When the Siren Calls by Tom Barry Page A

not,” said Jay with as much cheerfulness as he could muster, his words short and breathy under her pressure. “Mind reading must only be a girl thing.”
    “Why haven’t I been able to get hold of you for four weeks…until now?” Lucy squeezed harder.
    “Squeezing my balls is not going to get us anywhere,” said Jay, attempting to level his breathing.
    “Pardon me, kind sir, if I beg to differ.” Lucy wore her smile again, and mercilessly increased the pressure.
    Pain shot through Jay’s lower body, and he reached out and wrapped his fingers around Lucy’s slender wrist.
    “Lucy, I have been totally maxed out for the last four weeks; it’s as simple as that.”
    “If you’ve had time to go to the loo in the last four weeks, then you’ve had time to call me. You need to do better than that,” she said, tightening her grip.
    “Ok, ok,” he gasped, trying to push her from him. “I should have called you. I’m sorry. Ok?”
    “No, it is not ok.” She sat back and relaxed her grip, hurt now merging with the anger in her eyes. “And you have completely blanked me since you got on the flight.”
    “Working on my laptop is not blanking you,” Jay sighed, “you are the only reason I am on this flight.”
    “The reason you are on this flight is because it’s heading where you want to go. When it lands, you’d better get your butt over to the Tulip Hotel if you know what’s good for you.” Lucy as good as clenched her fist to reinforce the dire consequences that would befall Jay should he be foolish enough to spurn her invitation.
    Jay said nothing as a torrent of contradictory thoughts ran through his mind; there were twenty good reasons why he didn’t want to change his plans that evening. But if he didn’t get rid of Lucy in the next five minutes then the repercussions could be terminal — he had to placate Andy before they landed. For the thousandth time in two years, lying was his only option, and he embraced it like an old friend.
    “Believe me, as soon as I saw you at Gatwick I changed my plans.”
    “So you are booked into the Tulip?”
    Jay faltered, caught in his lie. “Yes, my plans are to go over to the hotel from the airport. That is correct. I’ve already asked Eamon to meet me at the airport and take me there. But I’m also committed to meeting up with the team later. It’s business. So I will have to get away promptly.”
    “You’re supposed to be the big wheel; you’ve got the rest of your life for building your sand castles in the sky with a greasy cog like Eamon.” Lucy tore at him with her hand as she said it until it seemed her nails would touch through his skin.
    “Ok, you win!” he panted. “But you need to let go of that grip of yours and get out of here. Please?”
    Lucy released him with a cheesy smile and rose to her feet before deftly twisting herself into the aisle, her body slender and pliant once more.
    “Well, that seems to be all sorted, sir.” Her voice was chirpy again, all sugar and sunshine. “If I can do anything else for you, don’t hesitate to press the little button above your head.” She flicked it on and off again with vigour before sauntering away, her heels clicking with applause.
    Jay breathed a sigh of relief and tucked away his laptop, sure that any encounter with Andy would be simple in comparison, just so long as he got there fast enough.
    “Are you operating an appointment system, or can anyone join you?” said a loud, grating voice. Jay almost jumped, the volume shattering his tense body like glass.
    “Hi, Andy, I was just about to come over, but take a seat.”
    Jay looked furtively at Andy as he settled himself into the seat. His face was furrowed and thin, his sandy hair much coarser and thinner than Jay remembered. In the hills below them, Jay’s team was burning through Andy’s money faster than a forest fire and, if things down on the ground were really as bad as Jay had been told, if Andy truly was in danger of losing