Detective Gabriel Holbrook made his way to the LA mall where he and his team had been notified of a potential bomb. He really hoped it was just a joke as he really wasn't in the mood to have the feds breathing down his neck on a Saturday morning. However, if someone had played a prank, he would make sure they would get a very long community service sentence under his supervision.
As he entered the parking lot and saw the group gathered near the cars, he groaned. He knew Caleb and Jason and what field they were working in. If they were there then things were definitely complicated.
-'Caleb Rivers, as much as I love to see you, I hope you can help clear up what's going on here?' Holbrook nodded towards the teams around them. Toby stepped in to answer him. Hanna shifted on her legs, being uncomfortable with all the attention they were getting, and Spencer warned Jason of the fact that the media had learned what was going on and that they were starting to arrive at the scene as well.
-'One of our clients needed to do some shopping today and when we returned to the car this package was waiting beneath it so we called the police and let them handle the situation.' When they had started their company Jason and Caleb had established some golden rules for their staff members to follow: always cooperate with the police and never do anything illegal while protecting somebody.
-'Ok, so how did that happen? Did any of you notice anything strange? What happened here?' Holbrook raised one of his eyebrows, studying the scene in front of them, while he gestured for somebody to make sure the media didn't get on the scene.
-'Spencer Hastings stopped us from getting in the car. She then looked beneath it and told us to call you guys because there was a bomb there.' Spencer took a step forward and continued the story from Toby.
-'Hanna and I went to high school together and were roommates for years. She's allergic to TNT. When she started sneezing something clicked in my mind so I asked everyone to step away from the car. It was only a hunch but once I saw something lying beneath the car I knew it was probably worth calling the police.'
-'I see. So obviously the client you are currently protecting has an enemy powerful enough to go to such great extremes to finish her off. Is there any chance any of you will tell me who that enemy is? ' Hanna kept her mouth shut. She couldn't blame Akimi without some serious evidence and even then he still had connections to cover his tracks.
-'Gabe, we'll make sure to send you a list of possible suspects. We have some ideas as to who could be behind this but we don't want to make any accusations without concrete proof to back it up.' Olivia spoke softly as Detective Holbrook studied the scene once more. 'Do you still need us here? I'd rather we kept these ladies as low profile as possible. Press covering this case won't help.'
-'You're all free to go. If any of you remembers anything new or if we have questions I know how to find you.' The group then headed to their cars and made their way back to Caleb's place.
Once they reached the house Spencer and Hanna went upstairs to Hanna's bedroom while everyone else gathered inside Caleb's office. Olivia sat down on the couch and opened her laptop, ready to tell Caleb her theory, while the three men exchanged worried looks. Annoyed Olivia could be a very scary woman. .
-'Okay Han, what's going on? Caleb paid for your dress at the store. Why? Did something happen between the two of you after we left here yesterday? And why is Jason here? Shouldn't you be under Caleb's watch?'
-'Caleb reassigned me to be protected by Jason's team instead of his. We're trying to figure out what's going on between us. Clearly we're attracted to each other, but we both have skeletons in our closets. For now, we're going to take things slow and try to see where we go from here. He's taking me to the charity ball as his fake girlfriend. Spence, I'm really, really falling for this guy.'
Hanna mumbled her answers from the bed while Spencer sat on the window seat and looked out. Spencer shook her head before she turned to face Hanna. Hanna studied her friend and gave her the 'what did you do now?' look. Spencer was clearly guilty of doing something with Toby, but what?
-'Spencer did you by any chance sleep with Toby last night? What did you do? It can't be worse than me gluing Allison's lips together right before the Ice Ball during our senior year. What's up?'
-'Wait... What? That was you? How the hell did you do it? You...' Spencer watched her friend, amazed at how much she had clearly underestimated her prankster side. Hanna's eyes narrowed as she watched Spencer.
-'Spencer Jill Hastings, stop stalling!' Hanna grabbed her pillow from the bed and threw it at Spencer's head, missing it by an inch. Spencer picked up the pillow from the floor and sighed into it.
-'I got drunk last night after I finished work and then I went to Toby's room and started hitting on him. He rejected me but I slept the night in his bed. Wanna talk about closet skeletons? Mine are bigger than yours, but still, how the hell did you glue Allison's lips together?'
-'Well it was right before you and I became roommates. Allison would constantly enter my room and use my favorite gloss without permission. I actually kept it inside my nightstand so that maybe she would take a hint, but she didn't so when the Ice Ball came I poured glue in my gloss tube and left it in my nightstand. As you can imagine Allison used it and the rest is history. She never touched my gloss again...'
Spencer chuckled slightly and then burst into full-on laughter, joined by Hanna. Soon both of them were on the floor laughing as they remembered the way Allison's lips looked like a duck's for two weeks after the party. Granted Allison had soon started to tease Hanna about her weight, but once Spencer moved in with Hanna everything changed.
Downstairs things were definitely looking grim for the security team gathered inside Caleb's office. Jason shifted on his feet as Toby took a seat on the couch, working on his laptop as well, while Caleb phoned Luke and asked him to join them via phone conference to discuss the new turn of events.
-'OK people, what exactly isn't working here? So far Akimi found out Hanna's location, we had a sniper in our backyard, and a bomb planted beneath our car in the past 48 hours. Are we facing a mole leak? '
Caleb's voice was angry while everyone in the room agreed with his words. Olivia turned her head to face Caleb. She glanced towards Jason before she finally started sharing her thoughts. She knew she had to choose her words carefully as this was a sensitive subject.
-'Actually I think this is a little more complicated than that. I mean we were expecting for Akimi to figure out where Hanna was almost immediately. That's why you moved her here. Remember? So I'm guessing that the sniper was just doing rounds trying to figure out how tight our security really is. As for who planted the bomb, I think the question we should ask is when? And more importantly how did they do it? There are security cameras all over the mall.'
-'Which means that whoever put the bomb there probably used the blind spots to do it. But that leaves the question of when they did it Clearly it was sometime after Spencer and I arrived at the mall because everyone else was inside the building already.'
Toby's voice was calm, but his emotions weren't as he was worried about the way the day could've ended for everyone, not just him and Spencer. 'More importantly, just how did they know when you guys would leave the house? It's not like you had a sign hanging outside the house telling people you were off shopping.' He continued speaking while Jason studied Olivia very carefully.
-'I think I have an answer for that. Before you guys met me at the cafe I was doing one of my coincidence timelines. And something didn't add up. I thought it was nothing until we found out about the bomb, but before I share my theory with the rest of the class I need for you guys to promise me you won't freak out about it.'
Jason froze in his spot as Caleb leaned in his chair. Whenever Olivia used that phrase it meant something was definitely up. Caleb glanced over at Jason before he nodded for Olivia to continue, although he already had a suspicion as well. He just wanted to see if Olivia had the same thought.
-'As I did the timeline I tried to analyze the people who have come back into Hanna's life these past few days. Spencer's reunion with her was to be expected given their history. And given Spencer's connection to Toby and Jason, Hanna's reunion with them was also to be expected. The one person that doesn't really fit the pattern is...'
-'Allison.' Jason shrugged his shoulder as everyone turned to look at him. 'Oh come on. My sister goes missing for two years and the first thing she does is help my mom send out invitations to a charity ball? Allison and charity? My guess is that she used the opportunity to bug this place when she came here yesterday. And you and Hanna did discuss your plans in the kitchen today, which clears up the whole 'how do they know of our schedule' question.'
Caleb got up from his seat, his eyes burning in anger as he headed to the mini bar Allison opened yesterday. Sure enough there was a bug planted inside it. He quickly gestured for Jason to come check the area as he headed out of the building to clear his head.
Olivia rested her head against the couch, staring at the ceiling, a million questions running through her head. Toby typed furiously on his keyboard while Jason discussed things over with Luke over the phone.
Soon enough Spencer made her way downstairs to get Toby and head home as she had her evening date to get to. Hanna had fallen asleep so she had let her rest. Olivia headed outside to join Caleb in the garden while Jason continued checking the house for more bugs.
Hello everyone thank you for all of your amazing reviews.
Liss, I'm glad you found that scene to be funny. It was a bit of a challenge for me to write because i'm clueless about fashion and about terms used to described clothes and accessories. My beta saved me with that. We had some very intriguing "low back, no back, strings and zippers" details to be discussed and they will all make sense in the next chapter.
Safrena, I can not express how much joy your review has brought me. I wanted to make this chapter seem light to you guys, but I also wanted to remind everyone that this fiction has this title for a reason.
Massroyalties, thank you for you review. This is exactly the type of reaction I was aiming to get from my readers.
Katie, as much as I loved writing the coffee incidents i don't think I'll write a scene where Haleb goes clothes shopping anytime soon, if ever again. This one really fried my brains.
Pigua89 as much as i would like to know who you believe is behind the attacks and the bomb I doubt any of you is prepared for who put the bomb there. I'm glad you like the way I am writing Caleb and Hanna in this fiction. There is a sweet dance scene coming up in next chapter between Haleb.
Now I want to thank you all for taking the time into reviewing Protection. Sadly the lack of response I have gotten lately over the stories I write has really made me question if once i finish the fictions I'm working on now I will post a new one. I am seriously considering to stop writing. If you think i shouldn't do that then please read and review as well. Your opinions and questions motivate me better than anything else.
Nico.