Page 45 of Greek Island Fling to Forever

‘Yes. It was nothing really, but Jem just blew up. I legged it with Eloise, just to get her out of the way of the scrum.’

‘Is there anything else we should know, Kriss? Drink or drugs...?’

Kriss shook her head emphatically. ‘No.’

‘You’re sure?’ Arianna broke in, a worried look on her face. ‘Anything he takes on prescription?’

‘No, he hasn’t been to the doctor in ages. He says that doctors didn’t do his gran much good, which isn’t entirely fair. But he likes you, Dr Marsh.’

‘Really?’ Ben was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to deserve that.

‘He respects people who are up-front with him.’

This was only telling Ben what he already knew, that the situation was complex and that there was no one clear answer. He made no apologies for Jem, but right now his aim was to get him out of this situation in one piece. The rights and wrongs of the situation were for someone else to judge.

He questioned Kriss a little more, but she couldn’t tell them anything beyond what Ben and Arianna already knew. Jem was volatile, and unpredictable. Ben walked back to the knot of police officers with Arianna.

‘This isn’t going to be easy.’

‘And I was just thinking it would be a walk in the park.’ Arianna turned the corners of her mouth down.

There was more preparation; his vest was checked again, and Arianna relayed instructions from the officer in charge of the scene. Jem was pacing up and down inside the bar, obviously becoming more agitated, and Ben had to go now if he was going to have any chance of calming Jem down.

His hand found Arianna’s and he gave it a squeeze. Her whispered, ‘Be safe,’ carried him through the line of policemen, and away from her. Knowing that she was watching him allowed Ben to believe that, however hopeless the situation seemed, he could succeed.

He walked to the door of the bar. Jem had stopped pacing and had returned to the bar, reaching behind it to grab a bottle and pour himself a drink. Not a good sign. He had blood on the side of his face, obviously from the fracas over the spilt drink, and he was holding a long chef’s knife.

Ben knocked cautiously on the door, keeping his hands in clear sight through the glazing. Jem twitched the knife in his direction, motioning for him to come in, and Ben cautiously opened the door, stepping inside.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WHOEVER WOULD HAVE thought that your heart could be in your mouth? Or sinking to your boots. Or inhabiting any other part of your body that it wasn’t supposed to. Arianna’s heart was in the same place that it had been when she was six years old and watched Ben being carried away from her on the tide. With him.

He seemed to be doing everything right, and when she looked up at the officer in charge he was nodding imperceptibly, his eyes fixed on the scene unfolding inside the bar area. Ben appeared relaxed, although the slight twitch of his fingertips showed stress. He was keeping his distance from Jem and moving slowly. Never turning his back, and concentrating all of his attention on him.

He seemed to be encouraging Jem to talk as well. At first, Ben was doing all the talking, with just nods or gestures with the knife coming from Jem. But after a while Jem started to reply to him, although Arianna had no idea what he might be saying. Ben worked his way around to the bar, perching on one of the high stools. Out of Jem’s reach, and with his feet still planted firmly on the floor and ready to move, but close enough to feign some sort of connection. Arianna felt sweat trickle down her spine.

‘This is taking too long.’ The officer looked at his watch. It had been twenty minutes since Ben had gone into the bar, and Arianna’s legs were aching with tension.

‘He’s still talking...’ Arianna wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not. Jem had already drained the glass at his elbow and had picked up the bottle on the bar to refill it, although Ben had clearly dissuaded him from doing so and he’d put the bottle back down again. Still talking meant that Ben was still in harm’s way. Still a target.

Ten minutes more. A small patch of sweat had appeared on the back of Ben’s shirt, between his shoulder blades. She loved the scent of him. Fresh sweat, hers and his, mingling with the cool smells of the night. She shouldn’t think about that right now, but wasn’t it always the possibility of loss that made memories so much more agonisingly clear?

A burst of static made her jump and the officer standing next to her grabbed his radio, quietening the noise and speaking in a whisper to whoev

er was at the other end. The hostage negotiators would be here soon, and they’d pull Ben out of there. Good for Ben, not so good for Jem, because if Ben couldn’t talk him down then Arianna wasn’t sure that anyone else could. Right now, she’d take good for Ben. She’d known he would go in there, but she didn’t have to like it.

She heard Kriss start to sob. She’d been holding it together up till now, probably for Eloise’s sake, but now the policewoman sitting next to them was trying to calm both mother and child. The officer in charge moved swiftly over, bending down in front of them and listening for a moment before guiding Kriss gently to her feet and directing two officers to go with her.

‘It’s best for her to go,’ he responded to Arianna’s questioning look. ‘The child shouldn’t see her father in this situation.’

A situation that could escalate at any moment. With Ben right in the thick of it. Arianna swallowed down her panic. It seemed that the police now thought that this wasn’t going to end peacefully, despite all of Ben’s efforts, and it was best if Kriss and Eloise didn’t see what was going to happen next.

But the move wasn’t without consequences. The gangway onto the ferry was visible from the bar, and Jem had looked up just at the moment that his wife ducked around the officers shielding her, trying to look back. His hand tightened around the handle of the knife and he seemed to be shouting, beating his forehead with the heel of his other hand. Ben moved, getting slowly to his feet, tension showing in his back and thighs. He was still talking, still trying to calm Jem, even though Jem was having none of it, his body coiled with aggression and his face twisted in anger. Arianna willed Ben to just get out of there. Forget about Jem and look out for himself.

Too late. Too late... Batons appeared as the police in attendance stood at the ready and Arianna heard the click of a weapon. Jem must have seen the sudden movement and he jumped to his feet, rushing towards the door.

If he tried to fight his way through, to get to Kriss, the police would deal with Jem. Ben clearly wasn’t going to let things get that far, and headed him off. Jem knocked him away but Ben seized him again, and the two men wrestled with each other before a punch to the stomach, followed through by another to the jaw, felled Jem. The knife spun away across the floor, and Ben staggered back to retrieve it.

---