“Oh my god!” Abby exclaimed, staring at Mr July. It was February, and Jess had her new calendar open on the wrong month. “How?”

“They pointed the camera,” Becker grumbled. “These were never supposed to appear in the workplace.”

“Sorry,” Jess smiled guiltily, obviously not sorry at all. “But it was for charity. All the finance office got one. And ( Read more... )

Jess’s worst idea that morning had been to wear her new shoes. They were Louboutins (on sale but nobody needed to know) and looked great.

And it would have been fine if the car had started. Or if she’d changed shoes before taking the tube and then a bus to work. The ARC was a long walk from the stop. Her feet were rapidly blistering.

She also shouldn ( Read more... )

Life never gave Becker second chances.

Mostly it dealt him a crap hand. People left. People died. He should be used to it. Life hurt him, made him wary of relationships.

And then there was sweet Jess with her bright smiles and kind heart. Perhaps she was worth the risk?

Of course there was an anomaly, an off-duty emergency with no chance to call and ( Read more... )

From the outside the building looked imposing. The fact that she’d had to sign a confidentiality agreement just to attend an interview was fairly daunting too.

Jess hovered outside the door nervously. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to go for this job. Her current job wasn’t so bad, although the salary wasn’t a fraction of the one on offer now.

There ( Read more... )

At first had been fine. Better than fine, it had been sunny and warm, the whole tribe had felt better for it. After the icy lands they’d left on the other side of the gateway, their new home seemed like paradise.

And then the rains came.

Endless, destructive storms that blew away the shelters they’d so painstakingly constructed. Winds that beat at ( Read more... )

“But I was born in England,” Emily complained. “I am a legal citizen.”

“You need a passport and birth certificate,” Jess explained patiently.

“I have…”

“One that doesn’t say you’re nearly 200 years old,” Lester put in. “Or every skin cream firm in the world will be hounding you.”

Emily just looked puzzled at that. “Is something wrong with my skin?”

“ ( Read more... )

Emily was one of the best hunters in the tribe, skilled, experienced. They relied on her.

She ran, chasing her prey into blindingly low sunlight. Suddenly she was cast into darkness.

It must have been a gateway, opened up right in her path. She was in a half-ploughed field, the plough standing abandoned for the night. Her father had owned one just ( Read more... )

It was nice, Jess thought, being taken out for a meal, and cuddling up at the back of the cinema. Becker was really trying hard to be romantic. And he’d stopped the car because it was a warm night, and taken her on a midnight walk.

“See that really bright star? The light you’re seeing was from about a hundred thousand years ago, in the Stone Age ( Read more... )

“Security stuff? Really?” Abby followed Becker into the armoury.

“We’ve had a major incursion,” Becker reminded her. “Or did you miss the bugs swarming everywhere? A man died. I have a family to inform.”

“He was one of Burton’s men,” Abby sighed. “Not yours.”

“I’m head of security.”

“Don’t put yourself through that. Why don’t you look in on Jess? You ( Read more... )

Jess sighed, then scratched both items out and started again. You had to stick within the bounds of the possible.

1.      Avoid future predators.

2.       Book in another shooting course, worth the expense to see the adorably confused look on Becker’s face when you use a gun.

3.       Stop feeding Rex treats even when he begs. Abby can be scary…

4.     ( Read more... )