Page 146 of Convict's Game
“I’m not giving up trade secrets.”
“After this is over, don’t go anywhere. I need to talk to ye.”
I blinked up at Kane. He stared dead ahead.
“What about?”
He didn’t answer. It was too late anyway, because we were there, in front of the side access with its discreet number pad. I keyed in the code. The door popped inwards.
Stepping over the welcome mat, I breathed through my nose to calm my racing heart, then walked the hall. The first room had previously been a reception and was often where coats and equipment bags were thrown by the officers who used this building for surveillance. Despite being called a safe house, its purpose was a base of operations for any undercover police action in Leith. Nothing safe about it.
We bypassed that, and I checked the other lower rooms. Nothing.
“No cameras,” Kane observed.
“Technically, this place doesn’t exist, so nope.”
“Meaning anything goes.”
I shivered at his implication and took to the stairs. I called out a warning as I climbed. “Julian?”
Kane spoke under his breath: “Who the fuck is Julian?”
“My father.”
“You don’t call him ‘Dad’?”
I shook my head.
“Better than Detective Dickhead,” he grouched almost silently.
I couldn’t stop an unexpected laugh. Though I knew the nickname used by Arran’s crew, seldom did they use it in front of me. “Don’t censor yourself on my behalf.”
“Never will.”
We reached the landing, and I entered another code to access the level. Past the door, Kane slipped into a room with all the blinds closed, vanishing into the shadows.
I called out again, this time adding the first words of our plan. “Julian? What’s with the workmen outside?”
A door swung open, and an officer stuck her head out. She squinted at me. “Lovelyn? What’s going on?”
I lowered my voice and smiled. “Oh, hi, Jacqueline. Are you parked outside? You might want to move your car. They said they were about to tow vehicles, I think for some work on the street.”
Jacqueline heaved a sigh. “There’s always something. I’m done here anyway. Thanks for the warning.” She packed up a rucksack.
I hovered at the open door to the room she’d been working in. “Anyone else around I need to warn?”
“Only your dad, sweetheart. See you soon.”
Jacqueline’s footsteps rattled down the stairs, then the street door banged.
She hadn’t noticed Kane’s presence. Good, as I didn’t love the boyfriend alibi. No one would pick him for me.
I stifled a frisson of fear at what I was doing. Adrenaline and I were never friends. Kane appeared from his hiding spot and followed me down the hall. My father had a favourite space he used here, and he was always a creature of habit.
The door was locked, so I rapped on the obscured glass. Kane slid into an opposite room, out of sight once more.
“Busy,” my father yelled back.
