When I Return || Perrentes

Chapter 7: Soldiering into Bloomington

The car was tucked away into the treeline, hidden by the thick foliage. With nothing to do and nobody to see, all there was to do was wait. Every now and then, Jaime sighed and raised his binoculars, scanning the area once more, before setting them down again.

"Wow," he muttered after a long time of silence. "Being a soldier is boring as fuck."

"Oh, hush," Vic scolded, and Jaime shrugged.

"Just saying. We've been set here for over an hour. Did Oli give us an indication of when this fella is supposed to return home?"

"That he did not," Mike admitted, and folded his arms, tilting his head back against the headrest. Tony closed his eyes for a moment and breathed out slowly. Jaime was kind of right. This was boring.

Bloomington, Indiana, was a lovely little town. It was quaint, with wealthy looking homes and proper gates and wide roads. It was very different to Veil Hill - although it had the same look of cleanliness, something about it felt off. It felt superficial, as if it was all too good to be true, as if there was something less savoury at the town's roots. Tony was fairly sure the less savoury thing was the person they were waiting for now, outside his place of residence. According to Oli, who had called that morning in joyous, rough, British tones, this was his exact address and where he would be returning tonight.

They sat outside a large house - it looked as though it had once been a place for just one owner, but had been turned into two large apartments; one upstairs and one downstairs. Benjamin Jones, their target, lived on the bottom floor apartment. But there was, as of yet, no sign of him. There was only one light on in the house, in the upper apartment, glowing dimly in the darkness of the night.

Mike, sighing, pressed the transmit button on the handheld radio and held it to his mouth. "Anything?" He asked, and then let go of the button. There was a crackling before Frank's voice came through the microphone.

"Not yet," he said. "We're keeping a good eye out. We'll let you know when we see him."

"Cool."

From the back, Sammy licked his lips and yawned, stretching his head forwards and nudging Tony's elbow. Tony chuckled, reaching back to tickle him. "You're bored too, huh boy? Not enjoying being cooped up in here all day long."

"Me and Sammy have that in common," Vic groaned. "This is definitely the right address?"

"I trust Oli," Mike nodded. "He's been working closely with Danielle on these, so I'm sure it's airtight."

"I could kill," Jaime interjected, "for a pizza roll right now."

There was a short, confused silence, and then Tony curled the corners of his mouth and shrugged. "I wouldn't argue with that."

"You know," Vic started softly, half chuckling, "a couple of years ago we were spending a day at Cass and Rian's, and they put out some snacks for lunch and there were some pizza rolls. Zack was round and he said that if we bit off the corner and blew into it, it would cool instantly, and me and Mike tried it and Jaime didn't and said; 'don't have the time, just chuck in the whole thing and digest the flames of Satan' and munched the whole thing in one and burned his tongue."

Tony snorted as Mike laughed with him, and had to cover his mouth with his hands to stop himself yelping, and Jaime scoffed, indignant. "Well, I stand by that! Blowing on pizza rolls? I don't have the time for that shit! You just put it in and feel the burn."

"What goes on between you and Vic is none of my business," Tony quipped.

The car suddenly erupted. Vic guffawed loudly, howling, as Jamie's childish laugh boomed around the car. Tony himself laughed loudly at his own joke, as Mike gagged in disgust, putting his head in his hands and leaning on the wheel, but he eventually started laughing too, despairing, shoulders shaking. As funny as Tony found his own joke, he also took a little pride in having entertained them.