Chapter Four

They ran for some time, enough that Juliet was practically begging to stop somewhere. Cobb kept going, slowly respectfully for her, but never slow enough to a walk. He constructed a complicated path of zigs and zags and a few back tracks until they ended up at a local café-diner combo a few blocks away from the house they were just in. Juliet thought they could have saved some time and some energy by taking less round-a-bouts.

She was struggling to stay upright, and she was a volleyball player, when they entered the diner, but they couldn't escape the glances tossed their way. In such a local place, everyone knew everyone and they did not know Juliet or Cobb. Clearly that made Cobb a little uneasy. He hid it behind a nod and smile to the head waitress and found them a booth near the rear exit.

Juliet collapsed into it thankfully, feeling the burn in her legs. Everything was tense and she felt like there were spiders calling all over her. Every glance, every shift Juliet was sure was one of them, whoever they were. Projections she was used to but real people acting like projections? She couldn't grasp that.

"Mr. Cobb," she couldn't stand the silence, "I really don't have any idea who they are."

He leaned forward suddenly, making her jump. "Who are you working for Juliet? Who did you piss off?"

Again Juliet was put off. Must she defend herself at every moment? Couldn't he accept that she was just as surprised as he was? "I don't know." He kept staring at her. "Look, the job is a few days away. I was only doing research for my friend, as a favor. I was off the grid, not even going in. Whoever he is working for can't know I was helping him."

Cobb let out a frustrated sound, running a hand down his face. "Juliet, they know."

"How? I mean, it's not possible. My brother's a hacker; he taught me how to cover my tracks. I don't even use my real name." Juliet was still breathless, but she believed what she said. Her half-brother, a moron of a man, knew computers left and right. When she'd started in on the dream business, she'd gone to him for some advice. He didn't share all his tricks, just enough to cover her tracks. It had been incredibly helpful in her school work.

Then he went still, his eyes focused on something behind her. She raised an eyebrow, then swiveled. Two men entered the café looking less formal than their buddies, but still out of place enough that she snapped herself back toward Cobb.

Juliet stood and headed toward the bathroom, doing her best to breathe normal and walk instead of running. She had no idea what Cobb was going to do. There wasn't any commotion out in the room, so she figured everything was at least going somewhat well.

Once in the bathroom, Juliet did circles. The stalls were no good, nor was the ceiling. All she had was a small window to work with and she decided that was her best bet. She shed her bulky jacket. Given how high up it was, Juliet grabbed the trash can, upending it and using it as a stool to boost herself up. It took a moment to figure out the lock, but she managed it.

Awkwardly she climbed out, wiggling to make it through the smallish window. She had her torso out and was clinging to the sides so as not to land on her head when the two suits turned the corner and pulled her from the window. She tried to do what the movies told her: lash out as much as possible, but they were stronger than they looked. They hauled her into the air. Over the man's shoulder, she caught Cobb's eye. "Help! Let go of me. Someone, help!"

She continued to struggle until she felt a prick in her neck. Juliet smacked at the man but she was already seeing two of him. "Stupid suits," word were becoming a challenge. "Let me go."

Holed up back at his place after a long day of covering their tracks, Cobb sat with Eames, Arthur and Ariadne in his living room. Miles had graciously taken the children out to dinner to keep them away from the dream business. Eames was lounging, munching a handful of peanuts he discovered in the cabinets. The other two were sitting on the love seat, one wearing a very serious expression and the other looking more concerned than anything else. Cobb wasn't sure which side he agreed with more: Arthur or Ariadne.

"What a bloody mess," Eames was the first to speak. Cobb nodded in agreement.

"They took her? In the open like that? Shouldn't the people in the café have heard her?" Ariadne asked, following the logical conclusion.

Arthur leaned forward onto his knees. "Not if they were paid off. Men with this mobility have the means."

Cobb shot to his feet, unable to stay sitting while his nanny was out there, kidnapped by people he'd spent a lifetime hiding from and for good reason. Getting caught by people like that? Most people, if they survived, came out a completely different person. Juliet was a nice enough young woman, still innocent enough to see the world in a better light. She wouldn't see it that way now.

"What does that… what does that mean?" The architect searched the men's faces.

"It mean," Eames popped a few more peanuts into his mouth, "that charming Juliet is in over her pretty little head."

The former extractor stared out his window and into the yard he usually watched his children play in. He wanted to strangle Juliet for dragging him back into the dream world and at the same time, was ruled by his concern. When he'd first noticed her research, he should have put a stop to it all.

"We have to get her back."

"Dom," Arthur shifted forward, "this isn't our usual game. This isn't a dream, this is real. Finding contacts will to surrender any information that might have been stupidly left out there, and it won't be anything substantial, isn't going to be easy."

Cobb sighed and Eames crunched his peanuts. Ariadne was the only one who seemed to be truly outraged by that idea. "What are you saying? Are you saying it's impossible? I thought building cities was impossible, but I've done it. Guys, we talking about a person here. She needs our help. We can't just leave her to them." Silently, Arthur reached back to give Ariadne's hand a squeeze.

Eames shrugged. "I hate to say it, but I agree with the old boy. It isn't much different than our other jobs. Could be interesting."

"We're going to have to call in a favor," Cobb stuffed his hands in his pocket, fingering the metal spinning top.

The room was cold, unbelievably so. She shivered and realized that her hands were bound behind a Victorian styled dinner chair. There was an old Tiffany lamp lit up behind her, casting a dim glow to the room, which was decorated in the overly styled way the rich were prone to. Her head was spinning and felt like an anvil had dropped on it.

"Hello, Juliet."

"David." Juliet stared at the blurry figure that came into her vision.

"I hope they weren't too rough with you. I wouldn't like your pretty face messed up. You know how much I liked how pretty you were."

Author's Note: Just a shorty this time, and not even as good as I'd like it to be. After that last chapter, I had no idea where to go then it hit me and this little diddy wrote itself. I'm finding Ariadne and Eames to be easy to write where as I just can't seem to find Arthur. He's just so outside who I am. I'm such an Ariadne that I find writing Arthur difficult. Anyway... I'm finally starting to see where this might go plotwise, now I just gotta get Sato and Yusef in there because an Inception fic isn't an Inception fic until the whole gang is back together. I should really find a way to toss in a little Fischer cameo...but we'll see about that. I'll stop rambling now.