Here is the next chapter
Disclaimer: See chapter 1
This time it was on a job. It wasn't a particularly complex job but it wasn't easy either. At least it wasn't supposed to be hard.
This was his seventh job and counting. All seven of them he has worked with Eames as a forger. Well, Eames wouldn't let him work if he wasn't on the job. Eames was the one who introduced Arthur to the world of dream sharing. Eames had told him the it revolutionized theft and corporate espionage, and you made a great deal of money too. The money wasn't what got him hooked on the idea, he certainly didn't need it, it was the research, and the sheer power of dreaming that had him on board.
He wasn't always so sure of himself though. After he woke up from his first dream by being torn apart by Eames' projections he refused to go under again and had trouble sleeping for weeks. You have to remember though, back then the dream technology was not as advanced as it is now. The dreams weren't as vivid and the Somnacin compound they used was far from stable or safe. The PASIV device was in it's primal stages. It was Eames who eventually convinced him to return. He gave the dream machine another chance.
Their mission on this seventh job was to go into the mind of the CEO of Jude & Sons. Everyone in the business knew that Marcus Jude didn't always use legal business strategies but his wife also suspected him of being unfaithful. They were there to figure out who the woman was.
There were four under on their team for this mission. The fifth was watching them in reality. Arthur was acting as point and Eames as extractor. They were scouring Marcus' office while the other two led the projections on a false trail, trying to buy them some more time.
The office was one of those big offices on the top floor of the building with many windows letting in light but there was one door and no windows that connected into the building. He couldn't have people looking in while conducting his "business".
This was helpful but also particularly detrimental to Arthur and Eames' work depending on how you look at it. On one hand the projections can't see them but then, they also can't see the projections.
It went wrong right before they figured out who it was. All the sudden shots were being fired into the room. These were not normal projections.
There it was, the drumming. It was back though it had never really left. The drumming was always there as a presence in the back of his mind, beating.
Arthur pushed the drumming to the back of his mind and dreamt up a machine gun. "You get the information. I will try to hold off the projections for as long as I can."
Eames just nodded before turning back to the computer to finish his work, faster than he had been trying before. The other two men were most likely dead so it was all up to them.
"I found it," he yelled to Arthur over the sound of guns, "It wasn't a woman. It was his wife's supposedly dead brother," Eames chuckled, "give me a few minutes and I can get the rest of the information as to where they have been meeting and how he faked his own death."
"We don't have a few minutes Eames." Arthur growled.
He was right. They didn't have a few minuets. Within a few seconds Arthur was shot. He fell to the ground clutching his stomach.
Eames saw what happened and quickly ran over to him, knelt next to him, and pulled his head into his lap. He dreamt up a gun and eliminated all immediate danger.
"What the hell are you doing?" Arthur ground out, "get the fucking information. You don't need to-" he was cut off as he choked up blood.
"Arthur," Eames said in a soft voice. He knew that this was going to be Arthur's first time dying of a bullet wound in a dream and he also knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant. He knew Arthur, he showed him this world, so he knew that when Arthur woke up he was going to have another emotional mark that wasn't there before and it was Eames' fault. The least he could do was be there for him through out the process.
The Eames was shot in the chest and collapsed on top of Arthur's struggling to breath, trying to make sure Arthur died first so he wouldn't be left alone.
Now that it was over it was back. The drumming was brought to the forefront of his mind. The four beats, always there, never faltering.
The drumming mixed with the pain of his wound was too much to handle. He brought his hands to the sides of his head and screamed. "Make it stop. Please make it stop!" he begged.
"I-i-its. O-kay," Eames managed, "i-it will b-b-be over so-oon."
"No it won't. It never-" he choked up more blood onto Eames, "It never goes away! The drumming is always there beating. Always there! "
That was the last thing that was said before projections burst into the room and riddling their bodies with bullets, killing them both instantaneously.
**Drumming**
They both woke up gasping for breath. The other two men already had them selves under control and started packing up, covering their tracks.
"What the hell happened down there?" the fifth man asked while packing up the PASIV, "this was supposed to be an in-and-out job."
"Those were not normal projections," the second team member added, "what the hell were you doing in there that made them go so out of control? I have never seen anything like that before."
"I wasn't doing anything that I haven't done before," Eames ran his fingers through his hair, "what was different."
"Militarization." Arthur said, taking them all by surprise. He was now much more under control of his emotions, the drumming less predominant in his mind, giving him room to think.
All four of the men stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Arthur. He took this as a queue to continue. "I saw something somewhere a while ago about some men paying extractors to protect their mind against extraction, which is also known as militarizing the subconscious. As far as I know it isn't well known that this can be done. There is only one extractor who has been able to militarize someone's mind, Dom Cobb. I would bet my money that Jude used him to protect him mind. He was expecting this."
"But we still got the information, right?" the first team member asked.
Arthur looked down guiltily, "Well I was-"
Eames cut him off, purposely not looking at him. "He was having an affair but not with a woman but with his wife's supposedly dead brother Roland Smith. He faked his death by taking an already dead body and put it into his house then set it on fire. The body was burned beyond recognition and he was missing so the authorities assumed that it was him in the house. They ruled the fire as an accident, case closed.
"No one bothered to investigate it, the perfect cover up. He has been staying in one of Jude's flats in London where he visits Smith frequently during the day and on most weekends using his private jet."
Arthur started at Eames open mouthed, still sitting in the chair in Jude's office where they had set themselves up. He thought that he had messed up. Guess not.
The men finished cleaning up while Arthur watched them. He was still new enough to the business where not much besides the research was expected of him.
They were all finished. "Okay," the first team member started, "we are going to split up and your payment will be wired into your accounts by the end of tomorrow. The mark will be under for the next thirty minutes' giving us enough time to get away."
Eames and Arthur didn't split up. They got into separate cars and drove in two different directions but met up a few blocks later.
Arthur ditched his car and jumped in Eames'. Eames just sat there.
"Eames, we need to go before anyone figures out that something is wrong."
He turned to face Arthur. "No. Tell me what the hell happened down there when you were shot."
"I was shot for the first time in my life and over reacted to the pain. I am over it. If I have to work in this business I have to get used to this." He shrugged it off.
"No Arthur the drumming. What is the drumming?" he persisted.
Just the mere mention of the drumming brought it back to the front of his mind. "Nothing. I had a head ache."
"Arthur if you have something to tell me-"
"It was nothing Eames!"
Eames didn't respond but pressed the petal to the metal and drove away. They rode the whole way in silence.
