You Distract Me - S01 E59

Story 4 months ago

You Distract Me - S01 E59

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 59

Shayne

"You don't know what you're walking yourself into!"

"I need you to get out of my way."

"I'm not losing anyone else today." Laura didn't bother to hide her tears as she stood between me and the entrance to the diner.

"That makes the two of us. Which is why I need you guys to stay here."

"You're being irrational. You don't even have a plan."

"I'll locate Sasha and figure it out from there." My doubt was audible.

"It's a bullshit plan and you know it. I know Olivia's important to you, but you're important to me too. I won't just let you do this. I mean, what happens when you meet Sasha? You guys go way back, you can't just ask her nicely. Clearly she has ill feelings towards you, enough to hurt the family and Olivia."

She was right, I wasn't sure how to react knowing Sasha might have been behind this. She was like a sister to me, there must have been a mistake.

"Look, I don't know what I'm doing, I'll admit it. But all I know is that I've lost people and I've almost lost Olivia a frightful number of times. I'm not letting this time be the final. The good Lord knows I've had enough of the people I care about taken away from me. I'm not about to add anyone else to that list!"

It took Laura's arms circling around me to make me aware of my vision going blurry. My body went loose and all I could do was bury my face into her shoulder, my tears unstoppable.

She gently rubbed my back. "Hey, I get it, I really do. But taking the blame, putting so much weight on your shoulders will only send you flying off the edge. And in the end, you'll be gone, our friends won't be avenged and Olivia will have no one to love her the way you do."

I pulled away. "I'm not in-"

"Yeah you are," she said, patting my cheek with a knowing grin. "We're not going to judge you for being in love."

"Although, we might judge you for the waterworks," Drew said, standing behind me.

I turned to him, ready to go down on my knees and apologize.

"It's already forgotten. Seriously, I think that swing was really what I needed. Got tired of you getting all the hot ones, might as well have covered up the hostility with something else."

I chuckled, wondering how our relationship had even gotten to this point. "Nevertheless, I'm sorry. Truly, I am, for everything."

"I know," he smiled before pulling me in for a hug. I'd almost forgotten how warm his bear hugs were.

Withdrawing from the hug, I turned to everyone else, their eyes trained on me. "I haven't been the best leader lately. And truthfully, I have no valuable excuses for that. But if you'll trust me, from now on, I pledge myself to each and every one of your well-beings. No two ways about it."

Penelope, one of my I.T technicians-well, my only one now-spoke up. "With all due respect, we always thought you didn't feel much, which made it easier to blame you. We just thought your girlfriend was some sort of trophy. We never realized your feelings towards her were legit. Plus, the waterworks make you seem a lot more human."

Everyone else agreed with smirks while I frowned, pleasantly light hearted. "So much for being the scary boss, huh?"

"Are you kidding me? You're definitely still the scary boss. I don't know about everyone else but I'm scared shitless that you'll crucify us for what we just witnessed." For emphasis, Penelope took a step backwards.

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Roars of laughter, including my own, filled the room.

"Well, you'd better sleep with one eye open." Composing myself, I stood straighter. "In the meantime, you guys should keep yourselves safe from imminent threats. I'll make sure to eradicate them and avenge those we've lost. I won't rest until everyone has their peace."

Laura sighed beside me. "Nice speech, but you're still an idiot. We didn't have this mushy moment just to get back to where we started. Where you go, we go. Now more than ever."

Drew rested a heavy hand on my shoulder. "You don't get to decide for us. If we go down, then at least we did it for our lost loved ones and we did it together. We've got your back."

I took a moment to look around the room, studying everyone's faces and only seeing approval and passionate dedication.

"Okay, but we don't have enough firepower among us. And even if we did, I wouldn't know where to start."

Drew tsk-tsked. "You insult me. Do you think I'd set up a zone like this one and not put up fail safes in case of such a situation? Follow me."

I followed him to the backroom, past the kitchen, until we reached a broom closet. He held the door wide open with a smug look.

Brows raised, I pursed my lips. "Nice, we're going to get my girlfriend back from those fuckers by mopping their asses off."

"Your faith is weak, my dear comrade."

He stepped into the cramped space and pushed against the wall parallel to the doorway. To my utter surprise, the wall gave, sliding open into another room.

"The fuck?" I followed Drew into it and I'd never been more honored to breathe the same air as this grizzly-bear-sized man.

The white walled spacious room was a combination of weaponry and military grade computer systems. The weaponry itself was an arsenal big enough to take down an army.

"Why didn't you say anything about this place?" I said, caressing a mean-looking .99 caliber.

"You were too busy looking after Reyvox. Also, the green eyed brunette didn't help either. There're several more of these across the state, but this is the first one that has come in handy."

"So when I was about to walk out that door like a fool, you didn't bother to mention this room?"

"Nah, it was fun watching you behave like you got no sense. Plus, I'm genuinely upset about you getting all the hot ones."

"You can have them all. I'm pretty sure my head will be had if I even look in the direction of another woman."

"Guys!" Laura stormed into the room, took a second to look about it in surprise before setting her gaze on us. "Byron called, he said Freya's missing. He went to check on her when he found her bed empty. Do you think they got her too?"

They wouldn't dare, Freya was a feral one. It'd be suicide taking her hostage. "Highly doubtful. I'm sure she just went to get some air or something. But if she doesn't get back to us in the next couple hours, we'll know where to start."

"Which is where exactly?" Laura said.

"That's where Penelope comes in. I've seen that woman locate a needle in a fucking haystack of codes. With these computer systems, we'll be out of here in minutes."

🍀

Indeed we were out the diner in mere minutes.

Penelope had managed to track down the chopper that had picked up Olivia. It was still in the hangar of an abandoned building downtown. She had to remain at the diner with Drew to be our eyes and ears.

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Penelope's voice came through my comm. "Boss, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," I said, slipping around a corner into an alleyway leading to the warehouse.

"That place has cameras facing everywhere, but they're a few blindspots that you can walk through. Let me send them."

"ASAP."

Laura cleared her throat behind me. "I hate to be the one to bring this up, but-"

"I'm thinking it too. But at this point I have no choice but to believe she's okay." She had to be.

Penelope sent the blindspots on the military watch around my wrist.

Using the precise route, we managed to avoid the cameras until we reached the back entrance. Only, it was being guarded by two men in orange camouflage uniforms. A blue strip was tied around the arm that held their heavy duty sniper rifles.

Laura and I crouched behind a dumpster, devising how to approach without sounding the alarm.

"Should one of the snipers take them out?" Laura said.

"No, those motion sensers will probably pick up on a flying bullet." I pointed to the strategically placed motion sensers next to the cameras.

"Direct combat then. Penelope, can you do something about that camera that's pointing towards the back door?"

"I'll be able to pause the screen for a minute or two. You won't be seen, but an alarm will probably go off after they realize their security detail have turned to stone."

"That'll have to do. The objective is to breach the building and go as far in as possible." I turned to Laura. "Wanna play 'My girlfriend's drunk'?"

"You're the drunk girlfriend this time."

"Fine." I fucking hated being the drunk girlfriend.

I rose to my feet, weakening my knee joints before falling limp onto Laura.

"Babe! Would you say I'm pretty or pretty sexy?" I said, my words loud and slurred as we shuffled towards the guards.

"You always do this! I tell you to take it easy on the liquor, but you never listen." We stopped where the men stood. "Excuse me, my girlfriend's pretty drunk as you can tell. Do you know where I can find the nearest drug store? She's going to have a monster of a hangover if I don't get her some pills."

They exchanged a look. If I hadn't noticed one of them discreetly reach for the radio strapped to his waist, he would have given us away.

Quick and silent, I grabbed hold of the hand he used to hold onto the radio, spin him around and hold him against me in a rear choke hold. He passed out in a matter of seconds.

I looked at the other guard and found him passed out cold on the floor, a forming shiner blossoming on his right eye.

Laura merely shrugged.

I shook my head. "Remind me not to ever mess with you." I set aside the unconscious man in my arms. "Either our acting is total shit or they know how we look like."

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"Which would only mean they're prepared in case we breach."

We simultaneously pulled out our firearms, making sure they were loaded and we had backup ammunition.

"Watch my back, I'll watch yours?" I said.

"Got it."

I opened the door to a slit and peeped through. "It's clear."

Stealthily walking along the long hallway, we reached an open door where a handful of voices could be heard coming through.

Laura sneaked her gaze around. "It's a trio of armed hostiles. Poker seems to have their full attention. We could just slip past them."

"How many eyes are directly facing the door?"

"None, but two of them have their vision perpendicular to the door. The third has his back facing us."

"Okay, you go first. Be careful."

She was clean as she rolled forward to the other side of the doorway, but just as I was about to do the same, the screech of a chair stopped me in my tracks. One of the men had gotten up from his seat.

Laura mouthed a stop!

"What's going on, Monty?"

"I think I saw something," the man said as his voice got closer to the door.

Already in offense mode, my finger on the trigger, I wasn't ready to have the door shut in my face upon going in for the kill.

"These fucking rats are everywhere. They really don't pay us enough," said the voice on the other side, retreating further onto the room.

Laura snickered. "You'll get them next time, boss."

"I'm not the one who was called a rat," I said, walking past the door and continuing along our way.

"Touché."

"Penelope, we haven't come across any cameras so far. Are there any in the building?"

"Not one. Whatever they're doing in there, they don't want people like me snooping. Best we can do is thermal imaging. Speaking of which, it shows two bodies heading your way, better go up those stairs before you're made."

"Copy that. But wait, if you're able to see those guys. Are you able to make out Olivia anywhere in the building? She shouldn't be hard to miss."

"No, sorry. The closest image to her is a couple inches taller and wider. I'm guessing that must be Sasha. Unless some rooms are enforced with metal walls, she's not in that building."

A fierce and crippling war going on within me, I still focused on the mission. "We're not leaving until we've looked through every corner. And we're not sure if Sasha really is a part of this." My voice came out firmer than I intended.

"Right, of course," Penelope said, her tone softening.

Laura gave me a look. "When it comes down to it, you're going to have to choose between your girlfriend and the woman who's been your business partner and friend for a handful of years."

"I'm telling you, I know Sasha. She wouldn't...I just know her, okay?"

She pursed her lips. "Okay."

We stopped at the last stair, backs against the wall on opposite sides. "How many hostiles are on this level, Penelope?"

"I see eleven or so. Most of them are spread out along that hallway."

"We can't just slip past them this time, and snipers would sound the alarm. We'll have to take them out ourselves, quick" I said, installing the silencer onto my gun. "You take the ones on the right, I'll take the ones on the left. On my count. One. Two. Three."

We jumped off the last stair, backs to each other and fired off without a second to spare. Poor guys didn't even have time to react before my bullets took them out, a millisecond between each one. All head shots.

Laura finished off her last kill a few seconds after me.

She pursed her lips in annoyance. "Damn it."

I gave her a lopsided grin. "Don't worry. You'd destroy me in hand-to-hand combat. Let me have this one?"

"Whatev-"

She was cut short when the sudden blare of alarms went off, a moment before a gunshot could be heard above us.

To Be Continued..