelle gave him a list of people, divided into three columns. “Group A are the members of staff who will be coming into this place disguised as customers. They will be asking for alcoholic drinks, they must not be given alcoholic drinks and neither will they expect to be drinking these drinks. They need to stay sharp for what the day has in store for them. This is important Jason, they do not know what exactly is going to happen but they have been inadvertently training in the skills needed for what we predict is to come. They also know that they will most likely need to use these skills throughout the course of the day. They are working on a need to know basis and are trained to undertake actions without asking questions. You, at this moment, know more about this day than they do. Do not attempt to discuss this with them because they will not know what you are talking about. They will be told as and when we deem they need to know. There will be a large array of non alcoholic drinks available to use as a substitute for their orders, all of which are available at the bar. 

“The second group of people are the people in the building who will be needed throughout the course of the day but are not aware that any danger is coming at all. The majority of these people will be your members of staff. In these cases, there are a set of situations and excuses set out for you and your fellow managers to let the staff know, it is your main responsibility to keep the peace around your staff. They must not know for as long as possible what is occurring as it will be up to them to keep the peace for the remainder of the customers. I encourage you to read through these scenarios thoroughly in order to ensure that you are able to respond to any such situation that occurs. Although, as I said, the majority of these people will be your staff, there are a few that will be customers. You will see these people highlighted in bold. These people will probably ask for alcoholic drinks throughout the day, you must not provide them with these. Instead you are to provide them with virgin equivalents. All these customers will be dealt exclusively by you. Please familiarise yourself with their names, especially Ms Daniela Davids. She is crucial to the survival of everyone in this place. She also has no clue what is about to happen. Under no circumstances should she become at all impaired, her brain is far too important.

“Finally, the third group consists of everyone else that we have brought into this establishment for future needs but who are not needed for the initial onslaught. These are the people that we want to keep out of the loop for the longest amount of time. The last thing we need today is mass panic which is what will happen should any of these people find out. Our main plan is simple. Alcohol. Get the people drunk. Move them to smaller rooms and keep them away from any knowledge of what is going on outside. They have each been assigned to one of our team who have strict rules to get them as inebriated as possible within the shortest time possible. Although this group will have individual people looking after them, this will need policing from you, as later in the day their guardians will be needed elsewhere. As I said when you entered, it is up to you and your staff to monitor this and move any over the top behaviour to a private room so as not to cause too much damage. We have the space to use and enough rooms to house all people in this building. Any questions?”

Jason had had many. And now there was no more time to ask. He just had to go along with the plan, chanting Mark’s name over and over in his head each time he began to panic. He finished the drinks, now holding only one alcoholic beer and the rest virgin drinks and motioned for Michael to come and take the tray from him. Michael did with a brisk nod, clearly still not happy with how he had been spoken to. 

“Um, sir?” A female voice called his attention. It was another member of his staff, her name was Caroline if he had remembered correctly. “I was told to contact you should table 7 need any drinks?”

Jason glanced over the list she presented him and noticed another two people from group B.

“That’s correct,” Jason said. “Grab the order for table 14 whilst I get these, will you?”

“Yes sir,” Caroline said and walked off to make the next order.

Chapter six

Daniela

“Excuse me, another round of canapés for this table please. It wouldn’t be right for this lady to go hungry now, would it?”

The waiter nodded at Daniela’s date and gave Daniela a small smile. Daniela smiled back, trying hard not to show the smitten feeling that was starting to purr at the bottom of her stomach. Nathan had turned up late, she was close to leaving as she was hungry which had made her even more irritable at the thought of being stood up. However, just as she was about to leave, up walked Katie with not only the Adam Gammon, but also this beautiful caramel skinned god-like man. He was well built with broad shoulders and muscly arms that had had Daniela fantasizing about being wrapped up in them since he sat down. So much so, that it had taken all of her will power to keep herself concentrated on the conversation going on at the table. 

Play it cool Daniela, she scolded herself and he stood up to take the canapés from the waiter and she found her eyes wondering south, Do not come across too eager, make him work for it.

“Another?” Nathan said, taking a tuna filled pastry and offering it to her. Did he want her to eat out of his hand? Should she do it? She decided against it and held out her hand to take the pastry from him, giving his fingers a little stroke as she did so, so as to give him something. He gave her a small grin, acknowledging her play. 

“So Daniela, tell me, what do you do exactly?” Nathan asked. 

Daniela’s heart sank, she hated this question. There was no way to answer it without coming across as intimidating. She decided to downplay it, there was plenty of time for him to find this out further down the line. 

“Me?” She said. “I work for a computer company, just entering data into a system all day, nothing interesting.”

Nathan raised one eyebrow at this, but said nothing. 

“How about you?” Daniela asked, quick to change the subject. “What do you do?”

“I’m in insurance, selling to high powered company owners and the like.”

“Oh?” Daniela asked, confusion setting in. “I thought Katie said you owned a company that dealt with investments?”

Nathan shot a look at Katie who cleared her throat.

“Did I?” Katie murmured. “Ah, I always get those things wrong, insurance and investments, they begin with the same letter, so close enough right?”

 “Pffh, not even close.” Adam muttered, “ain’t that right Nathan?” Adam threw Nathan an over-the-top wink.

“What was that for?” Daniela asked. 

“Nothing, the guy’s pissed that’s all.” Nathan turned to Adam, “Have another drink Ad, hey Katie, how about you and Dave keep Adam occupied for the next 20 minutes hmmm?”

Daniela felt herself blush at Nathan’s confidence, clearly eager to have her all to himself. Katie threw Nathan an apologetic look and started Adam in a conversation about his latest film. 

“So, where were we?” Nathan said as he turned his attention back to Daniela, his voice had changed to a deep silky tone, it did weird things to the deep recesses of Daniela’s belly, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. 

“We were talking about your job in the insurance/investment business.”

“Ah, so we were. Hardly the most interesting thing we could talk about now, is it.” Nathan said, his hand resting lightly on top of Daniela’s. 

Wow, Daniela thought, His skin is so warm. Her eyes travelled to where his hand rested on hers.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Nathan asked, although making no move to remove his hand. 

“No!” Daniela said, a little too eagerly. She took a deep breath and looked Nathan straight in the eye, giving him her most seductive smile, “just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

Nathan grinned and leaned in closer. “Not to me, I’ve been wanting to touch you from the moment I sat down.”

Woah, Daniela’s breath caught in her throat as she found herself unable to tear her eyes from his gaze. The longer she looked, the bigger his grin became. 

“Hey Nathan.” Katie’s voice broke through gaze, giving Daniela the strength to tear her eyes away. 

Daniela turned to find that Katie was throwing Nathan a cold look. “Let the girl eat, yeah?”

Nathan glared at Katie back but eventually withdrew his hand and sat back on his chair, giving her a nonchalant shrug. 

What the hell?! Daniela thought, throwing Katie her own evil glare. Katie ignored her look and turned her attention to the whole table. 

“Adam was just telling us all the gossip about Anita Parker. You have to hear this story Daniela, it’s hilarious, the woman is insane.”

Daniela glanced back at Nathan to see if she could catch his gaze once more but he was now staring at Adam, his attention completely on him. She sat back on her seat and scowled to herself, making a mental note to yell at Katie afterwards for that. 

Her foul mood was short lived however as, despite herself, she couldn’t help but become drawn into Adam’s story after he went into the second account of Anita’s throwing up on set at 11am in the morning.

Chapter five

Christiana

“Where are you now?”

Christiana read the text and glanced at the clock. It was coming up to 12pm and the room she was in was unbelievably hot and sticky. It didn’t help that the place was packed with 14 different consultants and head nurses.

“I still think that this case is valid.”

Someone was arguing, Christiana knew that she was currently looking after the patient that they were discussing so tried her hardest to push thoughts of the text and what they implied to the back of her mind. This was about as useful as running through mud however as Connor had been in the forefront of her mind all day and it only seemed to be getting worse the closer to the date it got.

“I’ve told you before, there are queries in this incident that haven’t been fully explained. If I’m perfectly honest, I think that the patient has every right to complain about what happened.”

Christiana relaxed a little more, they were talking about a previous admission for this patient on another ward, she wouldn’t need to chip in as much as she thought. Her mind quickly started to wonder again. Her phone vibrated once more.

“How much longer is the meeting going to be?”

Christiana smiled to herself, he seemed eager. It gave her a quick thrill. She tuned back in to the meeting for long enough to figure out who was being discussed now. They were about halfway through the list of incidents. It wouldn’t be finished for at least another half an hour. She hid her phone under her bag and discreetly wrote her reply.

“Sorry, another half an hour and I’m all yours. Xx”

No reply. Five minutes went by, followed by another ten and nothing. The meeting had appeared to get stuck on one particular patient, adding another twenty minutes to it’s likely duration. Christiana chewed her lip, worried that she may have upset Connor by making him wait.

“Hope you’re not mad, I wish I could get out earlier but I’m stuck! Xx”

No sooner had she sent it, someone knocked on the door to the conference room and Connor walked in.

“I’m really sorry to disrupt, but I have a very urgent problem that I need to discuss with Christiana straight away, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take her out of the meeting.”

Everyone looked between Christiana and Connor as she stared dumbly in response to his intrusion.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Professor Carrington, the Clinical Director for the hospital glared at Connor with his large eyes.

“My name is Connor Mayhew of the Royal British Army sir and I need to discuss a matter with your colleague of great importance.”

Christiana didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This was ridiculous. Connor had not only barged into this meeting but he was using his job to lie about it. Holy crap, she was going to have to come up with an amazing excuse for what this had been all about when she was asked about it later.

“Well go on Christiana, we can survive this once without you.”

“Thanks Professor.” Christiana stuttered out, collecting her bag and shoving her notepad inside. “Sorry.”

She hugged her bag to her and, giving Connor the most incredulous look, she walked out the room, Connor’s arm resting lightly on the small of her back as he led her out.

As soon as they were out of earshot and heading to the car park, Christiana smacked Connor hard on the chest.

“Ow!"

“What was that about?” Christiana asked. “People are going to think that I’m being arrested for something dodgy! How the hell am I meant to explain that away?”

Christiana expected Connor’s response to be light and jokey, but instead all she was met with was the same steel expression that he had held in the conference room.

“You were late.” He said.

“Just as I told you I would be.” Christiana replied, her mood dropping slightly to match his. “You couldn’t wait half an hour?”

Connor looked at her for a moment, and then pushed her into a quicker walk. “Come on, we’re already late.”

This was a side to Connor that Christiana rarely saw. It was his work side. The side of him that meant business. She stopped walking immediately and waited for him to stop and turn to face her.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Nothing,” Connor said, “I’ll just be happier when we are at the restaurant.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“Christie, please, we don’t have time for this, just get in the car and out of this heat. I’ll explain it all to you when we get to the place.”

Christiana really was sweating at this point, it was ridiculously hot out and she could feel the burn of the sun on her arms. The mere thought of the air conditioned car appealed to every one of her physical needs at the moment but she couldn’t will her feet to move.

“I’m not going anywhere until you start explaining to me what’s going on with you.”

Connor rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh, dropping his head. “Christie, you are going to hate what I’m about to do, but trust me, it is for your own good.”

“What are you...?”

Connor was over to her before she could finish her sentence and had swooped her over his shoulder in one move.

“Connor? Are you insane?” Christiana called out. “Put me down.”

Connor didn’t respond, he just carried her over to the car, put her in the passenger seat and buckled her in.

“Stay.” He said, his face inches from hers, that protective fire still burning in his eyes. Christiana wanted to stay angry, but all she could concentrate on was how amazing he looked in that moment. She liked this side of Connor. She made a mental note to piss him off more often if this was the reaction she would get.

Connor walked round to his side of the car and started the engine. He sped out of the car park in record speed, narrowly missing slower moving cars as he went by.

“Is it even worth me asking you to slow down?”

Connor checked the clock on the dashboard. It was 12:40.

“We have to be there for 1pm at the very latest. Which means, I have to make a 30 minute journey in 20 minutes. So no, it isn’t worth you asking me that at all.”

“It’s only a reservation Connor. It’s not the end of the world if we don’t get there on time.”

Connor didn’t say anything but put his foot down even further and Christiana felt her whole body press back against the seat with the momentum. They travelled the rest of the journey in silence, except for the swearing from Connor and the screeches from Christiana whenever a car got too close to them.

The air conditioning didn’t seem to be doing a blind bit of difference to the heat in the car, even though it was on full blast. The sun was beaming through the windows with such ferocity that Christiana’s skin seemed to burn red in front of her eyes. She opened her mouth at one point to say something about it but then shut it quickly again when an old lady crossing the road got the brunt of another of Connor’s long swearing tirades.

With three minutes to spare, Connor pulled up in what looked like an abandoned car park and he was at Christiana’s side of the car, opening her door before she had even reached for the door handle. He pulled her out of the car.

“Okay,” Christiana said in a long quizzical tone. “What’s going on?”

Connor scanned the horizon before letting his eyes fall to Christiana’s once more.

“Please say you’re going to walk this time because you weigh a tone Christie.” His face was still sober but there was a small twinkle in his eyes that told Christiana that Connor was still there.

“I can walk,” Christiana said with a smile, “I could walk before- Ow!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Connor was suddenly alert and scanning around them once more.

“I’m burnt!” Christiana said, examining her arms. “Are they blisters?”

Connor took one look at her arms and started moving again, taking Christiana’s hand and pulling her into a run. Christiana didn’t argue this time, something felt wrong about this heat. She heard the scream of a woman and turned her head just in time to see a tree go up in flames falling onto the road.

Suddenly everything seemed to move in fast forward from then on, more trees exploded and even some buildings seemed to be on fire. People started collapsing and screaming all over, and suddenly it wasn’t only Connor and Christiana who were running. Everyone seemed to be desperately seeking shelter, somewhere away from the heat. She turned back to Connor and saw the back of his neck was completely covered in what looked like 3rd degree burns. Christiana pushed into her run even more so that she was running alongside him. She had no idea where she was going but she knew that Connor did, and that was enough for her.

They kept on running until they reached a run down old building. Connor had a panel open and was pressing Christiana’s fingers onto the pad, typing out four numbers. The entrance panel seemed to go on and on, asking her for different things from her; retina scans, fingerprints, all the while, her skin felt like it was on fire. Connor screamed a 4 digit number at her and she repeated it. Suddenly the door clicked open and she was thrown inside. She turned to check if Connor was okay but noticed that the door had shut behind her, locking him out.

“Connor?” She called out. Panic overcame her then, she started thumping her fists against the door, looking for some kind of handle or lever but finding nothing, just a smooth surface.

“Connor!” Christiana screamed it this time, throwing all her weight against the door in an effort to force it open. Suddenly the door opened again and Connor threw himself in, landing inadvertently on Christiana and sending her flying backwards and onto the floor. Her head smacked against the floor and suddenly everything started to blur. She tried to focus on Connor, checking to see if he was okay, but just as his face came into her line of sight, he started to blur away. She heard his voice call her name, and she wanted to respond, to say that she was okay, but she couldn’t find the words. She couldn’t find any words, or any sounds, or any images at all, she could only see darkness.