Zack's expression was non-negotiable, and my mum finally relented, rolling her eyes like a ticked off teenager, helping herself to a croissant.
“Please don't roll your eyes at me. If you were my trainee, there would've been consequences." Zack growled.
I glanced at Zaphire who suppressed a smile witnessing the encounter, and when she caught my eye she broke into laughter. Mum looked at me in despair.
“How on earth do you put up with him!" she whispered furtively, forgetting Zack could of course hear everything.
He wisely chose to ignore the remark and tucked into his breakfast.
“With difficulty." I dared say, smiling, earning a warning stare from Zack.
I wondered what my mum would have thought of the regime I was under before. She would have been shocked to see her daughter treated like that, but probably more amazed by the way I had dealt with it. I had learned from it though and knew not to push Zack any further by being too disrespectful, even if it was just joking around.
When we'd finished eating we all gathered everything we needed to take on our mission. Zack gave Claude some last minute instructions and orders not to let us out of his sight, under any circumstance. Claude did his best to reassure him, but I could see Zack had difficulties accepting not being the one on the ground. He would not be far away though, monitoring everything. Markus and Laura came by to check everything was ready and prepared and gave us the green light to go ahead.
So this was it. Time to prove I could do this. It felt oddly liberating, stepping outside with my mum, as if we were going out on a shopping trip together, like we had done so many times in the past. I realised this was the first time in weeks where I wasn't under the watchful eye of Zack. Well, not directly anyway. It felt good, but also a bit scary. Zack had been like a big security blanket I'd started to take for granted. I briefly felt panic rise within my chest, but managed to keep it at bay. I focused on my mum instead. I had to work hard tuning out all the impressions hoisted upon me when we were in the outside world. It took me a little while to feel confident enough to deal with them without being overwhelmed.
“Remember Rick can hear everything, so don't whisper or say anything that could compromise our plan. We might not see him, but he could be near enough to hear us.” I quickly reminded mum, before we got near to the coffee shop we would use as our base. In the next couple of days he'd be sure to show up, if not today. I could feel the tension rising in my mum as we entered the cafe and I quickly started to make some small talk to distract her. There was no sign of him inside, as we expected. Surveillance had been in place since 7am in the morning and there had been no news from them.
We found ourselves a little table and settled down. Claude, dressed in a smart business suit, installed himself near us with his laptop, nicely blending in with the clientele. I ordered myself a hot chocolate and a latte for mum and made myself comfortable in a soft leather chair. Then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted something that none of us had predicted. My heart sank. Panic started to engulf me. How was this possible! He shouldn't be here. He should be safely at home revising for his exams. There was no avoiding this encounter. Kas was here, and he had clocked us. Surprisingly, I also felt excited to see him. I clearly still had feelings for him, though nothing like what I felt for Zaphire or even Zack.
Claude had picked up on my body tensing and raised pulse and scanned around on high alert. His phone pinged. I knew that was Zack informing him of Kas' arrival. I could just imagine Zack's mood taking a dive with this curveball.
“Hey babe!”
Kas came bustling over, making my heart beat a little faster. So familiar his voice and mannerisms it almost made me long for those simpler times, when Kas had been my rock.
“What....how...what are you doing here?" I managed to squeak.
“Mum? Did you...?”
She shook her head vigorously, looking as dumbfounded as I was. Kas enveloped me in his strong arms and again I was thrown back to a time before I was asked to help find my father. Kas' gorgeously recognisable smell stirred feelings of nostalgia and for a second time I felt myself almost wishing I'd made a different choice.
“I'm so sorry to surprise you like this Eli. I know you weren't meant to meet with anyone and I really don't want to hinder your road to recovery, but I couldn't help myself. As soon as I had an inkling about your mum's plan to visit you I made up my mind. I had to see you. I've missed you so much...”
He stumbled over his words to explain, but I needed to know more. How on earth did he find out about my mum coming here, but I only had to look at my mum's face which was changing expression when realisation dawned on her.
“Mum? How did he know? Kas, how did you find out about the visit?" I urged them.
“Oh sweetheart, it must have been when I got the phone call. When I hung up, Kas was by the door, I hadn't heard him come in. Did you hear Kas?”
My mum threw Kas a hurt look, realising he'd been eaves dropping. He didn't need to say anything; it was plain to see that was exactly what had happened. Well,
