I stayed still, having the gun in my hand and looking at Arthur, who was staring at the door. It was opened slightly, only because we knew Alice would get nightmares and come into our room, but now we could see shadows along the walls of the hallway thanks to the small light we leave on. They were trying to be quiet, but we knew they were there.
"Stay low, go get Alice and come straight back there." Arthur whispered to me as he got the last part of his gun situated to make it silent. I did the same, the removable nozzle I kept in the nightstand was in my other hand and I got it situated quickly. I got off the bed and stayed low, looking behind me and seeing the door that lead directly into Alice's room. Arthur had that done, thinking it would be faster to have a door by us instead of going through the hall. I stay low, trying to hide myself behind the bed as Arthur got off the bed and towards the door into the hall. As soon as I could, I silently opened the door and crawled into Alice's room.
At first I saw nothing, but thank goodness Alice had a nightlight on, giving the room a blue tint all over the walls and onto her bed. I was going to get Alice and I looked over at her bed, but rag was filling me as I saw someone over her sleeping form. He had a gun, dressed in black and was looking at Alice as if he was wondering if she was real or not. That gun being close to my daughter infuriated me, and I aimed my gun up at him and shot, the silent gun working its magic and the only noise being heard was of the gunmen falling to the floor.
"Alice." I said in a rushed whisper, going over to my daughter and gently stroking her face to wake her up. She woke up instantly, blinking her eyes a few times to see me in front of her by her bedside. Alice looked up at me with confusion and sleepiness in her eyes.
"Mommy?" She asked, clearly confused on what was going on. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her out of bed, her arms going around me instantly and my gun was in my good hand. I placed her on my hip as I held the gun close by, standing up completely and walking over to the same door that went back to our bedroom.
"Don't make any noise, okay sweetie?" I asked her aloud in a rushed tone, and I saw her nod her head. Thank goodness she was being cooperative. I opened the door, only to see Arthur aiming his gun at a man who was coming through the door into the room.
"Regardez en bas, Alice." I whispered to her and she dug her head into my shoulder. I aimed my gun at the same man, shooting him silently in one shot and seeing him fall to the floor. I rushed over to Arthur and I saw him coming over to me, looking down at a frightened Alice who was holing me close like a monkey. He kissed her head, and I could tell he was concerned about her.
"How many?" I asked him aloud, and he looked up at me with more seriousness.
"Five, I got one, and you got two." Arthur explained aloud for only the both of us could hear. I nodded my head, mentally seeing it all again in my head even though it happened minutes ago.
"So we're missing two." I said aloud, instantly having my A Game and my mission tactic going on in my brain, reminding me on how I was back when I was in the Extraction business.
"I'll get the other two, you go get the car and get Alice safe in there." Arthur explained to me in a calm tone. One of the things I loved about him was how calm he was in a situation like this, but I knew deep inside he was scared for Alice's sake and mine too.
"If you don't come out in three minutes, I'm coming back for you." I said to him in a stern tone, seeing him nod his head and giving me a quick kiss and then having his gun close by. I stayed behind him, one arm around Alice who's legs were wrapped around me and the other was holding my gun close to my chest. We went out into the hallway, the dim light above us and a body of one of the intruders at our feet. I rearranged Alice on my arm and felt some small tears coming onto my shoulder.
"Shh...it's okay honey. It'll be okay." I whispered to her over and over again as the three of us walked over to the front door slowly, Arthur in front of me with his gun aimed in front of him incase anyone was going to come towards us. Alice's hold on me tightened even more as we were close to the front door when I heard something behind me. We both looked for a mere second, but then I saw something in front of us and I saw the two gunmen in front of us by the living room. I knew Arthur was going to be dead as soon as he started firing, so I placed Alice on the floor and felt her arms slip away from my neck. I looked to see we were by the small closet, and a idea came into my head.
"Hide and seek Alice, go hide and I'll find you." I whispered to her and she instantly ran into the closet without hesitation. God I hated tricking her, but I then threw my gun out in front of me and both Arthur and I fired at the two men. One of them ran off into the living room and I shot the other one in the arm. He fell to the floor as Arthur ran for the other gunman. I ran to the wounded one as he got up and went to shoot at me once more, punching him square in the jaw to have the gun fall out of his hand and he punch me back in the jaw. I ducked and saw his hand flying into the wall and I kicked him low in the stomach. He hunched over, his hand still in the wall as I kneed him in the head to knock him out cold. As he laid in the hallway I could here Arthur was fighting the other man.
I ran back to the closet and opened the door, seeing dark brown hair and a little bit of her bright green eyes hiding behind Arthur's coat.
"Chéri." I said aloud, Alice coming out from hiding and running into my arms. I held her close, forgetting about my gun and wrapping both arms around her as Arthur came back down the hallway, sweat was evident and a little bit of blood on his face. I knew the other gunman was dead, from what I was on Arthur's face, he was dead for sure.
"I got my wallet and my keys, let's get out of here." Arthur said aloud in her serious tone as we went out the front door. I looked back for a mere moment, thinking of how nice it was about ten minutes before when we were sleeping and having a moment of peace. But now we couldn't go back, I knew that and so did Arthur. We had to think in order to find out who was after us, and where we could go. I never wanted this for Alice, not once.
And I knew Arthur didn't want it either.
Driving in the car was silent, but Alice rode in the front seat with me, still in my arms but fast sleep and no more tears coming from her eyes. It was 2 in the morning, and the streets were completely deserted, so I knew Arthur had no care to drive within the city speed limits and laws. Arthur was clutching my hand in his whilst driving, and my other arm was around Alice, bringing her close to bring in the strawberry shampoo she was still harboring.
"We can go to Cobb." Arthur said aloud to me, his voice was low but I could tell he was furious to what was going on. But I shook my head from that notion.
"His children are with him, the last thing we need is to put James and Phillipa in this as well." I replied back to him, and thinking about that would break my heart. It wasn't that Cobb wouldn't be able to protect them, he's been doing it for some time. I just couldn't think of putting them in that position.
"What happened?" I asked aloud, suddenly thinking of how fast and how sudden all that happened really did happen. Arthur clutched my hand in his, showing that he was thinking of the same thing as well.
"They must of been working with a past mark." Arthur replied back to me, trying to keep his composure with me and Alice in the car. But I shook my head.
"How could they do that? It's been four years, either a mark has a real grudge with us, or...I don't know." I said in a defeated tone, feeling Arthur tug my hand towards him slightly. I looked away from the sight in front of me of Arthur driving and looked over at Arthur, seeing him look at me with a stern look in his eyes.
"It's gonna be okay." He said to me in a soft tone, and I saw in his eyes that he was serious. I nodded my head, feeling Alice stir in my arms and I clutched her close, kissing her hair.
"You know I wouldn't let anything happen to her, or you." Arthur reassured me, "We're going to figure this out and we are going to make sure no one else if coming after us. Someone must still be on your trail after this long."
"You think it was from the big job, with James?" I asked him in wonder and a hint of fear in my tone of voice.
"It might be. His security was very tight back in his mind, so it must be him." Arthur said aloud to me and I looked back at the road in front of us. It seemed logical, that job was rather big for any of us to handle in one dream, let alone three. So it had to be him coming after us.
"Eames." I heard next to me. I looked over and saw Arthur was on the phone, his face was cold again and I saw some determination behind his eyes.
"Something happened at our place...gunman broke in...you too?" I looked at him with shock and concern. Arthur gave me a weary look but focused back on the road. I let go of his hand and placed my hand on his driving arm, squeezing it once or twice.
"No Alice is fine...yes Georgie too...when did they get you...did you make it out okay? Look, can we come by your hotel suite and stay for the night...no we're not staying here anymore, it's not safe for us...yeah we're going to London with you and Cobb...Yeah I have all we need. Alright, see you in two minutes." Arthur closed the phone and placed it on the middle isle between us. He then placed his hand on top of mine on his arm whilst driving with his other, rubbing my hand softly as I kept my head on Alice's small head.
"We're going back to London?" I asked him aloud, and Arthur nodded his head. I sighed, kissing Alice's hair once more as she stirred a bit in her sleep, but fell right back sleep.
"So much for a normal life." I muttered, feeling Arthur squeeze my hand and agreeing with me silently.
"Give me the peu un." Eames said aloud, scooping the sleeping Alice from my arms and carrying her over to the big couch in the suite, he already made a bed for her on top of it and as soon as he placed her there, Alice curled up and sucked her fingers as Eames placed a blanket on top of her. HIs suite on the top floor of the hotel was very nice, a nice chandelier over the big dining room table and a nice sized living room, a view of a far away New York City that was lit in lights and the walls were warm in the color of yellow and beige. But I wasn't feeling warm, I felt cold and isolated from what happened.
Arthur immediately hugged me, never being able to do it once since the break-in because I was too busy holding Alice, and as he wrapped his arms around me I rested my head against his chest, trying to calm down and breathe for once in what seemed like hours. I had the break-in replaying over and over in my head as Arthur rubbed my head and hair, trying to soothe me and bring me back to reality.
"It's alright Georgie, It's going to be alright." Arthur said aloud to be and I nodded my head against his chest. I then looked over at the sleeping form of Alice, who was wrapped in her blanket and stuffed whale dead asleep. Eames walked over, rubbing the back of his neck and faced the two of us at the other end of the living room.
"Let's talk in the bedroom." He said to me in a hushed tone. We both nodded, and without leaving the embrace of Arthur, the three of us walked over to the bedroom suite and closed the door silently. Arthur placed me on the bed gently and then left me to grab the two duffel bags he carried in as soon as we got to the hotel. He placed it on the coffee table in front of me and dug through it.
"What'd ya got?" Eames asked as he walked over to the big window view of the city below us. He drew the curtains closed as Arthur took out cash and some passports in one of the bags that we got right after we were married.
"Passports and cash. Alice's passport is in here too, I put in here right after it was sent to us, and I have our bank information so we can transfer our funds as soon as we can. Some extra clothes, along with our weapons." Arthur explained as he took out what he was saying. I felt relived seeing all of those things in front of us, and I knew Arthur was ready for anything to happen if it did.
"You really planned this out didn't you?" Eames asked as he went into the closet and dug through his things that were already hanging there.
"I wasn't going to take any chances." Arthur replied, counting the cash we had in the bag as I looked over to the other bag. I reached out to looked inside, seeing Alice's things that were for emergencies only and other tools we needed.
"You both are bloody perfect for each other." Eames said in a mutter as he took out his own bag, leather bound and ancient looking, digging through as Arthur placed the things back inside.
"What happened with you Eames?" I asked him out of curiosity.
"I was having a drink with that lovely bird I told you about, and as soon as went outside I knew I was being followed. So I walked for a couple of blocks until one of them decided to jump me. I knocked them both out and then bolted for another hotel to confused them. If all goes according to plan they shouldn't know where I am." Eames explained to me as he looked up for a brief moment at Arthur and myself.
"You checked the suite as soon as you got back?" Arthur asked.
"Not one sign of a big around here, I looked everywhere. We're safe here." Eames said aloud as he looked back in his bag once more.
"How much?" Eames asked aloud as I looked trough some more in my duffle bag.
"50 grand, that should be fine for cash. As soon as we land we can transfer our funds." Arthur explained aloud as I took out another gun from my bag and loaded it.
"You think anyone would steal from your account?" Eames asked as he pulled out his own cash and some of his other tools.
"THey won't make a dent, not with the security I placed on it." I replied aloud, seeing Eames look up at me with confusion in his eyes as I looked back at him.
"Clever." Eames replied in a grin and I smiled, for once in the whole situation I smiled.
"So here's the plan, we need to get to London and stay there until we figure out what was going on. If we had a break-in and you had a run-in at the pub, who knows what could of happened with Cobb." Arthur said to us aloud. Eames nodded his head as she got his suitcase out and onto the other bed in the room.
"What about James and Phillipa?" I asked Arthur, thinking if something were to happen to the two of them.
"They're with their grandparents for the weekend, so Cobb was on his own." Eames said aloud as he finished with his packing.
"I'll go and get the ticket as soon as I can in the morning." I said to Arthur and Eames aloud, the both of them nodding their head at me. I could tell Arthur didn't like that plan at all, but he knew better than to argue with me in a situation like this.
"And until then you two are staying here until we can get out of here to London." Eames said in his more serious tone, and I felt like we were intruding him, going into his space for the sake of being safe.
"We can find another place to stay, really Eames." I said to him, sounding like I was pathetic,
"Not a bloody chance. For once, they could be watching us right now outside the hotel, and to see all three of you leave in the morning is a death sentence. Besides, I love that little squirt in there, so you'll be fine here until we leave in two days." Eames explained to me, and I knew he was right. It was too dangerous to leave now, and Alice at even more at a risk would be horrible for me to think about. And as Arthur was getting our things in order and Eames going off to call Cobb, I knew we would have to go back to our old job.
We had to go back to being cons
Regardez en bas = Look Down
peu un = Little One