Thought the picture on the side was a pretty funny one to have for this chapter. Just because of the babysitting theme... Anyway, Enjoy :P
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Chapter 4 – Adrian’s Antics
“What?” Adrian asked looking sceptical.
I walked over to the window and opened it. “It’s fine. There’s a drain pipe to the left of the window.” I tapped the wall to the left side of the window inside to emphasise my point. “Come on there’s no time to argue.” I said, starting to get annoyed that Adrian was still just standing there.
“Fine.” Adrian grumbled, coming closer to the window. He stuck his head out and I think I heard him gulp before he stuck his leg out as well and reached for the pipe. Adrian then hauled himself out the window. I stuck my head out and saw that he’d already started climbing down.
I turned and checked the room out of habit. I couldn’t see anything that would incriminate us, well except me if I didn’t get a move on and leave already. With that in mind I stuck my right leg out the window, quickly followed by my upper body. I got a good grip and foothold on the pipe and I eased myself out the window.
Now came the tricky part. While holding onto the pipe with one hand and both feet, I leant over to the window and pulled the window shut, but just before I closed it all the way I remembered to flip a catch at the bottom of the window that would lock it when it shut. I finished shutting the window and then started to silently make my way down the pipe. Luckily the pipe was sturdy and was practically silent apart from the odd creak and groan here and there, which was only to be expected when two people were using it to climb down a building.
Adrian was almost at the bottom and I wasn’t far behind when I heard a window open. I froze instantly, fearing the worst. I dared to look up just a fraction and silently breathed a sigh of relief. It was the second floor window, not the third. I smelled cigarette smoke and something dropped down past me before the window shut again. Guess someone was having one last puff before chucking their cigarette away. Good thing it’s rained recently and that we don’t live in some hot country like Australia, I thought to myself as I continued climbing down the pipe.
When my feet finally touched the ground, I relaxed the smallest amount for the first time since this night began. Now I just had to make it back before the Flinns got back. I checked my watch quickly and saw it was ten. I was already cutting it close so I better get a move on.
“That was a close call.” Adrian whispered in my ear making me jump. I had forgotten he was there for a moment.
“Yeah and it still might be.” I muttered back, not expecting him to hear me.
“What?” Adrian asked, looking confused.
I shook my head. “Let’s just get back.” I replied instead of explaining. The boy’s got hearing like a bat. I’d have to be careful in the future.
I walked with Adrian from around the back of the building. We stuck to the far side of the parking lot, away from the building, hoping we wouldn’t look too out of place. We then retraced our steps back to the park, taking the same shortcut that was harder to traverse now that it was completely dark out. Normally, I would’ve used my torch but I didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention after what we had just done. I heard Adrian stumbling along behind me but thought nothing of it until I heard a loud thud.
I paused, not turning around. The worst thing you can do when trying to walk in a straight line through a forest is turn around because it’s very easy to lose your way just by doing that simple action. “Adrian? You okay?” I asked quietly.
Silence was my only answer for a moment before I heard some scrabbling around and cursing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just got my foot caught.” I could only imagine how funny it would’ve been to see. Instead of laughing though, I decided to be nice. Shocker, I know.
“Here, take my hand.” I told him, putting my left arm out behind me with an open hand. I could hear him moving, trying to find my proffered hand and a minute later I felt his hand clasp mine. I took hold of his hand and tugged him closer, all the while still facing forward, so I wouldn’t lose my way. I pulled his hand until it touched my back and then I released it. “Now find my shoulders and hold onto them like we’re doing the conga. That way you can walk where I walk so you won’t have as much trouble.” I explained.
“Thanks.” Adrian replied from directly behind me. I almost jumped but not quite. I had been expecting him to be close, just not as close. I felt him place his other hand on my back and then felt him trail them both lightly upward until he found my shoulders. The action made me shiver slightly.
Once his hands were firmly planted on my shoulders, I set off slightly slower than before but was soon walking at my normal pace.
“I have to ask, how do you know your way through here so well even though it’s too dark to see anything?” Adrian asked, sounding intrigued.
It was a fair question so I decided to answer him honestly. “I had to come this way for another mission before and we’ve been making plans and staking out the area since before Harry put in the request to do this.”
“Oh, when you were looking into Mr Henderson? I remember reading about that and how it ended up being a false lead.” I gritted my teeth, remembering all the work that had gone into that mission because Mr Henderson was so close, location-wise and it had seemed otherwise, to Victor. All of it had been worthless as it ended up being a wild goose chase. Although I had to admit my knowledge from that case did help when it came to this one, so I guess it wasn’t all a complete waste. “What did you mean when you said you’d been staking out this place ‘since before Harry put in the request’?” Adrian enquired. It seemed that once he got going he wouldn’t stop until I’d answered all of his questions. Great.
I sighed internally but answered his question anyway. “Well we’d already begun surveying the area to see if we could do it. There was no point in us requesting to do a search only to figure out later that it wasn’t actually possible, imagine how that would’ve made us look. I think it’d be enough to get at least one of us pulled from the mission. So once we were sure it was at least a possibility, Harry sent in his request.”
“Huh,” Adrian replied thoughtfully but remained quiet otherwise.
When we reached the edge of the forest by the bench we all met at earlier Adrian released me and I got my first good look at him since we’d entered the forest and he’d fallen. I may have been able to hold in my laughter before but now that I could see him, I couldn’t. Adrian had mud and leaves all up his left side and back and it was even coving his hands. Then there was his face and hair. His hood had fallen down at some point, probably during his fall, and now as a result he had leaves and a few twigs stuck in his hair and his face had random smudges of dirt where he must have absentmindedly rubbed his hand over it at some point post fall.
Adrian didn’t look amused by my outburst but I simply couldn’t help it. It didn’t last long though; I wasn’t the kind of person to keep laughing endlessly. “You done?” Adrian asked when it was clear I’d calmed down.
“Yep.” I told him. I went to wipe my eyes with my left hand but stopped myself just in time when I saw the dirt coating it. I was confused for a moment until I figured out it must have been from when I took Adrian’s hand to help him. That also meant that I probably had dirt all over my back as well. Oh well, at least it’d only be on my jumper. I’d be changing it when I got back to the Flinn’s anyway. The Flinns! I’d completely forgotten about them for a moment.
I quickly checked my watch and saw it was just gone ten past ten. I was going to be cutting it close. “Come on, we’ve got to go. You’re gonna want to put your hood back up first though.” I told him smirking as I started jogging along the path that led to the car park and exit of the park.
We arrived at the park entrance to find nobody. Remembering I still had my earpiece in I clicked it. “Harry, where’s Dillan?” I asked, facing Adrian so people would assume I was talking to him. Adrian looked slightly confused but not worried. Lucky for some, I was worried because I had to get back to the Flinns by half ten to be on the safe side and even then I might be too late.
“Dillan was on call tonight and got called in to deal with an incident in the town centre.” Harry responded. Dillan was working as a police officer while here, which explained his sudden disappearance at a crucial moment (crucial for me anyway). Everyone on our team’s working undercover as something else. Harry’s an accountant and our tech guy Peaty, who is only involved sometimes, is working as the IT technician at Llanishen High.
“Hang on, where in the town centre?” I asked, getting a bad feeling.
“Greyfriars Road. It’s been sorted and Dillan is heading to the park now. ETA, ten minutes.” Harry informed me.
I ran my right hand over my hooded head. Damn it! I hate it when I’m right. “The New Theatre’s on Greyfriars Road, Harry. It’s where the Flinns were going.” I explained to Him.
“That building was evacuated half an hour ago but people have only been allowed to leave for the last five minutes.”
I was trying to think of the best plan when Adrian spoke up. “Harry can you get Dillan to meet us along the way? We’ll head over to the Flinn’s.”
“Will do.” Harry responded.
I watched Adrian in surprise and I clicked off my earpiece. “How’d you know about the Flinn’s?”
“Harry told me you were babysitting and then you mentioned the Flinn’s now, so I put two and two together.” Adrian replied, looking pleased with himself. “Now let’s get you back in time.” He gestured for me to lead the way.
I started off running in the right direction. I knew it would take me ten to fifteen minutes to get from here to the Flinns, I just had to hope they hadn’t left town yet. “You don’t have to stick around you know, you could head home or wait for Dillan.” I told Adrian who was running alongside me.
“It’s fine. I live in the same direction and I can help by distracting the Flinn’s if need be.” Adrian replied.
I thought about his offer and decided to accept it as I may very well need him to create a diversion. “Okay, thanks. We need to head to the street behind Maple Grove.” I informed him, so he’d know where we were running to.
“Okay, I’ll head down Maple Grove when we get there and keep an eye out.” Adrian replied. I nodded, it was a good idea.
I decided to pick up my speed. It was a good thing we were both dressed in outfits that could pass for running gear otherwise we’d would look especially odd running at this time of night.
We made it to my street and Adrian split off and slowed down, acting normal. I carried onto the next street. Just as I turned onto the street behind Maple Grove (it turned out it was called Stone close) a car passed me that I recognised. The Flinns were back. Good thing their house and the one behind it were only five houses down the road.
I ran as fast as I could down the street. When I reached the house I leaped over the side gate and raced across the back garden and jumped the back fence. As I ran across the Flinn’s back garden I dug through my pocket for the spare key and found it as I reached the backdoor. I unlocked the door, rushed in and shut it again in a matter of seconds. I quickly stopped by the sink to wash my dirty left hand before going into the hallway where I popped the spare key back where it belonged. I could see the outline of someone walking up the path to the front door through the translucent glass. So I hurried into the living and quickly stripped out of my black jumper, took my earpiece out, grabbed the camera I’d set up and shoved them all into my rucksack. I pulled on the my purple jumper on and sat down in front of the settee, right by the table and picked up the pen I’d placed there earlier and continued writing my essay, trying to slow my breathing and heartbeat.
The front door opened so I stopped what I was doing and went into the hall to greet the Flinns like I usually would. The front door was open when I got there but no one had come in. That was odd. I heard voices outside so I went to investigate.
Outside I found the Flinns talking with a distressed Adrian. “I’m sorry, we haven’t seen anything.” I heard Mrs Flinn apologise.
Adrian nodded his head looking defeated. He was still covered in mud and his hood was down, showing off the twigs and dirt in his hair. “Don’t worry, thanks for trying to help.” Adrian replied gloomily.
Mrs Flinn noticed me at that moment. “Hang on a moment,” She told Adrian before turning to me. “Ash, this young man’s lost his dog. Did you hear or see one go by at all tonight?” She asked me hopefully.
Adrian looked at me with renewed hope. “Have you?” He asked hopefully. “Mini Maximus is a brown Chihuahua, around four years old. I was out walking him when he must have spotted a squirrel. I got dragged halfway across the park before he got free but I thought he might have headed this way, making his way home, you know?”
“No sorry, I haven’t seen or heard any dogs go by.” I replied apologetically.
If the Flinns weren’t here I would’ve laughed out loud at Adrian’s next actions. “Mini Maximus!” He cried, falling to his knees and holding his head in his hands. “Where are you?” He asked, sounding like he was crying. Personally, I thought it was over the top, but after a night like tonight this was a welcome relief.
I could see by looking at Mr and Mrs Flinn that neither knew what to do about the weeping young man before them. “It’s fine, I’ll handle this. I know him from school. He’s always been a bit dramatic.” I told them quietly, so Adrian wouldn’t hear. Although with his hearing I couldn’t be sure. Mr Flinn, who looked like he was going to argue, seemed satisfied by my reasoning. “I’ll just go get my stuff.” I told them, quickly popping back into their house. I shoved my essay and pen into my bag before putting it over my shoulder and leaving.
When I came back Adrian was still crying on the floor. I wanted to roll my eyes but stopped myself. “Sam and Clara were as good as gold and I hope you enjoyed your show.” I said as way of goodbye as I passed, heading towards Adrian. “Come on Adrian, let’s get you home. Mini Maximus may already be there.” I comforted, helping him up off the floor and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. It’s an odd moment when you have to console someone over the loss of a dog they didn’t have to begin with.
I started to lead him away from the Flinns and my house, heading to the top of the street when Mrs Flinn called after me. “Ash! Thanks for babysitting but what about what we owe you?”
I turned and waved my hand, saying “Forget about it,” Before continuing down the street.
Mrs Flinn didn’t reply but I knew she would find a way to pay me for babysitting whether it was to give it to Mark and Sarah to give to me or to catch me the next time I passed by or left the house.
When we’d reached the top of the street and I turned to face Adrian. “I have to say, you laid it on a bit thick back there.” I patted his clean arm. “But thank you. It was a close call.”
“No problem.” Adrian replied, smiling brightly. We both just stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. “What now boss?” Adrian asked me, smirking slightly.
I ignored the taunt and fished my phone out of my pocket. I clicked on Harry’s name and put it on speaker at a low volume so Adrian could hear as well. It rang once before Harry picked up. “Yes?”
“We made it.” I informed him. “What do you want us to do with the info we collected?”
“Give it to Peaty on Monday along with your reports. He’ll analyse the data before passing it onto the other teams.” Harry answered. “I’ll let Dillan know. You’re both finished for tonight.”
“Okay, thanks Harry.” I replied before ending the call. I was relieved that I’d made it through tonight with no mishaps. Well, hardly any, I corrected myself looking at Adrian’s current state.
“Well, all’s well that ends well.” Adrian remarked, putting his hands in his pockets.
“Yeah.” I replied, thinking how true that statement was. “Can you find your way home from here?”
“Yeah, I live on Stone Close in the house just behind the Flinn’s.” Adrian replied, pointing over his shoulder.
“That explains why Dillan chose that house to pick me up from!” I blurted, as I realised it wasn’t a random occurrence.
“What?” Adrian asked, looking confused. It seemed like he was often confused, well around me anyway.
I was surprised he hadn’t been told or even picked up at the same time as me as it was his house after all. “If anyone saw someone running through your garden, don’t worry, it was just me. I was told to use it as a shortcut.” I explained sheepishly.
Adrian laughed. “Okay then.” We remained quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “I’m going to head off then.”
“Wait! Do you want me to give your report and stuff to Peaty on Monday? Just because I know it’s going to be hard for you to get away from Jessica.” I offered while explaining my reasoning.
“Yeah, okay. The less random trips made the better.” Adrian agreed, accepting my offer. “I’ll pop them over to you at some point before Monday.”
“That’s fine.” I replied. “I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah. Have a good weekend.” Adrian responded, heading off.
I turned away, going back down my street. I wasn’t stopped by the Flinn’s; they probably weren’t expecting me to come back this way so soon. I made it to my house without any problems.
“How’d it go?” Mark asked, appearing from the kitchen with a full bowl of popcorn in his hand.
For a second I had to think about what he meant, as he didn’t know about the mission, before realising he meant the babysitting. I never got used to switching between my two lives. “Oh, it was fine. They went to sleep early.” I told him, taking my shoes off.
“A nice easy night then,” Mark guessed. I almost laughed; tonight had been anything but easy. “We’re about to put on another film if you want to join us?”
“Why not?” I agreed, leaving my rucksack by the door.
Mark beat me to the best seat, raising a fist in victory, just like in The Breakfast Club at the end, which just so happened to be the film they’d decided to watch. I sat in the middle and as the movie started my thoughts drifted back over the events of tonight.
I couldn’t believe that my night had gone from fleeing a criminal mastermind’s apartment to comforting Adrian over the loss of his imaginary dog and finally ending with me watching The Breakfast Club. I would reassure myself with the knowledge that stranger things have happened but this is the one time I can honestly say I don’t think they have. This night has been the strangest of the strange but at least it all worked out in the end.
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This was originally going to be longer but this just seemed like the right place to stop. So I hoped you enjoyed it :)