Katie O'Brien  remembered with pleasure, her despatch of the gruesome foursome.  Let them come back ANY time, she thought.

Of course, they had almost certainly fled because  they had seen the Police's and Steve's car in the distance - indeed it was probably the possibility of pursuit that had caused them all to be looking back along the road in the first place, thus giving Katie the chance she needed to surprise them.

Yes!  She'd still have needed to do a lot more work on those four before she could have stood,  posing triumphantly over them in the torrential rain.  And all the time her sweet, precious  Angie would have been getting colder and colder !   They both of them owed Steve & co. a lot!

Not quite a superheroine, Katie!

"How did Steve know who I was and that you were with me and where we both were" a puzzled Katie had asked the night before,   after the two had prepared to go to sleep following their increasingly  wild embraces,  and  thorough  exploration of each others bodies.

"I have to let my office know my whereabouts at all times, Katie darling love!   (Kiss, kiss, kiss).   I may only work 9-5 hours, but I'm always on call.  I even had to tell them exactly where I was last Thursday (Kiss, Kiss)  when we had our lovely out of this world fight,  (KISS, KISS,  KISS!!!)"

"But I thought you and Steve worked for different departments,  Angie,  and only met now and again when you sat on the same Committee?  You two work together a whole fucking lot more closely than you ever let on, don't you?"
 
"He must have phoned the Duty Officer made them tell him my whereabouts. You don't argue with Steve!  I told them I was going to your holiday cottage in Norfolk, just before we left.  They'd soon have worked out exactly where it was. They have their methods.   Go to sleep, Katie - you precious,darling,  lovely girl!  (Stroking her hair)!!  I love you so much thatit hurts sometimes"

And so they did fall asleep at last.

Katie ran on for miles, her feet sometimes slapping on the firm sand and sometimes splashing in the breaking waves, with that famous East Wind now blowing straight across from the frozen tundras and whipping viciously  into her naked body. There was a frost today and the wind chill must be taking the real temperature  down to way below freezing.  Her hands were starting to cause her agonies and she flexed her fingers and shook those protesting frozen hands wildly  up and down  i n order  to try and coax some warmth back into them.  (It works, up to a point - author)

"Be mad to get in to the sea today", she thought, and immediately, with fierce -  semi-suicidal exultation -   she did just that,  dashing through the shallows until it was deep enough for her to dive into to the water.  She swam  until she was well and truly out of her depth and trod water for a minute, before starting the swim back to shore

"These disgusting  wimps who wear wet suits - what a bunch of wankers!  I'd take them out and waste them!!   Put them up against a wall and shoot them!   How dare they inhabit the same world as darling Angie and I"

When she got back onto the beach, she was beginning to feel ominously, frighteningly faint with the cold. Time to start the long run back for home and Angie.

"If I sprained an ankle out here, I would never get back to the cottage and my sweet darling Angela.  I'd freeze to death in minutes.    It's   so bloody wonderfully fantastic taking these marvellous risks, but it's a bit scary sometimes"

Divorcing herself from the immediate, bitterly cold present, Katie started to think about Steve.  Suddenly the blindingly obvious  hit her.

 "Of course!  You daft sod, Katie!!  The guy's obviously some sort of spy catcher!   And Angie has a lot do do with him.  I bet she knows a whole lot more about this affair that she's letting on about!  I wonder  if she had orders to come and live with me, just  to keep an eye on things!"

This disturbing thought filled her with a terrible disappointment and fear, until she saw its unlikeliness.  Angie and Steve had just been out socially together on that visit to the Flask.   Steve had shown no interest until  the other, fifth  guy had turned up. He  hadn't given  a toss about Charlie and Sir fucking Evans and the gross pair of women until then. And her  darling,  precious Angie DID love her!  You can't be mistaken about things like that!  You truly, really can't!    Even so, the tears that were steadily streaming down Katie's bruised cheeks were only partly due to the effects of the merciless east wind.

Outside the cottage Katie stood in that wind, legs apart and arms over her head, so that the cold might cover her whole body, turning her back to  it from time to time to freeze that also.  Finally she pushed open the door and staggered up to the bedroom.  Angie was still asleep!  She slid into the bed and felt the delightful warmth from her lover stealing into her own body.  She lay beside her for a few minutes, contemplating the peaceful loveliness of that sweet face - noticing how her friends handsome nose was now so much less inflamed  ("How could I ever have done that to her   -  it did feel good at  the time, though!").  Finally she moved her body closer and embraced her sweet friend.

"KATIE!!"  Angie opened her eyes - suddenly very wide awake.  "You are like a block of ice all over.  You've been out on your own, haven't you.  You rotter!"

"I missed you, my  love, but you need to rest after what you've been through."

"Let's spend all day here in bed," said Angela dreamily as she felt her friend's body warming up and warming her at the same time.

"We've got to eat sometime, sweetheart"

"We can eat each other!"

"Don't be so disgusting, Angie!  Remember it's Sunday today!  Just for that you can go and get the breakfast and bring it up here. We can eat  in bed, together."

Angie obeyed and reappeared with a tray, containing hot coffee, toast and yoghurt.  They took it in turns to drink from the same cup, each being extremely careful to sip from the exact spot, where the other's lips had just been, frequently kissing and passing coffee from one mouth to the other.  They did the same thing  with the yoghurt, but decided by mutual consent that they would eat the toast separately.

"Gosh, but that was fun!" they both agreed.

"I see exactly what you mean about it being bloody cold up in this part of the world." said Angie, "I could have done with full Polar explorer's gear in that draughty kitchen, instead of just my birthday suit!"

"Yes, but you look so much more adorable naked"

"So do you, honey child!"

They got up early in the afternoon and prepared a mid-day meal, shivering in the draughty old cottage, but resolutely remaining totally bare , despite the way every hair on their arms and legs was almost vertical and their upper bodies a mass of gooseflesh.

As dusk was beginning to fall, they put their stuff into the car and  donned their skimpy clothes for the first time in days.  Katie drove them both back to London.  She kept the car heater on this time and her friend was fast asleep most of the way back.

When they arrived back at the house, Katie carried the still comatose Angela up to bed.

She climbed onto the bed next to Angie and the girl opened her eyes.  "Thanks for looking after me, and fighting all those people for me, Katie."

Then they both slept, without bedclothes once more. But Katie woke up a few times in the night and instinctively reached out to pull the non-existent bed covering over her. Each time she cursed herself for her absentmindedness, but at the back of her mind was a nascent sense that this self-imposed masochism was getting a bit of a bore.