Under Cover

Chapter 2

       Michael leaned across the table of the restaurant and kissed his wife.

"I can't believe it," he murmured, "Our first anniversary. It doesn't seem like it's been twelve months already. I feel like we're still on our honeymoon."

She laughed. "So you still love me after all this time?"

He sat back and smiled, "Hannah my darling I love you more now than when we were married. You are the perfect wife. Beautiful, smart, funny, a great cook, and most importantly you understand me and I understand you. We're the perfect couple."

"Of course we are," she answered, then she gave him a cheeky smile, "unless of course you're keeping secrets from me."

Michael laughed, "Of course not my dear, there are no secrets between us."

Hanna's phone chimed with an incoming text message. She reached into her bag and retrieved it. Michael watched as she glanced at the message, then immediately deleted it.

"What was the message?" he asked.

"Just spam advertising," she replied dropping the phone back into her bag.

Michael couldn't help staring at his wife. She was so beautiful. Tall, slim, long dark hair, high cheekbones and smooth skin. How had he landed such a beautiful woman?

"Stop staring at me," she said, "You'll make me self-conscious. Now what have you planned for us for the rest of evening?"

*****
At five thirty, right on knock off time, Hannah walked briskly down the stairs from her office to the basement carpark. She climbed into her car, locked the doors, then looked carefully around. No one was nearby. The text message she had received last night was a single word which would mean nothing to anyone else but her. She reached under the driver's seat and pulled out the large envelope which hadn't been there that morning when she parked the car. She leafed through the contents. Two sheets of paper listing dates and places, and a large glossy photograph which she studied carefully. She replaced the envelope and its contents under the seat, started the engine and drove out of the carpark on her way home.

"Must be an important one this time," she muttered to herself, "They're paying extra."
*****
 "We have to get the wording right," the senator muttered to his aide, "There can be no loopholes for the lawyers to find."

"Jim, I couldn't agree more," the other man replied as he tapped away on his computer keyboard, "But we have another four weeks before we introduce the bill." He looked at his watch. "It's eleven o'clock. I have to get home to my family or my wife will divorce me."

"Sure, Mark," Senator Jim Taylor said, "You're right, we still have plenty of time. Go home. I'll see you in the morning."

After his aide left Taylor sat alone in his office thinking about the importance of what he was doing. A bill to prevent the demolition of four residential blocks along the river to be replaced by a huge commercial development by one of the richest most influential building developers in the city who had the entire city council in his pocket and a number of politicians, no doubt bribing them with big payoffs to sign off on his massive project which would displace over two thousand residents from their homes. 

But Taylor had resisted the bribes and was fighting against the very powerful corporation which had already threatened him once to back off and look the other way. Could he beat the corporation? He was convinced he could.

It was late, time to go home, get a good night's sleep and start fresh again in the morning.
He took the elevator to the basement parking garage. It was deserted. Everyone else in the building had gone home long ago. His footsteps made an echoing sound as he walked to his car. Several of the overhead lights were off and his car was parked in semi-darkness. As he pressed the button on his remote to unlock the car he thought he heard a sound. He turned around and listened. It was footsteps, very faint, some distance away but gradually getting louder. Someone else must have just gotten off the elevator and was coming in his direction.

Taylor looked around. There were no other cars parked at this level, so where was this person going? He was curious so he stood by his car waiting. The footsteps became louder but the pace gradually slowed down. He stared intently in the direction of the sound. At last he caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure about fifty metres away, but the person quickly moved out of site behind a support column and the sound of the footsteps stopped followed by total silence.

Now he felt worried. Someone had followed him and was now hiding from him, probably watching him right now. It could be someone planning to rob him or worse. The city was fully crazies. He quickly climbed into his car and locked the doors. The only way to the parking garage exit was the way he had just come which meant driving past the column the person was probably still hiding behind. He started the engine, backed the car out of its space and started driving towards the exit. As his car passed the column he turned his head to see if anyone was there. Nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief.

His car reached the exit gate and he held his card out to the scanner. As the gate slowly rolled open he glanced in the rear view mirror. He gasped. A figure dressed in black was standing about fifty metres behind his car staring in his direction. This unnerved Taylor and he stamped his foot on the accelerator pedal. His car shot forward through the gate and out onto the street narrowly missing a passing car which angrily sounded its horn.

As he drove home to his apartment he managed to get his breathing under control. Tomorrow he would check the footage from the security cameras in the carpark. Maybe it would give him some idea as to the identity of the mystery person who was stalking him.

*****
Hannah arrived home just before midnight. Michael had left her a note. He had been called out on a job and wouldn't be home till very late. This was convenient for her, it saved her explaining why she was so late getting home herself. Oh well, she thought, one more late night tomorrow, then back to normal hours again for awhile.

She finished a glass of wine and had just climbed into bed when she heard her husband's car in the driveway. If he wasn't too tired when he came to bed maybe she would pretend to wake up and give him a nice welcome.