CHAPTER 21

(GIDEON)

I don't fucking believe it, that piece of shit has not only been released from hospital but also has been granted bail. I need to get him out of the picture once and for all. I will never forget the look on Christian's face last night when that code red came through on my phone and I felt like my world was falling apart. How could we have put ourselves on the back foot like that, stranded in the god damn apartment with no way of getting to the women we love, no love isn't the right word, need, worship, obsess over, live for...

I decided this morning that never was I going to be in that position again, totally impotent and unable to do a damn thing. I know I am on the edge, Eva can sense it too. I walk out of my office and pause at Scott's desk.

"I have to go out, can you cancel my meeting with Rogers at Hassons" I pause and glance at my watch, "reschedule them and offer my sincere apologies, you know the sort of thing, when I have finished what I need to do, I will be going to the Fairfield as planned and will be on site for the rest of the day".

Scott nods and immediately lifts the phone on his desk, I leave with a word of thanks and call Angus to take me to Christian and Ana's apartment. I need to talk to Christian, I am determined I am going through with this and I know roughly what I am going to do, but Christian knows how I am feeling, as he was feeling exactly the same way last night.

When I arrive Christian comes out to me and I pull him to one side quickly outlining what I need to do.

"Gideon, are you crazy? What if you get caught, you can't do this by yourself and although I feel exactly the same way and would help you in a heartbeat, as I remember what he did to my sister when she was a kid, but I can't. I can't do that to Ana, what if you get caught? How do you think Eva would react? She adores you, and it would kill her".

He is agitated and is pacing, I know he is right, but at this moment I need to do this and can't see any other way out.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do Christian? What kind of life will Eva have with him always lurking? Increased security and restraining orders for the rest of her life? No, I won't subject her to that, so I am ending this once and for all, I have to free her from him".

We talk a while longer and we end up with Christian agreeing to support me should anything go wrong, but not wanting to get personally involved in taking out Barker. I can understand and accept that, he is married now and until Ana lost the baby was going to be a father, it has changed his thought process; he can sympathise and is prepared to help from the sidelines but doesn't want to be involved.

Plus he and Ana have the trial coming up so he is concentrating on supporting Ana through that and I can understand he doesn't want to be risk not being there for her. I tell him I am going to do this and soon and we discuss it a while longer until we are interrupted by Ana coming in.

When I leave, I leave with some knowledge that helps me with the decision I have made, both Christian and Ana are at the courthouse this afternoon. Eva told me that she has a meeting with her boss this afternoon about some big project they are taking on and I am at the Fairfield all day which happens to only be a block away from the hotel Barker is staying in, which is also one of mine. As I drive to work I get the alert that the security update to the CCTV system at the very hotel Barker is staying at will be down, for approximately 3 hours between 2pm and 5pm today, my heart leaps at this news, this has to be fate. I feel everything coming together, this is my chance I can do this, I quickly piece together a plan in my mind, I need help with this and I call the man who contacted me and promised me he would help me get rid of Barker.

"Clancy, today, The Fairfield" I say and hang up.

I realise I will need a distraction at the hotel so I can slip away, it's closed for the refurbishment and restructuring I have implemented. So I think some kind of accident… a fire perhaps? I go and look at what I can create and about an hour later Benjamin Clancy a huge gorilla of a man and the personal security and driver of Eva's step father Richard Stanton joins me at The Fairfield Hotel.

"So what's the plan?" he asks without preamble.

"I need a distraction between 2pm and 5pm, as the security cameras will be down at the hotel Barker is at, so I need a distraction here so that I can slip away without being noticed.

Clancy thinks for a moment and then nods, "A fire in the kitchen should do it, something small, nothing to put life at risk but enough to cause a bit of chaos, leave it with me" he says. We quickly formulate a plan of action and I leave him to do what he has to do.

At nearly 2.25 the fire alarms go off and I smile, I run downstairs and outside, I make a point of being seen by all the key staff and check with a number of them that everyone is out of the building, there are only builders and decorators in the building and senior staff members. The fire department arrive and I make a point of speaking to the chief.

I excuse myself and head to the rear of the building, Clancy is waiting in a small none descript car and I jump in. We head the short distance to my other hotel. I go in through the basement and checking the route as I go I check the security feed to make sure it is indeed offline and I make my way to Barkers room. I take a deep breath as I pull a small knife from inside my coat, and knock on the door, it opens and I see the bastard smirk. I lurch forward and slam the knife into his heart, the look of surprise on his face is instantly extinguished by death as his eyes go fixed and dull. He falls to the floor and I turn and leave, quickly exiting the building the way I came, nobody has seen me, and Clancy drives me back to the Fairfield. I glance at my watch, 14 minutes from beginning to end not bad at all. I climb out and turn to him and nod. I yank off the latex gloves I was wearing and toss them into the dumpster.

"I'll take it from here, there will be no evidence to link you to any of this," Clancy says firmly and drives away. I walk calmly around the front and see the police chief and fire chief. I approach them hand outstretched.

"Gideon Cross" I say as a way of greeting, and I glance at the fire chief, "we spoke earlier do you have any further information for me?"

The two men shake my hand and quickly explain what the cause of the fire appeared to be.

"It seems to have been a complete accident, a can of paint fell over and knocked a pile of papers on to a nearby heater which then caught fire, no suspicious circumstances as far as we can tell," he says calmly.

I smile and nod, "That's good to know, and thank you gentlemen for your swift response" I shake hands with them again and make a mental note to make a substantial donation to the fire department, everyone heads back into the hotel and I go to examine the damage caused by the fire, it will set things back by about a week or so but it was worth it. As I head back upstairs to finish my work a moment later my attention is drawn to the window and I smile again as I see the garbage men emptying the dumpster that I tossed my gloves into.

About half an hour later there is a knock at the door, and Raul enters looking grim.

"Sir, we have just received information that Nathan Barker has been found dead in his hotel room, he was found by housekeeping and it appears he was stabbed" he says.

I arrange my face into what I hope is a surprised look, "Really?! Well it couldn't have happened to a nicer person" I say and Raul grins at that.

"Keep me informed of developments, and let Taylor know, I'm sure Christian would be interested to hear about it" I say.

"Yes sir" Raul nods and leaves.

I sit down, I have killed a man yet I am not sorry. I am not feeling guilty or remorseful, I am elated and in a strange way feeling a little buzzed, that man terrorised Eva. He took her innocence and made her pregnant when she was only a child herself, he deserves everything he got. In fact the only thing I feel any remorse for is the inevitable shock the poor house keeping girl got when she found his body.

I sit for a moment mulling things over and my phone rings and I glance at it, it's Christian, I am guessing Raul has just told Taylor the news; I brace myself and answer the call.

"Gideon, I just heard the news about Barker" he says.

"And?" I say calmly, there is a silence and then I hear Ana's voice on the line, she sounds distraught.

"Gideon, it's me Ana, please tell me you had nothing to do with Nathan's death" she says.

"No" I reply, I hate lying to her, but the least she knows the better for her own good.

"Ok" she says, but I get the distinct impression she doesn't believe me from the way she says it, moments later Christian is back on the line.

"She's gone, tell me?" he says.

"Yes" I say shortly.

"I see" he replies.

We talk a while longer and I make arrangements to go over to tonight to spend time with Christian and Ana.

(ANA)

At exactly 7pm Gideon and Eva stride into the apartment, Gideon is tightly reined in I can tell by his demeanour, I glance at Eva and she shakes her head discreetly at me.

"Gideon, come and help me pick some beer," I say cheerily and he obediently leaves Christian and Eva and follows me in to the kitchen. As soon as we are inside, I close the door and turn and face him with my arms folded.

"Ok, did you kill him and don't lie to me?" I ask bluntly.

I see the reaction on his face for a split second and I know, before the impassive mask I have seen so often on Christian, slip effortlessly into place. I shake my head at him but he doesn't say a word.

"How could you be so stupid, have you any idea what you have done?" I say waving my hands in the air.

He just continues to stare at me in silence. "Gideon, I had an altercation last night with him, which left him in hospital. The next day he is released, gets bail and then ends up dead a while later. Do you have any idea how bad that looks for Christian?"

"I had an opportunity and I took it," he says through gritted teeth, "and I don't apologise, I would do it again" he adds coldly.

I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist, he is rigid and doesn't respond, "Gideon, Eva loves you so much, but this… if you go to jail because of this it would destroy her," I say calmly.

Gideon sighs and he relaxes but only slightly and then he folds me into his arms.

"Ana, I saw Christian last night when I got that code red on my phone. He was distraught, as was I. you girls were in danger and we couldn't do a damn thing, we had to wait and trust security would take care of it. For two men who need control like we do, can you imagine how that felt for us, can you imagine what we went through knowing you two were in danger and we could do absolutely nothing about it? I was determined that none of us would ever be in that position again. I came to see Christian this morning and told him what I was planning. It all came together quicker than I anticipated, Christian said you two were going to be at the courthouse all afternoon, I knew Eva had meetings at work and I was working across town at a hotel I was upgrading, which just happened to be a block away from the hotel Barker was staying in".

He pushes me away from him slightly and looks at me, there is a defiant look on his face and I sigh and hold my hand up to silence him.

"I don't want to know any more Gideon, I can understand why you did it and god knows that low life had it coming, but it was so risky. Gideon are you sure you weren't seen or anything?"

"Positive, please Ana I know you are worried but please believe me when I say none of you will be implicated in this, in fact I can guarantee it," he says confidently.

"Ok" I reply and hug him tightly; he wraps his arms around me and plants a small kiss on my head.

"What the fuck is happening here?" I turn and see Christian staring at us his hands balled into fists at his side.

"Christian... she knows" Gideon says calmly, Christian runs his hands through his hair.

"For fucks sake Gideon, why on earth did you feel it was necessary to tell my wife what you did? Why don't you just put an advertisement in the New York Times!" he says angrily.

I turn around and glare at Christian, "Because he didn't tell me, I guessed and I dragged it out of him, plus the fact I had a right to know. If it didn't escape your notice I shot that bastard last night and stamped on his balls. I, and you for that matter have as much motive as anyone to finish him off and I was making sure that Gideon's actions weren't going to come back and bite you in the ass. You do realise we could be seen as having a motive? We could be seen as accessories to it, I needed to know that you weren't going to taken from me".

I stop and Christian's face softens he strides over to me and pulls me away from Gideon and into his arms.

"I didn't think of it like that. Gideon assured me there would be no come back and no link to any of us". He looks meaningfully at Gideon as he says this and Gideon nods firmly once more.

"I assure you there will be no blow back on anyone" he says.

A moment later there is a discreet cough behind us and we all look around to see Taylor standing there.

"Sir there are two police officers at the door, here to question you about the death of Mr Barker".

At that I feel my legs give way and Christian grips me tightly, "Its ok baby I've got you" he whispers.

We grab the bottles of beer and Christian grabs some snacks and we head out to where Eva is waiting and Taylor goes to show in the police officers.

"Good Evening, sorry to disturb you all," the first one says glancing at the bottles of beer on the table. She glances around the room and then she introduces herself and her partner.

"Not at all officer, would you like a drink?" I ask.

"Water would be nice" she says, I glance at the second one and he thanks me but declines.

"I go to the fridge and fetch a bottle of water and hand it to the officer".

"Thank you" she says then goes all business like "Ok, can I ask how you all know Nathan Barker?" she says pulling out her notepad.

"He was my step brother about ten or so years ago, my mother married his father," Eva says carefully, Gideon has now sat down beside her and is holding her hand.

"Did you know Mr Barker was here in New York?" the officer asks gently, it is obvious she has done her homework and knows of the history.

Eva nods, she looks very pale and she swallows hard, "I saw him a few weeks or so ago something like that, that was the first time I had seen him for years, but then I was out last night and he was at the club we were at and he approached us," she says.

"Us?" the officer asks.

"Ana and I" Eva says glancing at me. The officer turns to me looking at me expectantly, so I explain.

"Eva and Gideon met us at the airport when we returned from the UK from our honeymoon and we that is Eva and I decided to go out last night for a girls night out – a catch up" I say.

"We were at Mirage, with our mutual friend Kate Kavanagh and we, that is Eva and I were in the rest room area when Mr Barker approached us," I pause and watch the officer writing all this down.

"Was Miss Kavanagh with you when Barker approached you?" she asks.

I shake my head, "No, we left Kate dancing on the main floor, it was just Eva and I" I say.

The officer nods, and then she gestures for me to continue.

"Eva became distressed when she saw him, and she entered the ladies bathroom, to get away from him and I confronted him. Mr Barker tried to sexually assault me, so I dug my fingers into his hand and stamped on his balls with my stiletto heel. Security arrived and Mr Barker was apprehended by them but he struggled free and took one of the guards side arms. I saw it and reacted, I grabbed a side arm from another security guard and shot him in the wrist to disarm him, shortly afterwards Gideon and Christian arrived, after being informed of the situation as they were spending the evening together here at the apartment. Eva came out of the bathroom and Mr Barker was taken away, that is pretty much everything that happened," I stop and stare at the officer as she scribbles down what I have said.

"You shot him in the wrist? That's very impressive Mrs Grey, where did you learn to fire a gun?" she asks.

"My father taught me, he is ex army, special ops and he taught me everything he knows, I am a crack shot, I can throw straight and he taught me self defence," I say proudly.

"Thank you Mrs Grey, now if you could tell me where you were today between 2:30pm and 4pm?" she asks.

"Yes, I was at the courthouse with my husband and the prosecution team going over my evidence for the trial of Stephen Morton, Elena Lincoln and Damien Ellis who abducted me a while ago" I say.

I know immediately she already knows this but is just going through procedure, and she turns to Gideon and Eva.

"Miss Trammell, can you tell me where you were during these hours today?" Eva nods.

"Yes, I was with my boss Mark Garrity and several other people in a creative meeting at my place of work, which is Waters, Field and Leaman situated on the 20th floor of the Crossfire building," she says. The officer nods and turns to Gideon.

"Mr Cross?" she says looking at Gideon.

"I was at the Fairfield Hotel where I was overseeing improvements and restructuring I have implemented recently since acquiring the hotel," he says calmly.

"Yes, there was an incident there wasn't there?" the officer asks looking carefully at Gideon.

He nods, "Unfortunately yes, a small fire started in the kitchen which is being totally refurbished, it's set us back about a week, but nobody was hurt which is the main thing" he says.

"How did it start?" the officer asks.

Gideon sighs, "Well, according to the fire Chief I spoke to on site, some papers had been left on some tins of paint the paint had toppled over and the papers had fallen on to a heater, which had then caught fire, the fire chief seemed to think it was a complete accident".

The officer nods again and I am convinced she already knew all of this and was just checking Gideon's reaction and if his story matched what she knew".

"Thank you, I think that will be all for now," she smiles at us and thanks me for the water and then they are gone.

"What happens now?" I ask looking around the room.

"Nothing" Gideon replies.

oooOOOooo

Gideon was as good as his word, that a link wouldn't be found to connect us with Barkers death. A few days later the police returned with the news that a dead Russian with links to human trafficking had been found dead, and he had photographs of Eva on him which matched ones found in Barkers hotel room and also a bracelet which Barker owned which had belonged to his late mother and upon further investigation, the knife which had been used to kill Barker had been found hidden in his apartment with traces of Nathan's blood and the dead Russian's finger prints on it.

It was established that this particular man had been taken out by one of his own as the hit had been witnessed by CCTV cameras, and so as far as the police were concerned the case was closed. Eva was asked to identify the bracelet as Nathan's and asked if she recognised the man in a photograph, who was the dead Russian.

I am a little shocked by these developments, but by the look on Gideon's face so is he. It is clear he had no idea about this man. I wonder who helped Gideon handle this and put in place this elaborate hoax. I decide my best course of action is to just let it go.

I have more things to concern myself, namely the forthcoming trial. I am a witness as is Christian, Taylor, Sawyer, Gideon, Raul and Angus. We have all been coached in our evidence, and Christian has decided to take the step of outing Elena as his abuser when he was younger, I was shocked when he released this information and although he didn't go into detail the extent of the relationship, he said enough to make her sound like the filthy paedophile that she is.

The huge dossier of information which Christian and Gideon had compiled on Morton and Elena including all her aliases and the details of previous complaints made against her have all been taken into account. Some of these people have been traced and were willing to come forward and testify against her, despite the fact the statute of limitations had run out for many of them.