Page 89 of Reflex

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Xane was off talking to one of the Casiraghis.Spook couldn’t recall which, only that Xane had introduced them sometime in the past.In any case, he wasn’t interested in Monaco’s politics or their royalty.If asked, Xane would claim the same, but the truth was that his band mate had never quite shaken off his Bletchley heritage.Xane’s father had been stationed as a diplomat in Monaco for years, and his family was fondly remembered all along the Riviera.

When Luthor then left him to track down Dani, Spook decided it might be an idea to find out where Allegra had got to.He wasn’t entirely sure when she’d slipped away from him.Sometime between the second and third drink, when they’d been talking shop to a bigwig director and a couple of his producers over from Hollywood.Xane had been floating the idea of the guy filming their next music vid.Spook doubted it’d come to anything, but it’d been fun speculating.

He did a three-sixty turn, which gained him nothing.Who’d have thought it’d be so hard to spot a jaw-dropping red-head in a silver dress?But the room was ram packed.No one seemed to be in any hurry to leave, at least not while there was still free booze circulating.At least she was tall, so there was some hope of spotting her.Luthor would have a much harder time spying Dani.

Finally, a glimpse of flame-red waves set him on a targeted path.Alle had her back to him.She was over by one of the colonnades talking to a guy with a severe case of lobster tan.They seemed weirdly intimate for two people who couldn’t have known one another for more than a couple of minutes, standing quite close, and their conversation seemed pretty intense.

“Do you know who that is?”he asked one of the waiting staff.

“The lady I don’t know, sir.The man – I believe he’s one of the journalists that have been here all week.”

A journalist.

Maybe she didn’t realise.

He watched the guy hand over a business card.

And maybe she did.