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Chapter 3

Ari sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. Almost all her nails were chewed away. Instead she gnawed at the skin surrounding her tattered nail beds.

The call had been brief. And vague. Arthur had answered after one ring.

"Get up. Move through the back of the café. Come in through the back of the hotel."

She had watched him shut the phone without a response. He sent a quick text message, then headed into the café with Cobb and out of sight. Eames had followed a few minutes later, having received Arthur's notification.

Ariadne had barely registered this though. Her eyes, by then, were trained on the window directly opposite her. She took in every detail, scanned the other windows for some clue, but found none.

She had about 4 minutes and 37 seconds to decide what she was going to tell them.

By mentioning someone was definitely watching them brought up more concerns that she let herself think of. By saying that she saw somebody who looked as if they may be following them, well, it softens the blow.

She heard the card click into the slot, and within that millisecond she made her decision.

Arthur stood dark and intimidating in the doorframe. He immediately strode into the room; his eyes sweeping the entire are for any sign of danger. Eames followed him in, heading towards the other room with his hand on his gun.

Cobb quietly shut the door. He was talking very fast on his cell phone in a hushed voice. Ari jumped when it snapped shut.

"Yusef lost him. But he's going to take a longer route to swing back."

Ari's head shot up. "Lost who?"

Cobb glanced for a second at Arthur then back to Ariadne. She frowned, hating it when they did this. Finally Cobb sighed, "His tail." Ariadne would have laughed at the answer if it weren't for the fact she knew its context. Her breathing stopped for a second.

"How did you know?"

"He had been sitting two seats away from Yusef. He was watching him very closely."

Arthur came sat in the chair next to her, on edge and staring out the window. Ariadne felt a tension in the distance between his chair and hers. Right now she just needed someone to hold on to. However, she wasn't going to cause more anxiety than was necessary.

Cobb's voice was sharp when he said, "Why did you call, Ariadne?"

She paused a moment, rethinking every single thought she just had, before answering, "I think someone may be watching the room."

There was a heavy silence. Eames broke it first, "This room?"

Ari gave a sigh, "This room? The café? Us? I'm just not sure. But I saw some stuff today."

Cobb strode quickly to the window, carefully peeking out the side to create less of a target for himself. However, they seemed safe at the moment. He inclined his head toward her, "What sort of stuff, Ari?"

This was the point Ariadne was unsure of what to do. She wanted to tell them everything, knowing they would do everything they could to make her feel safe. She also wanted them to be safe as well, and sharing with them what she knew might make them a little more careful. At the same time, she wanted to protect them. They had much more important things to worry about. They had had many people tail them before for less violent reasons. It was usually just their employer making sure they were doing their jobs. Getting distracted by something like this could make them careless about Wiedoff.

"I saw someone watching the café from the building across from us." She said slowly.

Nobody questioned her if it was just an average civilian. They all knew Ariadne knew the difference.

Cobb was still near the window. "Exactly across from us?"

Ariadne nodded. "They have their blinds drawn."

Ariadne felt vulnerable. It could be a worker from their employer….or it could be a sniper, for all Ari knew. She didn't like not knowing much else, nor did she like causing more tension for her boys.

She said quickly, "I'll keep watching. My guess is that it's someone from the government checking up on us. I'm sure it's nothing."

Arthur met her eyes after she finished speaking and said, "We're not calling it nothing until we're absolutely sure. "

Cobb cut him off quickly though. "No, Ariadne is right. She can keep watch. We have a lot to get done." He let the blinds fall back into place and paced the room. "We still haven't found Wiedoff and we need to get this job finished as fast as we can."

Arthur frowned, "We can't be sloppy, Dom." He leaned forward, his hand on the table only a millimeter away from hers. Ari's hand balled into a fist and she put it in her lap, resisting the urge to close that distance.

"It's not being sloppy." He said harshly. "Ariadne's a big girl. She can handle this on her own for now. If anything happens, she will tell us." He looked at Ari. "Right?"

She nodded, feeling the knot in her stomach grow tighter. If anything strange went on, she would get them out immediately.

Ariadne had read the file on Adrian Wiedoff. He was cunning, manipulative, and dangerous. He had become more and more unstable as the years went on. They needed to get this job done for the sake of a lot of people around the globe, but she wasn't going to risk putting her friends' lives in danger.

"Of course, Dom."

Ari felt a familiar warmth on her hand. Arthur was gently prying open her fist. She had completely forgotten about it.

Cobb had moved away from them, and Arthur whispered, "Are you sure you're ok with this?" She could hear his unsaid words: 'Are you ok doing this alone?'

She nodded, giving him a small smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Ariadne felt him give her hand a small squeeze.