“No. I just wanted to say hi.”
“Oh, good.” Felicity proceeded to tell Isla everything that Sophie had told her.
“Are you serious?” Isla asked in shock.
“I know. To be honest, I’m scared.”
“I’m not surprised. We’ll work something out. Remember that Kallan’s a private investigator. He’ll know people who could be your personal security—”
“Are you kidding? No way I can afford personal security.”
“Kallan could be it. He won’t charge you.”
“What about his work? He can’t be following me around all the time. You know that won’t work. Anyway, Sophie did say to start bringing that personal alarm you got for me after I left Nolan. That should help keep me safe.”
“I guess,” Isla said reluctantly.
“I’ll be fine,” she said with bravado. “Plus, I have Sophie’s number. It’s helps to have a police officer for a friend.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s good. Anyway, I have to go. We’ll talk more about this soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Take care, Fel.”
“I will. You, too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Felicity smiled. She might have had the worst luck with men, but she was blessed with wonderful girlfriends.
Maybe she should share this particular news with Aidan and clarify to him why Sophie had mentioned doing a background check on him.
She scoffed. What for? Her emotional health was just as important as her physical safety, so, no, she wasn’t going to entertain any more thoughts of that man.
Why wouldn’t he stop texting her, though?
“Argh! Just let go, Fel, for heaven’s sake. How could you even think about him at a time like this?”
She wished her heart wasn’t so stubborn.
But it didn’t matter. Her head seemed clear in what she had to do, and it was telling her she was right to forget about Aidan.
Chapter 19
Aidan waited nervously for one of the chiefs to call him back. They were taking their time deliberating whether to give Felicity the IR call button. Hopefully, his and Isla’s pleas had been compelling enough to sway them to give it the go-ahead.
When he’d received the call from Isla a few hours ago about Felicity meeting up with Sophie, he hadn’t expected to learn what he had. While he was relieved that they now knew with certainty why Sophie had checked out the IR houses in Kingsgrove and Point Piper, his concern for Felicity was greater than he’d ever felt for anyone or anything.
His phone rang, and his heart jumped. It was only Isla. “Hey,” he answered.
“Hey. Heard anything yet?”
“Not yet.”
“I wonder what’s taking them so long.”
“Well, they go through every possible scenario, ensuring that if they give any sort of dispensation, it wouldn’t put any IR or the whole team in jeopardy.”
“Do you think we were convincing enough with our character references for Fel?” Isla asked worriedly. “I meant it when I said she’s the most loyal friend anyone can have. I know that she’d never do anything that might risk the safety of her loved ones, so it’s just a matter of finding an effective way to relay to Fel the IR rules associated with that call button. Like you said to them, Fel’s already scared. So, an IR telling her that they’re after the crime gang who’s targeting her, and that they need her help in catching them, has a good chance of working. But, yeah, there’s that issue of her friendship with Sophie,” Isla added with a sigh.
“There’s that issue of her friendship with Sophie,” Aidan echoed. “I’m sure that’s what the chiefs are most concerned about. That’s the hole that has to be plugged if Fel’s to have that call button.”
“It’s a big hole,” Isla said despondently. “I guess we could always just watch over her in secret.”
“We could. But even if we share the load, there’s no way we could protect her twenty-four/seven without IR help. We’re talking about a crime gang being after her, not just some individual like Nolan.”
“I know. At least she’s going to start bringing her personal alarm with her. Even though it’s just to attract attention, it should help somewhat if someone does try to take her or something.”
“That personal alarm is nothing like our call button, though,” he quipped.
“Ain’t that the truth,” Isla said with a heavy breath.
Aidan’s computer beeped with an incoming video call. “That’s them. I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Thanks,” Isla said.
“Hello,” Maricar said after Aidan answered the call. “I bet you’re about as impatient as can be.”
Aidan chuckled. “Not just me. Isla, too. She’s on the phone.”
“Hello, Maricar,” Isla said.
“Hello, Isla. I’m sure the both of you are keen to know our decision.”
Aidan held his breath. If he believed in crossing fingers for good luck, he’d cross all of them.
“We’re worried that Felicity might call Sophie, regardless of how we approach her or what we tell her.”
Aidan’s heart plummeted.
“But,” Maricar continued.
He sat up straighter, all ears.
“We’re very much aware that two of our agents love Felicity very much, not to mention the other IR friends she’s made from meeting them at Isla’s party.”
Aidan nodded eagerly.
Maricar smiled. “So, we agree to give Felicity a call button.”
He leaned back on his seat, relieved. “Thank you.”
“But,” Maricar said.
“Another but?” he asked jokingly.
Maricar chuckled. “We’re going to have to manage our response if she uses the button. Even if it’s made clear to her that pressing it means she accepts becoming an IR, that might not be her intention. If she tells Sophie about it, Sophie might easily talk her into using the button to capture our agents. So, when coming to Felicity’s aid, we’ll need to act like we are going into enemy territory. The leader of that operation will then assess whether Felicity is indeed in trouble or if it’s a set-up.”
“Okay. That’s fair enough,” Aidan said.
“Yes,” Isla agreed.
“Another thing,” Maricar said. “The two of you can’t go in the field unless the assignment calls for Felicity to see you without masks on. We don’t want to run the risk of her identifying you.”
“Copy,” both Aidan and Isla said.
Aidan didn’t care what other provisos the chiefs had in store. They’d agreed to give Felicity an IR call button, and that was the important bit.
“Aidan,” said Maricar. “We’re happy for you to lead this operation of pre-initiating Felicity and handing her the button. You’ll need to do that from Control, of course, and you’ll need to get your plans approved by us before execution.”
“Yes. Thank you. I’ll get the ball rolling.”
“Good. You two have a good night—and a good sleep.”
“Thanks, Maricar,” Isla said.
“Thanks, Mar,” said Aidan. “Chat again soon.”
“Bye,” Maricar said before turning off her video.
Aidan smiled. He was already having a good night from Maricar’s news. But he doubted he’d have any sleep. He had a lot of planning to do.
“Kallan and I are happy to toss some ideas around—help you with the planning,” Isla said.
“Great! Let’s do that, and give Fel that button ASAP.”
Aidan sat in front of the big screen in Control’s Main Office, his heart refusing to slow down. He could see Emma and Bryce, decked in black from head to foot, crouched behind Felicity’s car parked on the street near Isla and Kallan’s house. With both Emma and Bryce not having identified Fel’s voice on a recording Isla had played, the team was confident that Felicity wouldn’t be able to recognise the couple’s voices, either, since they’d only met once at Isla’s party five months ago.
“Will
you be okay driving by yourself?” Isla’s voice said through the headset speaker Aidan was wearing.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. I’m not stopping anywhere else,” Felicity responded.
“Support team,” Aidan said. “Possible eyewitnesses?”
“All clear.” The replies came from Eve, Xavier, and Kallan who were tasked with watching the streets and neighbours’ windows.
The front door of Kallan and Isla’s home opened, and Felicity came out with Isla, carrying two large shopping bags.
Aidan smiled. The bags were bigger than he’d expected. Either Isla had plenty of clothes she wanted to donate to the women’s shelter, or she’d bought some for the purpose of this operation.
As the two women reached the top of the driveway, Isla shivered. “Brrr. Winter’s really setting in. It’s freezing.”
“Why don’t you go back inside where it’s nice and toasty? My car’s just there.” Felicity pointed her chin towards her vehicle parked a couple of houses down the street.
“Okay. Coast seems clear.”
“Yes. Thanks again for dinner and for these.” Felicity indicated the bags she was carrying. “The shelter will be so grateful for them.”
“No worries. I’m glad that my preloved clothes will go to those girls. It’s always heartbreaking when they have to leave their homes without being able to bring much of their stuff with them”
“I know. Anyway, say hi to Kallan for me. Can’t believe he’s working this late.”
“He should be home soon. You drive safely.” Isla hugged Felicity goodbye.
“I will. See ya.”
“See ya,” Isla said before turning around and hurrying back inside the house.
“Okay, main team,” Aidan said. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Copy,” Emma whispered.
Felicity reached her car. She unlocked it with the remote and opened the boot to put the big bags in.
Aidan watched as Bryce and Emma quietly opened the back door of Felicity’s vehicle and slithered inside.
Felicity didn’t notice. She was too busy arranging the stuff for the workshop she usually kept in the boot to fit in the bags from Isla. Thank goodness for Felicity’s penchant for tidiness. Both Aidan and Isla had been sure that Fel would take her time to arrange the contents of her boot before she was happy to drive away.
Aidan held his breath as Felicity closed the boot, ready to go. This was the critical part. He hoped Fel wouldn’t get too frightened with what was about to happen. He enlarged the vision coming from the small cameras on Emma’s and Bryce’s outfits.
Felicity slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door.
Quietly yet speedily, Bryce straightened from his position at the back and covered Felicity’s mouth.
“We don’t mean any harm,” Emma said. “We’re the Indie Rebels, and we just want to talk.”
Felicity started breathing heavily, but didn’t move.
Aidan could see how terrified Felicity was, and his heart constricted. “Gentle, guys,” he whispered.
“Felicity,” Emma said, “we don’t want to hurt you or frighten you. We want to help, because we found out that a crime gang we’re trying to catch has you in their sights, too. Something to do with your ex-boyfriend, Nolan. We just don’t want you to scream, that’s all. Okay?”
There was a long pause before Felicity nodded.
“I’m going to sit in front next to you, okay? So we can talk?” Emma said.
Felicity gave another nod.
Once Emma had transferred to the front seat, Bryce took his hand off Felicity’s mouth.
Fel glanced around as if determining if she could escape.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” Bryce said. “Please don’t make us do something we don’t want to do. We just want to talk.”
“How do I know I can trust you?” Felicity asked with false bravado.
“You’ve heard of us, right?” Bryce asked gently.
Felicity nodded.
“Have you ever heard of us hurting innocent people? We really don’t mean any harm. We’re honestly and sincerely here to help you.”
Felicity stared at both costumed IRs with suspicion. “Why?” she finally asked.
Emma started relaying why the Indie Rebels believed Felicity’s life was in danger —a similar story to what Sophie had already told Felicity.
“So, it’s really true,” Felicity murmured. “But…why do you want to help me?”
“That gang has our team leader’s girlfriend as one of their targets. We’re keen to catch every single one of their members to put an end to them terrorising people to get what they want,” Emma said.
“Is Nolan really one of them?” Felicity asked.
“Nolan has some dealings with them. Whether he’s a full-blown member or just someone they want something from, we don’t know yet. What we do know is that the gang is ruthless. A number of missing person cases has been linked to it. Unfortunately, the authorities can’t get enough proof to put the members away. That’s why we’re being active on this. Rounding them up is personal for us.”
“But,” Felicity said, “why are you so concerned about me when it’s your team leader’s girlfriend you’re trying to help?”
Aidan chuckled dryly. God, he missed this woman.
“We don’t do things in half-measures,” Emma said. “We’ve identified that you’re in their sights, so we just can’t sit and not warn you.”
“Thank you,” Felicity murmured. “Can you tell me why you just won’t let the police handle things? They’re quite annoyed with you—I’ve read—for interfering.”
“We’re not anti-police,” Emma answered. “And we don’t go around looking for criminals to catch, like some people believe. The Indie Rebels exist because some people need more than what the police can or would do. For example, we’re aware that you’re not being given any sort of protection by the authorities even though they know you could be a target of a criminal gang. That’s not to say the police aren’t doing their jobs, because they are. They just don’t have, and will never have, the resources to assign protection officers to each and every single individual or organisation that might be in the sights of bad players.”
“Are you saying you’re gonna protect me? Assign someone to watch over me? I guess that will also help you catch the perps, right? If you see anyone suspicious around me, you can immediately act?”
“We can, but it’s not that simple. There are certain conditions.”
“What conditions?” Felicity asked with a frown.
Aidan nodded, thrilled that Felicity appeared curious about the IRs’ ability to help her.
“Like I said earlier, we don’t simply go around looking for criminals to catch. The people we help are Indie Rebels themselves. In other words, for us to protect you, you need to become an Indie Rebel.”
Felicity eyes widened. “What?”
“The reason for that is simple,” Emma continued. “We are considered as Enemy Number One by practically all crime gangs operating in this country. They know that not only do we have the resources to find them, we also have none of the constraints that the police have to deal with. We need to be very sure of who we accept as our members so as not to compromise our own safety. If people don’t agree to become Indie Rebels, then we can’t trust them enough. By the way, being an IR doesn’t mean you have to go around doing what we’re doing.” Emma indicated her outfit. “An IR can be inactive, which means they only need to help with their own case, and then not have to be involved in any other. However, an inactive IR is still bound by strict rules of secrecy. And before one becomes an IR, they have to sign a contract.”
There was a long moment of silence.
Aidan held his breath. Hopefully, Fel was thinking hard about all this.
“What are your rules?” Felicity asked.
“The first and most important one,” Emma said, “is that only an Indie Rebel can know another Indie Rebel. That’s why we always wear this
head-to-foot outfit to hide our identities. New members also have to go through an initiation phase where what they can know about our organisation and other agents is very, very limited.”
Aidan tensed as Emma went on to enumerate all of the rules that were usually explained only to would-be initiates prior to signing a contract. It was unlikely that Felicity would agree to become an initiate tonight—or ever. But she had to be clear about everything prior to being given that call button.
“So,” Emma was saying, “if those are acceptable to you, we’re happy to welcome you as an initiate.
Felicity looked out the window for a long moment, seemingly deep in thought. Finally, she looked at Emma. “I’m grateful for your offer. But I hope I’m not being insulting when I say I just can’t join an organisation I hardly know anything about. If I’m in trouble, no offence, but I’ll likely call the police first.”
Emma nodded. “That’s totally understandable. We’d like you to do that, too, if they’re able to get to you quickly. May I suggest something?”
“Sure,” Felicity murmured.
Emma opened a zipper near her right hip and pulled something out. She held it up for Felicity to see. “This is an IR call button. We’re happy for you to have this and use it when your safety is at risk and it’s impossible for you to call the police—or when you’re not confident that the police will get to you in time. But—and please understand that this is the critical point in this—the moment you press this button to call us, you agree to becoming an Indie Rebel. As I’ve explained before, you can choose to become inactive, but you’ll still be bound by the rules. I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s nothing in those rules that should be of any concern as they’re mainly about maintaining the secrecy of the Indie Rebels. They’re for our own safety.”
Felicity nodded, forehead creased in thought. “You talk about a contract. If I decide to ask for your help with that button, how do I know what’s exactly in the contract?”
Bryce handed Emma an iPad.
“The contract is ready,” Emma said. “You can sign it now. It already specifically states that you are not agreeing to be an Indie Rebel by signing it, that your initiation phase will only start when you call for our help by using the IR call button.”
Aidan: The Rescue (Indie Rebels Book 5) Page 18
