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safaiagemwritingPart Three
Arthur walked out of the hospital room and ignored anything that Cobb might have said. At this point being the man’s friend was more like being a babysitter. Right now there were more important matters to deal with before he had any time to think straight. The world just needed to leave him alone so he could get everything done. Right now those things included finding the doctor that had saved James’ life. The doctors and nurses did not seem to notice Arthur as he made his way through the masses which was fine with him until he spotted the woman he was looking for.
Doctor Lydia Connors was looking over a chart when she noticed that someone was watching her. She was in her late thirties with long brown hair clipped up and round glasses sitting on the top of her head. Lydia set aside the chart that she was working on when she saw Arthur and tilted her head to the side. She walked toward him, a smile forming on her face, as she pulled him into a tight hug, kissed his cheek and told him he owed her $75,000 cash.
“Still as subtle as ever aren’t you,” Arthur said as they pulled out of the hug and Lydia beamed at him.
“It’s what I do,” she replied.
“I’ll pay you as soon as I get a little more settled here,” he said as the two of them walked through the hallways.
“I know you will,” Lydia said smugly but her smile faded slowly. “I don’t want to have to stitch up a kid like that again, Arthur.”
“I know and I’m sorry that I had to ask you to do something like that. I’m going to take care of this .” Arthur rolled his shoulders and looked straight ahead. “We need to leave as soon as possible.”
“I understand and as soon as I think that little boy is going to be okay, I’ll let him go.” Lydia glanced over at him. “Should I be worried about my safety?”
“I would keep the windows locked,” he said evenly which was all he could really tell her. Lydia always locked her windows but now she knew to keep a loaded weapon nearby. Arthur liked Lydia and he really did not want to have to hack any databases to keep her safe. They stopped in front of the window into James’ room and Arthur looked in at Cobb as he stared at the kids and Eames as he looked at something in a bag that was probably a weapon.
“That’s him, right?” Lydia asked. After he had completed the job for her Arthur had managed to become friends with Lydia just as she was about to finish medical school. The two of them had decided to be two cliches and got very drunk off of wine one night while watching terrible movies. Later Arthur had summarized that he had drank a bottle and a half by himself and he had somehow ended up telling Lydia about Eames. In return she had told him about the ex boyfriend of hers that had slept with her sister and they ended up falling asleep on the couch together. It was a moment that he had almost regretted letting his guard down until they came to an agreement not to blackmail each other. They had become friends after that even if they did pay each other for help.
“Yes,” he replied. Lydia did not say anything but she smiled to herself as if as if she was seeing something very entertaining. Arthur did not bother to ask because he knew she was just thrilled to meet the person that he had talked about that night.
“Are you going to be all right?” she asked after a brief silence.
“Let’s worry about that little boy first.” That seemed like a good enough answer for Lydia because she nodded and walked into the room. Cobb jumped as if someone had taken another shot at them but Eames looked up as if they did not have a care in the world. Lydia explained to Cobb how it was going to be another day or so before she was going to let James out of the hospital. He kept on thanking her over and over again and by the fifth time Arthur suspected that the good doctor was going to get annoyed at her patient’s father. Since James was so young Lydia wanted to keep him for an extra day. That meant Arthur had to split the next day between Eames so they could get Cobb out of the room and get some sleep. It took some effort but they managed to get Cobb and Phillipa out the door.
“I’ll see you in twelve hours,” Eames said as he pushed Cobb out of sight. Arthur nodded and sat down on one of the chairs in the room. James had woken up briefly but Lydia had given the boy some painkillers that put him right back to sleep. Now Arthur was alone in the room and had plenty of time to clear his thoughts. He began to look into places where he could hide Cobb and the kids, he called Miles and told him that it would be in his and Marie’s best interests to come for a visit right away and generally tried to restore some order. When he opened up the list of possible suspects Arthur rolled his eyes.
He knew that Eames had been in his bag and on his computer but he had not thought the other man had actually done anything. While trying to clear his head Arthur had jotted down a few notes about who could have made the hit and Eames had taken it upon himself to edit some of them. He had crossed Agent Burman and Cobol off of the list and both of his reasons made sense.
“Commentary is always appreciated,” Arthur muttered to himself but shut up when James shifted on the bed. He sat back and looked at the list in front of him and tried to come up with other people that Cobb could have pissed off enough to do this. Every time he thought of someone Arthur went back and crossed them off because they either did not have a strong enough motive or the resources. Everything he checked out seemed to backfire and he had heard no rumors anywhere about someone wanted Cobb dead. Arthur rubbed his temples as the hours dragged on. James Cobb was asleep in a hospital bed after nearly getting shot and and he could not seem to figure out why. The fact that the assassin had missed bothered Arthur just as much. Professionals came back and cleaned the scene but professionals did not miss targets standing right in front of them. Someone taking a hit on Cobb worried him but if Arthur was completely honest with himself the assassin missing was somehow worse.
Arthur took a deep breath and released it; there were still several hours until Eames came to take over and he intended to find something before then. There had to be a reason this happened.
Three days later and Eames finally collapsed onto a bed with every intention of sleeping for the next three days. Since they had left London he had only gotten a few hours of sleep and Arthur had probably gotten even less. When Eames was not at the hospital he was helping Cobb and Phillipa gather all of their belongings, picking up Miles and Marie from the airport, and then watching James. While at the hospital Arthur had taken over and had put the final parts of their plan into motion and arranged for a safe house. As soon as Lydia walked into the room and released James Eames took the boy to the location where Cobb and Company were to stay until further notice. They had finished that all of two hours ago and now he was lying in a hotel room in downtown LA lying down for the first time since this had all started.
Arthur was on his computer doing something that Eames was not really that concerned with because they needed to get some sleep. They had all but erased Cobb from existence so no one would be finding the him anytime soon yet Arthur was still buried on his computer as if an assassin was going to break down someones door at any given moment. The sound of the typing was like little bugs and it made Eames’ skin crawl.
“We need to get some sleep,” he said into the pillow.
“Don’t let me stop you,” Arthur replied easily and Eames did not need to look at his friend to hear the exhaustion in his voice. If Arthur had had five hours of sleep under his belt from the last three days Eames would have been surprised. However, he also knew about Arthur’s tendency to tunnel vision focus even when he did not really need to. The idea of starting an argument about it seemed like the next logical course of action but Eames was not in the mood to try and convince Arthur to get some sleep. Eames shifted so he was lying on his back and watched Arthur carefully. If he noticed Eames watching him he did not react or he was too tired to notice but either way Eames chalked it up as a good thing because he was able to reach over and take Arthur’s laptop without giving him a chance to retaliate. “Eames, what are you doing?” Instead of explaining himself Eames set the set laptop aside and pulled Arthur down into a kiss. Unlike most moments in their lives the other man did not fight this, he must have been much more exhausted than Eames originally thought, and Arthur melted into the kiss.
Eames had it on good authority that he did this ‘thing’ with his tongue that was very ‘distracting’ according to Arthur. This distraction let Eames move so he could hover over his friend, kissing him deeply. The distraction and exhaustion played a pivotal role in how Eames managed to pin Arthur’s wrists to the side before the other man could react.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” Eames said against Arthur’s lips. “You’re going to get some sleep or I’m going to stay here and tease you until you get too frustrated to keep your eyes open.”
“That’s dirty pool,” Arthur replied though he did not sound overly bothered.
“So what’ll it be, dear? Are you going to get some sleep or am I going to have to get mean?” Eames nibbled on Arthur’s earlob and the other man arched a little.
“I absolutely hate everything about you.” Eames was about to agree that he hated Arthur just as much when Arthur freed his wrists and yanked Eames back down for another kiss. This one was like all of their kisses, hard with teeth and tongues as they fought against each other. Eames would be damned if he gave Arthur an inch in their sexual relationship. Eames bit Arthur’s lower lip and loved the groan that it drew from the other man. They reached for each other’s clothes. Eames was fumbling with the buttons on Arthur’s button down while Arthur all but ripped Eames’ jacket off, and they broke apart only long enough to free their respective bodies of the constricting fabrics. He almost had Arthur’s pants off when the phone rang and they both froze. “I’m all but convinced the universe has something against us fucking because we get interrupted by phone calls more than we actually fuck.”
“We really need to turn them on silent,” Arthur replied, breathless. As the shrill sound of the phone echoed in the hotel room Eames moved back enough so he was staring at the man he could easily call his best friend. They were inches apart, close enough that Eames could count Arthur’s eyelashes, and he impatiently waited for the Arthur to throw him off so he could answer the damned phone. “Cobb’s not supposed to be calling anyway.” Arthur did not give Eames time to process that before they were kissing again.
“You must be deliriously tired if you’re ignoring the phone,” Eames said as he kissed down the Arthur’s neck and bit along his collarbone.
“Maybe there are just other things I’d rather be doing right now. Emphasis on the word ‘doing’ of course,” Arthur replied sounding a little too coherent. Eames grinned and pushed Arthur’s boxers down to wrap a hand around his cock. If Arthur had anything snarky to say after that it was lost which was probably a good thing because the room was suddenly too small for Eames to think clearly either. They managed to kick Eames’ pants off as well and Eames wrapped his hand around both of them, moving slowly. Arthur muttered various curses in a variety languages and when his orgasm hit him, Eames briefly saw stars. Arthur followed not long after and they both went boneless on the bed side by side. “If this is how you plan on getting me to sleep from now on I’m going to work myself into the ground more often.”
“Hysterical,” Eames deadpanned as he pushed himself to his feet and got a wet cloth to wipe them both down. “What’s the plan?” he asked as he settled back onto the bed.
“I have tickets booked to New York. We shouldn’t hang around the area any longer than we need to,” Arthur replied and he glanced at Eames. “Even if Cobb is safe I don’t want to risk it.”
“I know you don’t so let’s get out of here,” Eames replied. “New York it is.” Arthur flashed a tired smile and they kissed briefly before rolling onto either side of the bed and drifting off to sleep.
Arthur woke up to the sound of the alarm on his phone going off and he really wished that he could ignore it. Despite the fact that he had slept almost as soon as he finished talking with Eames his body was still two days behind. Arthur pushed himself to his feet and kicked Eames in the foot to wake him up as well. Normally a fight that ended in sex would have followed but judging by the way Eames simply woke up and began to get dressed he was just as sleep deprived. Two quick showers later and they were on the way to the airport but Arthur could not stop obsessing over Cobb, the kids and their safety. He had just finished lecturing Cobb about calling him and hoped that the man would understand what he was and was not supposed to do but now he was just worried.
“Stop obsessing or you’re going to give yourself wrinkles,” Eames said.
“Sometimes I honestly think you can read my mind, Mr. Eames,” Arthur replied evenly.
“Don’t be stupid, Arthur, I can’t read minds ,” Eames replied waving him off as they drove. “I don’t need to be able to read your mind to know what you’re thinking.”
“Did you really just say that?” Arthur asked raising an eyebrow. “I can’t believe you really just said that.”
“It’s like you don’t know me at all.” Eames grinned and Arthur rolled his eyes as they drove through the city toward the airport. The traffic was light and they were able to get on the plane without any problems. They did not talk about the attempt on Cobb’s life for the entire flight because as soon as they were in the air they were both asleep again. The announcement that they were about to land jerked Arthur back to the waking world and another kick to Eames’ foot had him awake. As they gathered their belongings Arthur tried to think about what they needed to do next. It was nearly six in the evening, though, and they had only eaten a little since the day before. It did not take a lot of convincing to get them both in a taxi toward one of their favorite restaurants.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Arthur said over a bottle of wine.
“What doesn’t?” Eames asked as he broke off another piece of bread.
“No one has any information about the hit. There isn’t anything else Cobb could be involved in that someone would want to kill him over and no one in the community is talking.”
“Usually when there is a bit hit like that you can’t get people to shut up about it. Why the silence over this one? What is so different about this one that no one is talking?”
“Maybe they just aren’t talking to me,” Arthur suggested as he poured himself some more wine. “Most people knew that Cobb and I worked together so it seems like something that no one would want me to know about. At the same time, though, I’ve got people out there that I at least trust a little and they would tell me if something was going on. The way the house was cleaned suggests a professional but the guy missed his target makes me want to lean toward an amateur. This entire thing doesn’t sit right; something else is going on that someone isn’t telling me.”
“I’ll get in contact with the people I know too but we’re just as connected as you and Cobb were if not more so. If someone is keeping something from you the last person they are going to tell is me.” Eames sat back in his chair and creased his eyebrows deeply. “Are we really going to have to bribe our own contacts?”
“I’m starting to think I should charge Cobb for protecting his ass,” Arthur grumbled as he rubbed his temples.
“You’d bankrupt the man,” Eames replied grinning.
“I have to retire somehow,” Arthur replied smiling fondly and Eames laughed as they high fived across the table. A table over from them was a family with two kids, a girl too busy texting on her phone and a boy about Phillipa’s age, looked at them oddly. High fiving in a five star restaurant was probably not commonplace but at this point Arthur really did not care . The boy giggled when he looked over at them and Eames flashed his most charming smile at the mother which Arthur countered by nodding politely to the husband. The family seemed amused by them which was a good way of livening up a meal in a place like this.
A bullet shattering the window next to them was another wave of livening up a meal but not in the way that Arthur really wanted. The bullet had narrowly missed him, inches from his head, to the point where he felt it go by. They both dropped to the ground and kicked up the table to shield them from any more bullets as the people around them began to scream.
“Arthur!” Eames shouted at him and he blinked to see the other man staring at him with wide eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Arthur yelled back over the chaos as another shot ricocheted off of the wood work. It hit some of the china and tiny shards of glass rained down on them. They were too far away to get to the exit without getting shot. Eames tried to move so he could see where the gunman was but a bullet narrowly missed him as well as they took cover again. “They’re shooting at both of us?” Eames did not respond, he was too busy looking at something, and Arthur followed his line of sight.
The girl at the next table was on the floor, cell phone in her hand when the bullet pierced her head and she fell to the ground in a heap. The father was next to her; he had gone to his daughter’s aide, but had gotten shot in the process. He was bleeding out from a wound on his chest and choking as his lungs filled with blood. His wife and son were nearby screaming and crying over their lost family members, as a little boy watched his father die slowly, and he looked up at Arthur as if he knew that it was all their fault.
The sight of that little boy made Arthur see red and when he looked back at Eames he saw a familiar fury. He really did not want to pull a gun out in public but they had to get the assassin to stop firing long enough for them to escape. The particular aliases they were both traveling under had conceal carry permits and they had both put their pistols back in their holsters after the flight. Arthur pulled out his gun and glanced over at Eames who did the same. Arthur thought quickly about where the bullet had come from and what kind of angle it deducing where the assassin could be.
“Seventh floor to the right!” Arthur shouted and they both looked up to see someone in the window of a building across the street. Arthur fired three shots at the assailant and the shooter ducked out of the way. They both scrambled to their feet and raced out of the restaurant. Eames had the presence of mind to grab their overnight bags as Arthur kicked open the back door into an alley, gun at the ready.
“Logic dictates that we head to ground,” Eames said. “But that person is our only lead.” The ‘and he killed two innocent people’ was unspoken but Arthur did not need convincing. Eames handed Arthur his bag, they both loaded new magazines into their guns and walked out into the chaos. The good people of New York were too busy taking care of the wounded wounded to pay any attention to the two men making their way through the masses. The chaos worked to their advantage because the cops were also too busy to think about the fact that they had an assassin in the building nearby. The assassin did not take another shot at them as they made their way through the crowd but Arthur made sure to keep his head down .
The assassin chose a business building and the back door was locked. Arthur did not like the idea of breaking into a building without knowing it’s layout or security but they had to get to that assassin. Arthur nodded as he watched their surroundings and Eames picked the lock.
“Brilliant,” Eames whispered as he got the door open. They walked in carefully, guns held high, but left their bags at the exit. While Arthur did not like the idea of leaving something behind they were going up against someone who had taken shots at two former military dreamshare criminals in a crowded restaurant. The chances that this person was going to give them problems were too high to worry about losing a bag or even his computer. Arthur nodded to Eames and they slowly made their way through the building. Arthur was thankful it was Sunday, and there did not seem to be anyone in the area at all. As they made their way toward the room where he was almost sure the gunman was Arthur was beginning to think they had missed him.
While he should not have been surprised when he turned a corner and someone punched him in the face that did not stop Arthur from being irritated about it. The assassin knocked his gun away and kicked Arthur hard enough that he stumbled back, narrowly avoiding hitting Eames. Eames moved to turn the gun on the man but he kicked the gun out of Eames’ hand and sent him back several paces. Arthur did not recognize the gunman but that did not mean anything. He also felt his age because this kid looked like he was about eighteen if you looked anywhere but his eyes. His eyes were dark, haunted, they reminded him of people that he had seen tortured in dreams or those lost in limbo.
Arthur straightened and rushed the kid who ducked his punch and moved much faster than he thought was possible. This kid was a trained killer and Arthur got hit in the stomach hard enough that he swore he saw stars for a moment. The assassin roundhouse kicked and sent Arthur down to the ground hard. As he tried to get his breath back Eames regained his footing and he went for the assassin. He was thin, much like Arthur was, so he was faster than Eames but the punch Eames landed looked like it should have taken down a smaller man. Instead the kid brushed it off and punched Eames in the stomach. When he doubled over the assassin through his knee into Eames’ face and knocked him to the ground. Without waiting an extra second the assassin kicked Eames hard enough in the ribs to break something and Arthur hard enough in the chest that he bit through his tongue in pain.
“Who sent you?” Arthur asked as he spit some blood on the ground. His ears were ringing and he could feel blood running from a wound on his head. Eames did not look much better with a possibly broken bloody nose and at least a bruised rib.
“You are not my client therefore I am not obligated to talk to you,” the assassin replied as he gathered his things.
“Maybe you should listen to your elders,” Eames warned but when he moved the kid turned with a gun pointed directly at him; Eames stilled.
“Where is Dominic Cobb?” he asked as he walked over to them, taking another gun out and training it on Arthur as well. There was a beat of silence and, for the first time since they had seen the kid, Arthur saw a flicker of emotion. “I have permission to use torture if need be but the threat of such things will not affect either of you.”
“You can fuck right off, buddy,” Arthur said and when the kid looked at him he kicked the assassin’s feet. The gun pointed at him went off and he felt something burn his side but there was no time consider what it meant. He snatched the weapon and looked down at the little assassin as he stared back at him. “Now, we’ll ask again, who sent you?” The kid stared at them for a moment, his head tilted to the side,. The assassin smiled as he opened his mouth to reveal a small pill inside that was now broken. Foam formed in the kid’s mouth and he twitched for only a moment until he fell still.
“I didn’t know people used suicide pills in the real world,” Eames said as he looked down at the kid. Arthur did not respond. He just looked down at the kid, and noted that he really was nothing more than a teenager. “He got a piece of you.” Arthur blinked and looked to see that, yes, he had been grazed when he decided to kick the gun toting assassin’s feet out from underneath him.
“We can’t stay here,” Arthur replied as he put a hand on his wound and winced. They gathered their weapons and moved to get out of the building as fast as they could. Despite how much pain he was in Eames put Arthur’s arm over his shoulder as they limped through the building.
“There’s only one person the three of us have worked together for recently,” Eames said quietly.
“I know,” Arthur replied carefully as they retrieved their bags, fortunately before any police decided to look into the building. It had dawned on him the moment the kid had fallen to the ground; there was only one person the three of them had worked for in years and only one powerful enough that could order a hit on all three of them. Arthur was trying not to think about it because the prospect made his head hurt even more. “They missed again and I’ll look into it.”
“I know you will,” Eames replied. Neither of them said anything more as they ducked their heads down and vanished into the crowds of a panicked New York City.
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