CHAPTER 2

Two days later, and the team had made another arrest, catching Charles Venning, as he was about to board a plane to Miami. Bailey sent Rachel and Marcus back to the VCTF, while he went to police headquarters to formally charge his prisoner.

By the time he got back to the VCTF, the rest of his team, were sitting in the cafeteria drinking coffee. George was eating a doughnut, and Grace was preparing to leave for the afternoon.

"I can't believe we wrapped that up so quickly," he said, grabbing a hot drink, and coming back to the table. "And John will be back tomorrow."

"Um," said George, and stopped eating. "Err no he won't."

"Excuse me?" said Bailey, putting his cup down. "What?"

"John rang while you were off at the airport. He wants you to ring him back. Something has come up, he seemed quite upset about it."

Bailey pulled his cell out of his pocket, and rang John's number.

"You rang?" asked Bailey, when John answered.

The others watched various expressions chase themselves across his face as he talked into his phone.

"No…it's all right…calm down…no… we will sort it out…yes…tomorrow…I'll talk to Susan and sort things out… Just calm down and someone will see you tomorrow…"

He disconnected and looked up to see the rest of them staring at him. His mouth twitched, though he tried to maintain his stern expression.

"John is panicking," he told them. "The Agency wants him to sign a contract! The photographer that's with him is really close to getting what he needs, and won't let John leave." His mouth twitched again, and he gave in, grinning at them, as Rachel and George began laughing.

"However, it's time he came back, so Rachel, you have got legal experience. You will go up there tomorrow as John's Agent or girlfriend or whatever, and be so obnoxious and greedy, that they won't want to sign him up."

Rachel agreed, and George put down the remains of his doughnut, brushing crumbs from his fingers and stood up.

"The photographer emailed me a sample of the first two day's photos, if you guys want to see them," he said casually, and both Rachel and Grace nodded eagerly, quickly following him back to the control room.

"Hang on for just a moment," said Bailey, picking up his cup, and heading off towards his office. "I'll send upstairs for Susan to come and have a look as well. I know she'll be interested."

Susan Jamison kept them waiting for about ten minutes, but she finally came down the stairs to the control center, followed by a couple of other women, who she introduced as 'staff'. Everyone took a seat, and George flashed up the first photo onto the big screen.

There was complete silence in the room.

The picture showed John leaning back on a fence, elbows resting across the top of the fence behind him, one leg bent up and hooked over the bottom rail. He was wearing tight jeans and boots, as promised, and nothing else. His eyes looked very blue, his hair very dark, the ribbed muscles of his taut upper body showed out in stark relief.

"Holy Shit!" said one of the women.

"Well, I think I made the right choice," said Susan with satisfaction. "I thought he'd be very good."

"Oh he's good, very good," murmured another of the women who had accompanied her. "Better than good, he's gorgeous."

The next photo was a close up, and somehow they had got John to smile.

"How long has he worked in this building?" asked another of the women to Susan in an under voice. "How come I've never run into him in the lift?"

The third photo had John lying on the grass on his side, his head supported in one hand, pouting sulkily at the camera, still wearing only jeans and boots, and looking criminally sexy.

"I want a transfer to the VCTF," whispered one of the women to Susan.

The next photo showed a blonde woman, standing behind John, with her arms around his body and her hands across his naked chest, pressing her face into his back.

Rachel snapped the pen she was holding in half - glaring at the big screen, and found her heart was beating quite fast in her chest. She knew John was good looking but these photos took her breath away. She found herself hating the three women who were giggling and making suggestive comments, even though she knew John wouldn't really care what they said. She particularly hated the blonde model in the photo with him. Grace cast a quick look at her, and smiled a little at her expression.

"Well that's all Phil sent me," said George, when he had put up six or seven shots, each one better than the next. "He said in his email to me that John was a natural. I think maybe he is right!"

"Hmm," said Bailey, "Well Rachel is going down there in the morning, to spit legal terms at the modeling agency, and hopefully John will come back with her tomorrow afternoon," he told Susan. "I need him back here, and your man has had his three days."

"I'd rather he stayed a little longer, if they want him too," said Susan sharply. "Phil needs a bit more time."

"He wants to come back," said Bailey, "I doubt if I can persuade him to stay."

"Phil is very close on this," said Susan. "I'd like John to stay longer, especially if they've requested that he do so. The director at Quantico wants him to stay," she added provocatively

The two heads of department glared at each other.

One of the women from Susan's department turned to look at Rachel.

"Lucky you," she said in an aside. Rachel ignored her by turning her back, and walking out of the control center, not really knowing why she felt angry with the women who had been drooling over John's pictures. She was suddenly glad that Bailey had chosen to send her to get John tomorrow. She didn't want them taking any more of those photos of him, unless she was there, particularly ones with other women in them. It wasn't that she was jealous, she told herself; it was just that obviously it made John uncomfortable, so therefore she was uncomfortable for him, as any good friend would be! So she told herself anyway!