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LONDON, UK -- APRIL 16
3:00 PM
Brian

"Blimey, you're the Backstreet Boys!"

Nick's head practically spun around, Exorcist style.

I could feel my mouth flopping open and close like a fish.

"Well wait just a moment," said the stewardess, her face tightening with suspicion. "If you're not cops, then you aren't a prisoner... in which case..."

The pieces were falling together.

Nick leaped out of his seat, ripping Lucy with him by the arm, and grabbed the stewardess and planted his mouth full onto her mouth. Lucy's face dropped in horror as Nick's tongue slid along the old toad's mouth. She squealed in surprise, her eyes wide for a moment, then relaxed and melted into the kiss.

"Excuse you!" Lucy cried, yanking her wrist back and snapping Nick away from the stewardess. She shoved Nick down into the seat.

The stewardess stood there, dazed.

It was like the world was frozen for a second. Lucy was standing, Nick was sitting, the stewardess was in shock, and I was waiting for it all to explode. Then, it did. I grabbed a barf bag and the contents of my stomach - however meager they were - came rushing up from deep in my gut. I clutched the bag to my mouth, my hand gripping Nick's knee for balance, the world seeming to spin around me.

The stewardess snapped back to reality by the sound and smell of vomit. "She is illegally on this plane," she said, pointing at Lucy.

"She- I- She-"

"She's with me," came a stern voice, "And, for that matter, so are they."

Nick let out a yelp.

I turned, lowing the bag of puke from my mouth, and found myself staring at about 3 feet of leg. I looked up. Officer Lennon stood looming over me, her badge out.

"Heidi," Lucy snapped, "I thought you weren't going to interfere."

Nick's head whipped around to look at her. "What?"

"Yeah, what?" I asked, looking at Lucy, too.

"I couldn't let this charade continue," Lennon answered demurely.

Nick's head whipped to look at her, like he was watching a tennis or ping pong match.

"I have it under control."

"If nasty-sack here is kissing stewardesses I'm assuming you do not have it under control."

"HAVE WHAT UNDER CONTROL?" Nick screamed.

Even the stewardess looked like she was wondering that.

"Do you want to do the honors, or shall I?" Lennon asked, pulling handcuffs from her pocket.

"Heidi, I think we need to talk about this before we go --"

"Fine." She turned to me. "Mr. Littrell," turned to Nick, "Mr. Carter," she snapped the cuff onto my wrist and hers. "You are both under arrest for impersonation of a Federal Officer."

"Heidi, I --"

"Enough," Lennon snapped. "Now, Lucille, do you want to contain your prisoner until we can land and board a plane back to Sweden where they will serve their time for the crime, or do you want to whine about it?"

I stared at my wrist.

I was an adulterer. And now I was a federal crimminal.

I looked at Nick.

"I told you," I felt a throat rising in my throat. "I told you," I wanted to rip his eyes out. "I'm never gonna see Baylee grow up, I'm never gonna see my wife again. And oh my Lord, she's not gonna care because you texted her."

"Wait one frickinfrackin minute," Nick said, looking wildly from side to side. He looked at Lucy. "You're an agent?!"


**********


"Lucy---"

"Will you shut up for a damn minute?!"

I was angry. I was...I was BOILING. I was a second away from imploding on myself...

And it was all Brian's fault. Leave it to him to snag a fuckin' federal agent to tag along with us. We had been duped.

"Lucille, I'm your superior officer and I demand--"

"They gave me enough evidence to shut down that sex trafficking operation in Japan for good," Lucy snapped. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Brian clutch his bag o' barf. A little tear formed in the corner of his eye. Shit. I couldn't stand it when women or Brian cried.

"Excuse me," I snapped. The two women ignored me. In the course of a second both of them had gone into bull mode. They were standing, not really chest-to-chest, but close enough that my thoughts went south for a whole thirty seconds before the anger came back.

"And remember the drug shipments that we couldn't track down? The one where you claimed the boat just 'disappeared' into the night? Yeah, well, the industrial fog machines hiding the boat blew up when Dumb Bunny over here," Lucy pointed at me. "blew that club up with dynamite. I had a squad on it in minutes."

"Dumb Bunny?" I sputtered.

"I'm going to have to ask you ladies to sit down," the stewardess said. She leaned over and took Bri's barf bag. As she leaned over she winked at me. Shit. My tongue and other body parts quickly shriveled more than I could have ever thought possible.

Officer Lennon didn't look impressed. She pulled another set of cuffs out and leaned over towards me. I scrambled up, sitting on my seat like a chimpanzee.

"Mr. Carter--"

Snap. Lucy had come up behind and snapped a cuff onto my wrist. She snapped the other one on her own wrist. "There, happy?" she spat.

"I won't be happy until these menaces are behind bars."

Compared to Officer Lennon, one would think Lucy didn't have a lot going for her. She didn't have the mile-long legs, she wasn't near as chesty, and even angry she didn't have the venom that the other woman had.

But she still didn't back down.

"You're making a big mistake," Lucy said, her voice dropping to a submissive level. I tugged on the cuffs. "No, you are," I said.

"I'm not talking to you," she hissed.

Officer Lennon smiled. "I'm making a big mistake?"

I felt Lucy's ass press into the back of my seat. "We're headed to London," she said.

"No shit."

I felt fingertips on the back of my hair. The shrively parts of me suddenly weren't so shrively. Was she playing with...my hair?

"McLean's alive."

The silence was thick. The fingertips dripped down my neck. Shit.

"Is that what they told you?" Officer Lennon finally asked.

"It's the truth."

It was the first time Brian had spoken since Operation Barfbag. "Marisol told me that he had come to visit her and that he was in London."

Officer Lennon smiled at Brian. He seemed to relax.

"Fine," she said sweetly. "We'll get McLean and the three of you can rot."

Brian looked sick again. I reached over with my free hand and grabbed my own barfbag. I waved it in his face, but he didn't take it. He was seriously pretending I didn't exist.

"This isn't fair," I complained. I wasn't sure exactly what part wasn't fair, but I was leaning towards all of it.

"Why isn't it fair, Carter?" Lennon said. Lucy's fingers left my neck and wrapped around my shoulder.I looked up just in time to see the two woman glaring daggers again.

"Because...because I'm the only one that can find AJ," I said.

"Bullshit."

"I think he's telling the truth. These two have a sixth sense. Whatever trouble they cause ends up fixing a larger issue. If you would just contemplate this, I think you'd realize that the fastest way to wrap this up is to have them lead us to McLean. What could take months could be ended today."

"Can't we just try?" Brian whispered. He finally turned to look at me. The moment he did, I understood. Our excellent silent communication skills couldn't be broken.

"Yeah, can't we just try?" I asked.

"Maybe make a plea bargain?" Bri continued.

"A plea bargain?" Lennon repeated.

I leaned forward as far as I dared. "If we help you find AJ, you let us go. If we can't find AJ, then you can take us in."

"That sounds fair," Lucy agreed. I tilted my head back and looked up at her. She quickly looked away.

"Well?" Brian asked. He was waiting for confirmation from Lennon.

Officer Lennon crouched down next to Brian's seat. She looked at Lucy.

"McCartney, if this goes wrong, this is all on you."

"Agreed. I owe them that much."

"You owe these guys nothing."

"Passengers, please buckle your seatbelts. We will be landing in London in fifteen minutes."

Lennon looked pained. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered.

"Is that a yes?" Bri asked hopefully.

"Yes," she replied. She looked up at Lucy. "But they stay cuffed til I say so, got it?"

Suddenly soft fingers were stroking the inside of my wrist below the metal. I looked up.

"C'mere," I said. She leaned down.

"Closer." She moved down again. I turned my head so my mouth was next to her ear.

"You picked Brian, remember?" I whispered.

She turned her head. "I know you were jealous," she whispered back.

I sneered. "Jealous? Ha. Besides, I don't like liars."

"I didn't lie."

"Oh really, Officer McCartney?"

"You were safer not knowing."

"Who said I like to play it safe?"

Her lips moved closer. I felt them brush my cheek as she whispered one last time.

"Then maybe we should see if we can be dangerous together."