boulder → l.h ⋆ m.c

you're literally a bug on the bottom of my shoe

:june 1, 2019

     "guys, guys, guys–" luke calls out as he barges into the hotel room. "fuck, are you all dead or something? guys!" he yells.

     "jesus christ luke, what?" michael groans as he stumbles out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

     "i found one of sasha's outposts." luke grins, and michael's jaw drops.

     "what?" calum gasps, popping his head out of his and ashton's room. he exits the room, ashton following closely behind. "where?"

     "right on the edge of i-25 where it splits off to colfax." luke explains as he opens his laptop. "it's a warehouse. look." he turns the laptop to the boys.

     "it's just a–" calum furrows his brows. "it's just a fucking warehouse. are you kidding me?"

     luke shrugs. "i know. i was looking for high rises and guarded buildings like ours, but once i caught wind of one of his guys, i followed him there."

     "you followed him?" michael's head shoots up. "did he see you?"

     "no." luke replies. "i'm pretty good at my job, michael." he turns the laptop around again. "it doesn't seem like their main outpost, though, i don't know. sasha might not even be there, but we still need to get in there."

     "yeah." calum nods. "are we coming with you?" he raises an eyebrow at luke.

     "i think i should go alone, at first." luke mumbles as he casually hacks into the bank records for the warehouse. "scope it out, figure out who's in there. after i get a census, i'll regroup here, then you and i can go."

     "woah woah woah–" michael argues. "what about us?" he gestures between himself and ashton.

     "it's too dangerous." calum states.

     "yeah, neither of you are experienced enough in this stuff to safely get in and out." luke comments as he scrolls through the records.

     "seriously?" michael scoffs. "you two can't–"

     "shit." luke's face drops into a frown. "i might have been wrong."

     calum rolls his eyes. "who owns the warehouse?"

     "weston sathers." luke huffs, resting his chin in his hand. "damnit."

     "wait, maybe–" michael looks at the screen. "you guys remember the zodiac killer?"

     luke slowly looks up at michael. "did you seriously just ask us that?"

     michael shakes his head. "the main suspect, arthur leigh allen, often went by his middle name. the thing though, is that an unknown man named lee was close to one of the victims. the spelling of lee was different, but what if–" michael grabs a piece of paper and writes down weston sathers. "what if sasha took out some letters, or– or what if he switched them around? maybe added some?"

     luke's jaw drops as michael moves the letters around. it takes michael about two minutes to figure out that weston sathers is a combination of sasha notts and wynn rynes. give or take a few letters. "oh my fucking god."
luke blurts out.

     "holy shit." ashton mumbles.

     ashton isn't particularly interested in the conversation anymore, and that has michael on alert. it's probably nothing, just anxiety over the whole situation. michael still keeps a close eye, though.

     "wow. i didn't know you were smart." calum says as he stares at the paper.

     michael rolls his eyes. "you know i majored in criminal justice, right? and i was pre–law?"

     "that ended well, obviously." luke mutters.

     "fuck off." michael huffs. "so what do we do now?"

     "i'm going to the warehouse." luke stands up. "i'll be back in the morning." he turns to walk away from the table.

     "no." michael reaches to grab luke's arm, but calum grabs michael's arm to stop him. "you can't go by yourself."

     luke turns back to michael. "i know what i'm doing. i've done stuff like this before, and i need to go alone."

     michael sighs, but nods. "please be careful."

     "i will. i'll call one of you when i get there. i'll be back in the morning." luke explains as he fills a duffle bag with supplies. "cal, my gps is on."

     calum nods.

     "see you guys in the morning." luke smiles and exits the room.

     michael turns to calum as soon as luke shuts the door. "he's your fucking hit man?" he yells, getting in calum's face.

     calum doesn't even flinch as michael yells. "you're not the first person to scream in my face, michael, so if you think this is how you get a reaction out of me, you're wrong." he crosses his arms.

     "he fucking kills people for you, do you not see a problem in that?" michael seethes, furious at the way calum couldn't care less about the issue at hand. "do you not care about the people's lives you're ruining?"

     "i don't know what luke told you, but that is not how it works." calum says sternly. "he doesn't go after innocent people. this business is dark, and it's dirty, and people die. if you can't handle that, then you can fuck off. you can walk right out that door and go back to whatever you were doing before luke contacted you again. but what you won't ever do again, is presume that you have the right to scream in my face like you have any authority over me, because you do not. you are a bug on the bottom of my shoe when it comes to this world, so don't for a second think you're not expendable."

     "alright, that's enough." ashton mutters and wedges himself in between michael and calum. "put the fucking rulers away."

     michael lets out another huff, before turning on his heels and retreating to his bedroom. he slams the door, and calum rolls his eyes.

     luke is clearly the glue holding them together.