Hola!!!!!!! Okay, I’m really sorry about the time it took to update for that last bit…This is actually the rewritten bit; old bit was in Pierre's POV but now it's in Josh's because I decided Pierre wasn't going to have any more, so yeah. Don't worry, you're not missing anything. Whatever. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it… Thanks for reading, guys! I really appreciate it!
Gracias! <3 vb123321
Chapter Fifteen
♣ Josh ♣
Dancing in the rain was really exhilarating, although the look on Charlie’s face when Pierre kissed Astrid would beg to differ. With a touch of reluctance, I released the girl I had impetuously grabbed to dance with and went back to the others, gauging their emotions. Somehow I had the feeling that this assignment was hanging on a thread and was certain to explode if we didn’t start getting along. We weren’t big on getting along, though, so I would have to step in and take charge.
At any rate, as I was standing in front of the general store once more ten minutes later, I couldn’t help but notice how Astrid’s attention was drifting. A lot. I scrutinized her face with slight concern, noting the off-color of her skin and the slight shadows under her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all and kept looking around herself in a discreet attempt that I noticed nonetheless. If she knew I was concerned about her, she would probably tell me to stop acting like her dad, but I was anyway.
Charlie was leaning against the facade of the building, clutching his upper left arm slightly, a small twist of pain on his face. He kept throwing Pierre irritable looks, his eyes dark as he surveyed the surrounding area. Obviously, his arm was bothering him again. I was helpless there; I was a terrible medic and anything I could do to him would probably just harm him.
I ran a hand through my hair, yawning widely. “Okey dokey,” he said, as brightly as possible to get their attention. “What are we going to do now?” I could see in their faces that they were annoyed, but that was nothing new and so I just grinned at them all as they gave me flat looks.
Pierre in particular looked peeved, most likely because he was used to actually doing things instead of all the hanging around we had been doing lately. He hadn’t worked with us a lot, and so I hardly expected him to understand us, but he really needed to get in our groove if he wanted to work with us. Even now he was standing up a little straighter, looking us in the eye in turn before taking on a voice of authority.
“Right. Well, we need to make a plan to scope out Decrioux’s manor.”
Charlie’s eyebrows flew up, seemingly automatically, but I knew better. For someone as trained as he was, anything facial was hardly an accident. “Well, no freaking duh,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. Pierre shot him a glance but ignored him, looking at me instead for ideas. I came up empty.
“Actually,” Astrid interjected, in an uncommonly quiet voice, “I think we would do better following that guy.”
I wanted to turn around to see whom she was talking about, but naturally I didn’t. If I wanted to be conspicuous, that would be the way to do it. Pierre and Charlie were facing the direction she was, and I saw the former’s eyebrows quirk. Charlie’s face remained a mask; man, this guy was good.
Carefully, I turned so that I was standing next to Astrid, leaning against the wall. I glanced nonchalantly in the direction of Astrid’s dark gaze: a solitary figure, leaning against a building across the street, much as we were. I frowned. The guy looked, from what I could see, relatively dark-haired, dark eyed. I was strongly reminded of the guy Charlie and Astrid had chased, which didn’t help matters at all.
I took a deep breath, turning back to Astrid, whose face had suddenly tightened just a tiny bit, but enough for me to notice. “What?” I asked her immediately.
She looked at me, her eyes unfocused, and I could tell she wasn’t really seeing me but something else that I couldn’t see. “Nothing,” she responded abstractly, but it didn’t take a genius to know she was lying. About what, though?
Charlie seemed to have noticed too: his grey eyes darkened visibly and he opened his mouth to say something. I met his eyes and he shut it again. “What’s the matter?” I asked Astrid once more, and she shook her head, a little more violently than she needed to.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, breaking free of my grasp. “Really.” She met my eyes for a full ten seconds, and finally I looked away. A frown was tugging at the corners of my mouth, and Charlie looked ominous again. Pierre ran his hand through his hair with a sigh of frustration and glared at me like it was my fault.
“Okay,” he said after a moment. “We’re getting nowhere. We need to get something straight. We’re all on the same team here, and so if anyone’s hiding something that is crucial to this assignment, spilling it would be the best thing to do right now.”
He was met with three blank faces. Charlie looked like he would be more willing to shoot the guy than talk to him, and Astrid was just giving him a confused look. I was trying to hold back a grin at his ignorance. He didn’t seem to be able to get anything out of our expressions – Charlie’s was rapidly turning dark again – and so he let loose another one of those big sighs and tried again.
“Right,” he said, a little awkwardly. “Gotcha. No one has anything to spill.”
Charlie looked like he was going to say something unpleasant, but I coughed, shooting him a warning look in the process. “All right, now that we have that covered,” I said, sounding amused, “what’s the plan, big shot?”
Pierre gave me a vacant look that told me he really hadn’t had anything in mind and I had just blown him out of the water. Whoops. Charlie rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall again and looking away from us. Astrid still looked disorientated – from Pierre’s kiss or something else? – and she had one eye fixed on the man she had seen. Her face was an inscrutable mask, though, and she refused to make eye contact with me.
Pierre blew out a deep breath. “Okay,” he said, marshalling his thoughts. “I say we do as Astrid says. Someone needs to follow that man. No,” he added sharply as Astrid opened her mouth, “not you.”
Now her mask shifted as she scowled at him. “And why can’t I?” she demanded, sounding irrevocably like a preschooler. I decided not to point out this particular fact to her, however, given how moody she was being today.
“Well, you’re obviously very tired,” Pierre tried, and sparks almost flew from her eyes.
“Tired?” she repeated dangerously, glaring at him. Charlie and I choked simultaneously, both half-turning away to hide our faces, cracking up as Pierre attempted to backtrack rapidly.
“Not tired,” he reassured her, “just, you know, deprived of sleep and all…”
“Tired?” she snapped again, taking a step forward.
“No!” he objected, stepping backwards. “I just mean, like, you’ve been through a lot and everything, and I think someone else should go, because you went last time, and…”
Astrid’s eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into her hairline. “Tired?” she reiterated a third time, outraged. “I’ll show you tired…” She turned to stomp away, her features stiff with offense.
“Oh my goodness,” Pierre muttered wearily. He looked pleadingly at me, like he wanted my help with her, but I just smirked at him. Arguing with Astrid was not something that I enjoyed doing, because I tended to lose. Good luck to him, I thought.
“Open mouth, insert foot,” I said derisively, struggling to keep from laughing. Charlie wasn’t so tactful; not, of course, that he particularly cared. Pierre looked at Astrid’s rigid back, evidently wondering if she was pulling his leg. With the mood she was in lately…I could never tell, and if I couldn’t, Pierre didn’t stand a chance.
He ran a hand over my face wearily, trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make her even madder. “Look, Astrid,” he began awkwardly. “I didn’t mean it like that. How about you stay here and I’ll go follow that guy, okay?”
“And why do I have to stay here?” she demanded.
“And why do you have to do everything?” he returned, his temper evidently boiling over and causing him to sound like a toddler in spite of himself. Her eyes narrowed briefly, Charlie and I looking on in avid amusement, but then the corners of her mouth twitched and she started laughing quietly to herself.
Pierre gritted his teeth. “All right, this is stupid,” he said, frustrated. “That guy’s gonna walk away any moment. Astrid, you’re not going, period. But,” he added hurriedly as she opened her mouth furiously, “I guess I won’t either. Which of you two want the honors?” He turned to Charlie and I.
We looked from Pierre to Astrid, who had set her jaw. “Uh, Pierre?” I said carefully. “I really think you should let Astrid go…”
He swore as calmly as he could manage, doing a pretty good job of it, but we heard it nonetheless. This guy had a lot to learn. “She doesn’t have to have everything she wants!” he snapped, and our mouths dropped open in astonishment. Astrid looked like she was about to hit him, but stopped herself just in time.
“Sorry,” he backpedaled quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that; I just meant that someone else could go…”
Astrid’s face was livid. I stepped in front of her discreetly, beaming widely at them both. “Well, that settles it,” I said cheerfully. “Astrid goes. Sayonara, sweetheart.” I grinned at her and she glared at me for a moment before offering a tiny smile back. Pierre rolled my eyes as she slipped away from us, looking as blasé as possible.
“Why do you let her do that?” Pierre grumbled at me, and I shrugged.
“Look, mate,” I said in all seriousness, but I couldn’t manage to keep the amusement out of my voice, “you wanna date this kid, the first thing you gotta learn is to give a girl what she wants. And no arguments.”
He glared at me.
Charlie was suddenly looking a lot less amused. “My tip would be just to not date the girl,” he interposed, his voice light but his eyes cold.
Pierre almost growled in irritation. “Thanks for the support, guys,” he muttered, looking like he was trying desperately not to throttle us. I smirked at him; Charlie turned away, pretending to be fascinated with the shop window, which wasn’t fascinating in the slightest. I gave Pierre a wide grin and took up my previous pose leaning against the face of the building and trying not to wonder where Astrid was being led.
♥ Astrid ♥
I was experiencing some serious déjà vu. Following the guy I suspected was in league with Decrioux was an awful lot like following that one guy with Charlie, all those hours ago. Truthfully, it hadn’t been too long, but it felt like several years to me. And only just after that I had seen Jay in the town…
I attempted to push all thoughts out of my head as I made my way across the street towards the man. He didn’t seem to have noticed me, but there was something about him that I didn’t like. I couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but it was definitely there. And so it was with more than a little trepidation that I waited a few seconds before slipping after him as he turned and started walking away down the street.
I was definitely walking into a trap. But what’s life without risks? Pierre’s voice kept jumping into my mind: Why do you have to have everything?
Because I had to. To keep my mind off things.
If I didn’t do this shadowing job, I would die not knowing whether Josh or Charlie or Pierre was okay. I couldn’t lose them, too. And above all, I would never forgive myself if something happened to them. And so I always wanted to be the one to do the action in our assignments. It made me feel useful, and it helped to keep me focused. I hardly expected Pierre to understand that, but he didn’t have to be so…
I forced myself to concentrate on my target. He began walking more quickly, his stride short and fast, his dark head moving only slightly in an obvious one-eighty surveillance. I trailed him carefully, staying just far enough behind him to blend in with the few people still scattered throughout the street.
I took a moment to scan his appearance. From the back, I could see the dark curly hair, the immaculately pressed suit, and the leather shoes. As he turned his head a little to the left to look at the street, I caught a glimpse of a sharp, long nose and very dark eyes accentuated by heavy eyebrows in a swarthy face.
He reminded me strongly of the man Charlie and I had pursued, the one that had committed suicide. I found myself hoping that this man didn’t have the same kamikaze ideas as the other one.
We were moving away from the street; I could no longer see Charlie, Josh, or Pierre from where they stood. My boots made next to no sound on the paved road, my eyes constantly roaming to be aware of my surroundings. Where was this guy going? I had an uneasy feeling that he knew I was following him and that he actually wanted me to follow him.
So if I knew that, why was I still tracking him?
The man turned sharply and I paused a moment before rounding the corner. I felt the sense of déjà vu take a sickening plunge as I realized what I was stepping into: an alleyway. I groaned inwardly, and then, as the man was still in sight, I stopped, blending into the wall to take a look around me.
The place was pretty dingy; definitely the “other side” of town in this area. The few shops were tall and menacing, throwing shadows into the alley. It was like a completely different world from the dancing crowd just outside it. The rain had left the street looking dark and misty, smoke curling up from ruts and man holes that littered the road.
I had a very bad feeling about this place.
The man was scurrying on, looking over his shoulder cautiously. I didn’t think I wanted to keep following him – surely he had noticed me by now? – but Jay’s mocking face was imprinted on my memory, and so I padded after the man. I was probably being incredibly stupid and might pay for it later, but I was going to die of utter curiosity if I didn’t.
Oh crap, let me be wrong. Please let me be wrong.
He didn’t look back for quite a few ways, pausing outside a run-down building marked “Pharmacist” in French. I frowned briefly. Could this be the drug-dealing place? How ironic – pharmacy and drugs. Someone had a cynical sense of humor, I thought grimly. My target had already slipped into the store through a seemingly locked door, closing it tightly.
I paused just outside, weighing my options for a second. I had to find a way to get in, or at the very least a way to spy on what was going on inside. How, though, was the question. Door: too dangerous. Window…I looked at it dubiously. Too unsteady. That left the roof, I supposed, or maybe around the side...? I approached the pharmacy carefully; reasonably certain that it didn’t have security cameras, but you can never be too sure. So I paused briefly to scan the windows and door frame.
Nothing.
Okay then. That settled it. I pretended to continue walking by the pharmacy, stopping after the first store after it and ducking around the side of the building rapidly. If no one had seen me so far, I was probably okay. Probably. Still, the atmosphere around this place was still so intense that I could barely breathe.
I almost jumped three feet as I realized I wasn’t alone. A drunk was leaning against the edifice, leering at me. “Hello, gorgeous,” he slurred, tipping one eyelid in a heavy wink. Freaking perverted idiot…he was definitely just a drunk old homeless guy, right? But, of course, there was the slight chance that this guy was in league with Decrioux – and therefore Jay – and therefore…
My hand tightened on the gun handle in my pocket. There was no reason to shoot an innocent, or assumedly innocent, drunk, but there was no law against knocking someone out. At least, no law in my books. So I whipped the butt of my gun across his head, sending him crashing to the ground, the beer bottle in his hand breaking on the cement.
His funeral, not mine.
And with some luck, not literally.
I held the gun loosely in my hand, striding forward, my head moving around in a constant three-sixty. Every nerve in my body was tensed; this place seemed so Dang familiar, it couldn’t be real.
But how was it familiar?
I still couldn’t put a finger on it…
I slipped around to the back of the building, darting over to the pharmacy. It was dark back here, despite the sun now trying to filter back through the clouds. Tall buildings loomed on either side of me and I felt a cloaking sense of claustrophobia, trapped between them. It was like another freaking alley.
There was a low window on the back of the building I was behind, and I stooped next to it, back flat against the wall, eyes still roaming and ears perked up to listen. Scattered weeds poked at my legs, and mosquitoes buzzed angrily in my ears, but I ignored them courageously, listening.
Voices from the room, low ones. I froze, the grip on my gun tightening, resisting the urge to look through the glass of the window. I suddenly found myself wishing I had brought Charlie with me; he always knew exactly what I was thinking in times like these. I shook the thought out of my head. I liked operating alone, didn’t I?
The sound of the voices were quiet, and I had to strain to make out words.
A man: “Rendezvous?”
Rendezvous. What a nice word to my ears, I thought. Maybe I could finally start getting some information.
Another man, slightly younger, I thought: “Yeah, at that one club, tonight, remember?”
“That one club”. Wonderful. Just when I thought we were actually getting somewhere. “Tonight”, though… A thought struck me. Were they speaking English? I listened for a moment, and realized they were. But what did that mean?
The first man: “Are we supposed to…”
There was a lull, in which I couldn’t hear what was going on. I was dying to turn and do something drastic, like crash through the window and cause a hold-up or something, but kept seated with a massive effort. Why were they taking so long to respond? Had they moved on? Or could I simply not hear them?
I could feel the panic rising in me, and I didn’t even know why. There was a noise from the room, and I sighed noiselessly in relief. The first man was speaking again, a little louder this time. “Right. The club just two blocks away? Why does he always pick that place?”
I frowned. Obvious, much? Maybe a little too obvious for my liking…
The second man was obviously shrugging. “I don’t know. Stupid American.”
I caught my breath. Jay?
It had to be Jay. But then, Decrioux was an American, right? I struggled to remember the details of the dossier I had read on him. If it wasn’t Decrioux, it was definitely Jay, which was bad. Real bad.
What am I getting into?
And why the hell was Jay mixed up with a drug dealing/supposedly neo-Nazi group? Hadn’t he just left Delta for “personal reasons”? But then, what did that mean, anyway? “Personal reasons.” Joining a drug dealing group seemed a heck of a lot more than personal in my opinion.
The voices sounded like they were moving away, towards the front of the store again maybe, or some other room I didn’t know about. I took the moment to scram, moving away from the pharmacy back to the direction of the village. I didn’t think I could take any more.
My heart was pounding and I took a deep breath to calm myself. Something wasn’t right here, not right at all. There was no way that what those men had been saying…I was supposed to have heard it, right? This was all some crazy trap. They definitely knew I had been outside there, no doubt about it. They knew exactly who I was and what I was like. They deliberately mentioned the word “American”…. Didn’t they? They knew it would have some effect on me, because of Jay.
Jay.
There was no way this was a coincidence.
But I couldn’t help feeling that if Jay was a part of this; he definitely knew what he was doing. He was telling these men about me, how to play me into their hands. He knew me way to well, and could relay that on to whoever he wanted to.
And so they knew me well enough to know that I was going to go to this rendezvous place, trap or not.