The penultimate chapter at last. This one took on a life of its own, it was never supposed to be this long, but the fic writes itself – I'm just the typist!

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Chapter 9

In between sleeping and waking, Quinn wasn't sure for a second whether the tapping on the door was dream or reality. He scrabbled around for his watch and squinted at the face. Six-thirty. Still the middle of the bloody night, for God's sake.

"Quinn, it's me. Wake up, it's important."

Hope. He threw his long legs over the side of the bed and staggered to the door, his lips set in the now familiar pout.

"Do you know what bloody time it is, woman? And what happened to walls have ears?"

She grinned, her eyes scanning the vision in front of her. Dressed only in a pair of boxers, his hair mussed, his eyes heavy with sleep, he looked rumpled and extremely sexy. She debated whether to pounce on him there and then, but decided the news was too important to keep.

"Listen, all our worries are over, Mackenzie's been arrested. Hassan and several others have been working undercover for the last few years infiltrating his organisation until they had enough evidence to put him away for good. Hassan's already raided the safe here to pay any outstanding wages and ensured there's enough to get us all home, plus a little extra for all the stress. It'd only get impounded by the government, after all.

There's a car waiting to take us to the airport, and I've booked four tickets for the next flight back to England: it leaves at midday, so stir your stumps. You should be back home in London in time for dinner."

His brow furrowed.

"Don't you mean 'we'?"

She moved into his arms, kissing him gently on the lips.

"Of course. Now get packing, I'll let the others know."

As she made to leave, he caught her by the arm and she squealed in surprise as he kicked the door shut, grinning wickedly.

"Plenty of time for that later, love …"

He pushed her back onto the bed and fell on top of her, and she sighed in contentment, her arms winding round his neck as his lips found the sensitive spot behind her ear. After all, he was right, it was early yet.

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"No arguments, Quinn. I'm going on my own, and that's all there is to it. There's no danger for me now, but the Majorcan police may well be looking for you and it would be stupid to risk it. Why walk back into the lion's den? As soon as I've found my dad we'll be on the next flight back to London. You've got my mobile number, and I promise to stay in regular touch."

She held his face before reaching up to kiss him, and he ran a hand through his hair distractedly.

"I don't like it, but I suppose I haven't really got a choice, have I? Be careful, sweetheart. I won't sleep soundly until I know you're safely back."

She moved into the circle of his arms, burying her face in his neck, filling her nostrils with his familiar reassuring smell, and they stood for a while, neither wanting to be the first one to break away. Eventually, she moved back from his embrace, searching his eyes, imprinting his beloved features on her memory.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before you've even had a chance to miss me."

"Too late, love. I already am …"

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"I can't believe we're actually on the way home. I keep expecting something else to happen, even now. You know, terrorist attack on the plane, pilot losing his marbles and running amok, that sort of thing."

Quinn rolled his eyes as Baxter grinned at him.

"Don't even joke about it, Bax. The way our luck's been the last few weeks, nothing would surprise me. What will you do first when you get back?"

Baxter's smile broadened.

"Order a very large beer in Arrivals and wait for Carmen."

Quinn turned to face him, blinking in surprise.

"Blimey, you don't hang about."

"Called her this morning as soon as we found out. Her flight's due in not long after ours."

Quinn flashed him a genuine smile.

"Hope it works out for you, mate, I really do."

"Same to you. I think we deserve a bit of happiness, don't you?"

Baxter turned to Rick.

"Looking forwards to seeing the wife and kids again then?"

Rick nodded gratefully.

"Too right. I can't wait to get home."

Quinn raised an ironic eyebrow at him.

"Maybe you won't take them quite as much for granted now, huh?"

Rick opened his mouth to argue, and then thought better of it.

"Fair cop. I don't think any of us will take much for granted from now on."

"Too right."

Baxter nodded in agreement, and Rick looked over at Woody.

"What about you, mate? Going back to your girl?"

Woody looked at the floor.

"I haven't decided yet. So much has happened, I feel like a different person."

"Do you love her?"

Quinn nudged him in the ribs with an elbow, and Woody looked up.

"Yeah. I think so."

"Well, there's your answer. What have you got to lose?"

He squeezed the other man's shoulder reassuringly. Woody nodded.

"'Spose you're right."

Rick looked out of the window.

"Shame we didn't come away with any of that money, isn't it?"

Baxter and Woody stared at him in disbelief, and he shrugged.

"What? I'm just saying …"

Quinn took a sip of his gin and tonic, and then scratched his chin.

"Actually, that's not entirely true."

The others looked at him curiously and he grinned, lowering his voice.

"How does fifty grand split four ways sound?"

Three pairs of eyebrows shot up and three jaws practically hit the floor. Rick was the first to react, looking around suspiciously.

"Are you serious? Twelve and a half grand each? But how …"

"Out of the safe at the house. Hassan paid the staff everything they were due, and then divided what was left between the six of us. He reckoned it was only fair recompense after the last few weeks, and it would only have been snatched by the authorities."

Baxter scratched his head and blinked, speaking in a whisper.

"Are you trying to tell me you've got fifty grand in cash stashed in your case?"

Quinn nodded cheerfully.

"Holy shit! Let's hope you don't get stopped on the way through customs …"

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I'm going to miss these two. Quinn especially … ;)
Hope you enjoyed, please let me know.