Freak

13.

Hearing soft footfalls behind them Arthur and Bill turned to see Javier making his way over to them.

"Dutch's sent John, Lenny and Charles to circle behind them, me, Kieran and Sean are going to the left, you two come out when Dutch calls okay?" he hurriedly whispered. Both men nodded in conformation and Javier left them again.

"You ready Morgan?" Bill looked at him intently.

"Oh I've been ready for a long time!"

***

Everything seemed so quiet as Blue walked in the little circle of men she'd found herself in. They moved tensely, listening for any sound that disturbed the silence of the sleepy docks. This lit a little spark of hope within her, they were scared, scared that the Van der Linde gang was around, and maybe, just maybe, they should be scared.

The morning sun was shining in her eyes, forcing her to squint and though she couldn't see anyone it was as if she could feel the outlaws surrounding them. And so it would seem, could her guards.

"I don't like this..." mumbled one of them, the others agreeing but not letting their attention slip to the one who spoke.

"I don't like this at all!.." he said again, this time a little louder. Blue wondered if maybe she should make a run for it since all of her guards were so focused on their surroundings. If Arthur and the others really were there she reasoned that they would like her to get out of the way, but if they weren't... she'd have nowhere to go if she actually managed to get away from the men. She was torn between options, weighing pros and cons. Just when she thought she'd come to the decision to take the chance, the guard in front of her stopped abruptly.

"I don't like it very much either I must say. It's rather rude to take someone's child, don't you think?" the rough, strong voice of Dutch Van der Linde cut through the cold morning air like a knife. He stepped out from behind a big wooden crate, tall and well dressed like always, he made and impressive sight.

Her guards hurriedly stood closer together, like a wall towering around her, cutting Dutch out of view.

"I suggest you get out of here Mr. Van der Linde, we don't want no trouble!" shouted the man in front of her, his hand resting heavily on the gun at his hip.

"Well then you shouldn't have kept her from us, should you? Now be nice and give her back before we have to resort to violence." Dutch countered.

"Bronte wants that girl on the boat and that's where we're going to take her, so move out of the way old man!" all guns were now drawn and aimed at the dark-haired man in front of them.

"And you don't want to mess with us either, isn't that right boys?" at first Blue thought that Dutch had been referring to her guards when he said 'boys' but almost immediately she could hear the sound of boots hitting the ground all around them. Peering between the men she caught sight of the strikingly red head of hair she knew belonged to Sean, the shorter form of Javier and to her surprise a nervous, but determined, looking Kieran. She wanted to look more closely, or rather she wanted to look for Arthur, but her limited view was rudely cut of as the men once again pushed closer together. She was now being somewhat crushed in between them and so she did the only thing she could think of.

Falling to her knees she quickly crawled between their legs, getting to her feet as quickly as possible.

"HEY! GRAB HER!" someone yelled behind her. She felt one of them grabbing a hold of her coat and in pure panic she ripped it open and slithered out of it and fell to her knees. Blue couldn't believe she'd managed to do it! couldn't believe her luck! With her eyes fixated straight ahead she got to her feet and ran towards Dutch, who's arms opened up for her. All she could hear was her own two feet hitting the ground in an even rhythm with her panicked heartbeat, that, and the sound of a gun. That awful awful sound urged her to run faster, forced her short legs to cross the final distance into Dutch's arms.