Epilogue
Seven months later
Surrounded by the silence and darkness of the small hours, he might have believed the world was at peace, had his job not been one that reminded him every day that it was awash with cruelty and violence.
However, for once, there was no crisis—national or international—that required him to have a team on immediate standby. He should have headed for his pied-à-terre in the city hours ago, but instead he’d remained here, watching night displace day and listening to the diminishing sounds of human activity as his people left for the weekend. He was alone in the darkness, with only the cone of light from his desk lamp and an empty whisky glass for company.
Guy had a lot on his mind. Events during the last few months had driven him into taking stock of all aspects of his life, once separated into little compartments that kept everything conveniently isolated, but now no longer so neat and tidy. The walls between those compartments were crumbling. It was only a matter of time before his professional life and his private life collided and when that happened, there would be no shelter from the ensuing fallout.
No, his best hope was a controlled explosion—make things happen instead of waiting for them to blow up in his face. The first of those affected his work. The job had evolved since he’d first taken it on, and while he and his unit had always been answerable to their government paymasters, interference from on high was becoming more prevalent, to the point where it was now impeding his ability to carry out his duty to the nation.
Guy studied the document on his computer screen. He’d drafted the first version of his resignation a while back, wondering at the time how soon he’d need to fine-tune it prior to sending it to the relevant parties—the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Director General of MI5.
He glanced at the three large brown envelopes sitting on the corner of his desk, ready to be couriered to their destinations. All he had to do was hit send on this email, to which this scanned copy was attached, and he could be permanently “out of office” by the time Ros and Simon returned from Norway.
As for what he’d do next—the “if” was already decided, only the “when” remained to be confirmed. Sick and tired of shovelling bovine excrement for his increasingly ungrateful lords and masters, he was more than ready to join Alex Lombard, Cam Fraser and Ryan Quinn—and Ros—at Spectrum Security. He looked forward to seeing her face the day he rocked up as their government liaison director.
In the light of recent rumours from an impeccable source, the decision had been an easy one to make. If his unit was to be merged with other forces, as he’d heard on the grapevine, then the powers-that-be might as well go all the way and disband it. Guy knew his people—they responded well to his somewhat less than formal leadership style, and they’d had more than enough success to vindicate his approach.
Which was why he’d called them into an informal meeting earlier in the day. Those rumours had found their way to the squad room too. Seeing them all gathered there had given him an immense sense of pride, in both them and their achievements, especially Lucy, his former secretary, now in a highly effective partnership with Simmonds, her fiancé—in spite of Logan’s initial objections. She’d taken to the role of field officer like a duck to water, and was already an invaluable member of the unit.
He couldn’t allow all of that to go to waste, not when his future colleagues had shared with him their plans to expand their business. Granted, he might have been treading on thin ice from an ethical perspective, but his people were more important to him than the opinion and standards of special snowflakes who were put out if their tea and biscuits weren’t just so. He owed it to them to let them know what options were out there.
The more Guy thought about it, the more ready he was for that move to the private sector, not to mention the freedom to acknowledge who he really was. It was time for him to step out of the shadows and reveal his identity as the now not-so-new owner of Aegis. It’d be a nine-day wonder and Ros would blow a gasket, but in next to no time, things would settle down again, with the added bonus that he’d be out of this crappy job. Over the years, he’d done his duty for Queen and country many times over, and while it hadn’t cost him his life, it had cost him his love.
The familiar frigid ache squatted like a demon around his heart once more. Guy poured himself a generous measure of the Dalmore he kept in the office for times like this, and took a healthy swallow. He needed it. More than a decade on, and the raw, eviscerating memory could still rip him apart.
His beautiful masochist. She’d always been the perfect complement to his inner sadist. She’d also been the only woman he’d ever fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with, and losing her had torn away his heart and his soul.
Guilt to match the grief flexed its talons and tightened its grip around his throat once more, delivering a harsh reminder of what else she was—dead because of him, and the day he’d buried her had been the first day of the end of his life.
***
Thank you for reading the fifth volume in the Club Aegis series. I hope you enjoyed the latest story.
If you’d like to find out more about my books, the can be found on my website, , where you’ll also find the link to sign up for my infrequent .
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Christie
Other books by Christie Adams
Club Aegis Series (suggested reading order):
(novella)
Single Titles:
(novella)
(novella)
About the author
When Christie Adams, author of contemporary steamy romance, isn't completely absorbed in the writing process, she's probably thinking about it—either the book she's currently working on, or one of the dozen other stories she'll have percolating away at the back of her mind.
In addition to writing, she also loves investing time in reading a good book, or browsing the internet in search of cute videos of puppies, a pastime that often helps with writer's block—or so she claims. On those rare occasions when she can tear herself away from the computer, she has a weakness for James Bond movies and romantic comedies.
Good chocolate is also one of her passions in life, often accompanied by a glass of her favourite tipple, English sparkling wine. And if she can be persuaded to abandon her writing for a while, she finds that chocolate, wine and a good movie on TV is an excellent way to pass a winter's evening.
For news about new books, join . Follow her on and (@ChristieAdams), and you can email her at
WINTER’S FIRE (CLUB AEGIS #5) by Christie Adams
Published by:
Blue Topaz Books
Suite 12678
PO Box 4336
Manchester
United Kingdom
M61 0BW
www.bluetopazbooks.com
Copyright © 2017 by Christie Adams
All rights reserved. Apart from any permitted use under UK copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information, storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For permissions, contact:
Edited by Julie Naughton
Cover by Syneca Featherstone
Winter’s Fire / Christie Adams (1st edition)
ISBN 978-1-910791-40-0 (eBook)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.