He went back to his car, eager to get to Control. In truth, he missed the place. It had been his home for almost ten years.
Actually, he could probably hang around there every once in a while to see his friends working in the basement. They might want his advice every now and again.
He wrinkled his nose as he backed out of his garage. Best not to make those kinds of plans, especially when he was considering setting up his own business. Since his daily expenses were no longer covered by the IRs, and his rental income from his Burwood property would stop since he’d be living there soon, he needed an extra source of income. There would be no visiting Control if he was going to be busy with other things.
He hadn’t realised how unsettled he’d feel with all these changes. But would he have it any other way?
No, because making sure that things between him and Felicity worked out was his top priority. Much as he missed his old life, he was excited by the new.
He drove to Control, careful to ensure he wasn’t tailed. He couldn’t wait to step inside his old home again even though the reason for it wasn’t ideal. As he neared the street heading towards the IR hub, he stopped at a red light on a major intersection.
“What the…?” Aidan sat up straighter as he stared at a dark blue sedan turning right from the opposite direction. Shit! That was Sophie! What the hell was she doing around these parts?
Would he have time to catch her? He rubbed his face. The IRs would have a better chance of tracking her through the CCTVs around the area.
He called Claude again regarding this worrying development.
“I’ll get a couple of guys at Control to start looking for her,” Claude said.
“Okay, thanks. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Aidan drove at a normal speed towards his old home, although he was itching to press on the accelerator. He was more on edge, constantly checking his mirrors and taking multiple detours. He also took a good look at the cars parked on the streets. Once he was certain none were occupied and that he wasn’t being followed, he headed straight for Control’s driveway. No longer having his remote control for the gates, he picked up his phone to call whoever was inside. He hadn’t had to, though, for the gates were already opening.
He drove in and parked his car next to two other vehicles he recognised. Xavier and Kallan were here. Perfect. It would be good if Isla was here, too, but Isla worked full-time in the law firm she ran with her mother.
Kallan opened the front door and leaned against the frame, grinning. “Didn’t take you long to come back, hey?”
Aidan chuckled as he gave Kallan a man-hug. “Only for this one case.”
Kallan nodded, his expression turning serious as they went inside. “Xavier and I were doing online surveillance on a different case when Claude updated us regarding Sophie. We’ve had a look at the security cameras and, yes, she was outside a few minutes ago.”
“What did she do?”
“She just stopped for a few minutes, then left. She didn’t get out of the car. Why do you think she’s checking out this place?”
“I don’t know. How did she even know about this house? The only thing I can think of is that she followed me here at one point—maybe that day after she questioned Fel. I drove straight here from Fel’s apartment to pick up my remaining stuff.” Aidan shook his head. He remembered not being as careful in checking if he was being tailed.
“They probably think that if Fel had Nolan’s father’s missing money, you might know about it, too,” Kallan surmised.
He nodded.
“Our IT guys are already doing more in-depth checks on all three of them—Sophie, Nolan, and Lydia,” Kallan said.
They went down to the Main Office, and Aidan greeted his fellow IRs, who were clearly happy to see him. Apart from Xavier and Kallan, four other agents were present, hard at work on other major projects. Thankfully, Xavier and Kallan had been asked to help Aidan with Sophie’s case.
“Just in time to see this,” Xavier said, pointing to the large screen on the wall.
Aidan grinned. The guys had already found Sophie’s car. “Where’s that?”
“Double Bay. Knox Street.”
“Great job, guys. Now let’s see what she’s up to next.” Aidan sat on an available chair and noticed that his phone was ringing. Felicity. “Hi, babe.”
“Hi, hon. How’s work?”
“Not bad. How’s your day going?”
“Good. My boss is off sick today so she asked me to go to this meeting at Bexley North she was supposed to attend. It finishes at twelve. I was thinking we can have lunch together since I’ll only be a five-minute drive from your place from there.”
Aidan grimaced as he stood and walked to the corner of the room. “Sorry, babe. I don’t think I can take time off for lunch. I really need to finish a project today.”
“We don’t need to eat out. I’ll get takeaway, then we can eat there. I only have an hour for lunch so I’ll only be bothering you for about forty minutes.”
He ran a hand over his face. After Sophie’s actions today, he had to be here at Control to plan their next steps. “You know what a distraction you are to me,” he said teasingly. “And to be honest, I can’t even afford a ten-minute break. I’m playing catch-up as it is.”
“Aw, poor honey. Okay, no worries. How about if I drop off some lunch for you. I won’t stay.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I have leftovers. If you come, you will distract me.”
“All right, then. I won’t.”
His heart pinched even though Felicity’s tone was light. “I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow night, okay?”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Felicity said with a chuckle. “I better let you go.”
“Okay. Thanks, sweetheart.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
Aidan let out a gushing breath. He hated lying to Felicity like that, which was precisely why he’d quit being an active IR.
“All okay, bro?” Kallan asked.
“Yeah. Fel wanted to have lunch with me.”
Kallan smiled sympathetically. “If it’s any consolation, Isla feels terrible when she has to hide her IR identity from her best friend. To feel better, she reminds herself that it’s for the safety of all IRs as well as Fel.”
Aidan nodded. “I don’t know even want to imagine how Fel would react if she learned that Indie Rebels are at the top of the hit list of the biggest criminal syndicates in the country.”
“And that the two people she cares about the most are IRs.”
“That’s why she can’t know. Anyway, where’s Sophie now?”
“Looks like she’s gone shopping,” Xavier said dryly. “She went into that shop and hasn’t come out yet.”
Aidan frowned at the big screen. “Come on,” he said impatiently after a long moment. ”Hopefully, she didn’t go out a back door.”
Xavier put up a smaller image superimposed on the big screen. “Her car’s still parked on the street.”
“Okay, good.”
Several more minutes later, Sophie finally came out of the store, carrying a small shopping bag.
Aidan scoffed. “I wonder what she bought.”
The others chuckled.
They followed Sophie again via hacked CCTVs. She went home.
“Claude’s on the line,” Kallan announced.
Claude’s face appeared on the top right hand corner of the big screen. “What’s the update?”
Aidan detailed to Claude what they’d found out so far.
“IR agents who are working with the police gave me some intel,” Claude said. “Sophie’s on leave for a week.”
Aidan’s brows furrowed. “So, checking out a couple of our properties today wasn’t official police business?”
“It doesn’t look like it. So, we have to prepare for the possibility that she might be working for a crime gang. We’re still trying to see if we can get more intel on the allegation against Felicity knowing about Shannon
West’s missing money—that’s Nolan’s dad. That seems to be the link. Are you one-hundred percent sure Felicity doesn’t know anything about it, Aidan?”
“Yes. Even Isla did some subtle interrogation. She came to the same conclusion.”
Kallan confirmed that statement.
“Okay,” Claude said. “We’ll have to pay very close attention to Sophie, Lydia, and Nolan and figure out if they have ties with the underworld. And, Aidan, I know you already know this, but I’ll say it anyway. You can’t let Sophie suspect anything until we find out all the answers. That means letting her continue to socialise with Felicity, even if you feel Felicity shouldn’t be anywhere near her. Of course that doesn’t apply if Felicity is in actual danger, but if we manage it properly, Felicity should be fine.”
Aidan nodded. “Understood.”
“Kallan, please remind Isla of that, too,” Claude said.
“I will,” said Kallan.
Aidan inhaled deeply. The sooner they got to the bottom of this, the better, because he didn’t like the idea of Felicity being friends with a woman who might want to hurt her.
Aidan took his seat at the round table in Control’s dining room, looking around. The other guys were already having lunch, but he was late as he’d shadowed Sophie again today. There hadn’t been many CCTVs in the areas she’d visited in the last couple of days so Aidan had decided to physically tail her.
“How did it go?” Xavier asked.
“She went to the aged care centre to visit her mother, and she was still there when I left. I guess she’s taking the opportunity to spend time with her during her leave. Anything new with Lydia or Nolan?”
Xavier shook his head. “A big fat egg with Lydia. She went to her usual work this morning. But we’ve got something from our police IRs regarding Nolan. A man named Sonny Volker visited him yesterday, and this guy has never visited Nolan before. Bryce and Emma are working on this, including tailing Sonny. Initial impressions are there’s something shady about him.”
Aidan blew out a breath. “Hopefully, shady is just what he looks like, not what he actually is. Nolan claiming out of spite that Fel is a thief is much better than Nolan being a member of some crime gang.”
Kallan and Xavier nodded.
“What do you make of Sophie not doing anything funny after checking out two IR properties?” Kallan asked.
“I don’t know,” Aidan said. “She might be waiting for something or waiting to hear from someone. I wish I knew.”
“Isla’s ready to attend the New Again workshops when she gets the go-ahead.” Kallan said. “It shouldn’t raise too many eyebrows since she started up that group for Fel. But Claude doesn’t want her to do anything out of the ordinary until we’re clear on why Sophie was checking out our houses. He doesn’t want to give her any reason whatsoever to be nervous or suspicious.”
“Yes. Fair enough,” Aidan said.
“So, right now, all we can do is keep investigating,” Xavier said.
“Yeah,” Aidan said. He hoped a breakthrough would happen soon, because he’d never been more worried or unsettled in his life. Felicity had started to notice, and it was taking all his acting skills to make her believe everything was okay.
Chapter 16
Felicity became conscious of lying on the bed as she awoke from sleep. Keeping her lids shut, she reached out for Aidan, but the space next to hers was empty.
She opened her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock on Aidan’s bedside table. Gosh, it was already 9:26 am. No wonder Aidan was already up.
She climbed out of bed and pulled up the blinds in Aidan’s bedroom. Oh, what a glorious Sunday morning. The sky was a stunning blue with no clouds in sight. It was the perfect spring weather to have brunch on the lovely deck in his backyard.
She made the bed before having a quick shower in the en suite. Then, she left the bedroom to look for Aidan. He wasn’t in the dining area or kitchen, but the glass sliding door to the backyard was open. Aidan was sitting on an outdoor chair, looking straight ahead as if deep in thought, his laptop on the table next to him.
Felicity took the moment to admire her boyfriend’s profile. Just looking at Aidan filled her with love and warmth. Sometimes, she still couldn’t believe she was with this man who made her happier than she’d ever been.
Aidan seemed to be quite stressed lately, though. She’d never heard him complain, but in the last few days, he’d been constantly preoccupied. He’d said it was nothing when she’d asked, but Aidan probably just didn’t want her to worry too much.
Maybe she should go home early. If work deadlines were putting him under a lot of pressure, then she was happy to give him some time to get things done.
“Morning,” she said as she joined him on the deck.
Aidan looked at her, his lips tugging up. “Morning. You look bright and chirpy and beautiful.”
She smiled, sitting on his lap and putting an arm around his shoulders. “And you look hot and handsome and miles away. What were you thinking of?”
Aidan kissed her temple. “Just work.”
“You want me to go home?”
“Why?”
“So you can do whatever you have to do.”
“It’s Sunday.”
“I know. I’m just saying that if you think you need the time to do some work to alleviate some pressure, I won’t mind going home early today.”
Aidan shook his head. “I want you to stay. But I might have to check my computer every now and again.”
“That’s fine. Have you had breakfast?”
“Just coffee.”
“How about I make us brunch with whatever you have in your fridge and pantry?”
Aidan chuckled. “I’m not sure what’s in my fridge or pantry. I was gonna suggest eating out somewhere.”
“I can check first.”
“Okay.”
Felicity planted a kiss on Aidan’s forehead before getting up from his lap. She went back inside to see what she could whip up from the food items in Aidan’s kitchen. “How about some toast, scrambled eggs, and baked beans?” she called out.
“Sounds good, babe.”
She started preparing brunch, humming to herself. Cooking was one of her favourite activities, and she enjoyed doing it for Aidan. She loved taking care of him.
“I’ll drop you off at the workshop this afternoon,” Aidan said.
Her brows rose. “Why? You don’t need to. I have my car outside.”
Aidan walked in and sat on a stool by the kitchen peninsula. “I want to.”
“No need,” she said sternly. If he was already under the pump with work, there wasn’t a good reason for him to take the time to drive her to the workshop then back again.
“I really don’t mind,” Aidan insisted.
“But how do I get home if my car’s here?”
“I’ll pick you up. Then, we can have dinner together somewhere.”
Felicity smiled. “Maybe next week, since you’ll be helping deliver more stuff then. I know how busy you are. It won’t make sense to drive me to and from the workshop today when my car’s here. Besides, I might need some of the things I keep in the boot.”
Aidan looked like he was going to argue further, but let out a sigh instead. “Okay.”
Felicity continued preparing brunch.
“So is everyone going to be present at the workshop today?” Aidan asked.
“As far as I know.”
“Including Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“It’s nice that the two of you have grown close.”
“Yeah. It’s good having a police officer as a friend. Makes us feel safe,” she said with a grin. “But, of course, I shouldn’t be talking to her too much about you.”
Aidan chuckled. “I seriously doubt she has a crush on me.”
“Really? Why else did she act like that? I’m thinking of asking her straight up, actually.”
“What?” Aidan looked horrified. “Why would you do that?”
Aidan made a face. “It might make her more uncomfortable. I’m sure she’d rather you hadn’t noticed at all.”
“I guess. It’s just that I don’t want our friendship to be affected, you know.” And, frankly, for whatever reason, she wanted the truth.
“I think it’s better that you don’t let on that that’s what you think.”
She paused, pursing her lips. “You’re right. Probably best to just leave it.”
Aidan nodded.
Felicity enjoyed the rest of the day with Aidan, lazing in the backyard and reading a book while Aidan did some work. Soon, it was time for her to leave.
“I better go.” She got up from her chair.
“You sure you don’t want me to drive you? I really won’t mind picking you up so we can have dinner together.”
“I’m sure,” she said, bending to give him a kiss.
As she walked back inside the house, a worrying thought occurred to her. Why was Aidan so insistent on driving her to the workshop when he was so busy? Was it because he knew that Sophie was going to be there? Why would he want to risk Sophie seeing him when it could make Sophie—and Felicity—feel very awkward?
Her heart pinched at a possible answer, and she shook her head vigorously, not wanting to follow that particular train of thought. It was just her imagination working overtime.
Felicity parked her vehicle in her usual spot at the council car park. She was excited about this afternoon. She’d finished applying the primer on the small cabinet she was working on last week and was ready to decorate it today. The last time she’d painted a bookshelf with a field of flowers, she’d received multiple offers for the piece. She was planning to do something similar to her cabinet.
She turned the corner, heading towards the workshop room, and gasped. “Sophie! You’re early.”
“Am I?” Sophie asked with a laugh. “I thought you’d be here earlier for the deliveries.”
“Remember I said some of the items couldn’t be picked up until next week, so I’ve rescheduled the ones for today to next Sunday to save an extra trip?”
Aidan: The Rescue (Indie Rebels Book 5) Page 15
