Beautiful Stranger

Part Six

Eames wanted to say that he was surprised the military would fire on someone in broad daylight but these were the same people who had gunned down unarmed men for what might have been no reason at all. He pushed his way through the back alleys with Arthur right behind but the extent of their fight and what had happened between him and the gunman seemed to be taking its toll on the kid. What started out as someone keeping up with him came back to someone who stumbled a few times and was a few feet behind him. The forger was about to say something when he turned a corner and someone pistol whipped him down to the ground. Eames tried to blink away the spots that danced in front his eyes as another soldier threw Arthur into the wall and knocked him to the ground. The world around Eames was beginning to fade and a few feet away he could see Arthur going unconscious. Eames closed his eyes and everything went dark.

The forger blinked a few times as the world came back into focus. His head was killing him and he was sure that he was going to have a permanent dent in his head. Eames sat up slowly and looked around. He was in a darkened room, a warehouse he guessed, with the two soldiers watching him carefully. They had guns and he was no longer armed so running was out of the question. He heard someone stir behind him and he saw Arthur sit up, a hand to his head.

"Looks like we're not as good at running as we thought," Eames said and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Very funny, Mr. Eames," the kid groaned. He was about to make a comment when the general walked up to them slowly. He was in civilian attire but he was obviously armed as well. Eames could tell by the way that he walked that he had taken lives and had not batted an eye. That did not bode well for either of them.

"I must say I was surprised to see you with him," the general said to Eames. "I was also not so surprised that I couldn't find out who you are."

"Then I'm doing my job correctly," Eames replied.

"I see. Does your job include trying to get involved with matters that no longer concern you?" he asked.

"It concerned me the minute you decided that 'dealing with a problem' meant putting a bullet through a kid's eyes," the forger replied in a dark voice. The general grinned down at him but there was nothing good behind that smile. The man moved and kicked Eames in the ribs hard; it was enough to take the wind out of him and he coughed violently. As he winced he saw one of the soldiers holding Arthur back; the kid had eyes like a murderer in that moment.

"That's enough," Arthur said loudly and everyone looked at him. "This is unnecessary and you know it. You have me and I'm the problem. Let the man go and you can do with me as you wish."

"Oh Arthur, you're so naïve," the general said as he walked forward. Eames was trying to regain his breath as the general cracked Arthur across the temple hard enough that the kid looked stunned. "You were a valuable member of this army but that doesn't make you any less cannon fodder. It's going to be a shame when the police find your body; sometimes muggings just go wrong." The general pulled out a switchblade and Eames really did not want to witness this murder. Arthur seemed too dazed to really see what was happening or he had accepted that he was going to die.

"You would be wise to lower your weapons," a familiar voice laced with a French accent said. Eames turned and saw Mal and Cobb standing over the second solider who was still on the ground. The general turned around slowly and narrowed his eyes.

"You all seem to have grown a conscience overnight considering you drugged and broke into the mind of the person you seem so hellbent on protecting," he said.

"What we do and why we do it is none of your business," Mal replied. "Drop the knife, the gun and Arthur before I take out some kneecaps."

"You'd best do what she says," Cobb said. "She is a woman of her word." The general placed the knife and his gun on the ground and nodded for the remaining soldier to do the same. The Cobbs walked forward and Cobb handed his gun to Mal. He bound the hands of the general and the soldier before he removed two needles from his pocket. He pulled the plastic tip off and jabbed them both into the necks of the two men. "That should wipe their memories of the last few hours and give us some time to get away." Cobb put a hand out and helped Eames to his feet. Mal knelt in front of Arthur who seemed to be having trouble seeing straight.

"Arthur." Her voice was soft and he looked at her. He blinked a few times as if he was trying to clear his vision. "You're safe." That seemed to be all the incentive Arthur needed and he fell forward into her arms. Mal held him for a moment before Eames and Cobb helped the kid to his feet. Mal dumped bleach on the ground, cleaned the blood from the weapons and locked the door behind them. She made sure they left no trace. They loaded the unconscious Arthur into the backseat and Mal sat with him, his head in her lap. The wounds on his head needed stitches but there was nowhere they could take him. Eames watched her keep a cloth to the wounds as Cobb gathered their belongings from the hotel. Eames climbed into his car and they drove for a few solid hours before they pulled up to a dirty old motel. Cobb rented two rooms and Eames eased Arthur onto one of the beds. Mal stitched his head up and cleaned out the wounds on his knuckles. "He's probably going to sleep for a few hours," she said. "Can you watch him?"

"Yeah, I got him. You two need sleep too," Eames replied. She looked down at Arthur and touched his cheek.

"I'll have someone start erasing him from files. Even if he decides to go on his own he still needs to vanish completely," she said.

"He needs to rest so don't let him run off," Cobb said.

"I'm not an idiot," Eames said and he waved them off. "Go before I kick both of you out." Cobb rolled his eyes and Mal smiled. The two of them left the room and he locked it twice behind them. The forger walked over and watched the kid beneath him sleep. This was the person he had just risked his life for, the person that he now had several broken ribs for, and he did not know anything about him. Eames did not consider himself a selfish person by any stretch of the word but he rarely stuck his neck out for someone else. Now he had risked his life for a complete stranger and it was odd to think that this was actually happening. It was not long after the Cobbs had left that Arthur stirred and looked up at Eames.

"I really hope I'm not dead and somehow took you down with me, Mr. Eames," the kid grumbled and it made the forger smile.

"Ah, no, darling, you're not dead, just a little beaten up," Eames replied and he sat on the other bed. "So you were in the service?"

"Don't call me that. And yes, joined as soon as I turned eighteen but I didn't last more than a year out in Iraq," Arthur replied. "I came back and went back to college."

"Harvard, right?" Eames asked and the kid grinned.

"No, actually, most of my information that is passed around is fake. I actually went to Brown and graduated with a degree in two years," Arthur replied.

"Two years? How did you manage to do that? I don't know much about the American school system but it seems like it should have taken four," Eames said. "And is any of the information floating around true?"

"I graduated high school a year early," the kid said. "And my name is Arthur; that is about the only thing that is true." Arthur paused and he stared at Eames. "You came into my dreams to get my secrets. I've heard of that before, it's called extraction, right?"

"You got it," Eames replied. "And you seem like a natural at it to be honest. Do you remember anything about the dream?"

"Bits and pieces," Arthur said and he creased his eyebrows as if he was deep in thought. "I need to disappear and fast."

"We have someone working on that," the forger said and the kid actually rolled his eyes.

"If this is the same person you hired to get information on me I should probably do it myself," Arthur said and he sat up slowly. "Can I stay here for a few days? I just need to get my head on straight."

"That's up to the one's paying for the room but I don't see why not," Eames said. "I need to get some sleep, can I trust you to not blow my brains out?"

"I'm not armed and neither are you. I'm assuming that there isn't a gun anywhere in this room. I'm sure you're in better shape than I am right now anyway so I don't think you should be worried," Arthur replied and he lay back down.

"I think you're a lot more dangerous than you let on," the forger said as he lay down. The kid did not say a word and for some reason Eames fell asleep easily. He had seen the look in Arthur's eyes, he knew this kid was capable of extreme violence, but for some reason he did not think he would turn that violence on him. Not at the moment anyway. For some reason he was very sure of this, one military man to another.

Arthur seemed more interested and focused the next day. He asked for a laptop and spent the next few hours typing away, transferring money and deleting his records, erasing his previous identity as Arthur completely. He erased himself with such ease that it was unnerving to watch and Eames exchanged a glance with Mal. Cobb went out and bought the kid some very basic clothing. The clothes looked cheap even compared to the bloodstained suit he was wearing, and he vanished into the bathroom. Mal sat at the desk and began to search for information about the general. It seemed he was still missing and Eames could not hide his grin. He was okay with that bastard being gone as long as possible.

"What's it like?" Arthur asked and all three of them looked up. He was leaning against the doorway to the bathroom, his arms crossed in front his chest, watching them carefully. "What is it like in the dreams? I've heard rumors but I don't know how true they are." Eames watched Mal and Cobb very carefully. This was a crucial moment; they knew as much as he did how rarely someone went into the dreams and woke up without wanting to go back again. It was like a drug, something that got under the skin that never went away. As much as the forger wanted to think that someday he could give all of this up he knew better than to think that. Just like everyone else in the business he was hooked to the rush of it all, the creation, the challenge, all of it. In that moment they could tell him 'no,' they could tell him that they could not hook him up and show him that world, they could refuse to open that door and let this kid walk away none the wiser. They could let him walk away and vanish into the world like the ghost he had become..

"Would you like to see?" Mal asked and Eames made no attempt to hide the little smile that formed on his lips. Arthur was a natural, he knew that as much as Mal and Cobb did, and now they had opened the door to endless possibilities to someone that they had nearly gotten killed less than twenty-four hours ago.

"Yes, I would," Arthur replied and Eames knew that there was no going back now.