“Can I see him at least?" Eliza asked.
I knew she had guessed the answer to that already by the way she hung her shoulders.
“Maybe later. Let's get some lunch and talk about the next stage now." I said decisively and walked towards the meeting room purposefully.
“I'll get a selection of sandwiches to be delivered to us in the meeting room and there are drinks here already.” I told Alice and Eliza as we entered the room urging them to take a seat around the table. I was keen to work out what we'd do next to get the information we needed out of Rick. The quicker we found out whether he was in on it, or forced, the better. The whole next stage hinged on the fact he was either an innocent pawn in this or, something far more disturbing, part of the organisation. We needed to find out what their plan was as the movements we had seen are worrying to say the least, with them infiltrating into the courts, police and government. It didn't spell much good to be honest.
“So, do you think I should meet him alone or should mum come with me?" Eliza started.
“What do you think yourself, Eliza?”
She took a moment to answer, nervously glancing over to her mum. She wasn't sure how her mum would feel about her opinion.
“I think..." she nodded as if to encourage herself.
“I think I should go on my own. Pretend mum wasn't quite ready to meet him, needing some more time to think about it, but that I'm keen to find out more about him. What do you think Zack? Mum?”
Alice looked unsure but I agreed. I was relieved the suggestion was Eliza's, as I it meant I didn't have to fight over it with her, which would make the arrangements so much easier.
“That's exactly what I was thinking. He'll be more likely to open up to you when you're on your own. He might even tell you about your gift and see what you have to say. Claude said emotions were highly charged in the room with a huge spike when he spotted you next to your mum. He's definitely very keen to get to know you. The bond is strong. Even stronger than his love for Alice, which was also duly noted by Claude. He said he was surprised he ever managed to leave you, Alice. The love was still there and forceful.”
“I noticed that when he touched your arm, mum. You must have felt the electricity, it was so powerful.”
Eliza looked at her mum, wondering if she would accept her feelings for Rick were still as strong as ever. Though, she might not have even admitted that to herself yet.
“I don't know." Alice started hesitantly; clearly not ready to let her daughter launch herself into this alone, without looking at the alternatives.
“Could I not come along but go home after a while? When I know she's safe?" she tried.
“How will you leave without raising any questions or suspicions? Eliza is right in thinking he'll accept your reservations to meeting him again. After all, he left you without any clues as to why or where he went. He'll understand if you needed more time to decide. It's quite a natural reaction. It's also natural for Eliza to want to find out more about her dad, so again, nothing out of the ordinary, which is exactly what we need.”
I hoped she would see it was the best way forward and not be difficult about it. We needed to be on one level with this. It would make deciding so much easier. I noticed a shift in Alice's attitude which was encouraging.
“Also, we did promise Eliza to withdraw you from the operation when first contact was made. We don't want to draw you in further than we need to, for your own safety." I added.
It wasn't just the safety of Alice we were worried about. Alice was still an unknown quantity to us, we didn't know if we could trust her not to warn her ex, if they were to rekindle their relationship. Love could make you do all sorts of unexpected things. It was not a risk I was willing to take.
“Well, if you both think that's the best way forward, then so be it." Alice relented.
“Will there be anyone on site with me? Can we use Claude again?" Eliza asked.
I was considering the same question.
“It's too much of a risk to use him again, because Rick will have logged the scents of each individual who was in that cafe; maybe not consciously but definitely subconsciously and if he was to notice the same scent he might be alerted and not proceed. He's a very clever and ultra cautious man so he'll try and minimise each risk. However, I haven't worked out an alternative yet.”
“Would we be able to use a young Sensorian, pretending to be out on a date or something?" Eliza suggested.
I ran through all the options in our community and there were some suitable kids who could do it, but the problem was that the place suitable to meet for Rick and Eliza would not be a hangout for young kids on a date, so I shelved that plan. No, we probably needed to get technical and have a listening device so we could stay at a safe distance.
“Let me have
