DOUBLE TAKE

Chapter 11

Callen walked back into the house feeling down after his spat with Nell. He knew it was all an act, but he hated being like this with her.

Charlie placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, George. She'll be back soon. How about we go out for dinner?"

Callen looked at his cousin. He knew he shouldn't be too down, seeing he was on assignment with Nell, whereas Charlie was away in another city from Jackson, Beckett, Louise and Max. "Okay." He smiled at her. "So, what would you like? Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, seafood?" He really had no idea what Charlie liked.

"Hmm! Indian. I love Indian. You?" She tilted her head to him.

"Sounds good. Let's google a good local Indian." Callen looked up on his smart phone for reviews and found one called Roti Boti. "How about this one?"

Charlie looked at his phone and nodded. "Looks good." She smiled. Just the thought of Indian food made her tummy grumble. It was her favourite foreign food, and craved it when she was pregnant with her three children.

"Can you text Nell and let her know where to meet us?" Callen asked her.

Charlie raised her brow in question.

"She might take it better coming from you." He was back in character.

"Sure thing, Brad." She knew he was back in character for their dinner out in public. She sent Nell a text.

'Dinner out at Roti Boti. It's on Hampton Road, not far from the cafe you're at now. Meet you there in an hour. Love Mom x'

'K,' Hailey replied.

Callen texted Eric so he could tap into the cameras in the restaurant, to see if anyone was taking any particular interest in them.

Roti Boti Restaurant

Bradley and Alisha Stevens walked into the Indian Restaurant an hour later and saw their daughter waiting for them, playing a game on her smart phone. Elisha sat next to Hailey, while Brad sat across from them both. Hailey continued to ignore her parents, so Brad decided two could play this game. He looked though the menu to see what he would order. Hailey still hadn't acknowledged her parents. The waiter came over and he and Elisha placed their order. He looked over to Hailey and saw she still didn't look up, so he decided to order for her.

Hailey scowled at him. "I can order for myself, you know."

"Well how about you take yourself out of your phone and order then." His blood pressure was high from Hailey's deliberate acts of insubordination.

Hailey looked at the waiter and placed her order. Unbeknown to her parents, she had already looked through the menu and decided on what she was going to eat.

Brad's phone rang, he walked outside the restaurant to take it. "Brad."

"Hey, Callen." Eric began. "We might have some possibilities from the gang we are looking for."

"Where?" Callen asked him.

"On the opposite side of the restaurant, there are four men, who have taken a particular interest to you three, in particular, Nell."

Callen scanned the inside of the restaurant while he stood outside on the phone. "At my ten o'clock."

"Yeah," Eric responded.

"Thanks. Let me know if you find anything."

Callen didn't need to say anything else, Eric knew what he wanted—-facial recognition and background checks on them. If anything was out of sync, he would find it and get the rest of the team onto them ASAP. After all, it was his partner whose life was in danger in this case, and the less time Nell was undercover, the happier Eric was.