Chapter 36
The place that Wilder had taken Jenny to was a beautiful bar hidden away in the cobbled backstreets of Covent Garden. The room was dark and modern-looking, with candles flickering in each of the black booths and crimson hangings draping from the black and silver walls. The place was bathed in a dim glow cast by an ornate chandelier dangling from the centre of the ceiling. As they sat and talked their way through a bottle of champagne, it suddenly struck Jenny that another lifetime ago – with another person by her side - she would have actually found this place romantic. But here and now, after everything she'd been through . . . this was strictly business. Or at least that was what she kept telling herself as she raised the champagne glass to her lips. But the more the alcohol and conversation flowed, the more Jenny found it difficult to distinguish this date from any other.
As they finished off a bottle, the waiter materialised by their table. "More champagne Sir?" he asked in a simpering voice.
"Not for me thank you," Wilder replied shortly, not even bothering to look around. "But some for the lady."
"Right away Sir," the waiter nodded before he disappeared off.
"You're not drinking anymore?" Jenny asked Wilder curiously as she set her empty glass down.
"I'm on call tonight," he explained, reaching forward and resting his hand on hers. An immediate electric spark shot through her, such that she hadn't experienced since she and Cutter had begun seeing each other. "I probably won't be needed, but just in case," he added, seemingly unaware of the effect his touch had upon her.
"Ah this mysterious job of yours," Jenny began wistfully, seizing her opportunity as her heart rate returned to normal. "I'm beginning to think you're a spy," she added, aware of the irony of her words even if he wasn't.
He chuckled and squeezed her hand fondly. "I prefer the term 'International Man of Mystery'," he joked.
She laughed herself, although she was well aware that his humour was just an attempt to brush her off. "Seriously though," she said, smiling sweetly. "How do you expect me to keep seeing you if I know nothing about you?"
Wilder immediately withdrew his hand from hers and sat back on the couch with a sigh. "I like you Jenny," he said in a stern tone. "I did from the moment I saw you. Isn't that enough for now?"
"Not really, no," she replied, sitting up straighter and turning to face him fully. "You could be a drug smuggler for all I know. How can I trust you if I don't even know what you do for a living?"
"Do we really have to talk about work tonight?" Wilder snapped suddenly with such aggression in his voice that she actually backed away from him slightly. Then, as quickly as it had come, his anger seemed to dissipate to be replaced with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," he stated in a resigned voice as he reached forward and took her hand again. "But I'm sat here with a beautiful woman in a fancy bar, and I really don't want to be talking about anything other than you."
"The lady's champagne Sir," the waiter said, suddenly reappearing by their side and showing them the expensive bottle. "Shall I pour - "
"I'll do it," Wilder interrupted sharply, taking the bottle out of the waiter's hands.
"Sir," the waiter nodded in acknowledgement, before he turned and left them alone again.
Wilder reached forward and poured her out another glass whilst she cleared her throat, regaining her composure after his sudden outburst. "Well, what do you want to know about me?" she asked eventually when she was sure her voice was steady.
He placed the bottle down in the ice bucket on the table. "Everything," he stated simply, looking her directly in the eye.
"So you want to know everything about me, and I get to know nothing about you?" she pointed out. "Now that doesn't seem fair, does it?"
"You can ask me anything you want," he said gruffly as he slouched backwards. "Just let's leave work out of it for tonight yeah?"
She studied him for a moment, although she knew that even if she kept pushing, she'd get nothing out of him tonight. "Fine," she agreed reluctantly. "So where did you grow up then?" she asked, reverting to the standard first date questions now that her preliminary interrogation had failed.
"Manchester," he answered shortly, his eyes not meeting hers. "Moved down here when I was thirteen."
"You really don't like talking about yourself do you?" Jenny asked, picking up on his uncomfortable body language.
He smiled at her observation, his eyes crinkled fondly. "Old habits," he stated with a wink. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Tell me something about yourself," he continued, sitting back and surveying her expectantly.
"Like what?" she asked with trepidation, probably more reluctant to talk about herself than he was.
"Like how is it you're still single?" he asked with a smile.
Jenny remained silent for a moment as her heart throbbed painfully, before she picked up her champagne, bringing the glass up to her lips. "I was engaged actually," she said before taking a large gulp. "Up until a few months ago," she finished as she placed her glass back down. As soon as she had said it, she suddenly found herself wondering why she was bringing up Mark when she usually fought so hard not to think about him.
Wilder immediately sat up straighter and looked significantly more interested in the conversation. "What happened?" he asked.
"Oh God, everything happened," Jenny replied, covering up her regret at entering the conversation with a touch of humour. "He had his affairs . . . I had mine . . ." she continued, but she paused, not wanting to tell the next part of the story whilst at the same time knowing that she had to. "And then he was killed," she said, her voice wavering as she spoke. "Car crash," she lied, answering his curious look.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said curtly, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. "True love was it?"
"I was marrying him wasn't I?" she snapped before she could contain herself.
"Marriage isn't love," he replied wisely.
"Coming from a man who's probably experienced neither," she retorted with a falsely sweet smile. He raised his eyebrows at her, giving her a reproachful look. With a deep sigh, she rolled her eyes. "There's only been one man I've ever loved," she conceded, admitting something she'd barely allowed herself to accept. "And it wasn't him," she finished, before picking up her glass and taking another gulp of champagne.
"Who was it then?" he pushed, clearly more interested in the conversation than she was.
She paused for a moment, stroking the stem of her glass as she fought to keep the mental image of Cutter at bay. "Someone I can't be with," she replied eventually.
"So what are you doing now then?" he asked.
She turned to him and tilted her head to the side, hitching a small smile on her lips. "Well I'm having drinks with you," she replied smoothly.
He returned her smile with one of his own as he reached forward and tucked her hair behind her ear. Taken aback by the unexpected tenderness of the gesture, Jenny didn't realise that he'd leaned into her until his cool lips were on hers. She gasped, surprised, before she closed her eyes and kissed him back with a passion that she didn't even know existed in her anymore. Her hands travelled up his chest before she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His touch wondered down her side and rested on her thigh. When they broke apart, he stayed inches from her face.
"Do you want to get out of here?" he asked in a low, commanding voice; his breath tickling her cheek.
"Sure," she replied immediately, all common sense driven out of the window.
"So where are we going then?" Jenny asked as Wilder turned the car out of the car park.
"We can go anywhere you want," he replied, half-glancing round at her. "Another bar . . . a club . . . my place . . ." he added in an undertone.
Jenny let out a laugh of disbelief. "You don't waste much time do you?" she said in incredulity.
"Well I thought I'd give it a go," he said with a chuckle.
She grinned and fixed her gaze out of the window, noticing how beautiful London looked lit up. "Not tonight," she stated eventually as she looked back around at him, some semblence of her rational part returned to her.
He nodded with a small smile. "Fair enough. Where to then - ?" he began to say, but before he could finish, his mobile phone began buzzing loudly in his pocket. Frowning, he fished it out of his pants and flipped it open. "Wilder here," he said in a cool, officious tone. He was silent for a moment, his forehead crinkled as he listening intently. "Where?" he barked eventually, before he paused to listen again. "I'll be there in two minutes," he finished, before snapping the phone shut. "Hold on," he added to Jenny.
"Why - where are we going?" she demanded immediately, before a scream was wrenched from her lips as she was unexpectedly thrown into the car door. Wilder had made a sharp u-turn, cutting across another lane of cars that were all beeping at them angrily. "What the hell are you doing?" she shouted as he straightened up the car and took off at high speed in the opposite direction.
"I need to be somewhere," he replied, his voice urgent and distracted. "It shouldn't take long. You'll wait in the car until I'm done."
"Wait in the car - ?" she repeated angrily, before he cut her off.
"Just shut up a minute and let me think!" he barked, taking another sharp turn. "I need to concentrate!"
Jenny sat back in her chair, breathing hard as her confusion mounted. Buildings whizzed past them as blurs as Wilder floored the accelerator so that they were speeding through London's backstreets, the wind whipping deafeningly through the half opened window.
"Slow down!" Jenny yelled as he swerved to narrowly avoid a pedestrian. "You're going to kill someone!"
Wilder ignored her and eventually pulled the car up into a dark street, braking so abruptly that they both jerked forward.
"Joseph – what is going on?" Jenny demanded as Wilder fumbled to undo his seatbelt.
"Just stay here!" he ordered, his eyes wide and panicked as he flung the door open. "I'll be back in a minute."
And with that he left the car, slamming the door shut after him. Jenny squinted after him, trying to make out his figure as long as possible, but within a few seconds the darkness had swallowed him up whole. She sat back, letting out a noise of indignity at being told to wait on the car like some petulant child. Didn't he know who she was? What she'd faced the past year? Actually - no he didn't, Jenny reminded herself. He thinks you're a beauty therapist remember . . .
She sat there for a long while, torn between following him and risking him cutting her off because of it, or else sitting in the car like a good girl and missing out on a prime opportunity to gather information. She leaned forward with a sigh and squinted again into the darkness, trying to make out anything from the street ahead, but there were no street lamps to illuminate the place, nor any moon to cast a glow . . .
However, a sudden flicker of light from way up ahead caught her eye, and immediately, her stomach contorted as she realised what it was.
It was an anomaly.
Her mind going blank with panic, Jenny scrambled out of the car as quickly as she could, her heart palpitating as she slammed the door shut. Oh God, Cutter would be showing up here soon . . .
Her thoughts were halted as sudden muffled shouts and cries could be heard coming from by the glittering light up ahead. Her blood running cold, she began sprinting towards the source as fast as her heels would allow, dimly registering running past a black van as she went. The anomaly light was becoming more and more visible as she neared, as were the figures that were moving erratically in front of it. As she drew closer, one figure ran towards her suddenly, as though being chased by something.
"What the hell . . . ?" she mumbled to herself in disbelief.
As her eyes adjusted, Jenny realised with a sickening swoop that it was Wilder himself, being pursued by some sort of wolf-like creature that sprinted fast on hoofed feet after him. It had two huge protruding teeth that were serrated, and by the looks of it, already dripping blood. The creature was rapidly gaining on him, and Jenny tried to cry out a warning, but she seemed to have lost the power of speech altogether. She watched in horror as Wilder tripped, skidding on the rubbish-strewn floor. Jenny's eyes scanned the street frantically, looking for something – anything – that could help . . .
Mercifully, she spotted a rusty pipe lying in the midst of a heap of scrap metal, and she grabbed it, knowing that she had surely lost her mind - she should have been running like hell instead. Heart thumping wildly against her ribs, she stepped forward just as the beast pounced, its jagged teeth inches from Wilders face. With one clean swipe of the pipe that took all of her strength, she caught the creature clear across its jaw, and with a yelp, it flew off to the side, landing with a deep thud on the ground.
"Jenny," Wilder panted as he scrambled to his feet. "What are you - ?"
"Look out!" a strange man's voice shouted as half a dozen soldiers pointed their guns at the creature.
Wilder grabbed Jenny and pulled her away, sheltering her as tranquiliser darts soared through the air. Another muffled and drowsy yelp told her that the creature, whatever it was, had been sedated.
"I told you to stay in the car!" Wilder barked as they broke apart, looking completely livid as they both panted to regain their breath.
"Well it's a good job I didn't!" she shouted back, aware that she was trembling from head to toe. "Because if I had, you'd have been wolf food by now!"
He scowled heavily and looked around as his companions lifted the unconscious beast together and began carrying it uniformly towards the black van.
"Where are they taking it?" Jenny demanded, watching the men struggle with the weight of the creature as they staggered in unison down the street.
"None of your business," he retorted, grabbing her roughly around the wrist. "You're coming with me."
"I'm not going anywhere with you - "
"Hey boss!" one of the soldiers yelled, his voice strained as he struggled to roll the creature into the van. "The busybodies are here!" he said as they slammed the van doors shut, nodding to the end of the street.
As Jenny turned around, she was sure she felt her already nauseated stomach disappear entirely. There, pulling up next to the anomaly, was what was unmistakably one of the ARC's SUV's.
"Jenny, come on!" Wilder barked forcefully, a definite note of panic in his voice. "We have to go!"
He pulled on her arm forcefully, and against her better judgment, she allowed him to drag her back to his car. But as he rounded it to get in himself, she couldn't help but look around as though some force was pulling her gaze back. Cutter had got out of his SUV, and was gaping at the scene around him, his eyes wide in shock. As the black van sped off into night, his gaze slowly turned to Jenny, and for a split second that seemed like an eternity, they both stared at each other from across the street.
The car door was suddenly flung opened next to her. "GET IN!" Wilder yelled, already starting up the engine.
After a final glance at a baffled-looking Cutter, Jenny quickly sat down in the car, and had barely shut the door before Wilder reversed back down the street at top speed.