I stayed the night at Zak's, though I purposefully slept in one of his guest rooms. He seemed to know that I still thought it too early to do anything more with our relationship and he seemed not to want to rush me. My assurances of marriage in a year seemed to have slowed him down a little too, which I was glad for.

Zak was in the kitchen the following morning when I wandered down from the bathroom, and he seemed to be cooking.

"I hope you like a Full English, Sash," he said without turning around.

Zak must have heard my footsteps - I hadn't exactly been walking quietly as my sheer size prevented me from doing so.

"Love it," I said and I meant it.

That had been something my schoolboy self had sometimes indulged in while at a friend's house and had discovered a taste for black pudding as a consequence.

"I hope you have black pudding," I added as I sat at the kitchen table uninvited.

"I hope you mean the breakfast food," Zak said and turned a laugh over his shoulder at me. "And I do realise that makes no sense before you pick me up on it. I was trying for a euphemism and I suspect I failed."

"I got it," I said and smiled. "And I'm glad to hear it. About the breakfast food at least."

Zak grinned and soon he loaded up the plates and set both of them on the table. He'd overloaded both with a veritude of items and I found that though I had suspected I wouldn't finish it all, I actually did. The food was that delicious.

"You're a really good cook," I said as I leaned back in my seat with a sated sigh.

"Not just a pretty face," Zak said as he cleared the table.

"No. But I knew that already," I countered and Zak graced me with one of his wicked grins as a consequence.

"I appreciate what you did for me the other day," he said quietly. "With the dine-and-dash couple. Most people would not have been so quick thinking or quick on their feet."

"It was sheer luck," I assured him as I didn't know what else to say.

"Still. You showed leadership and foresight. I need more people like that on my team," he said seriously. "And you've also proved that you can keep your mouth shut when I need you to."

I knew he was talking about the episode with Freddy, even though he didn't directly allude to it.

"And there was me thinking you wanted me just for my body," I joked, uncertain as to what else to say.

"Oh, that as well," Zak assured me with one of his cheeky grins. "But you do show great promise in my line of work if you know what I mean."

He sobered again and gave me a thoughtful look.

"In the office, when you saw that machete - what were you thinking?" he asked. "Truthfully."

"Nothing much," I admitted. "It's certainly nothing I haven't seen plenty of times before."

That was truthful enough.

"Yeah. I got that sense from you. You've been around a lot of danger," he said quietly.

He waited until I'd nodded to confirm his assumption.

"If I asked you to accompany me on some tough assignments, would you do it?" he asked quietly. "Truthfully."

I thought back of collating evidence for my handler, for MI5 and while that was useful to the mission, I knew I would also do whatever Zak wanted me to do - just for me. Because Zak had asked me to. Once again, I realised just how deep I was digging myself into Zak's world and once again, I found that I really didn't care.

"I'd do it," I said.

Zak stared at me as though trying to see the lie in my words and face yet of course, he saw none. I hadn't been lying.

"You really would," he said quietly. "And I am going to have to hold you to that, Sasha. There's no going back now. Be prepared."

I just nodded and sat back in my seat. Zak watched me for a while before he grinned and offered me a coffee.

"Just a coffee. Nothing else. Not yet," he said and leered at me.

I laughed my way into accepting his offer and found that his coffee was as good as his cooking.

****

That day was spent working off some of the calories that I'd acquired in the kitchen. That time, however, I was training in Zak's personal gym - in his house - instead of the one he owned in Romford. It seemed more intimate somehow, the dance between punches and counter-punches more eloquent and though most of the hits weren't exactly designed to hurt, I still was left with a pleasant ache afterwards. The kisses that Zak showered me with afterwards were just as pleasant.

****

I'd barely walked into my flat later that day when I was aware of a different atmosphere in there, as though someone had entered my terrain and had stained it with their presence. I was on the alert, hand immediately going for the gun that Zak had gifted to me. I was suddenly glad for that gun, though I knew it wasn't yet loaded - Zak had supplied me with a few clips, slipping them into my pocket as I left his house though I suspected that he wanted to cop a feel as much as to give me those. I had just laughed and accepted both the ammo and the advances.

I went round the place as methodically as I could in my inherent rush and need to find out answers yet found that no one was there. A few things were slightly askew from the way I'd purposefully left them, and when I checked the camera feed on my phone, to my unsurprised disappointment, I saw that a man had entered my place.

He walked around the flat and seemed to shield his face as though he knew where all the cameras were or were likely to be, face hidden by both hoodie and baseball cap. He seemed to be searching for something - though what I didn't know. I also didn't recognise him or his build - or at least I thought I didn't. I didn't even get any tell-tale nagging signs related to my amnesia which baffled me.

I felt a sudden chill course through me when I realised that the man had left a note. I hurried through to my bedroom - the one place I'd given a mere cursory look. I saw that the note had been pinned to my pillow and on it was printed the words -

"We know what you are. We're watching you."