Chapter 25

We followed Arthur's SUV at breakneck speeds to the private commercial docks. Luckily, this late at night, there were little chances we'd have to worry about traffic. The whole time, Meliodas kept Arthur on the phone, relaying strict instructions.

I'd seen Meliodas lead. From the day I'd entered the bar with him, I'd seen what I'd only recently learned was his natural propensity for leadership. But this was a whole new version of him I'd never seen before. It was the kind of leadership and situational awareness I'd expect from someone in a warzone - someone who'd been tried and tested in a military setting. We were going in blind, and Meliodas was the commanding officer.

It took us ten minutes to get to the docks, but we pulled over and parked a few blocks away to be safe.

If this was the intended target of the Commandments, we didn't want to alert anyone by just pulling in.

"Alright," Meliodas began the moment we all gathered up around the car, popping the trunk and pulling a pair of gloves and a large wire cutter, "Princess and I are going to-"

"I'm coming too." Arthur interrupted, much to the dismay of his bodyguard.

A sentiment Meliodas seemed to shared as he peered hard at Arthur, an unusual seriousness in his tone, "If Princess is right about this, then things could get dangerous."

"I'm aware of that." The young man asserted, "Please, Meliodas. I need to be apart of this. Surely you can understand that."

Again, Meliodas remained silent. He watched Arthur for a few long moments, like he was weighing his options before a heavy sigh escaped him, "Fine." He relented.

The young man beamed, but Meliodas was quick to make his stance clear, "You'll be hanging back, though. Don't put yourself in any unnecessary danger, got it?"

Arthur nodded quickly.

The blonde sighed again, looking like he'd aged ten years in the span of the last ten minutes.

"Slader," Arthur turned to his security detail, addressing the man for the first time. "Stay with the cars. You know the drill."

"Yes, Sir." Slader dipped his head in acknowledgement.

I bit the inside of my lip to keep from commenting.

Meliodas shut the trunk of his car silently. Barely a click was heard as he pressed his weight down against it with practiced ease. A moment later he's around the car and waving at Arthur and I to follow.

The tension in the air was high as we strolled down the streets. Meliodas managed to hide the wire cutters within his jacket. A good thing, as we passed a few drunk pedestrians along the way. They honestly probably wouldn't have known any different. Just a few people making their way home after a long night.

After what felt like hours, but is only a few minutes, we arrive at the docks. I could see a few of the massive container cargo ships docked at the port in the distance, lights and the low echo of machinery warning of those who I hoped would be too busy to notice a couple of people sneaking about. Heavy chain link fence topped with barbed wire blocked off the entire area, with 'No Trespassing' signs posted every few feet. I had to appreciate Meliodas' foresight to bring the cutters with us.

We made our way to a section of fence covered by foliage, crouching in the cover it provided as Meliodas began clipping chain links, peeking up every once in a while to look out for trouble.

"Are you armed?" He asked softly as he clipped away, sparing me no look until he'd finished and there was room for him to push through, leaving the cutters hidden in the foliage and holding the opening for Arthur and I.

I glanced at the blonde speculatively as I passed through and he let the fence fall back into place, "You told me you were going out to do something potentially illegal." I grinned, pulling back my jacket to reveal the loaded holster on my hip, "Of course I'm armed."

We crouched low as we followed the fence to the water, quietly sneaking through rows of private boats bobbing peacefully in the bay.

"Where is the shipment being held?" Meliodas asked over his shoulder as we came to the commercial boats and the beginnings of rows of warehouses and containers awaiting shipment.

There were no signs of movement in our area - not a single night guard walking the docks, just the continued sounds of those working the ships much further up ahead. But that didn't mean they weren't around.

Or worse - the very people we were trying to stop.

Arthur pointed across the way to a larger warehouse along the bay, "That one, I think. Number twelve." he whispered.

"You think?" I quizzed quietly, receiving a shrug.

"It's hard to tell in the dark - and I've only ever visited through the entrance, so I'm a little turned around."

"We'll find out soon enough. Keep low. No telling who we'll run into out here." Meliodas commented and we were off again, moving quickly through darkened areas between the docks and buildings until we'd reached our goal.

Luckily for us, each of the large metal buildings were labeled along the side, making it clear when we'd found our mark.

Meliodas stopped, hiding behind a stack of metal beams, peeking over to assess the area, glancing down at his watch, "For a shipment meant to go out in the next three minutes, it sure is quiet over there," he mumbled, coming to crouch back down next to me, "Are you sure it was supposed to leave tonight?"

Arthur nodded, "Of course!"

Meliodas' glance flickered to me as I felt a wave of heat over my face. I could practically feel his thoughts bombard me - his mind second-guessing his decision to follow my gut. But he didn't say it. Instead he peered over the blockade again, "Let's get a closer look."

All at once, I'm grateful and anxious, but I nod anyways, reaching under my jacket to unclip my holster in case I needed to quickly pull my gun.

Each of us quickly snuck across the open expanse to press up against the warehouse. We were at the back, as far as I could tell by the fewer areas of tread in the gravel. But, we were in luck; there was a door that opened easily to allow us inside.

"This warehouse is supposed to be secure…" Arthur grumbled softly.

"If I were you, I'd fire whoever made those arrangements." I mumbled back before being hushed by the blonde leading our raid.

We froze, listening to the chorus of chirping crickets outside and nothing else.

"I'm going inside to take a look around. Protect Arthur." Meliodas commanded, and just like that, he darted inside the building.

"Meliodas!" I hissed after him, not daring to raise my voice any higher.

The blonde didn't turn back. Either he hadn't heard, or didn't care that I was calling after him. I turned to Arthur. He appeared to be in much the same mood as me. Confused and just a little terrified.

I shook the feeling away. I was a cop. What did I have to fear?

I'm going out to do something potentially illegal... Meliodas' voice sprung up from my memory and own repeated words from earlier.

Right. There was that I suppose.

"What do we do, Princess?" Arthur whispered quietly, a hint of alarm in his voice. His plum colored eyes were no longer looking at me. Instead he seemed to be surveying the surrounding area, just as concerned as I was that someone would find us. We were sitting ducks out in the open like this.

It made me wonder how often he did things like this. Probably as much as someone of his standing should - which was never.

"We follow him." I stated the obvious. It wasn't the smartest idea, but Meliodas left us with little choice. And I hated to admit how much safer I felt knowing Meliodas was nearby.

As silent as possible, we made our way inside after him. Oddly enough, I couldn't see Meliodas anywhere. Did he move that fast? Or did something besides the cargo catch his attention? Despite not knowing where the leader of the Sins had went, I headed for the cover of darkness the warehouse provided. Arthur staying right on my heel.

We slipped further inside - crates, pallets and packages upon packages stacked in varying heights made the place look like an industrial maze. One misstep and we'd either run into Meliodas, or someone less happy to see us snooping around.

Arthur was my best ticket for explaining to a guard what we were doing here. But there was no telling what kind of action the wrong person would take once they knew the jig was up and that someone had caught on to their little scheme.

Which I still hadn't figured out yet.

The emergency shift in personel for the "classified materials shipment" Arthur had mentioned meant that was the true target, right?

I stopped and looked back to ask Arthur about it - and immediately heard the low murmur of voices somewhere else.

I press my finger to my lips, signaling Arthur to keep quiet. My eyes survey the room in an effort to find us the best vantage point. We stayed close to the back wall until a slim set of stairs off to the far right caught my attention. I followed the stairs up, seeing another level and even more boxes. Deciding that would be our most advantageous spot, I led Arthur towards them.

My senses were on high alert, searching for any indication that the voices realized we were there. I went up the stairs first, thankful for the large stacks of containers blocking most of us from view. Still, the source of the voices was a mystery and it was setting me even more on edge.

When we reach a spot that allowed us to see most of the warehouse, we paused. I anxiously scanned the rows in between, still not finding anyone. My teeth nawing at my lip. I was at a loss for what to do. No Meliodas. No bad guys. Was my gut wrong after all?

Then finally- finally - a flash of movement caught my attention. Meliodas. He's practically right below us. A few moments later, he's three rows away. His hands are in one of the boxes, filtering through it's contents like we aren't in the middle of a high risk situation.

My blood boiled and I opened my mouth to call out to him.

And then a heard the loud cock of a gun.

Meliodas stopped moving, but eventually, slowly lifted his hands in the air. He turned around to, I assumed, address his attacker. But I couldn't hear or see much of anything in the darkness. Not at first anyways. By moving around another stack of crates, we were given a much better view, and what I could see now was two thugs with rifles. Then a third body stepped out of the shadows, just enough so that I could see their shape, but not much else.

"Oh, no," Arthur breathed next to me. I tore my gaze from the scene below to stare at him. His eyes were blown wide in what I could tell was the start of panic. "What do we do?"

I place my finger to my lips, urging him to stay quiet, and hopefully calm him down. My hand is reaching for the cellphone I'd moved from my bra to my jacket pocket a second later. But I stopped myself. Arthur stared at me, waiting for instructions. For me to do something.

But I was at a loss. I couldn't pull out my burner phone here. If we made it out of this whole thing unscaved, Meliodas would ask questions. And Arthur would answer them without a second thought.

"Give me your phone." I demanded quietly, extending the hand near my side out to him instead.

"What?"

"Your phone." I repeated hurriedly. "You have one, don't you?"

His brows furrowed. "Of course I do." He reached into his pockets, eyes back to the scene going on below. "What are you going to do?" He offered the device to me.

I took the phone quickly, dialing the number I knew by heart while looking over nearby crates for anything that would help.

The phone rang three agonizing times… "Come on...please pick up…" I whispered, glancing up to confirm Meliodas was still at gunpoint. The indiscernible chatter of the figures who'd approached him echoing and bouncing off the walls to cover the sound of my searching.

Then finally, "Detective Howzer speaking."

Thank fucking god.

"Howzer, listen-"

"Elizabeth?! I was-!"

"Shh!" I hushed him, signaling for Arthur to crouch lower and follow me as we moved to the next set of crates, "I need you to listen, alright?"

"Why are you whispering? What's going on?"

"How many cruisers are in the area of the commercial docks?"

"At the bay? I don't know, I can check. Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"The cruisers, Howzer?" I urged, ignoring his request, before the crate to my left caught my attention.

On the outside it was labeled "fragile", with the logo and name of Pendragon Enterprises burned into the wood. Carefully, I lifted the wood cover panel to find impact cases nestled neatly inside, surrounded by foam peanuts.

I took one of the cases, handing it to Arthur so I could close the wooden lid back without any noise and turned my attention back to the package. We placed it on the ground between us. Putting my hand over the clasp to muffle the sound as I opened the lid, I found four cushioned rifle laser sights tucked carefully inside. I grinned, quickly going to retrieve another case from the crate and passed it to Arthur - who starred dumbstruck between me and the sights.

"Looks like a couple are in the vicinity. Maybe ten minutes away at most," Howzer finally confirmed and I frowned. Ten Minutes was a long time when there was a gun trained on someone, "Now, what's this all about?" he continued, but I couldn't indulge him.

I had to come up with a way to get Meliodas out of this without anyone being shot full of holes. And I had to do it fast.

"Put out an alert - immediate response. Shots fired at warehouse twelve on the docks." I saw the concerned glance from Arthur out of the corner of my eye as I snuck past and started placing the rifle sights on crates and lining them up as best as I could at the figures below.

"Shot's fired? Are you serious? Is anyone hurt?"

"Just do it! I promise I'll call you back and explain everything!" And with that, I hung up. With an alert like that out, hopefully we would be able to cut ten minutes down significantly.

Now, to get a look at our unwelcome guests.

I positioned myself behind a crate closer to the edge of the platform, leaning on it to stabilize myself.

There were three in total - the two with their semi-automatic rifles on Meliodas were both masked, but the third - the one who seemed to be calling the shots - was not. From where I'd positioned myself, I could make out some of the man's features - most notably, what appeared to be jet-black hair. Reminding me of the temporary dye Meliodas had used for his disguise when confronting the Mayor's wife. But aside from his stature and the hair, I couldn't make out much more.

Damn. Too dark.

No time to dwell on it.

I pulled back, careful not to make any sound as I came to sit on my knees, motioning for Arthur to come closer, "Alright, do exactly as I say." an order which I received an eager - or possibly terrified - nod to. "When I give you the signal, I want you to quickly turn on the lasers on each of the sights I set up over there," I pointed to the other five sights set up at varying distances back towards the crate I started with, "Do you understand?"

He nodded again, this time with a bit more confidence in his face. Without hesitation, he snuck back towards the other sights, waiting on my signal.

"Well, I suppose this is it then, hmm? You have to know that I can't just let you walk away. Nothing personal - You're just bad for business." I heard the voice much more clearly now that I wasn't moving around. It wasn't a voice I recognized at all, but it was one I planned on committing to memory.

That was, If we made it out of this.

I didn't wait to see if Meliodas would respond. I turned on the laser still in my possession and slowly ran the sight down to rest squarely on the man's chest making sure to catch the attention of not only Meliodas but also the armed goons who suddenly seemed frantic.

I was a good shot. Not the best in the force, but certainly not the worst. But, If I'd had a rifle behind this sight - it would have been a dead shot to the heart.

"Maybe not." I heard Meliodas' cocky grin in his tone and that was my cue. I gave the signal to Arthur and as instructed, I watched five other red dots light up the man's chest. "You really should have checked the rest of the warehouse. You might have been able to spare yourself the ambush." the blonde sin boss mocked.

A ballsy thing to do when the only real guns in the room were in the hands of the enemy.

The man looked around slowly, as did his men, "I wouldn't move around too much. At least one of my guys up there has quite the twitchy trigger finger." Meliodas warned, and I pulled my gun. If this didn't work, I would need it.

Come on… just a few more minutes…

There was a scoff from below, "You're bluffing."

I cocked my gun as quietly as possible.

"Am I?" Meliodas shrugged, keeping his hands raised, but if he was tense, his body certainly didn't show it. "Want to test your theory? Cause I've got six guys upstairs who I guarantee will shoot you before your guys can shoot me." he shrugged softly, "You know… nothing personal."

The tension was palpable - time ticking slower and slower.

There was a long silence before the man started to chuckle softly and he slowly shook his head, "You always did play dirty. Always playing your cards so close to the vest."

This was taking too long. He wasn't buying it.

I'd have to do something. I hated it, but I was running out of options. I'd have to take the shot before the guy could bark an order. This was a hostage situation now. And Meliodas was too valuable to me.

I lined up my shot - squaring it up with the red dot I'd trained on the man's chest and poised my finger on the trigger.

"Boss!" One of the goons' urgent voice caught me before I could fire. His attention on the entrance had everyone else's turning as well. I couldn't see outside the walls of the warehouse from my vantage point, but I could hear what had everyone else downstairs on edge.

The distinct sound of quickly approaching sirens.

Despite the relief that flooded me, I didn't let my guard down. There was still time for this to go south.

"Well? What now? Shall we leave something interesting for the cops to find, or shall we go our separate ways?" The blonde provoked as the sirens grew louder. "It's your move."

The way the man continued to regard Meliodas despite the swarm of officers coming to rain down on them had me wondering if he was actually considering a full-on shoot out.

He waited so long that his men started glancing between each other and getting fidgety. I almost didn't hear the scoff from the man as he finally called off his men and they released their sights on Meliodas - intent on making a quick get away before the cops could show.

"This isn't over, Meliodas. You're going to regret this." I heard the black-haired man warn as he disappeared out of the building.

But not before the approaching red and blue lights illuminated part of his face for me to see. It was hard to tell exact age from the distance and lack of decent light. But he didn't look much older than Meliodas did. If I had to guess, I would have even pegged him younger.

But even at this distance… there was something about his face and cold, malicious features that seemed… oddly familiar.

I shook my head as the sirens grew even louder. They were close. Too close. Meliodas couldn't be seen here. I waved Arthur over and we both sprinted down the stairs, "Meliodas!" I called out, and he met us at the back of the warehouse where we'd made our entrance. His features brighter than I would have anticipated.

"We have to get out of here without being seen, or else there will be hell to pay."

I didn't need to say any more. Meliodas took the lead, sneaking us back the way we'd came as quickly and quietly as we could.

None of us saying a word until we'd reached the fence and made a break for the road and the cars at full sprint.

Slader met us by the cars, his gaze concerned as he eyed us panting breathlessly, "I saw the police lights. What happened?"

Meliodas shook his head as he bent over, trying to catch his breath. I watched him speculatively. Unsure of what to expect. Until he threw me for a loop and started laughing. Softly, nervously at first, then growing. "Genius. That's what." He beamed.

Arthur too began shaking his head - the expression on his face relieved, yet disbelieving, "It was all Princess. I was completely useless."

I caught the surprised look Meliodas shot me at hearing that out of the corner of my eye as I approached Arthur, "Nonsense. I couldn't have done it without you." I smiled, offering him his phone back.

"Not to interrupt, but it won't be long before those officers come back out to scout the area." Slader interjected.

He was right. We needed to be scarce. Before we dispersed, Meliodas promised he'd get in touch with Arthur before long.

With that, we drove our separate ways.

Dom: *Stands outside in what can only be categorized as "spring attire" despite the snow falling and building up to her knees, she shivers violently, but does not budge*

Luv: *peaks out the door with a concerned expression * Uh….. Dom dear… whatcha doing?

Dom: *Sniffles, finding icicles growing from her nose* I'm tired of this mother effing snow in this mother effing spring. Therefore, I am willing it away by sheer force of will. *Glares out into the continued snowfall with intensity.*

Luv: oh… *walks out to join her* you know this is only second winter right? We still have false spring and third winter to get through before mud season.

Dom: DAMNIT! I FORGOT ABOUT FALSE SPRING AND THIRD WINTER! NOOOOOOOOOOO! *Falls dramatically into the snow*

Luv: *sighs before dropping to the ground to rub soothing circles on Dom's back* Next Time on Don't Trust Me: Elizabeth had spent the last two weeks getting to know the sins - unintentionally growing closer to them little by little. But she never dreamed she'd be this close. A moment is all it takes to turn everything she's known on its head.

Dom: It's really cold out here… *mumbles into the snow*

Luv: *helps Dom out of the snowbank* how about we head inside for some coffee hmm?

Dom: COOOOFFFFFEEEEE…. *Follows love like she were a pied piper*

Luv: See you guys next chapter!