Criminal Codes

Chapter 3: Cole

He considers the bundle. "It should. But you should have thought to bring your own."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I roll my eyes. "Are you ready to go?"

"Almost." He begins shoving the contents of a nearby pile into his backpack, adding the tent on top.

"Oh, by the way, your guard is suspicious. Had to blackmail him to get in here."

"Who's guarding?"

"You don't know your guards?" I know my guards' rotating schedule like the back of my hand.

"No. They change too often for me to keep track. So who was it?"

"Ben." He doesn't show any sign of recognition. "Five foot ten, buzz cut, red hair, barely works out but tries to look tougher than he is?" Still nothing. "Nose ring?"

It's like a lightbulb goes off in his head and he curses under his breath. "Wonderful," he deadpans. "We're going to have an hour head start, tops."

"Huh?"

"That guy is trying to go for head guard and studies everyone and everything like he's a chemist and he's observing his experiment. He knows we don't have a mission and when he puts two and two together, he's going straight to Peter and we're busted."

Shit. "And then he gets head guard?"

"Yup."

Double shit. "So what are we supposed to do? Hold off until tomorrow?"

"No!" He says it like it's the dumbest thing he's ever heard. "It'll only raise more suspicions! We go now and we run our asses off and pray that Peter's asleep and he has to wait until morning to tell him."

"Then we'd better get moving." I head towards the door, Tucker on my tail.

"Hey, you still have stuff on the guy?" Tucker asks.

"Yeah..."

"If he asks anything, use it against him to keep him quiet. It might buy us some more time."

I hate this job. "Fine," I agree begrudging.

"Heading out?" Ben raises his eyebrow the second we step through the door.

I turned on him. "Yes, we are. Because we're told to. And if you try to spin the tale and tell Peter or anyone else that we left on our own, I'll tell people about the fox you feed. Not only will your window be patched up, but your fox may die and you'll lose your shot at head guard." The guy looks stunned. "Yeah, we know lots about you, Bennet Brown. And we're not afraid to share."

"My name," he forces out between gritted teeth. "Is not Bennet."

I snarl maliciously, tapping into my criminal side. "You try to forget about your past, but it always catches up to you. I wonder what Peter will do when he finds out who you really are."

"You wouldn't," he growls, eyes darkening in fear.

"You say one word against us, and I gladly will." With that, I turn away and walk down the hall, head held high.

"Bennet Brown?" Tucker hisses when he catches up to me. "As in, Clay Brown, Peter's enemy?"

"Yup. Benny boy over there is his son. Got disowned by his father, ran away, Peter found him and took him in. He's been hiding under an alias ever since," I spill. Tucker can keep a secret too. Plus, we're running away so it doesn't matter. "He has no plans to hurt Peter or the Band, though. His dream is to find his father again and kill him so I'm sure Peter and Ben would be besties."

He whistles, low and long. "Wow."

"Yup." Then we quiet down because we're almost to the main floor. Anyone could be around and could stop us. "Where do we go from here?" I whisper. "The front doors are too guarded and make too much noise when they open. How else are we supposed to get out?"