Chameleon

Chapter 11

The room was quite small. A desk, two chairs, a TV and video were the only furnishings. The desk top was bare save for an ashtray and a chess board set up with a game in progress. In the corner, a large stack of papers and DVD's lay in an untidy heap. Newspapers, magazines, periodicals and copies of police reports, all from a hundred mile radius of the Hampshire village of Denby.

Payne sat behind the desk. He was concentrating on the chess board over steepled fingers. 'Come in, Christina,' he called. The door opened, as if on cue, and Christina entered.

'Very clever,' she muttered.

Payne grinned and raised his eyes from the chessboard, letting his gaze travel slowly up her body. He had cruel, feverish eyes, and whenever he looked at her like that, Christina felt stripped, not just naked, but right down to the bone. She blushed for no good reason and cursed him under her breath. He was the only man who could make her blush and she didn't like it one little bit.

'I need a progress report,' she said. 'Our Masters are getting the jitters.'

'Your Masters, not mine. Would you care for a game? I do so enjoy chess, don't you?'

Christina pulled up a chair and sat down. Her gaze fell upon the ashtray. It was full of small, blue pills.

'I see you've stopped taking the tablets,' she observed, and moved a pawn. Payne promptly took it with his knight.

'I need to be sharp,' he told her. 'Very sharp. The pills give me a measure of control, but they also dull the edge.

'Just don't get too sharp, Harry. You may cut yourself.'

'And if I do, we both bleed, correct?'

'Something like that. What can I tell them, Harry? That you're watching TV and reading the papers?' She moved her rook to an attacking position.

'Tell them I'm doing research. He could be anywhere, but when he surfaces, chances are, he'll make the news. He's that sort of person.'

'He has no money, no ID, nothing. How far could he have got?'

Payne shrugged. 'He was trained by the best,' he said. 'Me!' He grinned. 'Combined with his natural talent, if he remembers half of what he knows, the world is his oyster.'

'Isn't there some way you can "tune in" on him, track him down?'

'My dear Tina, I'm not a bloodhound! Believe me, this is the best way.'

Payne moved his bishop horizontally across the board.

'That's an illegal move, Harry,' Christina observed. 'You can't do that.'

Payne sighed and leaned forward, palms flat on either side of the chessboard.

'I thought you understood?' he said. 'Chess is so much like life. A game of subterfuge and deceit. We sacrifice pawns when we must to protect our king at all costs. And those who play by the rules inevitably lose.'

Christina stood up. 'We're all pawns, Harry. Even you.'

'Is that a threat, Tina? If so, it's unworthy of you.'

'Just a word to the wise, Harry. Warlord wants results. If he doesn't get them, we'll both be removed from the arena of operations. I've stuck my neck out for you in the past, Harry. Don't let me down now.' Christina moved her queen. 'Checkmate,' she said.