Samantha studied the photos that were developed of the factory. She marked the entrance and in her head played ten different scenarios on how she planned to infiltrate the factory, and every one of them gave her an uneasy feeling. Perhaps she should sleep on it.

Sleep on it. That's a joke!

She looked at her wristwatch. Was there any point in going home? It was going to be many, many hours before her body acquiesced to sleep. There was only one agenda her body wanted indulgence in. She had tried in the last forty eight hours to erase Blake from memory, but it was a wasted effort.

She did not want to go home. But where ever she went Trent had to follow. She'd thought her Director will back off a bit with his protectiveness, but he was worst than a mother hen sometimes. Samantha almost wished she had not called in and quit her "waitressing job." That could help her do something with the long hours at night.

With the operation she was planning she could not focus on anything else. She needed to give that her undivided attention, and so she set up somebody else to go in and "apply" for the waitressing job she'd quit. She'd still get all the intel she required from the "new waitress."

She picked up her handbag. She needed some air, thankfully Trent would retire for the night in about two hours. Dodging his night shift colleague would be a piece of cake. She knew just how she was going to fool the "rookie."

'You still here?' she teased her Director.

Firstly she was surprised that he was in the building that late, and secondly Jeff had been walking towards her office.

'What's wrong?' she asked perceptively.

'What did you do to Blake Trescott?' he murmured.

'I beg your pardon?' A million frantic thoughts were flying through her head.

'Platinum has been hit,' he sighed.

Damn it she did get the Intel, she should have increased security measures there.

'What___. Is Blake okay?'

'Yes he's fine, because he's not in the country,' he spoke quietly.

Not in the country?

'What happened?' she asked, feeling the need to sit down, but also the need to go to Blake.

'His security called him in London to inform him of the break in. Luckily he has most of his precious stones there with him, he's displaying them at an exhibition there. But he had left three or four here, which apparently has now been stolen,' Jeff filled her in.

Thank God he's out of the country.

Not that she was expecting him to pop in and visit. She knew he'd do no such thing. And not that she was planning to visit him either.

'So what did you do to him?' her Director repeated.

'What do you mean?' she murmured.

Jeff looked at her uncomfortably before he muttered, 'he explicitly demanded that if NPS was going to handle the investigation, he does not want you involved.'

Samantha felt like Blake had slapped her across her face. She felt like the wind had been yanked of her sails. She did not know if she had succeeded in masking her emotions.

'He also said if his wishes could not be respected, then he did not need the South African Police Services looking after his interests, he's quite happy to write of his losses,' Jeff finished.

I hear you loud and clear Blake!

'Excuse me, I need to be somewhere,' Samantha mumbled and hurried out.

Trent jumped off the seat he was occupying when he saw Samantha approach, he turned on the ignition and waited for her to climb onto her bike, instead she went striding to him.

'You knew there was a contract out on me!' she smacked him over the head.

'Sam___'

'Don't you "Sam" me,' she yelled, smacking him again repeatedly until he hopped off the bike.

'You treat me as if I'm in kindergarten,' she screeched, 'I know how to take care of myself,' she reached over the bike to aim another blow at him, but he had moved away with lightening speed.

Furious with him, Samantha hopped onto his bike and sped of, with her keys in her pocket. It would be more than five minutes before he could get access to another set of wheels and follow her, and that was more than enough time for her.

Samantha sped onto the N1 towards Pretoria. She did not have any destination in mind, all she desired was the open road, the wind pounding against her body and to be completely alone. She checked her rear view mirror repeatedly. Her trained eye picked up nothing. Not Trent, nor any other party with any vested interest. Some fifteen minutes later she found herself in the CBD of the capital city. It was a while since she'd driven into Pretoria, the traffic was slow, delays and obstruction caused by the construction of the rail link of the high speed Gautrain. She drove around aimlessly until her eye caught the perfect spot to hibernate.

Samantha laughed as she switched of the ignition outside the Pretoria Zoo. It was definitely the last place on earth Trent would consider looking for her. She did not have an interest in Zoos and though she cared about animals, she did not keep any. The last time she'd seen the inside of a zoo was when she was on a primary school excursion. She hurriedly scanned the electrical system on the bike, totally disconnected the battery supply. She would not put it past Trent to have the tracking company locate her position. She did the same with her mobile, stripping it apart, removing the battery and the sim card and locking it all in the safety compartment. She was thankful for nocturnal creatures that were of interest to the public , it enabled the Zoo to keep extended hours of business.

She paid cash for a ticket and strolled in. She zipped up her jacket and walked in the direction of the coffee shop. Ordering a take away coffee, she walked out again. The temperature was beginning to drop, the night clouds were making an appearance. Samantha found a secluded spot, and made herself comfortable on the grass, sipping on her filter coffee.

So Blake wants nothing to do with me.

It hurt a bit. In fact a little more than a little bit. Even if she was the one that ended their "relationship" he did not need to treat her as if she was a dreaded disease. It was for his own good. She was protecting him. How could he be so brutal? She could picture Blake smiling as he teased her. Blake laughing when he thought she looked adorable, when angry. She dare not think about those dark eyes filled with passion and desire, in the times they were in each others' arms making love.

Oh Blake, if only it was a different life time, different circumstances___.

She thought about her life, her career, her future. For some reason Tobias' demise brought her no joy or satisfaction, only deep introspection. Even the fact that within the next seventy two hours she would close this case completely it brought no pleasure. She did not feel the adrenalin or anticipation she normally experienced when she was bringing down criminals. With clinical precision, earlier in her office, she had drafted the plans in her head, she was pretty certain, she knew how it would all ultimately unfold, but it could have been a weather report she was contemplating, for it all lost any appeal to her. She wondered when Blake would return.

So did he move on?

Was he with somebody in London?

For the very first time in her life, she had a yearning to see what the gutter press was printing.

She did not feel the need to walk the zoo. Was oblivious to the curious stares from people who either thought she was high on either alcohol, or drugs. The irony of it all! She was the law enforcement official tasked to keep the street clean of narcotics.

Some four hours later Samantha decided it was foolish to continue sitting in the uncomfortable grass. With the temperature sharply dropping, she decided to head home. From a vantage point Samantha parked the bike in a secluded spot some two street from hers. She scaled a building and scanned the area in front of her apartment. Damn, Trent was there with Henk Visser. Trent should be in bed.

Isn't the idiot tired? Oh you poor Trent, the frustration I put you through! Samantha grinned and slid down again, as she watched Trent pace up and down her front yard.

She stealthily slid over the building behind her own, and made a perfect landing into her back yard. She located the spare remote she had hidden in her shed. She had fifteen seconds to find an entry point into her home and disarm the alarm system, before a message was signaled to the call centre. She used the entire fifteen seconds to get a window opened and hit the alarm keypad, just as it changed from green to yellow. She leaned against the wall and sighed deeply, thankful for the ability to move with such high speed and abort a panic signal being sent to the central control system. She was looking forward to indulging in a long luxurious bath, as she dragged her legs upstairs to her bathroom.

'Boyd go,' Samantha whispered, pointing to the southerly direction. 'Riley,' she pointed her index finger to the east.

'Sam every other team has five men, why are we only four?' Trent questioned.

'We'll be fine Trent. You ready Jack?' she whispered to the other agent, who would cover the factory from the west, whilst she and her team would enter through the front door.

'All stations in place?' she inquired into her communicative device, and received affirmatives from her three team leaders.

'On my signal, go!' she instructed.

Samantha looked to Trent, he nodded. She communicated with a hand signal to him, took a deep breath and spoke into her device, 'One, two three, let's go.'

Trent kicked the front door open, Samantha and one agent followed her to one direction, whilst Trent and the other agent went in the opposite direction. Three men were huddled over a table studying a map. Samantha and her team all corked their guns simultaneously. She and Trent had their guns pointed at the leader whilst her other two agents covered the other two criminals.

'Mr. Hu Jiang. National Prosecution Services. You and your team of twenty six men around this factory are under arrest for possession and intent to distribute narcotic substances.'

'Mr. Hu Jiang, I want you to very careful. With your right, hand first remove the weapon at your waist.'

She knew he was left handed.

'Don't try anything foolish gentleman,' she raised her voice as she saw from the corner of her eye the one man's hand move towards his side.

'My officers have been instructed to shoot to kill, but let me give you a demonstration,' her eye did not sway from the leader.

'You see those three books?' she pointed to three books neatly stacked on a chair. 'Keep your eye on the second book,' she informed them.

Mesmerized their eyes followed, as she pulled the trigger and the bullet made a perfect hit on the second book.

'My entire team are expert marksmen,' she assured them , 'now very slowly Mr. Hu Jiang let's have that weapon.'

Using his right hand, the leader clumsily attempted to fish his weapon out.

'Very good,' Samantha nodded, 'now the weapon fastened to your ankle, let's have that one,' she spoke again to the leader.

In the same fashion she rid all of them of their weapons, which Trent duly stacked into the backpack on his shoulder.

'Trent frisk Mr. Hu Jiang. He tends to carry a blade behind his collar and he's very adept with it.' She aimed her firearm at his forehead, 'please don't move a muscle, Mr. Hu Jiang, I will take you down, like I did Errol Tobias,' she commanded.

Angry rage blazed in the leader's eyes, but he wisely respected that he was outnumbered. She nodded to the other agents, who in turn frisked the remaining two criminals.

'Cuff all their hands and legs,' she instructed.

'Boyd,' she called out.

'Mission accomplished,' he reported.

'Riley?'

'Mission accomplished,' he replied.

'Jack?'

'Mission accomplished.'

'Good work boys,' she praised her team

Samantha hauled out her mobile to call in the helicopter, but at the corner of her eye she saw Hu Jiang buck his head, to assault Trent who was trying to cuff his legs.

'Trent, take cover!' with lightening speed, she was in the air, and with clinical precision her boot landed on the side of Hu Jiang's face, dropping him to the floor. He lay there motionless, not dead, but temporarily cataleptic.

'You two going to attempt any smart moves?' she walked towards them.

They shook their heads and instinctively stepped backwards. She tried again to call up the helicopter.

'Delta Ten come in.'

'We read you loud and clear Sierra.'

'You may touchdown North East of the front entrance, we are ready for you.'

And as she spoke, Samantha heard the helicopter hovering over the factory, as it prepared to land.

Samantha pointed her weapon at the two men, instructing them to start walking outside. Trent pick up Hu Jiang like he was a bag of potatoes and transferred him into the waiting helicopter.

The pilot disembarked and walked towards Samantha' Senior Superintendent, Captain Mike Duffy at your service,' he saluted, 'well done, on breaking this syndicate,' he smiled.

She nodded, 'You have sufficient personnel to escort these criminals?' she inquired.

'I have ten officers on board,' he stated.

The criminals were all hand and leg cuffed, but she was not taking any chances.

'What's the carrying capacity of this helicopter?'

She was aware that the Boeing aircraft could hold a considerable number of passengers.

'It's certified to air lift fifty two passengers,' he replied.

'Good. Eight of my officers will accompany you,' she affirmed.

'I am staying with you,' Trent declared softly, as she turned around to give instructions.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, not that she had had any intention of requesting him to escort the criminals. He was not one of her staff, only assigned to her as her bodyguard. She recalled how he had blown a gasket, yelling at her when she had calmly walked out of her home, in the morning after her escape to the zoo. She quickly blocked the memory, and pointed to Boyd requesting him, to take a team aboard the helicopter.

Samantha sat on the visitor's chair in her office reading the front page article on the crackdown of the notorious Hu Jiang drug syndicate. She could have been reading about a cooking recipe or a knitting pattern, both held zero interest for her.

What was wrong with her?
This syndicate was wanted in three continents, and she was the envy of narcotics investigators in more than twenty cities around the world. Her phone had not stopped ringing in the last twenty four hours with messages of congratulations. Her own team had carried her through the office in a celebratory mood like victorious sportsmen doing a lap of honour.

She looked at the full length picture of herself, her face as usual, held a polite mask. The article had a write up with timelines of how she had broken this syndicate. Who has been blabbering to the media? Samantha wondered if Blake had read the article. Of course he could not miss it, it was in The Star, The Citizen, and if he only bought the Business Day, there was a small article there as well.

What would a relationship with Blake be like?

She knew the answer to that, it would be an extended version of the two glorious days she had spent with him in Durban. Samantha sighed as her thoughts dwelt on Blake, her life before Blake faded dimly in comparison to the short period she had known him. He was an attractive and very appealing man. She had had her one chance but she had blown it, had rejected him outright. Blake Tresscott was a proud man, he would not be coming to her a second time. Samantha walked to the window, inhaling deeply. The sky was dark and cloudy, the air felt dry and dusty, it looked just like how her brain felt, muzzy and confused.

'For somebody who has a lot to celebrate, you look like somebody attending a funeral,' her Director smiled.

'Have you known me to shout from the rooftops Jeff?' she walked back to her desk.

'What's the matter Sam?'

'Nothing, why?' she asked guardedly.

'Are you having issues about ___ Tobias?'

Samantha breathed a sigh of relief, she did not want her Director analyzing her emotional state.

'No. I'm good. I did warn him, he chose to ignore it.'

He nodded and sat down.

If he's getting comfortable, that means he was not finished.

Now what else is there to discuss

'Sam, London wants to take the Platinum case to court.'

Samantha very slowly sat down. This is not good. This is so not good. Blake did not want to press charges against his employee. Oh boy! And he also wants nothing to do with her. Now what the hell?

'May I ask on what grounds?' she inquired calmly.

'They claim the criminals' domicillium citande is indicated as London, and that the crime was committed on British soil.'

'What if Blake Tresscott does not want to press charges?'

Her Director studied her questioningly.

'Hypothetically speaking,' she hedged.

'Let me draw you a picture St. Claire. The Brits want to send a message to foreigners that they have zero tolerance for criminals who do not respect their rule of law. Blood diamonds are a very sensitive issue in that industry right now. The Brits want to be seen to be dealing harshly with anybody contravening the law in that regard,' he stopped, 'now is there something you want to tell me St. Claire,' he invited perceptively.

Samantha stood up and shut her door, 'may we speak of the record?' she spoke quietly.

'For heaven's sake Sam! We are law enforcement officers. We act by the book not our emotions. What the hell is going on?'

She inhaled heavily and started, 'when I was investigating the Platinum case, I discovered an employee inside Platinum was feeding information to the organization in London. When I exposed the employee to Blake Tresscott, he declined to press charges, citing mitigating factors on behalf of the employee.' she murmured.

Jeff Stanford stood up and paced around her office. He picked up the file from her table and opened it.

'Okay let's look at the facts, 'technically the illegal diamonds do not belong to Tresscott?'

'No.' She murmured.

'Tresscott was not involved in any way whatsoever, in the illegal trade of blood diamonds?'

'No.' She repeated.

'The origin of the illegal diamonds?'

'Not from any of the South African diamond mines,' she stated.

'In that case,' he smiled, 'South Africa has no vested interest in this case. London may go ahead. You just need to appear in court tomorrow morning and convince the judge that South Africa has no interest to try the case here. Even though you were the lead investigator who cracked the case in London, we are not averse to handing over any material information we have on the case,' her Director informed her. 'Oh and by the way, Tresscott has already being subpoenaed. The case will be heard at nine hundred hours. Don't be late St. Claire,' he cautioned as he left her office.

Samantha cringed silently. The last thing Blake wanted was to see her face or be dragged into court. He had detested NPS' meddling in his business in the first instance. She remembered how he'd given her the run around, before he'd reluctantly consented to being interviewed by her. Now they were to have a showdown in the morning.

Samantha sat in the state vehicle outside the court. An icy glare filled her eyes as she saw the mob of journalists anticipating her entry. She looked at her wristwatch again, it was eight fifty. Five minutes had elapsed since she had early checked the time.

Taking a deep breath she reluctantly opened the door. Out of habit, her eye hurriedly scanned the area looking for anything untoward. Perhaps for the time being there were no enemies lurking around waiting to accost her. With Tobias dead, and Hu Jiang in a holding cell, perhaps she had a breather. What she did not see was Blake Tresscott in the foyer, inside the courthouse, looking out the window, his eye trained on her.

He saw a half smile on her face as Chuck Trent approach her, and then her eyes narrowed as she mumbled something to Trent.

'Wow, you clean up nicely Agent Trent,' she complimented him in his smart dark suit.'

'Your compliments are so rare, I hardly know how to receive them,' he mocked.

'Trent get some uniforms to clear a path through there. There is no way that mob will allow me to pass through,' she hissed.

Trent immediately went into action signaling six uniformed officers to form a guard for her, but it did not stop the torrent of questions.

'Senior Superintendent, is Mr. Tresscott being charged for dealing in blood diamonds?'

'Senior Superintendent, can you tell us how you infiltrated the Hu Jiang syndicate?'

Senior Superintendent, do you have a conflict of interest with Blake Tresscott? It is understood you investigated the Platinum Company but did not press any charges. Why is that?'

Samantha did not want to look at the journalist, but she was only human. Unable to stop herself, she glared at the accusing journalist, until Trent gently placed his arm at her elbow, urging her inside. Samantha hurried inside as Trent shut the door on the journalists. She was totally livid as she stared at Trent.

'I'm not the media, don't have a go at me,' he raised his hands in the air.

Do I have a vested interested in Blake Tresscott?

What was she in for, from the prosecutor?

And as she turned to move ahead, her eye caught the towering presence of Blake's attractive figure right in her line of vision. Their eyes locked. Neither of them able to look away. He looked gorgeous in a well cut designer suit, and so handsome. She wanted to go to him and greet him, and perhaps draw some strength from his mere presence, but he tore his eyes away, without acknowledging her, and hastily walked into the courtroom.

Samantha slowly let out the breadth she was holding.

-end chapter eighteen-