Page 4 of When You're Safe

Finn nodded. For a moment, hethought about Director Seward back home. Would he do as he asked and pack uphis bags?

No, he thought to himself.

Rob needed him. There was pressureon Rob to pull another rabbit out of the hat and get the case solved. Finn knewthat as highly as Rob was respected by the public, if there were any gaffes ormistakes, the Home Office would come down on him like a ton of bricks. Therewas still the lurking suspicion that Rob had been given a position of authorityat too young an age. Some resented him for it.

And that was all without the implicationsfor Finn himself. If he were to make an error, then it would become anissue between the FBI and the UK police force. Finn’s career would bepulverized in the middle, even more so than it already was. He’d end upblacklisted on both sides of the Atlantic.

But life is full of risks,Finn thought. When they work out, that’s what makes life exciting.

Finn looked across at the lawyeras he held the phone to his ear. Philip C. Reid looked fit to burst withdisapproval.

“Well?” Rob asked.

“I’m in,” Finn replied. “Just tellme where.”

CHAPTER TWO

The gear stick stuck in Finn’shand as he wrestled with the clutch of the car.

“Come on, you piece of—” Suddenlythe gear cranked into its desired position. Finn wondered if the thing wastaunting him just because he was American. He hated driving a stick.

He’d rented the diminutive darkblue car from a dealership back in Garden City in Hertfordshire. The car feltfine when he had first sat in it, but now as it chugged along and continued itsclimb up the lonely winding road that rose high above the Thames River below,he was starting to think he had been conned into a vehicle they could normallynever get rid of.

It didn’t help that the driver’sseat was stuck in a position too close to the wheel for his long, muscular legsto feel comfortable. His knees were nearly touching the bottom of thedashboard.

The mid-morning sun was risingwith them, higher into the sky above, casting its glow through a canopy oftrees that sporadically parted to the blue sky. Below to the right, the greatriver flowed, glistening in the sun, moving steadily toward the congestion ofLondon in the distance.

If he hadn’t been struggling somuch with the car, Finn would have thought the place scenic. To his left, a highrock face accompanied the road, and Finn started to feel that with any wrongmove he and his ailing automobile might end up down in the river themselves.

He reached a hideous bend with asharp blind corner at its apex, and the other side soon revealed several policecars parked on the road, and two very familiar figures standing waiting.

Finn stopped his car and got outwith a gasping struggle to free himself from the wheel.

“Ah, good to see you!” he said to thetwo figures further along the road. “I—”

Suddenly Finn was aware of the carstill moving on the road behind him.

“In the name of all that’s…” Hestruggled to the side of the car, opened the door, and this time made certainthat the parking brake was fully on.

When he got out of the car andwiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, he saw both familiar figures smiling,covering their mouths as if trying to hide their enjoyment at Finn’s woes. Itwas Inspector Amelia Winters and Chief Constable Robert Collins, the two peoplewith whom he had solved the Van Reece murder case.

“Right,” Finn said, shaking hishead. “Can’t you guys build a decent car?” He waved at the little vehicle infrustration.

“It’s not British, it’s French,”Amelia said, her red hair and milky skin glowing in the sun and her full red lipsunable to stop smiling.

“Geography was never Finn’s strongpoint,” Rob said, dressed in a black police uniform and all six feet of himlooking imposing in his flat-top police hat. “I did warn you about that cardealership.”

“We poor special agents aren’t onthe salary of a chief constable of Hertfordshire, Rob,” Finn said. “It was agood deal.”

Amelia stepped forward and shookFinn’s hand. “It’s good to see you, Finn.”

If Finn were honest with himself,he was very happy to see Amelia too. It had been a few weeks since they hadseen each other, toasting the conclusion of the Van Reece murder case, togetherwith Rob, in the rustic kitchen of the cottage where Finn was vacationing in thevillage of Great Amwell.

“I can tell you missed me,Winters,” Finn said with a big grin to Amelia. “I’ll try not to leave it solong next time, I wouldn’t want you to go into withdrawal.”

Amelia rolled her eyes. “Shall weget started?”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “So, what’shappened here?”

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