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Back The Last Guests
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART ONE
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. DEADLY SAS RAID IN AFGHANISTAN UNDER SCRUTINY
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. PART TWO
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. DANIEL MOORE: ‘A SINGLE BLOKE, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, A BIT OF A DUNCE BUT WITH A GOOD HEART,’ BEST FRIEND SAYS.
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. THIRTY-TWO
  41. THIRTY-THREE
  42. THIRTY-FOUR
  43. THIRTY-FIVE
  44. BREAKING: POLICE CONFIRM DANIEL MOORE ACTED ALONE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. SECOND ARREST MADE IN WESTAY HIDDEN CAMERAS CASE
  50. EPILOGUE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Discover More
  53. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  54. Also by J. P. Pomare

‘Alright.’ She climbs up. He sloshes out through the water to knee height and backs her up to the boat where Axel has it idling. Cain sloshes back through the water for me. There’s tension as I climb up onto his back, feel the muscles pressing against me through his t-shirt. I know you, I think. I’ve loved you all these years. He ferries me out. The words are there, but I can’t say them. I won’t. I’ve made my decision, and nothing can change it now.

I climb over the side of the boat and then Cain lifts himself in. We take up seats opposite each other, on the sides of the boat. Claire faces forward in behind Axel, watching her husband.

‘Ready?’ Axel calls but before anyone can answer he throws the throttle forward. In a heartbeat we’re flying. The water rushes by. The engine dials up to the timbre of a buzz saw and lake water drifts over the front and sides of the boat in sprays.

Suddenly we are in the middle of the lake, the house just a pale square in among the green.

Cain is watching me, completely neutral, a laser focus.

Axel slows it down a little now, turning around and yelling something out with a grin, but the words are stolen by the wind. We keep moving until we are so far from the house that I can barely see it behind us.

Would he hurt me? It’s one of those odd principles he lives by. He would never hurt a woman. But he has killed men. They trained us to kill but they can’t untrain us. He’d never accept the dole. He’ll always protect me. I tell myself it’s true, even now after everything.

Claire stands, puts one arm around Axel’s waist, bracing against him as the boat rocks. Halfway towards Hot Water Beach, my eyes move back to my husband’s. A moment of eye contact. We both know each other’s secrets. He looks down and I follow his gaze. He’s holding those two keys, now without the buoy key ring, and a phone. I know it’s Daniel’s phone. It has the dating app, the messages, the evidence that he was lured to our house. His arm moves out over the side. And now I see a question in his eyes. I nod. Do it.