Knockout! A Passionate Police Romance by Emma Calin

last fight was surrounded by suspicion wasn’t it?” She asked.
    “So, we need an operation to look at La Salle.” Said Beaumont Locke.
    Anna took a deep breath and tried to suppress the adrenalin pumping into her blood.
    “I may be able to help. La Salle is a client of my father. I believe I can get a good insight into him.” She said, hoping she sounded calm.
    Commander Locke leaned back in his chair and looked at her. With a show of arrogance he linked his hands behind his head.
    “Whoa! This is fantasy island stuff. You are an Interpol officer Inspector. Your job is liaison and issues of language and cooperation. There’s no way you can wander off on some kind of maverick mission.”
    Anna swallowed her anger and glanced at Christine Jones, who smiled and almost winked.
    “You have a better approach Commander Locke?” She asked coldly.
    He snapped forward and spoke angrily. “I have no approach - this is the first I’ve heard of La Salle!”
    “Perhaps you should keep up to date. Evidently Anna has taken the trouble to stay on top of the game.” She said with a frigid smile.
    “That is neither here nor there. If we need to look at La Salle, the bloody French can do it. It is not Inspector Leyton’s job.” He spat angrily.
    “As head of the Interpol Bureau I believe I may assign my own staff,” replied Christine with a menacing tweak of her eyebrow, “perhaps Anna can tell us the whole story?”
    Christine beamed at Anna and signaled for her to begin. Suddenly Beaumont banged the table.
    “Who is chair of this meeting? I will not have Interpol trying to grab the limelight from all these other departments.” He thundered pompously.
    “So we’ll just ignore Anna’s contribution shall we? Perhaps when the Olympics come to London in 2012 we’ll get another chance. I wouldn’t want to be telling the Home Secretary that we let our little squabbles prevent us from locking up these crooks.”
    Anna watched him subside. This was the kind of politics that he could not risk on his way up. Christine Jones had the ear of the Home Office and had friends in government.
    She steadied her nerves and began to speak.
    “Freddie La Salle is looking to buy an exclusive motor - cruiser from Leyton Marine. He is due to try out a boat in Antibes on Friday and is meeting a salesperson in Paris tomorrow morning.”
    “And you are telling us that Daddy’s perfect pet is going to snuggle up to him and induce him to tell all with one sweep of your lashes Inspector.” Sneered Beaumont.
    Despite the tense situation the notion of snuggling up to Freddie helped her relax.
    “Why not? I’ve done plenty of undercover and surveillance work.” She fired back.
    “So this fighter, this thug is just going to roll over is he? These sporty celebs have trashy tarts at every turn... ”
    “Freddie is a cultured man and well known art collector.” She retorted.
    “Ooh - you can look at his brushstrokes.” He mocked with a false guffaw.
    “This is not a personal matter Commander. These sexist and derogatory remarks could be career threatening.” Warned Christine Jones, fixing him with an icy stare.
    Around the table junior officers glanced at one another and shuffled their papers awkwardly. It was rare to be party to this kind of jousting. Anna winced inwardly, ashamed that she had used deceit to manipulate this conflict in order to fulfill her selfish desire. She comforted herself with the belief that she could provide good intelligence for the squad.
    “I’m quite happy to agree to this mission - that is if Commander Locke has no further objections. This is your enquiry and I would so hate to interfere.” Announced Christine imperiously.
    He narrowed his eyes and looked at her. His face was white with anger.
    “She is your baby just as long as you take responsibility. You know that this is completely outside the brief of an Interpol officer.”
    “Her brief is as I define it.” She replied with a thin cold steel blade of