You had to laugh, Claire thought as she concealed a wire under a mini skirt and skin-tight top. She certainly wouldn't be revealing to anyone just how she'd taped it onto the under wiring of her bra – well maybe Kerry. She sat back in the leather upholstering of Meadow's car as they made their slow journey through the city, it was moments like this that she loved in undercover work, the thrill of pretence. How ironic when it was pretence that had caused her personal life so much turmoil.
"You all set?" Meadows queried suddenly.
"Of course Gov," Claire gave him a grateful smile.
"You've seemed a little quiet lately, is there anything I should know before you go out there?" Claire looked up, surprised by the DCI's insight. They had reached the red light district and were now passing scantily dressed women on every second corner.
"It's a bit late for that Gov, I won't let you down." She smiled as she opened the passenger door and climbed out. Why hadn't she told him? Would he have let her do the op? Perhaps she was a little too addicted to this job, or maybe she just didn't want to think about some things at this moment.
On the street, Claire almost felt relaxed. Her clothing had transformed from conspicuous to uniform in a couple of small steps. She looked around taking in her surroundings. This was the difficult bit, already the other girls were eyeing her suspiciously. A new girl on their patch, and what's more, one with customers.
During the planning stage, Meadow's had talked to some of the local girls and refuge houses about the dangers of Finchly and the possibility of planting a copper on the street, but none of these women would know that she was that copper. hopefully, the posters they had provided would be enough to ensure Claire was the only one who got in a car with him, but she'd have to work for it all the same.
Claire moved to stand in the light of a street lamp. She leant back, exposing her long legs even further. She thought with ironic sadness of her competition and the bizarre competitive nature of her position.
A car slowly turned round the far corner, lights off it crawled down the street in near darkness, eventually, it paused at Claire's feet. From the driver's seat a middle aged man in respectable business suit smiled at her. He let his eyes roam over her body, all to exposed, and his grin widened, then he opened the passenger door.