"I didn't have much choice did I? I'm stuck unless I can think of a way to persuade him to give me the video."

"But he's on the video as well," said Lucy. "He's an MP so it would do him more damage than you if anyone saw it."

"I thought of that but the tape's been edited. The only face you can see is mine. It's no good, as long as he's got that tape. I know that if I do anything to upset him, he'll do as he threatened. The only good thing is that he hasn't been near me since that day. I think it's enough for him just to know that he can if he wants to."

"He will eventually though. What will you do then?" asked Lucy. "You can't just give in and let him do as he likes."

"I don't know - I've just been hoping that nothing would happen"

"If you think of a way," said Allie, "let me know. Maybe it'll work on Groves-Ormsby as well."

Lucy lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. She could feel the warmth of Trish's body next to hers but, even though she desperately wanted to touch her and reassure her, she knew that she had nothing to offer that would help the situation. Trish touched her leg lightly.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I don't blame you and Allie if you hate me for what I've done."

Lucy took her hand and pressed it hard against her thigh.

"I'm not going anywhere Trish, and I doubt whether Allie is either. You'll have to do better than that to get rid of us."

"Or worse, if that's possible," replied Trish with a sour smile.

Allie sighed with exasperation.

"If it had been one of us, you'd have told us not to be so bloody stupid. I can't see what you've done that's so terrible. We can't blame you for what those two slimes did to you."

"It's not what they did to me. I'll survive that. It's what they're doing to other girls - kids most of them."

"But that's not your fault. You can't put the whole world right Trish."

"The point is, I knew and I carried on working for him. I knew what they were doing to young girls - what they're still doing, and I haven't done a damned thing about it."

Allie lit another cigarette and inhaled deeply.

"Oh and just what did you think you could do Trish?"

"I don't know. I could have gone to the police I suppose."

"Of course you could," said Allie sarcastically, "why didn't I think of that. Could it be that I know as well as you do that the police wouldn't take your word against a member of parliament? Otherwise you'd already have reported it."

"There must be something we can do Trish," Lucy murmured sleepily.

"I'll have to do something soon. Between waiting for him to make another move and keeping up this pretence with mum and dad about my high powered job, I'll probably be insane in another week."

"We'll think of something," said Allie as she crushed her cigarette out. "There has to be a way. We just have to outsmart him."

"Oh sure," yawned Trish, "perhaps we can outsmart your Groves-Ormsby as well while we're at it."

"Perhaps we can at that," muttered Allie.

Allie lay silently and listened to her friends' steady breathing. Lucy and Trish had been asleep for hours, but something was keeping her awake - nagging at the edge of her brain. Occasionally one of them would murmur restlessly in her sleep. It seemed to Allie that none of them would be able rest easily until the men who were the cause of their problems had been dealt with.

An idea was trying to form but it kept sliding away from her. Eventually, she too drifted into sleep. As her brain released its hold on consciousness something slipped into place.

"Perhaps we can at that," she muttered and smiled dreamily to herself.......(cont)