Shoot to Kill
When they reached St. Louis, Kurt dialed Sam's number and waited. Two rings and Sam's voice came through, as if he had been expecting the call.
"So, I tracked this Drum guy. He's at a coffee shop, I'm sending you the address now. I'm going in and freezing his accounts, so if this doesn't work, at least he won't be able to make the final payment." Kurt rolled his eyes, snapping the phone shut and waiting for the text to come through. Blaine was in the passenger seat, back rigid and fingers tapping constantly on his knees. As he opened his mouth, although he had no idea what he could say, the phone made a sound.
"Drum is at a coffee shop not far from here. I uh... when we get there Blaine, I need you to promise me something." Kurt was looking at his phone, to check the address again, and then to the street map in his lap. He could feel that he now had Blaine's full attention, but he did not look over to him. He traced his index finger over the roads that he would have to take to get to the coffee shop, committing it to memory before actually making the drive. It wasn't until Blaine reached over and covered his hand, forcing him to pay attention, did he finally turn to look.
"Anything."
"I want you to stay in the car and if you see anything suspicious, or if I give you a signal, or if anything happens... just... drive." Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt's hand before pulling it back, shaking his head.
"And leave you there? No. Not happening." Kurt sighed, having at least partially expected this reaction.
"You said anything!" Blaine threw his hands up and then let them fall back into his lap, fisted tightly. His reply was clipped, his jaw tight.
"Anything but that." Kurt shook his head, folding the map back up and placing it in the console between their chairs. Afterwards, he turned the key in the ignition and started to pull out of the parking space they were in.
"There isn't a choice. If he sees you, red flags. He doesn't know what I look like so I'm the only logical choice. So can you just... say the words? Please." Blaine crossed his arms over himself, folding in slightly. It wasn't a sight that Kurt wanted to see, Blaine cutting himself off like that, but he would take what he could get for now.
"I promise to run away if something happens." His voice was like a petulant child, but Kurt would give it to him. He could imagine how he would feel if it was reversed, if Blaine was telling him to sit in the car and wait while he did something stupid. The only thing that probably kept him from throwing a complete fit was that it was just Drum that he was meeting up with, it wasn't like there was going to be any members from the company in there.
He parked a little ways away, throwing his bag over his shoulder and stepping out of the car. There was a knot in his stomach, not because he thought this was going to be dangerous, but because he was going to be meeting Blaine's ex-boyfriend. Despite the fact that he really wanted to hit himself for even thinking that, it was the truth. His anxiousness stemmed entirely from the thought of meeting the guy that Blaine had been with before him.
He was barely on the sidewalk when Blaine called out to him from the passenger seat. Kurt had half expected to turn around and see him on the sidewalk with him, but he seemed to realize how bad it would be if he was seen. Taking a glance around, although there was no one on this little side street, he moved over to the window, leaning down so that he could see in. Blaine grabbed his face, pulling the top part of his body into the car, and pressed his lips against his.
Kurt heard the chant in his head, "keep it short, keep it short", being drowned out by the static that was recently coming with kissing Blaine. He snuck one hand into the window, the other one holding onto the door so that he didn't fall completely into the car, and pressed against Blaine's neck to pull him closer. When they parted, Kurt sitting up a little too quickly and bumping his head on the top of the window, Blaine was smiling. Of course Blaine's smile made Kurt smile.
"I'll see you when you get out of there." Kurt nodded, just barely refraining from making Blaine promise him again. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the cell phone, pressing it into his hand. It wasn't said, but it was understood. If something happens, call Sam.
The coffee shop was small, but definitely nice and upscale. It reminded him just enough of the Lima Bean that he didn't feel uncomfortable stepping in. It wasn't until he was there that he realized his mistake. Sam had printed off a picture of Drum for him, but he had tucked it into the very bottom of his messenger bag to put off the inevitable as long as possible. There was absolutely no way he could dig it out and not draw more attention to himself than necessary. That in mind, he had to rely on his training.
Anyone over the age of thirty was cut out, as well as the tweens in the corner. That left only a handful of people near his age, half of which were females, so they were crossed out. That left three guys. There sat his next problem. All three of them were dressed differently, all three were alone, and all three could potentially be something that Blaine would find attractive. Well, all three were attractive in general, so Kurt imagined Blaine would find them as such.
He fell back on the memory of what Blaine had told him, about a knee injury. It was a long shot, because what were the chances that a knee injury from highschool would give someone in their mid-twenties problems, but indeed, one of three he had picked out was favoring their right knee. He watched him for a moment longer, before he decided that that was his mark. The man was tall, even though he was sitting, and looked a cross between professional and casual, wearing jeans and a button up shirt. He had light brown hair, a little messy and a pair of silver rimmed glasses covering his eyes. Kurt found it would be a lot easier to hate him if he was over the top attractive or even just downright unfortunate looking, but he was attractive and subtle at the same time.
He was sitting at a table, one hand holding open his book with the other rubbed absent mindedly at his knee, his drink infront of him. Kurt made his was over, catching the name scrawled on the cup and smiling. Matthew was written on the cup, pointed directly at Kurt. This being the best opening he was going to get, he moved to the chair infront of him and sat down, making sure his bag was on his lap and not at his side.
"Hi. You're Matthew Drum, right?" The man looked up from his book, confused but polite, and Kurt had to refrain from hitting him. There was no way a guy could look that polite and innocent when they had issued a hit out on someone. There were these things called consciences, they tended to keep people from enjoying life when they made bad decisions.
"I am. Do I know you?" Kurt shook his head, releasing his bag and steepling his fingers infront of him.
"No, you don't, but we have a mutual friend. Frank Carlson." His eyes widened and he lowered his book completely, reaching up to tug his glasses off.
"Is there a problem?" He glanced around the shop as if expecting someone to pounce on them. Kurt would have laughed at the irony if he was not starting to get anxious again.
"It seems your request was not met within the allotted time. There person on the job hit a snag, but we are working to rectify the problem immediately." Drum looked relieved, but at the same time, Kurt could tell he was uncomfortable. Now was his chance...
"If you want to terminate your contract, now would be the time to do it." Drum reached up, fingering the back of the book on the table and shook his head.
"No, I don't think I should." He knew he shouldn't push, shouldn't ask why he put the contract out because that's not what the company would do, but he had to.
"If I may ask, why did you make the request?" Drum shot a look at that, before glancing back down at the book. Kurt waited, shooting a glance at the exit to make sure the way was open in case this went bad.
"What's your name?" Kurt opened his mouth, about to ask what that had to do with anything, but he decided it was best to just go with it for now.
"Felix." Drum nodded, leaning back in his seat. As he changed his stance, it was like he closed a shell over him. The shy and confused interior that Kurt had gotten a glance into was covered by arrogance, accompanied with a smirk that Kurt wanted to growl at.
"Take a look around this shop Felix. Every girl, every guy. If I wanted them, I could have them. Even you. If I wanted you... I could have you." Part of Kurt bristled at that because while he liked confidence, he did not like arrogance. Plus, he was in a rather non-defined relationship already, and this was the guy that had contracted a hit out on the guy he was seeing.
Another part of Kurt, however, was smirking so much that it felt like his face was going to freeze like that. Drum saw the smirk, but he musn't have realized that it wasn't for his benefit because his own smirk hadn't left yet.
"You can have any person that you want." Kurt leaned forward, supporting himself on the table as he did so. The look on Drum's face became slightly leery, now moving over Kurt's face and neck and shoulders... the entire thing was rather sickening.
"Exactly." Drum had leaned forward at that, so that their faces were only a few inches apart. If it was possible, Kurt's smirk grew.
"Except for him."
At that, Drum leaned back in his seat, his smirk turning into a frown. It was there that Kurt saw a glimpse of the man he had seen before.
"We'd known each other for years and then he thinks he can cut me out of his life because... because of what? I mean, the sex wasn't even that good." Kurt's back stiffened at that, making him lean back into his chair. He glanced down at his hands and then back up to Drum, just in time to see the glimpse disappear and the cocky persona snap back into place.
"So maybe I got drunk and remembered that a friend of a friend knew some people. It's done with, I paid for it, and the story is going to have a happy ending." A happy ending for which person, Kurt wanted to ask, but decided he had pushed enough for now.
If Drum wasn't going to take it off on his own, Kurt would have to find a way to force his hand. And although his stomach was turning at the thought, he forced himself to lean forward and give a casually flirty look.
"I'm sure there are plenty of happy endings to be had." The look that Drum had at that was positively predatory and would actually probably be attractive if Kurt wasn't in physical pain from having to flirt with this guy, but he had to get him out of here and somewhere secluded, and fast.
"I can get behind that." Drum let his eyes drift to where the table pressed into Kurt's stomach and he smiled, his hand dropping to his messenger bag and feeling to make sure the gun was still in there.
"Want to go for a walk then?" Drum glanced over Kurt's shoulder before smiling.
"Yes. I'd like that." The pair stood up, with Kurt draping his bag over his arm again and Drum just slipping his book into his back pocket.
Once out of the door, Kurt let Drum do the guiding. Few minutes into the walk, he started to realize they were heading the exact direction he came, so they were heading exactly towards where Blaine was. He had to think fast, he had to do something to distract him because he could already see the front bumper of the car...
He grabbed Drum's arms, pushing him towards the wall of a nearby building. When Drum opened his mouth, probably to ask what the hell Kurt was thinking, Kurt realized he had two choices. He could pull his gun out, because there were no people around to see, or he could try to milk this to get as much as he could from Drum. His choice was taken from him as Drum took their stance to mean something different and leaned forward to press his lips against Kurt's.
All Kurt had to do was to just let it happen, to let the kiss last for a few moments, to keep his attention off of the road infront of them just long enough to think of a plan, but he couldn't. The moment that Drum put his lips to Kurt's, Kurt stepped backwards. And the look on Drum's face said that that was exactly what he was expecting.
"I think you need to tell me what in the hell is going on, Felix, because I don't think I trust you one bit." Kurt glanced to the side, seeing that the bumper was still there. He could also just make out the interior of the car, with Blaine staring right at him. He gave him a sharp look before stepping forward, returning his full attention to the man infront of him. This next bit relied heavily on him distracting Drum long enough for Blaine to get out of there.
"I won't even give you the choice of doing this the easy way, because they hard way is going to be easier for me. You are going to call Carlson and you are going to terminate your contract against Blaine. You will use the money that you put up for the upped deadline as the cancelation fee. And, as of this moment, you will never even try to talk to him again." Drum narrowed his eyes, leaning forward to get into Kurt's face.
"And who are you to make these demands?" He heard the car start and he knew the sound would draw Drum's attention, so he thrust his hand into the messenger bag and pulled out his gun, pointing it at Drum's chest so that it was still mostly hidden by his jacket, just in case anyone did happen upon them.
"I'm the guy with the gun, and the guy with the gun usually calls the shots. Now call whatever number you have for Carlson and call the it off."
Drum looked around, up and down either direction and then down at the gun pressed into his chest, before pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number from heart. When he moved to put it to his ear, Kurt mouthed 'speaker' and waited.
"Hello, Stanley speaking." Kurt pressed the gun just hard enough into Drum's chest that he would probably have a little bruise there from it.
"This is Matthew Drum. I'm calling about my contract?" He heard a ruffle of papers on the other side, as well as some nervous sounds coming from Stanley.
"Ah, yes, your contract. I know that we had you up the payment because of the deadline, but it seems we hit a little snag. The person we sent to do the job got cold feet and ran off with the target. As of right now, they are MIA, but we are looking. I can assure you, we will take care of our side of the deal, Mister Drum." Kurt pushed the gun in tightly, raising an eyebrow to Drum as he did so.
"That uh... that won't be necessary. I am calling to cancel my contract." Kurt could almost feel the look that Stanley would be using right now.
"Are you sure? There are no refunds available, Mister Drum, and if you release the contract, we do not accept you opening another one on the same target." Drum sighed.
"I know that. You can use my current payments as cancelation fees." There was silence, Kurt holding his breath and Drum staring at the gun and Stanley probably making notes, before he finally spoke.
"If that is how you feel, it is good that you came to us now. We'll call off the hit." Drum thanked him and then hung up, shutting his phone and putting it into his pocket. Kurt lowered the gun, glancing down the road where the car had been parked and sighing. It was over and the hit was off and Blaine was who knows where.
"You're the one that ran away with him, aren't you?" Kurt glanced up at Drum, the man leaning against the wall and looking resigned. It was a good sign, even if he thought it was pretty anticlimatic.
"I am." Drum nodded, pushing off of the wall and putting his hands up, to show that he wasn't going to try anything.
"Keep in mind, he gets bored kind of easily." He shot a glance over his shoulder before taking off down the sidewalk, slow and leisurely, with his hands tucked into his front pockets.
As Kurt tucked his gun into his messenger bag, he wondered what was next. The hit was off, so Blaine was safe. This also meant that Blaine could go back to New York and resume his life. The only problem with that was that Kurt had no idea where Blaine was and he could not tell him this information. On top of that, Kurt didn't know what that meant for him and Blaine. If because Blaine no longer needed him to keep him safe, if he needed him at all.
He pushed the thoughts aside and started down the street the way that Blaine had driven off, his hands fisted into his jacket pockets and keeping his eyes open. It didn't feel like it was quite over yet.
A/N: This chapter did not want to be written for anything, so sorry about the choppiness, I wrote it over the span of a few days. I don't know how many chapters are left, but not many. I'm thinking this story will be over at 20 chapters, so potentially only two left. That being said, I have a few extras that I will probably post as bonus chapters, so we'll see. Thanks for reading!
Thanks to those of you that have introduced yourself on here or on tumblr, please continue to do so. I want to know my readers. So, just email me or drop me a review or a private message or stalk my tumblr. Links on my profile.
I hope you're enjoying the story.