Page 80 of Veiled

Aiden shakes his head in frustration as I run back to him, but he's settled down by the time we’re in the car, and he’s putting the location of our drop into the navigation system.

Of all places for a spy drop, we pull up to an ice cream shop. Aiden takes my hand when he opens my car door, putting on the ‘newlywed’ mask once more.

Inside, there’s a family of four, a couple, and two people sitting individually. Unfortunately, no one is holding a sign that reads, “Drop your hard drive here,” so we need to figure out which one is our contact.

Not wanting to draw any attention our way, we get in line and start looking at their ice cream flavors.

“What looks good to you, Sweetheart?” Aiden asks.

“I’m stuck between rocky road and strawberry. Ooo, or maybe mint chocolate chip.” I laugh. “What are you thinking?”

His lips twitch slightly, “How about you get a scoop of two of them, and I’ll get the third and the cookies and cream? Then we can share.”

This feels like us again. Or at least the us we’ve been pretending to be, but I can’t help but smile regardless.

“You’re too good to me.” I sigh and kiss his cheek.

I get some napkins and grab a table in the corner while he orders and pays. From here, we have a clear view of everyone and a little privacy to talk.

“What have you noticed?” he asks as he passes me my cone.

“The girl closest to us is out, she’s been smoking her weed vape, and I don’t think they are letting us do drugs for a mission.”

“Doubt it.”

“That leaves the couple, the guy sitting by himself, and the family of four,” I say, taking in details for each of them, looking for any signs.

The man in question gets up, throws away his trash, and leaves.

“Scratch that, it’s down to the family of four and the couple since we had a set drop point.”

“Wait, say that again.”

“Say what? That we had a set drop point?”

“That’s it! The family can’t be our contacts because there is no way they could sit here all day with two small kids, but the employee who has a set shift would already know he’s going to be here the full drop-off window without raising suspicion!” I’m whispering, but internally, I am screaming from the rooftop.

I lick my ice cream in an attempt to act casually, but I can’t help but watch him now. He’s average height, with short hair and a nice customer service smile, but it’s the way he keeps glancing at us, checking if we’re looking his way, that gives him away.

“He’s the one,” I mutter under my breath. “But now what? Do we just walk over there?”

Aiden keeps his voice low, but there’s a confident edge to it now. “No. We wait. He’ll do something, I’m sure of it. If he’s the contact, he knows how this works.”

We’re silent for a few minutes, eating our ice cream and watching the employee as he wipes down the glass cases and chats with the couple. Nothing too unusual, but there’s a constant flicker in his eyes—always scanning the room.

Then, finally, after what feels like an eternity, he walks over to us, “How’s your ice cream? Oh, here, let me clean that up for you.”

He grabs a towel from his apron and pretends to wipe up a mess while Aiden sets the hard drive between him and the table. Immediately, the towel is covering the drive, and the employee is moving it into his apron pocket.

“Thanks for coming in today. Hopefully you’ll come back next time you’re in town,” he says as he walks back behind the counter.

We don’t say anything else; we take our time finishing our ice cream before standing up to leave.

Aiden doesn’t take my hand this time; instead, his hand drops to my lower back in the protective way he does, and he gently guides me outside. My heart is still racing, adrenaline surging as we approach my car door. Before he bends to open it, I pop up on my toes and kiss him.

Aiden freezes, and for a split second, I think he might pull me closer, but instead, he steps away from me, his hand reaching for the handle and his expression unreadable.

He clears his throat, his voice almost too controlled when he speaks. “We did it. Mission’s over.”