Chapter 1

"I can't believe we're running away!" Sean walked from his room with a bag in each hand and dumped them down by the banisters. "We've only just got back off holiday."

"Not running away, my boy," Albert looked over his glasses from his place at the table. His own small case was already packed and standing at the head of the stairs. "Strategic withdrawal. He who fights and runs away…"

"… doesn't end up in clink," finished Ash, who was pushing small items of indeterminate function into the pockets and pouches of his laptop bag.

Mickey was folding his suit jacket neatly into his case. "Carlton and Harry could have compromised us. Other people might now know where we're based – and they might start asking questions."

"If 'other people' means Alfie," Emma remarked, "I doubt he can even remember the way to his own bathroom, never mind connect anything!"

"Better safe than sorry."

"Strategic withdrawal it is, then. To where?" Emma travelled light, and her single holdall of dresses, jackets and skinny jeans was on the floor by her booted feet.

"Ash?" Mickey asked without turning his head.

"Choice of three." Ash flipped open the pad on the table and spun it round so that Emma could read the addresses.

"Hmmm…" she cocked her head to one side and considered.

Sean came across to join her, leaning over the table to see. "What about that one?"

"The Clarendon," Emma read out. "Ooh, it's got a spa!"

Mickey raised his eyebrows at Ash, who shrugged. "Might as well grab it while we can get it."

"Oh, I don't object." Leaning on the lid of his case, Mickey zipped it securely. "Just thinking about outgoings."

"We're comfortably solvent, at present." Albert, who had taken over managing the books since Stacie had left the crew, tucked his glasses into his pocket and stood up. "And I'm sure Ash got us a bargain price."

Ash looked modest. "Let's just say it's not what you know, it's who you know, and leave it at that."

"Isn't it a bit of a waste, paying for hotels?" Sean asked. The others turned to look at him and he faltered a little. "I mean… can't we grift the managers? Fake a credit card or something?"

Mickey, Ash and Albert exchanged glances and shuddered, the memory of fleeing the Lexington Hotel following Danny's attempts to do just as Sean had suggested still fresh in their minds even after three years.

Emma slapped Sean on the arm. "Now look what you've done!"

"Ow!" He rubbed the sore spot exaggeratedly, aggrieved. "What was that for?"

"You made them pull that face. You know – the "you're far too young and foolish to understand, but we have our reasons" face. And you made them do it all at the same time!"

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"I'm not sure I like the sound of this one so far, Albert." Ash leaned forward across the table a little, keeping his voice low. "It's a bit … well …"

"Grubby?" suggested Albert.

"That's one way of putting it, yeah."

Albert nodded without looking up. He was playing his third deliberate hand of Patience out on the balcony of their new suite at the Clarendon, having failed to persuade any of the others to partner him in any kind of card game. Ash suspected he might have found a way to cheat against himself. "I agree it's all a little sordid," the veteran grifter said mildly, "but in these hard times we have to be as prepared as anyone else to dig through the trash. Besides…" he grinned over at Ash, the sunlight twinkling off his spectacles, "…you have to admit that taking this guy down is going to be a very special kind of pleasure."

"I'm not saying it won't be." Ash leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "I'm just saying I'm not sure I like the idea of us going down to his level. Emma as a hooker and Mickey as her pimp? It's just … wrong. Ugh." He gave a little shudder, glancing in through the French windows. "And I know somebody not so far away who's going to like it even less…"

As though his words had been a magic charm, there came a sudden commotion from inside the room.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Sean's voice shot up an octave with righteous indignation at the end of the sentence. "Whose crackbrained idea was this?!?"

"Mine!" his sister snapped, forcefully enough to make the lad blink. "Nobody forced me, nobody persuaded me, nobody coerced me – in fact, no-one else even suggested it. We needed a way in to this guy and I came up with the idea. Me. So don't even think about embarking on a quest for my honour, okay? This is the way it's going to happen. Unless you fancy gender reassignment surgery so you can play the part yourself. I've got a blunt penknife somewhere!"

Sean sat with his mouth hanging open.

Ash and Albert exchanged glances and winced.

"Perhaps we should sit down together and refine the plan?" suggested Mickey, who had emerged from his bedroom during Emma's tirade.

He beckoned to the two out on the balcony and they nodded and came into the room to take up their accustomed places; Albert in the high-backed leather swivel chair and Ash sprawled on the sofa with his arm along the back and one ankle cocked on the other knee. Mickey and Emma sat down in the other two chairs.

Sean looked at them all. "Don't see what there is to refine. Got it all worked out, aintcha?" he muttered, and slouched out through the French windows.

Emma rolled her eyes and made as if to stand up, but Ash raised a hand and got to his feet. "Leave it with me," he said.

As the fixer's broad-shouldered frame disappeared in Sean's wake, the others exchanged looks. Emma bit her lip. "I shouted a bit louder than I meant to."

Albert picked up his newspaper and gave it a little shake to straighten it. "Don't worry. It's perfectly natural for him to feel protective of you, and perfectly natural for you to want to be independent."

"Which is he most annoyed about – the hooker part or the pimp part?" Mickey asked

"I… didn't give him chance to say," Emma confessed. "Not very helpful, really. Sorry."

Mickey smiled comfortingly and got to his feet. "No harm done. Let Ash talk him down and then we'll run over everything together. I'll order us some coffee." He peered out onto the balcony as he passed and was privately reassured to see Sean and his mentor deep in conversation. Sean's automatic reaction to any situation which he saw as threatening toward his sister was, as Albert said, completely natural, but it was also proving a little wearing. And if Sean had been able to read Mickey's mind half as well as Mickey could read Sean's it would have been downright embarrassing.

Mickey sighed a little as he picked up the phone. It was fine. His feelings for Emma were completely under control and would in no way affect the crew. He was far too experienced and professional to let that happen. He ignored the little voice in his head that was suggesting to him that he could turn to see if he might catch a glimpse of her legs from this angle, and dialled the number for room service.

*********************

Ash rested his forearms on the wrought-iron railings and stared out across the city, squinting in the sunshine. "You've got to ease up on this a bit, kid."

"I just made myself look like a right idiot, didn't I?"

"On balance, I'd say you did, yeah."

Sean hunched his shoulders. Huddled into himself on Albert's recently-vacated chair he looked about fifteen. "I just wish she'd said something to me first."

"Why do you think she didn't?" Ash asked, turning round to face him.

"Probably cos she thought I'd kick off."

Ash laughed, not unkindly. "You lived right down to expectations on that one, didn't you?" Seeing the dejected look on the younger man's face he temporised a little. "Look – I know you're just trying to do what's right. But if you go off the deep end every time a situation like this comes up she's going to start resenting you. Then she'll stop talking to you. Then we're all in trouble." He leaned back against the railings and folded his arms. "If we're gonna work as a crew, we've got to trust each other's judgement. You can have your say, and we'll listen, but if Emma's okay with this then it's got to be her call. All right?"

Sean nodded slowly. "It's just hard, you know. She's my sister. I don't like the thought of…"

"If it's any comfort, I'm not too keen meself. But Mickey'll watch her back. He's the best. You know that."

"Okay." Standing up, Sean squared his shoulders. "Let's try this again."

Ash patted him on the shoulder. "Good lad."

They re-entered the room just as Emma went to answer the door to the concierge. Albert and Mickey both glanced up casually and Ash, from behind Sean's back, gave them a reassuring little nod. Emma brought the tray across and put it down on the coffee table before going over to her brother and kissing his cheek. "Sorry."

"Nah, me too." He sat down on the sofa and looked around the group. "Sorry everybody. Over-reacted. Sensible head on."

Mickey nodded, impressed, and sat forward in his seat. "Okay," he began. "Let's go over what we know."