“None taken. Thanks for the beer.”
§§§
The supermarket was a typical small Devon village shop with a mixture of expensive items for London weekenders and more traditional, cheap items for locals. Living in London with a millionaire, or he supposed he’d now have to revise that to billionaire, Ben had grown too accustomed to very high-quality food. Seeing tins of SPAM and corned beef made him smile fondly, so on a whim he put some in his trolley. He and Radulf would eat them even if Nikolas wouldn’t. He stocked up lavishly on fresh food such as eggs and steak and sausages (for Radulf) and bread and milk. Now the temperatures had dropped, he reckoned they could eat it all before it spoiled. He bought a couple of quality newspapers for Nik, a paperback for himself, and then he went back around getting some more fun things like alcohol and chocolate. Then he added some dog food, because no Special Forces canine operative should be allowed to live on sausages—as much as he might like them. On a complete whim he put a tennis ball in the trolley, too. If they got too bored with cards or reading, they could throw the ball for the dog. They’d have to be very bored, of course. He couldn’t think of anything else. He debated buying some bottled water because filtering and boiling the stream water took forever and was an almost constant, ongoing task, but then he thought about the weight of carrying it the fifteen miles he had to go and put the six-pack back. Much more important to add some more alcohol—so he did. Nikolas was fun when he was drinking.
Ben was smiling to himself, thinking about the ways in which drunk Nikolas became fun Nikolas, when he rounded the end of the drink aisle and bumped his trolley with a woman who was studying the label of a jar of cook-in-sauce, her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose. She turned with a frown of annoyance and saw Ben. “John? Excellent, be a dear, what does this say? Can you read it? I think I’ll have to get these bloody glasses changed. I do wish they wouldn’t write the…”
Ben didn’t take the jar. She took off her glasses, and then took a step back. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I thought you were someone else. How silly of me.”
Ben didn’t want to linger or draw attention to himself, so despite finding this coincidence of twice being recognised in the space of half an hour extremely unsettling, he nodded politely and pushed up to the till to pay for his purchases. He only just got them in the pack, and when he swung it up onto his shoulders, he felt as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his back. He took a deep breath, put all discomfort to one side, and headed back through the village to the stile that led to the open moors. As he climbed up away from the buildings, he couldn’t help the occasional glance back. He could feel eyes on him, and it was unnerving. The sense of otherworldliness engendered by the house increased. It was like being in an episode of theTwilight Zone. By the time he’d done ten miles, though, he’d put the creepy village behind him and was thinking only of the very welcome reception he’d get when he turned up with the supplies.
He was relieved to see the dry stonewall that marked the edge of the grounds, very relived to find the path back to the house, even more relived to see the house still existed, and utterly delighted to be welcomed by a bark from the dog and a kiss from the human. It was nice to be the returning hero, and the newspaper and excellent bottle of wine put Nikolas in such a good mood that he was even willing to eat another steak. He’d been bored all day, something Ben knew he’d never admit. He hadn’t, however, Ben noticed, actually done anything useful like prepare some more water or do any washing. He had, it appeared, stripped down and cleaned all his weapons and done some knife-throwing practice against a target he’d made of an old T-shirt. The hits around the heart were predictably accurate.
After they’d eaten, Ben examined Nikolas’s wounds and applied some antiseptic lotion he’d bought in the shop. He knew it was probably a waste of time, but it was pleasurable for both of them, brought on some amusing fun as his hand kept slipping to one side, and gave him an excuse to see how well things were healing. Nikolas put his hand to Ben’s head and stroked through his hair. “When this food is all gone, we must go, too. It will be time.”
“Then you’d better eat slowly.”
“You cannot escape fate. Better to face it head on.”
“You don’t believe in fate, remember? Maybe Gregory has given up and gone back to Russia.”
“It’s possible.” By the tone of his voice, Ben knew he didn’t believe this. “You need a haircut.” He pulled some of the long, black strands to illustrate his point. Ben smiled and rose, sliding over Nikolas’s lap, straddling him, careful not to put too much weight on him. He pretended to assess Nikolas’s ridiculously long hair at the front. Nikolas cuffed him lightly, and they regarded each other close up and in this unfamiliar, intimate position. Ben bent and kissed him, lingering with the touch of tongues, then stood and held out his hand. Nikolas took it and allowed himself to be led to bed and all that awaited him there.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The food was gone in four days, and by this time Nikolas wasn’t limping at all, and the wounds had closed well and had healthy pink scar tissue forming. With care, they wouldn’t open again. They packed up early on the morning of the fifth day. They’d been there almost three weeks, and it felt strangely like home, despite the lack of home comforts. Ben eyed the pool as they left, wondering whether he should break the dam. They’d left no other evidence of their occupation at all, but this was clearly manmade. Nikolas was watching him and put a hand on his arm. “Leave it.”
Ben smiled, and they set off. Ben was carrying some of the weight from Nikolas’s pack, which Nikolas hadn’t argued about. He knew it was going to tax him to get back to Okehampton Camp, which was further than the route he’d taken to the house. They stopped frequently, and whenever Nikolas needed to rest. But the weather had improved again, and although it wasn’t hot and sunny, it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t cold, and they were both enjoying the walking, despite the circumstances. They stopped that night and set up camp in the shelter of some rocks, which almost formed a shallow cave. It was enough shelter to light a fire and sit out of the wind as the temperature dropped in the evening. It was incredibly quiet, just the occasional bleat of a sheep that had strayed from its flock or tweet of a bird neither of them could identify. They’d saved some crackers, and with a flourish, Ben produced the tins of SPAM and corned beef. He enjoyed Nikolas’s dilemma whether to attempt them or not. For once, he wasn’t that bothered if he didn’t eat—more for him. Radulf actually drooled at the smell and got a whole tin to himself. Nikolas tried some, spat it out and said he’d eat tomorrow. With a grin, Ben produced a tin of wild salmon—it was even from Denmark. He held it out of reach for while until he was pinned down and, still laughing, taken, face down on the soft moorland grass.
It was cold that night, uncomfortable, and the pressing weight of Gregory and their future weighed on their minds. For all that, there was a sort of boyish camaraderie between them that had been developing at the old house and was now given full rein up in the clear moorland air. They were both soldiers and shared that unique bond, Nikolas finally able to admit this side of his personality and forget, for a time, the other man he had impersonated for so long and for so well that he had almost believed in his own mind he was Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen—urban, sophisticated diplomat. Up here on the moors over their small campfire, and later in their shared bed, he was all soldier, all physicality and demanding presence. He wouldn’t tolerate Ben taking him, only wanted to top, and Ben finally began to doubt his earlier belief that if push came to shove he could take Nikolas down in a fight. ThisAlekseywas incredibly strong and wasn’t afraid to wrestle submission out of Ben, wasn’t afraid to hurt him when he thrust into him, but knew when pain turned to pleasure, and then wasn’t afraid to show that he had far more experience of this activity than he’d ever admitted. “You are the only man I have wanted to give my body to…” Wanted to or not, he clearlyhadgiven, and in many ways. Perhaps it was his returning feeling of health and strength, perhaps it was the imminent meeting with his past self, but for that night, Ben was left in no doubt that he was being fucked for the first time—and very thoroughly—by Aleksey Primakov.
§§§
Nikolas’s good humour lasted for most of the next day, too—right up to the moment when they got to the car. Ben had forgotten all about the Lada. Radulf hadn’t, and would have warned Nikolas, had he been able. Nikolas looked past the Lada and around the car park with a puzzled expression. Ben went up to the car and dropped his pack. “I reckon Tim won’t mind us keeping this for a while until we get things sorted.”
Nik swallowed. “Where is my Range Rover?”
Ben frowned. “I had to leave it. It was probably bugged.”
“Leave it? Leave it where? And could you not have searched it for bugs and just removed them?Where is my car, Benjamin?”
Ben coughed. “Well, it was in the Taunton bus station, but I don’t suppose it’s still—”
“Unbelievable. Unfuckingbelievable.” He continued in this manner in English, Danish, and, Ben suspected, Russian for some time—at least until they hit the M5. Ben just kept his eyes on the road ahead and let him rant. He was a bit too stiff and sore to argue.
§§§
When they got to London, Nikolas decided they’d check into a hotel for the night to get sorted before they made their first overtures to Gregory. He directed Ben to Claridge’s and paid with cash. He seemed entirely unconcerned at their appearance in muddy, bloodstained fatigues, unshaven and scraggy haired. He treated the hotel staff with his usual impeccably polite distain and seemed to hover uneasily between being Aleksey and Nikolas until they entered their suite. Then he lowered himself gingerly to the bed and asked in an uncharacteristically plaintive tone, “Do we have any painkillers left?” Ben came over and squatted down in front of him. He eased the fatigues off and inspected the wounds. They were closed and looked healthy. He gave Nikolas’s hair a ruffle and handed him a couple of aspirin. Nikolas didn’t seem very impressed, but he crunched them up anyway.
Suddenly, Ben realised their surroundings. He stretched, stripped off all his foul clothing and went into the bathroom. It was enormous with a marble tub built for two. And it had jets. He almost fainted with pleasure. He ran a very deep, very hot bath and then went back to fetch Nikolas, who was by now deeply asleep. He sat alongside him for a while just enjoying the view then prodded him awake.
They basked in the luxury of the deep tub for far longer than any ex-Special Forces soldiers should want or need to, occasionally letting cooling water out and topping it up via the jets with hot. It was something they’d never done before—share a bath—and they enjoyed the novelty, bringing in some wine and then gradually working their way through the minibar as well. They talked around the problems of the meeting with Gregory, and Nikolas was adamant that they couldn’t do anything until they’d contacted Kate and had her take care of any problems that had arisen with two dead Chechens in their house.
The house had actually been in his name, or at least in the name of Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen, and clearly this was a potential issue. When they’d had enough of the bath and had begun to wrinkle unpleasantly, Nikolas had a good idea, possibly one born on two bottles of wine and various small, high-proof minibar offerings, Radulf should have a bath, too. To be fair, the dog was filthy and stank, so he wasn’t being wholly mean—although he did seem to enjoy a bit too much the sight of a miserable Radulf covered in soapsuds. Ben, though, remembered the ball he’d bought and when he produced it and tossed it into the water, Radulf dived happily under the bubbles to retrieve it. After five minutes of this game, the dog was spotless. The bathroom wasn’t. They pulled the dog out, wrapped him in the finest, fluffiest towels that Claridge’s could provide, and returned him to his basket and hotel-provided dog treat.
By this time, all three of them were exhausted. It had been a very long, tiring day since they had woken in their cave on Dartmoor. Ben knew Nikolas was still in pain, although he wouldn’t admit it openly. He climbed into bed and stretched out, patting the empty space next to him. Nikolas crawled in as well and immediately stretched, boneless and obviously as delighted as Ben on the extreme comfort. Being a soldier again was all very well, but three weeks of sleeping on a mat and washing in black water was enough. Ben curled into Nikolas’s back, slid a hand over the lean waist to see if there was any interest in some fun, and the next thing he knew he was waking to daylight streaming in and to the noise of a busy London street. He frowned and glanced at the bedside clock. It was ten in the morning. He’d slept, almost unconscious, for twelve hours. Nikolas was still asleep, but then his stomach wasn’t as fine-tuned to starvation as Ben’s. Ben sat up, rubbing his hair. Even Radulf was still asleep. Ben could see this very easily because sometime during the night, he’d crept from his hotel-issue basket and onto the bed and was now upside down with his four hips seemingly disjointed and legs splayed to uncannily unnatural angles. Ben reckoned they were breaking every hotel rule, but when he saw the state of the bathroom after climbing out to take a piss, he realised it didn’t matter all that much.
Ben’s thoughts returned to food, and he examined the room service menu. Before he could place the call, Nikolas asked him from the bed, “Is there somewhere you used to go with Kate that she would know immediately?”
