Fanfiction: I Took A Ride To Meet An Enemy - Part One

[safaiagemwriting]

I Took A Ride To Meet An Enemy

Part One

Arthur blinked slowly awake and listened to the sounds of London at night. He was not sure what had woken him up but there was no way he was going to fall back asleep now. Arthur had plenty he could work on, he had some plans he needed to pick apart and a background check to do, but his bed had seemed much more appealing at 11pm. Now it was 3am and he was wide awake as usual. Arthur rubbed his hands over his face and tried to will his body into going back to sleep but it was no use.

“Arthur, what are doing awake?” Eames said from his side of the bed. The forger had been fast asleep not a minute before and now he was staring at Arthur with bright eyes. Over the course of just under a decade he had become very close to Eames. They met fresh out of the dream program when Arthur was barely twenty-one and now he was twenty-nine and there was no one in the world that he trusted more than the man in bed with him. They had been through so much together that there was no doubt in his mind that they were meant to be together. There was no definition of what they had and that did not bother Arthur in the slightest.

“Just woke up for no real reason,” he replied. It had been nine months since the inception on Robert Fischer had taken place. Things had been relatively quiet since save for an IDCA agent that had gone snooping around. He and Eames had taken care of the situation and spared the life of the agent. Arthur was not expecting any further problems from the International Dream Crime Association but he kept a close eyes on Cobb and his former teammates anyway.

“It’s two in the morning, you should be asleep like a normal person.” Eames was talking into his pillow though he did not sound that annoyed or surprised.

“I’m awake so I might as well get something done,” Arthur replied.

“Fine, since I know you won’t be persuaded otherwise,” Eames sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll help you so maybe I can get you to go back to bed before six in the morning.” Arthur smiled and stood.

“I’ll put some coffee on,” Arthur said as he pulled on a pair of flannel pajamas and a t-shirt. Eames waved him off and Arthur grabbed his cellphone off of the desk as he walked out into his flat. He kept his own place in London and Eames did as well but sometimes he wondered why they did this at all. If they were not at one apartment together then they were both at the other apartment. He rarely worked with anyone else and Arthur had long since stopped caring what the rest of the world thought of that. He and Eames had made their choice believing the benefits of having someone you could trust outweighed any potential danger.

He was halfway done with making a pot of coffee when his phone started ringing. Arthur set down the beans, picked up the phone and saw Cobb’s name . That made no sense to him because Cobb knew he was in London . While Arthur knew he kept odd hours it was not like Cobb to assume he was awake at two in the morning. He picked up on the second ring just as Eames walked in the kitchen.

“Cobb, why are you calling me at--”

“Arthur, Arthur, I need your help, god, I need your help.”Cobb sounded frantic, manic even, and Arthur had not heard that tone of voice since the frantic and slightly manic call he had received the night Mal jumped. He was still mumbling about how he needed Arthur’s help and, god, please, he needed help right now.

“Cobb, Cobb, calm down and tell me what happened,” Arthur said a little louder than necessary but it seemed to snap the Cobb back to reality.

“Someone tried to kill me and the kids.” In the background he could hear Phillipa crying but did not hear James which worried him.

“Is anyone hurt?” Arthur asked and Eames moved in close so he could eavesdrop on the phone call.

“Yes, yes, Arthur, James is hurt. They shot him, god, they shot him and I can’t just take him to a hospital but he’s going to die if I don’t please, Arthur, I don’t know what to do.” The babbling did not stop as something cold settled in Arthur’s stomach and he met Eames’ eyes. Eames nodded and ran into the bedroom to get his own phone.

“Cobb, I need you to listen to me, all right? Is it bad enough that you can’t wait for medical help at all?”

“It’s a graze but it’s deep and I’m trying to keep the bleeding down but he’s so small, Arthur, I--”

“I need to make a phone call and I need you to stay on the line. Eames is here and he’ll try to talk you through getting the bleeding under control. He’s also going to ask you what happened and you’re going to tell him everything.” Arthur did not wait for a response as he handed the phone to Eames. Eames began to talk in calm and soothing tones to try and get Cobb to calm down as Arthur used Eames’ phone to call the local hospital. After being patched through to several different people and using a name that was going to get the attention of a certain doctor he waited impatiently.

“Arthur, how nice of you to call,” a female voice on the other line said.

“Lydia, I’m afraid I don’t have time to catch up; there’s an emergency,” Arthur said and Lydia was all business now.

“Tell me what happened,” she said and Arthur explained everything he knew so far. Lydia was a doctor that owed him a favor from a few years back. While he and Eames were apart he had extracted some information from a colleague of hers. The job unfortunately ended with a very unhappy mark that decided that hitting Arthur with a car sounded like a good idea. Despite the fact that it could have easily been traced back to her Lydia offered to set the bone on his arm. It had come at a great personal risk and she was now the only physician he trusted. They were fortunate that she was based in LA. “Tell him to get here right away and go through the back door. I’ll be waiting.”

“Thank you Lydia,” Arthur replied.

“You know I don’t work for free, Arthur, so I’ll expect payment. Get that boy here right now.” Lydia hung up and Arthur took his phone out of Eames’ hand without a word.

“Cobb, I have a doctor you can go to and you’re going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing. Can you do that?” he asked.

“Yes. just tell me where to go,” Cobb replied. Arthur explained exactly where the hospital was, what entrance to use, and who he was looking for. He hung up because the last thing they needed was for Cobb to get pulled over for talking on his cellphone. Arthur took a deep breath and turned to see Eames already at their desktop.

“The next flight to LA leaves in forty-five minutes. If we hurry we can make it,” he said without looking up. Arthur nodded and he went into the bedroom to find the two suitcases they kept packed for this exact reason. There was no time to call in a favor to the airport and it was not the airline that Saito owned so they could not bring the PASIV. Instead, as Eames got dressed after printing their tickets, Arthur stored the machine in the safe hidden deep within the closet. He did not like leaving the machine behind but there was no time to waste. He trusted Lydia, to an extent, and he trusted her more because she was not willing to work for free. It meant that she saw this as a business transaction and was less likely to turn them in. There was not enough time to think of an alternative and if there was fallout he would deal with it later. “Are you ready?”

“Let’s go.”

---

They barely made it to the plane and even then they were running down the halls to the gate. The next flight did not leave for another three hours and Eames knew that Arthur did not want to wait that long. They got a few dirty looks from the other passengers in first class when they fell into their chairs gasping for breath. As the plane began to pull away Arthur visibly relaxed. They were going to have to sprint when they got to New York as well but they both knew JFK well enough that Eames was not too worried. What he was worried about was Cobb doing something rash. There was no way of getting in contact with him since he seemed to have turned off his phone. Arthur swore and hung up the phone provided by the plane and pointedly ignored the horrified look from the mother in the next seat.

“What’s the plan?” Eames asked because Arthur was lead on this one, no questions asked; he was just along as a backup gun and support.

“Cobb has a corpse cooling in his house right now and it’s not going to be pretty by the time we get there. We’re going to have to take care of that first and then we’ll go to the hospital. Lydia will take good care of James,” he replied and Eames was glad that Arthur sounded so sue of himself. Eames did the math and concluded that the body of the assassin would have been in Cobb’s house for twelve hours before they got to it. He crinkled his nose.

“It’s time like these that I wish we could hire interns to do all the dirty work for us,” Eames mused and Arthur snorted as he opened his laptop. No one around them was listening and Eames considered now as good a time as any to try and relax a little. He would tell Arthur to do the same but he knew that would not happen. He briefly considered drugging his friend but that would probably end violently. Instead Eames began to mentally catalog the area around the Cobb house and what they would need to do to take care of body disposal. Being good at that type of work was not something he was proud of but Arthur seemed to find it handy and was not bothered by it. Arthur’s was the only real opinion that mattered in the end.

Despite his best attempts Eames fell asleep and jerked awake when something poked him in the ribs. He almost reached for a gun when a hand grasped his arm and held fast. Arthur raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Eames asked as Arthur released his arm.

“Just that little spastic wake up you just did,” he replied. Eames rolled his eyes and settled back into his seat. The flight attendance announced that that they were going to be landing soon and they began to pack their gear. It was time for another sprint across an airport and they once again barely managed to get to the plane in time. Arthur opened his phone and dialed a number before they pulled out of the gate.

“Yes, could you patch me through to Dr. Lydia Connors?” Arthur paused and listened for a moment. “Yes, I understand, thank you.”

“What happened?” Eames asked and Arthur dropped his phone into his bag.

“She’s ‘very busy’ right now and you can ‘try again later,’” he replied. “So we have nothing to go on until we get to California.”

“She’s probably trying to keep James under the radar as much as possible. We’ll get through eventually.” Eames squeezed Arthur’s forearm and it made the other man relax just a little. Ten minutes into the flight and Arthur was sound asleep in his chair. Considering the travel day and the three hours of sleep they both had gotten Eames was not surprised. He made sure not to wake up Arthur as he took out the the other man’s computer and turned it on. Arthur had not shared his passwords but a few guesses later and Eames was into the system.

The first thing he found was a list of who could have put the hit out on Cobb which included Cobol, but they were keeping a low profile and Nathan Burman the IDCA agent they had let free. Eames crossed those two off right away because Cobol would not risk going after Cobb and assassinations were not Burman’s style. There were several other names that Eames recognized but no one that he could see taking a hit out on someone with kids. Arthur’s laptop was back in its proper place when the other man woke up an hour or so later. Arthur looked at Eames, to his laptop bag and then back to Eames.

“You know you could have just asked.”

“That would take all the fun out of cracking your passwords,” Eames replied grinning. Arthur shook his head but he was smiling too. Eames savored the moment because he was fairly sure that was going to be one of the last smiles he was going to get out of Arthur once they landed.

When they touched down Arthur was on the phone right away as Eames got them a car. He smiled a bit too wide and flirted a bit too much but it worked and the girl behind the counter gave them a different car than what was on the rental sheet. She blushed and giggled when they turned and walked out of the airport toward their car.

“Very smooth,” Arthur deadpanned as he hung up his phone. “Could you lay it on any thicker?”

“I didn’t alter my accent at all?” Eames replied and Arthur gave him the ‘oh come on now really?’ look. “Well I didn’t call her any pet names or wink.”

“Well done.” Arthur surprisingly got into the passenger seat but pulled out his phone as soon as they settled down. Eames took the wheel and made one stop at a hardware store to pick up the supplies they would need to take care of the body. Everything was too quiet when they pulled up to the Cobb house and they both pulled out their guns without hesitation. Eames considered it a turn of fate and pure luck that no one had called the cops. That would have complicated things .

Arthur took point, as always, and Eames backed him up. As much as it felt like a cliche everything was a little too quiet. They made their way into the house slowly but Eames knew something was wrong the moment they stepped inside; a body would have started to smell twelve hours after death and there was nothing. If anything the house smelled clean, like bleach, which meant that someone had taken care of the body for them. As Eames had begun to suspect there was no evidence at all that there had been a shooting. The walls were even clean and re-plastered but looked the same to anyone who did not know the Cobb house.

“I’d say it was nice that someone did our work for us but that just worries me more,” Eames said as he put his gun in his holster.

“Nothing is out of place,” Arthur said as he holstered his gun and knelt down to look at the spotless carpet. “Not a splinter of wood or a drop of blood. Whoever did this did not want someone to find the body of their gunman. Which means we’re dealing with someone who is not messing around.”

“Professionals then, but we assumed that to begin with. A burglar wouldn’t get the drop on Dom Cobb even if he was distracted by finger paints. At the same time a professional wouldn’t have missed either.” Eames hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and looked around the house. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here, Arthur.”

“I don’t either,” Arthur replied as he stood up. “Let’s get to the hospital.” They both walked out of the house and began the drive toward the hospital. They hit rush hour traffic and Eames said a few choice words in a few different languages as they moved mere inches in ten minutes. Arthur looked a little amused by his outbursts but remained silent. Eames knew the other man was deep in his own head thinking of exit strategies, where they could go next, what they were going to do next, and preparing to tear apart any plan that Cobb might have come up with in a panic induced delirium.

It was the middle of the night by the time they got to the hospital. Anyone else would be expecting some sort of trouble but it was like the staff did not even see them. Eames guessed that was Lydia’s doing but that did not make him grateful. The aliases they had were not dirty but they were not exactly the most convincing . Arthur looked from door to door until he stopped and opened one that lead into a white room. Phillipa was curled up on the bed with her brother who was alive but fast asleep. Cobb looked up from his chair and instantly looked relieved.

“You’re here,” he said and Arthur stared.

“Of course we are,” he replied. Eames could hear the implied ‘you idiot’ but Cobb seemed too distracted to notice. Arthur closed the door and the three of them stood as far away from the bed as possible.

“How is he?” Eames asked quietly.

“He lost a lot of blood and they had to do a transfusion but he’s going to be okay,” Cobb replied and Eames was tempted to ask Cobb if he was going to be okay. His hands were shaking, there was a bandage over his right eyebrow and he was pale. “Am I going to be able to go home? What with that...”

“Someone took care of that for us,” Arthur replied grimly. “I don’t know who you pissed off this time Dom, but it’s someone who doesn’t want it traced back to them. Your house is probably cleaner than it was before the gunfight.”

“What should I do?” Cobb asked after a long silence.

“Go underground,” Eames said and Arthur nodded. “You are going to hide until the two of us can figure this out. You’re going to stay there until one or both of us expressly tell you that you can leave. ”

“And you’re not helping,” Arthur finished. Cobb opened his mouth as if to say something but James stirred in the bed. “You stay with those kids or I’ll find some way of making you stay with them.” Eames knew that Arthur would make good on that threat and if the way Cobb’s eyes widened was any indication than he knew as well. “I’m going to find Lydia and then one of us will stay here while you get some sleep.”

“What if he wakes up--”

“Cobb, I was there when James was born and he met Eames when he was six months old. He knows us and he knows he can trust us because you trust us.” Arthur crossed his arms and stood a little taller somehow towering over the other man. “Don’t you?”

“Yes, yes, I do, thank you for coming out here so quickly. I owe you so much,” Cobb said softly.

“I’ll add it to the list,” Arthur deadpanned and he left the room. Cobb gave Eames a horrified look and Eames shrugged.

“He hasn’t slept much.”

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