Arthur couldn't look away from those blue eyes. How long would it take the police to get here? It wouldn't matter for him, he would already be dead, that much was for sure. However, would it be long enough for these four to somehow escape?
No. How could they? Arthur had to force his way into the building and that seemed to be the only door. No, there was a roll up door to let trucks into the warehouse and a back door facing away from the road. The North were trapped. How were they going to escape? Besides, killing him would do them no good.
The rifleman smiled. It was a nice, almost childlike smile. Arthur might have thought it an innocent had the man not been holding a gun at him. Arthur saw the fingre twitch, tighten.
There was a flicker at the table, one of the men slammed his cards down with a thud that echoed through the warehouse.
The rifleman froze and looked down. Arthur followed his gaze and saw the man looking up at the rifleman.
"I win." The man said, his voice gravelly and passionless, but it rang through the warehouse with an authority that surprised Arthur. For a moment, all was still as the echo died away.
"Damn it!" One of the other men said and dropped his cards to the table as well. The last man, the blue eyed one, only nodded his head in defeat and showed the others his hand.
Slowly, the other two men looked up at the rifleman. Arthur didn't understand what significance the man winning was, but the rifleman's stance changed. The smile fell away and those eyes grew cold once again.
"Ddddaaaaammmmmnnnnn iiiiiiitttttt!" One of the men at the table whined, slouching down in his chair, "Can't we play again?"
"Shut up and take your defeat like an adult." The blue eyed man said mildly and glanced over his shoulder at Arthur, "It looks like it's your lucky day Mr. Kirkland."
Arthur glanced up at the rifleman. The gun was still level with Arthur and those eyes seemed to stare into his soul with a chilling determination. Arthur felt his breath catch in his throat. He was going to die. At least the police would catch these guys and murder would give them at least a life sentence if not the death sentence. He was going to die. This was it. Arthur Kirkland's story was over without him every really accomplishing anything. He wished he could at least have done something imporant in his life. Of course, dying so the police could catch a group of criminals was important, but it wasn't the sort of important Arthur had been hopping for.
The rifleman narrowed his eyes, then sighed and closed them. He seemed to slouch back inot himself and when he opened his eyes again, Arthur saw something he couldn't describe. It was a mixture of sadness and something Arthur didn't recognize. The rifleman lowered his gun and smiled at Arthur again.
The rifleman laid the gun down beside him and swung his legs over the beams so they dangled down and he put his hands up in the air, "Okay, you caught us."
Arthur choked. For a moment, his legs couldn't support him, but he regained his composure and proceeded to stare at the men. This wasn't right. The North didn't just give up. Did they? "You are the North, correct?"
The men looked at one another in surprise then back to Arthur and they nodded.
"And you want me to arrest you?
"Excuse me? You said you wanted to catch us." The blue eyed man seemed to frown, "Let's be perfectly clear, we have four escape routes right now. Killing you would take that down to two, however Sweden won and Sweden wanted to let you live."
"That leaves two escape routes you aren't using." Arthur said, keeping his tone as emotionless as he could.
"Jeez! You said you wanted to catch us, didn't you?" One of the other men snapped, "Hurry up and arrest us before we change our mind!"
Arthur's mind race. There had to be a trick here. Why would they willingly turn themselves in? What was thier game?
"Where is Peter?"
Almost as one, the North sighed.
"Dude! Are you going to arrest us or not?" The man snapped again, "My patience is starting to run thin!"
Arthur stared at the four, his eyes darting between them searching for some sign he had missed. Anything really.
"People don't kidnap kids for a reason. Kidnapping is wrong and ridiculously risky."
Arthur's eyes widened. He understood. The North came here, invited him here, knowing he was bring the police, all because that was what they wanted. This was it for them. Everything was going according to plan.
Arthur removed his ear piece and turned it off. A strange respect nagged in the back of his mind. It wasn't like he trusted these guys, but the seething hate had died down. He looked at the earpiece for a moment before looking up at the North again. They truly were the best at this game. However, Arthur knew, that this was a game he didn't totally understand.
"You came here with the intention of being arrested." Arthur spoke softly and slowly, he watched them and knew he was right, "You never intended to kill me."
At that, the rifleman laughed, "No, we just couldn't agree on it. The deal was if Sweden or Norway won, you lived since that was what they wanted. A draw or Denmark winning and you would die since that was what me and him wanted. You are a detail, we would have been arrested either way."
"You don't have to go explaining our life to the guy, Finland!"
"Denmark. Be polite."
"You shut up too!"
There was a flurry of movement as the smaller man spun on Denmark, grabbing his collar and one leg whipping behind him and slamming into the back of his knees, making him tumble forward. Denmark hit the concrete hard and the blue eyed man planted his foot firmly in Denmark's back. Denmark groaned but didn't struggle.
A silence followed the few second of movement and the blue eyed man looked up at Arthur, "Arthur, I need you to arrest us now. I'm sure you have questions, but it is in all of our best interests that you spend as little time in here alone with us and your ear piece off. Your superiors have little confidence in you and will have all the more reason to distrust you now. I need this case to stay in your hands."
Arthur looked at the four men. Two wanted him dead, two didn't and they all wanted to be arrested. The fact that Finland still had the rifle was unnerving and that Finland had been among the two who wanted to kill him. Still, Finland seemed content to go along with the deal. This left the problem of Peter. They were turning themselves in and there were four of them. Five counting Emil, but that meant there were no North loose keeping Peter hostage, right? Were there more than five North? What was Arthur missing?
Arthur drew his gun and pointed it at them. His body acted without his consent and his mind screamed that there was something wrong with this picture, he just didn't know what it was, "You are under arrest for threatening and holding another at gun point and you are under suspicion of being the criminal group the North. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right . . . "
The North made no effort to resist arrest.
Emil exited the mall and sighed. Lukas had asked for two weeks vacation and gotten it. No one had seen him in days. Next stop, Mathias's. Tino's apartment had been empty and it had looked like it had been empty for a few days as well. Even Hana, Tino's dog, was absent. Emil didn't like breaking into Tino's house, but he didn't have the key and he had been hoping to find Tino's phone or something. Plus, he knew Tino didn't have a security system. Which made sense given Tino's views on security systems. He was of the opinion that they were useless, and up against him, he was right.
Leon hadn't actually asked any questions yet, but Emil could practically feel Leon yelling them at him. Emil knew that Leon's opinion of him was probably in the dirt by now. Breaking into Tino's house probably confirmed all the little suspicions that had popped up when Emil was arrested.
Emil didn't look at Leon as he mounted the bike and wordlessly started off again. It wouldn't be weird that everyone was at Mathias's house. So that was the next stop. Leon was probably going to call the police again and turn him in for breaking into Tino's apartment. Emil sighed and hunched his shoulders. At least he wasn't stuck in that wretched cell still. There was a terrifying helplessness in being imprisoned that he didn't feel now. Sure, he was still in the dark and didn't know what the North were up to, but he was able to do something about it.
"Emil. I'm really worried about you." Leon said, pedaling up beside Emil, "Do you want to talk?"
"Have I ever wanted to talk?" Emil asked, trying not to sound hostile, "Do you expect me to spill my feeling to you or something?"
Leon shrugged, "No, I just thought I'd let you know I'm here for you."
"Wow you're sentimental today."
Leon shrugged again and they lapsed into silence once again. Emil sighed again and turned down Mathias's street.
At first he didn't look ahead of him, instead focusing on the ground in from of his bike. He braked and looked up at the apartment complex. There were no lights on in Mathias's window. Then again, it was the middle of the day, it was possible Mathias was home and didn't have the lights on. Emil dropped the bike in front of he building and started up the stairs two at a time.
Emil knocked on the door and listened for any sign of movement from within. Leon silently followed him and stood behind like a shadow. There was no need to break into Mathias's house, Emil knew where he hid his spare key. After retrieving it from the bird house hanging out over the under hang of the apartment above them, Emil unlocked the door and entered.
The house was chaos. As usual. Mathias never was one for cleaning like Lukas and Emil were, so his house looked like a constant war zone. Emil wander the house, not sure what he was looking for and finally pulled out his phone and dialed Mathias's number. He heard the phone ring from somewhere in Mathias's room and had to call twice before he located it.
He opened it up and checked the recant calls. Three were from him, but the next one was Lukas's number. Emil opened Mathias's texts and was surprised to see his inbox and outbox empty.
Next to find Mathias's computer. Emil cast an eye around the room. That would take too long. He wished he could dial the computer and have it ring to tell him it's location. Maybe he would skip on the laptop and head over to Berwald's house.
If they weren't at Berwald's, he wouldn't be able to break in to find a phone or anything. Berwald's security system was the best there was. Nothing got into or out of Berwald's house without him knowing about it. Nothing. Probably not even Tino. Well, maybe not. Nah, Tino could probably break into Berwald's house.
Emil and Leon walked back to the bikes in silence. Leon's phone burst into song.
Leon took out his phone and looked at it like it was the plague.
"What?" He said the moment he answered, "No."
Emil watched Leon's face and could barley hear the buzz of another voice at the other end of the line. Leon was silent and his face settled into a look of annoyance.
"No." Leon said again and his face grew dark, "I can't. No, I really can't. I just can't."
Emil leaned on the bike and glanced around the street, it was strangely quiet for the ending of a Saturday.
"Why?" Leon snapped, then sighed, "Fine." and he hung up, "I have to go home. Drop the bike off in the morning, if you can."
Emil nodded, "Okay."
"We need to talk."
Emil shrugged, "It's all good."
That look of annoyance didn't change, "Lie."
Leon mounted his bike and started off. Emil watched him go before taking off in the opposite direction. No Leon meant a little more freedom. He didn't have to hold himself back from pedaling as fast as he could. He did't have to act like he was calm. He didn't have to worry about what Leon thought.
Leon was his best friend and Emil was pretty sure that this afternoon, along with him being arrested, had destroyed that. Oh well, a worry for tomorrow. Today, he need to find Lukas and the others. He needed to find out what happened. Then he could mend fences with Leon.
It occurred to Emil that he already knew what happened. The North kidnapped Peter. Like the idiots that they were. So, where was Peter?
Lots of disjointedness! I hope you like this chapter, it was a pain to write!
Thank you so much to my reviewers! I love you!
