~ Seattle, Hill family villa ~
Edward and Stella watched Sarah and Aiden holding each other, few steps away from unmoving body of a doctor.
"Look at them…" Stella sighed. "Not a single care in the world."
"At that age, you don't have an awareness of the dangers around you."
Stella agreed. "I wish that they can be so carefree for a long time."
"That is why they have us." Edward reminded her.
"Yeah…" Stella paused. "We should go there."
"Where?" Edward frowned. He does not like to leave their villa unless it's necessary. All his computers are here!
"Los Angeles. We already have plans to go. It is just moving everything few days ahead… and we will make sure they are safe. Sarah offered that we go and see their new home. This is a great opportunity." Stella smiled.
Edward rubbed his forehead while weighing pros and cons of them going earlier.
"Edward, honey… why is Sarah looking straight at the camera?"
Edward snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the screen. Stella is correct. Sarah is looking at the camera and smiling. It took him a moment to realize that video is frozen.
A second later, warning dialog was shown on the screen.
"What is going on?", Stella asked and stood up from his lap so that Edward has a clear view of the screens and unobstructed access to the keyboard.
Edward typed frantically for few seconds before abruptly lifting his hands off the keyboard. "Sarah is killing the connection to the feed and deleting our copy."
"Can't you stop it?" Stella wanted to have a copy of Sarah's and Aiden's fight so that she can watch it later again.
"Not without raising flags." Edward admitted. "If I interfere, Sarah will know that someone with skills is behind this, and she will investigate."
Stella nodded in understanding. They don't want Sarah to know that her father is more than an enthusiastic software developer. Not at this time, at least.
Stella remembered that Sarah is in the middle of the parking lot. "How can she erase video if she is out there?"
"She either has someone helping her… or is using Eve."
"Eve can do that?" Stella was surprised. She always thought that Eve is for telling time, weather and monitoring the house.
Edward showed a proud smile. "I noticed that Sara was making several advanced changes to Eve's behavior, but half-way through she changed her access protocols, and I didn't see everything. Sarah straightened Eve's defenses and I'm not confident that I can get in without alerting her. I didn't have time to look into Eve again because I got busy with all monitoring before Sophia's wedding, and after our meeting with Whites I'm swamped. But it seems that Sarah upgraded Eve. Again."
Stella smiled as well. "OK. I will call Elanor to explain why the video stopped… and then we are going to pack." Stella turned to Edward and saw that he is not excited about the idea of them going early to Los Angeles. She clarified: "Let's leave as soon as possible. I am concerned that those people are not the only ones. There are people whose skills are much higher than what we saw. Only by being there we can help them out when needed and make sure they are safe."
Edward agreed. How can he not agree with that?
~ Reno, White family villa ~
Elanor finished her phone conversation with Stella.
"It seems that Sarah disabled the video." Elanor explained to Oscar. "That is why we can't watch our kids anymore. It was a good show."
Oscar agreed. He enjoyed watching Aiden's and Sarah's unexpected display of skills and teamwork. It made him think of a perfect section of White foundation forces which will suit them very well to have under their command.
"Hills are going to Los Angeles early. Today. I think we should do the same. Let's pack." Elanor left the study room swiftly, without giving any chance to Oscar to object. Oscar took a deep breath and followed after his wife.
Not long after, in the walk-in closet of their bedroom, Oscar is watching Elanor happily pick clothes.
"Why are we going earlier than planned? Are you sure this is not about matchmaking?" Oscar is suspicious about Elanor's motives.
"What matchmaking? They are already matched." Elanor denied before adding: "Our presence might push things along, but nothing more than that… By the way, we are going to Aiden's and Sarah's new home. They invited us a while ago to visit… Are you going to pick your underwear, or should I?"
Oscar sighed and went to the drawer with underwear.
~ Los Angeles, LA Medical Center ~
Sophia and Felix agreed immediately that they will stay at Sarah's and Aiden's Cliffside villa because it's safer to stick together. When JoAnna and Jeff return the next day, they will discuss the incident and decide on next steps.
Sarah has a supply of powerful anesthetic from JoAnna and she used it on four attackers.
"They should be completely out for at least next six hours.", Sarah explained as they stuffed last of four people in the trunk of their car. "Unfortunately, I'm out of truth serum, so we need to wait until tomorrow for Anna to come back before we chat with them."
Jarred and Charlie observed and listened to this with great interest. The more they know about Sarah, the more fascinated they are.
Sarah noticed that Smiths are following her and listening in, but they helped them out with extra bodyguards, and they are getting them a helicopter (two of them), so she feels that it's not appropriate to shoo them away. She reminded herself not to talk about secret things which is not for outsiders, and then everything will be fine.
Sarah and Aiden hacked hospital surveillance and found that Ryan and Levi are in the storage closet on the second floor of LA Medical Center.
After the exam, Dr confirmed that Ryan and Levi don't have serious injuries, and he suggested that they stay in the hospital overnight for observation.
Jarred's and Charlie's bodyguards who got hurt also had checkups. The ones with light injuries were free to go, but five which were not so lucky, stayed overnight.
They arranged VIP rooms for all seven bodyguards who need an overnight stay and two extra bodyguards will be with them in case they need anything.
…
After all that was settled, Sarah and Aiden exhaled in relief and headed home.
Aiden is driving, and Sarah is next to him. They have doctor (Lazo) and the janitor (Pavle) in their trunk.
Sarah glanced at the array of cars driving behind them and sighed while looking at Aiden helplessly. "Can you explain again why are Jarred and Charlie coming with us? And how come they ended up invited to stay at our home?"
Aiden was not sure if he should laugh or cry. This is the third time she is asking the same questions. "You told me not to offend them, because they are nice, and they helped us. So, I let you talk with them… Jarred asked if we have any bodyguards now that Sophia's are in the hospital, and you said that we don't, and he offered to share his. And it seems that sharing bodyguards means that he and Charlie are included as well."
Sarah looked at Aiden blankly and blinked few times before speaking: "I don't remember saying that I want to share their bodyguards."
"You didn't." Aiden did his best not to laugh. Sarah's confused expression is comical.
"Why do I feel that he tricked me?", Sarah asked after long silence.
Aiden burst into laugh. "I always told you that you are too nice."
He knows that Sarah is kind to people as long as they don't try to hurt her or her loved ones. He remembered when Jeff wanted to stay with them in Fairfield in order to get closer to JoAnna, and Sarah was more than once on the verge to allow him stay… She is nice even to the animals.
Aiden saw that Sarah is dejected and reminded himself not to tease her. "I thought you like them."
"He is a nice old man… and Charlie is OK, I guess…" She decided not to make a big deal out of it. "I'm just nervous and excited. We are having our first house guests!"
Aiden agreed with Sarah that Smiths are OK and provided an additional encouragement: "We have extra bedrooms so it will not be a problem. Their bodyguards can stay in the side house for staff where we have free space because we still didn't hire full time bodyguards that we planned to get. Jesse will show them around. Additional bonus is that if we treat Jarred and Charlie well, they will owe us a favor."
"OK. Sounds better when you put it that way." Sarah relaxed for a moment. "Oh, we should plan for dinner…"
"Let me handle that..", Aiden offered, and Sarah happily accepted.
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