4:30 PM
Brian
Cuffed to Officer Lennon there was really not a whole lot more I could do to help Nick. She pulled me back through the Underground to one of the maps on the wall and began trying to figure out which of the trains would bring us back to Heathrow. I stood silently beside her trying to figure out exactly how old Baylee would be before I'd see him again. Twenty? Thirty? Forty? Would I die in prison? I hung my head. How the hell did I let Nick talk me into doing this? I wondered.
"Okay, let's go." Lennon turned away from the map and started pulling me towards the ticketing booth.
It was crowded and hot in the Underground and people were swarming everywhere. The hand cuffs around our wrists were the only thing keeping us from being separated by the crowd. Lennon kept me firmly by her side. I'm not sure what made me notice them other than the fact that it wasn't really cold enough for the way they were dressed, maybe, but I spotted two huge, hulking, thug-like guys dressed in heavy winter coats and navy blue skully caps like they'd just stepped off a tuna boat. They were Latino, speaking in rapid Spanish, and searching the crowd. I swiveled my head as they passed, watching them as they moved, head and shoulders taller than everyone else in the sea of people.
"Excuse me," I piped up, tugging on my wrist to get Lennon's attention.
"What?" she demanded. I used my free hand to point at the tuna-boat thugs. She glanced over. "What?"
"Those guys," I said, "They look like Marisol's henchmen."
Lennon shook her head, "No more games. Your little friend got you two in big trouble. I can't wait to find out how he killed your bandmate."
"Nick didn't kill AJ," I snapped, "AJ's alive, he's here somewhere, and they know where." I pointed at the tuna thugs again.
Lennon turned and started to pulling again toward the ticket booth. I stood still. She reached the end of the width of our two arms and was halted by my insistence. She looked at me. "Come," she snapped, like I was a dog.
"No," I replied. I pulled toward the tuna thugs. "You come."
Not expecting it, she stumbled a couple steps toward me before she planted her heels and pulled back. We both pulled. I wondered if one of us could dislocate a shoulder this way. She grit her teeth. I set my jaw. We stared at each other, each pulling with equal strength. It's kinda sad I was equalled by a woman. But at least she was a very buffed out, cop woman and not like, I dunno, a waify type.
"Shall I add resisting an officer to your charges, then?" she snapped.
"Go to it," I answered. I glanced back at the Tuna Thugs. They were boarding the train. It was now or never. I thought the phrase again - that golden phrase I never thought I'd think in my life and here I was thinking it twice in twenty-four hours:
What Would Nick Do?
And suddenly, like a lightbulb over my head, I took three fast steps toward Lennon. She stumbled and actually fell to the floor of the Underground. The crowd swarmed around us, some glancing at us as I leaned over her and grabbed the guns from her holster - mine and hers.
Lennon looked pissed. "What in the hell are you --"
I pulled her to her feet, pressed one of the handles of the guns to her lower back, and hissed, "We're following the Tuna Thugs."
Lennon stood stock still for a long moment. "Are you seriously holding an FBI agent at gunpoint?" she hissed back.
"I guess I am," I answered.
"You're making a big mistake," she said.
"Well," I said, "I figure I'm going to jail anyways now, so I ain't got much to lose except those Tuna Thugs so let's go." I guided her quickly to the train door they'd disappeared through and pushed her on board. Looking around, I spotted the guys, hovering in the far end of the train together, arms across their chests. Lennon and I stood by the doorway. "Them, there," I whispered and I nodded the Tuna Thugs direction.
Lennon looked over. A surprised expression momentarily crossed her face. She glanced back at me, then back at the Tuna Thugs. Then she turned quickly to face me. She looked down at the gun I was holding and saw that it wasn't even the barrell I'd aimed at her. Her eyes met mine. "I'm ready to work with you," she said quietly.
"What?"
"That is Jose Luevo and Miguel Fritz," Lennon was whispering the words, "They're wanted internationall y for over seventy murders, human trafficking, and being involved in Marisol's father's drug importing business." She stared into my eyes. "If they're here in London..." Lennon shook her head, not wanting to finish the sentence, then she said, grudgingly, "Your friend might just be right."
"That's the thing about Nick," I said, "He usually is right. He just takes the crazy route to get there."
"Okay listen to me," she hissed quietly, "You're about to get the fastest FBI Training session, ever." And she proceeded to fill me in on an intricate plan -and how to execute it- as she fished the key to the handcuffs out of her pocket and freed my wrist. She took back her own gun and slid it in her holster, leaving me with mine still on my hip. "Think you can do that?" she asked.
My mouth was dry. I wasn't sure. But I nodded anyway because I had to. For AJ, I had to.
But really, Lennon's plan was even more insane than Nick's.
Nick
I don't know how many times I had watched the webcam of the iconic street. I remembered fondly the time me and the guys had mimicked the exact same post while in town for a concert. But today...today being on Abbey Road was even more significant.
It was life of death.
"So what now?" Lucy asked. "Is he hiding in the studio?"
I shook my head. The wall next to the crossing was covered in graffiti from die-hard Beatles fans. Someone had spray painted an amazing likeness of John on the wall. Someone else had written some lyrics to Let it Be.
Then there was the arrow.
"Of course," I whispered.
Lucy looked up at me, her pretty face wrinkled in confusion. I stared down at her, my lips curving in a wolfish smile. She had caused my jealous side to rear its ugly head. Now that the threat of Brian was out of the way, I had the strongest desire to relieve all my pent-up Nick-stuff in the best way I knew how.
But first, the arrow.
"How much do you know about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" I asked sweetly.
"What?"
"This is gross. Oh my god, this is gross. This wasn't part of the training manual."
"Lennon wouldn't be whining."
Lucy's shoe made a disgusting squishing sound as she yanked it from the muck. I could smell, not see, the rats. "Lennon can kiss my ass." I knew a scowl was attached to the statement.
In the darkness, I took her hand. With the squish, muck, muck underneath and the squeak of the rats following us, we made our way through the sewer tunnel. I just knew AJ was hiding down here. I couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of shit he was in, but I knew I was going to kill him when I found him.
"What do you think happened to Brian?" Lucy asked.
I gritted my teeth. "He'll be fine," I said. "He would have been even more fine if he'd have just listened to me."
"No, everything would have been fine if you guys would have just listened to me," Lucy argued.
I didn't answer. I knew it was best not to rile up a woman, especially a woman with a gun. She was sticking close to my back and I was relishing in the fact that I was in charge.
"You seriously think he's down here?" she asked.
"Well, I..."
In one split second, we were tossed from pitch blackness to light. I blinked in surprise, inhaling a way-too-large mouthful of shit stench.
We had come face-to-face with a large group of people all wearing hard hats. A heavy guy, his triple jowls quivering, scowled.
"What the--are you part of the tour?" he demanded.
"Tour?" I repeated dumbly.
The scene became a little more clearer. The other people in the group had cameras, yes cameras around their neck. One guy wore a t-shirt with the British flag on it. Another was referring to a pamphlet.
"Holy shit, you give tours of the sewers here?" I said in disbelief.
"Nick," Lucy mumbled, but I ignored her.
"How many levels of fucked up is this?" I asked. "You make money off of crap! Literal crap!"
The fat guy, obviously the tour guy, grew red in the face. "Who the hell--"
"Nick," Lucy said more urgently.
"Not no--"
"STOP YOU SONOFABITCH!" Lucy screamed. Before I knew what was happening, she flew past me. I staggered backwards. All the headlamps flew in her direction. I gasped.
AJ, wearing a hardhat and obviously trying to blend in with the other crazy tourists that were flushing their money down the drain (literally), had been trying to sneak away. Lucy wasn't having any of it. It took another could seconds for my stunned body to react.
"You fuckin' jerk, get back here!" I screamed. I struggled to get around the guide who threw his arms out to stop me. After pulling a completely Beatle-esque romp move by pointing in the opposite direction, I dodged under his arm and chased after AJ and the girl that I wanted to get into bed as soon as this nightmare was over.
