Fifth Victim by Zoe Sharp Read Free Book Online Page A

beneath the back of my short jacket. I hadn’t enlightened them.
    If I’d been trying to guard Dina against potential assassination, the rear terrace of the yacht club would have been a nightmare to control and contain, even with a full team. Open on three sides, brightly lit against the darkness, the exposed location offered too much concealment on the far shoreline for a sniper, with too easy an exfil once the job was done.
    As a possible ambush site for kidnapping, however, it wasn’t nearly so attractive. Anyone approaching from the water would be clearly highlighted all the way in to the lower landing stage, and the only landward exit meant climbing the short flight of stairs to the balcony where I now stood. From here, I could keep a watching brief on my principal without cramping her style, as per my instructions.
    And Dina seemed to be following hers – for the moment at least. She stayed in plain sight and kept tight hold of her champagne glass at all times. The three kidnap victims so far had all been slipped something to make them compliant, I’d pointed out. They could have been injected – any exposed muscle would do the trick – but there was no point in taking chances that the drug had simply been palmed into their unguarded drink.
    She had shaken off her earlier embarrassment without, I was interested to note, entirely blaming me for its cause. I had a feeling Torquil would have been determinedly unimpressed with anything she might have given him, and at least the Swiss Army multi-tool I’d suggested was a fraction of the price of that yellow diamond.
    After a few minutes of self-pity, she’d shaken herself out of it, agreed with my assessment that he was an ungrateful little bastard, and made a firm decision to enjoy the rest of the party as best she could.
    I remembered Caroline Willner’s quietly murmured last words before the limo had collected us from the house to bring us here.
    ‘Take care of her for me.’
    So far, so good.
    I caught movement behind me, shifted a little to see a young man step out of the bar, and recognised him as one of the many guests I’d seen earlier. He moved forwards to lean on the railing a couple of metres away. We nodded to each other. I kept my face blank to discourage small talk, but made a mental note of him, all the same. Sandy hair, medium height, thickset but light enough on his feet for it to be athletic muscle rather than junk food. He dressed like money was not a problem and probably never had been.
    I checked him out under cover of taking a drink, but his eyes were on the group below, where Torquil was refilling the champagne glasses of two giggling girls. They both had a lot of blond hair and tanned skin on show, and could well have been twins.
    ‘A regular Prince Charming, isn’t he?’ said my companion, as if reading my thoughts. I glanced across, surprised. His accent was classless English, with just a hint of American inflection in the way he asked the question to suggest a long stay here.
    ‘I’m barely able to contain my lust,’ I agreed dryly.
    He laughed, a pleasant uncontrived sound, accompanied by a flash of teeth. ‘You say that, but half the girls down there would crawl over broken glass to be the one he takes home tonight.’
    ‘Really?’ I murmured as I watched Torquil drape his arm across the bare shoulders of another girl, leaving it there just a little too long before moving on. I didn’t miss her exaggerated shudder and pulled face behind his back. If they really think so little of him, why are they all here? ‘What’s his trick, then? Can he breathe through his ears?’
    In the middle of taking a mouthful of drink, my companion spluttered and came close to choking. I kept my eyes on the throng, double-checking Dina’s location and too wary of deliberate distraction to come to his immediate aid.
    He recovered enough for speech, wiping his mouth on a folded napkin. ‘English, right?’ he said. ‘Where are you