Hired for secrets

You turn me on

After spying on Philip, Sofie fell asleep disappointed and confused. He destroyed her main camera, stopping her from collecting more intel, but he also called out her name while being with another woman. It either was a ruthless ploy to get back at her for bugging his room or this conscience-proof gigolo had feelings for her. It was twisted, either way. But what's even more twisted: her phone was ringing with her spy cam's number.

"Miss Carter...," Sofie instantly recognized Philip's voice on the other end. It was deep and low, creating an intimacy that matched her cosy dark bedroom.

"You took it to the next level," he continued.

He didn't sound angry. Instead, there was a weariness in his voice, like he was over playing games.

"Philip," she rasped, still groggy from waking up. "How did you get this number?"

"That's your response? Ok. I see the gloves have come off." He paused, he needed to decide how to handle this, "I took your camera apart and found the SIM. This was the last number on the card."

Damit! Her computer dialed in with an untraceable connection, but her mobile had simply called the SIM. She had been careless in her haste to find out whether the cameras worked.

"How did you spot the camera?"

"Ha, Miss Carter, you continue to underestimate me." Underneath the mockery, Sofie heard a different emotion. Was it hurt? Perhaps disappointment that Sofie didn't give him credit for his unusual talent to notice the strange, the hidden, the secret. "The stereo sounded odd. It was only for a second. But it's never happened before and today I noticed it twice. First a couple of minutes after you left and then again when I got back with my client. So, I had a look and there it was."

The cameras created a small power-surge when switched on. It was only for a split second and hardly noticeable. But apparently obvious enough for Philip's uncanny senses.

"How did you know it was me?"

"No one else would dare."

There was a sharpness in his voice that made Sofie's blood run cold. Was he showing who he really was under all the suave polished veneer?

"Why are you calling, Philip?"

"I think I've given you the wrong impression. You don't seem to realize how powerful Elandra is and what a dangerous game you are playing here."

Sofie didn't respond to his blunt warning. She leaned back into her plush pillows. Feeling the warmth from where she had been sleeping before. This time, she was comfortable with the silence, with where the conversation was going, with what he implied.

No one dared taking them on. Until now. It gave her a smug satisfaction. She would be the first to conquer this mountain. It's what she did: taking down the institutions that were too big to fail, too scrupulous to yield, too dangerous to bring to justice. These David-and-Goliath fights were her speciality.

"Are there any more cameras?" Philip continued his interrogation undeterred. "Because if there are, you better tell me right now. I need to take them down before security finds them and you get in trouble."

Ha, wouldn't you like to know if you got them all?

"Are you trying to threaten me, Philip?" Sofie's voice was calm with a hint of ridicule. What kind of threat was that anyway? Getting in trouble with security. What was this? A shopping mall?

Philip took an auditable breath.

"I'm trying to help you."

"Of course you are."