The ride to Naples was uneventful. Eames did whatever he could to entertain himself, which included annoying everyone to no end. We stayed the night at a five star hotel at the border of the city, keeping our heads low and trying hard not to be noticed in the bustling streets. The people there were kind and did their best to help us when we mimed out any food or supplies that we needed for the long trip back to Paris. We all got a nice chuckle at the sight of Arthur miming the food we needed to a distressed elderly lady, though he got the point across well. We got all of our supplies and headed back to our hotel.
The hotel we were staying at was extremely nice and luxurious. Each room had two queen beds, a bathroom with a Jacuzzi, a balcony with a breath taking view of Naples, Italy, and separate reading rooms. Each room had large windows that let the sunlight blanket the rooms with a heavenly bright white. Since I was the only girl on our little adventure, I got a room to myself but I had to keep all of the equipment in my room. Arthur and Eames were paired in a room, and I felt extremely sorry for Arthur. Lastly Miles and Yusuf were paired in a room together. Arthur briefed us on the plan one more time before we all went lights out.
Break
We arrived at the train station at 5:45 p.m. We weaved our way through the bustling crowd of people to the blue and white train that we were to follow Strauss on. We headed for the last car of the train where the first class compartments were. Since this was a relatively small train, there were only four large compartments in that car.
I was in my disguise as a Paris designer. I wore a gray tank top under a blue pin stripped blouse with a ruffled black skirt. Before we arrived at the train station, I bought some expensive black Italian high heels and large designer sunglasses. To top off my whole look I added a wide brimmed navy blue hat. Arthur was in one of his three-piece black suits and Miles was dressed regularly in his green sweater and khakis. Eames and Yusuf were dressed like body guards in black shaded sunglasses with black pants and black t-shirts. They actually looked a little intimidating.
As we entered the train and gave the director our tickets, I hooked my arm through Arthur's. Strauss was in the back left compartment and we took the back right one which was directly across from Strauss's. Strauss was a thirty-five year old man with black hair and bright blue eyes. He had a pointed nose and a square chin. He had on a gray suit on with a bright red tie.
Everyone entered the lushly decorated compartment and settled down onto one of the six seats. I peered across the train into Strauss's apartment and saw that he was there with his body guard on his computer. It was then that we started the celebration.
We all started cheering and talking. Eames got out the champagne and popped the cork with a loud plop! Yusuf brought out the champagne glasses which had the sedatives in the bottom of the glass. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Strauss look over at us curiously. I smiled widely and kissed Arthur's cheek before I got up with two extra champagne glasses and headed over to Strauss's compartment.
I put on a friendly smile as I opened the glass door and said cheerfully, "Bonjour, je suis Alicia," (Hello, I am Alicia), "C'est mon anniversaire avjourd'hui," (It is my birthday today), "Pourriez-vous pour un peu de champagne?" (Would you care for some champagne?)
Strauss, who obviously didn't understand a word I was saying, only nodded his head politely. I offered him the glass with the sedative in it and he took it reluctantly. He looked at me and I gave him an encouraging nod. He took a small sip, and realizing what the drink was, took a larger gulp of champagne. I gave his body guard a glass as well so he wouldn't interrupt our mission.
I left the compartment soon after and continued to hug and cuddle with Arthur. Once we saw Strauss and his body guards heads fall back we quickly got out the PASIV. We slide the wires across the train into Strauss's compartment and hooked him up. Once that was over we hooked ourselves up and took our sedatives. Before we all conked out, Arthur turned to one of our trusted employees that would watch over our bodies and said, "We should be awake in ten hours. Make sure no one comes into the car. If the body guard wakes up and starts asking questions, just say that we all had a little too much to drink. The wires are hidden, so he shouldn't be able to see them unless he steps out of the compartment. Wish us luck!" He grinned at her before our eyes started to droop.
In 3, 2, 1.
Eames and I arrived in front of a large baseball stadium that was filling quickly with projections. Eames turned quickly towards me with a disgusted look one his face and spat, "Baseball? Why, dear God why, does this man like baseball?"
I laughed and said, "I didn't choose his favorite sport! Now you better forge into his son before we go inside!"
"And you should go put your wig and contacts on," he laughed as I stuck my tongue out and headed inside to find the nearest bathroom.
I entered the green and white tiled bathroom and quickly put on my blue colored contacts. I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail and piled all of my hair on top of my small head. I then put a sandy blond wig on and tucked all the loose brunette strands under the wig. I looked down at myself to find that I had on a red t-shirt with jean shorts on. I headed out of the bathroom to find Eames already forged into Joseph Strauss's son, Brandon Strauss.
He looked at least sixteen with sandy light brown hair and green eyes. He wore a Yankees baseball cap with a blue t-shirt and jeans. He cocked an eyebrow at the sight of me and said, "You don't look half-bad as a blond," he winked at me. Even his voice sounded different. His English accent had been replaced with a slightly higher sounding voice with a hint of huskiness.
"You know, Ariadne, we are more alike than different," Eames said.
"How so?" I asked.
"Well to start off, we both need to pay attention to small details. You need details so you can build cities to convince the mark that the dream is actually reality. I need the small details to trick the mark into believing that I'm another person. Without the small details, your cities will crumble and the mark will find out that he's dreaming. Without the small details, I cannot forge and therefore cannot trick the mark into thinking that I am another person. So yeah, we are more alike than different," He finished his speech with a mocking smile.
"Thanks for that lecture, Eames," I said sarcastically, "Let's go find Strauss."
We fought our way through the crowd of projections into the immense baseball stadium where the Yankees and Red Sox were playing. We scanned the rows of gray seats until we found Strauss with his wife sitting in the reserved section of the stands. Strauss's wife had Brandon when she was eighteen with another man, but she hadn't married Strauss yet.
After jogging up two flights of stairs, Eames took my hand and led me over to Strauss and said excitedly, "Dad! So glad to see you! I want you to meet Rachel!"
Strauss held out his hand and I shook it. He smiled at me warmly and said, "Nice to finally meet the girl Brandon wouldn't stop talking about. Are you sure you love my Brandon? Are you sure you don't have a concussion?" he said teasingly and chuckled, "Why don't you prove your love?"
My mouth dropped in horror. Why would he ask that? That's a very odd thing to ask your son's girlfriend! Eames only smiled evilly and winked. Then, a plan popped into my head. As Eames leaned toward me, I cupped his face with my hands and just as our lips we about to touch, I expertly slid my fingers over his mouth so only the corners of our lips actually touched. We broke apart after ten seconds and I slid my hand quickly back to cup his face. I then hugged Eames and Strauss only chuckled heartily.
He clapped Eames on the back and shouted over the noise of the crowd; "You seem to have found a nice young lady!" he turned to me and asked, "Do you want to come get some food? I want to talk to you and get to know you."
I smiled politely and agreed. We headed for the stairs and I looked back at a confused Eames and mouthed, "Don't worry, I'll be right back."
Strauss and I walked into the curving corridor of food stands and souvenir shops. We walked down the curving corridor until the large crowd of projections began to dramatically thin. At this point the food stands and shops have become more spaced and at the end of the corridor I could see the bathrooms.
"Wait…I thought we were going to get food!" I said with panic rising in my voice.
"Uh…don't worry about it," he said shadily.
"Maybe we should go back." I said worriedly, turning around slightly.
Suddenly, Strauss's hand clamped down painfully on my upper arm. He started to pull me into the men's bathroom, though I struggled. He threw me into the red and white tiled bathroom and closed the door. He latched his hand onto my arm once again and slammed me into the wall. He released my arm and pressed his forearm firmly on my neck.
He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "I've waited so long for this. If you tell Brandon, you'll regret it. If you tell anyone, I'll have you killed."
It was at this point where panic took over. I started hyperventilating and started to flail about helplessly, trying to fight my way out of his strong grasp. He pressed his body forcefully on mine, pinning his hips on mine which restricted the use of my legs.
Then, Arthur, Miles, and Yusuf entered the bathroom with a loud bang as the door swung open. They were all dressed in black with black ski masks on. Yusuf had his arm around Eames's neck with a gun to his head. Arthur and Miles threw Strauss off of me onto the ground. I maneuvered my way around Strauss and Miles to the opposite wall. Arthur then grabbed me by the nape of my neck and led us all out of the baseball stadium.
Arthur pushed me into the back of a dark blue van and took Eames from Yusuf. Yusuf then got into the driver's seat as the rest of us were piled into the back of the van. Miles put a dark brown bag over Strauss's head and then sat down across from me. Eames was sitting next to Strauss, pretending to be very distressed and whimpered inaudible things to Strauss. Strauss began to reassure Eames but was cut off when Arthur yelled, "Shut up! No talking! Now, I want you to tell us where the safe is!"
"W-What safe? What are you talking about?" Strauss stammered in fear.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Now tell me where the safe is or I'll make sure you'll never recognize your son again!" Arthur yelled, he was growing scarier by the second.
"I really do not know what you're talking about! Please don't harm my son!" Strauss yelled.
"Have it your way then," Arthur said, throwing a fake punch at Eames's stomach.
Eames grunted in pain. Arthur threw another fake punch at Eames's face, causing Eames to grunt in pain once more.
"Are you still not going to talk? Fine then. We'll do this the hard way," Arthur said as he brought the butt of his gun down on Strauss's head, knocking him unconscious.
Arthur let out a sigh and turned to me and whispered, "We'll talk about what happened to you later, but I'm truly sorry that happened. We need to go to the next level. Will you be okay to go?"
I smiled weakly at him and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's do this."
"Yusuf, be careful driving!" Arthur warned before he stuck the needle into his arm that hooked him up to the PASIV. We all followed his example.
Into Arthur's dream we go.
AN: Sorry this took awhile to get out! My Internet connection was down for a couple days and I needed to look up the French phrases to complete the chapter. This is a little longer than usual, so I hope you like it! I already have the second level planned so that should be up soon! :D Aren't I just a little devil for that "kiss" between Eames and Ari? I just had to do that! I couldn't resist! Anyway, suggestions are welcome; tell me what you like, dislike, and things I should improve on! Reviews are cherished!