Protecting John (earlier: Bad Boy Needs Protection)

CHaPTeR FoRTY THRee

I was up bright and early the next morning to receive the envelope Mary sent us. Seeing that none of my temporary roommates were up, I went up to John and Abin's door and knocked loudly earning me loud groans of despair from the boys.

"What?"

I smirked, eyeing a very groggy John leaning his head on the doorframe after opening the door. He was hugging a pillow and a sheet was still hanging from his shoulder.

"Good sleep?"

"Shut up. It's impossible to sleep in the same room as Daniel. The man performs in his own dream concerts every night."

"Well, get ready. We need to go get Mary's package."

"Take Jules with you." He huffed. "I'll try sleeping on the couch for a bit." He said and dragged the sheet behind him as he walked away, lightly pushing me out of the way.

"Hey! I'm not going to be the one waking up the monster. I wish to live a long, healthy life.

"Whatever."

"You will get up now if you don't want to participate in the ice bucket challenge right now." I crossed my arms and stood there, tapping my feet impatiently.

"Ughhhh!" he groaned. "I will kill you in your sleep. Just wait."

"Can't wait." I started tying the laces on my boot after making sure that John had accepted his fate.

It was not long before John was ready in jeans and a plain black t-shirt, munching on the apple I threw at his head. The walk towards the payphone was a new expedition, trying to avoid crying babies in fashionable strollers and dogs tugging at their leashes, dragging their humans like rag dolls.

"I'm sure I liked our last safe house better than this. I would take lonely trails over this street any day."

"Nah," I turned to look at John, walking beside me. "I like this chaos. Feels like home." He said with a small smile on his face.

He led the way towards the payphone, telling me all about Jules' theories about them being secret doors used by aliens as she taught him yesterday.

"There," he pointed towards a shabby looking payphone at the end of the street. "It must be in there somewhere. No wonder dad trusted Mary for this. She's awesome at planning and executing such tasks."

"Oh yes. I was kinda intimidated by her when we first met."

He chuckled. "She is one of the sweetest people I know. She's family. She's been with us forever now. She once told me that I was her favorite child in front of her own son. You should have seen the look on his face. He must be five years older than me and looked like he would strangle me."

"Mary has a son?" I asked.

"Yeah. Her husband divorced her since she was always at work and took Elijah with him. I've only seen him once or twice since."

I nodded in understanding. It was nice to see John opening up about his life, smiling at old memories. His jerk-face attitude was slowly peeling off and Mini Q was loving every second of it.

We were almost at the payphone when something caught my eye. The old man from yesterday was sitting at a bench near the payphone, his shoulders tensed up and was tapping his feet rapidly. My spider senses tickled but I calmed myself.

It could be nothing. The man could be from this neighborhood and must love the outdoors.

We walked inside the small booth, my eye still on the old man.

"Aha!" John exclaimed, his hand reaching behind the phone which was mounted on the wall. He pulled out a thick, black envelope and gave it to me. "Too easy if you ask me. I thought Mary would've made it a bit more fun. Like a treasure hunt."

John was still in his own world, excited about the envelope when I looked at the old man one last time.

Time slowed as I noticed the slightest movement of his hand which was resting on his walking stick. His thumb finger moved to point in our direction as his eyes were fixed on something behind us. I whipped my head back to see a man wearing a black jacket and a black hat pulling a gun out of the back of his jeans.

I pulled John down with me as we ducked into a crouching position. A fraction of a second later, the glass wall of the booth shattered as the bullet hit the phone.

"Are you wearing a belt?" I asked John who was still in shock and had his mouth hanging open, unable to form words.

"John!" I shouted, pulling him back to reality. "I need your belt."

He nodded and took off his belt in a haze. I snatched it out of his hands and thrust the envelope into his chest. "I need you to take this and run back to the safe house. You will meet Jules on the way. Tell her to find the old man from yesterday," I pushed a button on my watch that would alert Jules of my location. "The old man with the Hershey's chocolate. Go and lock all the doors of the house and open it only of you are sure that it's me or Jules."

Another bullet hit the booth, a little too close for my liking.

"I've hidden a gun between the cereal boxes. Take that and go into Jule's bedreem and stay away from the windows."

"Wha-"

"Go!" I shouted as I took my gun out of my boot and ran towards the man in the black jacket, my gun pointing at him. I turned back once to see that John had started running back to the safe house. Happy that he was out of the range of fire, I started chasing this anonymous man who apparently was now scared seeing that I had a gun too.

He ran towards a busy street with too many people walking in and out of stores. I ran as fast as I could. This person could be the answer to all this mess.

"Hey! Stop!" I shouted as he ran like a scared little puppy. I huffed, angry at having to run without doing any stretches. Ugh.

I tucked the gun back into my waistband and held on to John's belt as I chased the dude.

"Stop!" I shouted again as he ran into a group of old ladies who looked like they were out on a morning walk. One of the ladies held out her cane and tripped the man onto the ground.

"A gentleman should never run away from his lady." She pointed the cane at him. "You stop when she tells you to stop." She then turned to face me as I finally reached the group, bending down to turn the man around to tie his hand behind his back using the belt. "Here you go young lady. Teach him a lesson for running way from such a pretty little thing like you."

I smiled at my saviour. "Thank you so much ma'am!"

"Oh don't mention it dear," she said as she motioned her group to continue walking. "I just wish I could run like you to stop my husband from running after that woman."

I dragged the man up and turned him around, pushing him towards the safe house.

"You can either tell me who you are right now or you can wait for Jules to torture the truth out of you." He obviously kept his mouth shut. I don't know why people like him never take my warning seriously.

"Q!" I heard Jules shouting my name as I turned and saw her walking the old man towards me.

"All the best dude. I sincerely wish you all the best."