She frowned at me, shook her head and muttered, "Screw you." Then went to turn away.
My hand reached out and wrapped around her forearm before I thought better of it. The watcher moved, arms coming loose at his sides, taking a foot closer to us. Ben rounded his side of the table and came shoulder to shoulder with me.
"Kasey, last chance," I said, a little desperately. This was going South at an alarming rate. "Think of someone else other than yourself and Roan McLaren. Tell me how many women and children are at the Compound today."
She turned back around to face me, eyes narrowed on where my hand held hers, then flicked up to my face. She sneered, yanked her arm free of my grip and leaned forward, washing my face with the smell of cigarettes and coffee.
"Fuck... off!" she hissed. She took a step away, turning toward the watcher and then threw over her shoulder. "Run, Sarah. Run for your life, like you did five years ago. Run and prove just what a fucking coward you really are."
Ben started herding me toward the front door, but I was frozen solid at her cutting, but so very true words.
"Come on," Ben murmured. "We're done here, red."
I nodded, started to move with the pressure of his hands and heard Kasey say over my shoulder, in a voice that carried louder than any other sound in the room, "Sarah fucking Monaghan, Trev."
Ben's and my gazes flicked back to her, seeing that the watcher was this 'Trev' she had been almost yelling at. Her words doing more than any high pitched alarm could manage, my name a klaxon warning device at a nuclear testing station.
The watcher leapt past Kasey, his hand reaching into the band of his trousers, under his shirt.
"Move!" Ben commanded, placing himself between me and Trev, but not reaching for his own gun attached to his leg. I could only assume that was because there were too many innocents in the shop, and pulling his weapon as well would have caused mass chaos. As yet, the patrons hadn't noticed what Trev now held in his muscled hands. But I did. I'd seen too many matt black guns in my time not to register the line of the one in his grasp, or the dull glint of its barrel in the artificial lights of the room.
I started running towards the door, praying that Ben was on my tail and not sticking around to confront Kasey's watcher with just his fists. But before I made it, two uniformed cops walked through the entrance, talking as though they were on their city beat about to take a coffee break. They pretended not to notice Trev's gun, as he quickly slipped it out of sight. Nor did they cast a glance at us as they strolled further into the shop, talking casually and quite loudly about some rugby match they'd watched on TV last night.
As I came abreast of them, the closest cop stepped forward in such a way as to shelter me from Trev's continued - but much more controlled - approach. The other cop asking a server jovially if they offered a police discount. When I slipped out of the still open door I heard the cop who had shielded me ask Trev if they were making their famous orange and date scones this morning. A quick glance over my shoulder and I saw the cop blocking Trev's escape out the door at our backs.
I also saw Trev's glare as his eyes followed our retreat.
Ben marched us down the road and around the corner, all the while his eyes darting from side to side, his pace quick, but his whole demeanour casual. I couldn't think of what to say. I'd stuffed up in there big time. I'd ruined our only chance of finding out how many innocent people needed rescuing from Roan's Compound. My brash statements and harsh questions had placed Kasey under too much strain. She'd buckled and an alarm had been triggered.
How many more people would suffer now because of me?
"Look at me, red." Ben's voice pierced the fog of guilt. "Look at me."
I lifted my eyes to his face and saw the grim set of his lips, the lowered brows over granite dark eyes. His thumbs came up and rubbed moisture off both my cheeks. I hadn't even realised I was crying.
"Shhh," he said, reaching forward and wrapping me up in his embrace. Strong, big arms cradled me, warm, welcomed heat engulfed me. His lips laid a kiss in amongst the hair on top of my head. "It's OK," he whispered softly. "You did good."
No I didn't. I stuffed up. And I wasn't the only one to think that either.
"What the fuck was that?" Detective Andrews' loud hiss interrupted any calm Ben had managed to give me.
I sucked in a deep breath and turned to face the music.
But I didn't get to offer up a defence, even if I had felt inclined to do so, which I hadn't. Ben turned around and swung out with a rapid fired, well placed punch to Andrews' nose. The cop went reeling, hands up to his face where blood had begun to pour freely onto his chin, chest and shoes. Ben paced after him, but was stopped by Pierce gripping his arm on one side and another guy - I was guessing part of the taskforce Pierce and Andrews were on - gripping his other.
"Easy," Pierce warned, pulling a straining Ben back several feet. "Let's all bring this down a notch or two."
"Fuck you!" Ben spat at Andrews. "Did you even fucking know there was watcher inside the joint?"
The air thickened, Pierce went deathly still, his eyes aimed at a still recovering Andrews.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Andrews muttered, his words sounding thick through the injury to his nose.
"The chef was McLaren's man. Kasey had a watcher," Ben explained carefully. I think the way he spoke slowly and clearly was an indication, to any one who knew him, of how close to going ballistic he was.
"Did you know this?" Pierce asked, stepping away from Ben, which seemed to be a signal for the other cop to release Ben's opposing arm as well.
"We suspected," Andrews finally admitted quietly. I just blinked. He let us walk into what was essentially a trap.
"Fuck," the other cop muttered under his breath. "Bad call."
"What fucking choice did we have?" Andrews yelled back at both men. "She's" - and he was pointing at me as he said that - "the only 'in' we have right now. So of course I'm going to use her to end this once and for all." He turned to Pierce and glared at him. "Twelve long, hard, vile months and we're this close." He held his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart in front of his face. "You said yourself we'd have to take risks to see this through. I thought she was a fair risk to take. She's part of that fucked up world, Pierce. She deserves to risk her fucking skin for those left behind."
Oh, he did not just say that.
"What?" Ben said in an ominously quiet voice. "What did you just fucking say,
e hoa
?"
If there was tension on the air before, it was nothing like what I could feel right now. I took a step closer, wanting to stop Ben from doing something monumentally fucked to get himself locked behind bars at the local police station.
But Pierce took a look at Ben's face, flicked his gaze to me, and said, "I've got this, Abi."
Then turned back to his partner and punched him in the jaw. Andrews spun like a spinning top and when he came to rest, he was out cold.
"Never fucking liked the prick," Pierce announced, shaking out his hand. "So," he added. "Kasey's on the move. We've got eyes on her for now."
"Oh, shit," I muttered, my gaze still on the unconscious form of Andrews. I had a sick sense of satisfaction seeing him in a rumpled pile on the dirty sidewalk, but Pierce's words brought reality crashing back in. "What now?" I asked, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.
This was all my fault.
Pierce glanced at Ben, who was watching me; face set, mask in place. But that muscle was jumping along his jaw. I held his gaze as Pierce said, "She left her cellphone and bag behind, so she can't raise an alarm that way," he explained. "And we could simply pick her up, but we believe she has an alternate location in mind. Perhaps a fall-back we're not aware of. It would help us to know where that location is." Ben's head slowly turned back to Pierce. Like me, he was no doubt wondering where this was going. "If you go now," Pierce concluded, "you'll catch her trail and shadow her better than our guys ever could."
Ben's mask slipped and I watched as a look of surprise replaced the impassive.
He stared at Pierce for a good few seconds. "If I shadow her, Abi comes with me," he said steadily, surprising everyone else this time.
There was no way Detective Pierce would go for that. I was a civilian, and a civilian connected to this criminal world. I let a breath of air out on a defeated sigh.
The detective stared back at him for a long moment, reached out to hand over a small walkie-talkie device, then replied with, "The longer you two wait, the greater chance my guys will be detected."
Ben nodded, taking the offered form of communication, as I smiled back at Pierce, and then Ben's hand slipped into mine and we were running.
"Ready, red?" he said, leaning over to whisper the words in my ear, as we jogged around to a street at the back of the café, where Kasey was now fleeing.
Hell yes I was ready. I had Ben, the-shadow-man, Tamati at my side. Even if the shit hit the fan, I wouldn't have to face it alone. Not that I had any intention of letting that happen. God knows how, but we'd find out what Kasey was up to and pray it helped those people left behind at the Compound, somehow.
"Ready," I said with a nod of my head.
"There you are," he whispered, pulling me to a stop in the shadows. "My brave little grasshopper."
Then he added under his breath, "Showtime."
Kasey was taking a zigzag route to whatever location she had in mind. It was obvious she expected to be followed, by the inordinately confusing pathway she chose. But Ben was good at what he did. He was the best. We ran from shadow to shadow, we blended in with the environment. We weren't even seen. I'd learned to hide in plain sight, but what Ben did was one step further. It was inspiring to watch. It was invigorating to participate in.
I'd never met anyone like Ben Tamati. He thrived in the shadows, he knew exactly how to follow someone without being made. I wanted to be just like him. I had skills, but this was something altogether different. This was smooth and well practised. Thought out and executed in a precise, professional manner. I wasn't sure anyone could emulate Ben.
"I think she's heading to the Compound, red," Ben whispered, as we watched Kasey take another winding route, in what appeared the general direction of Roan's base. "What do you think?"
I checked our location and mentally placed it on the map I had in my head of central Wellington to Newtown, where Roan's Compound was based. Kasey was definitely avoiding a direct path, but the general direction was correct. And if she was heading to an alternate fall-back location, as Pierce had suspected, then why would it be near to Roan's base?
"Yeah," I whispered back. "She's heading there, all right."
Ben frowned in consternation for a moment, giving me a few precious seconds to just take in the firm lines of his jaw, cheekbones and brow. I could look at this man for eternity and never get bored.
He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, which only made it look bedhead messy and conjure up delicious images in my mind - images that had no right manifesting while we were shadowing an old acquaintance back to Roan Fucking McLaren's Compound. I shook my head and cleared it of anything other than information pertinent to right now.
But I couldn't help smiling to myself. This should have been debilitating. I should have been a complete mess. And maybe I would be, when we reached the Compound. But with Ben beside me, I felt stronger than I had felt in years. I felt capable. I had courage. Nothing seemed too much to face.
I just prayed that remained so.
"OK," Ben said, surprising me out of my reverie and I think giving him something else to concentrate on, other than Kasey not doing exactly as Pierce had guessed. "Lesson time, grasshopper. How many hidden spots ahead can you see?"
I turned my attention to the task. A task which made me feel even more content than his presence alone had already managed. Ben wanted me to learn his trade. He wanted me in his world.
I scanned the street in front of us, spotting Kasey fifty metres on, back hunched, looking over her shoulders constantly. I knew this area fairly well, but I was certain that Ben didn't. So, that gave me an advantage, I was sure. I took in the several shop entranceways, a couple of outdoor stands that would provide adequate coverage and an outcropping of plants in a raised garden on the corner that would be ideal to hide behind. Then I added the few more well known hidden spots up around the corner, just out of sight.
"Fifteen," I announced, rather proud of myself.
Ben nodded, then grabbed my hand and moved us across the street at a fast, but still somewhat casual pace, to hide behind the wall of a shop alcove.
"Not bad," he admitted. "But I count twenty."
"Twenty?" I hissed. Maybe he did know the area well and had included more spots around the corner.
"Yeah," he said casually, a small smirk playing on those kissable lips.
He was enjoying this, and I don't think it was the enjoyment of showing me up. I was sure it was the enjoyment of distracting me, if only for a minute, with his lessons on how to shadow someone.
"Seven shop entrances," he announced. Check. "Four outdoor stands." Check. "The planter of trees on the corner." And check. That made twelve. Now for those around the corner. "Four cars," he added and I felt like slapping my hand on my forehead. "The phone booth." I started to cringe. "That family standin' outside the postal shop lookin' at a map." Oh, just kill me now. "The crop of outdoor chairs in front of that café, but in particular the ones behind the fake flax wind-breaker fence." OK, he'd made his point. Any time now he could stop. "And," he rounded up, still on this street and not cheating by including anything around the corner, "the cinema's about to come out on the corner, we can hide in amongst the crowd which will exit the front doors in about two minutes time."
I glanced at my watch. It was four-thirty. How the hell did he know a movie was about to finish?
"What?" I said ineloquently. My brows furrowed and my hands shifted to my hips.
Ben's eyes grazed over my face, languidly traced my body, and then quickly flicked up to track Kasey again.
With his eyes still trained on our target he explained. "Sign above the cinema says the current showing started at two-thirty.
I saw that movie last week, it took just under two hours, includin' advertisements at the beginning."
Huh. That was... impressive. I had no words to offer up in my defence. I just stood there for a few seconds, as Ben continued to track Kasey. His smirk hadn't left his face once yet.
"It's OK, red," he said, laying a hand on my shoulder and giving me a gentle squeeze. "I've been doin' this type of hiding professionally for six years. Before that, another six. But I can bet you would be able to walk down the middle of this street in one of your disguises and she'd still not be able to make you."
Oh, now he was just being nice. I shook my head, but a smile was playing on my lips this time.
"I've got a lot to learn," I admitted.
"And I'll gladly teach you," he answered, guiding us further down the street to our next shop entranceway to hide in.
"You'd do that?" I asked, wanting confirmation of my earlier hopes.
"Yeah," he said simply, then added, "if you show me how to hide in plain sight. I reckon we could make a good team, you and me. I reckon together nothin' could touch us."
Despite who we were following and why. Despite the gravity of today's objective and the reality of facing my wretched past. Despite the fact that I should be a blubbering mess about to lay eyes on the Compound for the first time in so many years. I hadn't felt this liberated, this unbelievably happy, in my life ever before.
"I could do that," I said, my voice a little high pitched and breathy, my eyes stinging with the accumulation of unshed tears.
Ben took a good long look at me, eyes a rich, deep chocolate brown I could lose myself gladly within. Then he smiled. It was breathtaking. It was Ben Tamati open and free. And it was magnificent.
"From what I gather," he said, eyes darting back up to check Kasey's progress. "The Compound is just around the corner."
I glanced back up the street, noting we'd rounded the corner and made it to the end of the block. I'd been walking in a daze. A daze created by Ben. The Compound
was
just up the road and around the corner, as he said. There was nowhere else, no fall-back location plausible that I could think of, for Kasey to go.
I nodded my head in agreement. Detective Pierce had been wrong after all. Kasey was just high-tailing it straight back to Roan's base.
"I'll let Pierce know," Ben murmured, clearly picking up on my disappointment.
If Kasey was heading to the Compound, there was no more need for us to follow her. It was stupid to feel anything other than relief. Relief that my part was over. But I'd been enjoying Ben's shadow lessons. They'd filled me with joyful emotions that blotted out all the darker ones, revisiting my old life made me feel.
"Pierce, Tamati," I heard Ben say into the walkie-talkie.
"Go ahead, Ben."
"She's headed to the Compound, 'bout two minutes away."
"Copy. We'll cut her off when she nears. T minus fifteen for the go. Thanks for your help." And with those words, the police effectively dismissed us. It was up to them to raid the Compound now.
I lifted my eyes up to Ben's. His gaze was still down the street, watching Kasey near the the corner that would lead her directly to the Compound. He had a contemplative expression on his face again.
"I guess we head back to Pierce's car," I suggested softly.
Ben shrugged. "Nah. Let's just follow her a little further. Use it as an opportunity for you to practise shadowing."
"Is that wise? What if she spots us?"
"At this point, there's no way she'll make it into that Compound. The cops have the place surrounded, ready to head in as soon as the team in Hamilton advance on McLaren. There's no time for her to react to our presence, should she pick it up, and tip any of them off."
"OK," I replied, feeling a fluttering of excitement in my belly at the thought of another lesson. There was just something so exhilarating about Ben showing me his professional secrets.
Exhilarating and welcoming. Like coming home after a long, cold, hard day outside.
"So, tell me," Ben asked, eyes still on the rapidly retreating figure of Kasey, "what's our next move?"
I glanced back up and scanned the street. We had about thirty seconds before Kasey would round that corner and disappear onto the same road as the Compound. This lesson was going to be brief, once she was near the police, we'd have to pull back and just watch from a distance.
"OK," I said, squaring my shoulders. "Across the street, behind that van. Now."
We walked briskly over to the other side of the road and pressed our back to the rear of a Ford Transit van. I peered around the corner and spotted Kasey stopped at the end of this block. Had she seen us cross the street? Had I blown our cover already?
She glanced down the road that led to the Compound, then shifted her weight on her feet, as though deciding whether to bolt.
"What's happening?" Ben whispered, unable to see from his position behind the van.
I held my breath and waited for Kasey to make a decision. It felt like an eternity. When she moved, it wasn't forward, but to look over her shoulder, back down the street towards us. I pulled my head back, my heart rate escalating, my breathing coming in short, sharp pants.
"Made?" Ben asked.
"Unsure," I replied, and then crouched down and snuck a look around the bumper of the van.
Kasey had moved. But not down the Compound's street, she'd crossed over our street and started heading down the opposite side of the road to the end of the block Roan's base rested on. Where the fuck was she going?
"She's on the move and it's not the Compound," I advised Ben.
"Fuck," he muttered. "Any ideas?"
I searched my memory for alternate entries into my old home, but came up blank. And I certainly couldn't think of what else would be down this side of the street either. I shook my head, keeping my eyes on Kasey, knowing Ben would have seen the movement.
"Pierce, Tamati," I heard Ben quietly say, obviously into the radio. There was only static as reply. "He's gone silent. The raid's either begun or about to."
I looked at my watch. Four minutes to five.
"Where's she going?" I whispered.
"I say we follow," Ben suggested.
I admit, I was curious. The raid was about to start in less than five minutes and Kasey had changed her mind about heading back home. Why? Did she see the cops? Did she see us? Was she about to blow it all for the taskforce? Ruin their chances of wiping out McLaren's criminal world. Make my father's sacrifice worthless.
I couldn't have that.
I grabbed Ben's hand and moved us down the street side of the road, crouched as we hid behind a four wheel drive, then a small furniture removal truck and finally a bus stop shelter covered in advertisements for a movie premier featuring Weta Digital CGI. We were practically opposite the Compound's road, but the shelter gave us cover from that angle, as well as from Kasey, should she turn to look back down the street.
We were closer to her now, I could hear her mumbling something indistinct. She sounded agitated and upset. My eyes scanned the road across from us, picking up no movement, unable to spot the cops hiding, preparing to enter the Compound... whose stark walls and razor wired fence could be seen clearly from our hidden vantage spot.
My heart missed a couple a beats, my throat went painfully dry. I think I forgot to breathe for several seconds. Memories flashing through my mind. Horrid, frightening, almost debilitating. I'd thought I'd been doing so well. Shadowing Kasey, doing my part to help save the innocents caught in the crossfire, while the police did their job and brought a man like Roan McLaren down. But I'd forgotten just what that place meant to me. Just how much of my anxiety was rooted in
there
.
"Stay with me, red," Ben murmured. His hot breath washing over the back of my neck. His warm, hard chest bracketing me from behind, as his steel-like arm wrapped around my waist.
I think I was going to be sick. I made a sound. It was pathetic, but thankfully not loud enough for anyone but Ben to have heard.
"I'm here," he whispered, his thumb stroking my side as his hand grasped my hip comfortingly. "I'm not going anywhere," he added, his arm pulling me firmly back into the safety of his body. "You are not alone."