Forbidden Secrets

Chapter 8 – Archer

Gabe’s POV

The road had several sharper bends ahead that Archer took these at speeds these roads should not see. The car following was quite a distance behind us, but it was still following.

Archer took the next left on to a one-track road, and even though we could meet ongoing traffic with nowhere to go, he didn’t seem to slow down.

He pulled over into a layby.

‘What are you doing?’

‘There is no way he should still be following us Gabe, he was way too far behind to know we took this turn but look’ I turned my head and tucked into the layby behind us, barely visible, was the car. Archer got out and did a scout of the car, and that’s when he found it.

‘Tracker. s**t Gabe, I’m sorry, I didn’t check!’

‘Listen, don’t worry, just loose him’

‘Oh, I’ll lose him’

‘Seeing you drive on the open road; I have no doubt. And when I am done feeling sick, I want to know where the hell you learnt to drive like that!’ I got back in the car, in the front seat, and clicked on my seat belt.

‘Are you sure you wanna sit up front?’

‘Now you say that, no’

‘Too late, let’s go’ and he pulled out of the layby.

‘What are you doing? You still have the tracker’

‘Yep, you’ll see….’ he just grinned widely, and it was the happiest I had ever seen him.

I had no choice but to trust this man, who I now considered a little crazy.

He took off at what I would deem fast, but not excessive, the car followed at a reasonable distance behind us. A tractor was pulling out of a farm just ahead of us, and just as I thought we were screwed, Archer sped up.

‘Aghhhhhhh’ I held my hands over my eyes screaming like a girl as we sliced passed the tractor, barely missing the humongous tires that could have crushed us like an ant, the tractor horn beeping angrily.

Archer, laughing like a hyena just kept going.

‘s**t, I am going to be sick’

‘Oh no you don’t!’ Archer warned, and I was beginning to wonder at this point who was the boss in this car.

I tried to hold it in ‘Archer….’

‘Hold it, 5 minutes tops’ I was clearly not the boss at this present moment in time.

We turned onto a dual carriageway and Archer opened his window and launched the tracker into a truck with an open back, landing with precision, the tracker sped off with the truck in the opposite direction, and Archer drove another few minutes before pulling into a service station.

I opened the car door and proceeded to throw up everything I had eaten today, which wasn’t a great deal. Archer got out and walked around the car, laughing solidly behind me.

‘Are you going to be okay Boss?’

‘I think we can safely say you are the boss of the car Archer. What the f**k was that?’

‘Gabe, did you read my CV?’

‘No’

‘Your livelihood and billions have been made from checking people’s credentials and spying on people and you didn’t even check me out?’

‘No. I trusted Greyson; I don’t trust many people. He said we would be a good fit. I believed him’

Archer laughed once again ‘I wondered why you gave me the job’

‘s**t. Why? Are you a criminal? Should I be scared?’

‘Greyson is my uncle’

‘Oh, how did I not know this?’

‘Because you didn’t check out my CV’ he shook his head in disbelief ‘He’s my uncle by marriage, we have different surnames. But yeah, he’s, my uncle. I lost my job about 3 months before he retired, and he said he could put in a word for me if I was interested’

‘Clearly you were, you are here’

‘I didn’t have many options and I had already lost my flat’ he laughed.

‘Should I be regretting hiring you? because honestly, I like you, and I don’t regret it. What you just did was awesome, even if it did make me puke. By the way, tell no one about that! Ever’

‘Get in the car, we need to make a move, I’ll tell you everything you couldn’t be arsed to look up!’ he chuckled.

I felt like a bit of a prick, but even so, I still really liked this guy. He went way up in my estimations after today, even if it turned out he was a common criminal.

Turns out, he was a cop, not just any cop, he was the go too guy for speed chases. He had done all the driving and speeding courses and was an expert in his field. One day, he was on a chase, and the guy being chased, off roaded his car, because of a manoeuvre Archer had made.

The guy flipped his vehicle, and the car burst into flames. The man died. He was the son of a wealthy politician, and Archer was used as a scapegoat. He lost his job, and everything he had worked for. With ‘’fired from the police force for the death of the most famous politician’s son’’ on your record, finding another job hadn’t been easy. Until I came along.

‘Yeah. Ok, point taken, I wouldn’t have employed you if I had known that’

‘Jeez, thanks’

‘Well, it’s the truth, but I would have been wrong. Aren’t you glad I didn’t read your file?’

‘Yeah, I guess, I actually don’t hate you, or this job as much as I thought I would’

‘Thanks! I guess’

‘You are alright Gabe’

‘So are you. Why do you only call me Gabe sometimes?’

‘Respect. Something I learnt rigidly in the force. When we are greeting in work hours, in a work environment, or with company, I will always call you Mr. Matthews or Sir. Here, just the two of us, off roading, Gabe seems a better fit’

‘Yeah, ok, I get that’ I had started to feel a little less peaky ‘not far now, should be there in about 15 minutes’

‘Want me to wait for you?’

I looked at the clock, it was already 5pm, I knew Zeke would be at home today, he didn’t start back full time until Monday, but by the time we arrived it would be the kid’s teatime, so it was going to be a late night.

‘No, thanks, it’s going to be a long meeting. Head home, I’ll crash here tonight, can you pick me up in the morning?’

‘No problem, 8?’

‘Make it 9, and sorry to ask, but could you let Amberly know to hold l my calls until then? I doubt I will remember’

‘Sure thing’

We pulled up onto the drive and I got out, collecting my belonging, including the fresh clean pressed suit and the overnight bag I always keep in my car for unexpected occasions such as this. Archer drove off, and I stepped up to his front door, ringing the doorbell, thinking now I should have perhaps called and let Zeke know I was on my way!

The door opened and a little face appeared ‘Uncle Gabe’ Isla’s big grin was a welcome sight.

‘Hello princess, Is Dad or Daddy in?’ Ezra was Dad, Zeke Daddy.

‘Isla, Sweetie, what have I said about opening the door to strangers!’ Zeke came rushing to the door.

‘It’s Uncle Gabe, he’s not a stranger’

‘You didn’t know that before you opened the door though, did you?’ he patted her on the head softly, ‘Go on, go wash up for dinner’

Isla skipped off and Zeke came to the door ‘You going to let me in or do I have to stay on the doorstep’

‘Gabe! Sorry, yeah come in. What are you doing here?’ he had a tea towel draped over his shoulder and he looked a little flustered as he backed away from the door to let me in, eyeing my bags ‘Staying over?’

‘I can get a hotel, I just didn’t expect to be here so late, and I let Archer go home’

I dropped my bags in the hall ‘No need for a hotel’ he said as we made it into the large kitchen area and Zeke went back to cooking ‘must be serious for you to be here in the week’

‘Yeah, kind of, I need your help and advice’ I tried to keep the edge out of my response, but the look on his face as he eyed me, while briefly looking over his shoulder, told me I had failed ‘but let’s get the kids fed first, it can wait’

‘Ok, make yourself useful, go check Obi is clean… he’s been playing in the sand pit! We don’t need sandy fish pie’

I left to check on Obi while Zeke dished up, the scrumptious smell of homecooked food filling my nostrils. God, I missed home cooked meals. When I entered the kitchen, with a now clean Obi, Isla hot on my tail, Zeke placed the meals on the table and the kids sat up.

My stomach rumbled ‘Want some? I made plenty’ I had thrown up the only meal I had eaten today, and I was suddenly really hungry.

‘Sure, if you don’t mind?’

‘Yay! Sit by me! PLEASSSSSSSSSE’ Isla whined.

‘NO! Meeeeeeeee!’ Obi added to the din.

‘I’ll sit by you both! I can sit in the middle’

‘YAY’ the cheered together, they were so easily pleased, I loved them.

We sat together and ate, making small talk with the kids about their day. Following dinner, I had the dutiful task of getting the kids ready for bed, followed by story time, while Zeke cleared up. As I was walking back down the stairs Ezra had arrived home.

‘Zeke?’ he called out.

‘Kitchen’ Zeke called back.

Ezra walked into the kitchen and over to Zeke and gave him a kiss ‘have you eaten?’

‘No, but we have a guest’

He looked over as I entered the kitchen having settled the kids to bed, and saw me ‘Oh, I wondered who was here! Everything alright?’ he knew it wasn’t, or I wouldn’t be here, he was just being polite.

‘I have a few things I need Zeke to look at for me, and well, I’m in a bit of s**t… I kind of needed some advice’ up until now, I had managed to keep my family out of media, but I wasn’t sure how this may affect them all ‘Sorry to just land on you, but it’s time sensitive’

‘Wanna go to the office?’ Zeke asked, we usually did when I was asking him to look over work related documents.

‘No, eat, I’ll fill you both in on everything and then you can look at the contracts and let me know what you think? If you don’t mind? Sorry for ruining your evening’ I did feel bad for just showing up, but I could tell by the glances they were giving each other they knew it was important.

‘I’m just going to check on the kids and have a quick shower, I’ll be down in 15’

While Ezra did that, Zeke poured us all a glass of wine and dished up his and Ezra’s food ‘Want some more? I’ve made enough to feed a small army’ he laughed.

‘Yeah, why not, it was good!’

‘Don’t sound so surprised’

I placed the dishes on the table and Zeke bought over the wine just as Ezra walked in.

‘So, Gabe, now it’s just us, what’s going on?’ Zeke never was one for beating around the bush, part of the lawyer in him I figured.

 ‘I don’t really know where to start. I guess with Felicity Douglas, wife of Richard Douglas, of Douglas Estates’

‘As in, the most affluential and sought-after property management company in the South?’ Zeke asked.

‘The one and only’

‘Oh Gabe, please tell me you didn’t f**k her!’

I swallowed hard, dealing with this whole sorry ass situation was not going to be fun. I took a large swig of the wine ready to give an explanation.

‘For f***s sake Gabe, I knew one day your womanising would come back to bite you ass’

‘Zeke, please, just listen, it’s not what you are thinking’

They were all ears. Here I go!