The Scars Run So Deep

Christmas Trees and Mistletoe

As I packed up my bag of clothes and spoke to the men who would be joining us, the image of Elena' face so close to mine kept going through my mind. I had wanted to kiss her, I knew that and I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Harry hadn't appeared when he did. Would she have let me, would she have responded? I was playing a fools game in thinking about it, there was no way I should have even put myself in the situation where we were even close enough to touch one another never mind kiss.

I had to concentrate on the job, on moving into the house in Matfield and ensuring that the crew Harry had brought in had done their job properly. I know they would have but it wouldn't hurt for me to give it the once over as well, after all this was the house I was going to be staying in too. I was concerned that there had been no progress on locating Alexander yet, every minute that went by gave him the chance to either get deeper into the mess he was in, or leave the country. Then we'd have an even bigger nightmare to contend with.

I went looking for Elena; I needed to tell her I was leaving and that the men were ready to take her there shortly. No one had seen her it seemed since Harry had left, she'd practically run from the room, away from me and I hadn't wanted to follow her. What she did with her life was her business, not mine, well apart from the whole 'keeping her alive' bit. I started to worry when I couldn't find her in any of the rooms, where was that damn woman? I ventured outside and there she was sitting on the floor, shivering in the cold, how long she had been there I had no idea but heads were going to roll for not keeping an eye on her. She looked up at me and a smile crossed her face, it didn't reach her eyes though... something was wrong, she was supposed to be happy at the prospect of leaving this house behind. I knew I shouldn't sit, I should just walk away it wasn't my business really, it shouldn't make a blind bit of difference to me what mood she was in as long as she was safe. Which is why I walked away, even as I heard her call my name, I had a job to do, and to do it I had to stay professional. I knew I liked Elena, that there was an attraction to her I was finding hard to control. I had to keep walking away, it would do me no good to go to her, and it certainly wouldn't help her in the long run.

"I will see you at the house in Matfield, Elena please do what the operatives tell you to, I mean everything. They are here to keep you safe remember that, I will see you soon."

I found the house easily enough; it looked as if Elena's family had just stepped out in 1982 and never returned. There were photos of a young girl all over the house, I found myself looking at the smiling face in them all with the hazel eyes, Elena. She was right, being here did make her happy; the evidence was there in front of me. I went from room to room checking how secure the house really was, the team had done a good job, fresh locks on all the windows and doors, I saw that the state of the art alarm had been installed as well. We were located in the heart of the village, from the windows at the front of the house I could had a clear view of pretty much the whole area, if someone was to come to the house who wasn't supposed to be there, we would see them.

Now all I had to do was wait for Elena and the van to appear, this was it, no going back. We were going to be living in this tiny house together for the foreseeable future, and we were going to have to make the best of it. I was not going to give in the feelings I had for her. It simply could not happen, I could do my job and walk away, and it would be that easy. I settled myself into a room at the back of the house, loaded up my computer and set to work; I had got Tariq to send me copies of all the photos Elena had taken that night. It was time to try and find the links to Alexander Dimitrov and Nazariy Demidov, something didn't sit right with me about all of this anyway but these men, these men unsettled me. They had got away with too much for too long.

I was still staring at the various photos over two hours later when I saw the van pull up in front of the house, I couldn't go out there to help as the house was supposed to be empty. How no one had seen me enter the house earlier was beyond me. It goes to show that sometimes even in small place no one is really aware of what is going on around them. Not one person out there knew that this little house would be housing a woman that from what I'd found out was going up against part of the Russian mob. Life was certainly never dull...